Tag Archives: elephant seal

New and old faces

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Glaucous-winged Gull with chicks

The past few days have seen a good deal of development with the wildlife on the reserve. Newborn gulls and elephant seals are still competing for the spotlight. The picture below of the gulls are the same three that Mike posted as newborns on his last post (June 29th) and luckily they have indeed been thriving since.

 

Hatching glaucous -winged gull chick

A few more are born each day and they can take hours to fully hatch.

 

 

 

 

 

Elephant seal with green tag #5086

Yesterday we had two new visiting elephant seals. One had a green tag which implies that it was tagged by a team in California, on an eco-reserve in Ano Nuevo. March 10th, Alex posted a photo of an elephant seal that had been tagged twice. This appears to be the same one (minus one of its tags). She’s done a beautiful job of moulting.

 

 

 

 

Bertha is back!

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Bertha is back after giving birth to Squall in January

Two nights ago on my way out to the jetty I was met by an elephant seal. I had originally thought it to be male but when it was on its back the following day I saw a scar that determined it was our beloved Bertha, the female who gave birth to Squall this past winter. She left early February after nursing her pup for a few of weeks and has finally made her way back to the reserve. She has gained a lot of weight since her last visit.

Another Elephant seal

Another elephant seal that has been camped near the generator room for the past number of days has remarkably made his way up past the lighthouse and towards the cistern. He has been fairly vocal today and I noticed a splash of blood on his mouth. He now sits closer to the house.

 

Dead Canada Goose

The Canadian geese have taken to grazing near the east side of the main house. This morning I found a dead juvenile which puts the total number of geese in the reserve (including adults) to 18.

 

 

 

June 26th Update

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Elephant seal in workshop

Hi, I’m Julie and I’m going to be taking over for Mike starting in July. Over the past week and a half he’s kindly been showing me the ropes of the place. More elephant seals have been visiting and currently we have about ten in the reserve. A couple of days ago, one crept into one of the buildings where we take the salinity measurements. He stayed for a number of hours and seemed very pleased to have found himself a cool, shaded, and sheltered area.  Fortunately, he left on his own accord and no damage was done. Mike and I will be sure to keep a closer eye on the doors in the future!

Basking Chunk

Our largest male, Misery, has alas begun to moult and has lost a significant amount of pelage in the past day and a half. Chunk, our second largest, has been losing weight and we predict he will take off and return to the sea in the next few days.

 

 

On another note, the red flags were put up on Bentinck Island yesterday morning and there have been 4 blastings today by the military. Although the elephant seals don’t seem to be bothered terribly, the hundreds of glaucous-winged gulls go haywire each time this happens before settling back down again.

Yesterday, Mike spotted humpbacks passing south of the reserve in the rain.

The Boys are Moulting

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SIx Pack Abs 6397 male

Juvenile Male and lighthouse

There has been a bit of a gender shuffle in the local elephant seal population. Only one female remains, finishing up her moult but several young males have appeared in their stead.

Chunk Beginning to Moult

This corresponds to what is reported in the literature. Misery has just the slightest pelage loss while Chunk is much further advanced…

  • April to May – Females and juveniles
  • May to June – Sub-adult males
  • July to August – Adult males

Metallic Coast Guard debris

 

I have been removing copper and lead debris from the foreshore and intertidal zone where the Coast Guard dumped them many years ago. Ignorance led to many unsound practices in the years proceeding the new environmental ethos. Both lead and copper are biocides and should not be left to leach into the beach and water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Animal Census First Sea Otter at Race Rocks

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Sea Otter in race ROcks Kelp Beds, photo by Adam Bird

Sea Otter in Race Rocks Kelp Beds, photo by Adam Bird on June 10/2012

Things have been fairly quite lately regarding birds and mammals here, though one of the eco-tour boats reported seeing a Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris) in a kelp bed on Monday! The percussive blasts from Rocky Point military testing range scared off most of the Sea Lions last Thursday and only a few have returned in the last couple days. A large pod of orca passed through and near the reserve on Tuesday. Thanks to Suna, Doris and Ishmael for the census.

Elephant Seals: about 10
Steller Sea Lions: 2
California Sea Lions: 2
Harbour Seals: 204
Glaucous-winged Gull: 246
Surfbirds: 18
Pigeon Guillemots: 108
Canada Goose: 13
Bald Eagle: 3
Black Oystercatcher: 12
Northwestern Crow: 1
Raven: 1
Sparrow: 4
Sea Otter: 1
Caspian Terns: 6
Herring Gulls: 20

Explosions Don’t Belong Here

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I am rather annoyed to put it mildly. The military base at Rocky Point, an ordinance training facility is responsible today for about 10 of the loudest explosions I have heard since being here. The windows shook, and I could feel the percussion in my chest. As a result all the sea lions appear to have left the reserve, and half the juvenile elephant seals made for the water. The military has a huge piece of land so why do they have to practice on the beach of the incredibly beautiful Bentinck Island directly across from the reserve? If they need to practice why can’t they do it inland where the noise and pollution can be contained? Who are they accountable to? Besides the disruption it causes to animal life, it also means there are no animals for the tour operators to share with their clients. In other words we all lose.

Elephant Seals: up close and personal video

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Mike Robinson took this video of Misery today:

 

Get up close and personal with a Northern Elephant Seal at Race Rocks Ecological Reserve. Lots of facts and personal observations of these magnificent marine mammals, the second largest carnivore on the planet after their Southern cousins.

 

 

David Attenborough did this in depth video of Elephant Seals  from Elephant Seals /Life in the Freezer/ BBC earth

 

Also this video  Elephant sealls of Piedras Blacas , California by Brian Caserio iis very informative.

 

Bull Misery has returned

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The big boss is back. Misery (Mystery as I like to call him) has returned to the island and has been snoozing and rolling his generous bulk around the grassy areas. He appears to have gained 100 kgs or more in his time away. Wherever they are going after their onshore fasting, and it can’t be too far, the seals appear to have no problem finding abundant food resources. Fortunate for them that their prey is at a depth most predators can’t reach, nor is that prey (squids, skates, rays and some crustaceans) commercially hunted. Elephant seals appear to love grass, which is unusual as most of the places they live don’t have any vegetation. But their pleasure is apparent to anyone who watches them. Yesterday there were 10 individuals here, a new record.

The younger bull Chunk (named for the hideous propeller scars on his back) stays out of the way but Misery seems less aggressive without any potentially fertile females around. A new juvenile with the tag 6355 showed up today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is hard to tell if the oystercatchers have laid their eggs yet because they are so secretive about their nests, and use very vocal and visual threat displays to distract would be predators and naturalists. Normally 2 to 3 eggs are laid in this nest, these are very hard and can even survive being submerged by a high tide or very high water levels. Incubation takes around 26–28 days. The chicks are capable of leaving the nest after one day. I once witness an acquaintance of mine accidentally step on an oystercatcher nest and crush an egg. He was devastated but not as much as the bird. She clearly knew we were responsible and proceeded to fly after us carrying shards of egg in her beak and screaming what I took to be obscenities at us. I don’t blame her at all. Remarkably she repeatedly flew ahead of us with the broken egg, landed on the beach and vocalized, until our guilt forced us to flee the island. That bird recognized cause and effect!

Aneri and Sahar are staying here for a few days and they have been great company. They are so much more consciously evolved than my generation was at that age and they give me hope that many of the antiquated paradigms of our culture will go extinct and we can progress to 21st century thinking to solve 21st century problems. I shall miss them when they leave tomorrow. They have helped me prop up some of the solar panels, washed windows, swept walks, and made some tasty brownies!

End of May

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Hold the presses! I just got back from the top of the tower where I was washing the windows. My eyes were drawn to a huge lump on Middle Rocks. With the binoculars I could see what appears to be 3 bull elephant seals, a few cows and a juvenile. That makes at least 14 elephant seals in the reserve! I wonder if it is Misery?

It is hard to tell that June begins tomorrow, due to the fog and damp. But there are certainly signs of summer beginning to show up in spite of the weather. The first Glaucous-winged Gull eggs are being laid, the Oystercatchers are getting more secretive

 

But the really BIG news is that a new-to-me bull elephant seals arrived yesterday. He isn’t as big as Misery but he is bigger than Zeke. I would guess he is a few years away from becoming a Beachmaster. He caused quite a commotion rampaging around and roughing up a few females before he found a nice spot to sleep for the next few days. I have named him Chunk, for both his size and the large scars down his back, which appear to be caused by a boat propellor a few years ago. (Ed note: These were actually caused by a fight with Misery last year. ) The scars look fairly well healed but some pretty big chunks were carved out by the prop.

 

Busy Times

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A lot is going on in and around the reserve. I spotted 6 Caspian Terns in area over the last week. Twice orca have gone past, though at the northern boundary, well-observed by tourists on the excursion vessels that are now very frequent visitors. There is a River Otter now living under walkway in front. 

This morning 9 Elephant Seals were present, a new record! At least to me… They include Numbers 6355, 6360, 6397, 5086, Bertha, Noah – young male 3-4 yo est.), 2 untagged 2-3 yo juveniles, AND, happily the sad seal with the infected mouth that suffered for weeks on the end of the pier returned, and she is looking great! I had observed that after one of the sharp pieces of jaw bone that was protruding from her lower palate fell out she quickly returned to the water to find sustenance; she was very skinny and weak at the time.  Although her mouth is still repairing and healing itself it is clear she was able to feed well and she must have gained 40 kgs in fat in 5 weeks. I am astounded and impressed with the recuperative powers of these magnificent creatures.