Tag Archives: sealion

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

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

Sealions still scared off by DND blasting

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 8.0 ºC »» Min. 4.9 ºC »» Reset 7.1 ºC
MARINE LIFE: Still large numbers of sea birds but the fish balls are fewer and less frequent. Did see a Harbour seal catch a fairly large salmon along the dock on the west side. The activity attracted a hundred or more gulls,some we lucky and flew off with nice pink chunks of fish. The seal made short work of the salmon then hauled out on one of the flat rocks to rest and digest it’s meal.The number of Sea lions hauled out is down dramatically although the conditions are very good, lots of food and calm weather. The one major problem is the effect of the blasting.These animals were getting used to the boat and people traffic but are now very stressed and spook very easily. So much for referring to this MPA as a wildlife refuge where the animals can expect to hunt, feed, communicate, socialize, rest etc. without disturbanceand interference.
HUMAN INTERACTION: There were 6 Ecotour boats and 4 pleasurecraft. The station boat made a trip to Pedder Bay and back
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:34 PM

DND blasting today

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-2002-10-24′, ’23:34:55′, ‘MARINE LIFE: -Reported by Garry Fletcher) I had the opportunity to be at Race Rocks twice today. On first arriving at 11:45 AM it was obvious that the DND had been conducting their explosions on Bentick island. We have gotten used to the sealions building up their numbers over the past few weeks. The main island to the East of the House , and the whole northeast front have been covered with animals throughout the daytime. The major concentration however has been on the middle island, which if you have been checking on camera 1 these days has been covered with a mass of bodies. By 11:45 today most of these areas were bare.. only a few brave individuals had crawled back up on the rocks we will see tomorrow how many have returned, but if it follows the patterns of other years, their numbers will start to taper off if the harassment continues. This year the DND has decided to check out our allegations of harassment of these marine mammals. A contract has been let to the consultants of LGL to survey the effect of disturbances, so they have had observers in the tower on the two occasions of blasting this fall. Today the result was obvious. The irony does not escape one that this is an ecological reserve, an MPA and even that does not protect marine mammals in Canada.. For a video of the effect of a blast on the behaviours of the birds and mammals at Race Rocks, go to one I recorded on October 7 – its in the marine mammals archive at: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/archives/viddndblast.htm‘,

‘Garry’, ’22:45:01 ,

LGL does contract for DND on Blasting

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 7.9 ºC »» Min. 5.0 ºC »» Reset 6.7 ºC »» Rain 0.8 mm
MARINE LIFE: The California Sea Lion with the injured hind flippers is still hauled out on the dock and keeps to it’s self. The poor animal is most likely in pain- looks quite thin, probably not able to manouever too well to catch it’s food.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 6 Ecotour boats, LGL observers boat. The Second Nature made two trips, one about noon With Garry and his class then again with Garry, Scott and Don to work on Camera # 2 system.

MARINE LIFE: (Reported by Garry Fletcher) I had the opportunity to be at Race Rocks twice today. On first arriving at 11:45 AM it was obvious that the DND had been conducting their explosions on Bentick island. We have gotten used to the sealions building up their numbers over the past few weeks. The main island to the East of the House , and the whole northeast front have been covered with animals throughout the daytime. The major concentration however has been on the middle island, which if you have been checking on camera 1 these days has been covered with a mass of bodies. By 11:45 today most of these areas were bare.. only a few brave individuals had crawled back up on the rocks we will see tomorrow how many have returned, but if it follows the patterns of other years, their numbers will start to taper off if the harassment continues. This year the DND has decided to check out our allegations of harassment of these endangered species — yes that is the category the Northern Sea Lions now occupy in Canada. A contract has been let to the consultants of LGL to survey the effect of disturbances, so they have had observers in the tower on the two occasions of blasting this fall. Today the result was obvious. The irony does not escape one that this is an ecological reserve, an MPA and even that does not protect endangered species in Canada.. For a video of the effect of a blast on the behaviours of the birds and mammals at Race Rocks, go to one I recorded on October 7 – its in the marine mammals archive at: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/archives/viddndblast.htm
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:12 PM

Injured Northern Sealion

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 12.7 ºC »» Min. 7.7 ºC »» Reset 9.9 ºC »» Rain 0.4 mm

MARINE LIFE: There is a Northern Sea Lion on the middle rock with a large raw looking wound on it’s back. Have not seen the goose that appeared to have a damaged wing, must have flown back to the mainland. Only a 3 degree drop in the temperature but the air is damp and feels much more like fall. The Sea lions are very quiet today, not as many birds today either. Did hear at least 2 Black Oyster Catchers vocalizing several times around 2 a.m. last night, I wonder what they are up to in the dark.
HUMAN INTERACTION:There were 8 Ecotour boats and 5 pleasurecraft through today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:16 PM

Boats and Planes disturb the marine life.

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 15.7 ºC »» Min. 8.8 ºC »» Reset 12.1 ºC
MARINE LIFE: Still quite a few birds in the area feeding, counted over 130 Cormorants, most of them on North Rks. and the rocks to the southeast.The ones on North Rks. were scared several times by boats going by but the sea lions for the most part were undisturbed.One boat that comes into the reserve about once a week, a Lifetimer 14K 38596 did approach too close and 5 or 6 Sea Lions took to the water, many others were alerted and moved towards the water but as the boat moved back they settled back down.At about 11:45 an Ultralight made several passes over Gr. Race at times too low, scaring some sea lions into the water and most of the birds took flight. The aircraft was black with orange and yellow trim-C-1FQC
HUMAN INTERACTION: The observers from LGL spent the day in the tower and departed just after 17:00. There were 11 Ecotour boats, 6 pleasurecraft and the 1 research boat (Lifetimer) in the reserve today.  Hyaku (Chris) over from campus to return the station boat-repairs completed.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:14 PM

Orca sighted

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 14.1 ºC »» Min. 8.5 ºC »» Reset 11.8 ºC
MARINE LIFE: There are thousands of sea birds busy feeding in the many fish balls, a few inside the MPA but most of the action in about 1/2 to 1 mile past the boundaries. Many of the birds come into the reserve to rest ashore and in the kelp so there is a constant flow of birds back and forth. A small group of Orca were sighted southeast of Gr. Race travelling westsouthwest.1 Canada goose came ashore up over the rocks by the winch house causing a stampeed of sea lions. The gulls and other birds move among the sea lions all the time but for some reason, the goose rising up out of the water waving it’s neck and moving towards them was somewhat of a threat.The goose seems to have an injured left wing and moved into a protected area among some large boulders and except to pop it’s heard up every once in a while for a look around has stayed put all day. Cannot get close to the goose to assess it’s condition as any movement would disturb the 60 or so sea lions hauled out all along the shore.
HUMAN INTERACTION: There were 11 Eco tour boats and 7 pleasure craft through the reserve today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:25 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Clear »» Vis. 15 Miles »» Wind East 11 Knots »» Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:07 AM