Tag Archives: elephant seal

Rain and Foghorn

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Weather

  • Visibility: 1 mile
  • Wind: 5-10 knots NE
  • Water: 1′ chop
  • Sky: fog, rain most of the day

Ecological

  • Chuckles attempted to mate with the grieving mother on Great Race.
  • Chunk appeared to be mating with the mother on Middle Rock.
  • Lady, mum and pup still on Great Race.

Maintenance

  • Continued cleaning in the Student’s House.
  • Discovered a leak in the main house; positioned a bucket to catch the water.
  • Did the old method of water sampling along with the regular one.

Boats

  • One fishing boat passed through the reserve today. It appeared to be going too fast, but conditions were worsening rapidly, so it appeared they were just trying to get into harbour.
Fishing boat speeding?

Going too fast?

Other

  • The foghorn went off today from 12:37 until about 13:00.
  • Discovered quite a bit of water on the floor in the entrance ways to the Energy Building. I checked for leaks in the ceiling but found none; I presume the water seeped in under the door. With near constant rain all day, the entire island is turning into one big puddle.

Some of the water in the energy building

Census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 5 miles, later 15
  • Wind: 5-10 knots SE, late afternoon up to 33 knots from the West
  • Water: rippled, later wavy
  • Sky: foggy in the morning, overcast in the afternoon

Ecological

  • Chunk spent the day on Middle Rock with the mum and pup.
  • Lady, Grieving mum, mum and pup, were in the same spots on Great Race.
  • Chuckles arrived on Great Race in the late afternoon.
  • Conducted a census.
  1. California Sea Lions: 87
  2. Northern/Stellar Sea Lions: 50
  3. Harbour Seals: 21
  4. Elephant Seals: 8
  5. Cormorants: 742 (of the 742, I think that at least 10 were Male Brandt’s, 131 Double Crested, and 200 Pelagic; my identification is improving, but many were either too far away, or indistinguishable to me.)
  6. Seagulls: 605 (131 had darker plumage and therefore must be immature gulls?)
  7. Pigeon Guillemots: 50
  8. Bald Eagles: 30 (23 juveniles, 7 adults)
  9. Black Oystercatchers: 13
  10. Canada Geese: 10
  11. Harlequin Ducks: 8 (4 male, 4 female)
  12. Black Turnstones: 6
  13. Surfbird: 3 (unless they were Rock Sandpipers?)
  14. Raven: 2
  15. American Pipit: 2

Maintenance

  • Did some more cleaning in the Student’s House.

Boats

  • In the morning, one fishing boat passed through the reserve. The occupants did not fish in the reserve; they were going slow and appeared to be observing.
  • In the afternoon, one large eco-tour boat came through the reserve.

Daffodils and Rain

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots SE, later N
  • Water: rippled
  • Sky: overcast, rain in the afternoon

Ecological

  • One lone seagull has been pecking away at the weaner. Nature at work.
  • Chunk attempted to mate with the grieving mother. Then he left the island at 17:00.
  • Great Race mum and pup, Lady, and Middle Rock mum and pup still present. No sign of Chuckles today.
  • Noticed about 12 harbour seals out on the rocks. It’s not everyday that they’re here.
  • The daffodils started to open up today. Purple crocus and various other flowers have been open for over a week.

Maintenance

  • Started organizing and tidying up the Student’s House.

Boats

  • The HMCS Whitehorse was out near Albert Head in the morning.
  • Two eco-tours came by in the afternoon. The second boat seemed too close to a group of sea lions, half of whom then stampeded into the water.

Highest recorded temperature, Fuel inventory, and Supplies

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Weather

  • Visibility: 5 miles, later 15
  • Wind: 5-10 knots, later 25, West
  • Water: rippled
  • Sky: rain and/or sun throughout the day
  • According to the Davis Weather Station, today had the highest recorded temperature at Race Rocks for any February 12th since the station was set up in 2006. Today’s high was 11.6 C, beating last years record of 9.8 C.

Ecological

  • In the morning Chuckles went over to Weaner’s corpse and looked at him, rolled him around, and sat on him. Then he left the island.
  • Chunk came back and rejoined the two females and pup.
  • Middle Rock mum and pup still there.
  • I decided to start calling the new female Lady.

Maintenance

  • Conducted a fuel inventory list for Jeff of Maintenance. Good news: there is more than enough fuel to last until after I leave.
  • Scraped rust off of the two empty 55 gallon diesel barrels and spray painted them to extend their useable life.

Boats

  • Jeff and an assistant came by at about 14:00 to drop off food supplies, a ramp for the diesel tanks, and to have a look at the Davis Weather Station wind reader. Unlike the other day though, the wind reader seemed to be working just fine.
  • One eco-tour boat came by at about 15:00. It seemed to be closer to the sea lions than the guidelines allow.

Too close?

Sea Lion Jumping

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10 miles
  • Wind: 15-25 knots NE
  • Water: 2′ chop
  • Sky: overcast in the morning, raining after noon.

Ecological

  • Observed several sea lions surfing and jumping arcs in the water by the South Seal Rocks in the afternoon.
  • Chunk and Chuckles were both on Great Race today.
  • The new female has moved to the bottom of the lighthouse stairs. She needs a better name.
  • The fourth mum and pup, and the grieving mother, are still together along the path.
  • Mum and pup still visible on Middle Rock.
  • Chunk went into the water at 17:00.

Maintenance

  • Stacked the collected driftwood by the tank hut to store for future firewood processing.
  • Cleared logs off the ramp once.

Other

  • An ambulance helicopter flew over the islands at about 13:00.

Ambulance Helicopter

Male Elephant Seals: Island Swap

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 0-10 knots, at various times from the N, W, S, and E.
  • Water: calm
  • Sky: overcast, then rain, then sunny.

Ecological

  • Chuckles spent the day lying on the grass on the SE corner of Great Race.
  • Chunk attempted to mate with the grieving mother in the morning.
  • After mating, Chunk chased the new female and seemed to wound her slightly, before giving up the chase and going into the water.
  • Chunk spent the rest of the day on Middle Rock with the mother and pup.
  • The newest (fourth) pup is still doing well.

Maintenance

  • Finished stacking firewood under the stairs of the Students’ House.
  • Hauled away many small chunks of wood from near the ramp.
  • Noticed that the wind direction meter seems to be malfunctioning at the Davis Weather Station. Looking into what can be done.

Boats

  • One eco-tour boat passed by at 14:00 heading West, before returning at 15:30. At times it seemed to be closer to the rocks than is permitted.
Closer than the mammal watching guidelines?

Closer than the mammal watching guidelines?

New Female Elephant Seal

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 10 knots E
  • Water: 1′ chop
  • Sky: clear

Mt Baker & Gulls

Ecological

  • There was a new female elephant seal in front of the house this morning. She appears to be too small to be pregnant. Perhaps she already birthed a pup elsewhere and departed, or maybe she is too young to give birth yet.
  • The other four elephant seals remained over by the path all day.
  • Chuckles, mum and pup still on Middle Rock.
  • Spotted about 12 harbour seals on South Rock/swimming nearby.

Maintenance

  • Continued stacking the newly prepared firewood under shelter so it can dry.
  • Picked up plastic and styrofoam from the ramp/jetty area.
  • Vacuumed up hundreds of fruit flies in the basement near the composting toilet. I think from now on this will be a daily chore, rather than a maintenance action worthy of note.

Boats

  • The HMCS Ottawa was out again most of the day.
  • Made the appropriate inquiries into yesterday’s pleasure craft fishing and eco-tour boat observations.

Other

  • There seemed to be some mild DND blasting around noon.

 

 

Weaner deceased

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 12-17 knots E
  • Water: 1’ chop
  • Sky: clear
  • Beautiful day. Mt. Baker was clearly visible.

Ecological

  • When I got up in the morning, I discovered that the weaner elephant seal was dead. His head had been crushed in during the night by several bites. Chunk had blood stains around his mouth, while both the females had blood stains along their bodies. All 4 living elephant seals were across the path from the dead weaner.
  • Chuckles was with the mum and pup on Middle Rock, who still appear to be doing well.
  • In the afternoon Chunk went over to the dead weaner and rolled him over onto his back.
  • Saw a sea lion with the number “2” branded onto its back. The remainder of the sea lion was underneath a pile of the great beasts, so I could not see the full branding number.
  • There appeared to be half as many cormorants today as there were yesterday, but a similar amount of seagulls.

Maintenance

  • Cleared logs off the ramp once.
  • Cleaned bird droppings off the solar panels.
  • Reorganized the dry firewood and started storing the new firewood prepared by Alex.
  • Vacuumed up hundreds of fruit flies in the basement near the composting toilet.

Boats

  • One pleasure craft containing 4 people who were recreational fishing appeared to be just inside the boundary of the rock fish conservation area.
  • Two eco-tour boats came by this afternoon. The first one seemed to go too close to the islands, at one point a mere stones throw away from the dock. The second one also looked rather close at times.
  • Two navy ships were out and about near William Head. HMCS Whitehorse (705) and HMCS Ottawa (341).

Marine Mammals Hauled out on Race Rocks Jan 2014-Feb 2016

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This graph represents the 6 marine mammal species which haul out on Great Race Rocks in the Race Rocks Ecological reserve.  providing the population numbers and the time of year  CLICK to enlarge. The data was obtained from the Posts on census done by the Ecoguardians at Race Rocks.mammalcraph

The graph below represents the Elephant seal population at Race Rocks Ecological reserve with data taken from the Ecoguardian logs for January 2014 to January 2016. Click to enlarge.

elephantseal2014-2015

First Official Day On The Job

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After training last weekend, and a general review yesterday, I, Riley Strother, have now taken over as Ecoguardian from Alex Fletcher.

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 15-20 knots NE
  • Water: 1’ chop
  • Sky: overcast

Ecological

  • The first female elephant seal to give birth left the island at 7:30 in the morning and did not return. As such the first pup has now become a weaner.
  • Chunk appeared to mate with the female who lost her pup.
  • The newest pup is quite vocal and seems to be doing well. Chunk and the other female went along the path after mating to inspect the new mother and pup.
  • Alex was able to identify the number on the yellow flipper tag attached to the newest mother: 5928
  • There was quite a disturbance of seagulls and cormorants today when a raven with a small fish in its beak was chased all around the island by two eagles. Eventually the raven managed to land and eat the fish.
  • Conducted a census.
  1. California Sea Lions: 88
  2. Northern/Stellar Sea Lions: 53 (many sea lions were swimming in the waves and thus impossible to count)
  3. Elephant Seals: 8 (Chunk, weaner, grieving mother, new mum and pup, Middle Rock: Chuckles, mum and pup.)
  4. River Otter: 1
  5. Cormorants: 615
  6. Seagulls: 512
  7. Bald Eagles: 9 (7 juvenile, 2 adults)
  8. Raven: 1
  9. Crow: 1
  10. Black Oystercatchers: 6
  11. Harlequin Ducks: 4
  12. Canada Geese: 6
  13. Black Turnstones: 29

Maintenance

  • Cleared logs off the ramp two times.
  • Lowered the boat trailer because the cable coil was quite criss crossed. Managed to recoil the cable in a more orderly fashion.
  • Vacuumed up hundreds of fruit flies in the basement near the composting toilet.

Boats

  • Alex and Virginie left in the morning.
  • Surprised to see no eco-tourism boats about on such a nice Sunday.