Tag Archives: Pups

Storming

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Final exam/assignments the past week have kept me very busy, so here is  an update on the current elephant seals

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 20-35 SE
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Waves 1-2 metres

Boats/Visitors

  • No boats out there today

Ecological

  • There are 3 mature females, one young male and the pups are still here. I have not seen any molting yet, the females will be going through that soon
  • There are 3 goose nests that I’ve seen, I attempted to addle the eggs but there was no getting past those geese which seem extra vicious this year
  • Still about 100 sea lions, mix of california and stellar, mostly california
  • Theres usually nearly 50 or 60 harbour seals out on the rocks, not today due to the storm

C887

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Weather

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

Boats/Visitors

  • had a couple of visitors today, come by for a little tour

Ecological

  • Turns out the elephant seal we have been identifying as female since it first turned up in December 2017 is actually a male. It is tagged, a green tag C887
  • I noticed he went through a major growth spurt since spotting him in December 2018 which is common in male elephant seals but not really in females, he is hanging out with the tagged elephant seal that had the pup here in January
  • the pups are doing great, swimming in the mornings when the adults are out of the water, they don’t interact much with the mature elephant seals

Beautiful weather

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Weather

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

Boats/Visitors

  • quite a few boats the last couple days, from canoes to sailboats and some people from the college

Maintenance

  • There has been so much solar, I don’t need to run the generator very much, so thats been really nice

Ecological

  • There was a pretty young sea lion pup on the rock by the crane today
  • the pups have not gone in the water today but they are wandering around quite a bit, so they will probably be splashing around soon, I think the female pup might have put her flipper in for a moment but I’m not sure
  • One of the mothers came back very briefly, the tagged female, pink tag T562, who gave birth to the female pup on Jan 4th was here for maybe a couple hours then she went back into the water

Cleaning up

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-15 NE
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Waves under a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • Guy, Greg, Alex and Rick came by today
  • Yesterday the Live it crew was here doing a live stream, they stayed over night

Maintenance

  • We managed to get a few of the sheds organized today and Alex and Rick installed the new inverter

Ecological

  • The pups are exploring a bit but haven’t made it down to the water yet. Dory like hanging out on the back porch, Nemo is in the front and has started trying to catch his own tail
  • there are still 2 other males on the island, the alpha and the youngest beta, the beta chases the pups around until the alpha gets involved

More Snow

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10 Miles
  • Wind: 15-25 NE
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Waves under a meter

Boats/Visitors

  • Expecting Guy today with a food order and help me refuel the generator

Maintenance

  • The generator is needing a lot of run time lately, I haven’t been running it too much after dark because the paths are made of ice, I don’t have a proper flashlight and there are 5 male elephant seals around the house and I don’t want to run into one in the dark. I will be getting a couple new flashlights today so this won’t be a problem anymore.
  • I haven’t tried running the desalinator the past couple days, just concerned of breaking something if any part of the system froze. I have enough freshwater to last a while though

Ecological

  • the pups are hiding under the stairs in the front of the house, but they are adorable and finally bonding with each other. Once the storm passes they might start going down to the water to splash around so I have to make sure the path stays clear.
  • The female pup is the only female right now, then there is the male pup and 5 other males scattered around.

Fighting Males and Surviving Pups

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-10 N/NE, picked up to 20-30 knots overnight
  • Sky: cloudy with light snowfall and fog
  • Water: large rolling swells throughout the day

Boats/Visitors

  • Didn’t notice any ecotour boats or divers around today
  • No visitors

Ecological

  • Woke up at 4:30 am to the sound of the elephant seal pups being attacked by a big male elephant seal. Pretty sure it was Bernard, their father, but hard to tell. Was surprised to find both pups seemingly unharmed and sleeping peacefully in the morning when I got up.
  • One of the younger, smaller males took the opportunity to try to mate with one pup while two of the bigger males were fighting, but luckily she got away from him after a few minutes of panic. Very difficult to watch I must say. These males are all fired up from the mating season and most don’t get a chance to mate, especially if they are smaller in size.
  • Saw about 10-20 Pigeon Guillemots chasing each other and diving into the water.