Tag Archives: sea lion

Fog and sunshine

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There was a tiny bit of rain with fog early today and then it switched back to near gale westerlies with heavy fog interspersed with sunshine. It is a beautiful starlight evening and the westerly continues to drop. The barometer held fairly steady today with a slight increase this evening. Environment Canada says that a strong westerly wind warning stays in effect for Sunday with a chance of showers.

There were ten whale watching boats in the Reserve today and they were all well behaved. A dive charter boat with eleven divers aboard came through the reserve but I am not sure where they dove.

Two male kayakers , one in a green kayak and the other in a reddish-brown kayak came through the passage on the south side of Great Race in the early afternoon and caused a sea lion stampede. They then proceeded to fish right in the closed conservation area. There were also two recreational boats fishing in the marine protected area.

A few more sea lion brands were observed today including one seven year-old female Steller’s Sea Lion that was branded as a pup in 2007 at Rogue Reef , near Gold Beach in southern Oregon.

This was my first day to not see Elephant Seals and California Sea Lions have taken over the jetty and marine railway. Some of them are a bit scary looking and do not want to move so that I can do seawater data collection.

Three River Otters were out and about in daylight today. Usually you don’t see them and just guess that they are around in the evening as all the gulls lift off and call. There were two young, very healthy-looking animals with an adult. Maybe that it why there are so many Glaucous-winged gull chick mortalities here? (Just a guess.)

Alex was quite excited to see some of the old lighthouse artifacts including parts of an old Fairbanks-Morris engine. He also pointed out where the old granite light-keepers house had been removed from its attachment to the base of the light tower.

The tasks today were the basic, regular tasks of  cleaning the solar panels, running the generator, launching and bringing the boat back up in order to drop off Alex, repairing the jetty fence (twice) and taking the salinity measurement. Tomorrow is month-end report time.

 

 

Animal Census

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Low winds today picking up in the afternoon/evening. Clear skies for most of the day. Forecasted winds of 15 knots for tomorrow morning rising to 30 in the afternoon.

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Animal Census (by Anne):

Steller Sea Lions 229
California Sea Lions 388
Harbour Seals 81
Glaucous-winged Gulls 301 (including 29 chicks)
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Pelagic Cormorant 1
Canada Goose 11
Black Oyster Catcher 11
Black Turnstone 1
Greater Yellow legs 1
Very large mixed species feeding groups to the west southwest of reserve including 100s of Rhinoceros auklets, Common Murres, Heerman’s Gulls and California Gulls.

37 whale watching boats

5 recreational boats

3-4 trips from Second Nature

Baleen whale this morning spotted feeding in the same place as yesterday evening, to the SW end of the reserve.

Anne continued with training today. James from Hybrid Plumbing came out to fix the water heater this morning. Changed cartridge filters on desalinator. Prepared for shift change.

 

 

Animal Census

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Fog all day. Northwest winds 5-15 knots all day. Barometric pressure from peaking at 1810.0 midday but only dropping to 1610.0 hPa. 15-20 knot winds predicted for tomorrow with fog.

Animal Census:
161 Gulls
47 Guillemots
3 Elephant seals
537 Sea lions (Steller and California)
3 River otters
4 Double-crested cormorants
120 Harbour seals
15 Black oystercatchers

13 whale watching boats

5 recreational boats

Second Nature also came out for two visits today with some alumni that are here for the ten year reunion, although they did not dock. Still having hot water and desalinator issues. Prepped for shift change.

Business as usual

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Overcast. Winds 5-10 knots most of the day. Barometric pressure rising until this evening. Winds forecasted to be 15-25 knots tomorrow.

16 whale watching boats

3 recreational boats

1 commercial fishing boat passed through

Many sea lions on the main island now. There is lots of interaction between the Californias and Stellers. In the evening, the Californias take over the northeast lawn and the Stellers tend to stay on the outer edge of the rock though many do squish their way into the lawn resting area. There are three juvenile elephant seals that have been spend their days on the ramp. They make their way into the waters in the evening.

Finished cleaning out the tank room. Backflushed the desalinator although it is having issues with the high pressure pump. Been working on cameras 1 and 5 which are down.

More sea lions

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Winds between 5-15 knots for most of the day. Barometric pressure peaking midday. A few showers forecasted for tomorrow and risk of thunderstorms tonight.

18 whale watching boats

3 recreational fishing boats

A float plane did laps around the island this morning around 0900h taking counts on some marine mammals. Another one passed through the reserve this afternoon.

More than two hundred sea lions on the main island now and more on Middle Rock. I noticed today that although the population on the main island is mixed Stellar and California, there is a higher density of Californias on the main island and a higher density of Stellars on Middle Rock. A tagged elephant seal arrived today but I could not get close enough to its tags without frightening it.

The PSYL coordinators arrived around 1900h this evening and will be here two nights.

Branded sea lion 183R shows up at Race Rocks

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Our viewer from England, Pam Birley,  sent us this image image of a branded Northern Sea lion (Steller’s) that she had taken with the remote control camera 5  today. She noted that this is the first time this particular one has shown up in her records which she has been keeping for several years now.

For other posts on branded sea-lions, see this link: https://www.racerocks.ca/tag/branded/

For our taxonomy file and gallery of images on this sealion see our archived file: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/nufar.htm

Also for an explanation of why the tagging program goes on see this link also on our website: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/marmam/sealion/tracking/tracking.ht

Branded Northen sea lion # 183R

Branded Northern sealion # 183R

 

 

Sea lions are here

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Mostly clear skies. Fog late morning into early afternoon. Winds between 10-15 knots most of the day. Barometric pressure rising the first half of the day and falling in the afternoon/evening.

6 whale watching boats (hard to say with fog though)

2 recreational fishing boats (PBM rentals)

2 recreational dive boats

Down to three elephant seals on the island currently. The sea lions have crept further up the east side of the island. There are an estimated 60-70 on the island now. The fence is still deterring them from the jetty, etc. Big moon tonight (supermoon tomorrow) but still the bioluminescent phytoplankton is visible!

Animal Census

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Northwest winds dipping down to 10 knots midday and back up to 15 knots in the afternoon. Barometric pressure climbing since late Thursday. Forecasted fog for tomorrow and winds from 10 to 25 knots in the afternoon.

Animal Census:
272 Gulls
32 Guillemots
4 Elephant seals
381 Sea lions (Steller and California)
3 River otters
2 Double-crested cormorants
273 Harbour seals
13 Black oystercatchers

The otters appeared in the early evening again, taking at least two gull chicks. The sea lions, both Steller and California, have started making their way onto the main island. The electric fence is set up to deter them from the jetty, the winch pad (and hydraulic pipes) and the main residence.

We’ve had issues with one of the inverters in the generator room this week which have meant limited power, internet and phone access.

 

 

Orcas

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Northwest winds increasing from midday to 35 knots this evening. Barometric pressure in a downward trend since Wednesday at noon. Some fog this morning. 20-25 knot winds forecasted for tomorrow with some fog.

37 whale watching boats

11 recreational fishing boats

3 recreational boats (including a dive boat)

A pod of orcas passed through the reserve on the north side of Middle and Turbine Rocks. There were at least 7-8 of them in front heading east through the channel with a few more trailing a few hundred metres behind. Four elephant seals on cite at the moment. No eagle visits today but a number of California sea lions have started arriving.

Topped up the batteries and did the monthly report.

Animal Census

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Fog on and off since yesterday. West winds rising since the morning from 10 knots to over forty. More fog forecasted for tomorrow and 20-25 knot winds.

4 whale watching boats this morning

Animal Census:

710 Gulls*
15 Pigeon guillemots
4 Elephant seals
142 Steller sea lions
421 Harbour seals
8 Black oystercatchers
6 Canada geese
There are a large number of gulls because of the California gulls which make a large majority (~550). There seems to be a much lower number of Glaucous-winged gulls this year from last. I notice there are a lot more dead chicks, be it the evening visits from the otters or the bald eagles that visit several times daily. There has been no sight of Chunk since Sunday night. Currently there are two young males, a female, a stubborn seal that refuses to lie on its back. This stubborn seal was bleeding from its mouth pretty badly leaving a small pool of blood on the ramp yesterday evening. This morning there was still blood on its face though it seemed to be a bit better. Because the bleeding was perpetual I assume it is more than a simple abrasion but I cannot see the wound well enough to be sure.
Several blasts have gone off on DND land this morning and yesterday.
Some sea lions have started using the jetty as a resting spot so I started putting up the electric fence.