Tag Archives: elephant seals

Clear

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Clear skies. Moderate West wind. Force 4.
Barometer has been rising most of the day. String west winds are supposed to continue.

9 tour boats
3 halibut boats on the edge of the reserve

A lot of the Elephant seals have pretty much moulted, but they are still hanging out here. There are still a few seals that have just started moutling. One is the big male, one is a female that just arrived on Great Race this week, and there are two juveniles that are just starting to moult around their eyes.

This nice weather means that I don’t have to run the generator very often, mostly because I don’t have to have it on to run the desalinator. I’ve been turning it on for a hour and a half every 5-or-so days just to keep it starting nicely (when it went down for 10 days it took a few tries to get it started). I still check the voltage read-out on the battery bank first thing in the morning, and again around 1600 just to make sure everything is working a it should be.

-Transect peg scavenger hunt
-Finished mapping R. Tracyi

Elephant seals

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Light variable North wind most of the day, blowing strong West this evening. Clouds and intermittent rain all day. Force 1 in the am, Force 5 this evening. The barometer levelled out just above 1000 hPa around 1800. The forecast is for strong West, diminishing to slightly-less strong SW overnight.

4 tour boats
3 halibut boats on the edge of the reserve

I’m used to seeing the little zodiacs out for the marine tours, but there are a couple tour boats that are really really big. I usually catch them out of the corner of my eye and have to do a double take. It’s a bit like suddenly seeing a small house sitting off the island where it is normally just empty water. It’s crazy that a boat that big will casually pass past the end of the jetty, through a narrow channel that is ripping with the fastest currents on Southern Vancouver Island.

The males Elephant seals are more active and aggressive and have lots of little sparing battles throughout the day. The females might growl, but otherwise they are pretty chill. There doesn’t seem to be any patterns in groups in terms of sex, with the males and females spread out pretty evenly. Although the larger males tend to spend more time away from the group. There are still 2 small juveniles (nicknamed Jellybean and Peanut since they are so darn round and cute). One of the young adult males spent some time ‘chasing’ me while I scoped out the other E-seals. He also chased some sea gulls for a while. They definitely don’t hesitate to growl at the Canada Geese or Gulls when they are too close or fly over. I’ve been keeping my eye out for any E-seal flipper tags, but haven’t seen any in a while. Lots of Pigeon Guillemots today.

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West winds, Blasting

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The weather this week has shifted to predominantly W and SW with a few nights of winds over 40 NMPH. There have been some big swells rolling in several days this week.  This morning there is a 30 NMPH NE wind blowing 4 foot waves into the jetty but it is forecast to swing back to west this evening. The west wind has brought much warmer temperatures than the previous week.

There has been ongoing military blasting on Bentinck Island this week with some particularly heavy blasts occurring Monday. The images above were captured from video taken on Monday.
sub-7714
There has also been regular navy activity in the Straight including a submarine that passed by on the 14th

2 juvenile-7706

eagles-7682
There have been lots of Bald Eagles in the reserve lately, they have been feeding regularly on the dead sealion in the East bay.

The pup has been much more adventurous lately. He has been moving around the island and has shown an interest in muddy puddles which he seems to have some trouble getting himself out of as he is slippery, still quite chubby and building his strength. Chunk went off island yesterday evening and is back today. He mostly ignores the pup but has occasionally pursued the pup, putting his head and mouth on the pup but without causing harm. The pup squawks and moves away and that seeems to be the end of it.

Went off island on Wednesday afternoon for supplies. On Friday I picked up four guests from Pearson College and brought them to the island for the weekend.

-finished replacing bad drain pipes in main house basement, clean up
-picked up backup Honda water pump and other supplies from College
-cleaning and fixing up assist house, added shelf for VHF regulated power supply box
-have been in touch with faculty regarding planning for a student group to RR for Project Week
-communications with inverter mechanic and about wood stove
-cut, chopped, stacked fire wood

Chunk and Bertha

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Partly cloudy, wind 10-15 NMPH N-NE.

This morning Chunk was on the island taking an interest in Bertha.  He chased her around a bit and made what appeared to be mating attempts.  She growled at him and resisted.

Sensitive Oystercatchers

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June is half over and I have about 10 days before Julie comes out to take over for the summer. I am trying to get some painting done in the dry and relatively windless spells, but one of the issues I am facing is trying not to disturb the oystercatchers nesting near the top of the ramp by the majority of railings. They immediately leave the nest when I get anywhere near, and won’t return til I am well clear. I worry about the eggs cooling too much, so I scrape the rails for 10 minutes then depart for an hour… Fortunately I have lots of time on my hands! Meanwhile only a couple juvenile e-seals remain and just as well because Misery’s curiosity is quite terrifying to them. Here one scrambles up the rocks to escape.

Best keep a safe distance...

Best keep a safe distance…

Sunset on Olympics

Sunset on Olympics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Pigeon Guillemots are nesting in the larger cracks in the rocks; another reason to keep a low profile and limit my wandering around the island. They are adorable little birds!

Pigeon Guillemot

Pigeon Guillemot

Pigeon Guillemots and Oystercatcher

Pigeon Guillemots and Oystercatcher

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pigeon Guillemots

Pigeon Guillemots on the Jetty

 

 

 

 

 

 

Branded California Sea Lion 1032

Branded California Sea Lion 1032

 

 

 

 

 

 

Branded California Sea Lion 1032 en flagrante

Branded California Sea Lion 1032 en flagrante

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunset Flock of Glaucous-winged Gulls

Sunset Flock of Glaucous-winged Gulls

E-seal update

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Chunk (Zeke) returns

Chunk (Zeke) returns

This morning I woke up to the grunts of our Number 2 rank male elephant seal known as Chunk (or Zeke). Looking much larger than last year, he let everyone know he arrived, threw his weight around, then crashed out for a late-morning snooze. I wonder if Misery is far behind…

Old Bertha is blind in one eye.

Old Bertha is blind in one eye.

 

 

Old mama Bertha is almost finished her moult and will likely be off to replenish her fat reserves in any day now. In this picture you can see her blind eye.

A juvenile from Piedras Blancas, California

A juvenile from Piedras Blancas, California

 

 

 

 

This scruffy little juvenile arrived for it’s moult from Piedras Blancas, California, as evidenced by its tags.

Loving the Grass!

Loving the Grass!

 

 

 

 

I counted 16 on Great Race this morning roughly 50/50 male to female ratio.

Elephant seals lined up on the centre of Great Race Island

Elephant seals lined up on the centre of Great Race Island

 

 

 

 

Good times with amigos…

Sea Otter at Race Rocks

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Misery has been off the main island and out of sight since about March 16.  A few female elephant seals have been around, there have been 4 or 5 on Middle rock for the past few days.esealsOn the 26th I saw a Sea Otter off the south side of the island.  It was mostly swimming on its back and at one point had a sea urchin it was eating on its belly. A few seals followed it as it swam towards middle rock.
See this file on one previous occurrence of Sea Otters at Race Rocks otter

Tomorrow is the last day of my 4 month shift at Race Rocks. Mike will be returning to take over.

Wildlife

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eagles

Bertha left the main island the night of the 16 and I have not seen her since.  She was on the island and mating with Misery for just over a week.  Zeke stayed around for the first few days and was very interested in the new arrival and activity but after being chased off by Misery a few times he left, I have not seen him in about a week.  Misery seems to still be looking for her sometimes.  He has been on the main island every day since Bertha arrived and seems to go off the island most nights.

The Pigeon Guillemots are becoming more frequent with a recent count of over 200, they stay mostly just offshore or in the intertidal zone and make their shrill calls.  A couple pairs of Black Brant Geese have also been showing up just offshore of the main rock.  Most days there are over half a dozen bald eagles in the reserve perched on the crane, the generator exhaust pipe, camera 5, on rocks, on the smaller islands, gliding in the air on the west winds, or chasing each other around.

Census, Monday Feb 18, 2013 Continue reading →

Female Elephant Seals

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The elephant seal population has been steadily declining over the past few weeks.  For the last few days since Jan 19 there have not been any female elephant seals visible in the reserve.  This is the time when elephant seal pups have been born out here in the past so it is somewhat surprising and a bit disappointing.  Both male elephant seals have been back and forth between the main island and West rock and have been chasing and trying to mount the few small females that have been around, which is likely why they have all left.

Guard seal

Guard seal

Small e- seal moulting

Small e- seal moulting

Large female elephant seal on Middle rock .. possibly Bertha?

Large female elephant seal on Middle rock .. possibly Bertha?