I have put together a gallery of images of the elephant seals as they were photographed by Raisa Mirza in January and February of 2011. Raisa and Ryan Murphy were the Ecoguardians at Race Rocks during that time. They are both former graduates of Lester Pearson College. In 2011 they moved to India to teach at the Mahindra United World College.
Orca’, 2, ‘Last night I returned to RR at about 1600hrs and was greeted by some great wildlife. A new female elephant seal had hauled up and was lying near the foot of the jetty. She was very, very nervous, especially as I tried to sneak around her and I later observed her getting quite agitated by the gulls as she hauled up on the grass and tried to find a comfortable sleeping spot for the night. Late in the evening she eventually settled close to Slash behind the boathouse. This was the first time I had seen this female, and she was definitely a very beautiful female. A few hours later, I went down to the jetty and a juvenile female was just beginning to haul up. However, a few minutes after I spotted her, she turned around and headed back to the ocean. She was not tagged so there was no possibility of her being Ninene or #4252. Around 1600hrs as I landed the boat, I looked up and saw two orcas breach in the channel between Middle Rock and Great Race, heading eastward on the flood current. They disappeared for a while, then breached on the other side of the kelp bed near Middle Rock. For the next minute or so, there was quite a commotion with tail fins flapping in the water and dorsal fins popping to the surface. I expect that these two orcas were hunting seals, which makes me assume that they were two transients passing through the Reserve. Sea lions are now beginning to make more and more of an appearance in the Reserve. There are several on the jetty each night, and some large northern sea lions out on the Rocks. Harbour seals are all now having their pups as well. Pam has caught some fantastic images of pups nursing and a possible placenta in the east bay a few days ago.’, ‘adam’, ’08:52:54 ,
All camera and weather systems are up and running again; apologies for the interruption in service. The outage was caused by a major problem from one of our male elephant seals. Yesterday night, our friend Misery moved overtop of the waterline connected to the science house used for cleaning camera 5. The line broke off of the spigot and caused about 5000 litres of fresh water to drain, emptying the tank overnight. I’ve been running the desalinator continuously to make up the lost water. I have bypassed the hybrid energy system and am running the island straight off of the generators to preserve the batteries and to save fuel. Unfortunately, this method sometimes produces dirty power and can wreak havoc on the computer systems running here. Garry and I managed to restart the systems this morning and things seem to be running smoothly for the moment. ‘adam’, ’14:50:59 ,
Our three newest black oystercatcher chicks are doing quite well. They’ve left the nest and are now in the rocky area just beside the jetty. There are several other families on this side of the island, notably one beside the winch house and one in the east bay. There’s also a family or two over in the west surge channel. Most gulls have now settled down into their nests with mating coming to a close. Pam reports a nest up near the fresh water pool is about to hatch; be sure to keep your eye on that one over the next few days! I’ve noticed on several occasions some broken eggs scattered on the grass around the island. Probable cause: the otter. I saw it scampering across the winch pad the other evening, much to the gulls’ discontentment. There’s also a dead gull up beside the base of the tower; it’s been there for a few days now considering the state of decomposition. I expect that it was killed in a territorial fight. Gulls are very territorial birds and will aggressively defend an area of about one metre in radius (with exceptions) around their nest. Any other gull who infringes upon this territory will be the subject of an intense attack (http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamharding/3858558278/in/set-72157622022028013/) by the owners of that piece of waterfront real estate. Territorial defence is actually one of the reasons why it is important to keep human traffic down in the reserve during gull season: once chicks hatch, any disturbances that cause them to stray from their native territory into another family’s territory will result in retaliation by the adults of that foreign territory. Chicks are usually helpless to the attacks and will be ruthlessly killed.
We have three elephant seals hauled up on Great Race: Misery is up near the engine room, Bertha is behind the tank room and #4252 is on the concrete area at the top of the jetty. 4252 seems to be a bit unwell these days; I’ve recently observed her breathing heavily and coughing, and her spittle is often flecked with blood. Garry suggests that she could be going through her moult; however, females typically moult in April and May, sub-adult males moult in May and June and adult males moult in July and August. Considering that Misery has now completed his moult and is a breeding male, I’d expect that 4252, a young female, certainly would have by now. I’ll be keeping my eye on her over the next bit. There is still an elephant seal out on Middle Rock. Bertha is now most likely approaching the beginning of her seven month gestation period. Female elephant seals come into heat 24 days after giving birth. However, after mating, the fertilized egg does not implant in the wall of the uterus for up to four months, a rare phenomenon called “delayed implantation”. The currently favoured theory is that the female is to weak after giving birth and nursing that she doesn’t have enough energy to nurture the egg. However, once implantation does occur, the actual gestation period is seven months. This gives a total of eleven months and explains the yearly cycle we see. So, if Bertha gave birth and mated in late February, her egg is most likely reaching the implantation stage right now, late June. I expect that in a few weeks gestation will be well underway. I saw a hummingbird pass by my window this morning. I’m not sure how common they are around here. Unfortunately I couldn’t get a picture as it only briefly flew by.
Sea lions are at a seasonal low right now as the California variety move south to breed for the summer while most of the northern variety move northwards for the summer.
-110, ‘2010-06-21’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘As we officially kick off summer, I thought I ”d give a bit of an update on life on the island right now. The black oystercatcher chicks have hatched in the nest up beside the jetty and down off the tank room! While outside doing some cleanup yesterday morning, I spotted at least one chick, and I suspect there may be more, as there were three eggs in total. This hatching brings some relief, as all of us were quite worried about this nest. Mother oystercatcher had not been spending as much time on her nest as she should have, what with the high traffic transiting the area. However, last week I cordoned off the area with large ropes and she settled down a lot, just in time for the hatching. I also set up camera 3 beside the nest; it can be viewed at http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/video3.htm. I apologize in advance for the moisture on the lens; we ”ve had some high winds and rain over the last day and it has become a bit dirty. At this point though, I ”m a bit apprehensive to get close and clean it, as it ”s really only a foot away from the nest. There are at least two other nests on the island with chicks; one in the surge channel facing the southeast, and one in the channel facing the southwest. In other news, Bertha has decided to make a reappearance on the island after a few days off in the water somewhere. She is hauled up in her favourite spot behind the tank room. Her bad eye is looking worse than ever, and is dripping quite a lot of serum. #4252 is up beside the base of the lighthouse, on the side adjacent to the desalinator bunker, and seems to be enjoying the shelter of the long grasses. Misery is up around the science house somewhere. From the house this morning, I also noticed a possibly fourth, middle-aged, female elephant seal making her way up from the boat ramp -it may have been Bertha though, it ”s hard to tell). Yesterday, three harlequin ducks were spotted in the southeast surge channel, sitting contentedly on rocks. There appeared to be two males and one female. I took some pictures yesterday, but am not sure if they turned out because of the distance. Check on my Flickr site later: http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamharding/. Most seagulls have now settled down into their nests, with a few still mating. Nest numbers seem to be down from this time last year. Enjoy the solstice!’, ‘adam’, ’07:57:59 ,
-109, ‘2010-06-14’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘Misery is hauled up between the path and the desalinator bunker, a change from the grassy area west of the boathouse. He is now almost finished his moult and seems to be much more docile these days. He was observed vocalizing loudly this afternoon -perhaps at a seagull that decided to stare him down on the path). The young female #4252 -soon to be named) has been observed hauled up on the island lately -didn ”t see her today). She ”s been making almost daily trips to the water from the grassy area near the boathouse -compared to Misery who decides to haul his girth down to the water only when the temperature becomes unbearable for his copious amounts of body mass). #4252 seems much more nervous than other elephant seals, perhaps because she is younger and is not as acquainted with our human presence on the island as compared to the other Mirounga. I have not seen Bertha around for a number of days now, and I ”ve not seen Slash since my return to the island two weeks ago. ‘, ‘adam’, ’22:20:14 ,
-106, ‘2010-06-03’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 3, ‘An eventful day for the elephant seals. More sunlight and less wind than we ”ve been used to this spring brought all three Elephant Seals on Great Race down to the water… but not before Misery had a go at mounting Bertha. She escaped up the “steep ” path to the grass on top of the foundation left from the original keeper’s house. Bertha then slipped past the sleeping Misery and lay on the ramp right at the water line in the shade but not in the water. Misery woke and detected the deception and came barreling down the path and boat ramp. Bertha took off through the water like a startled harbour seal, moving closer to the hauled-out California sea lions. She did not come back on land until dark. After all his effort, Misery followed just until he was in the water and took to splashing water back across his body which both trickled and steamed off his late winter coat. Once refreshed, he moved further into the water, floating and steaming in the warm sunshine. Seeing/smelling Bertha in deeper waters, he followed her only to have her swim even further away. 4252 was already in the water and Misery soon sensed her and tried to pin her against the rocks in the shallow sea lion haul-out, but she snapped at him and also swam to deeper waters. Just before sunset, Misery returned to land, trumpeting in the shallows. Looking at records -and noting how much girth Misery has put on lately), the habitat use of our two adult bull elephant seals is very different. Misery: showed up for the ”season ” first in October, was back before Slash showed up for the pupping season, stayed longer through the breeding season, and is now here moulting -as he did this time last year). His moult is delayed 1-2 weeks compared to last year. That all said, Misery has grown significantly this season after spending much of the last 6 months here at Race Rocks, while our dominant bull spends much greater times away before returning with added mass.’, ‘ryan’, ’23:56:01 ,
Black Oystercatchers are the species of the day with the first chicks sighted in the nest to the E of the Main Keeper’s house. Camera 1 will just be able to make them out if they stay put. Another nest was discovered directly behind tank #1 that is a “limited-time only” infrastructure feature on the island. 3 nests with eggs:3,2,3 (now 2+chicks,2,3), 2 brooding pairs with undiscovered nests, and 2 pairs with overlapping feeding territories but no suspected nest sites.
Elephant Seal: 3
An eventful day for the elephant seals. More sunlight and less wind than we’ve been used to this spring brought all three Elephant Seals on Great Race down to the water… but not before Misery had a go at mounting Bertha. She escaped up the “steep” path to the grass on top of the foundation left from the original keeper’s house. Bertha then slipped past the sleeping Misery and lay on the ramp right at the water line in the shade but not in the water. Misery woke and detected the deception and came barreling down the path and boat ramp. Bertha took off through the water like a startled harbour seal, moving closer to the hauled-out California sea lions. She did not come back on land until dark. After all his effort, Misery followed just until he was in the water and took to splashing water back across his body which both trickled and steamed off his late winter coat. Once refreshed, he moved further into the water, floating and steaming in the warm sunshine. Seeing/smelling Bertha in deeper waters, he followed her only to have her swim even further away. El seal tagged#4252 was already in the water and Misery soon sensed her and tried to pin her against the rocks in the shallow sea lion haul-out, but she snapped at him and also swam to deeper waters. Just before sunset, Misery returned to land, trumpeting in the shallows. Looking at records (and noting how much girth Misery has put on lately), the habitat use of our two adult bull elephant seals is very different. Misery: showed up for the ‘season’ first in October, was back before Slash showed up for the pupping season, stayed longer through the breeding season, and is now here moulting (as he did this time last year). His moult is delayed 1-2 weeks compared to last year. That all said, Misery has grown significantly this season after spending much of the last 6 months here at Race Rocks, while our dominant bull spends much greater times away before returning with added mass.
Swarm-Ryan Murphy
Elephant seals spend much of their lives in solitude as they travel great distances around the Pacific. At Race Rocks, we see congregations of elephant seals for the breeding season (late January) with most seals staying through to the end of their moults in late May. Here, elephant seals (adult and juvenile, male and female) begin to scout around the area at the end of October. This year females arrived first and left before the males arrived. I observed two size classes of elephant seal cows: the large breeding females, and the 3 to 5 year juveniles. The cows generally sort themselves by size with larger females bullying/harassing the smaller females.
Svelte –Photo by Ryan Murphy May 16, 2010
This is X201/X202 a tagged elephant seal cow whose first recorded visit to Race Rocks was October 2009. She has completed her moult but is still hanging around the reserve. Of the 10+ cows now in the reserve, she stands out as being the only one to routinely travel back and forth between the group on Middle Race Rocks and Great Race Island. She generally spends less than a week here on the main island, then 1-2 days with the others before returning. This last time, Bertha (the cow who pups here on Great Race) followed her within minutes.