Can you believe it’s been nearly two years since the Winter Wildlife Docent program has been operating? First, the government shutdown, then COVID, and throw in the Woodward Fire while we’re at it (even though the latter wouldn’t have affected our operations. I am so grateful that out of this morass, you have decided to stick with the program and continue educating the public about elephant seals! Not to mention help keep the beloved behemoths safe.
The season, of course, had to start something dramatic, like a tsunami. As you may have read in the latest e seal weekly, there was some pup loss but not as much as feared.
Female elephant seals have been showing up in small numbers in front and to the left of Ken Patrick Visitor Center. They have been dyemarked and have more or less left on their own. Last weekend, a female e seal swam in the surf from left to right looking to haul out but the presence of many people likely deterred her and she kept on towards the closure.
Male e seals right in front of the KPVC have been pretty small, ranging from 3 -6 the past week. We’ll see how the next week or two goes!
In the meantime, check out this cool article about e seal diet that Lead Docent Katie sent out from Marjorie, the PRNSA e seal technician. We’ll have to add lanternfish to our talks about what they eat!!!
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abg3628
Thank you, thank you and see you out there!
-Carlo, Katie, and Ellen