Tag Archives: elephant seal

green tag, C-586

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Weather: West wind, 30 knots reaching up to 40 knots. Visibility limited by rain.

Ecological: While doing the Christmas Bird count I came across a female elephant seal on the West side of Great Race.  She is flipper tagged, green, c-586 and appears to be moulting. She also appears to be stuck in between some rocks.  With an iron bar I was able to move a rock that was against her neck, this exposed a nasty wound where the rock had been embedded into her flesh.  With the impediment removed I left her to see if she would be able to move freely.  When I returned a few hours later she had only changed position by 90 degrees.  I could see signs of abrasion on her underside as well.  I took photos and sent a marine mammal injury report to the DFO and a veterinarian at the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Centre.

Boats: 1 ecotour

Maintenance: continued firewood stacking, basement tidying.

christmas bird count and census

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Birds:

  • Turnstone: 12
  • Dunlin: 4
  • Bald Eagle: 13
  • Raven: 2
  • Harlequin Duck: 22

     

  • Black Oyster Catcher: 13

 

  • Cormorant (pelagic and double crested): 57
  • Gull: 67

Pinnipeds:

  • California Sea Lion: 106
  • Northern Sea Lion: 94
  • Elephant Seal: 2 male, 1 female green flipper tag c-586
  • Harbour Seal: 10 (probably more, West Rock)

 

 

elephant seal scuffle

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Weather: North wind, 20 knots, mostly clear sky.

Ecological:  The two male elephant seals have been back and forth between West Rock and Great Race over recent days.  Chunk has always appeared to be the dominant male, the other male stays around the periphery of the island and seems to avoid him.  Today though for the first time I saw Chunk being chased by the other male.  They had fought, both males had tooth mark cuts on them from their interaction.

Maintenance:  Moved firewood to basement, stacked.

Last Full Day of the Shift

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 15-20 knots W, later 10 knots E, then 20 knots N
  • Sky: sunny in the morning, cloudy in the afternoon
  • Water: calm
  • Too cloudy to see the large moon tonight.

Ecological

  • 3 elephant seals on Great Race.
  • The little female did not return with the others.
  • I observed two armadas of cormorants in the afternoon.
  • Then they all flew away!
  • Also one young seagull is wandering around with a broken wing.
  • I think it is the same gull that I saw a couple of weeks ago.

Maintenance

  • Added one 55 gallon barrel of diesel to the tidy tank.
  • Finished hauling the various unused pieces of the electric fence back to the tank shed.
  • Stacked some firewood.
  • Cleaned the house for Guy.
  • Published the July, August, September, and October seawater data sheets on the website.

Boats

  • One boat appeared to be inspecting the Rosedale Rock buoy.
  • Two eco-tours came by.

Other

  • This is my last log post out at Race Rocks, until next time.
  • Hopefully I will be back out here in the springtime!
  • Signing off now. Good luck Guy (and Alex)!

photo-on-2016-11-14-at-7-49-pm

Rainy Day

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10 miles
  • Wind: 5-15 knots N/NE
  • Sky: overcast with showers
  • Water: calm

Ecological

  • 4 elephant seals on Great Race.
  • They all headed down to the water in the late afternoon.
  • Saw a pair of killdeer in the nocturnal hours.

sleeping-e-seals-13-11

activate-e-seals-13-11

Maintenance

  • Added some diesel to the tidy tank.
  • The usual chores.
  • Started preparing for my Tuesday departure.

Boats

  • Did not see any boats.

Gale Force Winds and Peregrine Falcon

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10 miles
  • Wind: 0-5 knots NW in the morning
  • By 11:10 up to 25 knots West
  • By 11:25 33 knots, 11:55 40 knots West
  • Post 12:00 steady at 30-35 knots West
  • Late afternoon into darkness 15-20 knots West
  • Sky: mix of sun and cloud
  • Water: 2′ chop

Ecological

  • 4 elephant seals on Great Race.
  • They were very playful today.
  • Pam Birley spotted a Peregrine falcon with the webcam!
  • She took these 4 photos for us!

Maintenance

  • Back flushed the desalinator.
  • Ran the desalinator.
  • Uploaded June Seawater data to the website.

Boats

  • Did not see any boats in the reserve.

The Accreditation Team

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 10 knots N
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: calm
  • Fresh snow on the Olympic Mountains.

fresh-snow-olympics-11-11

Ecological

  • 4 elephant seals on Great Race

grrrrrr-11-11

Maintenance

  • Stacked some fire wood.
  • Did some electric fence re-organizing.
  • Cleaned the solar panels.

fire-11-11

Boats

  • Kyle came out in Second Nature.
  • One pleasure craft came through the Middle Channel.
  • A few eco-tours came by.

Visitors

  • Kyle brought the accreditation team out for an hour long tour.
  • Three men: an Austrian, a Colombian, and a British via Tanzania.

Sea Lions, Boats, & Other Stuff

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles (Mt. Baker visible)
  • Wind: 5-10 knots West
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: rippled

Ecological

  • Census day!
  • Two California sea lions with neck rings. Poor guys.
  • Two sea lions with brands.
  • California: X168
  • Steller: 678
  • Saw a few California sea lions with head injuries, as well as one Steller.
  1. California Sea Lions: 678
  2. Northern (Steller) Sea Lions: 533
  3. Harbour Seals: 37
  4. Elephant Seals: 5 on Great Race
  5. Seagulls unspecified: 449
  6. Thayer’s Gulls: 235
  7. Glaucous-winged Gulls: 20
  8. Cormorants unspecified: 357
  9. Brandt’s Cormorants: 10
  10. Pelagic Cormorants: 6
  11. Double Crested Cormorants: 4
  12. Black Turnstones: 20
  13. Canada Geese: 5
  14. Dunlin: 1
  15. Savannah Sparrow: 1
  16. Bald Eagle: 1 adult

Maintenance

  • Ran the saltwater pump into the cistern for 5 and a quarter hours.

Boats

  • A handful of eco-tours came by today. At least 5.
  • One of the boats caused a minor sea lion stampede on the east part of Great Race.
  • My photos only show the tail end of the stampede.
  • Much more happened between the “pre stampede” photo and my end shots.

Foggy Day

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Weather

  • Visibility: 0-5 miles
  • Wind: 10-15 knots W, then around to NE
  • Sky: fog!
  • Water: calm
  • The foghorn was beeping off and on much of the morning and afternoon.

Ecological

  • 3 elephant seals on Great Race.

Maintenance

  • Ran the desalinator.

Boats

  • No boats that I’m aware of.