Tag Archives: sealion

Cormorants vs eagle

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ood Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 9.5 ºC »» Min. 7.8 ºC »» Reset 9.4 ºC »» Rain 6.8 mm
MARINE LIFE: Although the forecasted high winds did not materialize most of the hauled out Sealions along the north shore of Gr. Race have taken to the water or moved farther inland to avoid the high swells coming in from the weather system to the east. This afternoon one mature Bald Eagle spent about an hour on the high point of West Race. The 200 or so Cormorants took to the air as the eagle landed but soon settled back down leaving a good distance between them and the great raptor.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 5 Ecotour boats and 3 pleasurecraft through today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:09 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy »» Vis. 15 Miles »» Wind North East 5 Knots »» Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:25 AM

Marine Life Disturbance

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MARINE LIFE DISTURBANCE: If you are checking out camera 1 or the remote camera today, you probably noticed that the middle island was full of sea lions this morning and was completely empty by noon. The Department of National Defence is doing their blasting exercises today again over at Bentinck Island . They will be doing the same tomorrow. A rather tragic occurance that happens every fall. Eventually the Northern Sea Lions (endangered species) and the Californian Sea Lions just move out of the Race Rocks area. There is a video on the marine mammals archive page that shows the effect of the Oct 7 blast. We have recorded todays events, (so far seven blasts) and will have it up in the archives also in a few days. In the meantime, look at the before and after pictures taken from the sitezap robotic camera just before and after noon today. This will appear in a file at http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/marmam/sealion/dndblastnov7.htm 
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 10.2 ºC »» Min. 8.7 ºC »» Reset 8.7 ºC »» Rain 4.0 mm
posted by Garry Fletcher at 12:55 PM

Sea lion Behaviour after DND Blasting at Bentinck Island

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Two videos are presented here showing the effect of DND blasting on Bentinck Island on the sea lions at Race Rocks. The first is from October 7 and the second was done by student s on the project week on  November 8, 2002, (not Oct 7 as stated in this draft version of the video) . The students from Lester Pearson College who were out for a project week were able to catch the images of the impact of these blasts on the first day from the science centre window and on the second day from the top of the light tower. In the tower, they interviewed Mike Demarchi of LGL who is currently doing a $50,000 contract for the Department of National Defence to monitor the impact of these blasts and to compare them with other disturbances at Race Rocks.

See also before and after images of effects of blasting on sea lion behaviour

 

See the index of Human Effects on Animal Behaviour at Race Rocks

The following pictures were taken on November 7,2002 from the site zap camera at Race Rocks. The top set of pictures was taken at 9:30 AM . The DND started blasting at 11:00 . The bottom set of pictures were taken at 12:00 noon, after 5 blasts when most of the sealions had jumped off the rocks, They remained off the rocks mid afternoon.

Image from before a blast
and then the Image from after the blast

Animal census

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 8.9 ºC »» Min. 3.9 ºC »» Reset 6.5 ºC
MARINE LIFE: The population of Sealions is still low, was hoping the animals that left after the last session of blasting at DND would return but guess it is just too stressful for them. We counted 26 California, 7 Northern sealions hauled out along the north shore of Gr. Race, 27 Californias, 18 Northern on North Rocks and and 78 ( 27 Northern ) hauled out on the Middle Rocks.
HUMAN INTERACTION: Chris in Hyaku with students and supplies for week’s stay ‘on the rock’. There were 5 ecotour boats, 1 pleasurecraft and 1 sailboat through today.posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:13 PM

Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Clear »» Vis. 15 Miles »» Wind North East 5 Knots »» Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:20 AM

Sealions that seemed to be ‘fishing’ together,

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 9.5 ºC »» Min. 3.9 ºC »» Reset 6.8 ºC
MARINE LIFE: Watched a group of 5 or 6 Northern Sealions that seemed to be ‘fishing’ together, since most of the action took place under the water it is only conjecture but 4 good sized fish were brought to the surface within seconds. Other marine animals are known to work together to corral fish so it is not too surprising that sealions might as well. There are still fish balls but are small and short lived with fewer birds.
HUMAN INTERACTION: There were 14 Ecotour boats,1 research boat( the Drifter) 3 sail boats, 1 Dive Charter and 2 pleasurecraft in the MPA today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:03 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Part Cloudy »» Vis. 15 Miles »» Wind North East 7 Knots »» Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:47 AM

Blue Heron spent several hours fishing

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 8.9 ºC »» Min. 5.0 ºC »» Reset 7.7 ºC
MARINE LIFE: Still seeing numerous fish balls mostly in the tidelines outside the MPA boundries but the number of sea birds is down considerably from last week. There were 5 Harlequins in the little bay on the east side of Gr. Race also one Blue Heron spent several hours fishing in the eastern kelp bed then just before sunset flew off toward Bentinck Island. There are 5 California Sealions hauled out along the north shore of Gr. Race that have fresh looking wounds, mostly in the hind flipper area, my guess, evidence of encounters with the transient Orcas that have been in the area quite often lately. There are still about 600 Cormorants in the area, another indication that the food supply is still good.
HUMAN INTERACTION: Second Nature in with Angus, Scott over to work on the the cameras and computers. Station boat out to return Scott to campus and to Pedder Bay. There were 5 Ecotour boats, 1 pleasurecraft through today.posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:05 PM

Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Part Cloudy »» Vis. 15 Miles »» Wind North East 21 Knots »» Sea 3 Foot Moderate
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:25 AM

Sea lion population still down

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 9.5 ºC »» Min. 4.9 ºC »» Reset 7.9 ºC
MARINE LIFE: The population of Sealions is still down since the last series of blasts so it is fairly quiet,the animals hauled out by the winch house are quite nervous of any activity on or near the dock. With another series of blasts in the coming weeks they may just move away altogether. Saw only 5 small fish balls today and not many birds feeding, seem to have followed the food elsewhere for now. The geese were back, at least 6 of them.
HUMAN INTERACTION: The LGL observers arrived first thing this morning and left at 16:30 and as careful as they were the sealions closest to the dock took to the water.There were 8 Ecotour boats through today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:08 PM

Change in the weather

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 10.0 ºC »» Min. 7.1 ºC »» Reset 9.3 ºC »» Rain 0.4 mm
MARINE LIFE: Well what a change in the weather, was beginning to think we were going to miss out on the usual October Nor’easter! The breaking surf drove most of the seals and sea lions into the water and the bird population is down considerably.The temperature is really not that much different from yesterday but the wind is so cold. A lot of kelp was broken up in the 5 foot seas and has drifted away.We will soon be getting much of it back- tangled masses of driftwood and kelp on the dock- with the winter winds.
HUMAN INTERACTION: Believe it or not 5 Ecotour boats through today. Must have been quite a ride.Watched Naturally Salty ‘bounce’ through and did not envy them at all.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:22 PM

Birds feeding on the water

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 9.1 ºC »» Min. 7.0 ºC »» Reset 8.0 ºC »»Rain 0.8 mm
MARINE LIFE: Another day of birds coming and going, most of the feeding is taking place quite a distance outside the MPA boundries but still many birds setting down here on Gr. Race and surrounding rocks. Still too few Sea Lions for this time of year. Guess they are just too nervous to return, did hear that they have extremly good memories and are most likely avoiding the area because of the blasting.No sightings of the injured California Sea Lion.
HUMAN INTERACTION: There were 7 Ecotour boats and 4 pleasurecraft today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:31 PM

Counted over 500 Cormorants just on North Rocks

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 10.2 ºC »» Min. 7.0 ºC »» Reset 8.1 ºC
MARINE LIFE: Another good day for sea birds feeding, thousands of birds from Whirl Bay and as far as you can see to the east , every rock including Gr. Race ‘covered’ in birds. Counted over 500 Cormorants just on North Rocks and the rocks to the Southeast and most likely at least that many in the kelp beds. Not many Sea Lions have hauled out, only 15 along the north shoreline of Gr. Race, a group of 11 Northern are bunched together on the high point just east of the house but are very edgy.Most of the animals hauled out are on the middle rock.The injured California Sea Lion was gone at first light and we have not seen him all day. There were 7 geese today.There is no standing fresh water but they do enjoy the greens. A small group – 5 or 6 – Transient Orca were hunting in the entrance to Pedder Bay and took at least one seal. There were several pleasurecraft and 7 Ecotour boats watching the kill. After the boats left the Orca moved west along the shoreline quite slowly and at times rested on the surface for 5 minutes at a time. It took them a good hour to go from the east tip of Bentinck Island to Whirl Bay, I guess they continued west but did not see them again.
HUMAN INTERACTION: There was 1 dive charter in the West Race area, 13 Ecotour boats and 7 pleasurecraft through today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:59 PM