Elephant Seal Seasonal Monitoring Updates

This elephant seal breeding season, the single-day cow count peaked at 1,159 on 1/27, which is similar to last year’s peak count of 1,165. Pup counts were higher than the five-year average this season. This is likely due to the lack of strong storms this winter and thus high pup survival.

Only 16 cows and 14 nursing pups remain at the Seashore! There are still 112 males scattered around, looking for their last chance to mate. This year’s weaned pup counts are higher than average. A total of 1063 weanlings were counted on 3/6.

The Ken Patrick Visitor Center area was a busy pupping site this year. The seal count on the beach in front of the Visitor Center was the highest it has ever been, peaking at 139 cows and 96 pups during the first week of February. All told, approximately 950 pups weaned across Point Reyes this year, compared to the highest count of 1,153 weaned pups in 2021.

The beach in front of The Ken Patrick Visitor Center (KPVC) once again became a haul out site this breeding season, likely in response to the intense storms in early January. Near the season peak, 77 females were present, and 62 pups were nursing. Similar behavior was observed in 2019 and 2021. These storms caused the peak of pupping to lag about a week behind last year’s peak, and about 100 less females and weaned pups were counted compared to last year.

The breeding elephant seal population has increased this year, continuing the growth trend at the Point Reyes rookery. A tsunami and two king tide events during pupping did not have a major impact on pup survival to weaning. The highest count of weaned pups was 1126 out of 1294 pups born. As elephant seal numbers increase at the Point Reyes colony, researchers have seen considerable movement between subsites. One of the most dramatic changes has been observed on Drakes Beach.

Elephant seal population numbers are slightly higher than last year, and this year’s weaned pup count is the highest on record. About 1,150 pups survived to weaning. On Drakes Beach, the elephant seal population continued to grow and move up the beach towards the Ken Patrick Visitor Center. In January, a big storm from the south caused pup separations and some mortality but overall mortality was low this year.

Elephant seal population numbers at Point Reyes National Seashore are similar to last year. A mild winter contributed to low pup mortality with about 1,000 pups surviving to weaning. In addition, deterrence methods to move pregnant females from the beach in front of the Ken Patrick Visitor Center appeared successful, with the majority of hazed females re-sighted with pups farther south on Drakes Beach.

The big news of the season was the formation of a large harem on the beach directly in front the Ken Patrick Visitor Center. While the recent trend has seen the movement of breeding seals down the length of Drakes Beach between the overlook and the visitor center, we have never had this much activity in front of the parking lot.

The 2017-2018 elephant seal pupping season got off to a slightly late start. Nonetheless, monitoring is showing that the number of seals and pups on Point Reyes National Seashore beaches, and on Drakes Beach in particular, are well above average. Review brief weekly summaries and learn more about elephant seals in general in this compilation of the monitoring season updates so far.