Tag Archives: elephant seal

Boxing Day Megafauna Census

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Wind: 0-25 knots NE
Sea State: up to 1 m chop
Visibility: 15 NM
Sky: overcast with sunny patches throughout the days
Temperature: between 6 to 7 C
Atmospheric CO2: 412.28 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

This morning, I heard a ruckus outside the west side of the house, where the a few of the elephant seals have been hanging out. The largest male appeared to be fighting the small juvenile male, while the female watched. The adult was slamming its head down onto the juvenile and biting it. This lasted for a few minutes before the juvenile and female fled to the north side of the path.

While I was doing the census in the middle of the day, there were three people snorkelling off the southwest of Great Race Rock Island. They took turns snorkelling in pairs, while one person stayed in the boat. Six other pleasure craft and eco tour boats were seen in the reserve over the past two days.

Weekly Megafauna Census for December 26:
5 elephant seals (1 juvenile male, 1 female, 3 adult males)
18 harbour seals
175 california sea lions
207 steller/northern sea lions
Birds:
8 harlequin ducks
9 surf scoters
4 canada geese
12 black turnstones
21 black oystercatchers
1 fox sparrow
15 bald eagles
107 cormorants (pelagic and double-crested)
224 gulls (a variety of species)

 

Festivus

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Wind: 5-19 knots NE
Sea State: up to 1 m chop
Visibility: 15+ NM
Sky: 50% cloud cover with sunny patches throughout the days
Temperature: between 6 and 8 C
Atmospheric CO2: 411.99 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

It has been mostly quiet on the rock for the past two days, with the exception of the sea lions barking nonstop. It’s a mystery to me what they carry on about all night. Although, I will take that any night over the fog horn or the urban noises that are too far away for me to hear. The only visitors to the reserve were a few eco tour boats that lingered offshore in the late afternoons.

I had to quickly jump into action this morning, when I realized power had gone out just before I got out of bed. I ran the generator for several hours to make sure the batteries were fully charged. The solar panels helped a bit today, soaking up 3.7kWh of energy, which is a couple hours worth of the energy used on the island. There is lots of learning about off grid living.

Yesterday one of the juvenile males elephant seals left, bringing the population of elephant seals on the island from six to five.

A parcel of about 20 oystercatchers have been hanging out on the south side of the island. They mostly huddle on one leg with their beaks tucked into a wing.

The northeast winds have delivered presents in the form of free firewood to heat the ecoguardian’s house. Through some clumsy use of a pike pole and the tolerance of a nearby resting elephant seal, I managed to land a 6.5 metre log and drag it up the jetty ramp. I also gathered lots of smaller pieces. The wood will be left out in the rain for a while to wash off the salt, then chopped up into manageable pieces, and eventually put away to dry for next winter.

Shift Changeover

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Wind: 0-20 knots NE
Sea State: 0.5 m chop
Visibility: 15+ NM
Sky: overcast clearing to sun in the late morning
Temperature: 8 C
Atmospheric CO2: 412.73 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

Yesterday, Laas’ shift ended after being on Race Rocks for the past two and half months and a big chunk of the past two and a half years. I came out to the island at noon on Second Nature with Guy, Corey, two students, a family visiting the college and a friend of Laas. It was great to share in the excitement of all on the boat. I also appreciated their help carrying my many bins of food. I always get excited when the boat rounds the corner out of Pedder Bay and the lighthouse comes into view. The cacuphony of seal lion barks and belches was overwhelming when the boat pulled up to the jetty. Thanks for the great welcome home, my pinniped pals. I had a run through of the energy systems with Laas, Guy and Corey, as the equipment has changed completely since I was here almost five years ago. It’s great to be back on the Rock. Thank you Laas for leaving the place so tidy. Best of luck on your new adventures.

After the group left, I climbed the 99 steps inside the lighthouse to get a bird’s-eye view of the island. I spend the rest of the day reacquainting myself with the place and unpacking. I welcomed the slow down, as I settled into the island that I will call home for the season, watching the changes as the days become longer. I will be here for all of winter and depart soon after the vernal equinox.

Today, I continued to check out more places and do the regular tasks like monitor the energy levels, wash the solar panels, turn the composting toilet and sample the salinity and temperature of the water at high tide. On one trip up the lighthouse, I counted 336 sea lions on the rocks. There are also six elephant seals on the main island: three large males spaced apart from each other, one pregnant looking female in the centre of the island and two juvenile males.

Approaching Race Rocks

Waving goodbye

Lighthouse and elephant seals

Climbing to the top of the lighthouse

A bird’s-eye view

Solar Panels charging the batteries on a sunny day

Elephant seals

Sunset from halfway up the lighthouse

Sunset over the Olympic Peninsula

 

Townsend’s Warbler

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Weather: 

  • Sky: Overcast
  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 10-20 knots NE
  • Water: Choppy under a metre

Boats/Visitors: 

  • A couple visitors today and expecting more throughout the week

Ecological

  • Saw this adorable little Townsend’s warbler on my way to turn the generator room, it was just hopping around in the flowers
  • The young female elephant seals, there were three did not stay very long, they have all left but there is still 5 males, 3 young ones and two big ones
  • Two of the young ones are tagged green tags C887 and D108
  • They are scattered around right now making some of my daily tasks difficult but it is so great to see them here before I take off

 

December so far

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Weather: 

  • Sky: Overcast
  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 5-15 knots NE
  • Water: Choppy under a metre

Boats/Visitors: 

  • Not many boats going by lately, there have been a couple tour boats here and there

Ecological

  • The sea lion numbers seem to have stayed pretty steady since I last counted a few days ago, the winter has been pretty mild so far so maybe thats why the sea lions seem like they don’t want to leave
  • There are 3 elephant seals still, 2 big guys and the young female. They boys have left the female and each other pretty much alone since they got here
  • There are still quite a few eagles hanging around they like to chase the seagulls around

Humpbacks still around

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Weather: 

  • Sky: Overcast
  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 5-15 knots NE
  • Water: Choppy under a metre

Boats/Visitors: 

  • Saw a couple tour boats going by today, and a dive boat

Ecological

  • The sea lion numbers dropped a little again and the elephant seal numbers have gone up a tiny bit
  • Census
    • Sea Lions – 438 (96 Steller and 342 California)
    • Harbour Seals – 32
    • Gulls – still around 200
    • Cormorants – 75
    • Canada Geese – 14
    • Black Turnstones – 30
    • Eagles – 6
    • Elephant Seals, 2 males, one of them is the alpha the previous two years, Bernard and the other is slightly smaller male and then 1 small female tagged V173 who I found out was born in Point Reyes last February 2019
    • Humpbacks – 3 are going by just now, photo below is very blurry due to low light

Storms, birds and elephant seals

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Weather: 

  • Sky: Partly cloudy
  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 0-40 knots NE
  • Water: waves between 0-2 metres

Boats/Visitors: 

  • Saw a couple boats here and there, not during the big storm though
  • Greg is dropping by today with some supplies

Ecological

  • Seems like some of the sea lions came back when the storm hit, it was blowing up to 40 knots on Wednesday but today it has finally come down to almost nothing
  • A couple different birds also came by, I’ve been seeing a lot of ravens lately, eagles, snow buntings and one whimbrel
  • There is a little elephant seal by the jetty today, pink tag V173
  • Thankfully the storm brought in some driftwood than can be cut up and dried out for next winter

Nice Weather

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Weather: 

  • Sky: Clear
  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 5-15 knots NE
  • Water: flat

Boats/Visitors: 

  • A few tour boats and fishing boats cruising around today
  • We have had visitors coming and going recently as we declutter the island along with maintenance

Ecological

  • With the beautiful weather in the past couple days there seems to be a few more sea lions around than I last counted but they’ll probably continue leaving as it gets colder
  • I saw a large male a few days ago that I believe is chunk but he was only hear briefly and I haven’t noticed any elephants since but I’m sure he didn’t wander too far I would expect the male elephants to be returning in bigger numbers soon

Less Sea Lions

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Weather: 

  • Sky: Overcast
  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 5-15 knots NE
  • Water: flat

Boats/Visitors: 

  • Not as many boats out lately
  • some visitors to work on projects around the island having to do with energy, infrastructure, desalination

Ecological

  • Over a period of a few days the sea lions left in big numbers
  • Census
    • Sea Lions – 370 (200 Steller and 170 California)
    • Harbour Seals – 24
    • Gulls – 360
    • Cormorants – 150
    • Fox Sparrows – 10ish, harder to count these guys
    • Canada Geese – 22
    • Black Turnstones – 30
    • Eagles – 6
    • Haven’t seen any humpbacks in a little while, I would expect most of them to be well on their way south by now
    • At least 2 male elephant seals around as well
    • some of the stellers look pretty young