Tag Archives: sealion

Sea lions at Sunset

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAEcological Happenings

  • Light winds from the North East and calm seas. Great visibility.
  • The alpha male Elephant seal is keeping himself between the other male and female occasionally issuing rumbling snorts of superiority from his inflated proboscis.
  • The female and smaller Elephant seal continue to remain virtually inseparable, though obviously acutely aware of the males and their movements.

Marine Vessels

  •  None.

Maintenance

  • Logs removed from jetty/boat ramp.
  • ‘No load’ test carried out on battery bank ‘B’ to check validity of health test results performed yesterday. This indicates some maintenance of the battery bank is required.
  • O-rings replaced and seals cleaned on pressure washer pump, one-way valves to be checked before reassembly.
Mount Baker

Sun on Mount Baker

Proboscis

Proboscis!

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All but one of the Elephant seals on the main island

All but one of the Elephant seals on the main island

Cormorants

Cormorants

Sea lions at sunset

Sea lions at sunset

Gift from the storm

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Black Turnstone

Black Turnstone

Ecological Happenings

  • A generally bright day with gentle winds and calm seas.
  • Significant quantities of driftwood have been washed up including large sections of telegraph poles and tree roots.
  • The elephant seals seem to be here for the duration. Though their route off the island (boat ramp) has only just been cleared of driftwood.

Marine Vessels

  • One whale watching tour in looking at the sea lions and birds. Good speed through the reserve, though at times strayed too close to animals.

Maintenance

  • Solar panels cleaned.
  • Maintenance routes of the energy centre roof scrubbed clean of slimy algal build up.
  • Boat ramp and jetty cleared of driftwood washed up in the last few days of strong winds and rough seas. Derik used to lift larger logs up for drying and cutting into firewood.
  • Windows cleaned on the main house.
    Black Oystercatchers

    Black Oystercatchers

    Sealions on South Islands

    Sealions on South Islands

    Harlequin duck

    Harlequin duck

    Hello

    Hello

    Fox Sparrow

    Fox Sparrow

    Black Oystercatcher

    Black Oystercatcher

    Whale watchers

    Whale watchers

254 less Sea Lions

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Ecological Happenings

  • Weather conditions worsen as the brunt of the storms come through. Large swell, with larger forecast for tomorrow.
  • Two Ravens have been hanging around the reserve over the  last couple of days. Seen again today near Camera 5.
  • Juvenile  Bald Eagle hanging about the island this afternoon as. Bird species have moved closer to the main island with the change in weather.
  • There are currently 254 less Sea Lions in the reserve. This change has taken place over the last week.

Maintenance

  • Attempt to install the new water pump in the keepers house. This has been a task requiring time and research. While water is still not running, we are working on it!
  • With hours of daylight diminishing, generator use on the island has increased.

No marine vessels or visitors today

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Gust, Swell and Rain

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Ecological Happenings

  • Another wild weather day as RR. Gusts throughout the morning and afternoon, with showers and just moments of sunshine. Wind/gust warnings are still in effect until midnight.
  • Humpback whale spotted feeding towards Port Angeles.
  • Fresh propeller cuts spotted on a Sea Lion.
  • Animals continue to shift around the island and surrounding rocks, adjusting to the weather and moving away from the swell.
  • Number of geese on the island increased significantly from 13 to at least 48 today.
  • A necklaced Sea Lion spotted today near the dock.

Marine Vessels

  • Three tour boats
  • Two pleasure vessels

Maintenance

  • Camera 1 & 5 remote controls via RR website are not functioning – this is currently being troubleshooted.
  • High pressure hose requires a new pump. Attempts at rebuilding it have not been successful.
  • Electric fence repair attempts continue…..

Other

  • No visitors today.

 

 

Rough Conditions

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Ecological Happenings

  • Rough conditions with winds of up to 39 kts
  • Sea Lions have left the rocks to the East of the dock, and moved to the west
  • Elephant Seals have moved far up the island close to houses and main access paths
  • Two Elephant Seals are seen battling/courting continuously

Boat Activity

Given the conditions – not many vessels were seen today, aside from 2 tour boats.

Other

  • End of month reporting is being completed
  • No visitors today
  • Thorough house clean
  • Good responses received from tour companies re the friendly reminder on the speed limit within the reserve

Sea Lion Rescue Attempt

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Ecological Happenings

  • Animal Rescue! After many attempts at locating necklaced Sea Lions, no rescues were made. The animals seen previously, could not be found today. 9 DFO staff, 1 Vancouver Aquarium staff and 3 Pearson College staff (including the Eco-guardians) were all on the job and worked hard to spot the animals. Until next time…..
  • 29 Surfbrids spotted today
  • Another young Elephant Seal on the dock
  • Brand Y40 Sea Lion spotted

Marine Vessels

  • 2 DFO vessels equipped for today’s Sea Lion rescue
  • 5 tour boats – travelling at good speed out of the reserve after yesterday’s friendly reminder
  • 1 pleasure vessel

Other

  •  There were 2 visitors – Jeff from Pearson College and a chimney sweeper.

 

Elephant Seal Pup

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Ecological Happenings

  • After last nights’ strong winds, many of the regular Sea Lions on the North East of the island were not there, but returned towards the afternoon.
  • Four Elephant Seals were on the dock (where the California Sea lions usually lay), including one pup. The pup was tagged (B228). It had a hard time getting off the dock to return to its mother (see photographs below)
  • Great Blue Heron, spotted today by Camera 5 on the high coastal rocks
  • One more tangled Sea Lion was spotted in preparation for the Vancouver Aquarium rescue on the 28th of October. The two that were previously sighted, could not be found today.

Marine Vessels

Four tour boats, no fishing/pleasure vessels seen today.

Maintenance

  • Davis weather station was offline – this has been resolved.
  • Troubleshooting the pressure hose, in preparation of some cleaning on the island.

No visitors today

 

Fencing Success!

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Weather

Fog early this morning, turning into a fine day. Varying winds of up to 11kts between North and East directions. The barometer got up to 102.6, dropping back to 102.4. A strong wind warning is in effect for tonight and tomorrow (Wednesday), as well as forecast showers.

Boating activity

  • Helicopter over the reserve early morning
  • 5 tour boats today (2 of which were travelling quite fast within the reserve)
  • Only one pleasure craft spotted

Ecological happenings

  • One whale spotted between RR and Port Angeles

Maintenance

  • Several attempts were made at rewiring the electric fence around the dock ( 2nd time lucky!). We now have zero – as opposed to eight – Sea Lions on the dock)
  • Paths on RR were swept
  • We have commenced a critical equipment check for the island

No visitors today.

Fog horn drum

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Weather

Light fog early morning, building to thicker fog throughout the day with poor visibility (the fog horn sounded for a few hours). Winds were generally <5kts. The barometer was at 101.6 for most of the day dropping to 101.5. The marine forecast shows winds picking up to 10-15kts and rain for Monday.

Boat activity

  • Not so many fishing vessels on the water this Sunday with all the fog (total count of 4)
  • 7 tour boats, mostly in the afternoon as the fog faded

Ecological happenings

  • Two Californians spotted with relatively fresh gashes
  • Californian seal lion brand 8329 and 9776 spotted (need to verify whether this record has been collected)
  • Commenced looking for tangled sea lions in preparation for detanglment on Oct 28th
  • 3 Dunlins spotted

Maintenance

  • Cheeky sea lions continue to dismantle the electric fence and drop equipment into the water, so we’ve been on top of mending it.
(possible) Sandpiper and Black Turnstone

Dunlin and Black Turnstone