Monthly Archives: December 2013

NE swell

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NE wind 10-15 NMPH , 2-3 ft swell coming into the jetty. The fog horn started up sometime in the middle of the night but stopped before sun rise, visibility was less than 5 NM most of the day. Light rain most of the day. Barometer falling.

I had planned on going in to campus for christmas lunch and to pickup guests but the lunch was canceled because of snow on the roads and the NE swell kept me from leaving the island.

Another day foiled by Black Oyster Catchers, I scrutinized around 12 of them on the South side of the island but no leg band seen.

-Sharpened bow saw
-cleaned solar panels
-ran desalinator

Off island

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Overcast, good visibility, wind NE 10 NMPH, light in the afternoon.

Went off island around noon to get parts and provisions.

-brought 15 fire extinguishers off island to the college to get serviced, brought back spares.
-cleaned solar panels

Ed note: Congratulations Alex…. this is the 1000th Posting to be added to the Race Rocks website.

West Wind

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Steady west wind 15-20 NMPH most of the day. Bit of hail in the evening.

Chunk went off the island last night and is back on middle rocks with the female elephant seals.  I have been trying to get a closer look at the Oyster Catchers to get the ID from the banded one but have not been able to see it yet.

-Cut, chopped, stacked firewood
-Cleaned solar panels
-Installed rain water container on down pipe of energy building to use for cleaning solar panels.

Nice Day for a visit

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The wind dropped and sky cleared up today.  I counted 15 bald eagles on West rock and Middle rocks in the morning

Angus Mathews, Executive Director of the Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre and long time champion of the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve, visited Race Rocks with some staff members from the Shaw Centre as well as Bruce Obee, freelance author and photographer, Todd Golumbia, Ecologist formerly with the Gulf Islands National Park and Garry Fletcher, Race Rocks Ecological Reserve warden. They came out on a Eagle Wing Tours boat with Brett Soberg, co-owner of Eagle Wing and long time tour guide, who carefully manoevered the sleek fiberglass boat, with three 250 hp outboards, alongside the unforgiving concrete jetty.

All images below were taken by Bruce Obee:

Angus and Garry both have a long history with Race Rocks so we had a good tour and heard some good stories. Todd noticed that one of the black oyster catchers on the south side of the island was banded, likely a banding he had done in the gulf islands. We weren’t able to get a reading on the ID number so I will try to follow up with this information.

The Shaw Centre has initiated the Salish Sea Institute.  To learn more about this important project check out this article by Bruce: http://bruceobee.com/readers-picks-2/ and this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SNhwzhk-oA&feature=youtu.be

One private sports fishing boat toured around in reserve today.

-9 visitors to the island today
-did some preparations for visitors including installing bumpers on jetty
-toured island with visitors
-cut, chopped, stacked firewood
-did some tinkering with boat house door. It has new hardware installed and is working better than before but is still derailing sometimes. Maybe installing some roller brackets at the bottom could help keep it aligned.
-observed nice sunset

Fog

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Still grey out here, the fog rolled in before noon, fog alarm was going for a few hours. The fog had lifted by late afternoon. Wind has been light today and yesterday.

The DND were burning again yesterday at Rocky Point.

I went off island yesterday to get plumbing parts and some provisions. It was my first time using the new boat dolly. It is a much appreciated improvement that makes launch and recovery easier and faster.

-getting parts off island
-fixed broken pipe and faucet on roof for PV panels
-pressure tested then drained lines
-sent photos and measurements for wood stove
-ran desalinator

Grey

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Over the last few days the weather has been consistently overcast and there has been a consistent E/NE wind between 10-20 NMPH. It rained briefly today around noon.

In the morning the DND was burning invasive species (broom, Gorse) at Rocky Point, smoke visible.

-taking measurements for wood stove installation
-cutting and storing fire wood
-planning for solar panel replacement and tilt
-cleaning solar panels daily as there has not been much moisture
-reviewing new standard operating procedures manual
-got help from Jonathan (Pearson IT) to fix some problems with programs/files on station computer

Planning/making list for minor repairs:

-a water pipe on engine room roof needs replacing
-lower valve on rain water tank leaks when opened
-air vent pipe on main house letting water in which collects in the duct.
-hose nozzle on engine room roof broken

Branded Sea lion with a story

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Pam Birley sent this capture of a ” numbered Northern, Steller sealion  75Y.  it was on the SW rocks.  I have seen this one previously and reported it to Pat Gearin,  here is his reply from my previous sightings:”
“Hello Pam, I’m pretty certain this is 75Y, a 7-year old male from St. George Reef, CA.
He has 11 previous re-sights, including 2 from Washington and 9 from BC.
I think you reported him at Race Rocks previously on 22 April 2008.  He was also sighted numerous times along the SW coast of Vancouver Island, as recently as Sept. 2008.  Thanks for forwarding his observation.  Regards, Pat Gearin.
See this page for other branding sightings:
pbbranded12122013