Misery and Slash are still co-habitating on the Island these days, although Slash is definitely filling the alpha male role. It ”s quite interesting, as Misery is very aware that he is not the dominant one and may often be observed scooting down a path or taking the long way into the water in order to avoid a confrontation with Slash. More and more seagull nests are hatching every day. This week I ‘ve been noticing two or three per day. The ones that hatched first are now getting quite big! There are still oystercatcher babies over by the jetty, and they too are getting large. Along the baby line, I ”ve been noticing a number of baby harbour seals around the rocks. We ”re in prime pupping season for them now.’, ‘adam’, ’22:13:15 ,
Tag Archives: harbour seal
Dead harbour seal
A dead adult male harbour seal was found washed up today on the rocks beside the derrick. There were no trauma marks from predation or a boat strike and the corpse was still in good condition with no bloating or decomposition. It was removed and taken to Pearson College.
Erik and Al the plumber visited RR today. Ebony departed on the outgoing boat. David H. came later in the afternoon with some guests for a quick tour. There were 5 visitors to the island today. ( Mike Robinson)
Pregnant harbour seal
pregnant harbour seal, photo by Ryan Murphy
Juvenile elephant seal female, photo by Ryan Murphy
A heavily pregnant harbour seal was seen near the jetty yesterday.
‘Slash left this morning and the female sighted yesterday has departed as well. http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/4178224852_9360beb97e_o.jpg)’, ‘Ryan’,
Harbour seal decapitated by boat
Aside
This fall there seems to be an unusual amount of injuries showing up on the marine mammals: Ryan recorded some of them with images on his Flickr site:
See this link to the log pages with injured marine mammals.
This dead harbour seal pup was the first of two found in a single week in the waters near Race Rocks. A boat traveling at great speed decapitated this animal and left another slice on the neck in the tell-tale pattern of propeller wounds. Remember Buster?:
He has not been seen in weeks.
Census
‘Harbour Seal’, 150
California Sea Lion’, 5
Northern Sea Lion’, 2,
Other’, 1, ‘One ruddy turnstone reported to be near the docks in the morning.’, ‘Garry’, ’01:52:25 ,
Census birds and mammals
Dec 25, 2003: Pinniped census in the reserve: (Animals hauled out) —North Rock :0 Middle Rocks : Northern Sealions:65, California Sealions:1 —–Great Race Rocks : Northern Sealions: 8, California Sealions: 4 Harbour seals:7, Elephant seal :1(Male) West Race Rocks California Sealiion: 1 ( About one third of the animals observed were very young ) . Weather conditions: Wind West 32 , Sea 3′- Heavy Swell. Other noteworthy sightings : We estimated approximately 2500-3000 Herring Gulls on the island today.
Sealions still scared off by DND blasting
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 8.0 ºC »» Min. 4.9 ºC »» Reset 7.1 ºC
MARINE LIFE: Still large numbers of sea birds but the fish balls are fewer and less frequent. Did see a Harbour seal catch a fairly large salmon along the dock on the west side. The activity attracted a hundred or more gulls,some we lucky and flew off with nice pink chunks of fish. The seal made short work of the salmon then hauled out on one of the flat rocks to rest and digest it’s meal.The number of Sea lions hauled out is down dramatically although the conditions are very good, lots of food and calm weather. The one major problem is the effect of the blasting.These animals were getting used to the boat and people traffic but are now very stressed and spook very easily. So much for referring to this MPA as a wildlife refuge where the animals can expect to hunt, feed, communicate, socialize, rest etc. without disturbanceand interference.
HUMAN INTERACTION: There were 6 Ecotour boats and 4 pleasurecraft. The station boat made a trip to Pedder Bay and back
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:34 PM
DND Blasting Disturbs Sealions
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 10.7 ºC »» Min. 8.3 ºC »» Reset 9.7 ºC »» Rain 0.6 mm
MARINE LIFE: Another unsettled day for the wildlife with another day of blasts at DND. The fog rolled in very thick last night and until just after noon we were only able to observe the sea lions and Harbour seals along the north shore of Great Race.The first blast at about 10:12 alerted the sea lions, the second blast about 1 minute later sent 35 of the 79 sea lions hauled out prior to the blasting into the water, of the 13 Harbour seals hauled out in the dock area 2 took to the water on the first blast,9 on the 2nd blast, the birds that we could see took flight ‘en masse’ and most settled back down fairly quickly. The second series of 2 blasts was approx 1 hour later and 9 more sea lions went into the water from those hauled out along the north of Gr. Race. The sea lions were unsettled the rest of the afternoon. Most of the Northern S.Lions stayed in the water swiming about in groups of 5 to 12. The ones still hauled stayed close to the water, they were very agitated, there was a lot of noisey head butting.Most days, left undisturbed the sea lions are fairly quiet. Just around 17:00 a small group of Orca appeared along the northeast boundry of the reserve, looked to be T10 and T11 group. There were a lot of seals and sea lions in the water, several groups of Northern S.L very close to the whales but did not see any hunting action. The Orca disappeared as quickly and quietly as they had appeared. There were 9 Ecotour boats and 3 pleasurecraft in the reserve today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:03 PM
Branded sealion #169
TEMPERATURE: Max. 15.3 ºC »» Min. 10.1 ºC »» Reset 11.8 ºC
MARINE LIFE: The small east bay is the favoured haul out spot these past few days for about 90 Harbour seals with the rest scattered about the other rocks. The Sea Lions are spread out also, a few preferring spots quite far inland.One California sealion by the dock has a semi-circle wound on the tip of his left front flipper and another is branded on his back #169. HUMAN INTERACTION: Even with the fallish weather there were 24 Ecotour boats, 4 pleasure craft and 3 Charter Dive boats in the reserve today. posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:09 PM
15 harbour seals and their pups
Friday, August 02, 2002
Good Evening:
TEMPERATURE: Max. 17.0 C Min.11.1 C Reset 14.0 C
MARINE LIFE: The elephant seal hauled out on the boat ramp early this morning for a couple of hours then returned to the area near Middle Rock.The east bay was a favourite today with about 15 harbour seals and their pups. The mothers and pups that frequent the dock area did not show up until around noon, I think they avoid the elephant seals especially with the pups still quite small.
HUMAN INTERACTION: Ryan and Alex were out in the Hyaku. There were also 6 ecotour boats and 7 pleasure craft through the reserve.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:59 PM
TEMPERATURE: Max. 17.0 C Min.11.1 C Reset 14.0 C
MARINE LIFE: The elephant seal hauled out on the boat ramp early this morning for a couple of hours then returned to the area near Middle Rock.The east bay was a favourite today with about 15 harbour seals and their pups. The mothers and pups that frequent the dock area did not show up until around noon, I think they avoid the elephant seals especially with the pups still quite small.
HUMAN INTERACTION: Ryan and Alex were out in the Hyaku. There were also 6 ecotour boats and 7 pleasure craft through the reserve.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:59 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Part Cloudy , Vis 15 Miles ,Wind West 17 Knots , Sea 1 Foot Chop
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:51 AM
WEATHER: Sky Part Cloudy , Vis 15 Miles ,Wind West 17 Knots , Sea 1 Foot Chop
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:51 AM
Thursday, August 01, 2002