[Tweeters] We dip on Ancients in Admiralty but see a Bull Elephant Seal

[Ed Newbold]

Hi all,
We were aware of the existence of a beachhead colony of Elephant Seals near Deception Pass, but never expected what we saw on Friday Feb 17.

Delia Scholes and I were up to Gamble and Pt Wilson and then took the Keystone Ferry in an attempt to recreate for ourselves the great lists we've been seeing from others watching from the point and taking the ferry. At Pt. Wilson we had good numbers of Marbled Murrelet pairs and were happy to see Long-tailed Ducks at Gamble. We missed Ancients, let's hope we can chalk that up to inadequate surveillance ability.
But something new for us was a Mammal we saw from the ferry that at first confused us and made me ask out loud "Is that a Humbback Whale?"
A bull Elephant Seal is gangly and seemingly (probably deceptively) slow when traveling on the surface. You can see the huge nose, though, a giveaway, and huge body and it doesn't really look like a Steller's Sea Lion, too much above the surface and none of the Sea Lion's easy grace in the water. It was traveling south.

Add this to the list of side=benefits you can enjoy while looking for seabirds in the Salish Sea.


Cheers,
Ed Newbold  ednewbold1 at yahoo.com

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