Point Reyes Seal Colony

Elephant seals are some of the most interesting and unusual creatures that can be found on the Point Reyes Peninsula. During the 1800’s there were countless thousands of these marine mammals ranging from Baja Mexico, to Point Reyes California. Not unlike whales the seals were hunted nearly to extinction for their oily blubber. Being extremely large one bull elephant seal will yield almost 25 gallons of oil. Although it is unclear how many elephant seals there were in the past it is believed that there were only 1000 left by 1910. In 1922 the Mexican government put a ban on hunting the animals in the attempt to protect them, and shortly after this United States followed suit. Thanks to government protection, and the fact that the animals spend almost all of their lives at sea the population has risen to an estimated 150,000.(Nps.gov/pore) In the 1970s, after being gone for almost 150 years, the seals were sighted again on the sandy beaches of Point Reyes. The first breeding pair was discovered near Chimney Rock in 1981.(Nps.gov/pore) Since then there has been a drastic increase in population with an annual average increase of 16%. The estimated seal population of Point Reyes is now between 1500 and 2000.(Npss.gov/pore) Dispersing from the original breeding spot the seals have formed several new colonies and continue to spread out onto popular beaches. Including the formation of a new colony last breeding season on Drakes Beach that included three females.(Sarah Allen Interview)

Elephant Seal Tagging

Today I hiked to North Drakes Beach with Sarah and three other park employees to tag elephant seals. While tagging it was important to walk lightly on the sand and stay downwind from the animals so that they would not wake up. I was surprised to see how many animals had left the beach. Over the course of the breeding season there had been over 200 females on this beach, today there were only four. The majority of animals on the beach were weined pups. These were the animals we focused on tagging, in order to identify their birth place. I played the roll of data recorder and tag dispensor. Between the tagging of the animals I would tally, record tag numbers, and tag placing on the flipper. All together we tagged 33 pups that will be able to be indentified by these plastic tags for the rest of their lives. We were not able to tag all the pups on the beach because they began to awake after a while. I am excited to do more tagging in the future and I better recognize the benefits due to the fact that I have done many surveys in the past.

Elephant Seal Survey

Today we drove almost to the Point Reyes Lighthouse at the end of the point. We hiked down an extraordinarily steep ravine to end up on the south side of South Beach. Sarah Pointed out the extent of invasive iceplant which now covers the hillsides which the park is now trying to remove. We walked along a creek in a narrow gorge to open up onto the beach where there was a small colony of elephant seal. On the beach to the left of the stream were about six immature males. To the right of the stream were seven females with their pups and at each end of the females the alpha and males positioned themselves. hgcd The alpha male was enormous and Sarah estimated his age to be eight years plus because of his fully developed nose and chest shield. All the elephant seals were sleeping peacefully as Sarah and John looked for flipper tags. They can tell by the color of the tag where these seals were tagged. Using the spotting scope was futile so Sarah had to get close to the animals in order to record their numbers from the tag. We then walked down the beach and spotted nine or ten more random seals. We made our way back to the car.

Today I braved the rain with Sarah Allen to investigate a new colony of Elephant Seals farther south along Drakes Beach. New colonies are often formed when lone males group together on new beaches. Eventually their activity attracts females, and if the spot they have chosen is preferable for breeding they will settle down and pup. On my last visit to the headlands Sarah and I spotted a large group of males farther down the beach. We tried to determine the presence of females with a spotting scope but the distance was too great. Today Sarah and I hiked the beach in order to survey these animals more closely. The males that we spotted earlier are now accompanied by pups and females. Hopefully this colony will continue to grow. It is situated on a wide sandy protected beach, which is in some ways preferable than the current main colony, although not as secluded. Given the chance and freedom these animals will continue to spread south along Drakes Beach.

Elephant Seals Surveys

Today I went on a survey with Heather Jenson and Sarah Allen. I surveyed North Drakes Beach, the Chimney Rock Loop, and Dead Seal Beach. A large majority of the animals had moved from the main colony to North Drakes Beach because of the protection it provides during the worst winter storms in which sand is often washed away from the main colony, leaving exposed rocks and nowhere for the animals to rest. I was amazed at how many more animals there were on the beaches, and I learned that the peak of the breeding season is the last week in January. We counted 50 pups from north drakes beach, which is considerably different than my last survey in which there were no pups being born yet. Along the chimney rock loop there were few animals scattered here and there, but I counted 7 pups at Gus' Cove, which is situated near the end of the point. Lastly we counted dead seal beach, which was made difficult by dense fog.

Elephant Seals Surveys

Today I went to the headlands with Dave Press and Heather Jensen in order to survey several elphant seal colonies. The first colony that I surveyed was the south end of Drakes Beach. This was made difficult by 50 mile per hour winds. Next we made our way to the tip of the point to in order to post a sign and survey two smaller beaches near chimney rock. Neither beach had any animales on it; probably due to the high tide. Lasty we counted the sealions at sealion overlook. I was surprised how much the number of animals on the beach fluxuates from week to week. Last friday there were 104 animals, and today we only counted 28.

Elephant Seals Surveys

Today I participated in a seal survey. I met with Dave Press and two other park workers and drove out to the tip of Point Reyes. I surveyed three separate sites for elephant seals on the point including Drakes Beach Elephant Seal Overlook, Dead Seal Beach, the southern tip of south beach. I also surveyed sea lions at the sea lion overlook on the south side of the point. For the sea lion survey they were merely counted. The elephant seal surveys were a little more complicated. With binoculars I first got a total count for the number of animals on the beach. Next I divided the animals into several categories. This is somewhat easy at this time of year due to the fact that only males are present on the beach. The males are divided into the category of yearling, juvenile, sub-adult one, sub-adult two, sub adult three, sub-adult four, or adult depending on the size of its body, chest shield, and nose. This information is gathered yearly in order to monitor flux in the seal populations, and potential problems.