Tag Archives: elephant seal

Change of Guardian

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I am making final preparations to leave Race Rocks today after a 2 month shift.  Mike Robinson will be returning to take over responsibilities.  It has been a good time with some good storms, great students, and one special little elephant seal.

On Friday late afternoon for the first time I saw Squall in the shallow water near the jetty.  She didn’t venture any deeper than 2 ft and was usually only partially submerged.

She spent a lot of time with her head in the water and sliding around on the rocks in the small breaking waves.  She has been making her way down to the boat ramp area most evenings and back up in the mornings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have been working on finishing up two projects: compost container and building a base for a flammables container in the boat house.

There were 4 eco-tour vessels in the reserve on Saturday and 1 on Sunday.

Squall has just positioned herself directly in front of the basement door blocking my exit, I will miss her.

 

Marine Traffic and Blasting

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Marine traffic in the reserve has increased over the last 2 weeks with vessels in the reserve almost on a daily basis now.  For the most part they respect the DFO’s requested speed limit of less than 7 knots within 400 meters of the rocks.  It appears that the requested marine mammal viewing distance of at least 100 meters generally does not hold much weight, though it is sometimes challenging to judge distances.   There aren’t very many sea lions yet so less incentive to get very close.  While there is a juvenile elephant seal learning to swim in the reserve we are being extra cautious about boat traffic.

Personal Watercrafts in the reserve

Saturday, March 24: 4 vessels including 1 private, 1 ecotour and 2 personal water crafts (PWCs).  The PWCs came into the reserve around 1600 well in excess of the 7 knot speed limit creating a lot of noise and causing the sea lion on the South islands to exit the rocks for the water.  These vessels generally do not carry radios (or if they do they wouldn’t be able to hear them anyway), their ID is next to impossible to see, and they likely are not aware of DFO guidelines.

Monday, appear to be within 100 meters of elephant seals on middle rock

Sunday, March 25: 3 vessels including 2 eco tour, 1 private.  The ecotour vessel Constance operated by Prince of Whales exited the reserve Sunday afternoon from the South side of the island.  They appeared to accelerate beyond 7 knots within 400 meters of Great Race.  I established radio contact with them on marine VHF channel 79 to let them know and request that they follow the DFO’s guidelines.  The vessel operator believed he been beyond 400 m, I appreciated their cooperation.

Monday, March 26: 5 ecotour vessels.

Tuesday, March 27: Strong E wind and swell, no vessels.  DND raised their red flags to signal blasting.  I went off island to take the station whaler in for maintenance and repairs so did not record any blasts.

Thursday, again, appear to be within 100 meters of elephant seals on middle rock

Wednesday, March 28: 3 ecotour vessels including one I haven’t seen before, the King Salmon operated by Great Pacific Adventures.  This was the loudest and most polluting diesel vessel i have seen in the reserve, I could smell it on Great Race and it left a haze behind it.  DND blasts recorded at 1004 (heavy), 1009 (medium), 1018 (light).

Thursday, March 29: 2 ecotour vessels.

Friday, March 30: 3 ecotour vessels including one called the Jin Jang I haven’t seen before.

Squall takes the plunge!

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This morning was the first time that I have seen Squall take to the sea.  While i didn’t actually seen her in the water I saw her coming up the boat ramp clearly wet after having been in the water.   It may be that she has gone in the ocean previously at night or when I wasn’t around but this is the first time I have even seen her near the boat ramp, which, with its gentle smooth slope, is the preferred haul out for elephant seals on the island.  Maybe it is just a coincidence but this morning we also reached the highest barometric pressure (115 hPa) that we have had in almost 2 weeks. She will be 10 weeks old tomorrow.

The female elephant seal tagged 5086/4665 left the boat ramp area on Tuesday.  6355 is still in the south bay.

On Monday Erik brought out 3 students to the island who stayed overnight and returned the following day.  Today a group of 9 will be coming out the island for the weekend.

Elephant Seals, Divers

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On Wednesday afternoon the elephant seal with double green tags 5086/4665 hauled out again on the boat ramp and has remained around the jetty for the past days.  Today I noticed another elephant seal in the South bay with green tag # 6355.  This appears to be the same one that Mike reported in early January. 

Squall has been over by the fog signal the past two days but made her way back towards the flagpole at sunset today.  According to Pam, Squall turned 9 weeks old today.

Today there were two vessels in the reserve. In the morning Pinnacle Scuba Adventures (they have a video with some nice underwater shots on their site) brought a group out and dove near the jetty.  They paid a visit to the underwater camera and gave the lens a wipe, thanks!

In the afternoon a Prince of Whales ecotour vessel visited the reserve while the current was ebbing into a +25 knot W wind, looked like a bumpy wet ride.

 

Stormy, Misery gone, Surfbirds

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Early Monday morning there were strong winds SE and again this morning, over 40 knots. Yesterday there was periods of snowfall blowing in from the West.  Pressure falling, more wind expected tonight.

Misery left the main island on Friday evening, I have not seen or heard any sign of him since.  I suspect he might be gone for the season.

Surfbirds

Since the stormy weather Monday I have not seen either of the moulting female elephant seals.  Since Misery left Squall has been more active.  She has been moving around the island more and doing tail biting exercises.   She is attracted to puddles and has gone down to the crane deck a few times and seems curious about the ocean.  I have still not seen her approach the water though.

On Sunday there was a large flock (+150) of Surfbirds (Aphriza virgata) and maybe a few Black Turnstones (Arenaria melanocephala) in the East bay.

On Tuesday one eco tour vessel entered the reserve.

Have been working on a new compost containing system lately, have poured 6 concrete footings/anchors over the past few days.  On Monday did maintenance on the fire pump.

Green tags 5086/4665

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For the past few days there have been 2 female elephant seals moulting around Great Race.  The first picture was taken on Thursday in the channel between the main island and South Seal Rocks.  At the time I was only able to see her one green tag # 5086.  I have also noticed one of them hauling out in the East Bay.

This morning when I went to launch the whaler she was on the boat ramp and was pretty stubborn about moving out of the way.

I was able to get a closer look at her tail and see a second green tag # 4665.

Visible in these last two photos, one of the tags has become a substrate for gooseneck barnacles.  I appreciate that someone is working to tag and track these animals but I have a hard time believing that these tags aren’t a nuisance to the animals and that over the long distances they travel and hunt these wouldn’t create a noticeable amount of drag and encumbrance.

On Friday afternoon Erik and Laura came out to Race Rocks in second nature with a group of student divers as well as 6 visitors who toured around the island.  Erik cleaned and moved the underwater camera, Pam got a good image capture. There was a dive boat in the reserve this morning.

Moulting elephant seal

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On Monday a young moulting female elephant seal showed up near the boat ramp. She spent a couple days on the jetty until a NE wind picked up. Squall is still on the S side of the house, she seems to be mostly finished moulting now.  This morning she was making her way N towards boat ramp but Misery perked up and growled, she turned back and stayed on the cistern.

On Monday around dusk a pod of about 7 orca whales passed by the S side of the reserve near the Rosedale Reef buoy.

It has been quite calm and clear the past few days but a 20 knot NE wind this morning.

Project Week- part 2

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Squall decided to position herself right next to the tank room on Wednesday so we had to put a hold on the siding work.  We moved over the the South side of the main house to work on deconstructing an old cache and started work on footings to build a new compost container.

 

On Thursday Squall made her way around the NE side of the main house and came to rest  right in the middle of our new work site.  Thanks Squall, now that project is on hold.  Fortunately the students did a good job of removing all the nails from the scrap wood, Squall was pretty interested in the 2×4’s.

 

 

So, it was back to the siding work yesterday. The students really took the lead on this project: removing the remaining panels, cleaning out rusted nails, replacing the panels that were lost, and putting the siding back up with stainless steel screws. Job well done!

 

 

 

We also put together a third goose exclosure yesterday on the lawn between the science centre and the energy building.  Misery (in the background) has been relaxing near the science centre yesterday and today, keeping the students company.

 

Squall discovers water

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The wind picked up to around 50 knots W after midnight last night and has been blowing 30 to 40 knots all day.

On Thursday I got a break in the weather and went off island to get supplies for repairing the siding on the South wall of the Tank Room and for making a compost container.  Students are coming for project week tomorrow and will be doing some service projects during their stay.

Over the past week Squall has made her way around the S side of the light tower and back to the W side of the main house.  Yesterday, while crossing over the cistern, she came across a puddle and had, what I believe was, her first experience with standing water.  She was quite interested in the water and spent a while probing it with her flippers and snout, inhaling it a few time in the process.

Camera 5 working

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The remote camera on the N side of the Great Race is working now, you can access it here: www.racerocks.com/racerock/video5.htm

Note: there are 20 presets which cover all major points in a 300 degree view.

Squall has been staying around the SE side of the tower.  Misery comes and goes, the pup usually keeps out of his reach.

Yesterday there were 2 eco-tour vessels in the reserve.

Facility work: replaced toilet vent fan, replacing basement basin drain plumbing, planning composting containers.

Bird count today: 6 Harlequin ducks, 150 Cormorants, and 90 gulls.

Wind 20- 30 knots from the west all day, rainy.