There are 5 species of pinnipeds in British Columbia, they are:
- Harbour seal
- Northern elephant seal
- California sea lion
- Steller sea lion
- Northern fur seal
Yesterday, I saw all 5 species within a 5 minutes span!
When I was here in December 2024, I spotted a Northern fur seal hauled out near the jetty. At that point, it was the first fur seal in 40 years to be seen on Race Rocks. Since then there have been fur seal sightings within and around the reserve, but still infrequently. A couple eco-guardian vessels alerted me to the fur seal out on the west rocks. Of course, that is the further rock from me so it’s incredibly difficult to spot anything out there. However, I was able to find him with my long zoom! I got an even better photo today when I joined Greg for a quick tour around the reserve.
Sleeping on the rocks!
The other sightings are less exciting, there are sea lions everywhere both California and Steller, and harbour seals are always around.
Although, I’m always excited to see an elephant seal so it’s fun that she’s hanging around. She’s young and I wonder if she’s been here before because she’s only hauling out in the sea lion areas and hasn’t come up to the grass yet.
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- An elephant seal, California, and Steller sea lion all in one photo!
In other news, I also spotted a sea otter this morning which is very exciting! It was also quite far and directly in the sun but I’m hoping it’ll come closer!
How about now?
The weather has been great lately which makes for excellent animal spotting! Can’t wait to see what else I’ll find!