Tag Archives: gray seal

Meet and Greet at the Horsehead Seal Convention!

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The Gray Seals in the video are exhibiting a behavior we often observe called “bottling.” They are catching warmth from the sun and in this upright position are able to sleep and rest while still remaining buoyant.

All seals need to thermoregulate to wam up after swimming in cold ocean waters. For Gray Seals, bottling is preferable to hauling out on a crowded or faraway beach. The vertical posture positions their airways above the waterline, lessening the effort to breathe. With their head out of water, they can better hear and smell approaching danger, allowing them to keep part of their brain alert while resting.

A question I am frequently asked when out filming is, “where do all the seals go in summer?” Seals are present year round in Massachusetts but we are more likely to see numerous numbers from the shoreline from autumn though spring.

The two most common species of seals seen in Massachusetts waters are Harbor Seals and Gray Seals. Gray Seals, nicknamed Horsehead Seals (and you can see why in the videos) are the larger of the two, on average twice as big as Harbor Seals. Gray Seals are present all year round, with large breeding colonies especially off the Cape and Islands. We see fewer basking in the summer because they don’t need to; the water and air temperature are sufficiently warm enough. The seals would get overheated if they were to bask in the sun during the summer.

For the same reason, Harbor Seals do not bask along the shoreline as much during the summer months. Additionally, many of our Massachusetts Harbor Seals travel a bit further north to Maine and southern Canada to feed during peek summer months. There are more Harbor Seals off the coast of Massachusetts during the autumn, winter, and spring months.

One sure way to tell the difference between a Harbor Seal and a Gray Seal is that Harbor Seals have V-shaped (or heart-shaped) nostrils and the nostrils of Gray Seals are likened to two vertical and parallel lines. The Latin name of Gray Seals is Halichoerus grypus, which translates to ‘hooked-nosed pig of sea’.

Gray Seals Singing, from several months ago –

Filmed at Brace Cove, Eastern Point

Horsehead Bro Time!

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Gray Seals, also known as Horsehead Seals, are considered largely solitary creatures however they become social during breeding season. When in the water off our local Cape Ann beaches, typically we see  one or two at a time, possibly three of four, with some distance between each other. What fun to see a dozen Gray Seals bobbing alongside one another, sleeping and sunning in these last days of summer. It’s not yet mating season and the females are pregnant at this time of year. This little aggregate looks like congenial bro time although that will all change when mating season begins.

Gray Seals are found on both shores of the Atlantic, and at the Baltic Sea. The map below shows the distribution of the western Atlantic coast population.

Good Harbor Beach Gray Seal Update

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The young Gray Seal pup at Good Harbor Beach has returned safely to the sea. He spent the day at the beach under supervision while most people and dog owners kept themselves and their dogs a safe distance from the resting seal.

This is the time of year when seals are becoming weaned from their Moms. They are found on shore for a variety of reasons, often simply to rest. Not always though. Sometimes they may be injured, starving, trying to escape danger, or ill.

Please keep at least 150 feet away from a resting seal and call the Seacoast Science hotline (603-997-9448) to let the staff there know of the stranding.

Long Beach Seal

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Thank you to all who took the time to report the Harbor Seal struggling at Long Beach over the weekend. I am so sorry to share that the seal did not survive.

There were a number of people, and their dogs, touching and sniffing the seal when it was still alive. Please don’t, as much as to prevent terrifying the pup, as to prevent you or your pooch from being bitten.

I have had the greatest success with stranded or injured seals by contacting the Seacoast Science Center in New Hampshire. The SSC team is outstanding! Here is the number where you can report an injured seal: 603-997-9448

The following is advice from the Seacoast Science Center –

What should you do if you spot a live or dead seal or other marine mammal on a beach?

Marine Mammal Response Hotline: 603-997-9448

  • Watch quietly from at least 150 feet away
  • Keep dogs away from the animal
  • Do not pour water on the animal
  • Do not offer the animal food or water
  • Do not cover the animal with a towel or blanket
  • Do not try to move the animal
  • Call 603-997-9448 and report the animal’s location, size, coloring, and behavior.

The Gray Seal pup in the video below was rescued last year from Eastern Point by the Seacoast Science Center.

Gray Seal Adults

HORSEHEADED SEALS!

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Lately there has been a pod of Gray Seals just off shore. I counted five one morning. Mostly they yawn and doze but the other day, two were sort of “frolicking,” if you can call it that.

I read Gray Seals mate and pup at this time of year. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what their next moves are. They’re official name is Gray Seal, but I love one of their nicknames, the Horsehead Seal, because it is aptly descriptive. The bulls especially have large heads.

One of the ways to tell the difference between a Harbor Seal and a Gray Seal is by looking at their heads. Harbor Seals have the large round “puppy dog” eyes, heart-shaped nostrils, and proportionately smaller heads.

Harbor Seal

Gray Seals have proportionately large heads and flaring nostrils.

Harbor Seal head shape left, Gray Seal head right

Harbor Seals have a concave shaped forehead, with a dog-like snout. The head of a Grey Seal is elongated, with a flatter forehead and nose.

HARBOR SEAL PUP SURVIVES STRANDING!

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Monday, Charlotte and I came across a baby Harbor Seal hauled out in the seaweed at Eastern Point. I was distracted photographing a large Gray Seal that was swimming along the shoreline when Charlotte chortled, look at the baby seal, look at the baby seal! I said honey, that’s not a baby, it’s an adult. She kept talking about a baby, even after the adult had submerged. After what have must seemed like forever to Charlotte, I saw the pup, too, half buried in the seaweed. My little eagle-eyed companion!

Gray Seal

The seaweed is piled high and seems unusually extra thick. Walking on it feels as though you are stepping on puffy clouds. The poor pup looked exhausted and perhaps the drying seaweed provided a comfortable place to gain its bearings.

We waited a bit to try to ascertain whether the seal was injured. The pup didn’t appear to be so we decided to not call the marine stranding hotline and check back in the afternoon. I returned several hours later at 1:20, a few minutes before the super high tide, and was fortunate to see the pup looking much perkier, and shortly thereafter, heading back to sea!

One thought that occurred is that Gray Seals prey on seal pups. Perhaps the Harbor Seal had hauled out to escape the Gray Seal.

Also spotted was a grand adult Bald Eagle soaring overhead and an American Painted Lady Butterfly basking in the sun.

American Painted Lady, November 8, 2021

What to do if you come across a beached, or hauled out, Harbor Seal

WHAT TO DO IF YOU FIND A DOVEKIE OR MURRE STRANDED ON THE BEACH

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In recent weeks there have been more than a few reports of Dovekies and other seabirds found on our local beaches, both alive and dead. Friend Jeff Papows has found several dead birds and has returned one live Dovekie and one Common Murre.

Jeff knew just what to do with the stranded birds, which is to return them to the water. Jodi Swenson, from Cape Ann Wildlife, recommends this is best. She shares that seabirds do not do well in rehab. If on the other hand the bird appears sick or emaciated, then please call Tufts at (508) 839-7918.

Dovekies, like many seabirds, are clumsy on land, however they do nest on land, so we know they are able to walk. Then why are they stranding? It most commonly happens to young, inexperienced birds. But stranding can also happen in great numbers to exhausted adults after large storms. This influx is known as a wreck. One of the most tragic and dramatic wrecks occurred along the East Coast in 1932, when thousands of Dovekies literally “rained” from the sky.

Photos Jeff Papows

We’d like to get an understanding of how many seabirds are washing ashore. If you have seen a Dovekie, or other species of seabird, dead or alive on the beach this winter, please write and let us know when and where. Thank you so much.

Common Murres are more crow-sized whereas Dovekies are more similar in size to an American Robin

Dovekie front view

Dovekie side view

Common Murre, winter plumage. Photo courtesy wikicommons media

 

GIANT SEALS SCARED THE BEEJEEZUS OUT OF ME!

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While filming the tiny Dovekie as he was blithely bopping along the inner Harbor, dip diving for breakfast and seeming to find plenty to eat, suddenly from directly beneath the Dovekie, two ginromous chocolate brown heads popped up. Almost sea serpent-like, and so completely unexpected! I leapt up and totally ruined the shot, and the little Dovekie was even more startled. He didn’t fly away but ran pell mell across the water about fifteen feet before giving a furtive look back, and then submerging himself.

So there we were face to face, only about twenty feet apart. We spent a good deal of time eyeing each other, several minutes at least, both trying to figure out the other’s next move. Their eyes are so large and expressively beautiful. Down they dove and search as I might, could not spot them again.

There have been plenty of Harbor Seals seen in Gloucester Harbor, but I have never been so close to a Grey Seal, and so delighted to see not one, but two!

The following are a number of ways to tell the difference between a Harbor Seal and a Grey Seal.

Harbor Seals are smaller (5 to 6 feet) than average Grey Seals (6 feet 9 inches long to 8 feet 10 inches long). Bull Grey Seals have been recorded measuring 10 feet 10 inches long!

Harbor Seals have a concave shaped forehead, with a dog-like snout. The head of a Grey Seal is elongated, with a flatter forehead and nose.

Harbor Seal head shape left, Grey Seal head right

Harbor Seals have a heart or V-shaped nostrils. The nostrils of Grey Seals do not meet at the bottom and create more of a W-shape.

Harbor Seal, heart or V-shaped, nostrils

Grey Seal W-shaped nostrils

Grey Seals are not necessarily gray. They are also black and brown. Their spots are more irregular than the spots of a Harbor Seal.

Grey Seals and Harbor Seals are true “earless seals,” which does not mean that they cannot hear but are without external ear flaps.

Dovekie Gloucester Harbor