The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Rain, sun, wind...insects, birds, flowers...meteorites, rocks...seasonal changes...all are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
These are male Steller Sea Lions (Eumetopias jubatus), wintering and feeding in the Salish Sea to regain their massive full size before traveling back to their rookeries in British Columbia, Alaska or Oregon in spring. During the breeding season they do not eat, instead expending their energy defending territories, fighting and mating. A week or so ago they began returning here for the season. Most of time I see them resting a great deal on their favorite haulout around here, Whale Rocks (above). The cormorants and gulls, who use these rocks all year, give them space in winter.
Sometimes I'll see the sea lions fishing. They are opportunistic feeders, catching whatever fish is abundant at the time, typically bottomfish, squid and herring. To locate a fishing sea lion, look for a mass of gulls wheeling and diving above the surface. A few days ago we took a trip over to a neighboring island and I saw a flock of screeching gulls to starboard. I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a sea lion also on his way up the channel, taking advantage of the flood tide as we were. You can just see his small ear flap, one of the features that distinguishes sea lions from seals. Sea lions are somewhat less adapted to sea life than seals. They also have bigger flippers and can walk on land with them to some extent.
We passed by Whale Rocks on our way back when the current wasn't so rough.
(All photos by me. In Lightbox...click to enlarge)
Steller Sea Lions are named for their discoverer Georg Wilhelm Steller (1709 – 1746), the intrepid German explorer marty mentioned in yesterday's Bucket. Steller (originally Stöhler) accompanied the Russian Captain Vitus Bering on his second voyage of discovery to Alaska as his scientist and physician. Steller discovered and documented a variety of iconic animals, including this sea lion as well as the Sea Otter, the Steller's Sea eagle, the Gumboot Chiton, and the Steller's Jay. On this voyage many of the crew became disabled by scurvy, refusing to eat the berries and seaweed Steller prescribed. The officers laughed at him and then died in excruciating pain. The ship was wrecked on a remote island due to insufficient sailing crew.
The sea lions like Whale Rocks because it is surrounded by some of the swiftest and wildest currents in the San Juans. Great for fishing. That's why the sea birds like it too. This day we were passing near a slack tide so it wasn't as rough as usual (I could focus the camera better!). This very large sea lion is perched alone on the top of the rock:
Nearby others are crowded on rocks near the tide line. While some nap, others posture. Their fur is a deep golden color, with fins a darker shade. Wet fur is also darker.
This is a view of Whale Rocks in June, looking toward the Olympic Mountains to the south. Pretty empty except for gulls, cormorants and a few harbor seals, with an occasional bald eagle. It's also very quiet.
In sea lion season, there is a constant roaring and growling from here, audible a mile away. You can see a few of them roaring at each other here.
The Steller Sea Lion population in Alaska has declined so precipitously since the 1970s they were declared an Endangered Species in 1997 (the sub-population that breeds in British Columbia southward is recovering and was removed from the ESA in 2012). Several causes have been proposed for their decline even after the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 prohibited hunting: loss of food due to overfishing by people, pollution poisoning the bottom of the food web, disease, entanglement in fishing gear and garbage, changes in sea biology due to global warming. Likely it is some combination of these factors.
As I mentioned, all these sea lions are males, as the females tend to stay near the rookeries on the coast with their young. One female and her pup were seen and photographed for the first time at Race Rocks, another haulout near Victoria BC in 2011. Sadly, this baby was trampled and killed after sea lions stampeded into the water during the blasting of military explosives by Canadian military on nearby Bentinck Island.
For me, it is a real thrill seeing these magnificent and beautiful creatures every winter in my local waters. They are huge! For scale, this full grown male, king of the mountain, is at least 10 feet long, likely weighing a ton and a half. See the gull next to him? Compare the Sea Lion to these Harbor Seals (also with gull for scale): half that length. I photographed these Harbor Seals on some other rocks that day (second photo). During the winter, they leave Whale Rocks to the Sea Lions.
Whale Rocks, at the entrance to Cattle Pass, with the lighthouse on San Juan island across the way:
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Nature observations for the Bucket today...what are you seeing where you live?
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