Census, elephant seal D018 returns

Weather: wind mostly westerly averaging 30 to 40 k/hr sunny most of the day

Visitors: no boats braved Race Rocks today, after the storm yesterday the swell was still big, the wind strong all day and the tidal variation caused fast currents

Addendum: at around 8 pm a ecotourism boat came through for a beautiful sunset run. Cold and windy but clear.

Census,

 

Although not the ideal day for the census as the winds were still very strong and I think the lack of small birds may be due to that, no sparrows, no turnstones and no shorebirds, but Greg is taking over from me and he will have his hands full doing island maintenance so I thought I would help out in this way.

Elephant seals 6

A large male (compared to the 3 young ones on the island) showed up today. His tag reads D018 and he has been here several times. The last record I can find of him is 2020. But he did come in 2019 and 2018. I have contacted Patrick Robinson and look forward to hearing more of his history. A small female also arrived. Her skin is in bad shape. I believe it is more than moulting but we can see how she fares the next few days if she stays around.

D018

Newly arrived small female with skin condition

Gulls  421

Seals 66

California sealions 17

Stellar 10

Canada Geese 14, currently 3 active nests

Pigeon guillemots 136

Cormorants 34

Harlequin ducks 6

Oyster catchers 6

River otter 1 on the grass by the crane

It was a mid day low tide of .4 metres. The westerly was strong and there was some swell. The tidepools and spring seaweed growth were phenomenal. Here are a few pictures.

Codium and isopod

Henricia

Census and censured

Weather; beautifully calm most of the day. Sunny with the occasional cloud. Wind mostly southwest

Visitors to reserve: 1 kayaker at slack tide. Went around seal rocks. Caused a landslide of Stellar sea lions.

No eco-tourism boats. Maybe the whales were in a different area?

Work: finished cleaning the lamp room and started sweeping the lighthouse stairs. chopped wood. what kept me VERY busy was the energy system which was drawing 2 kW instead of 1.2 kW (our usual load). I spent several hours trying to find something using that much draw. I had to start the generator at about 6 a.m. as the battery voltage was very low (large draw continued all night). Then I thought running the desalinator might solve the problem but neither seemingly did. It continued drawing between 1.6 and 2.1 until 3 pm and then it went down to 1.2. Greg believes charging up the battery from the generator may have reset things?

Observations:

Census

Elephant seals 7 (the male juvenile was away for several days this week but is back on Great Race)

Stellar sea lions 51 on south islands, none on Great Race today but over the last week there have been one or two here

California sea lions 8 on Great Race

Seals 60 on middle rocks

Gulls (western, glaucous-winged ) 236 counted from the lamp room on the island this morning

Pigeon guillemot   210, a large raft of them off seal rocks

Eagles 2 adult 2 immature

Cormorants 16

cormorants, double crested and pelagic

Oyster Catchers estimate 20

Harlequin ducks saw 5

Turnstones 32 very rough estimate, there are 8 on the grassy area around the house

Savannah sparrows I only ever see 4 at once but I see them constantly, that’s why I guess 20

Surf birds so well camouflaged but I would guess 20?

The following were seen this past week but not today,

Marbled godwit

Brown headed cowbird

brown headed cowbird

Sea otter

sea otter!

Orcas, transient or Biggs

one female and young, one  or two males, one to three other adults

Birds I did not get a picture off but were here this week:

Northern Crow (today and yesterday, aggressively chased away!!)

Semipalmated plover x 1

purple martin x 1

 

CENSURED

it appears to me that the 6 moulting females may NOT be female. the 3 large adults appear female but the at least 2 of the 3 small may be male. Am I right?

Doesn’t this “female” appear male???

Here’s a female.

laughing?

Census

Weather: wind was westerly until this afternoon and now is southeast

sunny and the water was calm

Visitors: several ecotourism boats going slowly by the jetty

10 kayaks by north rocks

fishers, 2 right near the RR fishing boundary

Census

7 adult female elephant seals

1 male pup born this year (already close to the size of the smallest female)

12 California sea lions, mostly male

27 stellar sea lions on south islands

60 seals on seal rocks and surrounding water

Cormorants 21

Gulls, Glaucous wing and Western 288 on Great Race,

most gulls are mature and in pairs, no nests yet, on the edges of Race Rock there are some immature gulls

Dunlin 3 ,one in summer plumage

Eagle 3, 2 mature one probably less than 1 year

Canada geese 14 to 20, 3 active nests

pigeon guillemot  counted 104 this morning in one area

oyster catchers  ?20

turnstones ?30

savannah sparrows 8

harlequin ducks 10

brandt’s cormorant 1

 

of note, no river otters, sea otters or whales today and yet it was the perfect day for sightings

brandt’s cormorant

Immature glaucous-wing gull?

Census

March 15, 2022

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                         14
  • Harbour seal                             38
  • California sea lion                   33
  • Northern Elephant Seal            4

    • 1 Large male
    • 2 Adult female
    • 1 weened Pup male
  • Sea Otter                                 1

 

Birds

  • Bald eagle adult                           4
  • Bald eagle juvenile                      8
  • Turnstones                                  18
  • Gulls, Glaucous and Western    72
  • Cormorants                                 41
  • Canadian goose                          14
  • Harlequin Ducks                         4
  • Oyster catcher                             10
  • Pigeon Guillimots                       8

Census

February 28/2022

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                         28
  • Harbour seal                            73
  • California sea lion                   43
  • Northern Elephant Seal            3
    • 1 Large male
    • 1 non-nursing female
    • 1 weened pup
  • Sea Otter                                 1

 

Birds

  • Bald eagle adult                          9
  • Bald eagle juvenile                      15
  • Turnstones                                  28
  • Gulls, Glaucous and Western     47
  • Cormorants                                 52
  • Canadian goose                           14
  • Harlequin Ducks                          6
  • Oyster catcher                             7
  • Pigeon Guillimots                        32

Census

Birds

  • Bald eagle adult                           6
  • Bald eagle juvenile                      14
  • Turnstones                                  11
  • Gulls, Glaucous and Western     68
  • Cormorants                                 96
  • Canadian goose                           0
  • Harlequin Ducks                           2

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                          129
  • Harbour seal                               9
  • California sea lion                      46
  • Northern Elephant Seal              6

Census

Birds

  • Bald eagle adult                          4
  • Bald eagle juvenile                     2
  • Turnstones                                  6
  • Dunlin                                          0
  • Gulls, Glaucous and Western    108
  • Cormorants                                162
  • Canadian goose                          0
  • Crows/ Ravens(?)                       0
  • Harlequin Ducks                         0

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                           152
  • Harbour seal                               16
  • California sea lion                       87
  • Northern Elephant Seal              5

Census

Birds

  • Bald eagle adult                        11
  • Bald eagle juvenile                     6
  • Turnstones                                15
  • Dunlin                                        4
  • Gulls, Glaucous and Western   98
  • Cormorants                              72
  • Canadian goose                        0
  • Crows/ Ravens(?)                      0
  • Harlequin Ducks                        6

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                           112
  • Harbour seal                               26
  • California sea lion                       97
  • Northern Elephant Seal              4

Census

Birds

  • Bald eagle adult                           8
  • Bald eagle juvenile                       6
  • Turnstones                                  29
  • Gulls, Glaucous and Western     96
  • Cormorants                                  3
  • Canadian goose                           0

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                           0
  • Harbour seal                              0
  • California sea lion                      85
  • Northern Elephant Seal              3

*40 knot winds and an extremely high tide likely contributed to the lower wildlife counts.

Census

Birds

  • Bald eagle adult                           8
  • Bald eagle juvenile                       6
  • Turnstones                                   4
  • Gulls, Glaucous and Western     38
  • Cormorants                                 95
  • Canadian goose                             0

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                           94
  • Harbour seal                              33
  • California sea lion                      81
  • Northern Elephant Seal              3