Tag Archives: elephant seal

Bertha returns

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Wind was gusting up to 45 NMPH W overnight, blowing 30 NMPH in the morning and diminished to calm by afternoon. The sky cleared up during the day.

Bertha arrived back on Great Race today, she looks good and pretty big. In 2011 she gave birth to a pup (Squall)  here on January 14. The other elephant seals are on Middle rock, it looks like 4 females and Chunk out there. There seemed to be another large female next to Chunk.

See the Elephant seal Index for other Elephant seal births at Race Rocks

A coast guard helicopter flew over in the morning, one ecotour vessel entered the reserve in the afternoon.

-cleaned panels
-replaced flag
-finished month end report
-did animal census
-cleaned cam 5 dome
-gathered drift wood from East shore
-cut, chopped wood

Westerly, speeding, visitors

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Monday a west wind picked up over night and was blowing over 20 knots most of the day with gusts over 40 knots.  The wind diminished over night and was calm on Tuesday.  I had been planning on picking up some guests Monday but it was too windy so rescheduled for Tuesday morning. Tuesday was partly sunny and today there has been a light N wind and partly cloudy sky. I went off island today for a short christmas visit with family.

On Tuesday a private sports fishing boat traveled through the reserve well in excess of the 7knot speed limit (within 400m of rocks). I signalled to the boat to slow down, they saw me and slowed down but not enough. I photographed the boat and got ID numbers and made a request to Pedder Bay Marina to check if it was a boat returning to their marina and if they could speak to the operator about the speed limit in the reserve.

On Sunday Chunk left great race and returned to Middle rock. There has been one moulting female elephant seal hauled out in the rocks in south bay.

-cut fire wood
-pulled in log from water
-cleaned solar panels
-2 visitors (arrived Tuesday)

Change of Guardian, Snow

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I got a ride out to Race Rocks today with Erik to start my winter shift.  Pedder Bay was covered in ice up to around the college’s main docks.  Courtney updated me on operating procedures and returned with Erik. There was supposed to be a chimney cleaner coming too but it has been snowing since this morning and it was too slippery.

Chunk was in the water by the jetty when we arrived and came up the ramp. He is so big that i thought it was the alpha male, Misery, at first. The scars, from getting chewed up by Misery, are visible on his back.

The snow stopped before sunset so I cleaned off the solar panels. The tilted panels were partly clear whereas the horizontal panels had accumulated about an inch of snow.

Elephant seal!!

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Clear skies. Strong NE winds. 4-5ft wind waves this morning. The wind and the waves eased by the evening.

This weather is making my departure day a bit unsure, but it is totally worth it because it made the HUGE male elephant seal that’s been lounging on Middle Rock come over to Great Race. He spent the day on the grass next to the energy building. Whoa! He is way bigger than I thought. Despite his size, it is impossible to take him seriously with that massive nose. Since I have never been formally introduced to the Elephant seal I am assuming that this is the one that previous Eco-guardians named Chunk  because of the scars from Misery on his back.

See sparring in previous post https://www.racerocks.ca/2013/06/10/les-miserables/

At lunch time today the River otter was rolling around in the sun on the wood platform by the crane. I think it lives under the walkway.

-worked on SOPs
-Did a final shift-change tidy

Mirounga angustirostris: Taxonomy and Image Index File

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 4 videos of the elephant seal birth in 2016

 

 

 

Announcement in the Log – Ecological reserves –Update on Elephant seals   Birth of this years elephant seal pup occurred as scheduled on January 14, 2016, same date as 2014.

The Jan 2015 pup was stillborn.

The posts for the follow-up of this pup are at   https://www.racerocks.ca/e-seal-pup-born/

All posts on elephant seals at Race Rocks from the website. All posts on elephant seal births at Race Rocks

Male

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male elephant seal

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Clear skies. Moderate NE winds.

I’ve finally seen a large male elephant seal. He is camped out on the top of Middle Rock. You can see him using Camera 5.
There have been juvenile eagles in the morning for the past week, and an adult has taken up on the top of one of the South Rocks for the past few days .

This weekend in the reserve there were:
Tour boats: 3
Dive boats: 2

-SOPs
-Coding Recreational fishing data

 

visitors

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Light winds. Clear skies.
Two Eagles this morning.
The Canada Geese have all left the reserve.
There are two elephant seals on the boat ramp.
 

Jamieson and Jer are out for the night
-Worked on SOPs
-Replaced boat ratchet winch
-Put the rest of the paving stones on the boat dolly

 

Bertha

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'Cranky Pants' (aka scabby molt) resting next to the desalinator shed. Her skin is healing and she is less cranky.

‘Cranky Pants’ (aka scabby molt) resting next to the desalinator shed. Her skin is healing and she is less cranky.

-Issues with underwater camera. Checked junction boxes and lines from jetty to tank house.
-Pressure washed South side of keepers house. Waiting for rain to fill water tank to continue.

fogscapes

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Juvenile male elephant seal

Juvenile male elephant seal

There was a dead California sea lion floating by the boat ramp this morning.
Brand: U_95 (the first number couldn’t be read due to damage)
-ran fire pump, washed walkways around tank shed and boat shed
-ran desalinator
-organized first aid supplies

birds

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Morning fog. Moderate East wind. Sunny the rest of the day.
Tour boats: 4

It seems that, as the sea lions are leaving, more gulls and birds are moving onto Greater Race Rock. There have also been a lot of dense groups of gulls and diving birds on the water in and around the reserve.

The juvenile elephant seal with scabby molt (aka ‘Cranky Pants’) has returned to the boat ramp. Her skin has healed up a bit since she was last here a few weeks ago.

Kayakers next to South Rock

Kayakers next to South Rock-This kind of approach regularly scares birds and the seals and sea lions form the rocks.

-took the boston whaler in, traded it for a zodiac
-loaded the boat dolly onto Second Nature with Erik
-ran desalinator
-cleaned and scraped the zodiac
-tidied basement