{"id":1240,"date":"2008-10-28T20:35:24","date_gmt":"2008-10-29T00:35:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=1240"},"modified":"2008-10-29T21:14:52","modified_gmt":"2008-10-30T01:14:52","slug":"wellfleet-harbor-seals-thanks-for-all-the-fish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=1240","title":{"rendered":"Wellfleet Harbor Seals: “Thanks for All the Fish!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina) in Wellfleet<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Turtle Journal team ventured to Wellfleet Harbor on Sunday, October 26th, to celebrate one of the last perfect days of autumn.\u00c2\u00a0 Banks of wispy fog floated like ghostly sheets across the islands of Wellfleet Bay, while the harbor baked in\u00c2\u00a0glaring sun\u00c2\u00a0under azure skies.\u00c2\u00a0 We watched as Great Island vanished into whiteness, then reappeared in stunning clarity.\u00c2\u00a0 Temperatures rose into the mid-60s in sunshine and then dipped instantly into the 40s when drenched in icy fog.\u00c2\u00a0 On a brief visit to Lieutenant Island as we left for home, we watched fiddler crabs so affected by plunging temperatures that they couldn’t keep their balance and tumbled around like circus clowns.\u00c2\u00a0 (Watch for a posting of this phenomenon soon.)<\/p>\n

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Inner Wellfleet Harbor East of Shirttail Point Pier<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The day showed Wellfleet Harbor at its exquisite best … not just for mere humans, but for sealife that calls the Outer Cape home, too.\u00c2\u00a0 As we arrived the tide was dropping quickly from mid to low.\u00c2\u00a0 Streams of small fish such as sand eels flooded the inner harbor among the floating small boat docks.\u00c2\u00a0 The harbor was filled with seagulls everywhere.\u00c2\u00a0 Mostly they rested on pilings, on boats, on docks, on water, barely moving a muscle as they warmed in the sunshine.\u00c2\u00a0 Between these long stretches of\u00c2\u00a0laziness they would screech into action whenever a cormorant snagged a fish.\u00c2\u00a0 They lunged at the\u00c2\u00a0lucky\u00c2\u00a0cormorant,\u00c2\u00a0squealing, “Mine, mine, mine,” as depicted in Finding Nemo<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Two Harbor Seals Swim Among the Floating Docks<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Watching the ebb and flow of the seagulls, we noticed that not all cormorants\u00c2\u00a0were cormorants.\u00c2\u00a0 Seals!\u00c2\u00a0 We were shocked to find three harbor seals fishing along the docks.\u00c2\u00a0 They, too, would sprint after schools of fish, scoff down as many as they could consume in one spurt of activity, then retire to the rocky seawall or the sloping salt marsh banks to bask for a few minutes … before resuming the hunt.<\/p>\n

NEVER<\/strong> disturb a marine mammal.\u00c2\u00a0 Seals have both excellent eyesight and hearing.\u00c2\u00a0 Be respectful and observe marine mammals from a distance, so as not to interfere.\u00c2\u00a0 Use a telephoto lens for photography and keep quiet.\u00c2\u00a0 If you find an injured marine mammal in the Cape Cod area, call the 24\/7 stranding hotline at 508-743-9548.\u00c2\u00a0 Do not approach the animal without appropriate authorization.\u00c2\u00a0 If you have trouble reaching someone, you can can always call the Turtle Journal 24\/7 hotline at 508-274-5108.<\/p>\n

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Click Here to View Video in High Quality<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Harbor Seals Fishing, Playing and Basking in Wellfleet Harbor<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Harbor seals (Phoca vitulina<\/em>) are small marine mammals mostly in the 3 to 4 foot range.\u00c2\u00a0 They love fish, including sand eels (sand lances), herring, flounder, rock fish, but they’ll settle for squid or crustaceans or mollusks.\u00c2\u00a0 They love to eat, and eat, and eat.\u00c2\u00a0 Adult seals\u00c2\u00a0consume 5% to 6% of their body weight each and every\u00c2\u00a0day.\u00c2\u00a0 So, when\u00c2\u00a0seals find a plentiful source of delicious fish, they’ll stick around.\u00c2\u00a0 We saw these same seals the next day, Monday, waiting for the tide to drop low enough to simplify the hunt.<\/p>\n

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Harbor Seal Hauling Out on the Rocky Seawall<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Predators\u00c2\u00a0of harbor seals include sharks.\u00c2\u00a0 (You don’t think that blue shark, see Yikes! 11-Foot Blue Shark in Wellfleet Bay<\/a>, could have been after these cute critters, do you?)\u00c2\u00a0 As pups they are preyed upon by coyotes, foxes and large birds.\u00c2\u00a0 Harbor seals favor estuarine shallows, including sand bars, rock jetties, rocky reefs and mud flats.\u00c2\u00a0 Locally, we expect to find them across Wellfleet Bay at Jeremy Point and along Monomoy Island in Chatham.<\/p>\n

They like to haul out to rest, to bask, to mate, to nurse, to molt and to digest.\u00c2\u00a0 Our three critters picked options 1, 2 and 6 (rest, bask and digest).\u00c2\u00a0 But one of our seals had an additional reason to haul out, and not a good one.<\/p>\n

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Harbor Seals in Busy Boating Area<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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While the inner harbor seems idyllic for these small mammals, the amount of boat engine traffic is high at this time of year as owners go out for their final\u00c2\u00a0cruise around the bay\u00c2\u00a0and motor over to the haul-out ramp to\u00c2\u00a0remove their boats for the winter.\u00c2\u00a0 One of the seals, the smallest one, showed a\u00c2\u00a0propeller gash on its back, very raw and quite fresh.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Small Harbor Seal with Injury from Propeller Strike<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This seal fished and swam with the others, but appeared to tire more quickly and hauled out more frequently.\u00c2\u00a0 The Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary<\/a> was informed of the injured animal and they reported that the Cape Cod Mammal Stranding Network<\/a> had been informed of its injury.\u00c2\u00a0 When we came back to Wellfleet Harbor on Monday, we saw the two larger, healthy seals swimming around and waiting for the tide to drop, but we did not detect the smaller, injured animal.\u00c2\u00a0 Admittedly, we did not stay long enough on the second day for\u00c2\u00a0a comprehensive and definitive\u00c2\u00a0search.<\/p>\n

We did locate a beached ocean sunfish (Mola mola<\/em>), perhaps 3.5 to 4 feet in diameter at the tip of Shirttail Point.\u00c2\u00a0 (Watch for a future posting.)<\/p>\n

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Seagull with Stolen Fish<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Not only the seals got their fill of fish.\u00c2\u00a0 Cormorants fished along side the seals and caught their share.\u00c2\u00a0 And seagulls hung around the edges to steal some portion of the catch.\u00c2\u00a0 Since we spotted not a single thin seagulls, the Turtle Team assesses that they’re doing just fine, thank you.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Click Here to View Video in High Quality<\/span><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Well-Fed Seagulls in Wellfleet Harbor<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

All in all, a marvelous adventure to Wellfleet Harbor.\u00c2\u00a0Driving\u00c2\u00a0away from\u00c2\u00a0the pier at Shirttail Point, we could swear that we heard the seagulls shrieking and the seals barking, “So long and thanks for all the fish.”\u00c2\u00a0 We waved, “You’re most welcome.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina) in Wellfleet The Turtle Journal team ventured to Wellfleet Harbor on Sunday, October 26th, to celebrate one of the last perfect days of autumn.\u00c2\u00a0 Banks of wispy fog floated like ghostly sheets across the islands of Wellfleet Bay, while the harbor baked in\u00c2\u00a0glaring sun\u00c2\u00a0under azure skies.\u00c2\u00a0 We watched as Great Island […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[823],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1240"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1240"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1266,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1240\/revisions\/1266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}