West Wind
Clear skies and modreate west wind today. It was blowing W23kn, gusting 28kn at noon. Otherwise a quiet day out here.
One Tourism boat.
The sea lions are getting sparse on the jetty. No tags or new brands today. The California with the X2 brand is still around.
GPS Tagged California Sea Lion
I make maps for a living, so you better believe I was excited to find a sea lion with two telemetry tags pinned in its flipper-pits. I reached out to Kendra and our contacts at Oregon State and got an answer the next day!
California sea lion: branded X103
X103 is an animal they tagged (ODFW, WDFW, UCLA, and others) in Astoria, Oregon on August 29, 2024, as part of a research project looking at disease ecology and movements of California sea lions. More information about the project can be found here: at this link (X103 isn’t listed here yet but the 2023 cohort is)
For information on the whole research project: The Eastern Pacific Marine One Health Coalition https://marineonehealth.or
Maintenance:
Since talking with the Oregan taggers, I’ve been reaching out to our other animal reporting partners and getting updated emails and protocols. I’ll use this information to update in the SOP.
Fuel Delivery
The Pearson College crew came out today and did a big diesel delivery. We got the jerry cans filled up and stowed back in their shed. The generator building has a 200 li barrel and a 100 li tidy tank, and the tank shed is mostly full. Always feels good to be resource righ! Very nice to move all that liquid across the island with help.
Calm Evenings
I make a point to go up the tower every day. Currently working towards 3 consecutive trips up the tower without it feeling like my heart is going to explode. Fitness in small places requires some creativity.
Firewood
Been doing chores. This week has no precipitation forecasted so I let the stack of logs dry a little and then split it and got it stacked in the basement. Although it’s warm now but I’m sure winter will hit us at some point so it’s nice to have a good supply of wood. ALso lets us use much less dielse for the furnace in the house.
Engine Auto Test
Settled in the the island routine.
The daily water sample is a bit hectic with the lack of electric fence on jetty. I’ve found the supplies so I’ll put that back up in the next week.
We are testing running the gererator on auto. Which means that it turns itself on when the voltage reaches a set point. I’ve been logging the fuel consumption so I’ll be able to see how much we burn over the course of the week. This model keeps the batteries really happy because they get topped up to 100% state of charge and float there for a while. Keeps the plates clean and the batteries nicely conditioned. I do an engine check and battery fluid check every day just to make sure it;s all running smoothly.
The view from my morning tea perch. Showing our am/pm satelite checkin SPOT.
Someone has 3D printer skills! There’s a few very cute lampshades out here based on pictures of the tower. Dark areas are thicker material, light areas are thinner material. Kinda magic!
Animal Census
We had some Transient Orca practicing hunting maneuvers around the S side of Race Rocks, a very exciting welcome back to the island! We’re told by the whale folks this was most likely T075b’s practicing working together on ‘pincer’ movements on the sea lions.
Mammals:
- Stellar Sea lions: 195
- California Sea lion: 125
- Harbour Seal: 20
- Orca: 4 – T075b
Birds
- Gulls: 60
- Cormorants: 120
- Eagle: 6
- Turnstones: 10
- Canada Geese: 13
Shift Change
Came out to Race Rocks with the Pearson College crew. Did a great change-over with Kendra. Weather was perfect, no rain no wind. Grateful to be back out here. Spent the afternoon scoping things out, seeing what has changed, and cleaning the house.
Had a great killer whale show on the south side by the energy building. There was 5 whales, pestering the sealions. They’d come in to the rocks, try and herd the sealions out into open water, then circle back out. Our theory is that they were teaching the small one to hunt.
Last Day!
That week flew by – I am heading home tomorrow and my time spent here was amazing as always!
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- Northern Fur Seal
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- Humpback Whale
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- Adult Bald Eagle
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- Steller sea lion pup
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- T49C Nielson (Killer Whale)
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- Ollie the sea otter
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- Juvenile Steller
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- Juvenile bald eagle
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- Adult bald eagle
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- Juvenile Steller
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- California sea lion with healed injury
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- Harbour seals
Vessels:
- 1 Private
Facility Work:
- Filled generator with diesel
- Cleaned main house windows
- Hauled up logs for firewood
- Cleaned house/prepped for next Ecoguardians
Saturday Update
Today’s weather has been significantly better than yesterday although its still grey and quite cold. The logs at the jetty are slowly breaking up a bit but there are still a ton down there. I did manage to drag in a couple more for firewood while the tide was low.
There have been 20-30 eagles here lately which is pretty neat to watch, but still no elephant seals!
The little entangled Cali is sticking around which makes me hopeful we’ll be able to to help her. I also spotted a juvenile Steller on the jetty today with a large fish hook and lure in his lip. A hooked lip is far better than him having swallowed the hook but its still not great. I expect that it’ll get stepped on or ripped out before we can do anything for him but I’ll keep an eye on it regardless. The young Stellers LOVE to play with anything they find, I’ve been watching them carry sticks around and chunks of fish, and unfortunately some plastic debris as well. They’re like curious little toddlers and I love watching them play – I’d just prefer it not be with garbage!
Nothing too wild going on today! Chopped some wood, and got a few tasks done inside. No vessels in the area today, everyone seems to be laying low.