Tag Archives: elephant seal

Elephant Seal L334

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Nothing too wild to report today!

The two female elephant seals that have been hanging around the south side of the island have now been on the boat launch all day. The one with the green tag is L334 who I spotted here in the spring. She was tagged in Ano Nuevo, California and Race Rocks is the first place she was spotted after being tagged a year prior – such a far journey! I updated the Ano Nuevo team and will be interested to see if she’s been seen anywhere else lately.

Greg brought over some fresh water today as the sea water by the jetty is still too full of sea lions and their feces to pump into the cistern.

Tons of humpbacks around all day today, and I hear the northern lights might make an appearance tonight so I’ll keep you posted!

Vessels:

  • Ecotourism: 8
  • Private: 1

Weather:

  • Sky: Blue sky and sunny
  • Wind: Low of 1 knot, high of 8 knots
  • Sea: Calm
  • Temperature: Low 6•C, High 15•C

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

Census Day! Humpbacks ..30!

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It’s census day! 

This is my first time doing the census since June when we only had about 20 sea lions so this count required some focus.

Mammals:
California sea lions: 731
Steller sea lions: 422
Harbour seals: 72
Elephant seals: 2
Cetaceans: more humpback whales than I could keep track of! At least 30+

Birds:
Gulls: 579
Cormorants: 195
Canadian geese: 16
Turnstones: 12
Whimbrel: 1
Savannah sparrow: 1

Today was beautiful out, a perfect sunny Sunday!

Vessels:

  • Ecotourism: 10
  • Private: 13 + 2 jet skis

Weather:

  • Sky: Blue sky and sun
  • Wind: NONE
  • Sea: Glassy
  • Temperature: Low 9•C, High 18•C

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

Golden Hour

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Today was jam packed!

My morning started the same way it will start every day for the next month – fixing the fence. I also moved the sea lions off the boat launch so its clear yet I swear the SECOND I turn my back they just pile right back up. 

Not a bad view to start the day!

The windows on the student building are being replaced so the contractors were out bright and early to get started. Throughout the day we had 2 groups of Pearson students come out which is always fun because I love to show off this little island. They also never seem to mind when I talk about marine mammals which is more than I can for most people in my life who have to listen to my yap about them!

There were humpbacks in every direction, big blows in the distance, pectoral fins in the air, and splashy breaches on the outskirts of the reserve. I felt even luckier when a massive killer whale passed by!

Humpback at sunset

A second female elephant showed up today, she had some trouble getting past the sea lions but finally made it to the grass outside the house. The Calis don’t seem to mind her but the Stellers don’t like her at all.

I don’t think she likes the Stellers either

I finished the day off outside watching the sun set as the sea lions basked in the final rays.

Facility Work:

  • Topped up battery electrolytes for those that were low
  • Repaired electric fence (about 50 times over)

DND:

3 blasts today all with varying reactions, only the initial blast caused some sea lions to flush into the water.

Water Woes

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Friday, September 27, 2024

Unfortunately for us, the levels of water in the massive cistern beside the house are low, so we have not been running the desalinator lately, and despite our best water saving efforts we need more …

Until the sea lions (and the massive amounts of poop that comes with them) clear out we aren’t able to fill the cistern with seawater. So…  today, Greg came out with a massive tank of freshwater on the back of the Second Nature to top up our reservoir.

This was a bit of a production as we had to lay out ~ 75m of fire hose from the reservoir to the dock, but we did it, and now we won’t be leaving the next eco-guardian in a lurch.

On another note, we have a returning Elephant Seal. This lady is untagged, and definitely knows her way around the island. We first saw her at 11 am on the jetty, and by 2 pm she was in the grass by the main path to the house.

I hope she sticks around for the weekend!

Weather: Sunny all day, Wind at around 16knts SW all day.

Whale Watching Vessels: 15

Private Vessels: 0

**Loads of Humpbacks close to the Island today 😊

August 2

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I will contact NOAA and DFO to report the resighting of the California sea lion with the tag 13-2. The orange tags mean the sea lion was rehabilitated. The tag on the left flipper means the sea lion is a male. I will update the log when I hear back about his history. The rest of the California and Steller sea lions are currently hauled out on Middle Rocks. Perhaps this guy needs a break from the frat party.

Facility work:

  • Clean solar panels
  • Check guest house for supplies and cleanliness

Vessels:

  •  Ecotourism: 12
  •  Private: 3

Weather:

  • Sea: rippled in morning, up to 3′ chop in afternoon/evening
  • Sky: Partly cloudy
  • Wind: variable light winds overnight; from 07:00-12:00 westerlies 8-20 knots; afternoon/evening westerlies 20-31 knots
  • Air temperature: low 12°C, high 21°C
  • Seawater temperature at max flood: 11.0°C

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

August 1 Census

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Census Results:

Mammals:

  • Elephant seal: 2 (female and male)
  • Steller sea lion: 34
  • California sea lion: 11
  • Sea otter: 1
  • Harbour seal: 78

Birds:

  • Bald eagle: 1
  • Canada goose: 3
  • Cormorant: 33
  • Gull: 584
  • Black oystercatcher: 20
  • Pigeon guillemot: 131
  • Whimbrel: 1
  • Surfbird: 28
  • Black turnstone: 137
  • Song sparrow: 2
  • Least sandpiper: 1

Facility work:

  • Reacquaint myself with the standard operating procedures and various systems on the island
  • Check boat electronics, safety equipment, and winch
  • Clean solar panels
  • Sample seawater

Vessels:

  •  Ecotourism: 23
  •  Private: 5

Weather:

  • Sea: Rippled
  • Sky: Clear in morning, then partly cloudy
  • Wind: Variable light winds overnight until sunrise ~06:00, when wind switched to easterlies varying from 3-14 knots throughout the rest of the day
  • Daytime air temperature: low 13 C, high 24 C
  • Seawater temperature at max flood: 10.6 C

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

A Wonderful Welcome to The Rock!

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It has been a year and seven days since I was last here at Race Rocks. This evening, Greg drove me out from Pearson’s maintenance dock at 17:00. Christine greeted us on the dock. After, we quickly switched food bins and bags in the boat before hauling my stuff up the ramp to the house. We did a short walk around and chat to catch me up on the happenings on the island.

Forty minutes later, Greg and Christine set off towards Pearson, but not before having a round the ecological reserve tour.

I have big shoes to fill from the ecoguardians over the past year who have kept this place running smoothly day to day. Every ecoguardian does different tasks as called upon by the season’s elements, needs of the infrastructure, neighbouring species, and projects they take on to better the place. Some ecoguardians are even excellent landscapers, TikTokers, tinkerers, photographers, and so many other things.

Over the next few weeks, I plan to continue fighting the good fight to keep entropy at bay on Race Rocks :) I am going to frequently exercise the winch and station boat, continue to document the other than human (and some human too) species who visit the ecological reserve, do a little scrubbing of windows and solar panels, as well as whatever other tasks might come up.

 

Facility work:

  • Christine left the house and everywhere else very tidy. She also left me notes of today’s vessel traffic and weather before I arrived.
  • There was plenty of sunshine for the solar panels to run the island and top up the batteries. Between 13:00 and 15:00, the average solar input was 5 kWh out of the maximum of 7 kWh.

Vessels:

  • 32 Ecotourism
  • 5 private

Weather:

  • Sky: fog bank in the morning, clearing at noon to be partly cloudy. Clear skies after 14:00.
  • Wind: west 11-19 knots
  • Daytime air temperature: low 14°C, high 17°C
  • Seawater temperature at max flood: 10.7°C

New Man

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I left Race Rocks for a dental appointment and returned to find a new man. The male elephant seal looks fantastic and has a smooth, shinny silver sheen to him.  He is still bothering the female elephant seal but at least now she is permitted a piece of subprime real estate, while he lounges in grassy hollow and near the house.

The new man asleep in the grass

Having a stretch

The male and female elephant seals by the boat ramp

Wildlife notes:

Only a few more gull chicks have hatched with the majority of the gull parents still incubating their eggs.  A different banded gull than that noted on June 20th was found on the southwestern shore. Both gulls were reported to researchers at the Salish Sea Gull Project… read more.  Two surfbirds and one black turnstone visited the northeast rocky beach and one newly fledged California gull on the rocks east of the jetty.

A gull egg starting to hatch

A gull nesting in the grass. I always wonder if she thinks I can’t see her.

A banded gull

Black turnstone and surfbirds

Young California gull

Facility work:

  • topping up battery fluid
  • filled generator with fuel in preparation for the next equalization charge, tidy tank refilled

Vessels:

A full count was not conducted today: > 3 ecotourism boats, 2 private

Weather:

ESE 4-9 knots most of the day, veering to W 17 by early evening.

Unwelcomed visitor

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The male elephant seal was disturbed this morning to find a new female in his favourite grassy spot.  He chased her around, bit her, climbed on her and sent her down the boat ramp into the water. This all took a while as both had to stop frequently to rest. I had a chance to watch him in the water – effortless!

Wildlife notes:

Still only a few nests have chicks hatching. The chicks that hatched on June 28 are growing rapidly.  They wander less than a foot away from their old nest and sit motionless and cuddled together when an approaching eagle sends their parents to the air.

3 day old chick.

Facility work:

  • cleaned solar panels
  • cleaned windows
  • house cleaning
  • month end report
  • seawater data entry

Vessels:

17 Ecotourism boats

Weather:

Partly cloudy, winds SSW to WSW, 11 to 23 knots, high of 16 degrees.

Gull chicks are hatching

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Wildlife notes:

The first gull chicks are hatching! I may not be so happy about this in the coming days as the gulls become less tolerant of my presence (I got nailed again today). Just as some checks are hatching, a few gulls are still building nests. This week while lowering the flag before a gale, I noticed a new nest with one egg on the west side of the flag pole base.  Now two sides of the pole could be inaccessible should they protest.

The elephant seal has become interested in the crawl space under the Keeper’s house. He’s pushed against the crawl space door and succeeded in dislodging it. I also caught him glancing in the basement window. I hope he never sees his reflection.

Facility work:

We had trades people at the site today.  The woodstove and chimney were cleaned and the fire bricks replaced. This inspired me to do some cleaning inside the Keeper’s house that didn’t require much water like windows and other shiny things.

  • cleaned solar panels
  • cleaned Keeper’s house windows
  • cleaned inside Keeper’s house
  • thistles

Visitors:

  • Darren and Tavin, WETT Certification
  • Matt, Metal worker
  • Hugo, Volunteer at Pearson College

Vessels:

21 Ecotourism boats, 2 private

Weather:

Winds variable, seas calm, high of 17 degrees.

Moving house