Tag Archives: harbour seal

Powerful DND Blasting and Bald Eagle

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 20-25 knots NE
  • Water: 2′ chop
  • Sky: overcast

Ecological

  • The newest female elephant seal was gone this morning.
  • Chunk mated with the current mother on Great Race today. Unlike the other times I have seen him initiate mating, the female did not fight back or try to get away. She seemed okay with it, and her pup lay beside her as it happened.
  • Chuckles spent the day on the south-east corner of Great Race.
  • Status quo on Middle Rock with the mum and pup.
  • Lady left the island at 3:30, just after the 5th and 6th DND blasts.
  • Watched a bald eagle tear away at weaner’s head for over half an hour at dusk. This was the first time I had seen an eagle approach the corpse. Fascinating.

Maintenance

  • Mopped up the remaining water in the Energy Building.
  • Stacked more firewood in the water shed.
  • Cleared logs and debris off the ramp three times.

Other

  • There were 6 very powerful DND blasts today coming from Bentinck Island. They came in three pairs, each pair spaced out from the other. I was outside for the first two and they hurt my ears. I was inside for the final four, and they shook the house considerably.
  • After when I walked around the island, I noticed that nearly all the birds and sea lions had disappeared. There was only 1 sea lion on Great Race, and he appeared to be injured, which would explain why he was the only one who stayed. There were about 10 sea lions left on South Island, and 20 Harbour Seals. No cormorants. The blasting must have scared the rest off.
Smoke from blasting

Smoke from blasting.

Branded Sea Lion 443Y

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots W
  • Water: 1′ chop
  • Sky: mostly clear

Ecological

  • Spotted 9 immature bald eagles on South Island with one mature eagle a bit farther away.
  • Status quo with the elephant seals, although I have my suspicions that the female whom Chuckles tried to mate with yesterday is not the grieving mother, but a different one arrived the night before, and the grieving mother departed.
  • The pup out on Middle Rock seems to be getting quite large. Perhaps he’ll become a weaner soon?
  • There were over 50 harbour seals in the reserve today.
  • Saw a northern sea lion branded with 443Y.

Maintenance

  • More cleaning in the Student’s House.
  • Stacked firewood in the water shed.

Boats

  • No eco-tours today.
  • One fishing boat passed nearby.
  • A large container ship seems to be anchored out in the strait towards Victoria.

Census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 5 miles, later 15
  • Wind: 5-10 knots SE, late afternoon up to 33 knots from the West
  • Water: rippled, later wavy
  • Sky: foggy in the morning, overcast in the afternoon

Ecological

  • Chunk spent the day on Middle Rock with the mum and pup.
  • Lady, Grieving mum, mum and pup, were in the same spots on Great Race.
  • Chuckles arrived on Great Race in the late afternoon.
  • Conducted a census.
  1. California Sea Lions: 87
  2. Northern/Stellar Sea Lions: 50
  3. Harbour Seals: 21
  4. Elephant Seals: 8
  5. Cormorants: 742 (of the 742, I think that at least 10 were Male Brandt’s, 131 Double Crested, and 200 Pelagic; my identification is improving, but many were either too far away, or indistinguishable to me.)
  6. Seagulls: 605 (131 had darker plumage and therefore must be immature gulls?)
  7. Pigeon Guillemots: 50
  8. Bald Eagles: 30 (23 juveniles, 7 adults)
  9. Black Oystercatchers: 13
  10. Canada Geese: 10
  11. Harlequin Ducks: 8 (4 male, 4 female)
  12. Black Turnstones: 6
  13. Surfbird: 3 (unless they were Rock Sandpipers?)
  14. Raven: 2
  15. American Pipit: 2

Maintenance

  • Did some more cleaning in the Student’s House.

Boats

  • In the morning, one fishing boat passed through the reserve. The occupants did not fish in the reserve; they were going slow and appeared to be observing.
  • In the afternoon, one large eco-tour boat came through the reserve.

Daffodils and Rain

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots SE, later N
  • Water: rippled
  • Sky: overcast, rain in the afternoon

Ecological

  • One lone seagull has been pecking away at the weaner. Nature at work.
  • Chunk attempted to mate with the grieving mother. Then he left the island at 17:00.
  • Great Race mum and pup, Lady, and Middle Rock mum and pup still present. No sign of Chuckles today.
  • Noticed about 12 harbour seals out on the rocks. It’s not everyday that they’re here.
  • The daffodils started to open up today. Purple crocus and various other flowers have been open for over a week.

Maintenance

  • Started organizing and tidying up the Student’s House.

Boats

  • The HMCS Whitehorse was out near Albert Head in the morning.
  • Two eco-tours came by in the afternoon. The second boat seemed too close to a group of sea lions, half of whom then stampeded into the water.

New Female Elephant Seal

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 10 knots E
  • Water: 1′ chop
  • Sky: clear

Mt Baker & Gulls

Ecological

  • There was a new female elephant seal in front of the house this morning. She appears to be too small to be pregnant. Perhaps she already birthed a pup elsewhere and departed, or maybe she is too young to give birth yet.
  • The other four elephant seals remained over by the path all day.
  • Chuckles, mum and pup still on Middle Rock.
  • Spotted about 12 harbour seals on South Rock/swimming nearby.

Maintenance

  • Continued stacking the newly prepared firewood under shelter so it can dry.
  • Picked up plastic and styrofoam from the ramp/jetty area.
  • Vacuumed up hundreds of fruit flies in the basement near the composting toilet. I think from now on this will be a daily chore, rather than a maintenance action worthy of note.

Boats

  • The HMCS Ottawa was out again most of the day.
  • Made the appropriate inquiries into yesterday’s pleasure craft fishing and eco-tour boat observations.

Other

  • There seemed to be some mild DND blasting around noon.

 

 

Marine Mammals Hauled out on Race Rocks Jan 2014-Feb 2016

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This graph represents the 6 marine mammal species which haul out on Great Race Rocks in the Race Rocks Ecological reserve.  providing the population numbers and the time of year  CLICK to enlarge. The data was obtained from the Posts on census done by the Ecoguardians at Race Rocks.mammalcraph

The graph below represents the Elephant seal population at Race Rocks Ecological reserve with data taken from the Ecoguardian logs for January 2014 to January 2016. Click to enlarge.

elephantseal2014-2015

Storms and Surf Scoters

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Baby Harbour seal -Around 2 ft long

Baby Harbour seal -around 2 ft long

Ecological Happenings

  • Storm warning with high winds overnight and gale force in the morning. Overcast with lashing rain at points.
  • Small Harbour seal pup seen on the boat ramp first thing.
  • Surf Scooters seen to the south of the main island in the afternoon.
  • The Bald Eagles were seen buzzing flocks of gulls and cormorants on the rocks, driving the gulls into the air and the cormorants to sea. The gulls retaliated by mobbing the Eagles in the air and driving them off.
  • The female Elephant seal was absent this morning and did not return all day. The smaller Elephant seal seemed like it was looking for her through the day. The males barely moved and snoozed through the storm.
  • Sea lions rafted together and played in the surf jumping clear out the water at times.

Marine Vessels

  • None

Maintenance

  • Jetty cleared of driftwood from yesterday’s storm.
  • Logs at the student house re-stacked as they had been blown over in the high winds last night.
  • Pressure washer pump lubricated and reassembled.
Surf Scoter

Surf Scoters

Small Elephant seal looking for female

Small Elephant seal

Sealion raft

Sea lions rafting

Sea lions playing in the surf

Sea lions playing in the surf

Black Oystercatchers preening and hiding from the wind

Black Oystercatchers preening and hiding from the wind

Adult (left) and immature (right) Thayer's Gulls

Adult (left) and immature (right) Thayer’s Gulls

December Dawn

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December Dawn

December Dawn

Ecological Happenings

  • Adult and immature Bald Eagles around the reserve and using the derrick as a lookout.
  • Building winds and overcast skies.
  • Two Bull Eseals came up onto the main Island today.
  • Winds building. Blustery and overcast.

Marine Vessels

  • Coastguard helicopter passed overhead.

Maintenance

  • More familiarisation and settling in.
  • New pressure gauge fitted to the brine pump on the De-sal unit.
  • Fid made for splicing new lines onto the Whaler.
Elephant seal guarding the energy centre

Elephant seal guarding the energy centre

Elephant Seal Snoozing

Elephant Seal Snoozing

What do you mean I’m not camouflaged?

What do you mean I’m not camouflaged?

Buzzzz Off

Buzzzz Off

Buffeted Bald Eagle

Buffeted Bald Eagle

New Eco-guardians.

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Sea lions visit Pearson College Divers Photo by Jasper Rea.

Sea lions visit Pearson College Divers Photo by Jasper Rea.

It was a beautiful day at Race Rocks, with light southeast winds and a mostly clear sky. The barometer fell a little today to ~1013hPA and the forecast for tomorrow is for sunny skies. There is a strong wind warning in effect for overnight with diminishing southeast winds Friday. Rain is forecast for Saturday.

Only four whale-watching vessels were noted in the protected area today and three pleasure craft passed through going slowly. The people on one of those vessels, the Kaos were observed feeding rockfish to sea lions in the Ecological Reserve. It is illegal to feed wildlife and if it happens they will be reported.

Today was animal census day and here are the results.

Animal Census

Steller Sea Lion 321

California Sea Lion 637

Harbour Seal 77

Northern Elephant Seal 9

Sea Otter 0

Humpback Whale (1 observed within one mile of ER southeast of

Great Race)

Canada Goose 23

Harlequin Duck 5

Surf Scoters 11 (flying through to east)

Common Murre 5

Rhinoceros Auklet 4

Double-crested Cormorant 73

Brandt’s Cormorants 25

Pelagic Cormorant 9

Unidentified Cormorants 20

Bald Eagle 1 adult

Black Oystercatcher 11

Black Turnstone 7

Kildeer 2

Glaucous-winged Gull 248

California Gull 3

Thayer’s Gulls 707

Herring Gull 0

Ring-billed Gull 1

Western Gull 2

Heerman’s Gull 14

Mew Gull 0

Unidentified gulls 53

Total gull count 1028

Common Raven 2

Red-winged Blackbird 7 (during count week)

Savannah Sparrow 12

Song Sparrow 2

American Goldfinch 1

American Pipet 1

Don and Nina, the new eco-guardians in-training arrived today. They worked hard all day, after getting up very early to catch the morning slack and are progressing really well in learning some of the idiosyncrasies of Race Rocks operations.

6-spot the Harbour seal Observed at RR since 2008

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sixspot-harbourseal

6-spot the harbour seal observed by Pam Birley on the rock by the jetty October 9, 2015

A record for long term observation has occurred with Pam Birley of Lesteshiire England observing over a period of 7 years a certain harbour seal she named 6-spot because of the distinctive markings. Oddly enough she often gets an image of it from the remote camera 5 in the fall as it lies on the same flat rock near the Jetty.  You can see some of her other observations of it at https://www.racerocks.ca/pam-birley-photo-records/

Pam sent the picture with the note: “Hi Garry,  YES….it is 6-spot !!!!    I got a good clear view this morning as it lay basking below Cam 5.  Here is a picture. First seen 2008 I believe, that makes it seven years !!!    I love it !!!!    Pam