Wildlife Notes:
- A couple of humpback whales passed through the northern and eastern side of the ecological reserve this afternoon. At 14:30, I saw a spout just beyond the North Rocks and watched as the whales swam south. I heard over the radio from the ecotour boats that there appeared to be a mother and calf. I was surprised to see several sea lions swimming around the humpbacks. Most likely the sea lions were feeding on the fish that were being stirred up by the big whales.
- Early this afternoon, I noticed a Steller sea lion that had hauled out on the boat ramp beside the jetty. The sea lion did not move when I walked near it several times to fix the electric fence at the end of the jetty. It also wasn’t breathing, so I suspected it had died at some point overnight or this morning. I checked on it at this evening’s high tide at 19:30, by which point the sea lion’s mouth and nose were just under the water, but there didn’t appear to be enough tide to take it out. I reported it to the DFO (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) BC Marine Mammal Response Network, in case they want to check it out. Fortunately, I did not notice any signs of trauma on the animal from what I could see on the top. It had some battle scars on its back like most of the male sea lions and elephant seals I see. I am fairly sure it’s a male that is not mature, based on the thicker neck but not bulk of the fully mature males.
Facility work:
- Fix parts of the electric fence that were breached by party animal California sea lions. One made a foul mess at the end of the jetty that I washed away with many buckets of sea water. Any excuse to use a bucket on a rope to pull up seawater.
Vessels:
- Ecotourism: 13
- Private: 2
Weather:
- Sky: partly cloudy
- Wind: variable directions 0-30 knots
- Sea: riippled
- Air temperature: low 12 °C, high 15 °C
- Seawater temperature at max flood: 11/2°C
Photos from today:
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- Pigeon guillemot perched on the second tower windowsill
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- Looking down from the top of the tower at three sea lions swimming in the south channel
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- Three poses of a black oystercatcher. I think they might have been celebrating a reprieve from the sea lions, who were off the rocks near the jetty on an afternoon swim.
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- Pedder Explorer with Pearson alumni touring around Race Rocks
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- Humpback pectoral fin with two sea lions swimming around it. If you click on the photo and zoom in you can see the barnacles growing on the end of the fin.
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- Humpback fluke on the side. Downtown Victoria is in the background.
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- Humpback fluke
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- At some point this morning, the Steller sea lion (on the left) hauled out on the boat ramp and died. Two California sea lions behind it came and went from the ramp throughout the afternoon.
*All wildlife photos are taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail.
