Elephant seals in PNW

[blt2ski]

Not sure in this day and age if formating the hard drive will help you! LOL

The main thing is to remember that some of the marine species around here are endangered, and that we need to be good stewards and make sure we do not mess with them when we encounter them. Of course, the US NAVY and there sonar testing etc is probably one of the WORST offenders vs you motoring by and taking a opportunity pic that you were probably not expecting to be able to take! Of course, I am not an attny, so what does my opinion count for? probably not much.

I still think it is cool that you are seeing one. And if doing things with in endangered species area's like this means anything, the home I grew up in in Kirkland, has a bald eagles nest in the front yard doug fir, less than 100' from where I slept, played in the yard etc, as that is about how high up the nest is in the tree. so it must not be that bad a place to have a nest in the middle of the neighborhood! 100 yds from Lk washington etc.

[AjariBonten]

FYI

http://swr.nmfs.noaa.gov/psd/rookery...EWBROCHURE.pdf

[AjariBonten]

And...
http://www.nwr.noaa.gov/Marine-Mamma...eWhaleWise.pdf

[doubleeboy]

Speaking of Bald Eagles on Lake Washington. One of my favorite walks in the neighborhood ( when in Seattle) is to go from apt. in Madison Park down to Leshi Marina and back. So last Saturday we did the walk and got down to the Marina and there sitting on a power pole watching the world go by was HUGE Bald Eagle, I mean huge. Looked like he ate a Canada Goose. Just sat there watching the pedestrians and cars go by, head bobbing back and forth. Damn I wish I had the camera with me, it was a funny site. I have seen hundreds of bald eagles, but never this fat and certainly not hanging on L. Washington Blvd.

michael

[erps]

Just sat there watching the pedestrians and cars go by, head bobbing back and forth. Damn I wish I had the camera with me, it was a funny site. I have seen hundreds of bald eagles, but never this fat and certainly not hanging on L. Washington Blvd.

He was probably waiting for another cat to get hit on the Blvd.

Around 20 years ago, I was coming down the Skagit River one Nov or Dec night and came across a bald eagle lying on shore at the waters edge. It was out of it. We pulled to boat up and found that it was all wet. We scooped it up and took it down to Mt. Vernon where we arranged to have someone pick it up and take it to a rehab center. I have a picture of my partner holding it wearing a lifejacket for some insulation. I heard they warmed it up and pumped some fluids into it and released it a few days later. There was speculation that it grabbed a fish that was too big and spent some time in the river.

[Faster]

Originally Posted by erps

....There was speculation that it grabbed a fish that was too big and spent some time in the river.

Seen that before, actually just last year. We were heading up into Howe Sound and passed an eagle doing the breast stroke 1/2 mile from shore. I've heard that they cannot release their talons until they are supporting themselves on land, and can get "dragged under" by too large a fish.

This one seemed to manage to let go, after 5 mins or so struggling with on the surface he took off empty handed.

[erps]

Around 20 years ago, I was coming down the Skagit River one Nov or Dec night and came across a bald eagle lying on shore at the waters edge.

Took two pictures and gave the good one to the fellow holding the bird. It was cold that night and by the time I took this picture, the lens got foggy or icy or something.

[jrd22]

Just my humble opinion, but that seal didn't appear to be very disturbed (or even awake) by your presence Ray. And I'm sure that with your big telephoto lens that you were more like 300' away, must have been a typo about the 30', right?

[Tribe95]

As far as distance goes, unfortunetly the rules are rather strict, but if you come from behind a rock corner, and one is 20' in front of you, you can get some hefty fines, even tho you did not intentionally attempt to be within the limits

You are correct. Fortunately, an officer can utilize some discretion in these cases. In the scenario you illustrate above, I would personally never write a ticket as long as the boat did what it's supposed to do as soon as it sees the animal: stop and let the animal go on its way. Take pictures if you want, but let it be. The only way an unwitting vessel operator should be cited - IMO - is if they're operating negligently in some way, at a higher speed than conditions warrant and/or without looking where they're going

Conversely, I've written tickets to people who put their engines into gear and - even very slowly - "followed" the animal to try and find some better camera angle or additional/personal moment of zen. Even if the animal doesn't seem to be alarmed, frightened, or swimming quickly away from you, you could be "herding" it in a direction it may not want to go, separating a calf from its mother, pushing it against a bank that you can't see, etc. People always try to get close to the buoys in AK where the Steller sea lions are hanging out - usually scaring them off the buoy. And in fact, the may have been "hanging out" there because there was a killer whale nearby, so duh - way to help out nature!

If memory serves, the law actually says something to the effect that any type of "pursuing" which interrupts the "breeding, feeding, or sheltering" activities is considered a "take" under the act. Unfortunately for the animals, the MMPA is pretty toothless and easy to circumvent by any would-be violator, so it helps if the animal is likewise threatened or endangered and, thus, covered by the Endangered Species Act. Of course, you almost always have to witness the violation personally, because even photos are never great proof, especially on the water, where judging distances can be dicey.

I was glad to see you write about stewardship, and to be honest, boat owners (power or sail) aren't even ther worst violators here in the PacNW. Kayakers (of which I am one) are. They seem to think that their ultra-stealthy activity is virtually unnoticed by the animals, which is far from the case - they "herd" and do all the same things I just mentioned, just like a bigger boat does. Except they do it more often because they mistakenly believe that they have no ill effects on the creatures.

Ron

[sailingdog]

YOu'd need to do a DOD type wipe...which overwrites the disk with random data seven times... If Ollie North had done this, he wouldn't have been a guest at Club Fed...and if he had had a better paper shredder.

Originally Posted by erps

Doh! Is deleting pictures good enough, or should one format their hard drive?