Tag Archives: steller

Friday Update

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The Steller sea lions have taken over the rocks to the right of the jetty which has resulted in the California sea lions inconveniently taking over the jetty and spilling over into the rocks on the left. Usually a calm and careful walk down the jetty clears them off but by the time I get back to the shed they are already back. Some seem to learn quicker than others or are more fearful of humans so those ones find themselves a new spot right away. However there are always a few stragglers that don’t seem to care in the slightest which results in me taking many trips down to the end of the jetty and back.

When I’m here I try to do everything in my power to not disrupt the animals, however it’s important to keep the jetty clear for when our boat arrives as well as for emergencies. It can also be dangerous at a very low tide if there are sea lions on the jetty and something spooks them. It’s a long drop into very shallow or no water and when something sets them off they seem to react first, think later. So really, a clear jetty is for both human and animal safety. Thankfully there are plenty of other areas for them to snooze and sunbathe and eventually they get tired of seeing me on the jetty and find themselves a safer place to relax.

Ollie spent his day in the kelp beds behind the student house again, grooming and sleeping before moving onto the rocks to settle onto a not so comfy looking bed of mussels.

The same 4 female elephant seals are still here. Elephant seals go through something called a catastrophic moult each year where they shed their fur as well as their top layer of skin. It’s quite common to see these guys looking pretty rough but all 4 of the ones that are currently here appear to be in good condition.

Facility Work:

  • Topped up battery electrolytes
  • Started filling the cistern, it is very low so I plan to run the pump tomorrow too

Vessel Traffic:
– 1 ecotourism vessel
– 2 cruise ships on the horizon and multiple freighters/tankers

Visitors:
– Cedric to help me fill the cistern and with a few other tasks around the site

Weather:
Sky: Sun and clouds
Wind: High of 10 knots, Low of 6 knots
Sea: Calm
Temperature: Low 7, High  13oC

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

Beautiful Day

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Weather: 

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Sky: Sunny
  • Wind: 5-10 kn NW
  • Water: Flat

Visitors/Boats: 

  • More boat traffic on the nice days and there was also a dive boat with a couple divers on the east side of the island, it looked recreational

Ecological

  • The little steller is still around and adorable
  • seems like even more sea lions today but that might be  because they are so concentrated around the helipad and the jetty but at least they are away from the burial cairns and the generator room/lighthouse

Maintenance

  • Fuel and water have been delivered recently and hopefully in the next week we get more decluttering done around the island and start bucking up some more firewood so we have enough to last the year since driftwood does take months to dry out enough to be usable

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

Barn Swallows

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-15 SW
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Flat

Boats/Visitors

  • had a little tour from the college come by this morning
  • the day before there were a couple of people from UVIC setting up equipment to monitor earthquake activity

Maintenance

  • The blue water tank at the side of the house is being cleaned out and filled at the college and will be transported here to fill up our freshwater tank until we get a new desalinator put in place

Ecological

  • Maybe 15 stellers and 30 Californias around, the numbers have gone down
  • two adorable little barn swallows have been hanging around the house
  • 11 elephants, the numbers will be dropping soon as everyone has finished molting and will need to go hunting soon
  • a couple of hundred pigeon guillemots around today
  • about 8 oystercatchers who should be setting up their nests soon
  • still around 16 geese and at least 14 goslings, three nests hatched
  • a few hundred seagulls buildings their nests
  • the cormorants and harbour seals are sticking to the outer rocks
  • two bald eagles out on north rock today

Other

  • was stuck in a fog bank yesterday and it has been very cloudy today so I will run the generator a bit
  • I leave on Tuesday and our new eco-guardians Mara and Kai will be taking over for the summer

Barn Swallows on the deck railing

Pup adoption and census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-15 NE
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Small waves

Boats/Visitors

  • No visitors today, have been hearing the coast guard cruise by at night and do flare training

Maintenance

  • The desal was finally running last night although it was a slow process I got some fresh water out of it

Ecological

  • The male pups mother left the other night, it was nice to see the pups interacting yesterday but today they are more separated because the male pup has started nursing off the mother who lost her pup
  • One of the elephant seals managed to totally knock down the little green shed by the generator room, which is too heavy for me to put back together alone
  • definitely less sea lions now, but there is a lot of cormorants

Census

  • California Sea Lions – 114
  • Steller Sea Lions – 42
  • Harbour Seal – 21
  • Elephant Seal – 3 male, 1 female plus 2 pups, 1 female, 1 male
  • Cormorants – 528
  • Gulls – 130
  • Black Turnstones – 34
  • Eagle – 16
  • Oyster Catchers – 8
  • Harlequin Ducks – 10
  • Geese – 21

Last post until the new year

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I am heading out tomorrow for winter break but both Jeff and Alex will be here.

Thought I would do one last count before I head out for a couple weeks, there seemed to be more Steller Sea Lions around today

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: From 0 – 15 NW but its supposed to blow pretty hard tomorrow
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Pretty calm, can see some decently sized rollers out there

Boats/Visitors

  • A few ecotours going by today, it was relatively calm out

Maintenance

  • Getting the house ready for the next person, trying to fill up the fresh water tank as much as I can before I go as well

Ecological

  • Decided to do another count, seems to be the same amount of Californias but a few more stellers out there today
  • Another large male elephant seal showed up, the scars on his back resemble chunk which makes wonder if the one that has been here the past couple days is Bernard or Boss, will need more photos to compare
  • There are currently 3 female elephant seals, one of them is tagged, C887
  • a few surf scoters out there today
  • Noticed a neck banded sea lion on the jetty today, will let the next person know to keep an eye on him, if he sticks around maybe we can get some help for him

Census

  • California Sea Lions – 216
  • Steller Sea Lions – 265
  • Harbour Seal – 18
  • Elephant Seal – 5 male, 3 female
  • Cormorants – 120
  • Gulls – 224
  • Canada Geese – 18
  • Black Turnstones – 28
  • Eagle – 6
  • Raven – 1
  • Oyster Catchers – 8
  • Surf Scoter – 4

Census, eagles, storms and elephants

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Final exams are over so I will be posting more until I am out for winter break December 20th to January 3rd

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: From 0 – 40 SE over the last few days
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: from calm to huge waves during that last storm

Boats/Visitors

  • Not a lot of visitors lately
  • There were a couple of sailboats yesterday and a few ecotours, but not many

Maintenance

  • Running the generator more lately as is there is less sunlight
  • Still haven’t been able to pressure wash but the parts should be in when I get back from break and I can try to make the buildings white again

Ecological

  • Fewer sea lions than last week
  • Chunk is still the alpha but there are 3 other males on the island of varying sizes smaller than Chunk
  • There is currently 1 female elephant seal
  • a few green wing teal ducks took shelter here when it was storming
  • have spotted a neck banded sea lion, but no way to tell if he will still be here by the time I can people out here to help him

Census

  • California Sea Lions – 213
  • Steller Sea Lions – 192
  • Harbour Seal – 35
  • Elephant Seal – 4 male, 1 female
  • Cormorants – 207
  • Gulls – 233
  • Fox Sparrows – 12
  • Canada Geese – 21
  • Black Turnstones – 38
  • Eagle – 8
  • Raven – 1
  • Snow Bunting – 1
  • Oyster Catchers – 12
  • Harlequin Ducks – 10
  • Green Wing Teal – 6

A little busy lately

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 15-25 NE
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Choppy under a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • Not a lot of visitors lately, the ecotours are still going by but not as frequently
  • I did have to leave for a few nights so that is why the posts have been lacking a bit lately, I had to go into town to do my final exams

Maintenance

  • Running the generator more lately as is there is less sunlight

Ecological

  • Fewer sea lions than last week
  • Chunk, as he was identified by the scars on his back, is the current alpha and there is one more male who is much smaller
  • No female elephant seals yet
  • 34 Geese, I have never seen that many here before
  • in one of the photos, you will see a pretty young steller too
  • haven’t seen any neckbanded sea lions lately, too bad we weren’t able to help them before they left

Census

  • California Sea Lions – 273
  • Steller Sea Lions – 291
  • Harbour Seal – 25
  • Elephant Seal – 2 male
  • Cormorants – 140
  • Gulls – 233
  • Fox Sparrows – 12
  • Canada Geese – 34
  • Black Turnstones – 41
  • Eagle – 6
  • Raven – 1
  • Snow Bunting – 1
  • Oyster Catchers – 12
  • Harlequin Ducks – 10

Census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 10-20 NW
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Choppy under a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • Not a lot of visitors lately, the ecotours are still going by but not as frequently

Maintenance

  • Running the generator more lately as is there is less sunlight

Ecological

  • Slightly less sea lions than last week
  • 1 large male elephant seal, I’m hoping its the same one as last year because that one was very protective over the pups, and 1 much smaller male, no females that I can see but there have been a couple small ones coming and going
  • The large male does seem to have a gash in his back and many scars as well
  • haven’t really seen any neck banded sea lions lately, they might have left by now but I’m still keeping an eye out for them

Census

  • California Sea Lions – 431
  • Stellar Sea Lions – 356
  • Harbour Seal – 38
  • Elephant Seal – 2 male
  • Cormorants – 140
  • Gulls – 360
  • Fox Sparrows – 12
  • Canada Geese – 18
  • Black Turnstones – 33
  • Eagle – 4
  • Raven – 1
  • Snow Bunting – 1
  • Oyster Catchers – 12
  • Harlequin Ducks – 8

Census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 10-20 NW
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Choppy under a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • Not a lot of visitors lately, the ecotours are still going by but not as frequently

Maintenance

  • Still working on pressure washing the buildings and walkways, takes a lot of water to get the buildings white again so I’m waiting on the desalinator fixes

Ecological

  • Slightly less sea lions than last week
  • one small female elephant seal and I think there is a big guy on one of the outer rocks

Census

  • California Sea Lions – 582
  • Stellar Sea Lions – 501
  • Harbour Seal – 56
  • Elephant Seal – 1 female and 1 male
  • Cormorants – 364
  • Gulls – 313
  • Fox Sparrows – 14
  • Canada Geese – 19
  • Black Turnstones – 22
  • Eagle – 2
  • Oyster Catchers – 8
  • Raven – 1

Got to the top of the tower before I realized no sd card in the camera, so I just counted them up there, so no photos this post

Also there is a chance DFO is coming by soon to help untangle the neck banded sea lions