Orca’, 2, ‘Last night I returned to RR at about 1600hrs and was greeted by some great wildlife. A new female elephant seal had hauled up and was lying near the foot of the jetty. She was very, very nervous, especially as I tried to sneak around her and I later observed her getting quite agitated by the gulls as she hauled up on the grass and tried to find a comfortable sleeping spot for the night. Late in the evening she eventually settled close to Slash behind the boathouse. This was the first time I had seen this female, and she was definitely a very beautiful female. A few hours later, I went down to the jetty and a juvenile female was just beginning to haul up. However, a few minutes after I spotted her, she turned around and headed back to the ocean. She was not tagged so there was no possibility of her being Ninene or #4252. Around 1600hrs as I landed the boat, I looked up and saw two orcas breach in the channel between Middle Rock and Great Race, heading eastward on the flood current. They disappeared for a while, then breached on the other side of the kelp bed near Middle Rock. For the next minute or so, there was quite a commotion with tail fins flapping in the water and dorsal fins popping to the surface. I expect that these two orcas were hunting seals, which makes me assume that they were two transients passing through the Reserve. Sea lions are now beginning to make more and more of an appearance in the Reserve. There are several on the jetty each night, and some large northern sea lions out on the Rocks. Harbour seals are all now having their pups as well. Pam has caught some fantastic images of pups nursing and a possible placenta in the east bay a few days ago.’, ‘adam’, ’08:52:54 ,
Tag Archives: sealion
Seagulls hatching
A California sea lion decided to haul out this morning on the NE corner of Great Race. Slash has not been sighted yet today on Middle Rock. Bertha and 4252 have not been seen on Great Race for a few days. The seagulls are hatching! Pam B. reports a chick up near the helicopter pad, and a nest beside the winch pad hatched yesterday with two healthy chicks. Pam thinks that the chick near the helicopter pad is several days old. The three black oystercatcher chicks are still being fed down on the rocks beside the jetty. They’ve grown considerably in the last number of days. There are at least two other families on the NE corner of Great Race, as I’ve seen at least two pairs of parents who act quite distressed when I get near.
Census and orca
Orca: 2
Two transient orcas were spotted this morning travelling westwards between Great Race and Middle Race. A number of whale watching boats were in pursuit.
Elephant Seal: 3
Misery has been hauled up behind the boathouse for several days now, while Bertha is beside the fuel hose container. A small, young elly is NW of the Science House. She has a green tag that reads 4252 in her flipper.
Sad to report our first neck ring sighting this year. A juvenile California sea lion was hauled out with a group of ~9 other sea lions; its neck was constricted and lacerated by a ring of marine garbage. Given the numbers of California sea lions spotted here so far this season, this sighting fits the 1-2% entanglement rate observed here last fall.
Wounded shoulder on Northern Sea lion
Injuries on the sea lions: Ryan recorded them with images on his Flickr site: A pretty nasty looking bite wound on this adult male. My first thought was it could have been an orca or shark, but looking at other images of similar bite wounds makes me think this was from another sea lion.
Northern Sea lions predominate
California Sea Lion’, 4, ‘Two adult males and 2 juvenile males are hauled out on the intertidal island on the SE corner of Great Race Island today. At least one adult male has been around this week.’, ‘Ryan’, ’12:19:52 ,
Northern Sea Lion’, 50, ‘Northern or Steller sea lion population has remained relatively constant this past month, with no major storms dispersing them for any amount of time. Interestingly, only 1 or 2 animals have ventured back to the largest of the Middle Rocks where the entangled sea lion was rescued. Instead, they have chosen to stay crowded on the smaller adjacent rock to the East.’, ‘Ryan’, ’12:21:57 ,
Entangled sea lion
See other images of injuries on Ryan’s Flickr site:
See this link to the log pages with injured marine mammals.
A Steller sea lion entangled in rope was spotted at Race Rocks today (12/13/09). The rope appears to be snagged in the rocks and the animal may be tethered to the island. Tomorrow DND will be blasting about 1 mile north of here, an event that usually causes all sea lions hauled out to stampede into the water. If this animal is stuck on land, an attempt may be made to disentangle it.
See the account of its release at https://racerocks.ca/racerock/admin/intervention/2009entangle.htm
Further comments from resident marine scientist and ecoguardian at Race Rocks Ryan Murphy
: December 21 2009
Ryan was interviewed for this article in the Goldstream Gazette: Daring Sealion Rescue at Race Rocks
“Normally, neither DFO or the Vancouver Aquarium will intervene with entangled pinnipeds (seals and sea lions), but this case was special for a number of reasons.
1. The sea lion was actually tethered to the rocks. These animals are really tough and can often survive for years with their entanglements. If tranquilized, these animals would take to the water and most likely drown before a rescue team could get to it. This wasn’t the case here and so a rescue operation was a viable option.
2. Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) like this one are listed as a species of special concern under SARA and as such are afforded a higher priority than other more abundant species like harbour seals and california sea lions.
3. This animal was most likely spotted within 24 hours of its entanglement and was still in relatively good health. Mike Demarchi of LGL who was on the island monitoring DND activity on nearby Bentinck Island and Rocky Point first spotted it on the morning of the 13th and his team and I were able to keep a very close eye on it during the daylight hours. It was reported to DFO’s Observe, Record, Report (ORR) line (1-800-465-4336) and the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rehabilitation Centre (at 604-258-SEAL (7325) or via the emergency phone at 604-862-1647). A case like this on an offshore haul out would most likely have resulted in death by starvation, hypothermia, or drowning long before it was sighted. In the 3 days between the first sighting (first photograph) and its successful rescue, this animal had further tangled its tether from about 10m to 3m and exacerbated the wound to its flipper. The gale yesterday would have drowned it had it not been rescued.”
Slash returns.. early December
‘2009-12-02’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘Our long-time viewers will be happy to know that Slash has returned to Great Race Island. His other preferred haul out in the reserve -Middle Rocks) is still densely packed with Steller sea lions. Slash is looking hefty, having put on weight during his time away from Race Rocks in preparation for the breeding season due to start soon!’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:31:30 ,
Sea lion fracture
Aside
Yes, this was interesting… he climbed up the boat ramp (sloped concrete) then walked about 20m up more concrete to an elevation here of about 5m above sea level. This is the landing area for the derrick pictured elsewhere in the photostream. A day after this photo was taken he was there again, with the swelling reduced considerably. I have seen him a couple of times since, and the flipper is very stiff, but he seems to be able to limp to where he wants to go. Today he was 1 of 2 California sea lions left on the jetty here.
Ryan has recorded more images on his Flickr site:
Fisher’s discarded neck-ring on Northern Sea Lion
Aside
More evidence of injuries showing up on the sea lions. Ryan recorded them with images on his Flickr site:
Also see this link to the log pages with injured marine mammals.
Another neck ring that will painfully kill this animal. This sea lion may be relatively lucky, the position of the ring may cause a chronic ear infection that will kill it more quickly than the typical starvation/asphyxiation deaths that neck rings can cause.
Sea Lion Injuries
Aside
Ryan Murphy took these photos of some of the injured marine mammals showing up at Race Rocks this year . See more on his Fickr Site .
I heard a very interesting interview on CBC Radio today dealing with the presence of empathy in mammals. This image would then appear to depict “pre-concern”, a concept new to me!
An article entitled “Sea lions at Victoria’s Race Rocks injured by debris, boats” just ran in Victoria’s Times Colonist that quoted me. See it here:https://www.racerocks.ca/racerock/news/debris.htm
Anna Hall, a marine zoologist also quoted in the article suggests showing graphic images to children to warn them of the dangers posed to sea lions. This series is a response to that suggestion and not biased propaganda as I have been accused of.
This image summarizes the article’s headline. Two California sea lions, one with some marine junk entangled around its neck (a death sentence), and another whose front flipper has been nearly severed by a boat’s propeller (it is currently wasting away from not being able to hunt for food).
An update from a NOAA research biologist and a veterinarian who specializes in marine mammals: Both experts agree the wound has been present for so long that the original source of the trauma is impossible to say with scientific certainty. Possible causes include orca bite, entanglement, and boat strike.
The sliced flipper has been cautiously identified as either a whale or orca attack, or a boat strike.