Entangled Steller (still)

Over the week I’ve been here I’ve seen the same entangled Steller every day, usually on the same side of the island. Since he had been sighted so regularly we made a plan with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Society (VAMMR) to make the trip from the mainland to disentangle him.

The head veterinarian at VAMMR is the only person here in BC that is trained and capable of darting a sea lion with a sedative in order to remove whatever it is entangled in.

There are so many factors that go into planning and executing these response efforts.

  • First: the animal has to be seen consistently over a few days in the same spot. Sea lions are mobile and keeping track of them isn’t always easy. There is nothing worse than showing up to help an animal only to find out it is no longer there.
  • Second: the VAMMR and DFO teams both have to be available with adequate vessels. Disentanglements can require teams to lean over the side of a boat to access the animal so rhibs are preferred and often necessary.
  • Third: the weather and tide have to be rather ideal conditions. If a sedated animal is in the water you can’t risk a fast moving tide or swell – that’s not safe for anyone. Wind and rain are not only factors that can make it difficult to dart the target animal but they also make it near impossible to fly a drone – an essential tool in these rescues.

Basically, all of these factors need to line up on the same day in order for a response to be planned. That day was today! Both teams available, no wind, good tides, animal seen all week…well until Sunday.

I did not see the sea lion Sunday or Monday despite my best efforts and requests for vessels in the area to keep an eye out. The animal being in the area is of course the most important aspect and without him there is no disentanglement to be done. The response was called off last night, teams standing down until he was re-sighted – a very reasonable decision.

HOWEVER…Guess who was perched on the rock next to the jetty this morning when I did my morning walk around? Yep, you guessed it, our big ol’ Steller with a packing strap tightly wrapped around his neck, and I’m not at all surprised. This is a frequent and very frustrating occurrence in the marine mammal field and had the team come out today I’m sure we wouldn’t have been able to find him. That’s just how it works sometimes. 

What now?

From here, we continue monitoring and planning. We all know we want to help him, so as the Ecoguardian I will continue to let both teams know each day that I see him. We will all work together to find another day where we can tick all the factor boxes and get out here to successfully remove the entanglement. It’ll happen!

For now – here is a video of a recent disentanglement done by VAMMR and DFO so you have a bit of an idea what goes into it.

Disentanglement Video

Other things from today:

Facility Work:

  • Oil and fuel filter change on the generator
  • Fuel transfer and filled generator with diesel
  • Chopped wood
  • Repaired electric fence
  • Topped up battery electrolytes

Vessels:

  • Ecotourism: 7
  • Private: 1

Weather:

  • Sky: Cloudy, intermittent rain
  • Wind: Low of 1 knot, high of 11 knots
  • Sea: Calm, ripple in the afternoon
  • Temperature: Low 8•C, High 17•C

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

Steller Pup!

As frustrating as it can be, I think I actually enjoy repairing the fence every morning. It’s become my morning routine – wake up, start a pot of coffee, take a lap outside and repair the damage, return inside to drink the aforementioned coffee.

The sea lions are entertaining. The Calis are alert at first but immediately lie back down even if I’m two feet away from them fixing the fence. However, the much larger Stellers bolt into the water the second they see me even if they are 100m and 300 Calis away from me. You’d think the larger, more intimidating species wouldn’t frighten so easily.

My lazy site supervisor

Speaking of Stellers – I came across a pup and its mom this afternoon next to the jetty. I witnessed nursing mother/pups when I was here in the spring but those pups were much larger. This pup appears to be from this year meaning he would have been born around June/July. Race Rocks is not a rookery so I’m interested to know where he was born! I’ve reached out to some contacts and will report back. Until then…enjoy his cute little face!

Vessels:

  • Ecotourism: 9
  • Private: 3

Weather:

  • Sky: Sun and clouds
  • Wind: None
  • Sea: Calm
  • Temperature: Low 8•C, High 17•C

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

Census Day! Humpbacks ..30!

It’s census day! 

This is my first time doing the census since June when we only had about 20 sea lions so this count required some focus.

Mammals:
California sea lions: 731
Steller sea lions: 422
Harbour seals: 72
Elephant seals: 2
Cetaceans: more humpback whales than I could keep track of! At least 30+

Birds:
Gulls: 579
Cormorants: 195
Canadian geese: 16
Turnstones: 12
Whimbrel: 1
Savannah sparrow: 1

Today was beautiful out, a perfect sunny Sunday!

Vessels:

  • Ecotourism: 10
  • Private: 13 + 2 jet skis

Weather:

  • Sky: Blue sky and sun
  • Wind: NONE
  • Sea: Glassy
  • Temperature: Low 9•C, High 18•C

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

Home Sweet Home!

Well, it’s been a few months…but I’m back!

I arrived early this afternoon, ready to tuck into another month of living it up on the rocks. The autumn shift from 25ish sea lions to over 1000 is overwhelming, as is the smell. That being said, I love it and I honestly wish there was 1000 more (ask me if I feel the same way at the end of the month).

Sea lions galore!

Another animal that has increased in number since I left is the humpbacks. I cannot look out to the horizon and not at least 10 of them, it is breathtaking.

As I reacclimatized and walked around the island I watched as large California sea lion barrelled his way through the electric fence, stripping the wood right off the post. He then became stuck on the inside of the fence looking very confused about his situation before he tumbled back over. Thus began my first task of this trip and what I anticipate to be a task I re do multiple times a day – repairing the fence.

In other animals news, I came across 2 entangled sea lions. They are both already known to DFO and the Marine Mammal Rescue teams. I believe the Cali is actually scarring from an old entanglement whereas the Steller is still very much active. I’ll be updating the teams to let them know he is still hanging around the area.

Steller sea lion with an active entanglement

California sea lion with entanglement scarring

I also came across a gull looking a little worse for wear with a fishing lure stuck in his beak. It was still very active so not an easy one to try and help. Poor guy!

Ouch!

Well, thats about it for me today, plenty more tomorrow I’m sure!

August 3 – Station Boat

The Race Rocks 14′ Boston Whaler boat has not been used in a while. After the elephant seals cleared the ramp for their post swim afternoon nap, I lowered the boat to the water with the electric winch. Once I made sure the motor was running properly, I took the boat out for a quick 20 minute ride, including idling to take photos and look in the binoculars. I had back up by VHF radio and cellphone in case anything went awry. Pearson’s boat Second Nature was in the area, taking alumni on tours around the Ecological Reserve. The station boat is running well. I look forward to more around the rocks tours over the coming weeks. I do need to troubleshoot the GPS/SONAR unit before I go out next. Oddly, it was working fine in the boathouse. Race Rocks would be boring if everything worked all the time.

The sea lion population continues to climb with 60 on Middle Rock and 13 on Great Race by the jetty. That is a big difference to yesterday afternoon when there were no barks or belches coming from the main island, just the occasional elephant seal bellow or sleep apnea snort.

Facility work:

  • Launch boat and take it out for a spin
  • Tidy boat house
  • Clean windows on ecoguardian’s house

Vessels:

  •  Ecotourism: 27
  •  Private: 5

Weather:

  • Sea: up to 2′ chop
  • Sky: Partly cloudy, fog (and foghorn) from 20:26 onwards
  • Wind: W 16-30 knots
  • Air temperature: low 11°C, high 13°C
  • Seawater temperature at max flood: 10.1°C

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

August 2

I will contact NOAA and DFO to report the resighting of the California sea lion with the tag 13-2. The orange tags mean the sea lion was rehabilitated. The tag on the left flipper means the sea lion is a male. I will update the log when I hear back about his history. The rest of the California and Steller sea lions are currently hauled out on Middle Rocks. Perhaps this guy needs a break from the frat party.

Facility work:

  • Clean solar panels
  • Check guest house for supplies and cleanliness

Vessels:

  •  Ecotourism: 12
  •  Private: 3

Weather:

  • Sea: rippled in morning, up to 3′ chop in afternoon/evening
  • Sky: Partly cloudy
  • Wind: variable light winds overnight; from 07:00-12:00 westerlies 8-20 knots; afternoon/evening westerlies 20-31 knots
  • Air temperature: low 12°C, high 21°C
  • Seawater temperature at max flood: 11.0°C

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

August 1 Census

Census Results:

Mammals:

  • Elephant seal: 2 (female and male)
  • Steller sea lion: 34
  • California sea lion: 11
  • Sea otter: 1
  • Harbour seal: 78

Birds:

  • Bald eagle: 1
  • Canada goose: 3
  • Cormorant: 33
  • Gull: 584
  • Black oystercatcher: 20
  • Pigeon guillemot: 131
  • Whimbrel: 1
  • Surfbird: 28
  • Black turnstone: 137
  • Song sparrow: 2
  • Least sandpiper: 1

Facility work:

  • Reacquaint myself with the standard operating procedures and various systems on the island
  • Check boat electronics, safety equipment, and winch
  • Clean solar panels
  • Sample seawater

Vessels:

  •  Ecotourism: 23
  •  Private: 5

Weather:

  • Sea: Rippled
  • Sky: Clear in morning, then partly cloudy
  • Wind: Variable light winds overnight until sunrise ~06:00, when wind switched to easterlies varying from 3-14 knots throughout the rest of the day
  • Daytime air temperature: low 13 C, high 24 C
  • Seawater temperature at max flood: 10.6 C

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

Farewell! (For Now)

Well, just like that it’s been 6 weeks and it’s time for me to return to the mainland. The wind is gusting 65km/hour right now, giving me one final storm before my departure. The animals are all hidden away, protecting themselves from the weather. All except the male elephant seal who is still harassing the gulls.

I thought I’d wrap up my final blog post with my favourite photos and moments from this trip. I hope you enjoy as much as I did!

Pinnipeds:

Cetaceans:

Ollie the Sea Otter: 

Birds:

Northern Lights:

Sunsets:

That’s all from me for now, but I’ll be back! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

A Steller Saturday

Today was a relatively calm Saturday (aside from the wind). The website that we use to check solar/batteries has been offline since yesterday so I’ve been working on trying to fix that. Thankfully the panel in the generator building has been working as it should so I can still check on things, I’m sure getting my steps in with lots of trips over there!

One of the tiniest Steller sea lions thats been hanging around the island decided to haul out on the end of the jetty today. I managed to get a couple photos of him before he took off. I find that the Stellers are very skiddish, which is often helpful when I need to remove them from the jetty.

I’ve included a few photos below to show the size difference in the young Steller versus a full grown male Steller.

Facility Work:

  • Inside house cleaning
  • Chopped wood

Ecotourism Boats: 4

Weather:

  • Sky: Cloudy, sun and clouds in afternoon
  • Wind: Low of 13 knots, High of 19 knots
  • Sea: Small whitecaps
  • Temperature: Low 7•C, High  13•C

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

Sunday Update

This morning’s sunrise made up for yesterday’s gloom. All 3 elephant seals are still on the island. I’ve nicknamed the smaller female “Petal” because every time I find her she is squashing a different bed of flowers. Tonight she settled on the largest patch of grape hyacinth behind the house, but not before flattening the majority of the remaining daffodils. 

The darker of the new sea otters spent the morning around the South Island snacking on bright red urchins. It amazes me how they can make their way through the sharp spines and remain completely un-phased. I have not seen the little blonde one or Ollie this week. 

This afternoon I counted 26 California sea lions on the rocks near the jetty. I know this number may seem low for anyone whose here at busier times of the year but until today the most I’ve seen is 10! There was also one large Steller who snuggled himself in amongst the significantly smaller California boys. 

Lots of eagles around lately too!

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