Tag Archives: harbour seal

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 →

Animal Notes and Census

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A few days ago we had two unusual visitors to our waters. Two Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) spent several days on Great Race and North Rocks. Brown Pelicans, though the smalles of pelicans, are enormous birds weighing up to 6 kilos and measuring up to 135 cms with a wingspan of up to 2.5 meters.

A visitor from warmer climes….

Northern vacation to Race Rocks….

We have had two other unusual visitors in the last week. I discovered a Barred Owl in the boathouse attacking a Starling (another recent arrival), and Pam our avid photographer friend from England got several pictures of Peregrine Falcons that came through hunting sparrows and starlings. Pam’s pictures can be seen at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/66339356@N00/sets/72157628747376295/

Another tagged e-seal showed up in the boathouse yesterday.

Might as well hang out somewhere cozy…

Tagged 7225

 Animal Census Nov 8 2012

Species Current Population (Est)
Stellar/Northern Sea Lion  30
Elephant Seal  7
Harbour Seal  200
California Sea Lion  50
Glaucous-winged Gull  150
Herring Gull  300
California Gull  30
Heerman’s Gull  80
Black Turnstones  100
Surfbird  6
Pelagic Cormorants  40
Brandt’s Cormorant  30
Killdeer   6
Dunlin  16
Harlequin Ducks  20
Canada Goose  14
Bald Eagle  3
Black Oyster-catcher  40
Sanderlings  8
Starlings  8
Race Rocks Eco-Guardian  1
Rhinoceros Auklet  100
Common Murre  100
Sparrows  20
Brown Pelican  2
Barred Owl  1
Peregrine Falcon  2

 

Animal Census

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Species Current Population (Est)
Stellar/Northern Sea Lion 175
Elephant Seal 8
Harbour Seal 200
California Sea Lion 200
Glaucous-winged Gull 150
Herring Gull 30
California Gull 6
Surfbirds 1
Black Turnstones 40
Western Grebe 2
Brandt’s Cormorant 30
Sparrows 12
Horned Lark 5
Harlequin Ducks 1
Canada Goose 8
Bald Eagle 1
Black Oyster-catcher 10
River Otter  1
Pearson Students/Staff  16
Race Rocks Eco-Guardian  1
Rhinoceros Auklet  100
Common Murre  100

Seal Pups and traffic

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Harbour seals are frequenting the kelp beds regularly with their new pups. I have spotted a half dozen pups so far. Harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) are most often found in estuaries and shallow bays but here in the reserve there are approximately 35 right now. They feed at hide tide and rest during low tide usually somewhere within the south-eastern part of the reserve.

Habour seal with pup

Marine traffic has increased significantly this week. Today, whale watching boats alone exceeded 40 in the reserve and there were around a dozen private boaters as well. In the last post I mentioned the whale tour boats are well mannered though unfortunately speeding between North Race Rocks and Great Race Rocks has become much more common in the past week.

There is a count of 9 elephant seals at the moment, which dropped from 11 earlier in the week. Some, like Misery (our largest male), seem to spend equal time in water and on shore now.

Also, 3 groups of student visitors came out on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for tours to learn about the reserve, its importance, and to get a peek at the elephant seals. The tours were kept brief as to not disturb the gulls who are still rather anxious to protect their young.

 

Animal Census First Sea Otter at Race Rocks

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Sea Otter in race ROcks Kelp Beds, photo by Adam Bird

Sea Otter in Race Rocks Kelp Beds, photo by Adam Bird on June 10/2012

Things have been fairly quite lately regarding birds and mammals here, though one of the eco-tour boats reported seeing a Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris) in a kelp bed on Monday! The percussive blasts from Rocky Point military testing range scared off most of the Sea Lions last Thursday and only a few have returned in the last couple days. A large pod of orca passed through and near the reserve on Tuesday. Thanks to Suna, Doris and Ishmael for the census.

Elephant Seals: about 10
Steller Sea Lions: 2
California Sea Lions: 2
Harbour Seals: 204
Glaucous-winged Gull: 246
Surfbirds: 18
Pigeon Guillemots: 108
Canada Goose: 13
Bald Eagle: 3
Black Oystercatcher: 12
Northwestern Crow: 1
Raven: 1
Sparrow: 4
Sea Otter: 1
Caspian Terns: 6
Herring Gulls: 20

Project Week-part 3 (final)

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Yesterday was the last day of project week, in the morning I brought students back to campus in two trips on the whaler.  It has been great group to have out here for the past week, they have helped out with several projects and tasks, endured some stormy weather, survived without a shower, cooked their own food (and shared a few good meals with me), and experienced the isolation and richness of the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve.  During their stay they were very conscious of the time and resources required for importing fuel and generating energy and fresh water and did a great job minimizing consumption and waste.

In the final days of the week students helped out with transferring diesel to the furnace tanks and cleaning cupboards in the science centre kitchen.  Throughout the week the group maintained a daily count of animals in the reserve, the count is included below.

 

Feb 27 Feb 28 Feb 29 Mar 1 Mar 2 Mar 3
Harbor seals 45 50 10 22 20 16
Elephant seals 2 2 2 2 2 2
Sea lions 2 5 5 5 6 6
Gulls 57 23 33 43 31 26
Cormorants 60 27 29 40 56 32
Oyster Catchers 3 5 3 6 7
Bald Eagles 1 1 1
Brown Sandpiper 4 12 8 6
White Sandpiper 5 3 4
Pigeon Guillemots 22 150
Common Mergansers 2
Harlequin Ducks 12 7 6

Thanks to the group for their contributions and good company.

 

Animal Census Jan 2012

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Air Breathing Animal Census of Race Rocks Jan 2012

Stellar Sea Lions: 30

Elephant Seals: 6-7

Harbour Seals: 50

Bald Eagles: 5-15

Brandt’s Cormorants: 50

Glaucous-Winged Gull: 100

Herring Gull: 30

Black Turnstones: 50

Song Sparrow: 6

Peregrine Flacon: 1

Killdeer: 4

Dunlin: 2

Sandpiper: 6

Harlequin Ducks: 20

Human: 1

 

Misery, Harbour Seals, Weather

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Misery has been on Middle Rock Tuesday and Wednesday but was back by the boat house this morning.

There were over 40 Harbour Seals observed on the south side of the island and South Rock this afternoon.

Have had 3 days of grey skies and a sustained lack of precipitation.  The wind peaked just over 20 knots on Tuesday and has stayed around 10 knots yesterday and today.  Atmospheric pressure reached its lowest point in the past two weeks on Tuesday around 1015 hPa and has been on the rise today.

boats and planes!

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Human Interaction
At 0835hrs PDT a floatplane flew W to E over the south side of the Reserve under 1000 ft.

At 1035hrs PDT a small RHIB entered the east side of the Reserve near North Race at high speed. The vessel proceeded to transit the main passage to the south side of Middle Race where they approached within 30 metres of harbour seals on the Rocks. At least 25 seals took flight to the water.

At ~1100hrs PDT a vessel was spotted entering the Reserve from the east at high speed.

At ~1330hrs PDT a vessel was spotted transiting the main passage at very high speed. Communication was made with the vessel and it slowed.

At 1510hrs PDT an Oak Bay Marine Group vessel was spotted fishing within the limits of the Reserve. Pedder Bay Marina was alerted. The vessel was halted by another recreational fishermen before PBM staff could respond.

At 1515hrs PDT an OBMG vessel was spotted speeding in the waters west of Great Race. The vessel eventually departed.

At 1515hrs PDT a recreational vessel was spotted fishing near West Race. The station vessel was launched to intercept the violators and they departed shortly thereafter.

At ~1900hrs PDT a recreational vessel was spotted speeding into the eastern portion of the Reserve in the direction of the North Race-Middle Race channel. The vessel slowed before entering the channel.

Divers from Ocean Educations arrived in the afternoon to dive off the front side of the island.

There were 18 visitors to the island today.

Pleasure: 10 Eco-Tour: 5

2 transient Orcas

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Orca’, 2, ‘Last night I returned to RR at about 1600hrs and was greeted by some great wildlife. A new female elephant seal had hauled up and was lying near the foot of the jetty. She was very, very nervous, especially as I tried to sneak around her and I later observed her getting quite agitated by the gulls as she hauled up on the grass and tried to find a comfortable sleeping spot for the night. Late in the evening she eventually settled close to Slash behind the boathouse. This was the first time I had seen this female, and she was definitely a very beautiful female. A few hours later, I went down to the jetty and a juvenile female was just beginning to haul up. However, a few minutes after I spotted her, she turned around and headed back to the ocean. She was not tagged so there was no possibility of her being Ninene or #4252. Around 1600hrs as I landed the boat, I looked up and saw two orcas breach in the channel between Middle Rock and Great Race, heading eastward on the flood current. They disappeared for a while, then breached on the other side of the kelp bed near Middle Rock. For the next minute or so, there was quite a commotion with tail fins flapping in the water and dorsal fins popping to the surface. I expect that these two orcas were hunting seals, which makes me assume that they were two transients passing through the Reserve. Sea lions are now beginning to make more and more of an appearance in the Reserve. There are several on the jetty each night, and some large northern sea lions out on the Rocks. Harbour seals are all now having their pups as well. Pam has caught some fantastic images of pups nursing and a possible placenta in the east bay a few days ago.’, ‘adam’, ’08:52:54 ,