[NatureNS] Seal on Conrad's Beach

From: "David&Jane Schlosberg" <dschlosb-g@ns.sympatico.ca>
To: "NatureNS" <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>, <iamclar@dal.ca>
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 09:51:33 -0400
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Hi Ian
Thanks for the identification help.
Knowing very little about seals, we just guessed it was a Harbour Seal
because we think they are the most numerous.
Our memory is that it was cream colored on head and back. The face was
pointy and it was silvery grey on its belly. Hope this helps.
Dave&Jane Schlosberg

-----Original Message-----
From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca
[mailto:naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca]On Behalf Of iamclar@dal.ca
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 9:15 AM
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca; David&Jane Schlosberg
Cc: NatureNS; Dottie&Gary Welch
Subject: Re: [NatureNS] Seal on Conrad's Beach


Dear Dave and Jane (and all):

This is the time of year when young (mostly year-old) Harp and a few Hooded
Seals turn up in Nova Scotia.  If you ever see a seal on ice, it's
probably not
a Harbour Seal.  There is a great photo of an unidentified seal hauled
out on a
boat cover (!) in the Chronicle Herald (Mail Star) this morning. It is, in
fact, a Hooded Seal.  The two northern species also appear seasonally in
some
numbers on the beaches of Sable Island and occasionally on mainland beaches.
These young seals can be very docile and seemingly somnelant, but are no
necessarily in distress. They can bite, though, if provoked! Finally, the
breeding season of Grey Seals is upon us, and their young sometimes wander
far
from their natal grounds, ebven inland, especially along the Northumberland
Straits.

By what criteria did you identify  the Conrad Beach seal as a Harbour
Seal?  If
it was plain grey with scattered large blackish spots, it may have been
a young
Harp; if beautifully silvery, darker dorsally, and whitish below, it
would have
been a young Hooded. Compared with Harbour Seals, Harps have rather pointy
faces, and Hoods very broad ones (see the Herald photo).

It would be interesting if others could keep an eye out for these wanderes
in
the next couple of months so we can get some idea of the scope of this
year's
"invasion."

Cheers, Ian McLaren

Quoting David&Jane Schlosberg <dschlosb-g@ns.sympatico.ca>:

> This time we were hosted on our walk-around by Dottie Welch, a very
> knowledgable birder who lives right on the marsh edge. Unfortunately for
us
> NNSer's she's not part of our Talk List but I'm working on her.
>
> With her help we spotted 5 red-breasted Mergansers and 2 Yellow-eyes. They
> were in the open water areas around the little bridge to the parking lot.
> There were some Old Squaws on the open coast off Half Island Pt. There
were
> two Purple Sandpipers on the tidally exposed rocks going out to Fox Pt.
>
> There was what appeared to be a DYING HARBOUR SEAL on the beach on our
side
> of the estuary outlet across from Lawrencetown Head. He couldn't seem to
> move from a position of lying on his side. Occasionally he would put his
> free flipper up in the air and he would look alert. But mostly he seemed
to
> close his eyes as if in pain. Was there anyone we should have notified?
>
> Dave&Jane Schlosberg
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

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