Tag Archives: elephant seal pup

Spring coming…

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Weather

For those 2 first days of the week the weather has been very calm,with still East to North East winds. We don’t have  a steady West wind yet but Spring is definitively at the corner and most of all, days are really longer.On Monday we had an incredible good visibility. What a fun to see so well Victoria and to follow a few sail boats…Recreational fishing are coming back around East Sooke too. Tuesday was a very calm day too but overcast and no wind at all …a before storm feeling.

Ecological

We have now a new young male Elephant seal around in the water mainly but he came ashore for the first time on Sunday. Chunk was pretty quiet and stayed  behind the students house. His scares on the back were pretty bad for a while but they are looking better now .One pup, always the same ,was on and off the Rocks,depending and stayed apart from the other one. This other one was always at the same spot ,not far from the crane .The big male named Boss was around them all the time and when the second born one made noise he got closer to him

Maintenance

Guy cleaned the water sampling shed and it is shining now!!! He cleaned the boat  too and the bench and the panel explaining Race Rocks above it.He changed the winch and belt of the trailer. The winch gets rusty pretty quick because it had been already changed in Summer.

Vessels 

Just a few Watching boats

 

One pup Elephant seal gone

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Weather

Nice weather: 7knots,West wind,Overcast to Sunny,Visibility:13 miles,Air temperature:5.6Degrees. at 5:00 the wind direction had changed from West to south East.Full Moon.

Ecological

One of the 2 pups (the first born I think) was gone in the morning  so 6 days after the mum.Now the count is: Boss,chunk and Pinata ,not happy at all and crying with that very funny typical sound .When we wake up Boss was very closed to our door,  lain across the path…not even easy for us  to go out! Like usual a few geese were on Main.DSC_0259

Maintenance

We took advantage of the weather window to go to town and get some food :the stock was low,no more fresh products.

Gale warning

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Weather

At 8h00it was pretty calm:6 knots North East wind, Overcast and 6.3 degrees (Air) , a very high tide with the coming Full Moon. Even calmer at 10:00 with 4knots and at 11:00 the wind and swell got inverted and increased to 40.7Knots at 12:00 . Wild and quick! It went to 42 and 48 at 13:30 and stayed strong around 30 to 48 knots the whole afternoon . It was sunny and beautiful. At 8:00PM it slowed down to 28knotsDSC_0149DSC_0130DSC_0212

Ecological

4 elephant seals the same 2 male adults and 2 pups. Sea Water warmer around 7 degrees

Vessels

1 nuclear submarine with 3 ships (a big ,a middle size one and a small one )  The hull was outside of water heading to the ocean… very impressive scenery

No more adult females elephant seals on the rock

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Weather

At 8:00 AM North East light wind,calm ,forecast,grey sky . heavy rain between 9:30 and Noon.temperature :3.3 ,very high tide (actually the highest since the beginning of our stay). At 1:30 PM the wind totally stopped and the flag was down like a stick.Southwest early in the afternoon:30 knots at 4:40PM and 27 to 37 full South around 6PM. Early in the evening it steady picked up with a gust at 51 knots! At 9:15 PM we still had 40 knots .The air temperature was pretty high too at 9.1 degrees celsius

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Ecological

The last adult female elephant seal left in the night so 2 lonely pup now but the male stayed around the whole day and Chunk came back and went on its own,With the melting snow and the rain we got a large pool on the lawn so it was a cleaning and washing time for everyone:geese and elephants and birds…it was not dark at 7:50

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Maintenance 

We kept the fresh water tank full ,filing up every two days . The generator is working everyday  for around 6 hours.

Other

DND blasts :12 blasts in a few hours and 2 pretty strong ones. We counted 7 seconds between the time you see some smoke and the bang.

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Weather

Windy day from East between 25 and 30 knots,Sea choppy .Overcast and foggy sporadically . Some snow around 9:00AM but finally sunny the rest of the day. Sea water : 5.5 degrees and Air at 2.1 degrees celsius(at 8:00 AM)

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Ecological

The night between the 6th and 7th February has been a very busy one for the elephants seals . We found tracks and it looked like the male helped the young one to come back from the rocky place where  he has been for at least 2 days. He went during the day from the tower to the water shed and at the corner of the paths and closed to the water sampling house :a lot for him if we considered that he has been almost always sedentary before his Mum ‘s departure…Chunk was back too but stayed in its own quarters .DSC_0824DSC_0700DSC_0735

Vessels 

No boats

A snowy day for a lonely pup

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Weather

North East Wind ,17knots at 8:00, Sky:Overcast ,Visibility :15miles and Air Temperature:0.3 degrees Celsius. It has been a very snowy day and the fog horn was on the most part of the day.

Ecological

When we wake up in the morning we understood why we could heard so well the elephant pup. Actually heading away from the others he must have fallen from the walls behind our house and we discovered him almost hidden by snow and totally asleep . he spent the whole day like that alone and moved a little farther late in the afternoon. Mum was not back. 10 geese were looking for some grass and water pool all around . we discovered the tracks of an River Otter like usual in the same area :closed and under the sea watershed

 

Mum gone :Pup called Piniata ( Born on the 16th) is alone

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Weather

North to South -East Wind ,7 knots at 8:00AM,very dark and grey day. Air temperature:3 degrees, Water:6.5 degrees Celsius. A few flurries and fog horn later in the night.Cold in the evening :around 0 degree celcius

Ecological

Mating success with the 2nd female. The first one got her turn the day before and actually was gone in the following night.. During the process Mum and Baby got separated and the baby could was afraid to go down from the main path to the lawn so he went on the concrete path to the point he had to turn and come back by the same way. The mum following in the field. the whole thing took at least 1hour . After that she fed him for a while. the second pup was on his site above the field.DSC_0134DSC_0025DSC_0180DSC_0193DSC_0194DSC_0084DSC_0146

 

Visitors again

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Weather

No wind at all early in the morning but North East tendency,4 knots,calm,overcast,4degrees,Visibility over 15miles ,Sea water stable around 7 degrees

Ecological

9 geese,a lot of gulls,and many eagles.Chunk came when Boss was gone . he spent part of the day in the waters closed to the jetty and met our visitors

Visitors

Guy went to town for some admin that day so I welcomed our visitors :the same divers than Yesterday. They could’t get in touch with the college on Sunday so they came back to the best spot around. We made a tour of the place together and got the chance to see the pups . We went to the Sea lions spot on South too.They were happy but I try to let them understand that this place was protected and not open to public and they phoned right away to the VP of operation :Mr Pile and let him a message and references.They could observe closely Chunk and even offered him an apple!

DND Divers from Edmonton’s Visit

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Weather

At 8:00 East light wind:5knots, overcast with sunshine around noon. In the afternoon the wing changed to West and got pretty strong in the afternoon. It has not been announced by Weather Canada but evident if you looked on Windyty. We got some gust of 33 to 40 knots. The change between the 2 types of Weather condition was very quick.

Ecological

Chunk keeps coming every day never farthest than the boat shed.He spent a part of the day in the water closed to the jetty, the other one watching! The pups are really bigger and they are just 15 days old!

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Chunk

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Visit

2 military zodiacs came in the beginning of the afternoon. Some divers went in water and  spend an hour closed to the underwater camera spot. We were watching but when they decided to land Guy went to speak with them and explained what was the purpose of the place . They actually knew almost nothing about RaceRocks excepted that it was a great diving spot. They came from Edmonton locating the area for a bigger group coming latter  so we asked them to get in touch with the college as soon as possible.They were not used to dive in ocean waters only in lacks so we informed then about the strong currents around the Rocks and the potential danger. The wind coming we advised them to leave the place before it got too strong and they did.

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       Vessels  

A few watchers

Census day and find “6 Spots” the harbour Seal!

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Weather

Another calm day with 9 knots,North East wind at 8:00AM ,Calm sea,Cloudy to some sunny periods,Visibility over 13 miles. Sea water :7.1 degrees Celsius

Ecological

I thought to have seen the famous seal on Turbine Rock this morning. there was a beautiful spotted Seal and actually the first one like that I ever saw…but when I went to do the census I discovered 7 or 8 spotted ones all together on South Island so…I am not sure anymore …Is “6 spots “around or not?…I let Pam to be the expert and the judge . Again Chunk :he spend the afternoon closed to Guy working at the cleaning of the railway (drifting wood again).A lot of activity for the gulls on the fish banks. In the night I have been awaken by the Sea Lions for the first time in those Winter months

Vessels

3 Watchers  and a police boats going towards Esquilmalt..some small fishing boats closed to Pedder Bay.

Census

Gulls:520

Cormorants :90

Harbour Seals :17

Elephants Seals:6 (2 pups,2 females ,2 males)

Eagles:8

Harlequin Ducks :8 seen this week

Geese:6 seen this week

Black Turnstones: a few

Sea lions : 200