Monthly Archives: January 2015

Jan 30-31

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Jan 30: Clear sky, no wind. 1 ecotour 1 pleasure craft. Cut and chopped wood. Worked on finishing toilet install in assist house: drain line, vent pipe.

Jan 31:  Fog horn went off throughout the night. Cloudy in the morning, wind 10-15 knots NE. Moved firewood and measured station fuel and water levels for month end report. 3 ecotour boats, 1 sailboat. The sailboat came around the South side of the main island and passed through the small channel between the South Islands, it came very close to the sealions hauled out on the closer South Island.  I called Pedder Bay Marina, gave them the boat’s serial number and asked them to talk to the operator about the 100m marine mammal setback rule.

Census:

California Sea lions: 14

Northern Sea Lions: 15

Harbour Seals: 28

Elephant Seals: 7 female, 2 male

Cormorants: 22

Canada Geese: 10

Gulls: 6

Bald Eagle: 5

Harlequin Ducks: 10

Black Turnstone: 5

Black Oyster Catcher: 7

Surfbird: 2

Sparrow: 2

Killdeer: 2 (night only)

 

 

Seawater Temperature and Salinity January, 2015

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Station: Race Rocks Lightstation, Observer Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific

Date Time Sea Jar Hydro- meter No. Observed Density YSI Salinity YSI Temp °C
Temp. Temp.
°C °C
1 10:40 8 8 10802 232 30.3 8.5
2 11:00         30.0 8.7
3 11:30         30.1 8.7
4 11:45         30.0 8.9
5 11:00         30.2 8.9
6 12:45         30.2 9.0
7 14:00         28.4 8.9
8 14:00         29.9 8.9
9 8:00         30.1 8.9
10 8:00         30.3 8.9
11 8:00            
12 8:00         30.3 8.8
13 9:00         30.0 8.8
14 8:50         30.2 8.6
15 9:10         29.8 8.5
16 10:00         29.7 8.8
17 10:00         29.8 8.8
18 10:30         30.0 8.7
19 11:20         30.3 8.8
20 13:00  8.6   8.75   238    
21 13:00         30.4 8.7
22 14:30         30.4 8.9
23 17:20         30.6 8.9
24 17:00         30.4 9.0
25 17:30 9.1 9.5   242    
26 7:30         29.8 8.9
27 10:00         28.5 8.8
28 9:00         29.8 9.0
29 9:30         30.4 8.8
30 10:00         30.4 8.7
31 11:00         30.6 8.8
mean
              
   
Recorded by Race Rocks Ecological Reserve Guardian for Lester B. Pearson College

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Jan 27-29

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Jan 27:  NE wind 5-15 knots switching to west in the afternoon, 20 to 30 knots. Courtney brought Max out in the morning to check on connections for camera 5 and the underwater camera.  I went off island in the afternoon to pick up Jeff and bring him out for a visit.

Jan 28: Cloudy in morning, cleared up in the afternoon.  Wind East 10 to 15 knots. Brought Jeff back to college in the morning. On the way we went by West rock to look for the elephant seal pup but couldn’t see or hear it.  Picked up deionized water, a UPS for the underwater camera, laser measurer for measuring crane height.  Cleared a large piece of red cedar out of the jetty bay and roped a long piece of hemlock.  Cut and chopped firewood in the sun.  Latter that afternoon I could hear and see the pup again.

Jan 29: mostly clear sky, wind NE 10 to 15 knots.  Two pleasure craft in reserve.  Worked on guest house toilet renovation: shortening platform, adding insulation, fitting, fastening and sealing poop chute. 

 

Jan 22-26: fog, eagles, orcas

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juvenile bald eagle on the tope of the crane boom

Jan 22: Misty, low visibility. Wind N 10-15 knots. 1 private pleasure craft in the reserve. Cut and chopped firewood.

Jan 23: Rain, wind N 10-15 knots.  1 ecotour vessel in the reserve.  Followed up with eco tour company I spoke to a couple days ago about one of their boats, distance to mammals and avoiding disturbance. Also called a different eco tour charter company, that I hadn’t seen here before, about distance from mammals and speed in the vicinity of the rocks.  Cut and chopped firewood. Could hear elephant seal pup again today.

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juvenile bald eagle on one of the anemometers on top of the tower

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Jan 24:  A blanket of fog rolled in from the North in the morning reducing visibility and triggering fog horn including in the middle of the night. Periods of rain too.  Two ecotour vessels in the reserve. Went off island around noon in the fog, navigated by GPS on boat with cell phone as back up.  Picked up supplies in Colwood including extra chains, files and lube for the station chainsaw.  Brought three guests back out with me in the afternoon to stay overnight.  Sea was very calm on the way over and the fog had lifted enough to see to Port Angeles. The fog came back before dusk but lifted overnight.

Jan 25:  Cloudy, light rain, light wind.  10-15 orcas passed through race passage going with the current, heading SW. I brought guests back to college around noon. On the way over we passed by elephant seal rock and were able to see the pup with its mother.  It was on the West side of the mother, out of sight from the main island or tower cam. Came back out before dark.

Jan 26: Foggy in the morning, fog horn went off during the night. Cloudy throughout day, wind light.  1 ecotour vessel.  Cut and chopped wood. Foggy again in the evening.

Jan 20-21

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Sir Wilfred Laurier alongside Rosedale Reef buoy, Port Angeles and Olympic mountains in background

Jan 20: Wind North around 15 knots, partly clear sky.  The Coast Guard vessel Sir Wilfred Laurier came by to do a buoy tender on the Rosedale reef marker.  1 pleasure craft and 1 ecotour.  I called the eco tour company to let them know they were too close to mammals and that there had been some disturbance.

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It looked like they took the buoy out and replaced it, I think the old buoy is on the deck of the Laurier, a zodiac with a few people stayed behind to finish work on the new one.

Jan 21: Wind N around 15 knots, periods of rain.  Younger male elephant seal has been on the main island most days lately. Towards dusk I heard the vocalizations of a elephant seal pup and mother again on West rock.  I think this is probably a second birth for this season. There have been 4 regular female elephant seals on the small island and there hasn’t been a sign of the other pup since the first week..  Worked on fire wood cutting and storage, cleaned sensors on YSI salinity instrument that had been giving faulty reading.

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Pam Birley took this picture from Camera 1 of the second pup born in 2015

 

Jan 15-19

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Jan 15: cloudy, N wind 10-15. DND blasting on Bentinck Island

Jan 16: wind light, clear sky. DND blasting on Bentinck Island. female elephant seal came into the boat ramp area but didn’t haul out for very long. Did some fire wood cutting. Went off island to pick up guest in the late afternoon.

Jan 17: cloudy with periods of rain, wind North 10-20 knots becoming West overnight. 1 dive boat, 2 eco tour.  Built a firewood cutting jig.

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dive boat getting tossed around in waves, Jan 17

Jan 18: wind 30-40 knots West overnight, gusting over 50 knots. The wind decreased in the afternoon. The younger male elephant seal came onto the main island in the afternoon. I was able to get a closer look at him, he has many small scars and marks on his back likely from Chunk bitting him. Sealion with orange data transmitter on its back off East side of island.

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California sealion with data transmitter with marking “5” visible

Jan 19: Partly clear, some rain.  Wind west, some gusts throughout day, light in the evening.  Went off island in the morning and returned in the afternoon.  Chunk and the younger male were both on the main island when I got back.

Census (Jan 17):

California Sea lions: 10

Northern Sea Lions: 2

Harbour Seals: 28

Elephant Seals: 3

Cormorants: 88

Canada Geese: 25

Gulls: 50

Bald Eagle: 1

Harlequin Ducks: 2

Black Turnstone: 5

Black Oyster Catcher: 32

 

 

Orcas, Jan 11-13

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On the morning of Jan 11 a pod of at around 20 orcas passed by in the morning on both sides of the reserve heading NE.  Mid morning they returned passing by on the East side of the reserve.  The whales were spread out and some were breaching as well as lying on their back slapping the surface of the water with their tails.

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the sealions on the south islands seemed apprehensive as the orcas swam nearby

 

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beyond south island, Rosedale Reef buoy and bulk carrier in background

 

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off the south islands

 

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on its back tail slapping the water

 

 

 

Persistent NE wind 10 -20 knots with mostly overcast sky for the past days.

Jan 11: 1 private vessel, 1 dive boat, 2 ecotour

Jan 12: one sea otter seen circling the island and a female elephant seal came on the main island briefly.  There have been very few female elephant seals on the main island so far this winter.

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Jan 13: 2 ecotour

Jan 14: 3 ecotour

I haven’t seen or heard the elephant seal pup in several days, dont know if it still alive. Have been working on wood cutting and did some more work on the composting toilet install, levelling the chamber so it drains, plumbing the chute and fastening the seat.

Jan 8-10, census

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Wind has been fairly steadily N-NE 10-15 knots for past days with overcast sky and intermittent light rain.

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The “Orca Spirit”, large and loud.

Jan 9: 2 ecotour vessels including the very large Orca Spirit which passed through the reserve twice, I dont usually see this vessel this time of year here.  It is quite a loud boat when it puts its engine(s) in gear.

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Jan 9,leg-banded cormorant, red KJ8

Census, Jan 9: 
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Jan 5-7

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Jan 5: Cloudy, rain, 10 knots E.  Had a lot of rain water in a short time, there was a lot of standing water.  Some water leaked under the doors into the engine building, down the roof vent in the battery room and the drain on the roof got plugged up.  I worked on the roof drainage and mopped up in the engine building.  Finalized month end report. Foghorn was going off throughout the night.  One sports fishing/recreation vessel.

Chunk was on the island in the morning but left mid day.

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Jan 6, in the centre a ring necked sealion is visible, hauled out on South Islands.

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