Monthly Archives: November 2006

Phocoenoides dalli: Dall’s Porpoise–The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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PB_Dalls2Porpoises diving in the rip current just west of the main Island. Photos taken by Pam Birley on the remote camera 5 November 30, 2006

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Cetacea
Suborder: Odontoceti
Family: Phocoenidae
Genus: Phocoenoides
Species: P. dalli
Dall’s Porpoise
Other Members of the Class Mammalia at Race Rock

taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams.  Garry Fletcher 2006

 

Dichotomous Key for Animals of Race Rocks

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Description: This is a key to only the more common animals you may see using the remote cameras on Race Rocks. Use the taxonomy files to view others you may sight.

Go to the Race Rocks Taxonomy for more detailed descriptions of the organisms.

Number . Go to / and Identify
1a Bird 2
1b Mammal 30
2a Gull-like, white or brown 3
2b Non-gull 11
3a The Largest white-headed gull we see at Race Rocks. It is present March to October
Glaucous- winged gull
3b Other gulls 4
4a Present in large flocks – November to January. Colour white with beige-tinged flecks
Thayer’s gulls
4b Other gulls 5
5a White – smaller head with an outlined eye
Mew gulls  
5b Other gulls 6
6a Small white-headed gulls with black eyes and small black markings over the body. Often seen in flocks diving into the water… Aug to Dec.
Bonaparte’s gullsbonapartes
6b Brown or dark grey gull. 7
7a Grey gull, short tail
Immature Glaucous winged gull
7b Brown gulls 8
8a Brown mottled. appear November thru Feb.
Immature Thayer’s gulls
8b Brown Gull with orange beak. adults have white markings on the tail. Heerman’s Gull
9a For future additions.
9b
10a
10b NOTE : We are adding more birds frequently so they can not be anticipated in a key like this. Other gulls and shorebirds added since this key was made may be viewed in the Race Rocks Taxonomy files .. vertebrata-Aves-Charadriiformes

 

 

11a Predominantly black, long-necked bird:one of the 3 cormorant species 12
11b Birds other than gulls or cormorants: otherwise, all other shorebirds and land birds on Race Rocks. 14
12a Pale or yellow coloured face – present only during winter months
Double-crested cormorant
12b Predominantly black face 13
13a Light-coloured throat patch, males with white ears – present in January
Brandts’ cormorant
13b Snake-like neck, smallest of the cormorants
Pelagic cormorant
14a Black with white wing patches and red feet
Pigeon guillimot
14b Other shorebirds and landbirds and ducks/geese 15.
15a Shorebirds.and ducks/geese 16
15b Land birds.. shorter bills 21
16a Black with long red bill.. crow-sized
Black oyster-catcher
16b ducks or geese and other shorebirds 17
17a Small shorebird, often seen in winter near the fresh water pools. White breast, uppers mottled.black and white pattern in flight
Black turnstone
17b Duck or goose or land birds 18
18a Small colourful duck..swimming in kelp beds or perched very near shore
Harlequin Duck
18b Geese and other birds 19
19a Geese 20
19b Other birds 21
20a Large Goose, Black neck with white throat. Nests in April
Canada Goose
20b Half the size of the Canada goose, only rarely appears. white neck-ring and black chest.
Black Brant Goose
21a Black- Crow-like bird 22
21b Other birds,and songbirds 24
22a Large black bird with thick bill. They are as large as Glaucous-winged gulls
Raven
22b Medium sized black bird smaller than Glaucous winged gulls. go to 23
23a Large black bird , the bill is finer than a raven’s
North-western Crow
23b Small balckish bird, speckled with color
European
Starling
24a Very Large brown and white bird with a long bill equipped with a pouch
Brown
Pelican
24b Other shorebirds go to 25
25a Long legged, and long necked bird… heron -like
Great Blue
Heron
25b Other shorebirds go to 26
26 Brown shorebird with long bill curved downward. Brown eye- line.
Whimbrel

 

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30a Always found in water, with fins, and a large, flat, two-pointed tail – Whales, Dolphins, Porpoises 31
30b Often found resting on land or on rocks – size of a dog or larger 37
31a Black with a large white patch on the belly, greater than 4m long, males with large dorsal fin (1m high or greater)
Orca,
Killer whale
31b Not black or without white patches 32
32a Smaller, light grey colour, flippers smooth on edges
Gray whale
32b Other marine mammals 33
33a Large whale, dark grey to black, with distinct ridged underbelly, flippers jagged on edges. usually seen solitary.
Humpback whale ” alt=”humpback” width=”129″ height=”107″ border=”2″ />
33b Small porpoise often seen in pods, leaping in the waves.
Dall’s
Porpoise
34a spare room for future whales and porpoises. See the taxonomy for other species that have been sighted near Race Rocks
34b
37a Lie prone on land, rocks, or very shallow water; when swimming, are mostly submerged – Earless seals 38
37b May be sitting on their elbows or lying prone on land; often visible swimming in the water; colour beige through chocolate. 39
38a White through black colouration, may have young from April through July
Harbour seal
38b May be very large; length up to 4m; males have a bulbous nose; colour grey through chocolate.. present year round.Females smaller, usually on the top of middle rock, but not year round.
Elephant seal
39a Small; furry animals the size of a cat or dog
 Otters go to 41
39b Sea lions 40
40a High-browed; chocolate coloured
California sea lion
40b Round forehead; light beige coloured; may be twice as large as California sea lion
Northern sea lion (Steller’s sea lion)
41a Small; long tail; runs on all fours on land may appear as serpent-like in water. River otter
41b Small: always in the water,often  lies in kelp beds on back sea otter

Plectrophenax nivalis: Snow Bunting –The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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snobuntA355

Snow Bunting from the remote cam 5 Pam Birley photo

Domain:Eukarya
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Sub-Phylum:Vertebrata
Class:Aves
Order:Passerifomes
Family:Emberizidae
Genus :Plectrophenax
Species::nivalis
Common Name: Snow Bunting

c747.jpg
 snow bunting snow bunting

This is a very pale Snow Bunting . Snow Buntings are uncommon around Victoria and best seen in late fall-early winter, so any bunting in February is unusual. This is only the fourth Snow Bunting record for the Rocky Point Bird Observatory checklist. The first three images were taken in February 2005 using the remote camera 5.  The last picture is a poor image through a blurry remote camera 5 housing, but the only one we have so far of a male snow bunting which was taken by PB in March 2007.

This file is provided as part of a collaborative effort by the students,faculty and volunteers of
Lester B. Pearson College 		Date:Feb 2006 Pam Birley

Humidity and Dew Point as Abiotic Factors at Race Rocks

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Humidity as an Abiotic Factor at Race Rocks

The current Humidity, measured by a sensor 1.5 metres above the rock surface at Race Rocks. Humidity in concert with Temperature, Sunlight and Wind is an important factor which all organisms have to tolerate or adjust to at Race Rocks. The humidity changes widely in a number of micro ecosystems, even in the intertidal area, such as in crevices and under vegetation.
See the graph of today’s humidity at Race Rocks. Also the humidity for the past week and month are available on that page….victoriaweather.ca

TODAY’S HUMIDITY

THIS PAST WEEK’S HUMIDITY

THIS PAST MONTH’S HUMIDITY

The Dew Point:
Dew points indicate the amount moisture in the air. The higher the dew points, the higher the moisture content of the air at a given temperature. Dew point temperature is defined as the temperature to which the air would have to cool (at constant pressure and constant water vapor content) in order to reach saturation. A state of saturation exists when the air is holding the maximum amount of water vapor possible at the existing temperature and pressure.
When the dew point temperature and air temperature are equal, the air is said to be saturated. Dew point temperature is NEVER GREATER than the air temperature. Therefore, if the air cools, moisture must be removed from the air and this is accomplished through condensation. This process results in the formation of tiny water droplets that can lead to the development of fog, frost, clouds, or even precipitation.
Relative Humidity can be inferred from dew point values. When air temperature and dew point temperatures are very close, the air has a high relative humidity. The opposite is true when there is a large difference between air and dew point temperatures, which indicates air with lower relative humidity. Locations with high relative humidities indicate that the air is nearly saturated with moisture; clouds and precipitation are therefore quite possible. Weather conditions at locations with high dew point temperatures (65 or greater) are likely to be uncomfortably humid.

TODAY’S DEWPOINT

THIS PAST WEEK”S DEWPOINT

THIS PAST MONTH”S DEWPOINT

Idotea wosnesenskii: Isopod–The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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1– Global Distribution: Ranges from Alaska (and Russia) to Estero Bay, San Luis Obispo County.

2- Habitat: You can find it under rocks, under cobble at the edges of tide pools, in blades of seaweed, attached to floats and on eelgrass. Hangs onto holdfasts stalks, worm tubes and other objects. But the most common place is under rocks on the shore.

3- Physical Description: They are large isopods, measuring up to 3-4 cm long and quite dark. Generally their color is olive-green but it may vary from bright green to brown or nearly black. The abdominal region is mostly unsegmented and their terminal portion is rather smoothly rounded, except for a tiny blunt tooth at the tip See the ventral image on the left.
4- Feeding: It feeds on algal detritus and reproductively mature plants, but avoids non-fertile individuals. It doesn’t eat immature plants by the algae’s cuticle.

5- Predators: Other arthropods and invertebrates, fishes, birds, reptiles and mammals.

6- Reproduction: “During reproduction, the male isopod carries the female for a short period known as pre-copula which lasts until the moult at which time copulation occurs. The sperm are transferred from the male to the female genital duct. In most species, the female releases the eggs into a ventral brood chamber where they are incubated until after hatching.” Idotea wosnesenskii incubate their eggs and juveniles in pockets of the body which open from the brood chamber. “Unlike crabs and shrimps isopods are not released as free-swimming zoea larva. Instead, when hatched they look very much like adults but have 6 rather than 7 pereonal segments. Some species care for their young after leaving the chamber but most species do not.” (Quoted from source b)

7- An Interesting Fact: It does not look like much of a swimmer, but it is surprisingly agile and graceful when it does swim. The paddlelike appendages on the underside of its abdomen propel it with seeming effortlessness, while the legs are spread as if to take hold of any firm object that comes along
8- References:

a) EZIDweb-Idotea wosnesenskii. October 1, 2002.
Webmaster: Beach Watcher Joan Gerteis. November 13th 2005.
http://www.beachwatchers.wsu.edu/ezidweb/animals/Idoteawosnesenskii2.htm
b) Biology of Isopods. 1996.
© Museum Victoria Australia. November 13th 2005.
http://www.mov.vic.gov.au/crust/isopbiol.html

c) Edward F. Ricketts, Jack Calvin, Joel W. Hedgpeth. Between Pacific Tides. 5th Edition.

d) Kozloff, Eugene N. Seashore Life of Pudget Sound, The Strait Of Georgia, and The San Juan Archipelago.

e) Yates, Steve. Marine Wildlife From Pudget Sound Through The Inside Passage.

Other Members of the Phylum Arthropoda at Race Rocks.

taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams. This file was originally written by Claudia Aliaga, Chile, Pearson College student , Year 32 -2006

 

Correlation : Wind and Barometric Pressure Relationships

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Below are presented some of the historical graphs of wind direction, wind speed and barometric pressure as recorded on the weather station at Race Rocks. . Several interesting problems can be posed from which one could form some hypotheses using these data. Make a similar comparison with the current week’s graphs.

Note: you may find some variations in patterns in the summer.

Bubo scandiacus: Snowy owl–The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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Pam was interviewed recently about her wildlife viewing on racerocks.com ref: Anderson, Charlie, “Live Wildlife for your Living Room “,The Province (newspaper) , Vancouver, B.C. ( Sunday, Nov.21, 2004)

A comment from David Allinson of the Rocky Point Bird Observatory:
Pam Birley captured the pictures of this rare sighting at Race Rocks remotely on robotic camera 5.
“This is the second sighting of snowy owls at Race Rocks.The last historical record was almost exactly 40years ago when 7 birds were present on December 3, 1966 at Race Rocks.
I suspect there have been other records since, but they can easily be overlooked out there. We have no records for Rocky Point proper, but Race Rocks is in the checklist area. The bird appears to be an immature due to heavy barring. It is hard to be certain of its age/sex.
….. Note also that the AOU in 2003 announced a taxonomic change to Snowy Owl –it is now ‘Bubo scandiacus’ (was ‘Nyctea scandiaca’) as it is more closely related genetically to other owls in the ‘Bubo’ genus (e.g. Great Horned). The specific name is an adjective and changes to agree with the gender of the generic name.”

Pam Birley captured the pictures of this rare sighting at Race Rocks remotely on robotic camera 5.
Other Owl sightings at Race Rocks

Below are some of the images taken by ecoguardians in other years:

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

 

Other Members of the Class Aves at Race Rocks 
taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams.

 name –year (PC)

Pat Carney. Continued her fight for heritage protection for lighthouses

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Debates of the Senate (Hansard)

1st Session, 39th Parliament,
Volume 143, Issue 44

Wednesday, November 1, 2006
The Honourable Noël A. Kinsella, Speaker

Heritage Lighthouse Protection Bill

Second Reading—Debate Adjourned

Hon. Pat Carney moved second reading of Bill S-220, to protect heritage lighthouses.

She said: Honourable senators, this bill represents the sixth attempt in as many years to grant protection to heritage lighthouses of Canada. It was introduced five times previously, including during the Second Session of the Thirty-sixth Parliament, the First, Second and Third Sessions of the Thirty-seventh Parliament, and the First Session of the Thirty-eighth Parliament, and it has proceeded to committee stage in the other place. It never received Royal Assent before those parliaments rose.

While this bill was co-authored by me and the late Senator Forrestall, it was introduced five times by him, and it is in his memory that I speak today.

Despite the broad support in Parliament for this bill from all parties, the fact that we have not been able to enact it thus far represents a legislative embarrassment. It should be noted that this bill is supported in principle by the Departments of the Environment, Heritage and Fisheries and Oceans. Aside from the obvious negative political optics of such failure, even more regrettable is the practical damage being sustained by the lighthouses no longer in operation and the loss to the communities they have served, and where they stand as a proud pillar of heritage. Each day that goes by without the kind of legal protection afforded by the heritage lighthouse protection bill is a day that lighthouses are left exposed to neglect.

This bill addresses the problem that lighthouses, once deemed to be surplus to operational requirements, have no mechanism for their preservation. In the past they have been blown up, burned down, jack-hammered or left prey to vandalism, because the operational departments have no means of transferring them to interested community groups that are prepared to take on their maintenance. The present heritage designations are too restrictive to apply to most and do not provide a public consultation process.

The main feature of this bill is to facilitate the designation and preservation of heritage lighthouses as part of Canada’s culture and history, and to protect them from being altered or disposed of without public consultation. The bill defines heritage lighthouses as any lighthouse, together with all buildings and other works belonging thereto and in connection with which, as designated by the minister on the recommendation of the board as a heritage lighthouse.

The board referred to is the National Historic Sites and Monuments Board.

It defines “alter” as “to change in any manner” and includes “to restore or renovate” but does not include the performance of routine maintenance and repairs.

Honourable senators, I could take the time of the Senate to read the other main purposes of this short bill, but it would serve the interests of the Senate better to move this bill into committee where these aspects can be addressed.

The key to this bill is that the Canadian public will be consulted before any lighthouse is disposed of or destroyed, because currently there is no method by which to protect those structures.

The substantive provisions of this bill remain the same as they were the past five times it was introduced, and each time it received unanimous support in this chamber. I have been in communication with the government and believe that there may be minor amendments made to the bill at committee stage to align it with other legislation that was passed since this bill was first proposed.

I hope this bill can be referred to committee today.

Hon. Jim Munson: Honourable senators, I agree that this bill should be sent to the appropriate committee today. I have a keen interest in this bill. My great-great-uncle, James Munson, was the first lighthouse keeper in Cape Enrage, New Brunswick. It is a wonderful place just outside of Fundy National Park. It is the home of regulation-sized Munsons. I somehow got short shrift.

It is a great historical story which must be put on the record. I would like to speak to this bill at report stage when it returns from committee.

The Hon. the Speaker: Are honourable senators ready for the question?

Some Hon. Senators: Question!

Hon. Gerald J. Comeau (Deputy Leader of the Government): I move the adjournment of the debate.

Senator Carney: Honourable senators, it was my understanding from my house leader that this bill would go to committee today. Can I be told why the deputy leader has moved the adjournment of the debate when it has been agreed with the opposition and the committee that it be sent to committee?

Senator Comeau: There is no agreement that it would be sent to committee today.

On motion of Senator Comeau, debate adjourned.