Tag Archives: sea lion

Students, Whales, Census, Seal!

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Weather:

  • Sky clear and blue. Much less smoke than yesterday (currently 13 wildfires burning in washington state).
  • Visibility 10 NM (visibility reduced due to smoke)
  • Wind 5-10 knots SE
  • Sea state: calm

Visitors:

  • As the students return to the Pearson College campus we are being joined by small groups of first year students to introduce them to race rocks. We have been enjoying showing them around and sharing about the ecology- they ask great questions!
  • Greg has been accompanying these trips as well as MJ
  • Few boats in the reserve now that the long weekend is over. Quite a few whale watching boats following the humpback whales that we have been seeing in the strait.

Ecological Observations: 

  • The sea lion numbers are climbing daily still. There are many more california sea lions than stellars right now.
  • We have been seeing the occasional small group of black turnstones (less than ten) but the large migrating groups have moved on.
  • Yesterday we spotted a short billed dowitcher!
  • Today we were joined by one young elephant seal on the jetty ramp. Unfortunately the sea lions are not the most friendly company and it seems that they have scared it away.
  • We have been seeing groups of cormorants in the reserve, mainly on the south islands and seal rocks.
  • We have been spotting at least 1 humpback per day in the juan de fuca strait

Census: 

  • 1 Elephant seal
  • 1 Sea otter
  • 155 Harbour seals
  • 213 California sea lions
  • 71 Stellar sea lions
  • 395 Gulls (California)
  • 1 Savannah Sparrow
  • 1 humpback whale (!)
  • 4 Canada geese
  • 6 Black turnstones
  • 6 Song sparrows

Successful Sea Lion Rescue!

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Weather:

  • Sky Clear and blue
  • Visibility 15+ NM
  • Wind 20-25 knots NE
  • Sea state: swells up to one meter
  • Temperature outside: 19.8 C
  • Pressure: 1021 hPa (decreasing)
  • We have been seeing consistent fog in the late evening, lasting for an average of 2 hrs. The fog banks seem to move over us from Port Angeles.

Visitors: 

  • Marine Mammal Rescue and DFO visited yesterday (more on this below).
  • Steady flow of pleasure crafts and whale watching vessels over the long weekend.

Sea Lion Disentanglement: 

  • Yesterday Marine Mammal Rescue along with the support of DFO vessels and staff came to help a sea lion with a plastic packing band stuck around his neck. They were able to successfully dart the sea lion with a tranquilizer injection, remove the band, give him tracking tags on his front flippers, and take a blood sample. When this was done they injected a reversal drug to wake him up and with a little scratch he was back on his way!

Ecological Notes:

  • The seagull chicks have officially flown the coop! Only a few remain and we are able to move around the island again without bothering the nesting birds.
  • This year we have noticed significantly less trash left behind by seagulls than last year. Our best guess is that they had more food available to them this summer, which would also align with observing them regurgitating much more fish that the previous season.
  • The sea lions have been increasing in numbers every day. The new fencing material that Nick and Greg used seems to be working much better than the wire that we tried last year, preventing them from damaging the island infrastructure. We have been letting them rest on the jetty this week but we will soon need to install more fencing in preparation for student visits.
  • Yesterday we found two turnstones which appeared to have been killed by the gulls while we were investigating the area near the codar antenna (SW Great Race Rock).

An Exciting Few Days- Orcas!

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Weather today: 

  • Blue skies with a few small clouds blowing by
  • Visibility 10-15 NM
  • Wind 10-25 knots SW
  • Sea state 0.5 m chop

Visitors: 

  • No visitors today, but over the last few days we have have been joined by Greg and a technician to service equipment and deliver supplies to the island. Environment Canada personnel came to update weather equipment on the lighthouse with new sensors and other hardware!
  • A handful (5-10) eco-tourism vessels have been though the reserve daily as well as the same for pleasure crafts.

Ecological Observations: 

  • Over the last few days it has been very interesting to note the development of the seagulls chicks during our two week absence. The majority of them can now fly, although many appear to spend time in their respective nesting areas. While the young ones spend time on the water and practice bobbing their heads under, they still beg for food from their parent(s).
  • There have been 2-5 explosions daily, except for today, at the Esquimalt Canadian Forces Base. They seem to be varying in intensity – sometimes only a sharp ‘thump’, while other times the whole house shakes! The animals in the reserve certainly notice the latter. We sometimes see the majority of the landed birds and hauled out pinnipeds in the area flee to the water or air on these occasions.
  • On Tuesday we observed a larger pod (5-6) of orca whales move through the reserve and the surrounding waters. We first spotted them to the inside of north rock and over roughly 20-30 minutes they moved around great rock to opposite side. It looked as though they may have been hunting (moving towards shore in a line formation) but we were not able to see their prey.

August 25

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Wind: W 2-33 knots
Sea State: calm, up to 0.5m chop in evening
Visibility: 0-15 NM
Sky: clear, fog from 5:20 to 7:00
Temperature: 10-15 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 411.96 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

Today was spent tidying around the island, chainsawing logs and chopping firewood. I gave the gulls and sea lions a wide berth as I moved around the paths.

650 L of diesel was delivered this afternoon.

Here are a few photos from today:

August 19 – Fog

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Wind: W 4-23 knots
Sea State: rippled
Visibility: 0-15 NM
Sky: fog in morning, clear in late morning, partly cloudy in afternoon, then light rain in evening
Temperature: 12-17 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 412.58 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

The fog began to roll in after sunset yesterday. In the early hours of the morning just before 3:00, the fog got thick enough for the sensor part way up the tower to trigger the fog signal. Three high pitch blasts sounded every minute until 11:20, then the fog gave way to a clear sky.

The steller sea lion with the flasher from yesterday still has it hooked to its mouth and is still on Middle Rock, hanging out with a bunch of other sea lions. I spotted it through the partial fog this morning, but wasn’t able to get a good photo. This afternoon, it was facing away from the main island.

Greg came out in the late afternoon to deliver diesel. We are filling the various storage tanks around the island for the furnaces and generator, in anticipation for the cooler and darker months ahead. There will be more fuel delivered over the coming days, taking advantage of the calm seas.

Other maintenance tasks included trimming the plants growing over parts of the paths, cleaning the solar panels and using the chainsaw to buck up more firewood. I finally cut up a 15 metre log that I saw wash up in a winter storm. It was propped up on rocks in the East Bay.

See the photos below for sights from today:

Foggy Days and Sea Lions

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Weather:

  • Sky overcast, heavy to medium fog
  • Visibility 1 NM (less than 1 during heavy fog)
  • Wind 5-15 knots W
  • Sea state: rippled to small waves less than 0.2m

Marine Traffic/Visitors:

  • A small handful of eco-tourism boats came thought the fog today.
  • Over the weekend, Sunday especially, there were many small pleasure crafts and a few eco-tourism vessels

Ecological Observations: 

  • A pod of four orcas was in the reserve on August 6th! They stayed in the area for about 10-15 minutes before heading towards Pedder Bay!
  • The sea lions are returning. Over the last few days there has been at least a dozen hauled out on the north side of the island near the crane, with more on the outcropping rocks.
  • The seagull chicks seem to be growing faster every day – we’ve spotted a few that are beginning to fly short distances.
  • When we do our water sample from the jetty we see pigeon guillemots perching up on the nearby rock, always in pairs, and sometimes with fish. They are very tricky about waiting until nothing is watching to take food back to the nest!
  • The fog and the nesting birds keep us inside most days without a good view of animals. More pictures and a census to come as soon as we can see!

Census:

  • 40 California sea lions
  • 51 Stellar sea lions
  • 111 Harbour seals
  • 1 Elephant seal (male moulting)
  • 552 Glaucous-winged gulls (nesting, some chicks that are big enough to see included)
  • 388 California gulls
  • 12 Oystercatchers
  • 112 Black turnstones
  • 2 Ruddy turnstones
  • 1 Surfbird
  • Pigeon guillemots were not visible at the time of this census (very windy), but the numbers have been consistent from last week as they continue to care for their young.

Census and a Beautiful Day

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Weather: 

  • Visibility 0-10 NM (some intermittent morning/evening fog)
  • Sky clear
  • wind 25-30 knots W
  • Sea state: rippled, whitecaps
  • A steep decline in humidity today helped dry out the island after a bit of rainfall

Neat Fact: The body temperature of seals is very similar to our own! Endothermic like us, they maintain an internal temperature of 36.5-37.5 degrees Celsius.

Marine Traffic/Visitors: 

  • Greg visited today to top up island supplies before the college vessel goes for regular maintenance
  • Not many boats today- around 5 eco-tourism vessels.

Ecological Observations:

  • Elephant seal V173 was not here today. We wonder if she was just stopping for a rest or if she will be back soon.
  • There have been very large groups gulls and also black turnstones migrating through, intermingled with a few surfbirds. There were so many today that we took a photo from the lighthouse in order to count them!
  • The pigeon guillemots seem to be nesting in full force. We have spotted many carrying fish into crevices on the west side of the island near camera five and also the rock walls on the east side.
  • The seagull takeover has seemingly started to ease and moving around the island is becoming easier day by day. The chicks are beginning to be able to escape the attacks of the rival adult gulls by flapping their wings and flying/hopping away.
  • On a slightly…mushier note (stop reading if you get queasy!): Yesterday we removed the gull that was eviscerated on our back porch. We let it sit for a few days to see if an otter would come back for it or if the gulls might take a nibble (neither occurred). We were surprised by the amount of maggots that had grown in only a couple of days, presumably due to the warm and humid weather recently.
  • The sea lion population is increasing every day and they are started to climb onto the main rock. It’s almost time to put up the electric fence or we will have unwelcome house guests!
  • The geese have suddenly left this week (all but 4). Interestingly, earlier in the week we saw a flock of 17.

Census: 

  • 4 Canada geese
  • 985 Seagulls (does not include chicks)
  • 84 Harbour seals
  • 1 Male elephant seal
  • 25 Stellar sea lions
  • 19 California sea lions
  • 88 Pigeon guillemots
  • 2 Bald eagles
  • 1 Humpback whale (in the straight)
  • 1 Brandt’s cormorant
  • 12 Black oystercatchers
  • 143 Black Turnstones
  • 1 Sandpiper ((?) will update with confirmed id!)

 

 

 

Neat Intertidal Finds

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Weather:

  • Visibility 6 NM
  • Sky overcast
  • Wind 5-10 knots W
  • Sea state: Calm

Marine Traffic/Island Visitors:

  • Greg visited with supplies on Friday
  • There have been a steady trickle of eco-tourism boats, 5-10 per day.
  • On Thursday DFO and Marine Mammal rescue visited the reserve (more on this below).

Ecological Observations: 

  • There has been a young sea lion in the reserve that appeared to be very underweight and weak. It was first spotted in the reserve on July 1st, and a few more times following. Marine mammal rescue notified us of the sightings earlier this week, and we were able to find the animal where it had originally been reported by a local eco-tourism company. With the assistance of DFO, they were able to make the journey from Vancouver to RR on Thursday July 9th, but unfortunately they weren’t able to spot the sea lion, and we have not seen it in the reserve since July 8th.
  • The seagull hatching is in full swing! There are now many chicks in various stages of development.
  • The goslings and their parents left for their first swim on the ocean yesterday at slack tide, but we haven’t seen them return. We wonder if they got caught in the stronger currents or perhaps made the journey to shore.
  • There are a few more sea lions in the reserve this week, roughly ten stellar sea lions on middle rocks.
  • We have had some low tides this week in the middle of the day, making for a great opportunity to explore the intertidal- photos below!

Sunny Monday, Census

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Today’s Weather Conditions:

  • Sky clear
  • Visibility 15+ NM
  • Wind 20-25 knots W
  • Sea state: calm, rippled
  • Temperature today

Visitors/Marine Traffic:

  • Today Greg delivered water
  • There was one pleasure craft fishing within the reserve this morning.
  • One whale watching boat today. They came very close to the jetty where there was an elephant seal soaking in the water to relieve his molting discomfort. The elephant seals visibly react to the disturbance with vocalization similar to when they are threatened by other male seals.
  • One large private vessel passed through on Saturday evening with roughly 15 people on board

Ecological Observations:

  • The goslings are doing well and have been moving around the island. The parents seem very alert and keep them close. It is quite impressive given how limited fresh water can be.
  • There have been quite a few young (still have grey plumage) seagulls passing through. They don’t integrate with the other seagulls, but rather stay on the more exposed areas of rock.
  • The nesting seagull population seems to have stabilized, and there are roughly 300 seagulls consistently on the island. When Daniel was here he counted around 80 nests, but there seem to be more appearing daily.

Census:

  • 294 Seagulls
  • 12 Adult black oystercatchers
  • 2 Black oystercatcher chicks
  • 117 Harbour seals
  • 1 Juvenile bald eagle
  • 6 Brandt’s cormorants
  • 59 Pigeon guillemots
  • 2 Male elephant seals
  • 1 Young stellar sea lion
  • 16 Adult Canadian geese
  • 4 Canadian goose goslings

 

Otter, Caspian Terns, Goslings (!) & Sunday Census

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Weather:

  • Sky clear, a few clouds
  • Visibility 15+ NM
  • Wind: 30-35 knots W
  • Sea state: fast moving, white caps breaking at .5 m

Visitors:

  • Greg visited with a water delivery on Friday
  • One eco-tourism boat in the reserve yesterday evening.
  • One vessel fishing within the reserve on Friday afternoon. They approached the sea lions around the jetty very closely and their dog on board barked loudly at the animals. They approached the animals within a stones throw and hovered for roughly 20 minutes. The animals appeared distressed and fought with each other as they tried to move away from the boat (it was too close for them to enter the water).

Ecological: 

  • On Thursday evening a river otter came onto land near the jetty. We wonder if it was trying to steal seagull eggs.
  • On Friday afternoon two caspian terns flew overhead. The seagulls were not happy to see them and chased them out of the reserve.
  • Related to the post linked above, we spotted an oyster catcher nest on the west side of the island. We think it could be the same one that Mike spotted in 2012!
  • There are five goslings total, one family with two and one with three. The family of three has been joined intermittently by the other two. The two chicks seem confused as to which geese are their parents, and they’ve even managed to sneak under a wing with the rest for shelter. The parents continuously try to separate them from their own three chicks and the parents of the two follow closely behind.
  • We have observed the geese moving around the island trying to find fresh water. When it rains it is easier for them to come near the structures and drink the water from our roofs. When it is dry, they are limited to what they are able to find in the pools high on the rocks, usually full of algae and very dirty. We have been learning about their adaptations to drink salt water here.
  • The two oyster catcher chicks that we spotted earlier in the week have maintained their elusive nature. We haven’t been able to spot them again, as they are hidden by their parents among rocks where the seagulls are not able to attack.
  • This week has brought an influx of stellar sea lions, particularly smaller youngsters.

Census:

  • 2 Elephant seals (1 male, 1 female)
  • 46 Harbour seals
  • 326 Seagulls
  • 10 Stellar sea lions
  • 17 California sea lions
  • 10 Black Oystercatchers(adult)
  • 2 Oystercatcher chicks
  • 16 Canada Geese (adult)
  • 5 Goslings
  • 2 Pigeon Guillemots