Tag Archives: elephant seal

Rain

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 10-20 NW
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Waves under a meter

Boats/Visitors

  • Possible visitors today, not sure yet

Maintenance

  • The generator is running fine, still trying to find a balance between running the generator and not wasting diesel
  • the desalinator is running alright, I am running nightly at the moment

Ecological

  • the pups are doing great, they are now on the other side of the lighthouse by the sea lions
  • there are still currently five males and one little female who is molting right now

Nice weather

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 15-25 NE
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Waves under a meter

Boats/Visitors

  • Guy came by with a group yesterday, they had a nice little tour, saw the elephant seals

Maintenance

  • The generator is needing a lot of run time still, and the desalinator is running alright, I need to fill up my freshwater tank now that I know nothing is frozen

Ecological

  • the pups are doing great, they haven’t gone down to the water yet, but probably will soon, there are still about 5 male elephant seals around and one young female is here and she is molting right now

More Snow

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10 Miles
  • Wind: 15-25 NE
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Waves under a meter

Boats/Visitors

  • Expecting Guy today with a food order and help me refuel the generator

Maintenance

  • The generator is needing a lot of run time lately, I haven’t been running it too much after dark because the paths are made of ice, I don’t have a proper flashlight and there are 5 male elephant seals around the house and I don’t want to run into one in the dark. I will be getting a couple new flashlights today so this won’t be a problem anymore.
  • I haven’t tried running the desalinator the past couple days, just concerned of breaking something if any part of the system froze. I have enough freshwater to last a while though

Ecological

  • the pups are hiding under the stairs in the front of the house, but they are adorable and finally bonding with each other. Once the storm passes they might start going down to the water to splash around so I have to make sure the path stays clear.
  • The female pup is the only female right now, then there is the male pup and 5 other males scattered around.

Update on Tagged Elephant Seal Cow

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T 562 pink

Recently I sent this email to the folks who are in charge of the tagged elephant seal program in the US .” This year we have had three pups born The tag (on this website) for pups born here over the last few years is https://www.racerocks.ca/tag/pup/ This year the first pup belonging to one of your tagged females, pink tag T562 is doing very well. One other one is ok but the last born one has been mauled by one of the mothers and has died. It would be interesting for us to know when this tagged mother was born so that we know her age and origin

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NOTE : The following link is connected to all the posts on this log relating to tagged elphant seals we have recorded at Race Rocks Ecological Reserve over the past 19 years

https://www.racerocks.ca/tag/tagged/

Today we received this information from Garrett Duncan, Farallon Program Biologist at Point Blue Conservation Science. www.pointblue.org  :

The cow you re-sighted with a Pink tag T562 was born on the SE Farallon Island during the 2010-2011 breeding season and hasn’t been seen since. It’s mother’s name in our database was Peggy and she was likely born in the 1998-1999 breeding season in a colony further to the south, Piedras Blancas. She frequented the island every year between 1999 and 2011.

 

Snow Storm

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10 Miles
  • Wind: 20-45 NE
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Waves over a metre today

Boats/Visitors

  • No visitors today, haven’t seen anyone out in today’s weather

Maintenance

  • Should’ve run the generator a little longer today but the wind was picking up, I’m waiting on a better flashlight, the elephant’s seals are scattered around and those pathways are pure ice

Ecological

  • I think the third mature female left today, the one who lost her pup
  • a juvenile female showed up, she was cuddling with the male pup but the alpha male started chasing her around and she took off
  • the female pup has moved away from the front door finally, she is by the cistern now
  • haven’t seen really seen many sea lions today

Pup adoption and census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-15 NE
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Small waves

Boats/Visitors

  • No visitors today, have been hearing the coast guard cruise by at night and do flare training

Maintenance

  • The desal was finally running last night although it was a slow process I got some fresh water out of it

Ecological

  • The male pups mother left the other night, it was nice to see the pups interacting yesterday but today they are more separated because the male pup has started nursing off the mother who lost her pup
  • One of the elephant seals managed to totally knock down the little green shed by the generator room, which is too heavy for me to put back together alone
  • definitely less sea lions now, but there is a lot of cormorants

Census

  • California Sea Lions – 114
  • Steller Sea Lions – 42
  • Harbour Seal – 21
  • Elephant Seal – 3 male, 1 female plus 2 pups, 1 female, 1 male
  • Cormorants – 528
  • Gulls – 130
  • Black Turnstones – 34
  • Eagle – 16
  • Oyster Catchers – 8
  • Harlequin Ducks – 10
  • Geese – 21

Snow and Coast guard

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-15 NE
  • Sky: Clear and Sunny
  • Water: A bit choppy, no big waves

Boats/Visitors

  • Guy came by today to deliver fuel and help me with the desalinator, I had some freezing issues with it
  • Coast Guard also dropped by in their helicopter to do some lighthouse maintenance

Maintenance

  • I ran the generator for awhile last night, will do so again tonight
  • tried to run desal but had a freezing issue so will try again when it warms up a bit

Ecological

  • The pup that is alone right now decided the front door was a good place to sleep so I’ve been using the side door
  • the elephants don’t seem too bothered by the snow
  • there are about 3 males around right now, the alpha chases the other two off when they get close

Storming

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 35-45 SW
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Waves at least a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • I have been very busy with courses and training which is why there has been a lack of posts lately but I am finally caught up and will be posting regularly, will walk around and count the animals once it is not storming anymore

Maintenance

  • I have been trying to keep up with the desalinating, the desalinator itself is running very slowly so it has to be run regularly, so I hope it lasts a little longer
  • running the generator to full charge has also been difficult because it takes so long and I run it after sunset but I haven’t lost power lately so that’s good

Ecological

  • The first pups mother is not around anymore, she left a few days ago but the second pups mother is still here, I imagine she won’t be around for much longer either, the second pup is getting quite large
  • It’s nice when the moms are gone because the pups will start interacting with each other
  • As for the mom who lost her pup, she is still around and I have no idea how long she plans on being around for, she hasn’t really given any attention to the other pups but she is cuddly with the other mom, oddly the mom who killed her pup
  • still looks like there is quite a few sea lions around and a lot of cormorants

Pigeon Guillemot

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-15 SE
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Calm for the most part

Boats/Visitors

  • Guy and Alex came by today along with a couple visitors to collect the body of the deceased pup

Maintenance

  • I have barely scratched the surface with pressure washing, so much still needs to be done

Ecological

  • The third did not make it, it just never figured out how to nurse
  • the other two pups are doing great and are getting quite large
  • the pigeon guillemots are back, some of them even still have a bit of their winter plumage
  • still plenty of eagles around
  • will update census tomorrow and hopefully, the pigeons will still be around, sometimes they are here one day and gone the next and back the day after that, I would like to get some better close up photos of them

48 eagles

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-15 SW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Calm for the most part

Boats/Visitors

  • A few ecotours going by today, some divers went by yesterday

Maintenance

  • Plan on stacking firewood today, and top up the water tank, I’m hoping to start pressure washing soon

Ecological

  • The third pup, is covered in bite marks and I really don’t know how long it’ll last but at the moment its still alive but one of the other mothers keeps attacking it
  • Chunk is here but hasn’t really come up past the jetty, which is good I think he is scared of Bernard

Census

  • California Sea Lions – 232
  • Steller Sea Lions – 106
  • Harbour Seal – 21
  • Elephant Seal – 2 male, 3 female plus 3 pups, 1 female, 1 male, and the third gender is undetermined
  • Cormorants – 417
  • Gulls – 507
  • Black Turnstones – 44
  • Eagle – 48
  • Oyster Catchers – 28
  • Harlequin Ducks – 8
  • Ravens – 2