String Westerlies. Clear skies. Force 6-7. The barometer has been fairly steady all day. The forecast is for the strong westerlies to continue. Big tides this week, down to 0.3m and up to 2.3m. The current running around +/- 5 knots each day. 6 tour boats 2 halibut boats Animal Census Elephant seal: 20 Harbour Seal: 152 Steller Sea lion: 14 California Sea lion: 12 Eagle: 3 Canada Goose: 36 + 7 goslings Oyster Catcher: 8 Pigeon Guillemot: 161 Gull: 303 Continue reading
Tag Archives: elephant seal
Swiftsure day 2
Clouds with rain. Light winds. Force 3-4
The barometer has levelled out as of this evening. Strong westerlies forecasted for tomorrow, but for some reason today I just don’t think the forecast is right.
12 tour boats
2 halibut boats
The Swiftsure boats were steadily passing by all day with their colourful spinnakers flying in the light winds.
Business as usual in the reserve today. 3 Bald eagles in the am, two of the juveniles have really light coloured mottling. The Elephant seals are mostly behind the boat shed. ~20 California Sea lions have camped out on the rocks East of the jetty. The Canada Geese are roaming the island in a slightly angry and aggressive pack. The gulls are getting a bit defensive about their nest sites, which means they are starting to attack me as I walk around the island. Lots of jellies in the water by the jetty at high tide.
-finished bathroom mini-reno
-finished spring cleaning Keeper’s House
Injured Steller Sea lion
Clear skies. Strong West winds. Force 6-7.
Barometer was rising most of the day, started to drop around 1200. West gale warning continues for tomorrow as a low pressure moves towards the mainland.
9 tour boats
2 recreational boats passed through the reserve
Yesterday, around midday, an injured Steller Sea lion arrived at Great Race. I saw it swimming through the current below the West cliffs while I was looking for transect pegs. It sussed out the boat ramp (which was full of Elephant seals) and then settled just East of the boat ramp, not far from the crane. It was in the same spot this morning, and stayed there all day. It has a salmon flasher caught in its mouth, and large wounds on both sides. Garry Fletcher suggested it might be an injury from a shark or orca bite. A lot of tour boats have gone through the reserve these past two days, right past this Sea lion, so I expect that it has been thoroughly documented in many people’s vacation photographs.
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- Entangled Sea lion
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- Entangled Sea lion
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- Entangled Sea lion
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- Entangled Sea lion
Clear
Clear skies. Moderate West wind. Force 4.
Barometer has been rising most of the day. String west winds are supposed to continue.
9 tour boats
3 halibut boats on the edge of the reserve
A lot of the Elephant seals have pretty much moulted, but they are still hanging out here. There are still a few seals that have just started moutling. One is the big male, one is a female that just arrived on Great Race this week, and there are two juveniles that are just starting to moult around their eyes.
This nice weather means that I don’t have to run the generator very often, mostly because I don’t have to have it on to run the desalinator. I’ve been turning it on for a hour and a half every 5-or-so days just to keep it starting nicely (when it went down for 10 days it took a few tries to get it started). I still check the voltage read-out on the battery bank first thing in the morning, and again around 1600 just to make sure everything is working a it should be.
-Transect peg scavenger hunt
-Finished mapping R. Tracyi
Tour Boats
Clear. Light West wind. Force 3
Barometer is falling.
23 tour boats
1 dive boat
3 recreational boats passed through
I think the marine tourism season has come into full swing in Victoria. Around 1530 about 10 tour boats passed through the reserve from the West heading back to Victoria. At one point there were 5 boats in middle channel.
There was 16 Elephant seals on Great Race today. They did their usual routine where they are in the water first thing in the morning and then make their way back ashore. Most of them a lying behind the Boat Shed now. Then around midday most of them head back down to the water to cool off. A few of them spent the whole afternoon in the shallows by the jetty.
Marine Science Exam 2
Overcast. Light to moderate West winds. Force 4. Barometer peaked just above 1015.0 hPa and then started to fall. Forecast for West winds tomorrow. 6 tour boats The second half of the marine science students came out this morning. Because they were a large group it took two boats so both Erik and Chris came out. There was enough water in the morning for the boats to dock next to the jetty to drop the students. The exam has a few stations with tasks and activities that have to be accomplished to answer the questions. There were Elephant seals by the jetty and California sea lions barking on the West side of the island during the entire exam. A few meter sticks were accidentally sacrificed to the current. When they were picked up Erik had to nose Second Nature up to the jetty and the students had to jump on the bow.
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- Monitoring changes in tide height next to Anita’s Isle
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- Laura and Anne in action on the West side of Great Race
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- Population ecology on the jetty
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- Tidepool ecology on the North side of Great Race
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- Hard to focus on the exam while Elephant seals frolic about
Animal Census
Clear skies, variable light to no wind. Force 0.
Barometer is falling. Forecast is for light to moderate Easterlies.
9 tour boats
2 recreational fishing boats passed through
Animal Census
Steller Sea lion: 24
California Sea lion: 8
Elephant Seal:30
Harbour Seal: 111
Eagle: 3
Canada Goose: 39 adults, 8 goslings
Gull: 180
Oyster Catcher: 10
White Fronted Goose: 1
Pigeon Guillemots: 34
This is the highest number of Elephant seals we have ever counted in the reserve. This morning there were 2 juvenile eagles, and one adult. I have found 3 Oyster Catcher nests: one by the Keeper’s House, one on the bluff West of the jetty, and one on the rocks by the energy building. The Cackling goose is gone. I took the boat past the West bluffs yesterday on my way home and there is no sign of Pigeon Guillemot nesting yet.
Population Growth of Elephant Seals (Mirounga angustirostris) at Race Rocks, 1990-2014
The following is a draft copy of a graph I am working on to illustrate the growth of the elephant seal population at Race Rocks over the past few years. The information has been retrieved from logs of current and past Ecoguardians and photos and notes taken over the years.
To be continued: G. Fletcher
Calm
Clear skies. Light NE in the am, glassy calm by evening. Force 0.
Barometer dropped a little, but levelled off this evening at 1024 hPa. Forecast is for moderate Easterlies tomorrow.
4 tour boats in the afternoon.
5 bald eagles this morning. The Elephant seals were in the water again first thing this morning. They came back up onto the island around 0900, and then went back for a late afternoon cool down. A new juvenile came ashore today with some very uncomfortable looking scabby-molt. The large male is next to the diesel bunker. Many of the seal are fully moulted now and look sleek and healthy. I’m curious to see how long they stick around. Many of the Steller Sea lions were not in the reserve this afternoon when I came back on the boat. No sign of Guillemot nesting on the bluff yet.
Off station for most of today for groceries and errands.
Took in garbage and recycling.
Took hedge trimmer into maintenance for servicing.
Traded broken VHF antenna for a working antenna.
Elephant seals
Light variable North wind most of the day, blowing strong West this evening. Clouds and intermittent rain all day. Force 1 in the am, Force 5 this evening. The barometer levelled out just above 1000 hPa around 1800. The forecast is for strong West, diminishing to slightly-less strong SW overnight.
4 tour boats
3 halibut boats on the edge of the reserve
I’m used to seeing the little zodiacs out for the marine tours, but there are a couple tour boats that are really really big. I usually catch them out of the corner of my eye and have to do a double take. It’s a bit like suddenly seeing a small house sitting off the island where it is normally just empty water. It’s crazy that a boat that big will casually pass past the end of the jetty, through a narrow channel that is ripping with the fastest currents on Southern Vancouver Island.
The males Elephant seals are more active and aggressive and have lots of little sparing battles throughout the day. The females might growl, but otherwise they are pretty chill. There doesn’t seem to be any patterns in groups in terms of sex, with the males and females spread out pretty evenly. Although the larger males tend to spend more time away from the group. There are still 2 small juveniles (nicknamed Jellybean and Peanut since they are so darn round and cute). One of the young adult males spent some time ‘chasing’ me while I scoped out the other E-seals. He also chased some sea gulls for a while. They definitely don’t hesitate to growl at the Canada Geese or Gulls when they are too close or fly over. I’ve been keeping my eye out for any E-seal flipper tags, but haven’t seen any in a while. Lots of Pigeon Guillemots today.