Tag Archives: northern sealion

Diving with Sea lions –and foolish diver behaviour

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I am posting these videos from Youtube here with a precautionary warning; The behaviours demonstrated by some the divers could be very dangerous. Trying to touch sealions and putting a hand in their mouth and even staying in the water when they get agitated is very unwise. When a sealion starts snapping his teeth at an intruder it is best to move on.  A sealion bite can be very toxic, and they have been known to ram into divers , especially if a diver enters a zone where they have been actively  hunting for fish.  Department of Fisheries regulations warn against any interaction with marine mammals

 

 

Warden’s report Race Rocks September 2017

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I was able to get out to Race Rocks Ecological reserve with Guy today and went with former student Joao Luis de Castro and Yan Corriveau. I  wanted to check on what changes have occurred on Great Race Rock Island  since my last visit. Since it was an exceptionally dry summer, the effect on vegetation was evident. The spread of hauled out sealions into parts of the island traditionally not invaded also has left a significant impact on vegetation. It will be important to  follow up on vegetation recovery once the rains start.

This year the sea lions have hauled out and inhabited many parts of the island formerly not used as a haulout . I am concerned that erosion because of obliteration of most of the plants in the area of the First Nations burial cairns could be detrimental to the cairns. It will be inprtant to check on this once the sealions have left again.

The lack of precipitation since May has resulted in a shrinking of the stonecrop that covers the top of the Reservoir. I had never seen it quite this dry before.

 

The sealion haulouts at Race Rocks do not segregate by species as they do in some other parts of the coast. Note the cookie-cutter shark bites on the California Sealion on the right hand picture.

 

Garry Fletcher, Sept 25, 2017

Storms and calms Dec 21-27

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Ecological

  • Dec 21. Wind SE up 35-40 knots in the morning.  This combined with a higher than normal high tide. Barometer dipped below 990.
  • Dec 21. Nursing Northern sea lion seen on west side of Great Race, first time I have seen this here and apparently only the second time we have gotten photographs of this here.  Solo humpback west of race rocks. Barometer dipped below 990.
  • Dec 22. Wind shifted to West and increased overnight, by morning it was 5-10 knots W but there were still heavy swells coming in from the straight. Barometer dipped below 990 again today. At high tide the large sets of waves were breaking over the jetty and spray from waves was reaching above the helicopter pad.  Sealions were surfing reef break off South side of Great Race.  2 branded sealions: 409Y and 315Y (photo) observed.
  • Dec 23. Strong westerly overnight again and high tides. Wind picked up to 30 knots SW in the evening.
  • Dec 23.  A second female elephant seal came onto the island bringing total to 4 on Great Race, she is smaller than the other one and going through catastrophic molt.
  • Dec 24. Relatively calm day, partly clear, wind NE 5-10 knots. Atmospheric pressure on the rise.
  • Dec 25. Relatively calm day, partly clear, easterly picked up later in the day.  Over past few days there have been more sea-lions on Great Race than I can recall from previous years at this time.
  • Dec 26. wind NE 10-15 knots increasing to 25 N in the evening.  Atmospheric pressure reached 1030 early in the day before starting to descend.  Chuckles (smaller male e-seal, name short for Chunk-Holes in reference to the many tooth marks across his back caused by Chunk) sustained more wounds overnight from Chunk, he was hiding up at the base of the tower in the morning.
  • Dec 27. N wind over 20 knots and rain, pressure falling.  River otter around derrick deck.  Had to cancel transport for Christmas bird count  at RR due to weather. Chuckles still at base of tower, I dont think he has gone off island for about a week, at least its raining now so he will get a rinse.

Marine Vessels

  • Dec 22. 2 Eco tour
  • Dec 24. I went off island in the morning and returned just after noon.  2 ecotour vessels in afternoon.
  • Dec 25. I went off island mid morning and returned mid afternoon.  1 ecotour in afternoon.
  • Dec 26. 1 eco tour.

Maintenance

  • Dec 21. Got prices on stove parts.  Lots of wood to clean up on boat ramp.
  • Dec 22. Stormy most of the day.  Checked water levels in batteries. Cut and chopped fire wood.
  • Dec 23. Stormy day. Lots of wood to clear of ramp. Sent stove parts price list to Chris for approval.  Sent photos of chimney in student house attic to Jeff.  Made parts list for town run.
  • Dec 24. Picked up plumbing parts (at Andrew Sherret) for rainwater tank and leaky water line in basement and bar oil for chainsaw (Slegg). Picked up pressure washer from shorefront. Pressure washed rain water tank and put tank back in place.  Brought in jerry cans for gas but marina was closed in the afternoon.
  • Dec 25. Lots of wood to clear off ramp.  Cut logs and ran derrick to haul a couple.
  • Dec 26. Lots of wood to clear off ramp. Transferred one barrel of diesel to tidy tank and filled day tank. Filled jerry can for derrick.  Topped up derrick engine fuel and oil (low and needs a change). Derrick battery was too low to turn over engine so plugged in trickle charger for 2 hours after which it started up.  Pulled several logs onto deck.  Got electric chainsaw sharpener running off a spare boat battery, sharpened chainsaw.  Cut firewood. Re-stocked firewood in main house in advance of cold and wet weather coming. Missing cap for downspout clean-out to rain water tank.
  • Dec 27. Cleared, cut and chopped wood.

Underwater Cam2 sealions .

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Today Pam Birley from the UK sent these images she captured from Camera 2 at Race Rocks . This shpws what rewards one can get by having patience ! Click for full size.

 See other pictures taken remotely by Pam Birley

Sea Lion Notes from Race Rocks

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ER Warden’s Report by G. Fletcher.

On December 28, 2013  I was out at Race Rocks doing the Christmas Bird Count. While there I made several observations concerning the Northern and California Sea lions. There are only a few California sea lions left after the heavy influx of the fall. The number of Northerns on the South island is still fairly high ( over 100)

sealionhouse On the  November 28 log there were still 479 Stellars and 555 Californias. This image taken in the fall, shows how much they came up near the houses where there wasn’t an electric fence to repel them:

The vegetation of the areas on both sides of the island were heavily impacted by the sea lions this fall.  In the following images those areas that are now brown are  normally green.

sealionhauloutarea

North East of Ecoguardian’s residence

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South of the Marine Education House

I observed from the tower an unusual behaviour shown in the image below. It is not unusual in that the California Sea Lions are rafting. What is unusual is that Northern sea lions flank them on both sides without having their fins raised out of the water.

2013-12-28raftsealionm

Be sure to click for a large image of sea lion rafting

 

Whale watchers abundant today

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Wardens’s report by Garry Fletcher: Chris drove me out this morning to Race Rocks to relieve Courtney our Ecoguardian for the weekend –a foggy start but it cleared off by noon  with a shower in the afternoon. Up the tower at 11:30 for census and the daily  boat survey for DFO. Census from tower at 1150hrs. Harbour seals : 22 SE onshore, 39 SW :  total  61 Elephant Seals: 10 in a cluster behind boathouse: total 10. California Sea Lions 77 south side, 80 on East shore , 40 on NE , viewed from Docks and helipad to get ones not visible from tower: from docks w side 40, East 72, west shore tidepools: 53 :  total 362. Northern Sea lions: middle rock 170, E side docks 30, N rock 50 : total 250

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2-3  year old ??- male and female elephant seals by the boathouse

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Northern Sealions near the winch house, note  small juvenile to the right.

The distribution in the late afternoon changed, with more sealions of both species moving up onto the main  island covering the yard to the North west which is now completely devoid of vegetation.

  electfence In order to curb damage to the grounds, (and pipes and conduits,)  from the sealions this year, we are restricting the movement up onto the center of the island. A network of electrical tape has been installed and it appears to be effective so far.sept2113electfence

Several branded sealions were on the island today, this one 8586 was easist to determine.

Several branded sealions were on the island today, this one 8586 was easiest to identify.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For other branding records see: https://www.racerocks.ca/race-rocks-animals-plants/marine-mammal-tracking/

 

carcassept2113I was surprised by the number of dead juvenile seagull carcases  around the island. many were young that were probably attacked by other adults when out of nesting territories , the highest count was on the ledge  below Camera5 . Most deaths occurred during the late summer.  Approx count 20.

harbsealsept2113

Who me?

orca1sept2113Twice today a pod of Orca, ( about 6 ?) traveled through the reserve. whale watchers numbered up to 10 boats averaging 15-20  people per boat.  They were observant about remaining outside the reserve when the whales were inside reserve boundaries, but with a ring of whale-watching boats around the group when they were out in Race Passage, it did not look like the whales were getting much freedom. I believe the Orca pod was feeding on fish because there were many seals and sea lions in the water and none were attacked. At least 20 whale-watching boats were through the reserve today.

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Whale-watching boats waiting for the whales at the east side of the reserve.

 

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Below the cliff from camera 5 is a space behind some rocks with a failed nest of a pigeon guillemot

At the northeast corner of the helipad I noticed a large amount of chevrons from chiton shells, washed out from guano deposits from over the summer. It seemed to be a very dense concentration??

newweather1 Environment Canada has over the summer installed new weather sensors on top of the tower at Race Rocks. Now in addition to wind speed and direction, humidity, temperature, dew point and barometric pressure  are recorded. This provides an interesting comparison with the data from the  ground level recorded by our Davis weather instrument: They may be accessed here: Env Canada Weather

 

 

 

A bit of History:
One can often encounter human-made artifacts on the islands which don’t have an obvious explanation: On the east side of the tower for instance is this  “sidewalk to nowhere”.  Trev Anderson told me about the wooden blacksmith shop that was located in that spot until it was demolished in the late 1960’s.

 

Eumetopias jubatus , The Northern Sealion : The Race Rocks taxonomy

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Male, female and pup at Race Rocks .Sept 27,2011. Photo by Ryan Murphy

Male, female and pup at Race Rocks .Sept 27,2011. Photo by Ryan Murphy

Irmsept27mafeedpupn the fall of 2011, a female northern sea lion (Steller) and her pup appeared at Race Rocks. This is the first such pair that we have seen there. Link to Ryan Muphy’s Flickr site for a set of pictures of the sealions at Race Rocks. rmsept27maandpup2Ryan captured some excellent pictures but noted that due to blasting by the DND on the neighbouring Bentinck Island, the pup was injured and the mother disappeared. See below.. Commentary here is by Ryan Murphy : “Steller or Northern sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) are the largest sea lion species in the world and are listed under Canada’s SARA (Species at Risk Act) as Special Concern.” rmsept27maandpup4“The Race Rocks archipelago south of Vancouver Island has long been a haul out for Steller sea lions, and we know from Lightkeeper Kurt Cehak’s accounts from the 60s that these marine mammals came to Race Rocks even when locals were encouraged to kill them to collect bounties. “ rmsept27maandpapup“Today, Steller sea lions are a year-round attraction for a multi-million dollar ecotour industry based in the Capital Region District of Victoria, BC. With the arrival of this pup and its mother to Race Rocks, the Ecological Reserve now protects the reproductive ecology of this threatened species.” rmsept27pup“However, this pup is at risk because of activities of the Canadian Department of National Defence. The island in the background is Bentinck Island and it is used by the Canadian military to dispose of ordinances and explosives training. Their rapid succession blasting during the last two days has caused rmsept27pup2repeated stampedes of sea lions and this pup may be crushed tomorrow.”     See the logs on this website posted by the ecoguardians which include mammal census and observations of sealions.           Northern Sea lion VIDEOS:

lionblasts dndblasts eye-1
EFFECTS OF DND BLASTING at Bentinck Island Sea lion disruption on middle island by DND blasting
Video Clips of Sea lions by Cam Wilson In October of 1998, Cam Wilson of Victoria made an Hi-8 video of Northern and California sea lions while diving off West Race Rocks. Clips are included here.
radiolion flasher2northern-1 RMdetail_20090823s
Tracking devices on sea lions This Northern Sea Lion was photographed with fishing equipment swallowed in September 2003..also see other photos of flashers and boat collisions. This link shows the conflict of motor boats and marine mammals in the reserve.

Posts on Entanglement of Sea lions in fishing gear

Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Sub Phylum Vertebrata
Class Mammalia
Order Carnivora
Family Otariidae
Genus Eumetopias (Gill, 1866)
Species jubatus (Schreber,1776)
Common Name Northern or Steller Sea Lion
climb

This sequence was taken in August 2008 by Pam Birley from the remote camera 5.

 

entangled2-1 rmmar09acipenser-1 tumor
Entanglement of a sealion on Middle rocks and video of release by Vancouver aquarium and DFO personnel White sturgeon images This is a link to the white sturgeon file where images taken by Ryan Murphy show predation by a Northern Sea lion on a white sturgeon at Race Rocks. In early November 2007, Mike Slater took this picture of a Northern Sea lion with a large tumor like growth on the side of its face. The animal was not sighted again at Race Rocks, however on August 22, 2009 it was photographed at Mittlenatch Island.
sealiontower brand632may706s uwsealion
Northern Sea lions peak in numbers in the fall. Branded Sea lions at Race Rocks :  Sea lions underwater, photo by PC Diver Natan.

This is the largest of the Otariidae or ‘eared seals’ family.

Habitat: Northern Sea Lions are found on North-Pacific coasts; in Russia, Alaska, Japan, Canada and the USA in particular. They spend most of their time on rocky shores and in coastal water. During bad weather they stay under water. At Race Rocks , the peak in numbers of these mammals is in October to January , upwards of 400 may be reported at Race Rocks. They mix freely with the Californian Sea Lion which may number well over 1000 individuals between October and February.

See the references on Sea Lions in our RREO Index

Description: The Sea Lions at Race Rocks are mainly bachelor bulls or juvenile yearlings. Since this is not a breeding colony, mature females do not usually come here. There are clear differences between males and females. The males are larger in size and weigh more. Whereas the average sea lion male weighs 566 kg (1,245 pounds) the average female weights only 263 kg (579 pounds). Moreover, the average male has a body length of 288 cm (10 2/3 feet) while the average female has a body length of 228 cm (8 2/3 feet). Most females are yellowish or creamed color and most males are dark.
The average life span of a Steller sea lion is about 20 years for males and old females can even reach 30 years. The breeding season is between May-June and each mating produces a single pup.p10graphSteller sea lions are marine carnivores. They feed on wild fish (salmon, herring, rockfish, flounder, and Pollock) as well as on invertebrates such as squid and octopus. The Steller sea lions feed at night, usually about 15-20 km. from shore. This relatively selective diet is one of the causes of the sea lions’ decreasing numbers since they compete with humans for this food.

An Eastern Alaskan population is now on the endangered species list due to severe declines in numbers over the past decade. They are now a threatened species included in the ‘Red List’ and protected in the USA and by the Commonwealth Independent States ( CIS).

Although they dive and spent s lot of time under water, Northern Sea Lions are also known for their ‘sunbaths’ and are often watched catching sunlight on the rocky shores. Male Northern Sea Lions are generally aggressive and territorial.

References cited Dec. 2001.
http://www.wc.adfg.state.ak.us/index.cfm?adfg=wildlife_news.view_article&issue_id=40&articles_id=229

See also:

The stellar sea lion: Two distinct stocks, Thomas Louglin, NMML

Other Members of the Class Mammalia at Race Rocks.

taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams.
Dec 2001-Nufar.

 

Branded Northern Sealion #14Y

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Adam Harding e-mailed Pat Gearin OF NOAA and Matthew Tennis

I spotted # I4Y, a branded northern sea lion, on the NE corner of Great Race this morning. See attached photo.

adamsimages2

14Y BRANDED SEALION

brandedsealion

Pat Gearin responded: ” Hello Adam and thank you for reporting this sighting and for sending the excellent photos.  This animal is Steller sea lion 14Y, an 8-year old male marked at St. George Reef, CA in July of 2002 as a pup.  This is a valuable sighting since he has only been sighted 4 times since he was marked including once at St. George Reef a month or so after his initial marking.  He was sighted again in May 2005 at Tatoosh Island, WA.  The most recent sightings were from August 2008 when he was sighted twice off SW Vancouver Island at Barrier Rocks and Pachena Point.  This animal is not yet of breeding age/size but may be in a few years. Thanks once again and we look forward to any other sea lion sightings you can provide. ”

 

Oystercatcher’s territory

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‘Elephant Seal’, 5, ‘Fewer females are visible on Middle Rocks. The tagged female has returned to Great Race Island despite having completed her moult. The larger females on Middle Rocks are in various stages of their moults.’, ‘Ryan’, ’20:56:43 ,
-93, ‘2010-05-12’,

“Brown Pelicans are becoming a common sight at Race Rocks. See the log of May 12, 2010: Ryan Murphy

‘The diversity of bird life continues to increase with the appearance of
Dunlins, Brandts and Pacific Loons today.
Small groups of Brandts flew West throughout the day, followed by several large flocks numbering up to 100 birds in the evening.
A mature Brown pelican roosted here for the night, much to the gulls ” dissatisfaction.
There are still 2 pairs of Harlequin ducks spending their days around Great Race Island, plus
4 Whimbrels were again seen on the SW corner of the island where up to
3 Black Oystercatcher pairs have staked nesting territories. There are a total of
7 pairs of Oystercatchers with territories on the island, but only 2 confirmed nests so far, and of those only one nest with 2 eggs at the moment. Could be a bumper year as a maximum of 5 breeding Oystercatcher pairs have been recorded in the past. ‘,
‘Northern Sea Lion’, 10, ‘The numbers of Northern Sea Lions have been down the past several days, however they are still finding food in the reserve. A commotion right above the tidal turbine today attracted a number of gulls, and I could soon see a Northern sea lion was thrashing a large fish on the surface. Reviewing my photos it turns out the sea lion had captured a wolf eel! Long tasty filets on those protected fish, I can ”t say I ”m not envious!’,

‘Ryan’, ’21:10:38 ,