For the 5th day straight, seal pup Sly hauled out for a long snooze. He was joined again today by new pup Umbreon, who has shared a small stretch of rocky shoreline for two days now. Apparently there is a good food source of small bait fish off West Seattle’s city side. As a rule, a pup will choose a resting place close to where he forages. Last year, we had three fat seal pups using this vicinity to feed and rest for many days in a row. What do seal pups eat? They like tiny fish like shiner perch, 3 spined sticklebacks, starry flounder, gunnel, shrimp and squid. Unfortunately, small fish thrive in the underwater environment created by man-made structures such as docks and fishing piers; that is often the reason that pups are drawn to these places with inherent dangers of fishing gear and vehicles. And people who feed pups or dump bait at these locations only reinforce learned behavior that can be deadly in the long run - they are not doing pups a favor.

Umbreon (photo left), a dark pup with distinct white squiggles around the eyes, was very skittish today on his high rock perch. An unwitting paddle boarder came too close and scared Umbreon, who tumbled down the rocks into the water below. We don’t know if the pup was injured since he did not return. Please remember when you are out on the water, you need to keep your distance from pups on shore. Sly disappeared back into Elliott Bay only after being engulfed in waves from high tide (photo above). Volunteers braved wind and cold to keep an eye on the two pups, #36 and 37 that we have watched over since August.

Tags: Sly, Umbreon