This video shows the first contact and interaction between the pup and Chunk.
Below, more interactions between pup, mother and Chunk. The pup is starting to be more vocal.
Other birth videos:
See Elephant Seal Birth part 1- start and end of birth
See Elephant Seal Birth part 2
See Elephant Seal Birth part 3 wide angle
See Elephant Seal Birth part 4
Pup and mother vocalizations, Chunk is heard vocalizing out of the frame. A seagull feasts on the nutrient dense placenta.
Mother and pup close up, vocalizations.
The pup is looking to nurse but seems like it hasn’t figured out the mechanics of it yet.
Continue on to the next post for complete birth sequence.
See Elephant Seal Birth part 1- start and end of birth
See Elephant Seal Birth part 2
Mother and pup vocalizations
See Elephant Seal Birth part 3
See Elephant Seal Birth part 4
Above, the mother elephant seal is having contractions. The pups nose and head start to become visible at the end of the clip.
The pup is born, steaming in the sun and the mother starts calling to it.
See Elephant Seal Birth part 1- start and end of birth
See Elephant Seal Birth part 2
See Elephant Seal Birth part 3 wide angle
See Elephant Seal Birth part 4
Nothing goes wasted in an ecological system. A few hours after the birth of the baby elephant seal, Thayer’s Gulls, Ravens and Black Turnstones came by to get a bit of rich protein for the placenta.
In the early morning just after the birth of the Elephant seal pup, Alex was able to record behaviours of the mother and Pup. Gulls started to go after the placenta, opposed by the mother.
This video was made from clips taken between 0814 hours and 0830 hours.
Alex uses a Pro-cam video camera at Race Rocks to take video and some still images of the Elephant seals close up. In this sequence, taken on the day after the birth of the elephant seal. He places the camera and then leaves, capturing an interesting sequence as the pup tries to find milk and the Male “Chunk” starts to get aggressive. Click on the small icon in the lower right for a full screen image
A short sequence showing the pup is certainly assertive!
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.
Wardens’s report by Garry Fletcher contd.
In early morning calm –and clear with no wind– by 1115 hrs it was pouring rain. Predictable from the look of the barometer . The weather fluctuated all day from rain to sun with a rainbow and back to rain. Sea lion numbers are still building and one more elephant seal joined the elephant seal group by the boathouse last night . So this is what it looked and sounded like this morning :
Click for a video of sites and sounds of the sealions
Several branded sealions here today:
At this time of year there are some non-breeding plumage Heermann’s gulls that one can pick out among the large gull population .
And a gallery of some of the other bird-life on the island, some migrating through.
9 whalewatching boats through the reserve this morning. Swells and the approaching storm held them off in the afternoon.
The panoramas below were taken in the last two days:
Gulls on the south islands in the morning. Note a mix of California, Glaucous-winged and Heermann’s Gulls.
Glaucous-winged, California, and a few Heermann’s Gulls and sea lions on the south-west corner of the island
The south side of Great Race Rock island
West side of the docks–note electric fence installed to keep the sealions off the docks.
East side of jetty
The east shore of Race Rocks with California and Northern Sea lions.
On Sunday morning, the Davis weather instrument wasn’t working. On checking, I found that the UPC powerbackup was malfunctioning–will return it to the college IT dept. Weather is back on now.