Tag Archives: pup

Still on land

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 0-15 SE
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Flat

Boats/Visitors

  • Some ecotours out today

Maintenance

  • The desal quit on me a couple of times last night so I’m trying for a longer run tonight

Ecological

  • The pups still have not gone into the water, haven’t even gone near the jetty, they are both still beside the main house, they have been chewing on the grass a bit
  • the pigeon guillemots are back, looks to be a couple hundred of them
  • still around 100 sea lions, and about 50 harbour seals all together on the surrounding rocks
  • there are about 16 geese which I’m sure are starting to look for good nesting spots, there is also an increase in seagulls, I can tell from how noisy they are

Still not swimming

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 0-15 SE
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Flat

Boats/Visitors

  • A couple of small tours from the college the past few days
  • there have been some ecotour boats out there as well

Maintenance

  • Lately, I’ve just been trying to get that water tank filled

Ecological

  • The pups still have not gone into the water at all other than day Nemo was in the puddle
  • the alpha is still here but no other males that I’ve seen
  • not very many sea lions, I would say around 100
  • quite a few geese, they will start nesting in a couple of weeks so I’m not looking forward to that
  • there has also been an increase in seagulls

Killer whales!

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 0-15 NE
  • Sky: Sunny
  • Water: Flat

Boats/Visitors

  • quite a few ecotours out there today

Maintenance

  • firewood has been stacked, now just need to fill the water tank and maybe do some pressure washing

Ecological

  • So nice to see a few killer whales out there today
  • the male pup has started making his way to the water but hasn’t gone in yet, the female pup hasn’t moved from beside the house
  • the alpha is the only male I see on the island at the moment but I think there are two more around
  • the lonely snow bunting is still around

Calm weather

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 0-15 NE
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Flat

Boats/Visitors

  • Guy and Greg came by on Tuesday to help me with a fuel transfer which can get tricky when there’s a big elephant seal blocking the way

Maintenance

  • Going to move some more firewood around today, still unsure about pressure as my desalinator speed can’t quite keep up

Ecological

  • The pups have been hanging out together but still haven’t gone for a swim, should be soon the female pup is over 2 months old and the male pup is only a week younger than her
  • There are still 3 large males on the island, the youngest one will chase the pups around but no major injuries so far just a couple little bite marks
  • no other females on the island
  • by the looks of it, there are only around 100 sea lions left, wonder if they’ll stick out the summer until their buddies come back

Splashing around

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 10-25 NE
  • Sky: Sunny
  • Water: Choppy under a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • No visitors lately, there have been a couple of ecotours cruising by

Maintenance

  • Just running the generator and trying to get the fresh water topped up so I can do more pressure washing

Ecological

  • The male pup found a puddle and was splashing around for a bit yesterday, the female pup was heading down there until the youngest male decided to go after them again.
  • There are 3 males on the island and the youngest one is always harassing the pups, the alpha is not as protective of these ones as he was of the two female pups last year. The pups have not been harmed just chased around a lot.

Another Wind Storm

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 15-25 NE
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Waves about a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • Haven’t seen many boats out aside from the Coast guard boat

Maintenance

  • Just staying on top of running the generator, still need to fill the fresh water tank before I can do more pressure washing, I did a bit yesterday
  • the wind is supposed to pick up the next couple days so I might have to walk around picking up those roofing shingles again

Ecological

  • The pups still have not gone in the water, currently, there is one on the east side of the house and one by the lighthouse.
  • The older males are fighting with each other, they each have bite marks and blood on them, there are 4 of them right now

Nice weather

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 0-10 NE
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Calm

Boats/Visitors

  • Saw a few boats out there today including the coast guard boat doing maintenance on the green buoy

Maintenance

  • Walked around picking up all those roofing shingles that blew off in the last big wind, would like to continue cleaning up by pressure washing but I don’t have nearly enough fresh water and the desalinator is not running very well, hopefully, this is resolved soon

Ecological

  • the pups are not together but don’t stray too far from each other, they haven’t gone in the water yet
  • there are still 4 mature males on island and one molting young female

Rain

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 10-20 NW
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Waves under a meter

Boats/Visitors

  • Possible visitors today, not sure yet

Maintenance

  • The generator is running fine, still trying to find a balance between running the generator and not wasting diesel
  • the desalinator is running alright, I am running nightly at the moment

Ecological

  • the pups are doing great, they are now on the other side of the lighthouse by the sea lions
  • there are still currently five males and one little female who is molting right now

Nice weather

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 15-25 NE
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Waves under a meter

Boats/Visitors

  • Guy came by with a group yesterday, they had a nice little tour, saw the elephant seals

Maintenance

  • The generator is needing a lot of run time still, and the desalinator is running alright, I need to fill up my freshwater tank now that I know nothing is frozen

Ecological

  • the pups are doing great, they haven’t gone down to the water yet, but probably will soon, there are still about 5 male elephant seals around and one young female is here and she is molting right now

Update on Tagged Elephant Seal Cow

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T 562 pink

Recently I sent this email to the folks who are in charge of the tagged elephant seal program in the US .” This year we have had three pups born The tag (on this website) for pups born here over the last few years is https://www.racerocks.ca/tag/pup/ This year the first pup belonging to one of your tagged females, pink tag T562 is doing very well. One other one is ok but the last born one has been mauled by one of the mothers and has died. It would be interesting for us to know when this tagged mother was born so that we know her age and origin

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NOTE : The following link is connected to all the posts on this log relating to tagged elphant seals we have recorded at Race Rocks Ecological Reserve over the past 19 years

https://www.racerocks.ca/tag/tagged/

Today we received this information from Garrett Duncan, Farallon Program Biologist at Point Blue Conservation Science. www.pointblue.org  :

The cow you re-sighted with a Pink tag T562 was born on the SE Farallon Island during the 2010-2011 breeding season and hasn’t been seen since. It’s mother’s name in our database was Peggy and she was likely born in the 1998-1999 breeding season in a colony further to the south, Piedras Blancas. She frequented the island every year between 1999 and 2011.