Tag Archives: elephant seal

E-seal update

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Chunk (Zeke) returns

Chunk (Zeke) returns

This morning I woke up to the grunts of our Number 2 rank male elephant seal known as Chunk (or Zeke). Looking much larger than last year, he let everyone know he arrived, threw his weight around, then crashed out for a late-morning snooze. I wonder if Misery is far behind…

Old Bertha is blind in one eye.

Old Bertha is blind in one eye.

 

 

Old mama Bertha is almost finished her moult and will likely be off to replenish her fat reserves in any day now. In this picture you can see her blind eye.

A juvenile from Piedras Blancas, California

A juvenile from Piedras Blancas, California

 

 

 

 

This scruffy little juvenile arrived for it’s moult from Piedras Blancas, California, as evidenced by its tags.

Loving the Grass!

Loving the Grass!

 

 

 

 

I counted 16 on Great Race this morning roughly 50/50 male to female ratio.

Elephant seals lined up on the centre of Great Race Island

Elephant seals lined up on the centre of Great Race Island

 

 

 

 

Good times with amigos…

FoER Field Trip ——–May 12, 2013

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The Friends of Ecological reserves sponsored a field trip to Race Rocks On Sunday May 12. Chris Blondeau, Director of Operations for Lester Pearson College operated the boat and Garry Fletcher led a  group of ten on a tour of the reserve. The following gallery of images shows some of the activities.

references:
The tagging of elephant seals indicating their origin:

The hurricane of 2006

 

 

Where do the gulls go at night?

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Glaucous-winged Gull

Glaucous-winged Gull

The Glaucous-winged Gulls (Larus Glauscens) is an almost ever-present fixture of Great Race Islet. This time of year from dawn to dark they can be seen occupying their potential nesting locations, building those nests, and settling territorial disputes with their neighbours. But many nights, when I head out to turn the generator off, I discover a silent and empty island; 300 gulls have simply disappeared, gone to some mysterious location I can only guess at. Do they prefer to sleep on the water? Do they feed on certain foods at night? What’s going on out there at night!

Sunset Soaring

Sunset Soaring

Regardless, I can tell you that Glaucous-winged Gulls are an extraordinary bird, at home on the lightest of breezes or duelling with the 50 knots gusts of an afternoon’s Westerly gale. Only in their ubiquitousness do we loose sight of their beauty and efficiency. They are masters of their realm.

 

 

 

The Hub of Activity

The Hub of Activity

In other news, yesterday there were 10 elephant seals in the yard and on the boatramp! This is a new record for Great Race. There are 4 young males, Bertha the mature female and 5 smaller females. A good-sized male is out on Middle Rock but it doesn’t look big enough to be Misery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Juvenile Bald Eagle

Juvenile Bald Eagle

Many eagles are in the reserve, most juveniles. I watched one hunt a gull this morning and was surprised how the eagle targeted an individual gull and chased it for over a kilometer out to sea before I lost sight of them both.

Ouch, ouch, ouch…

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Update: The young e-seal seems to be doing well. I was just in the water clearing kelp from near the jetty and was able to observe it closely. Elephant seals are extremely tough and resilient; its abrasions are almost fully healed already! The one change in its behaviour I have noticed is a reluctance to come ashore. He has spent the last 48 hours in the shallow water at the foor of the boat ramp.

Animals have accidents just like we do. I happened to witness a tumble this morning when a lounging juvenile elephant seal lost its bearings and fell from the jetty. I was trying to photograph pigeon guillemots, sitting on the rocks across from the seal. When I saw it tumble I ran over and at first glance thought it was dead. It was stuck pretty good and having a tough time rolling over. After 30 seconds of struggle I used my boot to help steady it until it could roll over… I am sure it would have made it on its own but I couldn’t watch it suffer in the position it was in, and it was clearly in some distress. I normally let nature’s dramas play out on their own but the jetty is a man-made object and contributed to the seal’s predicament…. At the moment the unhappy little tyke is recovering in the water and looks like it will be OK, but it has to be hurting. I’ll monitor its recovery. Here are the pictures:

Such a lovely morning until

 

 

 

 

 

Such a lovely morning until-2Such a lovely morning until-3Such a lovely morning until-4Such a lovely morning until-5Such a lovely morning until-7

Bertha is Back

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And more beautiful than ever!

Bertha and gang avoiding the strong Westerlies

Bertha and gang avoiding the strong Westerlies

Bertha's Scar

Bertha’s Scar

This morning 5 elephant seals were on the island, probably seeking some degree of shelter from the 35 knot Westerly wind that has been blowing all day. 4 are juveniles, but in the middle of the pile lies Bertha looking sleek and glossy-brown. She is easily identified by the large scar on her chest and her clouded left eye. Last year she arrived on Great Race on April 15th. I think she has been in the reserve for a little while now but I had not been able to identify her while she rested on Middle Rocks.

 

 

 

Biding their time...

Biding their time…

 

We appear to have about 300 Glaucous-winged Gulls on the island this spring. My estimate is that there are about 25% fewer individuals than last spring, when I counted about 200 breeding pairs. Other animals noted in the past few days have been several Dunlins, a small flock of Barn Swallows, a Whimbrel and what resembled a Solitary Sandpiper. I also saw for the first time a Mink (Mustela Vison) on Great Race; quite a swim for the little athlete!

Erik and I did an oil and filter change on the generator. Hopefully it will be the last one and we will soon be able to afford to install a wind generator to provide the last 20% of energy we require. We run the generator about 2.5 hours a day this time of year.

We had 3 groups of student this month, 2 roofers, 3 techs from Environment Canada, and several college staff. Tour boats and fisherfolk are being seen more regularly in the reserve as the nicer weather begins. We had to ask one group of fishers to pull their lines and leave the Reserve. Infractions are almost always due to ignorance and I am lobbying the government to post a few signs which, unattractive as they may be, could go a long way towards ameliorating those infractions.

Birdyfull Sunset

Birdyfull Sunset

Unsettled Weather

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The last few days have seen many extremes in weather, from 50 knot Westerlies with hail to gorgeous, clear, sunny and warm afternoons. I enjoy watching the squall fronts marching up the Juan de Fuca Strait, passing over me, and then moving on to affect Victoria.

Stunning cloudscapes
Stunning cloudscapes
Race Rocks Tidal Rips
Race Rocks Tidal Rips

We were visited by a red-tailed hawk a few days ago. I didn’t observe it preying upon anything; the gulls are a bit too big for it to take on I think….

Hawk landing on the Anemometer
Hawk landing on the Anemometer
Hawk perched on the Anemometer
Hawk perched on the Anemometer

There are about 15 Elephant Seals in the reserve at this time, mostly juveniles. 3 of them are using Great Race as their haul-out while the others are on Middle Rock and can be observed using the live webcams: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/video1.htm

3 Juvenile E-seals April 2013 including Tag 5086, a visitor from last spring.
3 Juvenile E-seals April 2013 including Tag 5086, a visitor from last spring.

 

Sea Otter at Race Rocks

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Misery has been off the main island and out of sight since about March 16.  A few female elephant seals have been around, there have been 4 or 5 on Middle rock for the past few days.esealsOn the 26th I saw a Sea Otter off the south side of the island.  It was mostly swimming on its back and at one point had a sea urchin it was eating on its belly. A few seals followed it as it swam towards middle rock.
See this file on one previous occurrence of Sea Otters at Race Rocks otter

Tomorrow is the last day of my 4 month shift at Race Rocks. Mike will be returning to take over.

Wildlife

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eagles

Bertha left the main island the night of the 16 and I have not seen her since.  She was on the island and mating with Misery for just over a week.  Zeke stayed around for the first few days and was very interested in the new arrival and activity but after being chased off by Misery a few times he left, I have not seen him in about a week.  Misery seems to still be looking for her sometimes.  He has been on the main island every day since Bertha arrived and seems to go off the island most nights.

The Pigeon Guillemots are becoming more frequent with a recent count of over 200, they stay mostly just offshore or in the intertidal zone and make their shrill calls.  A couple pairs of Black Brant Geese have also been showing up just offshore of the main rock.  Most days there are over half a dozen bald eagles in the reserve perched on the crane, the generator exhaust pipe, camera 5, on rocks, on the smaller islands, gliding in the air on the west winds, or chasing each other around.

Census, Monday Feb 18, 2013 Continue reading →

Tagged Pink N472

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This female elephant seal showed up on the ramp on Jan 23rd with pink tag N472.  I dont recall seeing her here before.  She wasnt very comfortable with people and left when we took a sea water sample.  She showed up again in the rocky bay on the south side of the island and stayed there for a few days before leaving again, havent seen her since so we are back to 0 females visible in the reserve.

esealpinktagN472 pinkN472