Tag Archives: sea lion

Returning Sun, Census

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Weather: 

  • Visibility 15-20 NM
  • Sky partly cloudy clearing to blue sky
  • Wind 15-20 Knots W
  • Sea state: calm, rippled

Visitors/Marine Traffic:

  • No visitors
  • Yesterday we spotted a group of kayakers who had emailed to let us know they were coming: We tried to wave, but you were too far away to see us- hope you had a good paddle!

Ecological: 

  • The seagull population has skyrocketed this week, but still no fully constructed nests
  • The elephant seals have left now, aside from one. We anticipate that we may see a few large males in a month or so.

Census: 

  • 16 Geese
  • 8 Oystercatchers
  • 39 Sea Lions
  • 40 Harbor Seals
  • 1 Elephant Seal
  • 1 Bald Eagle
  • 580 Seagulls
  • 42 Pigeon Guillemots

Windy Week and Sea Lion Update!

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Weather:

  • Visibility 15+ NM
  • Sky clear
  • Wind 15-20 knots W
  • Sea state: calm, rippled
  • It has been very windy this week. Most days the wind has hovered around 30 knots, sometimes as much as 35+ knots! It has been overcast intermittently, and we did receive some rainfall.

Visitors/Marine Traffic: 

  • Greg visited today with some supplies. Thanks Greg!
  • Since it has been so windy, there has been very little boat traffic. Yesterday we saw one small pleasure craft playing in the waves near Pedder Bay, and one coastguard ship passed by earlier today. A few small vessels and fishing boats passed by but no vessels entered the reserve.

Ecological:

  • Animal activity has been very quiet due to our stormy weather
  • The geese seem to be moving on now- there are fewer every day.
  • There are not many more seagull nests beginning but the seagulls have chosen their nesting locations and are defending them from other breeding pairs.
  • There is one sea lion who has been coming onto the jetty and does not move away from us as the others do. We believe this is the same one that we observed last year who seemed to have a propeller injury on his head. It’s interesting that he has been able to survive with seemingly quite a bit of behavioral impact due to the head trauma.

 

Many Seals, Census

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Weather:

  • Visibility 10 + NM
  • Sky partly cloudy
  • Wind 15-20 Knots SE
  • Sea state: calm, rippled

Marine Traffic/Visitors: One pleasure craft drifted through in the early afternoon. They did an amazing job of drifting with the current so the animals would not be disturbed, and were very careful of the kelp and shallow areas. Well done!

Ecological: 

  • The animals have been keeping to themselves and trying to stay out of the elements as yesterday there was quite a bit of rain and wind. When the weather is harsh, the elephant seals typically try to lay behind a rock or outbuilding to avoid the wind. The seagulls point themselves into the wind and sit close to the ground. The sea lions don’t seem to mind at all, but the geese love the rainy days! They like to drink from puddles and clean their feathers in the fresh water.
  • Yesterday we were visited by a flock of pigeon guillemots, who prefer the jetty or rocks immediately surrounding.
  • Comments in photos refer to pineapple weed..check it out here in the Taxonomy File

Census:

  • 7 Elephant Seals
  • 8 Oyster Catchers
  • 32 Sea Lions
  • 101 Harbor Seals
  • 22 Geese (one active nest)
  • 285 Seagulls

 

Lovely Weather + Plenty To Observe

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Weather:

  • Visibility
  • Sky clear, a few fluffy clouds
  • Wind 5-10 knots SW
  • Sea state: calm

Marine Traffic/Visitors:

  • Yesterday we saw the HMCS Calgary and HMCS Regina (both Halifax-Class frigate vessels). They passed by in the early evening.
  • One or two fishing vessels hanging around the border of the reserve

Ecological: 

  • Today we found three newly established goose nests. So far they each have 2-3 eggs.
  • The young seal pup has officially flown the coop! We haven’t seen her in a few days.
  • There are quite a few seagull nests beginning to take form. They are becoming more defensive of their established areas and make quite a ruckus when we walk through.

Sun, Census, Sea Lions!

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Weather: 

  • Visibility 15+ NM
  • Sky partly cloudy
  • Wind 5-10 knots N (yesterday was very windy, 35+ knots)
  • Sea state: calm

Marine Traffic/Visitors:

  • This morning we observed 3 kayakers in the reserve when we heard the hullaballoo of  sea lions rushing into the water. They stayed for roughly 20 minutes before crossing back towards Pedder Bay.
  • A few fishing vessels outside of the reserve
  • One large commercial fishing vessel from Vancouver passed by quite close to the reserve yesterday evening
  • Today we saw the large “Cable Innovator” crossing towards Port Angeles. This article state that it’s the largest of its kind (2017)!

Ecological:

  • Yesterday we spotted the beginnings of the first seagull nest of the season. They have begun to hover overhead when we leave the house and have become much less afraid of us.
  • The sea lions have started to venture further onto the island. They wiggle under the fence on the jetty now to make space for more. The stinky days are on the horizon.
  • The last remaining pup is not present in the reserve today. We are wondering if she has finally left her birthplace to explore!
  • We spotted two wandering tattlers today. We suspect this is what we saw earlier in the week, and not a willet.

Census: 

  • 2 Adult Bald Eagles
  • 120 Seagulls
  • 63 Harbour Seals
  • 23 Sea Lions
  • 16 Canadian Geese
  • 8 Adult Oystercatchers
  • 9 Elephant Seals
  • 2 Wandering Tattlers

 

Gentle Winds and Plentiful Wildlife

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Weather:

  • Visibility 15+ NM
  • Sky partly cloudy
  • Wind 5-10 knots N
  • Sea state: Calm

Visitors/Boats:

  • Yesterday Laura and Greg came at low tide to deliver fuel and for Laura to teach her online class.
  • Greg came this morning to deliver a load of fresh water which we pumped into our storage tank with the fire pump and hoses.
  • Today we saw a dive vessel in the reserve but no divers. They were fairly close to the wildlife but the sea lions did not seem particularly bothered.
  • One small pleasure craft hovered just outside of the reserve for the majority of the day. They were too far away to see what they were doing, but usually boats like this are fishing.

Ecological:

  • The small seal pup is still here, but she has become more adventurous over the past week. We have seen her napping on the east side of the island, and beside the decommissioned diesel tank on the west side.
  • The sea lion population continues to grow, and so does the smell! We will need to set up more fencing soon before they begin to take over the island completely.
  • The pair of crows that we have been seeing returned today and spent most of their day at Race Rocks.
  • We have continued to observe bald eagles in the reserve. We enjoy watching them swoop overhead and cause a stir amongst the seagulls.
  • One of the seals that we have been joined by over the past weeks was also spotted here in December (juvenile female V173). We are still waiting to hear from the researchers who tagged her to see if there is anything interesting to learn.
  • The elephant seals activity has been uneventful as they continue to moult. They spend their days napping and lounging on our “lawn” or wiggling down to the jetty to soak in the shallow water (and perhaps relieve the itchiness of all that peeling fur!).
  • At low tide yesterday we spotted many neat creatures in the exposed pool on the east side of Great Race Rock: urchins, anemones, crabs, fishes, chitons, barnacles, and tubeworms!

 

Sunny Day + Census

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Weather:

  • Visibility 15 NM
  • Sky partly cloudy
  • Wind 0-5 knots N
  • Sea state calm

Boats/Visitors: None

Ecological:

  • Yesterday we saw a humpback whale pass through the straight roughly 1 NM away. Notably, this is only the second time that we have spotted a whale from Race Rocks without tourism vessels following close behind.
  • Not seen today in our census, there have been many black turnstones in the reserve this week (at least 10 at once).
  • Early this week we spotted what looked like a non-breeding adult willet. It seems as if it would be unusual to see one here so we are unsure if this is the correct ID. Without a photo it’s hard to be sure!

Census:

  • 9 elephant seals
  • 180 seagulls
  • 134 harbor seals
  • 112 sea lions
  • 11 cormorants
  • 6 oyster catchers
  • 2 adult bald eagles
  • The last pup left has been moving around the island, here it rests near the generator building.
  • Sea lions resting on an outcropping rock
  • We’ve been seeing these eagles around nearly every day.
  • The goose count rises, and so does the time we spend cleaning up after them!
  • Geese aggressively protecting their nest area
  • The invasion begins, slowly at first…

Bustling Wildlife

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Weather:

  • Visibility 10 NM this morning, 15+ NM this afternoon
  • Sky overcast in morning but clear this afternoon
  • Wind 20-30 knots NW-NE
  • Sea state: white caps (.25m), fast moving ripples

Visitors/Boats:

  • Greg and Nick on Monday
  • Greg and Nick on Tuesday
  • Greg and a technician for generator maintenance on Wednesday
  • Greg and Nick this afternoon (Thursday) 

Aside from this there have been very few vessels aside from commercial/shipping traffic. Today a couple of sailboats passed by despite the astounding wind gusts (all a fair distance away).

Ecological:

  • There have been 4 eagles in the reserve daily on average, both juvenile and adult. They typically perch on Rosedale Rock to our SE, but we have been spotting them on the webcam tower, crane, and diesel tank near the power building. The juvenile eagles seem to be more interested in Great Race Rock, while the adults tend to stick to the outcroppings. Occasionally they swoop over the reserve, prompting the seagulls to rise into the air to avoid becoming lunch!
  • The geese continue to protect their nests but no new eggs have been observed.
  • The elephant seals have settled to complete their moult, all in various stages. The remaining pup is still here, and spends most of its time on the jetty away from the others.
  • There is a sea lion with a significant head/neck wound that we have been seeing daily. It looks like it has been tagged by the Vancouver Aquarium, so we are wondering if it has been disentangled and tagged at the same time.
  • Yesterday we spotted a killdeer, a type of plover. We’ve never seen one here before!

Repairs/Maintenance:

  • We filled the underground cistern with sea water to be desalinated (pumped using the fire pump and fire hoses).
  • To maximize our solar intake we have been keeping the solar panels as clean as possible (when they are covered in bird waste they create much less power). 
  • Juvenile eagle on diesel tank
  • Juvenile eagle on power building
  • The gang
  • Moulting elephant seal skin and fur
  • The gulls continue to arrive for nesting…
  • … and defend their territory fiercely!
  • a breeding pair of geese resting
  • This one has a sore leg from a fight!
  • The youngest nest
  • Tag of the latest arrived elephant seal
  • Pigeon Guillemot
  • Sea lion with healing entanglement wound
  • Killdeer (adorable!)
  • Juvenile bald eagle perched on the crane

March 24 and 25

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Wind: yesterday variable 1-11 knots, today mostly W 2-17 knots
Sea State: both days calm
Visibility: yesterday 5-15 NM, today 10-15 NM
Sky: yesterday overcast, rain then clearing in early afternoon, today partly cloudy then clear from mid morning onwards
Temperature: yesterday 5-6 °C, today 5-10 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 414.34 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

I heard back about more information on the recently arrived female juvenile elephant seal pup, with green tags E103 and E135. Dr Patrick Robinson, the Director of the Año Nuevo Reserve and Lecturer at University of California Santa Cruz, sent a report of the history of the seal’s sightings and said, “It’s always great to get these updates… we greatly appreciate it!” The seal was born in the 2018 winter season, which makes her just over two years old. She was seen a lot during the winter and spring of 2018 at Año Nuevo Reserve. Researchers took two blubber samples to study bioaccumulation. The seal wasn’t seen again until the fall of 2019, when she spent a month at Race Rocks between September 7 and October 11. Fast forward a few months, the seal came back to Race Rocks two days ago, on March 23. She appears to be in the early stages of her catastrophic moult of her fur and skin, judging by the patches on her sides.

The youngest elephant seal pup returned yesterday morning from her one day adventure in the sea. She spent the whole day sleeping by the wood pile. The oldest pup has been gone for the past two days. A new adult female elephant seal arrived yesterday. She is most likely one of the four mothers that was here in January and February. So far the three have come back a month and a half after they each weaned their pups, which happened on January 21, February 4 and February 9.

At today’s 16:31 high tide, after recording the salinity and temperature of the water, I hooked up the hoses and pump to top up the seawater in the cistern. The gas powered water pump sucks water through a hose with a strainer dropped off the end of the jetty. The water is pumped through 76 m (250′) of fire hose up to the cistern. Over a couple hours, tens of thousands of litres of water were pumped into the underground cistern, which should feed the desalinator for the next month and a bit.

Yesterday, there was one pleasure boat that zoomed through Middle Channel and stopped by the rocks to take photos of sea lions. This afternoon, the Canadian Coast Guard lifeboat Cape Calvert, appeared to be out for a cruise around Race Rocks from the base in Victoria. They came in for a closer look and a couple of the crew appeared to be snapping photos of Race Rocks with their phones. This is a very photogenic place. This afternoon, Guy, Corey and Christine from Pearson College delivered a new fridge and took away the old one that recently stopped working. They also brought some fresh food from the Pearson kitchen, which is closing down for a while.

Here are a few photos from the past two days:

Elephant Seal Pup Posse and Orcas

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Wind: yesterday 2-7 knots from NW to SE, today 0-15 knots from N to E
Sea State: both days calm
Visibility: both days 15 NM
Sky: both days clear
Temperature: both days 3-7 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 414.30 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

The wind has been relatively calm over the past two days. Along with clear skies, it’s been very delightful here. This morning, the three elephant seal pups began hanging out all together for the first time. I saw their slide marks coming from different directions across the frosty grass towards the bushes in the middle of the island.

This morning at 8:45, I was at the kitchen sink doing dishes and looking out the window, I spotted a pod of orcas splashing just south of the island. When I went out to get a closer look, it appeared the pod of five to seven orcas were hunting a harbour seal or sea lion. The orcas were swimming in circles and splashing around. A few sea lions were looking on from nearby shallower water. The orcas are most likely transient or bigg’s, which hunt marine mammals.

Five visitors from Pearson College were on the island today to remove 16 old batteries and three empty diesel drums. They each weigh 250 lbs, so two trips were made to keep the boat seaworthy. Thanks for the great work Corey, Giovanny, Greg, Jake and Lawrence.

Other than the Pearson boat, there were four boats in the ecological reserve over the past two days. Yesterday, three tour boats stopped by for a look. Today one pleasure craft went through Middle Channel.

See the photos of some views from the past two days:

A short video of the orca pod just south of the island today. I was standing by the surge channel near the Science House. The bird that flies across the frame is a juvenile bald eagle. You can see the sea lions on the left side looking on. The orcas might be hunting a sea lions or seals. I will provide an update if the pod is identified.