Tag Archives: elephant seal

Census, end of the fog and more stellers

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Today was the first day in over a week where the island wasn’t covered in dense fog for most of the day. I was finally able to get a good look at what was happening on and around the island.

Weather

  • Visibility: 10 miles
  • Wind: 20-25 knts W
  • Sky: Clear
  • Water: Ripply
  • Heavy fog this morning, lifted by mid-afternoon

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • A few ecotour boats and a couple of private boats as well

Technical

  • I installed bird deterrent strips on all the solar panels this morning. It took a couple of hours of drilling and screwing in strips of wire, but all the panels are now protected from seagulls. This should drastically reduce the frequency with which the panels will have to be cleaned.

Mammal Notes

  • Once the fog lifted, I got a good look at the western rocks and looks like the steller population has doubled! There seem to be several more large bulls. Pictures below.
  • The injured seal that was resting their the jetty for the last week or so, seems to be more mobile now. I saw it playing in the water by itself this evening.
  • The injured california sea lion doesn’t seem in any better condition. It’s getting skinnier every day.
  • I found the spot where the two seal pups like to sleep! I found them dozing on the southeast corner of the island, in a small and shallow inlet.

Bird Notes

  • The seagulls have been gradually getting less and less aggressive. I spent almost 6 hours outdoors today without getting hit on the head – I’ll take it as a good sign!
  • Most of the seagull chicks are now at least 1/2 the size of the adults – some appear almost as big as the adults! However, there are still a few really small ones, especially near the water, that are about a week old. I witnessed an adult seagull trying to kill another’s week-old baby this afternoon.
  • I spotted two geese on the island after a long time

Census

  • Elephant Seals
    • Male = 2
    • Female = 0
  • Sea Lions
    • California = 3
    • Steller = 30
  • Seagulls = 450 adults (a big part of them remain on the smaller rock islands during low tide), ~100 babies (hard to estimate)
  • Pigeon Guillemot = 90
  • Eagles = 0
  • Oystercatchers = 12 adults
  • Harbour Seals = 50 adults, 2 (maybe more) babies
  • Geese = 2
  • Black turnstone = 72

Census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 25-30 knts W
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: small white caps

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • A few ecotour boats in the area

Marine Mammals

  • All the Elephant seals seemed to be huddled up on the north side of the student residence, possibly to stay out of the wind

Census

  • Elephant Seals
    • Male = 4
    • Female = 0
  • Sea Lions
    • California = 1
    • Steller = 0
  • Seagulls = 200
  • Pigeon Guillemot = 90
  • Eagles = 5
  • Oystercatchers = 9
  • Harbour Seals = 65
  • Geese = 2

Working on the energy systems

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 25-35 knts W
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: 1-2 meter waves with white caps

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Kyle brought in a team of PTTP technicians to the island to help finish our new energy system wiring and to optimize our solar array for the greatest efficiency. Additionally, we also carried some of the older lead-acid batteries from the battery room to the tank room, from where they will be loaded on to a boat for the main island.
  • Kyle was also able to repair the Boston Whaler onsite – looks like the issue was corrosion on the contacts to the battery and the switch. He was able to sand the corrosion away and the electronics jumped to life!

Marine Mammals

  • The sea lions have completely disappeared over the last 2-3 days. Can’t see a single one around now
  • Elephant seal counts are at 2 females and 4 males – 3 of the males seemed to be all huddled up next to the student house, possibly to escape the wind.

Pelican and new male elephant seal

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knts NW
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Ripply

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Garry Fletcher (ER Warden) and the IT team from Pearson College came ashore this morning. The IT team worked on replacing some of the wiring at the top of the lighthouse while I gave Garry a brief rundown of the happenings on the island.
  • A group of 9 visitors from the Kule Foundation came for a tour later in the afternoon. They spent close to an hour exploring every part of the island, including the top of the lighthouse, as Guy and I provided information, facts and stories.
  • After a Seaking Adventures boat violated the rules of the reserve day before yesterday and went into the eastern channel, I called the company this evening to give a warning. They explained that they have a new driver who is new to the area, but assured me that there would be no more boating violations on their part.
  • HMCS Edmonton was headed towards Pedder Bay this evening, along with a tail of two hard-hulled inflatables.

Bird Notes

  • A Pelican spent a good part of the afternoon on the island, just north of the student house. I haven’t seen this Pelican here before in the last 10 days that I have been at Race Rocks.
  • More seagull eggs. None hatched yet. Seagulls are relatively less aggressive than usual for this time of the year.

Marine Mammals

  • Garry spotted a new male Elephant Seal on the island today. It’s a fairly young one with remarkably unmarked/scarred skin. We believe that’s because it may have recently finished molting.

Very windy day

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 20-30 knts W
  • Sky: Partly cloudy
  • Water: White caps, 1-2 meters
  • Some light showers during the afternoon

Boats/Visitors

  • Just a couple of ecotour boats today due to the strong wind.
  • Not much private boat traffic either

Birds

  • The seagulls have gotten noticeably more aggressive but still no signs of offspring

Marine Animals

  • There were four Elephant seals on the main island today – one male and three female. The male and one female seemed to occasionally get aggressive with each other, but no harm was done to either.
  • One of the females still seems to be undergoing the molting process.
  • Elephant Seal tagged B198 is still on the island and has been in the same spot over the last few days.

Overall, quite an uneventful day.

Sunday

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 20-30 NW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Waves 1-2 metres

Boats/Visitors

  • quite a few ecotours went by today

Ecological

  • About a dozen elephant seals out there today, one young male, the rest female
  • looks like there is a few oyster catcher nests around, I saw the one by the house awhile ago, I hope to see them hatch before I leave at the end of the month but we will see

Final Exam

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 15-25 NW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Waves under a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • a few ecotours went by today
  • Lauras marine science class had their final exam here today which was about 45 students so that was fun

Ecological

  • about a dozen elephant seals, one male still here, the rest female
  • I am so sure I got the final goose nest today and am hopefully done addling

 

Turkey Vulture

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 10-40 NW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Choppy, under a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • a few ecotours went by today

Ecological

  • Another tagged female elephant seal showed up today with a tag on her but I couldn’t get a good look at the tag, just that it was green
  • A turkey vulture flew around a few times before leaving
  • a killdeer was running around

Census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 15-25 SW this morning, down to 5-15 SW this afternoon
  • Sky: Very Sunny
  • Water: Waves about a metre this morning, to flat in the afternoon

Boats/Visitors

  • a few boats went by today, saw some tour boats, fishing boats and sailboats

Ecological

  • Quite a few of the sea lions were in the water today, with their fins up, soaking in the sunlight

Census

  • Stellar Sea Lions – 35
  • California Sea Lions – 38
  • Harbour Seals – 27
  • Elephant Seals – 2 females and 3 males
  • Gulls – 213
  • Cormorants – 24
  • Eagles – 5
  • Harlquin Ducks – 14
  • Black Turnstones – 18
  • Black Oyster Catchers – 8
  • Geese – 12
  • Fox Sparrows – 2