Observations by phill

The first pup born at the seal rookery this year to survive. So far, numbers seem low this year. We normally have several pups on the beach by now.
This year we have experience a number of sonic booms from SpaceX launches and Vandenburg. The one we experience two weeks ago flushed the seals off the beach.

Only around 80 seals this afternoon. Pups are no longer small enough to differentiate from adults. Judging from the now partially buried pipelines, the sand that the storms removed from the beach earlier this year is now coming back.

We don't usually see sea lions in the harbor seal rookery but this one was on the far side of the pier. It seemed ill and didn't move very much. I didn't realize that it was a sea lion until I looked at the pictures on a larger screen and saw that it had external ears. It seems to be in very poor condition.

Seal population in the rookery is comparable to previous years in spite of the stormy winter. Most of the pups have now been weaned. Two pictures show the rookery at high tide and low tide.
(The very worn looking redwood log on the beach is like those the Chumash of Carpinteria used to build ocean-going canoes.)

Around 45 pups and 80 adults in the sanctuary this week. We've had a population boom in the past week. The last two pictures show the beach close to high tide and low tide. When we have an especially high tide, most of the beach disappears.

A pup was born while we were watching which resulted in the sea gulls all flocking over to eat the afterbirth. The mother seals always seem upset by the aggressive birds. There was a seal with a sizeable wound near its tail but it seemed to be moving around the beach without a problem.

16 pups and 70 adults today.

16 pups and around 80 adults today. As is seen in the last photo, at high tide the beach is very narrow. At other times, it has come all the way up to the foot of the bluffs. This may not be a viable rookery location if the sea level rises another foot or two.

There are six pups today and around 60 adults. Two pups have been rescued by CIMWE in the past week. One was in such bad shape that he ended up at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito. The beach has more sand but we continue to have high surf that makes it hard on the new pups.

The beach was heavily damaged by the flooding and high surf in January. Numbers are still fairly low, only around 40 adults and two pups at low tide. There was a shark attack on a seal earlier in the day. This is the first shark attack witnessed in the rookery in well over 10 years.

One last sunny afternoon at the seal rookery before the beach is reopened for the season. They'll stay in the area but once that the beach is open to walkers and their dogs, the won't be seen on the beach very often.

There are reports of dozens of dead and dying pelicans along the Santa Barbara and Ventura County coasts; demoic acid poisoning is the suspected cause. While I was volunteering at the seal rookery, a visitor reported two dead pelicans on the beach to the east and we have one dead pelican in the rookery. It seemed that the wings of some of the resting pelicans seemed oddly limp and uncoordinated when they stretched them so more may be ill. At least they will be able to rest quietly in the rookery and perhaps recover. A pelican came over to the dead pelican and chased the vultures away then sat by it for around two hours before it finally flew away.

A very relaxed day at the seal rookery. Over 100 seal on the beach. Most of the pups are now so big that they can't be distinguished from the adults.

One adult seal has a line around its neck that is cutting deeply into its neck. Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Inst. has been notified.

Morning high tide followed by low tide pictures at the
seal rookery. The third picture shows a seal that appears to have a deep wound. Judging from the scars that we see on some seals, many do manage to survive severe wounds.

We're averaging around 100 adults and 50 pups these days. Beach walkers entering the closed part of the beach in late morning flushed all of the seals into the water and the number was half of that even later in the afternoon. The lone pup pictured here has become separated from its mother, perhaps as a result of the flushing. It's wandered from adult to adult getting nipped for its efforts. It's now resting by itself on the sand. We hope the mother will return this evening.

36 pups on the beach today along with over 50 adults.
The picture of the large truck backing down the pier, right above where a mother and pup are sleeping on the sand shows how habituated they are to most activities on the pier.

Fourteen pups on the beach today and approximately 80 adults.

The second picture shows a pup that was born within an hour of the picture being taken and the gulls are still lurking in hopes of get some of the after birth. They were even pecking at the pup and the mother was trying to protect it.
The mother in the third picture was lunging and huffing at the smaller seal on the right because it got too close to the pup. The smaller seal kept rolling over and waving its flipper at the mother. I wonder if the smaller seal was her pup from the previous year.