Tag Archives: elphant seal pup

Census, end of the fog and more stellers

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Today was the first day in over a week where the island wasn’t covered in dense fog for most of the day. I was finally able to get a good look at what was happening on and around the island.

Weather

  • Visibility: 10 miles
  • Wind: 20-25 knts W
  • Sky: Clear
  • Water: Ripply
  • Heavy fog this morning, lifted by mid-afternoon

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • A few ecotour boats and a couple of private boats as well

Technical

  • I installed bird deterrent strips on all the solar panels this morning. It took a couple of hours of drilling and screwing in strips of wire, but all the panels are now protected from seagulls. This should drastically reduce the frequency with which the panels will have to be cleaned.

Mammal Notes

  • Once the fog lifted, I got a good look at the western rocks and looks like the steller population has doubled! There seem to be several more large bulls. Pictures below.
  • The injured seal that was resting their the jetty for the last week or so, seems to be more mobile now. I saw it playing in the water by itself this evening.
  • The injured california sea lion doesn’t seem in any better condition. It’s getting skinnier every day.
  • I found the spot where the two seal pups like to sleep! I found them dozing on the southeast corner of the island, in a small and shallow inlet.

Bird Notes

  • The seagulls have been gradually getting less and less aggressive. I spent almost 6 hours outdoors today without getting hit on the head – I’ll take it as a good sign!
  • Most of the seagull chicks are now at least 1/2 the size of the adults – some appear almost as big as the adults! However, there are still a few really small ones, especially near the water, that are about a week old. I witnessed an adult seagull trying to kill another’s week-old baby this afternoon.
  • I spotted two geese on the island after a long time

Census

  • Elephant Seals
    • Male = 2
    • Female = 0
  • Sea Lions
    • California = 3
    • Steller = 30
  • Seagulls = 450 adults (a big part of them remain on the smaller rock islands during low tide), ~100 babies (hard to estimate)
  • Pigeon Guillemot = 90
  • Eagles = 0
  • Oystercatchers = 12 adults
  • Harbour Seals = 50 adults, 2 (maybe more) babies
  • Geese = 2
  • Black turnstone = 72