Tag Archives: pup

Surviving pups

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Weather

East wind 4knots at 8:00 ,calm and overcast sky,visibility over 13 miles. During the day the wind blew  from North and we had a pretty sunny day but chilly.

Ecological

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So far so good  even if the injured one is not so fine! Each pup found a spot and Chunk was gone on Friday morning and the young male too. Just Boss was there sleeping as usual closed to the student house.

Vessels

We saw a big Coast Guards vessel in the passage between Race Rocks and Vancouver Island and an helicopter was following the border line flying low and slowly. Another Coast guard boat (grey and yellow one )was in the waters that same day. 2 or 3 watching boats.

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Maintenance 

2 barrels of 200 litres each transferred  in the yellow tank.

Environment Canada for the weather station on the rock

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Maintenance

A team from  Environment Canada in Richmond  came to repair the weather Station which has not been working well since this Summer. They spent at least 3 hours and fixed the system.DSC_0772DSC_0785

Kyle with Second Nature came and bring 600 hundred litters of oil and we filled up 3 barrels of 200 each,3 more are coming soon. Guy and Kyle changed the pressured water pump in the student house.DSC_0788DSC_0794DSC_0796

Ecological

Each elephant Seal has been in his own spot even the new young male and we appreciated some quiet time! The injured pup was still moving but stayed around the crane, behind it. It is painful to see him in a so bad condition…We see what will happen in the coming days.

Chunk attacked a pup

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Weather

Beautiful day calm,13 knots at 8:00, Overcast to sunny,Visibility at 8:00 13 miles and air temperature :6 degrees.

Ecological

It has been pretty dramatic when in the morning Chunk decided to attacked one of the puppy,the biggest one .For the first time this one was active and moving and shouting on the lawn down the main house. So pictures speak better than words . Here they are:DSC_0574Chunk was trying to suffocate  the pup putting his weight on himDSC_0575DSC_0586after he bit him and had the whole head in his mouthDSC_0585DSC_0603The other adult male arrived and made chunk go DSC_0613DSC_0620DSC_0633DSC_0647half an hour later Boss went to see the pup  but this one was afraid so he left him alone. After for the rest of the day Chunk went closed to the student house,Boss stayed closed to the main house looking towards where chunk was  and the pup was closed to the crank. He can move so nothing looked broken but the injury is pretty deep.  For a lighter note look at the other pup . He found a spot where the big ones cannot go closed to the compost in the grassDSC_0246

I could take all those pictures because when all this happened I was already outside and I had my camera with me.

Spring coming…

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Weather

For those 2 first days of the week the weather has been very calm,with still East to North East winds. We don’t have  a steady West wind yet but Spring is definitively at the corner and most of all, days are really longer.On Monday we had an incredible good visibility. What a fun to see so well Victoria and to follow a few sail boats…Recreational fishing are coming back around East Sooke too. Tuesday was a very calm day too but overcast and no wind at all …a before storm feeling.

Ecological

We have now a new young male Elephant seal around in the water mainly but he came ashore for the first time on Sunday. Chunk was pretty quiet and stayed  behind the students house. His scares on the back were pretty bad for a while but they are looking better now .One pup, always the same ,was on and off the Rocks,depending and stayed apart from the other one. This other one was always at the same spot ,not far from the crane .The big male named Boss was around them all the time and when the second born one made noise he got closer to him

Maintenance

Guy cleaned the water sampling shed and it is shining now!!! He cleaned the boat  too and the bench and the panel explaining Race Rocks above it.He changed the winch and belt of the trailer. The winch gets rusty pretty quick because it had been already changed in Summer.

Vessels 

Just a few Watching boats

 

One pup Elephant seal gone

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Weather

Nice weather: 7knots,West wind,Overcast to Sunny,Visibility:13 miles,Air temperature:5.6Degrees. at 5:00 the wind direction had changed from West to south East.Full Moon.

Ecological

One of the 2 pups (the first born I think) was gone in the morning  so 6 days after the mum.Now the count is: Boss,chunk and Pinata ,not happy at all and crying with that very funny typical sound .When we wake up Boss was very closed to our door,  lain across the path…not even easy for us  to go out! Like usual a few geese were on Main.DSC_0259

Maintenance

We took advantage of the weather window to go to town and get some food :the stock was low,no more fresh products.

Gale warning

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Weather

At 8h00it was pretty calm:6 knots North East wind, Overcast and 6.3 degrees (Air) , a very high tide with the coming Full Moon. Even calmer at 10:00 with 4knots and at 11:00 the wind and swell got inverted and increased to 40.7Knots at 12:00 . Wild and quick! It went to 42 and 48 at 13:30 and stayed strong around 30 to 48 knots the whole afternoon . It was sunny and beautiful. At 8:00PM it slowed down to 28knotsDSC_0149DSC_0130DSC_0212

Ecological

4 elephant seals the same 2 male adults and 2 pups. Sea Water warmer around 7 degrees

Vessels

1 nuclear submarine with 3 ships (a big ,a middle size one and a small one )  The hull was outside of water heading to the ocean… very impressive scenery

No more adult females elephant seals on the rock

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Weather

At 8:00 AM North East light wind,calm ,forecast,grey sky . heavy rain between 9:30 and Noon.temperature :3.3 ,very high tide (actually the highest since the beginning of our stay). At 1:30 PM the wind totally stopped and the flag was down like a stick.Southwest early in the afternoon:30 knots at 4:40PM and 27 to 37 full South around 6PM. Early in the evening it steady picked up with a gust at 51 knots! At 9:15 PM we still had 40 knots .The air temperature was pretty high too at 9.1 degrees celsius

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Ecological

The last adult female elephant seal left in the night so 2 lonely pup now but the male stayed around the whole day and Chunk came back and went on its own,With the melting snow and the rain we got a large pool on the lawn so it was a cleaning and washing time for everyone:geese and elephants and birds…it was not dark at 7:50

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Maintenance 

We kept the fresh water tank full ,filing up every two days . The generator is working everyday  for around 6 hours.

Other

DND blasts :12 blasts in a few hours and 2 pretty strong ones. We counted 7 seconds between the time you see some smoke and the bang.

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Weather

Windy day from East between 25 and 30 knots,Sea choppy .Overcast and foggy sporadically . Some snow around 9:00AM but finally sunny the rest of the day. Sea water : 5.5 degrees and Air at 2.1 degrees celsius(at 8:00 AM)

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Ecological

The night between the 6th and 7th February has been a very busy one for the elephants seals . We found tracks and it looked like the male helped the young one to come back from the rocky place where  he has been for at least 2 days. He went during the day from the tower to the water shed and at the corner of the paths and closed to the water sampling house :a lot for him if we considered that he has been almost always sedentary before his Mum ‘s departure…Chunk was back too but stayed in its own quarters .DSC_0824DSC_0700DSC_0735

Vessels 

No boats

A snowy day for a lonely pup

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Weather

North East Wind ,17knots at 8:00, Sky:Overcast ,Visibility :15miles and Air Temperature:0.3 degrees Celsius. It has been a very snowy day and the fog horn was on the most part of the day.

Ecological

When we wake up in the morning we understood why we could heard so well the elephant pup. Actually heading away from the others he must have fallen from the walls behind our house and we discovered him almost hidden by snow and totally asleep . he spent the whole day like that alone and moved a little farther late in the afternoon. Mum was not back. 10 geese were looking for some grass and water pool all around . we discovered the tracks of an River Otter like usual in the same area :closed and under the sea watershed

 

Mum gone :Pup called Piniata ( Born on the 16th) is alone

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Weather

North to South -East Wind ,7 knots at 8:00AM,very dark and grey day. Air temperature:3 degrees, Water:6.5 degrees Celsius. A few flurries and fog horn later in the night.Cold in the evening :around 0 degree celcius

Ecological

Mating success with the 2nd female. The first one got her turn the day before and actually was gone in the following night.. During the process Mum and Baby got separated and the baby could was afraid to go down from the main path to the lawn so he went on the concrete path to the point he had to turn and come back by the same way. The mum following in the field. the whole thing took at least 1hour . After that she fed him for a while. the second pup was on his site above the field.DSC_0134DSC_0025DSC_0180DSC_0193DSC_0194DSC_0084DSC_0146