Tag Archives: elephant seal

August 21

Posted on by

Wind: every direction throughout the day 0-24 knots
Sea State: calm in morning, rippled in afternoon
Visibility: 0-10 NM
Sky: fog and patches of rain in morning to mid afternoon, partly cloudy in afternoon to evening
Temperature: 12-18 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 412.15 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

The juvenile female elephant seal tagged V173 slid her way up the boat ramp this morning. She is looking healthy and well fed. She has visited several times over the past few weeks, as well as in the spring to moult and briefly in December. She was born last year on Drakes Beach, in Point Reyes National Seashore, in California. Researchers tagged her as a weaned pup on February 28, 2019.

I did some maintenance around the island: changed the oil in the backup generator, tidied paths with the trimmer to make it easier to move fuel and equipment with carts, cleaned the solar panels, washed windows on the main house, and pressure washed the stairs leading up to the door of the lighthouse to get rid of the slippery bird poop. Greg brought 800 litres of fresh water, which we pumped up from the jetty to the fresh water tank.

Here are two photos from today:

August 16 – Returning Sea Lions

Posted on by

Wind: from NE in morning, SE in afternoon, W in evening – between 2 to16 knots
Sea State: calm in morning and rippled in afternoon
Visibility: 15 NM
Sky: clear
Temperature: 16-25 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 412.54 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

While I have only provided the conditions for today, I did step onto the Rock just after noon yesterday. It’s great to be back, having spent the whole winter and the first few weeks of spring here. I will be here for the next two and a half weeks, 100 days shorter than my last stint.

I feel very fortunate to be a part of the amazing team of Pearson students, alumni, staff, volunteers, donors and researchers who keep this Ecological Reserve going.

I spent yesterday afternoon and evening reacquainting myself with this wonderful place, practicing how to avoid disturbing the young gulls, who blend in well with the rocks as they like to hide beside the paths and in plants.

This weekend, there have been a lot of boats (pleasure craft and eco tour boats) taking advantage of the nice weather. The only visitor to the island, other than me, was Greg, who drove me out here from Pearson and brought back Mara and Kai.

In the previous log post, on August 13, a branded sea lion with an attached flasher (fishing lure) was mentioned. The steller sea lion is branded O-19. Bryan Wright, the Marine Mammal Biometrician/Project Leader at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, gave us an update on the history of the stellar sea lion:

He was captured and branded by us (ODFW, along with WDFW) at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River on February 2, 2012.  We don’t know his exact age but he was probably 5-7 years old at the time of capture, making him 12-15 now.  He then wasn’t seen again until July 21, 2016, at Tatoosh Island off the tip of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington.  He was then next seen back at Bonneville Dam from August-November, 2019.

Bryan also passed along an interesting article that was just published called “California Sea Lion (Zalophus Californianus) Monitoring In The Lower Columbia River, 1997–2018” (Brown et al 2020). Click here to read the abstract of the article.

See below from photos from the past two days.

Wildlife Changing with the Seasons

Posted on by

Weather: 

  • Sky: clear and blue
  • Visibility 10-15 NM
  • Wind 20-25 knots W
  • Sea state: .5 m chop

Visitors: 

  • No island visitors
  • A small number of eco-tourism vessels (only one today).
  • We were saddened to hear this week that a fishing boat we have often seen pass by, Arctic Fox II, sank in rough seas on Tuesday, claiming 2 lives. An article Here.

Ecological Observations: 

  • The seagull chicks continue to practice using their wings, hopping and flapping in the wind. It can be quite comical to hear them “peeping” as they did when they were just hatched- they are nearly the size of their parents now!
  • The harbour seal pups get cuter by the day. We were lucky to catch one nursing this week from the lighthouse (photo below).
  • The sea lions population continues to grow, with a notable increase this week on Main Race Rock. We will need to put the electric fence back soon to prevent them damaging infrastructure.
  • We have been enjoying bird watching this week as migrations continue and the pigeon guillemots are raising their young. There have continued to be very large numbers of black turnstones on the E shore.
  • This week we have also been visited by a handful of ruddy turnstones, and one whimbrel (thank you Daniel for the ID help!)
  • The one male elephant seal is still here. He doesn’t seem to be actively moulting anymore, aside from a tiny bit of remaining skin around his neck. He spent the entire day yesterday drifting and napping in the peaceful and sheltered jetty waters. We have not seen V173 in quite some time.
  • We find a lot of joy in watching the elephant seals move from higher ground down the jetty ramp and into the water. If you are not familiar with their undulating movements, this video is an excellent example. It’s a lot of blubber to get off the ground!
  • We spotted one sea lion with a fishing flasher hooked onto his face a few days ago. We haven’t seen him since but we are hoping that we will, so a rescue attempt can be made to remove it.
  • We also saw a sea lion with what we thought could be an infected brand. We sent a photo to a wildlife officer in Oregon who tracks these branded sea lions and he shared with us that it is likely a shark bite!

 

Census and a Beautiful Day

Posted on by

Weather: 

  • Visibility 0-10 NM (some intermittent morning/evening fog)
  • Sky clear
  • wind 25-30 knots W
  • Sea state: rippled, whitecaps
  • A steep decline in humidity today helped dry out the island after a bit of rainfall

Neat Fact: The body temperature of seals is very similar to our own! Endothermic like us, they maintain an internal temperature of 36.5-37.5 degrees Celsius.

Marine Traffic/Visitors: 

  • Greg visited today to top up island supplies before the college vessel goes for regular maintenance
  • Not many boats today- around 5 eco-tourism vessels.

Ecological Observations:

  • Elephant seal V173 was not here today. We wonder if she was just stopping for a rest or if she will be back soon.
  • There have been very large groups gulls and also black turnstones migrating through, intermingled with a few surfbirds. There were so many today that we took a photo from the lighthouse in order to count them!
  • The pigeon guillemots seem to be nesting in full force. We have spotted many carrying fish into crevices on the west side of the island near camera five and also the rock walls on the east side.
  • The seagull takeover has seemingly started to ease and moving around the island is becoming easier day by day. The chicks are beginning to be able to escape the attacks of the rival adult gulls by flapping their wings and flying/hopping away.
  • On a slightly…mushier note (stop reading if you get queasy!): Yesterday we removed the gull that was eviscerated on our back porch. We let it sit for a few days to see if an otter would come back for it or if the gulls might take a nibble (neither occurred). We were surprised by the amount of maggots that had grown in only a couple of days, presumably due to the warm and humid weather recently.
  • The sea lion population is increasing every day and they are started to climb onto the main rock. It’s almost time to put up the electric fence or we will have unwelcome house guests!
  • The geese have suddenly left this week (all but 4). Interestingly, earlier in the week we saw a flock of 17.

Census: 

  • 4 Canada geese
  • 985 Seagulls (does not include chicks)
  • 84 Harbour seals
  • 1 Male elephant seal
  • 25 Stellar sea lions
  • 19 California sea lions
  • 88 Pigeon guillemots
  • 2 Bald eagles
  • 1 Humpback whale (in the straight)
  • 1 Brandt’s cormorant
  • 12 Black oystercatchers
  • 143 Black Turnstones
  • 1 Sandpiper ((?) will update with confirmed id!)

 

 

 

A New Arrival

Posted on by

Today’s Weather Conditions: 

  • Sky overcast
  • Visibility 15+ NM
  • Wind 15-20 knots W
  • Sea state: calm, fast moving currents today (almost 5 knots)
  • Daily fog in the mornings and often late afternoon as well

Marine Traffic/Island Visitors:

  • No island visitors aside from Greg on Thursday with supplies
  • Quite a few whale watching boats today and yesterday (20+)
  • Not many pleasure crafts passing through the reserve, but many outside of pedder bay (especially yesterday)
  • We saw 3 whale watching boats just outside the reserve circle a small group of orcas and follow them under power into the strong currents earlier this afternoon.

Ecological Observations: 

  • Today we were joined again by elephant seal V173. She was also here in December and again in the late spring when we first arrived. Her left eye is a bit oozy and red, but it seems like it is still functioning properly and she is otherwise looking great! She must have eaten a lot of fish out there- she’s much bigger than the last time we saw her only a few months ago.
  • The seagull chicks have been wandering farther away from the safety of their nesting areas, and we have been seeing quite a few more deceased chicks on the ground all around the island. They are being killed by rival gulls protecting their territory and young. There are a few chicks with injuries from these attacks, such as broken legs or wings.
  • We found an eviscerated gull chick on our back step on Friday afternoon. It looks quite a bit like a chicken does when a mink kills them (head missing), so we wonder if this is the work of a river otter.
  • As mentioned above we observed a few orcas just outside of the reserve earlier today. We have also been seeing humpbacks passing quite far away in the straight.
  • The pigeon guillemot nest that we have been observing closely (near our back porch) has at least one chick! We carefully peeked into the crevice and caught a glimpse of a tiny puff of black downy feathers. We are excited to be able to watch their activity so closely from our window as they are very secretive with their movements typically.
  • The remaining male elephant seal has been venturing to other parts of the island as his moult is finishing up. He has been finding some creative places to wiggle over rocks into shallow pools heated by water spilling over sun warmed rocks as the tides rise.
  • We heard a surfbird’s call today while out near the jetty- it’s a very shrill sound, just like the second recording here.

Big Winds, Monday’s Census

Posted on by

Weather:

  • Visibility: 15-40 NM
  • Today we discovered that on the foghorn sensor there is a visibility reading display. Normally we base this off of which landmarks we are able to see (Victoria is around 10 NM, North rock is 1 NM, Port Angeles is roughly 15 NM).
  • Sky clear and blue, a few white clouds
  • Wind 25-30 knots W
  • Sea state: Rough. Waves up to .5 m, white caps
  • A climb in humidity today after a relatively calm and dry weekend

Marine Traffic/Visitors:

  • No visitors to the island since Saturday (Greg)
  • Only a few eco-tourism boats today (very windy), but a steady trickle over the nice weekend. We have been seeing an average of 7 boats every day, not including pleasure crafts.

Ecological Observations: 

  • We noticed yesterday that the goose with a limp (affectionately dubbed “limpy”) is no longer here. We aren’t sure if it was attacked by an eagle or decided to move along (the 13 remaining adult geese are here).
  • We were happy to see an adult otter run across the jetty boardwalk yesterday, raising our hopes that the dead river otter seen with “Ollie” the sea otter last week may not have been one from under our shed (creating the possibility of abandoned young if this were the case).
  • The seagulls seem to have gotten even more aggressive as their young begin to venture away from the nest: attacking young of other gulls, diving at our heads, and attacking each other if their individual “territory” (the area around their nests) is invaded. We have to be extremely careful with our movements around the island to avoid scaring chicks into the open where they can be attacked.
  • Many small harbour seal pups today! They are particularly playful at this time of year as they learn to swim and fish with their mothers. We have been enjoying observing their movements from the top of the lighthouse where our presence doesn’t bother them and we can see directly downwards into the water around the island.

Monday’s Census:

  • 515 Adult seagulls (this doesn’t include chicks- they camouflage too well!)
  • 1 male elephant seal
  • 2 Adult bald eagles
  • 13 Canada geese
  • 33 Stellar sea lions
  • 72 Harbour seals (moms and pups)
  • 1 Black turnstone

 

 

 

Otter Observations, Seagull Takeover!

Posted on by

Today’s Weather:

  • Sky Clear, blue (very foggy in morning and evening)
  • Visibility 10+ NM (less than 1 during fog)
  • Wind 10-20 knots W
  • Sea state: calm, slightly rippled

Marine Traffic/Visitors:

  • Yesterday Greg visited to drop off some supplies, as well as on Thursday
  • Less than 10 whale watching boats per day recently
  • Minimal pleasure craft activity and the regular stream of fishing vessels, and larger ships

Ecological Observations: 

Due to amount of nesting birds and chicks, we’ve been going outside only when necessary as our presence seems to bother them quite a bit. Some of the windows facing the action have been getting, ahm… ‘fogged’ despite our efforts to collect rain water and scrub them when we can!

  • One of the two elephant seals molting has left the island, and the last pieces of skin are falling off in big dry pieces for the one remaining.
  • Seagull season is getting a bit violent: there are many deceased and dismembered seagull chicks around the island. We don’t usually see it happen, but we think that they are being killed by other adult seagulls protecting their territory and chicks.
  • While walking over the rocky area near the jetty to recover a significant amount of plastic that floated in, we noticed some pigeon guillemot eggs hidden in a rocky crevice! This is the first time that we have spotted a confirmed nest, although we had suspicions as we have been seeing them with fish and waiting for us to leave (before they carry it into their nest).
  • We found a pigeon guillemot near the jetty under camera five- it appeared to have been eaten by a bird of prey or perhaps an otter. It had been partially plucked of its feathers and eviscerated.
  • We’ve been noticing more harbour seal pups! We’re not sure if this is due to there being a increase in the total pups around, or we are seeing them closer than usual due to the low tides this week. We spot the pups with their mothers taking shelter from heavy currents in the more sheltered area between us and rosedale rock.
  • Yesterday we noticed that there were quite a few dead seagull chicks dragged underneath a diesel tank waiting for removal near the jetty/crane shed. We looked under the walkway where we often see the river otter duck through the rocks, and there were quite a few there as well. This explains the cacophony we sometimes hear at night!
  • We were contacted by an eco-tourism company who shared with us that they had spotted “ollie” the sea otter holding the body of a river otter. It sounds like he has been noted as particularly territorial before, so this is not a surprise, although this is the first time we have heard this during our time on Race Rocks.

We’ve been saving the fresh water that drains from the firehoses after pumping from Second Nature’s tank, and using it to fill the pressure washer tank. We can use this to mist the panels and scrub them by hand to remove the seagull waste that builds up so quickly this time of year. Every little bit of sun counts!

What a Windy Weekend! (seagull chicks, census)

Posted on by

Today’s Weather: 

  • Sky partly cloudy (thick fog until late afternoon)
  • Visibility 10 NM (less than 200 m until late afternoon)
  • Wind 30-35 knots W
  • Sea state: swells up to .5 m, whitecaps

Marine Traffic/Visitors: 

  • Not many pleasure crafts this weekend as it was very windy (up to 40 knots!).
  • Greg visited today to deliver supplies
  • More whale watching boats this weekend than we have been seeing, around 5 per day.

Ecological Observations:

  • The seagull chicks have started hatching! Only a few nests have hatched so far. We have observed the chicks asking for food and the parent not feeding them. We wonder if there is enough food available to support them all through this nesting season.
  • One of the first nests to hatch had 3 chicks, but now they are nowhere to be seen. We are observing with an investigative eye as nesting season progresses, as we observed many instances of adult birds cannibalizing each other’s chicks last year.
  • One of the four goslings was eaten by seagulls on Saturday afternoon. The remaining three seem healthy and strong.
  • Not many visiting birds this past few days, perhaps due to the high winds.
  • Many harbour seals hauled out on outcroppings during the notably low tides over the past couple of weeks. The young seal pups are still keeping close to their mothers but we have not seen any still nursing.
  • The oyster catcher chicks are growing at an impressive rate! They seem to be doubling in size almost every week. They are now old enough to venture away from the protection of the rocky areas and explore the intertidal with their parents.

Census: 

  • 2 Male elephant seals moulting
  • 500 Seagulls, handful of chicks
  • 16 Adult geese
  • 3 Goslings
  • 10 Adult black oystercatchers
  • 3 Black oystercatcher chicks
  • 56 Harbour seals

Throughout the week we also observed pigeon guillemots, eagles, and a pair of swallows. The sea lion who was here alone over the past weeks seems to have moved along.

Goslings!

Posted on by

Today’s Weather:

  • Sky blue, obstructed by very thick fog
  • Visibility 200-500 m
  • Wind 5-10 knots SW
  • Sea state: calm

Visitors/Marine Traffic:

  • Today Greg visited to do some maintenance
  • One whale watching boat in the reserve yesterday
  • The occasional pleasure craft outside of the reserve or passing through

Ecological Observations: 

  • No seagull chicks yet, although most nests have 2-3 eggs now.
  • The oystercatcher chicks have grown incredibly fast, and are now approximately half of the size of their parents
  • One male goose who was injured by another goose during a fight earlier in the year is still limping. It seems like the damage to his leg will be permanent and while he is able to move around the island, he sits to eat and is too slow to keep up with the other geese. He spends a lot of time alone.

 

Busy Critters

Posted on by

Today’s Weather Conditions: 

  • Sky overcast
  • Visibility 15+ NM
  • Wind 0-5 knots SW
  • Sea state: calm

Visitors/Marine Traffic: 

  • Yesterday Greg and Jake came from the college to deliver some equipment
  • An influx of boats today. We have been seeing 3-5 whale watching boats everyday. They have been coming very close to the elephant seals when they are in the shallow jetty water and also very close to the kelp patch where “ollie” the sea otter likes to rest. Quite a few pleasure crafts as well, and two kayakers this afternoon who explored the intertidal at low tide.

Ecological Observations: 

  • The 4 goslings are now over 1 week old. The parent geese seem much more responsible than the previous, and the goslings seem to be doing okay.
  • There have been nearly no sea lions in the reserve this week.
  • On Friday evening we spotted a sea otter swimming in the kelp around the jetty.
  • Two whimbrels stopped in for a visit on Thursday evening