Tag Archives: elephant seal pup

Feb 22

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Sunny, 5-10 knot East wind.

2 Personal Watercraft and 2 whale watchers in the reserve.  There were several sports fishing boats around the reserve, counted over 25 in the area.  I called and left a message with one whale watching company regarding one of their boats in the reserve and its proximity to marine mammals

Chris came out in the afternoon with Laura and Simon, Alison and 3 guests.

I worked on a few projects including: pvc cementing vent pipe on guest house toilet, re-caulking chute on the toilet with silicone, changed pre-filters on diesal, replaced a leaky ball valve on diesal, untangled snapped derrick cable, and cut and chopped firewood.

The female elephant seal has stayed by the pup’s body most of the day.

Feb 21, stillborn

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Sunny, wind east 10 knots.

In the morning the shape of a dark elephant seal pup was visible from the house, next to the female elephant seal.  The mother was very sleepy next to the pup which was not moving. The placenta looked very fresh. There were no signs of trauma to the pup, it seemed to have been dead at birth.  The mother stayed close to the pup throughout the day, resting next to or along side it, and would occasionally smell and nudge it with her nose.

Around noon there was a sea otter visible swimming, floating on its back and diving off the South West side of great race.  I was able to get some photos which are the best I have been able to take of a sea otter here so far.

I went off island in the afternoon to bring back guests.  We passed by West rock and there was one other female visible there quite a ways off the main area where they usually lie, out of reach of Chunk who lay alone in the usual e-seal area.  I have not been seeing any females out there all week.

Our guests helped move and stack firewood. After returning to island I went to haul in a log on the derrick.  The cable was getting stuck part way up, after lowering it and trying again it snapped.  The log came crashing down into the water and I watched helplessly as the cable, which we had just fixed the week before, unraveled and dropped.  On closer inspection the cable was quite frayed and crimped, seems like it had gotten slacked, twisted and then reversed on itself at some point creating a weakness.  I had noticed previously that the up and down controls were reversed but couldnt figure out why.

There were 4 whale watching boats in the reservePoWfeb21, some of them appeared to be getting closer than 100 meters from marine mammals.

Feb 9-10, off island and pup

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Feb 9: Cloudy, wind light.  Went off island in the morning to run errands and get groceries. Since it was a holiday and I didnt know it several of the stores I intended to go to were closed. Passed by West rock en route and was able to see elephant seal pup.  Besides Chunk there were 4 good sized females and a pup bellow them on a rock ledge.  The pup was calling for its mother, it looked like it was unable to get back up to where she was.

Feb 10: Cloudy, wind west 30 knots in the morning dropping to 20 knots in the afternoon. Went off island in the afternoon.  Took one chainsaw chain in for mechanical sharpening. Went to plumbing store to get replacement valve for desalinator and to get parts for adding a bypass drain in the vent pipe on the toilet in the guest house.

Feb 1-5

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Feb 1: Cloudy with rain, wind N 10-15 knots.  1 dive boat and 2 kayaks in the reserve. The dive boat was observed with an anchor in use in the reserve which is not allowed except for in emergencies.  Cut and chopped fire wood.

Feb 2: Rain, wind NE 10-15 knots in morning switching to West in afternoon, up to 30 knots.  I went off island in the morning and attended the Pearson College staff meeting. Picked up Virginie at airport and groceries along the way back.  Returned to island late afternoon as wind was starting to pick up.

Feb 3: Wind light, low visibility in the morning. Worked on month end report and DFO seawater data entry.

Feb 4: Cloudy, wind NE 15-20 knots.  A coast guard helicopter landed on the pad before noon to do maintenance on the tower light.  The pilot, Mike, and technician, Derrick, were on their way back from the Carmanah station.  While waiting on the maintenance work I invited the pilot in for tea and heard some stories from his nearly 40 years of service including his experience piloting a helicopter out to the drilling rig the Ocean Ranger the night it sank in 1982 on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. They flew out knowing they didnt have enough fuel to make the return trip and would have to land on another drilling rig, in the storm, in order to re-fuel.  By the time they arrived there were only bodies floating in the sea, all 84 crew members on the rig died.

Feb 5: Rain, wind NE becoming variable, 4 foot swells coming in from the NE in the morning, low visibility. Worked on finishing month end report and preparing guest house for visitors.  At night, on my way to check the generator, I could hear elephant seal pup vocalizations coming from West rock.  I hadn’t seen or heard any sign of the pup for several days, since last reported in the log.

 

 

Jan 27-29

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Jan 27:  NE wind 5-15 knots switching to west in the afternoon, 20 to 30 knots. Courtney brought Max out in the morning to check on connections for camera 5 and the underwater camera.  I went off island in the afternoon to pick up Jeff and bring him out for a visit.

Jan 28: Cloudy in morning, cleared up in the afternoon.  Wind East 10 to 15 knots. Brought Jeff back to college in the morning. On the way we went by West rock to look for the elephant seal pup but couldn’t see or hear it.  Picked up deionized water, a UPS for the underwater camera, laser measurer for measuring crane height.  Cleared a large piece of red cedar out of the jetty bay and roped a long piece of hemlock.  Cut and chopped firewood in the sun.  Latter that afternoon I could hear and see the pup again.

Jan 29: mostly clear sky, wind NE 10 to 15 knots.  Two pleasure craft in reserve.  Worked on guest house toilet renovation: shortening platform, adding insulation, fitting, fastening and sealing poop chute. 

 

Jan 22-26: fog, eagles, orcas

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juvenile bald eagle on the tope of the crane boom

Jan 22: Misty, low visibility. Wind N 10-15 knots. 1 private pleasure craft in the reserve. Cut and chopped firewood.

Jan 23: Rain, wind N 10-15 knots.  1 ecotour vessel in the reserve.  Followed up with eco tour company I spoke to a couple days ago about one of their boats, distance to mammals and avoiding disturbance. Also called a different eco tour charter company, that I hadn’t seen here before, about distance from mammals and speed in the vicinity of the rocks.  Cut and chopped firewood. Could hear elephant seal pup again today.

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juvenile bald eagle on one of the anemometers on top of the tower

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Jan 24:  A blanket of fog rolled in from the North in the morning reducing visibility and triggering fog horn including in the middle of the night. Periods of rain too.  Two ecotour vessels in the reserve. Went off island around noon in the fog, navigated by GPS on boat with cell phone as back up.  Picked up supplies in Colwood including extra chains, files and lube for the station chainsaw.  Brought three guests back out with me in the afternoon to stay overnight.  Sea was very calm on the way over and the fog had lifted enough to see to Port Angeles. The fog came back before dusk but lifted overnight.

Jan 25:  Cloudy, light rain, light wind.  10-15 orcas passed through race passage going with the current, heading SW. I brought guests back to college around noon. On the way over we passed by elephant seal rock and were able to see the pup with its mother.  It was on the West side of the mother, out of sight from the main island or tower cam. Came back out before dark.

Jan 26: Foggy in the morning, fog horn went off during the night. Cloudy throughout day, wind light.  1 ecotour vessel.  Cut and chopped wood. Foggy again in the evening.

Jan 20-21

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Sir Wilfred Laurier alongside Rosedale Reef buoy, Port Angeles and Olympic mountains in background

Jan 20: Wind North around 15 knots, partly clear sky.  The Coast Guard vessel Sir Wilfred Laurier came by to do a buoy tender on the Rosedale reef marker.  1 pleasure craft and 1 ecotour.  I called the eco tour company to let them know they were too close to mammals and that there had been some disturbance.

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It looked like they took the buoy out and replaced it, I think the old buoy is on the deck of the Laurier, a zodiac with a few people stayed behind to finish work on the new one.

Jan 21: Wind N around 15 knots, periods of rain.  Younger male elephant seal has been on the main island most days lately. Towards dusk I heard the vocalizations of a elephant seal pup and mother again on West rock.  I think this is probably a second birth for this season. There have been 4 regular female elephant seals on the small island and there hasn’t been a sign of the other pup since the first week..  Worked on fire wood cutting and storage, cleaned sensors on YSI salinity instrument that had been giving faulty reading.

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Pam Birley took this picture from Camera 1 of the second pup born in 2015

 

Jan 8-10, census

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Wind has been fairly steadily N-NE 10-15 knots for past days with overcast sky and intermittent light rain.

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The “Orca Spirit”, large and loud.

Jan 9: 2 ecotour vessels including the very large Orca Spirit which passed through the reserve twice, I dont usually see this vessel this time of year here.  It is quite a loud boat when it puts its engine(s) in gear.

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Jan 9,leg-banded cormorant, red KJ8

Census, Jan 9: 
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Jan 5-7

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Jan 5: Cloudy, rain, 10 knots E.  Had a lot of rain water in a short time, there was a lot of standing water.  Some water leaked under the doors into the engine building, down the roof vent in the battery room and the drain on the roof got plugged up.  I worked on the roof drainage and mopped up in the engine building.  Finalized month end report. Foghorn was going off throughout the night.  One sports fishing/recreation vessel.

Chunk was on the island in the morning but left mid day.

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Jan 6, in the centre a ring necked sealion is visible, hauled out on South Islands.

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Pup Deceased

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Since the last update about the pup its condition continued to deteriorate.  On Wednesday March 12, the pup appeared to be losing coordination and mobility.  Its movement was very laboured and its behaviour seemed distressed.  In the afternoon it made its way to a puddle on the North side of the main house and went into convulsions.

While I had been sending updates and photos each day to DFO on Wednesday I sent two videos http://youtu.be/zv–ICW0TDc and http://youtu.be/nht2zTgkYrU to show its behaviour and movement.  I expressed concern that the pup may be going into paralysis. DFO was able to coordinate and get authorization for the Vancouver Aquarium to intervene the next day.

On Thursday March 13th the Marine Mammal Rescue team from the Vancouver Aquarium was deployed.  They arrived at the Pedder Bay Marina around 1600.  The marina had generously agreed to send out one of their boats and a staff volunteered to captain it.  I met them at the marina in the station boat and we brought the rescue team of 5 with gear out to Race Rocks.  Upon arrival they could tell that the pup was in critical condition. One of the team members told me they had never seen one in such bad shape.  They gave it a sedative and moved it onto a sling to transport it to the Pedder Bay Marina boat. Once back at the marina they set the pup down and gave it further treatment and washed out the wounds.  They left around 17:45 and made in time to catch the 19:00 ferry to Vancouver.

At 8:47 PM they sent the following update:

“Alright, we are just about to go off the ferry and drive toward MMR. The animal is still in critical shape. He is minimally responsive to stimuli…The animal is having episodes of full blown seizure lasting up to 2 minutes.”

Just after 11 pm they sent a final update:

“Unfortunately, our little guy did not make it. We treated him aggressively en route to the rescue center, but he arrested at 10:45 PM. Emergency resuscitation was attempted unsuccessfully. I am so sorry to have to share the sad news of his death.  Thank you so much to everyone who chipped in to help with his rescue today.”

I am  very grateful to everyone who was involved in this difficult situation and who helped try to rescue him.  The Vancouver Aquarium team were remarkably caring and dedicated; they did all they could do, it was too late.

My 3.5 month shift ends today. The highlight of the last few months has been watching this beautiful little creature every day since its birth in January.  Watching and listening to it die over the course of the past two weeks, right outside our house, has been more difficult, stressful and frustrating than I could have ever imagined.   I wish I could have done more for him. Living here with these creatures is like a blessing and a curse.