Monthly Archives: December 2014

Shift Change?

Posted on by

The wind blew from the northeast between 17 and 27 knots. At 15:00, the wind died down a bit, blowing between 12 and 14 knots for several hours. The barometer dropped from 1014 hPa to 1008 hPa. The sky was clear, with some clouds in the south. Whitecaps rolled in from the northeast, calming down in the early afternoon. The temperature reached a high of 6.7oC at 15:00.

There was one whale watching boat seen in the reserve.

The winds, swell and tides combined to allow me to stay another day on the Rock. Between my time mopping the floors and tidying up inside the buildings, I observed sea lions through the binoculars. There were no branded or entangled sea lions observed. They all appear healthy. Many have moved on from Race Rocks, probably to go further up the west coast of Vancouver Island.  It will be interesting to see how many are still here. We will have to wait until tomorrow’s census to find out.

End of Shift

Posted on by

The wind blew from the northeast at 13-26 knots.  A small swell with whitecaps blew in from the northeast.  The barometer dropped from 1024 hPa to 1015 hPa.  The temperature reached a high of 5oC at 15:00.

There were no boats seen within the reserve today.

Everyday there appears to be fewer gulls and sea lions in the reserve.  An official count will happen on Thursday with the census.  There are still a lot of cormorants congregating on the shores of Great Race, as well as Turbine Rock and North Rocks.  The harbour seals are hauling out at low tides on various rocky ledges close to the shoreline.

Today was filled with cleaning and wrapping up some tasks that I’ve been doing while here for the past five weeks: construction in the basement of the Marine Science Centre, sorting out photos, and cutting up firewood that was collected at the shore and piled up by the tank house to get the salt rinsed off by the rain. Tomorrow is a shift change that will see Alex arrive for the winter shift.  I’ve had a great time as the Ecoguardian, learning lots from the species and history of this beautiful piece of land and sea.

Lagenorhynchus obliquidens: Pacific White-sided Dolphin–The Race Rocks taxonomy

Posted on by

10614312_10152440678352194_8515761111297904797_nThis image is from the website of the 5 Star Whale-watching Company.

We have seen these dolphins in the waters off Race Rocks, but have yet to get a picture of them on location in the Ecological reserve.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Subclass: Eutheria
Order: Cetacea
Suborder: Odontoceti
Family: Delphinidae
Genus: Lagenorhynchus
Species: L. obliquidens

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, 2014

 

Sun and Calm Seas

Posted on by

The wind blew from the north between 13-15 knots, until 10:00 this morning.  Then the wind shifted towards to northeast and calmed down to between 2-9 knots.  The sea was very calm, with no swells or whitecaps.  The barometer rose from 1020 hPa to 1024 hPa. The temperature increased slowly throughout the day from 1-4oC.

There were no boats seen in the reserve today.

If solar panels could be happy, they would have been happy today.  The sun shone brightly, juicing up the photovoltaic cells.  It wasn’t enough to melt all of the snow and ice, which remains in patches around the islands.  Some of the plants have begun to wilt from the prolonged cold weather.

I made a trip into Pedder Bay this afternoon.  Having been solo for the past two weeks at Race Rocks, it was great to catch up with some students and staff at Pearson.  I also dropped off garbage and picked up gas.  The northern half of Pedder Bay was frozen over with ice that was 2-3cm thick.  It made boat travel tricky.  Luckily there was a lane of broken ice just wide enough for the Boston Whaler to travel from the Pearson dock to the Pedder Bay Marina, where the gas was filled.  Unlike driving a car on ice, a boat stops when you hit ice, so it’s much easier to handle.  On the return trip to Race Rocks, I saw a large group of surf scoters between the mouth of the Pedder Bay and Race Rocks.