Up to 200 - 250 California Sea Lions and a few (<10) Steller Sea Lions are back on the Trial Islands for a second winter in a row.
Their surprisingly loud barks and growls heard two to three kilometers inland (e.g. Mount Tolmie) generated a lot of interest last winter. This winter, so far, they are less boisterous and only heard locally in South Oak Bay.
Local residents still remember the loud sea lions that showed up around the Trial Islands during the "Victoria Blizzard" of 1996. Hundreds of sea lions, possibly 1000+, kept them awake at night for weeks on end. Whether the blizzard had anything to do with this remains unclear.
The return of the sea lions in our waters is undoubtedly linked to new legislation and conservation measures taken in Canada and the U.S. since the 1970s. They are simply not hunted on a large scale anymore.
Their return to the Trial Islands may also be fueled by a possible recovery of the Pacific Herring in our region. Two small herring spawning event s, not see in years, occurred next to Esquimalt Lagoon Migratory Bird Sanctuary in March 2022 and 2024. We hope to see herring spawn again in March 2025.
The Trial Islands are best known for their outstanding assemblage of rare plants. A B.C. Ecological Reserve and a Key Biodiversity Area, they lie in the historic Victoria Harbour Migratory Bird Sanctuary. In winter, early in the morning, thousands of Ancient Murrelets, hundreds of Common Murres and dozens of Marbled Murrelets may fly by.
By Jacques Sirois, volunteer warden
Victoria Harbour Migratory Bird Sanctuary (est'd 1923)
Trial Islands Ecological Reserve (est'd 1990) and Key Biodiversity Area (est'd 2023)
Partner, Greater Victoria NatureHood (2015)
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