Tag Archives: sealion

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.

New Desalinator and New Adult Female Elephant Seal

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Wind: 1-44 knots from NE yesterday to W this evening as the wind increased
Sea State: up to 3 m waves breaking on west side of the island
Visibility: 5-10 NM
Sky: overcast with rain and a few sunny patches today
Temperature: 6-11 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 413.70 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

It was a flurry of activity on the island yesterday. A big change from having no human visitors for a week and a half. Greg brought seven other people on the boat Second Nature. Three volunteers from the college (Lawrence, Sandra and Vincent) came to help with some maintenance and clean up tasks. John and Mike, from Pacific Coast Fire Equipment, were here to do the yearly inspection of the fire extinguishers. Warren and Ric spent almost six hours doing the electrical and plumbing hook ups and tests of the new desalinator. The desalinator room is very cramped quarters with thick concrete walls and only a six foot high ceiling inside. As Race Rocks legend goes, the building was originally constructed as a fallout shelter for Cold War fears of nuclear attack. It apparently contained emergency supplies and two bunks for the lighthouse keeper and assistant keeper. There was no space for their families. In 1975, the building was converted to a water filtration plant.

The non-human activity was busy too, with the arrival of a new adult female elephant seal. She showed up soon after the boat, staying on the boat ramp for a while before coming up to the middle of the island. The alpha male chased her around, they barked a lot, then she settled in the grassy area between the desalinator shed and the flagpole, where she still is this evening. Now there are two suspected pregnant seals hanging out in the centre of the island near the mother, pup and alpha male. The two other males appear to be keeping their distance. One is near the jetty. The other is behind the house by the compost bins.

The desalinator is running well after a total of nine hours of use. This evening, I was delighted to see that it had pumped 600 L of fresh water into the tank. Combined with the 500 L from yesterday, the desalinator has produced more fresh water than has been used since my shift began on December 21. At this rate, the 4,500 L fresh water tank should be filled up in about a week. At that point, the desalinator will be run regularly, but for shorter amounts of time. It’s an energy intensive way to produce water which consists of a reverse osmosis system and secondary UV filter. The temporary method of getting fresh water while the desalinator was out of commission was also very energy intensive. It consisted of filling up a 1,000 fresh water tank at the college, boating it to the island, and pumping it up to the tank from the boat. The water usage is planned to increase a little bit in the near future, due to some much needed pressure washing of the exteriors of the buildings, to prevent them from being overtaken by algae.

See the photos below for some recent views on the island.

Festivus

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Wind: 5-19 knots NE
Sea State: up to 1 m chop
Visibility: 15+ NM
Sky: 50% cloud cover with sunny patches throughout the days
Temperature: between 6 and 8 C
Atmospheric CO2: 411.99 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

It has been mostly quiet on the rock for the past two days, with the exception of the sea lions barking nonstop. It’s a mystery to me what they carry on about all night. Although, I will take that any night over the fog horn or the urban noises that are too far away for me to hear. The only visitors to the reserve were a few eco tour boats that lingered offshore in the late afternoons.

I had to quickly jump into action this morning, when I realized power had gone out just before I got out of bed. I ran the generator for several hours to make sure the batteries were fully charged. The solar panels helped a bit today, soaking up 3.7kWh of energy, which is a couple hours worth of the energy used on the island. There is lots of learning about off grid living.

Yesterday one of the juvenile males elephant seals left, bringing the population of elephant seals on the island from six to five.

A parcel of about 20 oystercatchers have been hanging out on the south side of the island. They mostly huddle on one leg with their beaks tucked into a wing.

The northeast winds have delivered presents in the form of free firewood to heat the ecoguardian’s house. Through some clumsy use of a pike pole and the tolerance of a nearby resting elephant seal, I managed to land a 6.5 metre log and drag it up the jetty ramp. I also gathered lots of smaller pieces. The wood will be left out in the rain for a while to wash off the salt, then chopped up into manageable pieces, and eventually put away to dry for next winter.

December so far

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Weather: 

  • Sky: Overcast
  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 5-15 knots NE
  • Water: Choppy under a metre

Boats/Visitors: 

  • Not many boats going by lately, there have been a couple tour boats here and there

Ecological

  • The sea lion numbers seem to have stayed pretty steady since I last counted a few days ago, the winter has been pretty mild so far so maybe thats why the sea lions seem like they don’t want to leave
  • There are 3 elephant seals still, 2 big guys and the young female. They boys have left the female and each other pretty much alone since they got here
  • There are still quite a few eagles hanging around they like to chase the seagulls around

Barred Owl Sighting

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Weather: 

  • Sky: Overcast, a bit of sun midday
  • Visibility: 10-15+ miles
  • Wind: 5-20 knots NE
  • Water: swells less than a metre

Boats/Visitors: 

    • A few boats cruising by today, mostly tour boats
    • Greg came by today with a group of visitors

Ecological

  • I saw a barred owl last night around 7pm when I went to turn off the generator but it was too dark to get a photo, here is a link to our taxonomy page on the barred owl and the last time it was sighted in November 2010,
  • There was also a greater yellow legs running around which flew off before I get a photo of it
  • The elephant seal has been hanging out around the jetty for a few days but took off yesterday and I don’t expect to see her returning anytime soon
  • plenty of sea lions around and I’m having a difficult time keeping them away from the lighthouse, they come back as soon as I am out of their line of sight, would like to extend the fence to protect the burial cairns and lighthouse but we just don’t have all the material we need, we’ll see about that next season though

Branded Sea Lions

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Weather: 

  • Sky: Overcast
  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 5-15 knots NE
  • Water: calm

Boats/Visitors: 

    • A few boats cruising by today, mostly pleasure crafts and a couple tour boats and even a couple sailboats
    • No visitors today but yesterday Greg came by with a couple guests and also help with some decluttering moving fuel around and firewood, now that its getting a bit colder out I will be using the fireplace a lot more
    • There is a particular dive boat that has been coming around almost daily with divers who are getting pretty close to the animals

Ecological

  • there are quite a few of branded sea lions around, I have photos of a few of them but I could not clearly make out a couple of them but managed to get some clear shots
  • the young elephant seal is still here which is unusual but I expect her to be on her way soon
  • we also have a stellar who appears to have something around his neck
  • and a few adorable young stellers on the rock in front of the crane

Student Visit

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Weather: 

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Sky: overcast
  • Wind: 15-20 kn NW
  • Water: Little choppy under 1 foot

Visitors/Boats: 

  • The past few days we have seen more pleasure crafts than tour boats and these pleasure crafts get way too close and I can never find them on the radio because it is very hard to know which channel they are on
  • A group students stayed Saturday night to film around the island looking at ecological impacts which around here are mostly due to sea lions trampling all the green and turning it into mud

Ecological

  • The little steller is still around, haven’t noticed any new injuries on any of the sea lions
  • the sea lion that was by the jetty before that seemed lethargic and didn’t really respond to people left for 2 maybe 3 days and is now back in the same spot and it is much more energetic and responsive than before
  • the number of sea lions seems to have gone up from the last census by about 100, will post more numbers below
  • I have been consistently seeing about two humpback whales per day

Maintenance

  • The fence now only needs typically one minor repair per day, the sea lions are getting used to staying away from it
  • I still need to stay on top of clearing them away from certain areas, they seem to not crowd the entrance to the generator room anymore or the burial cairns as much, but they have taken a strong liking to the grass around the lighthouse

Census

  • Sea Lions – 600, most of them are californias
  • Harbour Seals – 30
  • Gulls – 40
  • Canada Geese – 24
  • Fox Sparrow – 3
  • Turnstones – 30
  • Cormorants – 50
  • Sea Otter – 1
  • Humpback Whales – about 2 per day

Sea Lion Rescued from Plastic Entanglement

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A team comprised of the DFO and Vancouver Aquariums Marine Mammal Rescue (MMR) came out to Race Rocks on September 16th to help the entangled sea lions we’ve spotted over the last few weeks. Leaving from Pedder Bay at 0900, they arrived in two RHIBs at the reserve shortly after. After observing the struggling animals over the last while and communicating information with MMR, they were a welcomed sight.

Right away we spotted three possibly entangled sea lions from the lighthouse (unfortunately none of these three being the animals we photographed previously). We then landed the team of vet techs and veterinarian Marty at the jetty to assess the situation. It was decided that one of the sea lions resting by the water between the guest house and the helicopter pad was our best rescue candidate.

Marty and a videographer from Vancouver Aquarium approached over the helicopter pad from the direction of ‘Camera 5’. They got into position and a shot was taken, but the tranquilizer dart bounced and the sea lion fled into the water.

From the lighthouse we were able to follow its movements and keep the team apprised by radio. There was uncertainty about whether or not it received a partial dose of the tranquilizer as it floated in strange positions/patterns. Moving around Race Rocks to the water beside the solar panel/generator building, it hauled out again and another shot at it was lined up from one of the boats. The angle wasn’t quite right, and it again fled into the ocean and couldn’t be spotted. It was around 1400, and everyone took a break to have some food.

After this, everyone considered calling it off as it was getting late and we couldn’t locate the animal. At the last moment, with both boats ready to head back to Pedder Bay, it was spotted from the lighthouse (resting on the rock mound on the NW point of Great Race Rock)! Tranquilizing was attempted from water, but the dart bounced again and landed in the water and was recovered. Here’s a short video of that:


After that, it ended up too far from the water to try another shot by boat, so in a final effort the one boat landed Marty and the team again while the other stayed on the water to support. With no cover available between him and the animal, Marty had no choice but to crawl about one hundred feet in order to take the shot.

We were able to capture the following footage of the sea lion being darted, going into the water, and then after a tense 20 minutes during which a pod of transient orcas appeared in the reserve (who sometimes eat sea lions), it was found! The team proceeded to cradle the animal between their vessels and remove the plastic band. Then, they injected a reversal drug to reverse the tranquilizer before letting it go.

Everyone was relieved to have successfully helped an animal in need. We have suggested that future disentanglement efforts might have a better chance if extended to overnight stays in the guest house, and perhaps coordinated and executed in a more timely manner in relation to the animal sighting(s). This time we were unable to find the original animals that we had previously spotted, since it took quite a while to organize the rescue attempt. A big thank you to everyone who came to help this sea lion and teach us about their work!

Check out rescue.ocean.org to learn more about the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue program, and Ocean Wise.

Thanks to the rescue team, one more sea lion has a better chance of survival! (vet Marty holding the dart gun and dart used to tranquilize the sea lion)

 

See media coverage: https://www.bclocalnews.com/news/plastic-band-removed-from-neck-of-greater-victoria-sea-lion-2/