Monthly Archives: July 2014

4 DND blasts

Posted on by

Fog on and off today. West winds picking up this afternoon to 35 knots. Clear skies most of the day. Barometric pressure peaking at midday for the last three days. Winds supposed to reach 30 knots tomorrow.

9 whale watching boats (although maybe more I couldn’t see through the fog)

4 blasts from DND in the first half of the day.

There are 5 elephant seals here now. They like to spend lots of time on the ramp and sleep on top of each other. The seal with the bloody mouth seems to be doing much better. The blood looked like it was coming from the gum.

We had a crew come out today and replace a number of windows in the keeper’s residence and the science centre. Chris and I went diving to retrieve the underwater video camera for its annual maintenance.

Animal Census

Posted on by

Fog on and off since yesterday. West winds rising since the morning from 10 knots to over forty. More fog forecasted for tomorrow and 20-25 knot winds.

4 whale watching boats this morning

Animal Census:

710 Gulls*
15 Pigeon guillemots
4 Elephant seals
142 Steller sea lions
421 Harbour seals
8 Black oystercatchers
6 Canada geese
There are a large number of gulls because of the California gulls which make a large majority (~550). There seems to be a much lower number of Glaucous-winged gulls this year from last. I notice there are a lot more dead chicks, be it the evening visits from the otters or the bald eagles that visit several times daily. There has been no sight of Chunk since Sunday night. Currently there are two young males, a female, a stubborn seal that refuses to lie on its back. This stubborn seal was bleeding from its mouth pretty badly leaving a small pool of blood on the ramp yesterday evening. This morning there was still blood on its face though it seemed to be a bit better. Because the bleeding was perpetual I assume it is more than a simple abrasion but I cannot see the wound well enough to be sure.
Several blasts have gone off on DND land this morning and yesterday.
Some sea lions have started using the jetty as a resting spot so I started putting up the electric fence.

 

California gull

Posted on by

Northwest winds dropping from over 30 knots this morning to 3 knots and them picking back up to 20 knots by early evening. Barometric pressure dropping since mid-morning. Strong wind warning in effect and fog expected for tomorrow.

7 whale watching boats

6 recreational boats

1 personal watercraft (aka Jet ski, Sea-Doo)

Another elephant made its way onto the island yesterday, bringing the total number to 6. In the past week, I have noticed a number of California Gulls (Larus californicus) on the south side of the main island. They are distinguishable from the Glaucous-winged gulls by their black plumage and yellow feet. (Click here to view a photo from the Race Rocks taxonomy page:

https://racerocks.ca/racerock/taxalab2/2010/laruscal/laruscal.htm.) A bald eagle visited today and yesterday. It plucked out a gull chick yesterday but I did not see it make a catch today.

 

Orcas

Posted on by

Fog all morning. North westerlies 20-30 knots all day. Clear skies in the afternoon. Barometric pressure hovering 1019.0 hPa.

31 whale watching boats

2 recreational fishing boats (one actively fishing)

There was a 12 ft zodiac off the South Islands of the reserve today. Unfortunately the boat was not a boat license number so I could not report it to the DFO.

A big pod of orcas went right through the north channel of the reserve this evening. There were 2-3 a couple hundred metres in front of another group of 10-12. No breaching but lots of dorsal fin and you could easily make out the white markings. A Prince of Whales zodiac followed the pod for a long time staying within 20 metres of them with the motor running.

Finished cleaning the boathouse today and started on the tank shed.

 

High number of whale watchers

Posted on by

West winds below 20 knots all day. Clear skies. Barometric pressure dropping since yesterday. Fifteen to 20 knot winds expected for tomorrow afternoon.

34 whale watching boats in the reserve… no whales, sadly.

1 recreational boat

About 5 blasts went off this morning from DND. Normally during blasting periods there are red flags but there haven’t been any today or yesterday.

Was off the island in the evening and dropped off a visitor.

Humpbacks

Posted on by

Overcast this morning with some rain, clearing up in the afternoon. Strong winds from 0800h onwards. Barometric pressure on the rise since Wednesday morning. Fifteen to 25 knot winds are predicted for tomorrow.

19 whale watching boats

There were two humpbacks on the southern border of the reserve this afternoon heading west. Several whale watchers surrounded them. Eagle Winged Tours was particularly persistent in chasing them. We now have 5 elephant seals on the reserve. Chunk, the big male, and the other four about half of his size or smaller. Chunk is looking very slim.

Two bombs sounded this morning off of Bentinck Island around 1015h.

Went into campus today from 1330h to 1530h to pick up a visitor for the night. Took a load of garbage/junk with me off the island.

Overcast

Posted on by

Overcast all day with some light showers. Low winds in the morning peaking at 30 knots in the afternoon. Winds supposed to reach 30 again tomorrow.

12 whale watching boats today

3 recreational fishing boats

Business as usual on the reserve. Got a tutorial on Lightroom from Jonathan today. Inventoried first aid materials in the house.

 

Another juvenile elephant seal

Posted on by

Winds decreasing all day to almost zero. Forecast calling for showers after midnight tonight. Barometric pressure still on the rise since Saturday night.

5 whale watching boats

3 recreational fishing boats

Another juvenile elephant seal arrived on the island today, bringing the total number to three. All three made their way down to the jetty this afternoon and the two juveniles were sparring for an hour or so. The adult river otter also made its way from Camera 5 to the winch deck again today. Great bioluminescence tonight!

Continued cleaning the boat shed.

Sea lion on the jetty

Posted on by

Westerlies between 20-30 knots all day. Sky cloudy for most of the day with some sun. Barometric pressure starting to climb since yesterday. Winds are forecasted to reach a high of 25 knots tomorrow evening.

10 whale watching boats in the reserve today.

First sea lion on the main island found a spot on the end of the jetty. Although there have been several Stellers on West Rocks for more than a week, this was one of the first Californias I have seen this shift. Saw both pair of Black Oystercatcher chicks today and their beaks and plumage are getting much lighter.

Started cleaning out the boathouse this afternoon.

Business as usual

Posted on by

Northwesterlies for most of the day rising from 15 knots this morning to 35 knots now. Skies cloudy this morning but cleared up in the afternoon. Barometric pressure decreasing all day.

2 whale watching boats passed through the reserve this morning.

Business as usual. The river otters went for another outing this evening making their way towards the helicopter pad.