MAIACETUS: Steller sea lions

Showing posts with label Steller sea lions. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

January 7, 2015: Sheringham Stellers

Early this morning my friend called to offer me to join her on a drive up the west coast of Vancouver Island to Sheringham Lighthouse to scan for marine mammals, especially killer whales (Orcinus orca), cruising through the strait of Juan De Fuca. The first time she took me to visit the Sheringham Lighthouse and scan for whales was June 15 last year, when shortly after we arrived, we observed members of L pod of the southern resident killer whales swimming less than 100 m past the point! It was awesome...and now that I knew about this great land based spotting location I was keen to have a similar experience again today!

We drove along Highway 14, which is part of the Pacific Marine Circle Route, on the winding road that runs past Sooke along the west coast of Vancouver Island to Sheringham Point Lighthouse and beyond to Port Renfrew. We spent nearly an hour searching for marine mammals in the strait. Despite putting in a good amount of effort scanning the waters with naked eye and binoculars, we were not fortunate enough to observe killer whales again. We weren't too disappointed though because both of us have observed marine mammals in the area for 2+ decades and we knew they will be back another day.

Although we didn't observe any killer whales we did see what appeared to be humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) blows way across the strait which were nicely highlighted by the low afternoon sun shining across the strait. As well, a fun group of three Steller sea lions (Eumatopias jubatus) swam by the lighthouse and we also some gulls and a bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). Even when there aren't killer whales here there are usually a few other species around to enjoy while exploring the west coast of Vancouver Island :)

Steller sea lions (Eumatopias jubatus)

Glaucous-Winged Gull (Larus glaucescens) in winter plumage

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

April 15, 2014: Secretary Island Otter...again!

365 Project, Day 171

Here is my day 171 submission to my 365Project:

Once again the sea otter (Enhydra lutris) who has been hanging around Secretary Island off Sooke was spotted during our afternoon whale watch trip. It seems this otter has found herself a good spot and is sticking to it!

This afternoon I worked another whale watching trip, this time on Five Star Charters boat the Supercat. I've been working with Five Star since 2000 (more casually in recent years) and it was great to be back with my old crew today. Despite the fact we had no reports to go on when we left the dock, we had a great trip and I was happy they called me to work!

After departing Victoria Harbour we cruised south in the Strait of Juan De Fuca to head to one of our favourite wildlife viewing areas, Race Rocks Ecological Reserve. Race Rocks has an interesting history and is abundant in wildlife viewing opportunities. On previous trips to Race Rocks a great variety of cetaceans have been observed in the area including: Biggs (formerly Transient) mammal-eating and Resident fish-eating killer whales (Orcinus orca), minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus), humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) and harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) and Dall's porpoise (Phocoenoides Dalli).

In addition to all the cetacean species taking advantage of the rich habitat of Race Rocks, four pinniped species use the area as a haul out including: harbour seal (Phoca vitulina), Steller sea lions (Eumatopia jubatus), California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) and northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris). There is also a great variety of bird life with one of the highlights being the Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus).

Indeed this was another great visit to Race Rocks with sightings of both juvenile and adult bald eagles, harbour seals, Steller and California sea lions and the elephant seals. We then cruised further west in the Strait of Juan De Fuca towards the waters off Sooke, a small community west of Victoria, to see what might be lingering out there. Just near Sooke lies Secretary Island where we decided to see if we could find the same otter seen during the whale watching trip I worked April 10. To our delight the sea otter was once again bobbing around in the waters at Secretary Island and we had a very nice look at her (I say 'her' due to the scratching on her nose...which is caused by males while mating!).

After the lovely sea otter sighting we traveled back east towards Race Rocks and suddenly, quite unexpectedly, the we spotted a blow ahead of us. Once we reached the location of the sighting and the animal surfaced again we discovered it was a Gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) in travel mode. Initially we were a bit confused as we were having trouble tracking the whale's surfacings...but soon enough we discovered that there were actually two animals! Although they were fairly close to each other, they were surfacing at different times creating the confusion as to where they were going to come up next.

I was so excited to see these two gray whales as, due to the nature of the MMO/PAM work I have been doing the last few years, I haven't worked in areas with gray whales so haven't seen them much recently. What a great day...we had a nice sighting of the Secretary Island sea otter and two gray whales. I especially love it when whale watching trips work out so nicely when we don't have sightings reports at the time of departure!

Here are some more photos from today's whale watching trip:

This gull doesn't look to sure about me snapping it's photo!

Juvenile Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)

Steller sea lions (Eumatopia jubatus) thermoregulating as many of the pinniped species do

Steller sea lions (Eumatopia jubatus) thermoregulating with a Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)

Adult Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) with Olympic Mountains

sea otter (Enhydra lutris) hanging out off Secretary Island, Sooke

One of two gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) we observed just west of Race Rocks

One of two gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) we observed just west of Race Rocks - you can see the different pigmentation colours on the flank of the whale which are used to for photo-ID research

Gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus)

Monday, April 14, 2014

April 14, 2014: Oystercatcher Landing

365 Project, Day 170

Here is my day 170 submission to my 365Project:

Today's photo is of a Black Oystercatcher (Haematopus bachmani) coming in for a landing on the rocky shore at East Point Saturna Island.

What an early start I had this morning! I had to wake up at 3 am to get ready to head to the 5 am ferry to spend the day on Saturna Island, one of the gulf islands in the Salish Sea. My friend's who own Kelp Reef Adventures kayaking were taking a big group of about 40 school students from Alberta kayaking all day from where they were in port on Saturna Island. The students were spending about a week on a School At Sea program onboard the MV Edgewater Fortune. During this program they learn about seamanship, marine biology, tidal studies, marine navigation and general marine knowledge.

I wasn't participating in the kayaking part of the day although my friends are encouraging me to get my kayak guiding certifications so I can help them out with trips in the future and I might just do that because I do love kayaking. Instead, I was the official 'dog sitter' so, despite the early morning, I had a pretty relaxed day. Once the students finished their breakfast and mustered at the docks where all the kayaks were laid out for them to learn about paddling and then be on their way, I took my two companions for the day for our adventure. I would be hanging out with two lovely pups...Lukka, a chihuahua/Jack Russell mix and Bella an Australian shepherd, who I believe is a 'mini' given how small she is (they are the perfect size to take kayaking)!

Most of our day was spent at East Point, which is part of the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve, on the far east end of Saturna Island and overlooks Boundary Pass and into the Strait of Georgia. This area is a very productive marine environment and a wonderful spot to observe bird and marine mammal life; it is not unusual to spot cetaceans such killer whales (Orcinus orca), Pacific white-sided dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens) or Habour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) or pinnipeds such as Harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) and Steller sea lions (Eumatopias jubatus).

We didn't spot any of the cetacean species today but there were plenty of harbour seals and steller sea lions around to keep us entertained!