Vocalization of mother and pup are essential shortly after the birth of an elephant seal to establish a bond and for recognition of each other if separated in the pupping colony. The first video was taken on the afternoon of January 14, day 1 the pup can be seen looking for food, but she had not started to nurse yet., The second video was taken on the evening of January 14, 2014 the day the elephant seal was born at Race Rocks.
Videos by the Ecoguardian, Alex Fletcher.
Wind has varied between W and NE less than 20 NMPH over the past few days. We have had some patches of fog during the week and partly clear skies today and yesterday.
On the 15th a group of 20 kayakers passed through the reserve on the East side heading West. They passed on both sides of East rock and caused one of the largest sea lion disturbances I have seen here, several hundred sealions scrambled into the water. I was able to talk to one of the kayakers as they passed by the south side and told him that they are not allowed to cause this kind of disturbance to marine mammals at race rocks. Though I love kayaking and prefer kayaks to motorized vessels, kayakers need to realize that because they are so nice and silent they can also easily surprise wildlife. Once startled sealions stampede and can easily trample younger sealions or injure themselves rushing over the jagged rocks.
1 dive boat in the reserve today, 1 eco tour in the afternoon, 1 sports fishing boat in the morning which traveled too close to sealions on the East rocks. I called Pedder Bay Marina and gave them the ID number and a description and asked them to talk to the operator about regulations at Race Rocks (thanks Pedder Bay Marina!).
The elephant seal pup seems to be in good shape and is drinking milk regularly. Chunk seems fairly well behaved, a few times a day he we will arise from his slumber and chase after Bertha. Sometimes it seems he is trying to separate her from the pup and restrain her. I have seen him with his mouth around the pup’s head as well as with the pup partly underneath him though on all occasions I have observed he has clearly not harmed the pup when he easily could have. Chunk went off the island last night, I assume to middle rock and was back in the morning. There are two elephant seals on middle rock, both fairly large, one possibly a young male. I have been hearing what sounds like a male’s call coming from middle rock today. There were also two smaller scruffy, moulting female elephant seals in the shoreline of the main island today one tagged green 7502 the other tagged pink N93_ the last number is not visible. That brings the current e-seal population to 7.
Past week maintenance:
-cleaned solar panels daily
-flushed media filter on desal
-changed pre-filters on desal
-troubleshooting cam 5 with help from Jonathan, replaced POE unit. took measurements to replace leaky cable housing at base of cam stand
-ran desal x2
-ran fire pump
-replaced leaky hydraulic line on crane, pressure tested line
-cut, chopped, stacked fire wood
-replaced fire extinguishers which had been sent in for annual servicing
-brought temporary fire extinguishers off island for servicing
-troubleshooting of failed internet system with help from Jonathan
-swapped out 1 propane tank on main house
Visitors this week:
-on the 15th Erik came with a guest to drop off supplies
-on the 16th Erik brought Jonathan out to replace switch in the tower as well as the Marine sciences class for a field trip (12 students and Ann)
Overcast with intermittent showers. Calm seas with a low westerly swell building in the evening.
tour boats: 5
Elephant seal 6360 has returned after being gone for a couple weeks.
#6360
#6360
-Installed shut off from student house to solar panels
-Fixed leak in hose valve at SW corner of energy building
-Fixed leaky hose nozzle and valve on solar panel roof
-Fixed and reaplced all broken and missing hose attachments that could be found
-Worked on the RR operating manual
Environment Canada had a gale forcasted for today, but it only got up to 25 kts. Tomorrow is supposed to get a bit more serious. The rain really started around 1600 hrs. Almost 20 mm of rain today.
Very few boats out today, which is reasonable, considering the weather and the forecast.
The coast guard cruised through the channel this morning.
Took the flag down in expectation of some foul weather tonight.
-ran the desalinator
-used the rain to scrub the solar panels
-swept/mopped some pathways
Elephant seal snoozing, #6375 in the background
Another female elephant seal, significantly larger than the tagged #6375, has visited twice this week. It is not tagged. The tagged female has also stayed around. Yesterday, she was resting in the shallow water and blocking the boat ramp as I was returning from the mainland in the Whaler. I left the boat tied up so not to disturb the seal and returned in an hour. The seal had moved to a very crowded area that many of the sea lions use as their water entrance/exit and was snapping and chasing the sea lions. I assume this was playful behaviour although the elephant seal was quite aggressive.
This first image shows the seal waiting at the surface.
Then the seal approaches the sea lions on its back, provoking them.
And with a splash, the chase ensues!
A new project on-the-go is a daily count of the number of fishing boats. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans are wanting to monitor the impact of sport fishing in the area. We survey an area from Beechey Head to Albert Head. On some days, there more than 100 sport fishermen in the area.
The tagged female has returned, but on the opposite side of the island. Her number is 6375, which means she’s been returning to the island since 2011 or earlier. Pictured below, she is dosing on the south side of the island.
Female seal, August 15
We have had very low winds in the last few days. Even though summer months typically have less wind, it is very rare to see 0.00 knots as the wind metre read yesterday. We also had our first rain of the summer.
We have the following tagged elephant seals on the island currently:
Mike Robinson sent these images of tagged elephant seals on May 22/13
Observation of tagged elephant seal May 12 , 2013.
The last few days have seen many extremes in weather, from 50 knot Westerlies with hail to gorgeous, clear, sunny and warm afternoons. I enjoy watching the squall fronts marching up the Juan de Fuca Strait, passing over me, and then moving on to affect Victoria.
We were visited by a red-tailed hawk a few days ago. I didn’t observe it preying upon anything; the gulls are a bit too big for it to take on I think….
There are about 15 Elephant Seals in the reserve at this time, mostly juveniles. 3 of them are using Great Race as their haul-out while the others are on Middle Rock and can be observed using the live webcams: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/video1.htm
