This female elephant seal showed up on the ramp on Jan 23rd with pink tag N472. I dont recall seeing her here before. She wasnt very comfortable with people and left when we took a sea water sample. She showed up again in the rocky bay on the south side of the island and stayed there for a few days before leaving again, havent seen her since so we are back to 0 females visible in the reserve.
There have been two tagged elephant seals on the main island over the past days, green tags 6397 and 6375. Misery has been on the main island, younger male on west rock. There continue to be a total of around 15 elephant seals in the reserve.
The yearling in the two photos on the left looks like she could be the one that was born here in January (named Squall) but it is hard to tell for sure.
green tag 6375
A few days ago we had two unusual visitors to our waters. Two Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) spent several days on Great Race and North Rocks. Brown Pelicans, though the smalles of pelicans, are enormous birds weighing up to 6 kilos and measuring up to 135 cms with a wingspan of up to 2.5 meters.
A visitor from warmer climes….
Northern vacation to Race Rocks….
We have had two other unusual visitors in the last week. I discovered a Barred Owl in the boathouse attacking a Starling (another recent arrival), and Pam our avid photographer friend from England got several pictures of Peregrine Falcons that came through hunting sparrows and starlings. Pam’s pictures can be seen at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/
Another tagged e-seal showed up in the boathouse yesterday.
Might as well hang out somewhere cozy…
Tagged 7225
Animal Census Nov 8 2012
| Species | Current Population (Est) |
| Stellar/Northern Sea Lion | 30 |
| Elephant Seal | 7 |
| Harbour Seal | 200 |
| California Sea Lion | 50 |
| Glaucous-winged Gull | 150 |
| Herring Gull | 300 |
| California Gull | 30 |
| Heerman’s Gull | 80 |
| Black Turnstones | 100 |
| Surfbird | 6 |
| Pelagic Cormorants | 40 |
| Brandt’s Cormorant | 30 |
| Killdeer | 6 |
| Dunlin | 16 |
| Harlequin Ducks | 20 |
| Canada Goose | 14 |
| Bald Eagle | 3 |
| Black Oyster-catcher | 40 |
| Sanderlings | 8 |
| Starlings | 8 |
| Race Rocks Eco-Guardian | 1 |
| Rhinoceros Auklet | 100 |
| Common Murre | 100 |
| Sparrows | 20 |
| Brown Pelican | 2 |
| Barred Owl | 1 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 2 |
Early November finds us at the end of the Sea Lion occupation of Great Race Rock. There are perhaps only 50 or 60 remaining in the Reserve and they have moved back to the smaller offshore islets. And though I shall miss them I admit to feeling some relief that the 7 weeks of the cacophonic onslaught is over! Never would I have imagined that I would have lived so close (almost under) a posse of Steller and California Sea Lions and have the opportunity to learn their ways. But it is also a bit lonely/solitary again; the misty grey days of November, the enveloping fog banks, glassy swells rolling up the Strait… there is something a bit ethereal about the whole experience living on the edge of the world.
Solitary Steller on North Race
A half dozen young Elephant Seals continue to occupy Middle Rock with random forays over here. Yesterday there was a little fellow in the boathouse, and a new individual with a pink tag!
Elephant seals enjoy the comforts of the boathouse
Tagged elephant seal female N472
Many visitors have been dropping by including Pearson College Director David Hawley and his advisee group for a weekend, and a visiting group of trustees from a UWC school in Germany. I am puttering away at a few maintenance projects, keeping the energy and weather systems functioning, and cleaning up after the Sea Lions. They have coughed a pink, fishy mucus all over the white walls of the buildings and it dried and adhered in the late September sunshine. A charming souvenir of their stay!
More coming soon….
Records of Sea Lion brands: 
You can see the Ecoguardian’s notes and images of the branded sea lions in the log for 2011-2013 etc. here.
Previous photos and observations of tracking devices prior to 2011 can be seen in this linked file:
For Marine mammal injuries : see https://racerocks.ca/wp/tag/injury/
Also some of the branding images for 2010-2012 are included below:
| sept2 | C868 | Calif Sea lion |  |
|
| Sept2 | U178 |  |
||
| Sept2 | U262 |  |
||
| Sept 10 | C495 | California Sea Lion |  |
|
| Sept 10 | 5477 | California Sea Lion |  |
|
| Sept 11 | 6 | Steller Sea Lion |  |
|
| Sept 11 | C868 | California Sea Lion |  |
|
| Sept 12 | 1046 ? | California Sea Lion |  |
|
| Sept 13 | yellow tag 105_ ? front flipper | Steller Sea Lion |  |
 |
| Sept 14 | O002 | Steller Sea Lion |  |
|
| Sept 14 | 909 | California Sea Lion |  |
|
| Sept14 2012 | C880 | California Sea Lion |  |
Glaucous-winged Gull with chicks
The past few days have seen a good deal of development with the wildlife on the reserve. Newborn gulls and elephant seals are still competing for the spotlight. The picture below of the gulls are the same three that Mike posted as newborns on his last post (June 29th) and luckily they have indeed been thriving since.
Hatching glaucous -winged gull chick
A few more are born each day and they can take hours to fully hatch.
Elephant seal with green tag #5086
Yesterday we had two new visiting elephant seals. One had a green tag which implies that it was tagged by a team in California, on an eco-reserve in Ano Nuevo. March 10th, Alex posted a photo of an elephant seal that had been tagged twice. This appears to be the same one (minus one of its tags). She’s done a beautiful job of moulting.
A lot is going on in and around the reserve. I spotted 6 Caspian Terns in area over the last week. Twice orca have gone past, though at the northern boundary, well-observed by tourists on the excursion vessels that are now very frequent visitors. There is a River Otter now living under walkway in front. 
This morning 9 Elephant Seals were present, a new record! At least to me… They include Numbers 6355, 6360, 6397, 5086, Bertha, Noah – young male 3-4 yo est.), 2 untagged 2-3 yo juveniles, AND, happily the sad seal with the infected mouth that suffered for weeks on the end of the pier returned, and she is looking great! I had observed that after one of the sharp pieces of jaw bone that was protruding from her lower palate fell out she quickly returned to the water to find sustenance; she was very skinny and weak at the time. Although her mouth is still repairing and healing itself it is clear she was able to feed well and she must have gained 40 kgs in fat in 5 weeks. I am astounded and impressed with the recuperative powers of these magnificent creatures.
Yesterday two Whimbrels were seen on the south shore of Great Race and this morning a posse of California Sea Lions was swimming about South Rocks barking in their distinctive manner. Garry alerted me to another weaner elephant seal pup on West Rocks. Today we have 5 e-girls here at the station: Bertha, Squall, Divot (she has raw sores/holes in her skin but seems otherwise healthy), Goat (this one crawled up to the weather station in the middle of the island), and 5086 (Fifty/Fiddy) whom I believe we first saw in December. I had thought Squall had left as I didn’t see her for a few days but turns out she had crawled up into the boathouse to get some peace and quiet!
Plenty of recreational fisherfolk are fringing the reserve. I suppose it makes a cunning sort of sense to hunt near the place where most of the fish are, but there is a self-serving element to that way of thinking that is reflective of why we need to have parks, reserves and preserves in the first place! Personally I prefer finding my dinner on the shore within the intertidal zone where I can be sure of what I am catching and can ensure there are plenty left to restock the locale. Unfortunately for me I won’t be eating creatures from the reserve though!
Today 6 kayakers lingered for quite a while at Middle Rocks; the Sea Lions didn’t like it and went in the water. We think of kayaks as benign but i have found that most animals prefer to know when the humans are coming and kayaks allow us to sneak up on them, ironically causing more panic than a motorized vessel. Yesterday I observed a huge submarine pass within 2 miles of the island. I reckon it was a Trident nuclear sub as it was escorted by the American Coast Guard. I can’t imagine the Sea Lions liked that either!
On Wednesday afternoon the elephant seal with double green tags 5086/4665 hauled out again on the boat ramp and has remained around the jetty for the past days. Today I noticed another elephant seal in the South bay with green tag # 6355. This appears to be the same one that Mike reported in early January. 
Squall has been over by the fog signal the past two days but made her way back towards the flagpole at sunset today. According to Pam, Squall turned 9 weeks old today.
Today there were two vessels in the reserve. In the morning Pinnacle Scuba Adventures (they have a video with some nice underwater shots on their site) brought a group out and dove near the jetty. They paid a visit to the underwater camera and gave the lens a wipe, thanks!
In the afternoon a Prince of Whales ecotour vessel visited the reserve while the current was ebbing into a +25 knot W wind, looked like a bumpy wet ride.
For the past few days there have been 2 female elephant seals moulting around Great Race. The first picture was taken on Thursday in the channel between the main island and South Seal Rocks. At the time I was only able to see her one green tag # 5086. I have also noticed one of them hauling out in the East Bay.
This morning when I went to launch the whaler she was on the boat ramp and was pretty stubborn about moving out of the way.
I was able to get a closer look at her tail and see a second green tag # 4665.
Visible in these last two photos, one of the tags has become a substrate for gooseneck barnacles. I appreciate that someone is working to tag and track these animals but I have a hard time believing that these tags aren’t a nuisance to the animals and that over the long distances they travel and hunt these wouldn’t create a noticeable amount of drag and encumbrance.
On Friday afternoon Erik and Laura came out to Race Rocks in second nature with a group of student divers as well as 6 visitors who toured around the island. Erik cleaned and moved the underwater camera, Pam got a good image capture. There was a dive boat in the reserve this morning.
