Tag Archives: elephant seal

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 19-20

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Feb 19: Cloudy, periods of rain, wind West 10-15 knots. Went off island at first light to attend a conference. Came back before dark. Worked on cam 5: extended and sealed conduit pipe to fit new utility box, sealed utility box to pedestal, re-wired and mounted power connection in box.

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Moon, Mars, Venus, Feb 20.

Feb 20: Partly sunny, wind W 10-20 knots.  Went off island in afternoon to pick up and bring back two guests to stay overnight. Brought in recycling and discarded old cam 5 utility box.

After dark I could hear a female elephant seal nearby on great race, I found her she up past the boat house next to, and partly on top of, the goose exclusion inclosure. She was making vocalizations and seemed uncomfortable, moving around quite a bit.  She was very big and round, I wondered if she might be pregnant even though it is later than pups have typically been born here in recent years.  The moon was visible close to Mars and Venus, it was too windy to get a sharp long exposure with the telephoto.

Jan 15-19

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Jan 15: cloudy, N wind 10-15. DND blasting on Bentinck Island

Jan 16: wind light, clear sky. DND blasting on Bentinck Island. female elephant seal came into the boat ramp area but didn’t haul out for very long. Did some fire wood cutting. Went off island to pick up guest in the late afternoon.

Jan 17: cloudy with periods of rain, wind North 10-20 knots becoming West overnight. 1 dive boat, 2 eco tour.  Built a firewood cutting jig.

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dive boat getting tossed around in waves, Jan 17

Jan 18: wind 30-40 knots West overnight, gusting over 50 knots. The wind decreased in the afternoon. The younger male elephant seal came onto the main island in the afternoon. I was able to get a closer look at him, he has many small scars and marks on his back likely from Chunk bitting him. Sealion with orange data transmitter on its back off East side of island.

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California sealion with data transmitter with marking “5” visible

Jan 19: Partly clear, some rain.  Wind west, some gusts throughout day, light in the evening.  Went off island in the morning and returned in the afternoon.  Chunk and the younger male were both on the main island when I got back.

Census (Jan 17):

California Sea lions: 10

Northern Sea Lions: 2

Harbour Seals: 28

Elephant Seals: 3

Cormorants: 88

Canada Geese: 25

Gulls: 50

Bald Eagle: 1

Harlequin Ducks: 2

Black Turnstone: 5

Black Oyster Catcher: 32

 

 

Orcas, Jan 11-13

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On the morning of Jan 11 a pod of at around 20 orcas passed by in the morning on both sides of the reserve heading NE.  Mid morning they returned passing by on the East side of the reserve.  The whales were spread out and some were breaching as well as lying on their back slapping the surface of the water with their tails.

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the sealions on the south islands seemed apprehensive as the orcas swam nearby

 

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beyond south island, Rosedale Reef buoy and bulk carrier in background

 

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off the south islands

 

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on its back tail slapping the water

 

 

 

Persistent NE wind 10 -20 knots with mostly overcast sky for the past days.

Jan 11: 1 private vessel, 1 dive boat, 2 ecotour

Jan 12: one sea otter seen circling the island and a female elephant seal came on the main island briefly.  There have been very few female elephant seals on the main island so far this winter.

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Jan 13: 2 ecotour

Jan 14: 3 ecotour

I haven’t seen or heard the elephant seal pup in several days, dont know if it still alive. Have been working on wood cutting and did some more work on the composting toilet install, levelling the chamber so it drains, plumbing the chute and fastening the seat.

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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Teals return again

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Rain throughout the day, wind 15-20 knots most of the day, started North then shifted to West. West wind picked up in the evening gusting over 35 knots.  Barometer reached a high of over 1025 hPa on Monday and has been falling today towards 1010 hPa.

One eco tour vessel in the reserve

Chunk has been on the main island all day until the evening.  There is a second large male elephant seal on west rock, visible on camera 1, that I haven’t seen on the main island yet.

With the rain came the Green Winged Teals (3) again to the muddy flats on the NE side of the island.

Cleared some logs out of the jetty bay with the pike pole and chopped fire wood.

Kingfisher, teals, surf, chunk

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Lots of rain today. The barometer continued to fall this morning reaching a low of 985 hPa this afternoon. It was windy overnight and a west wind picked up this evening briefly gusting over 35 knots.   There have been swells coming in on both the NE and W sides of the island today along with high tides all morning that combined to submerge the jetty with waves and provide good surfing conditions for sea lions.

I spotted a infrequent visitor, a belted kingfisher perched on the crane.  There were also three green winged teals in the mud flats on the NE side of the island, I only ever see them when it rains a lot and there are fresh water puddles.

Sealions had good surfing conditions most of the day.  The images were taken off the south side of the island, reef break.

Before dusk Chunk (Zeke) came up the boat ramp onto the island, the first time he has come on the main island during my shift.  He has grown since last winter and has a stronger vocalization.

Weekly Census

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The wind varied in velocity and direction throughout the day.  Fog settled in overnight as the wind blew between 15-25 knots from the southwest.  In the daylight hours, the wind blew from the south and west between 7-32 knots.  The barometer dropped slightly from 1008 hPa to 1004 hPa.  It was overcast with patches of sun and rain throughout the day. The temperature reached a high of 12.8oC at noon.

There was one whale watching boat seen in the reserve, in the mid afternoon.

I saw humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) twice today, both times from the kitchen window.  The whales were surfacing just south of Great Race Rocks, within the boundaries of the Ecological Reserve.  At 9:30am, I saw two humpbacks blow, surface and dive westward.  At 3:20pm, I saw one humpback surface and dive eastward.  I am not positive if they were different whales, so I counted them as two in the census.

Two branded steller sea lions were seen seen today.  76Y was a pup in 2002 when it was branded in St. George Reef, California.  443Y was branded in 2013, when it was a pup at Rogue Reef, Oregon.

Here are the results of the weekly census:

Humpback Whale: 2
Steller Sea Lion: 244
California Sea Lion: 216
Harbour Seal: 39
Northern Elephant Seal: 4
Bald Eagle: 5 (2 adults, 3 juveniles)
Canada Goose: 18
Crow: 2
Harlequin Duck: 4
Double Crested Cormorant: 61
Pelagic Cormorant: 142
Black Oystercatcher: 25
Gull: 411
Black Turnstone: 8
Rock Sandpiper: 6
Surfbird: 11
Savannah Sparrow: 2
Fox Sparrow: 2

Weekly Census of Race Rock’s Megafauna

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The wind blew about 10 knots from the north.  The barometer rose overnight from 1009 hPa to 1013 hPa as the sun set at 16:29, beginning to drop in the evening.  The sea was rippled.  The sky was mostly overcast with some breaks of sun and occasional light rain showers.  It hasn’t rained here during the day (possibly at all) in about two weeks.

There was one whale watching boat seen in the reserve today.  It spent a lot of time near the southern side Race Rocks, where the whale watching boats don’t usually go. Three small grey inflatable military boats sped around the edge of the reserve at 15:00, coming within less than a hundred meters of the islands.  After their circuit, they headed back towards the navy base.

Here are the results of the weekly census:

Steller Sea Lion: 263
California Sea Lion: 208
Harbour Seal: 7
Northern Elephant Seal: 5
Bald Eagle: 4 (2 adults, 2 juveniles)
Canada Goose: 9
Harlequin Duck: 3
Double Crested Cormorant: 44
Pelagic Cormorant: 147
Black Oystercatcher: 10
Gull: 396
Black Turnstone: 20
Rock Sandpiper: 3
Surfbird: 17
Fox Sparrow: 1

As always, there were variations in the numbers seen since last week.  There were fewer harbour seals.  I checked them throughout the day, the most I was able to see at one time were seven, scattered around the many small islands.  The tide was fairly high during the daylight hours, which tends to not be good hauling out conditions for the seals.  There were more smaller birds seen this week.  It was easier to spot smaller birds this week because of the lower wind speed.  I had a tough time distinguishing the rock sandpipers amongst the surfbirds.  While they look very similar, the surfbirds are a bit larger and have shorter bills.  See if you can tell the difference in the photos below.