From Feathers to Fur

 See also the official Eco-guardian's Log: https://racerocks.ca/category/ecoguardians-log/

There is no doubt that the gulls were the dominant life form on Race Rocks, but the location is well known for its mammals as well. Tour boats by the dozens come by to see the sea lions, both Steller's (Northern) and California hauled out on the islets and Great Race itself. The California Sea Lions had just started to arrive, with more and more coming ashore each day. It can get so intense that there is now fencing around a section of the island to keep them out of the way of the humans. Hundreds of Harbour Seals can be seen on the rocks and in the water around the island, many still with nursing pups in August. 

California Sea Lion

Steller's Sea Lion

Seal pup nursing

Awfully cute!

In the water, if you are lucky, you can catch a glimpse of Harbour Porpoises surfacing, usually following the tide lines. I saw these on several occasions, but too far and too fast to even get a bad photo.  Humpback Whales are frequenting the waters of the Salish Sea in good numbers, and I even managed to spot one of these before the whale watching boats did. 

I only saw Orcas on one occasion during my stay.  I was inside writing my official blog entry for the day when several people on the VHF radio started talking about them nearby.  I raced to the window, and sure enough could see a small pod over by Bentinck Island. Of course, what I could hear, anyone could hear, and within minutes, there were several tour boats between me and the Orcas. They were incredibly active, though, and moving towards Pedder Bay.  Only a few minutes later, I saw one breach right beside a private fishing boat while another was at the bow.  I bet the folks on that boat were surprised!  It reminded me of a day several years ago when a few volunteers from Rocky Point Bird Observatory took a visiting volunteer out for a boat trip with the hope of seeing whales.  We had a very similar experience in just about the same spot.  He not only got a chance to see Orcas, he could look right into their mouths! News from Victoria media that night indicated that several groups of Biggs Orcas were seen throughout the nearshore waters that day.

Bet they weren't expecting that!

Race Rocks also occasionally gets River Otters on shore, but I didn't see that while I was there.  There were some disruptions in the "force" of gulls some nights though, so I wondered if something was going after them. Ollie the Sea Otter, whose sighting has become a regular goal of commercial and private visitors, did not put in an appearance for me.  The most recent report of him had been about 10 days before I arrived. 

No doubt, though, the mammalian star of the show was a HUGE Elephant Seal that was undergoing his molt on Race Rocks. In recent years, Elephant Seals have been spending time here, even giving birth and mating on the island. All but one had finished molting and moved on to feed by the time I arrived. I was told that he had lost about 500 lbs during his molt and he likely would be departing soon. 

Elephant Seals are not inconspicuous.  They also get to be wherever they want to be. Amazingly unperturbed by human presence, this one had taken up residence right alongside the sidewalk I walked down many times every day. There were almost always three young gulls looking at him. I figured out after a few days that he was probably smack-dab in their territory, and they weren't quite sure what to do about that.  He was unperturbed by them, too. 

A favourite spot

"Except that it's OUR spot!"

Imagine my surprise when the very next day, he made his way down to the dock!  He was leaving!  I sent a note to Greg to let him know the news and I went down to the crane site to watch him. The "walk" from his resting spot to the dock was probably about 100m, and he didn't do it all at once.  I can imagine it takes a lot of effort to move that mass.(Click here to see a video of him in action!) Finally, when he reached the water, he blew some bubbles and splashed water over his back with his flippers. (Another video here.) I thought he looked ecstatic.  But then he stopped and didn't go any farther. I found out later from Greg that he'd been doing this for weeks.  Just headed down to the dock and blew bubbles. That became my name for him from that point: "Bubbles". 

Heading to the beach!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

Molting is something we normally associate with birds. They drop most to all of their feathers in the process. We think of mammals as "shedding" rather than molting, but in some--including Elephant Seals, it is a real molt.  I had noticed chunks of skin and fur around the sidewalks and houses, and assumed something had lost its life. Nope. Those swatches were molted Elephant Seal!

Bits of Bubbles

For several days, Bubbles slept/rested in the same spot, occasionally huffing at me as I went by, and made his daily excursions to the dock. He'd spend several hours there, entertaining passengers on the whale watching boats.  Sometimes he'd swim in the area next to the dock, but never beyond it. On Wednesday night, though, he didn't come back up to his sidewalk spot, but slept out of the water down by the dock.  On Thursday, he took the plunge and left to get a bite (or thousands of bites) to eat. 

It seemed strange without him. I'd become accustomed to his face. 

Bubbles!