Tag Archives: elephant seal pup

First Elephant Seal Pup of the Season!

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It’s that magical time of year where the Northern Elephant Seals come ashore and give birth! Our first mom is the same female who showed up first last year, Pink Tag 2 (who we affectionately call Bev), who came ashore on December 15th. After several days of being sassy and pregnant she gave birth to a new male pup on December 21st.

Bev seems to have a purposeful strategy showing up and birthing before the other females. Last season Bev showed up almost a month before the other moms, and left before the other moms were even getting ready to birth. By this time her pup was pretty huge and mobile. She gave birth last year on December 22 2020, so pretty much on schedule with what she did last year.

One of the first big hurdles for newborn pups is just figuring out just how to nurse, some pups take days to figure this out, but not this first pup: he was nursing within hours of being born is already looking plumper than when he was born.

Pigeon Guillemot

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Ecological Notes:

  • Large Male Elephant Seal is still spending most of his time in the water by the ramp
  • The young Female Elephant Seal pup that left the reserve last week of April had returned for daily haulouts in the ramp area. She is very plump, indicating she has been feeding well, but has lots of little sores and scars. She was very ragged when she left in April as well, but you can see healed scars from them, with new ones around them. Also look like maybe an out of regular season molt.

  • Have noticed many more Pigeon Guillemots return to shore and entering dens with fish!

Gunnel for dinner

  • Nature being what it is, I did find a few Gull chicks that did not make it with the extreme heat.

Visitors:

  • Pearson College instructors and family left Sunday evening.

Facility Work:

  • Hot weather limited outside work to early morning and late evening. Mostly stuck with basics – cleaning windows, cleaning solar panels, check battery fluid levels and such.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Several Ecotourism vessels and private vessels sightseeing.

 Noted Infractions:

  • Private Vessel fishing in the reserve. They did not respond to my hails on the VHF. I mentioned checking regulations on Rockfish Conservation Areas. Another private vessel went over to them and mentioned it to them ( I think). as they altered course to leave in a straight line outbound.

Weather Events:

  • Hot and clear most of the day, slight haze in the evening. Winds from East/Southeast during the day, 10-15 Knots.

 

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Pigeon Guillemots

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Ecological Notes:

  • Still 7 Elephant Seals on land, including the 2 pups. As mentioned in previous blog, they are all getting thin.

Should head off to feed once the molt is complete

  • Although it looks a bit chaotic when in larger flocks, Closer attention reveals that the Pigeon Guillemots are pairing up more now. Lots of courting displays, and ducking in and out of the rock crevasses and gaps in the boulders. A species of bird in the auk family (Alcidae) , they normally lay 1 or 2 eggs in a clutch.

 

Facility Work:

  • As always, lots of cleaning!

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 3 Ecotourism boats, all with good behavior. 2 private vessels, sightseeing with good behavior, and departed the reserve at proper speed!

Feature Event:

  • Part of working as an Ecoguardian here at Race Rocks, is making time to just take in the view. The steps inside the tower are each carved from sandstone blocks, and include 99 steps from floor to floor.

Weather Events:

  • Slight haze most of the day, visibility of about 10 nautical miles. Westerly winds at 15 – 20 knots until mid afternoon, rising to 35 – 40 knots by evening. High winds, combined with tide action created 1.5- 2 meter  swells, topped with up to 1 meter foot chop. Not a great place to be in a smaller boat.

 

** All photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Pearson College Students

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Ecological Notes:

  • 4 female Elephant Seals, 1 Juvenile male, and 2 “pups” in the main grass area.
  • Behavior change in the male pup over the last couple days …… When by himself, he is still very docile, but when lying close with the female pup, he takes on a very defensive attitude, even when viewed from quite a distance.

Like most photos, taken from a distance and then cropped!

Visitors:

  • The waterfront coordinator brought a student landing party, then returned later to deliver distilled water for the batteries, parcels for the ecoguardian, and more students
  •  Pearson College: 14 students and one instructor, toured the reserve by water and visited briefly for a talk on the burial sites, the elephant seals, sea lions, and take in the view from the top of the lighthouse.

Greg discussing important cultural significance of areas on the main island with students.

Discussing the “ballast” cannon recovered from the Swordfish wreck site with students.

 Weather Events:

  • Low westerly winds during the day, bringing fog in the morning, giving way to sunny skies and 15 knot westerly winds during the day. Westerly wind increasing to 25 knots after dark, bringing the fog back in by about 2100hrs.

 

** All photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Elephant Seal ID adjustment

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Ecological Notes:

  • 6 Elephant Seals – turns out to be at least 1 juvenile male! So,currently 5 females and 1 male (no new animals, just new id’s)
  • Elephant Seal pups: 2, but also, 1 of the pups appears to be a male as well!

Enjoying the sun

 

  • No real changes in Sea Lion or Harbour seal numbers
  • Have been seeing the Sea Otter at lower tides in the uncovered kelp forests

Facility Work:

  • Piling firewood, more sorting old materials

Feature Event:

 

Weather Events:

  • Sunny, with medium to high westerly winds all day
  • Last night was very high winds! Kept the flag down last night and today.

** All photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Sunny Day

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Ecological Notes:

  • 6 female Elephant Seals, 2 “pups” (looking about 150 – 200 Kilos now) …. half moved closer to the ramp to enjoy some cool dips in the water. They were observed rubbing their noses and heads on the underwater rocks to aid in moulting
  • Another big influx of Pigeon Guillemots, and most Gull nest building

Cooling by the ramp

Visitors:

  • 1 – Seafront Coordinator… Reviewing tomorrow’s student landing area with the new Eco Guardian

 

Facility Work:

  • Door and trim painting, general tidying. Reset some of the fencing.

 

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 1 Eco Tourism boat
  • Reasonably close pass by a float plane, looked like sightseeing. No noticeable animal disturbance.

 Feature Event:

  • Wildlife Census (see additional post)

Spotting

 

Weather Events:

  • Mostly sunny, with a mix of sun and clouds. Westerly winds, averaging 15 knots (28km) all day

** All photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Boat run to college for more construction wood

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Ecological Notes: 7 female elephant seals.
Elephant seal pups: 3 pups and down the boat ramp.  One moving closer to the females.
Visitors: 2
Facility Work:  Stair construction moving ahead very well. Did a boat run to college for more wood.  Early morning.
Vessel Traffic:  3 pleasure boat.
Weather Events:Sun and flat water.
Weather– Current: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72
Weather–Past:  http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Elephant Seal pups swimming at night

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Ecological Notes: Elephant Seal pups are swimming at night and sleeping during the day.
Animal Tracking and Injuries: California Sea Lion bad bite mark on his shoulder.
Elephant seal pups: 4
Visitors:2
 
Facility Work: The work on cleaning the buildings continues.Water topped up today.
Vessel Traffic. One Eco tour boat One sport boat.
Current: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72
Weather–Past:  http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?id=72

 

Killdeer

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Ecological Notes first Killdear spotted today.
Animal Tracking and Injuries: California sea lion with fishing gear around neck
Elephant seal pups:moving around the island.
Vessel Traffic.Sooke SAR vessel speeding in the park
Weather Events:spring flowers on island.
Weather– Current: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72
Weather–Past:  http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?id=72