Monthly Archives: April 2015

Branded Sea Lion Back

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Today the weather was like a sandwich, with winter as the bread and spring in the middle. The wind did not relent all day, blowing north by northwest in the morning, with more of a southwest spin, peaking in the afternoon. Now as the sun sets, the wind is easing a little and dramatic rain showers sweep out of the bottom of clouds to the west. The barometer bottomed out late morning and is tentatively climbing now. Tons of new snow on the Olympic Mountains, gives them a magnificent look and brings a chill to the air here only 15 kilometres across the Strait.

I only noted one whale watching boat today but may have missed some while working out of view. Most of the tour boats stop by on the south side to see sea lions hauled out and sleeping in the water there. The photo below was taken a few days ago when the weather was kinder and the animals in the water had just awoken with a start. There were no sports fishers observed in the Ecological Reserve today.

"Whale watchers" and sea lions that just woke up.

“Whale watchers” and sea lions that just woke up.

The first thing I noticed this morning was that there were a lot more sea lions hauled out than yesterday (census day). I scanned them with binoculars and noticed right away there was a branded Steller’s or Northern Sea Lion. Even before coffee, which is something for me, I was outside taking photographs. Although the image quality isn’t great due to the distance, it is good enough to match to an individual that was here on September 10, 2014 during my first shift.

 

A branded sea lion interacting with haul-out mates on South Seal Islands.

A branded sea lion interacting with haul-out mates on South Seal Islands.

 

This male 533R was branded as a pup in July, 2007 on Rogue Reef. His daytime activity here is practically nil. He lifts his head once and a while to interact with his closely packed neighbours, otherwise he sleeps all day. I wonder if he is full of herring? I also wonder if they forage at night right now?

Sealions hauled out on the south islet. 533R is in the middle of the back row.

Sealions hauled out on the south islet. 533R is in the middle of the back row.

Glaucous-winged Gulls seem to sit tight during the day now too. I guess they are establishing nesting territories and resting up for parental duties. They all lift off when a Bald Eagle passes over or a Peregrine Falcon swoops around the island but soon settle back in place waiting patiently.

There are many more Pigeon Guillemots in the Ecological Reserve now than can nest here and they seem to like to forage in fairly large groups, right in the rips and standing waves of the big currents. I would like to see one underwater, using their little alcid wings to fly through the water while steering with their wildly red feet.

Eleven visitors graced the island with their presence today and it was good to interact with people again. Michael who is on the Pearson College board and his family came out with Chris and Alex for a tour. Alex, a student at Pearson College was deckhand and tour guide and did an excellent job of both. Chris solved my water woes by simply turning on a valve that I hadn’t managed to get open.

Chores today included unsuccessful trouble-shooting on cameras #2 and #5, disassembling a bunk bed (probably much easier with two people), and moving the bed frame to the foreshore for pick-up. Seawater sampling, fresh water production and electrical generation, balanced out with more wood clean-up and walkway sweeping. The best thing, was putting up a fresh, new Canadian flag to replace the winter worn one that was fraying badly in the wind.

Thursday is Census Day at Race Rocks

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The weather was fine today with sunshine from dawn until about four o’clock. Winds were very light and the direction shifted around west, from northwest to southwest. As the barometers drops, rain is forecasted, southeast winds and then improving with only scattered showers by tomorrow afternoon.

The fine weather brought two small sports fishing boats into the Ecological Reserve today, both fishing and speeding inside the Ecological Reserve boundary.  My guess is that neither of them were aware of the Eco-Reserve and its protection from speeding and jigging.

There were three, whale watching boats in Reserve today and several others that passed outside of the boundaries. One of the attractions for the whale watchers were Biggs’ Killer Whales, also known as transients. The ‘T”s as they are known to the tour operators were travelling from west to east when I saw them and they passed very close to the seal haul-out on North Rocks before I lost them to view. It looked like four individuals. I saw a single, adult male Killer Whale two days ago, it was just a one-off sighting and I didn’t spot it again in spite of watching for quite a while. That one was also probably also a Biggs, just from the behaviour.

Today was Mega-fauna census day and here are the results.

Bigg’s (Transient) Killer Whales 4

Northern Elephant Seals 12

Harbour Seals 117

California Sea lions 69

Northern Sea lions 21

Canada Geese 24

Harlequin Ducks 9

Pelagic Cormorants 18

Double Crested Cormorants 15

Brandt’s Cormorants 12 (Flying through.)

Great Blue Heron 1

Bald Eagle 2 adults, 3 sub-adults

Killdeer 2 (at least two, difficult to count in the dark)

Black Oystercatchers 10

Black Turnstones 22

Surfbirds 37

Rock Sandpipers 7

Dunlin 11

Pigeon Guillemots 241 (Not a complete count. Had planned to quickly move over and do a north count but unable to count other side due to disruption with speeding boat and subsequent mass pandemonium and movement of birds everywhere.)

Glaucous-winged Gulls 365

Herring Gulls (present earlier in week)

California Gulls (present earlier in week)

Ring-Billed Gulls (present earlier in week)

Peregrine Falcon 1

Northwestern Crow 2

Common Raven 1

The Back Turnstone was one of the many species of shorebirds shown in yesterday's mystery photo. Easy to distinguish from Surfbird when they are side by side.

The Back Turnstone was one of the many species of shorebirds shown in yesterday’s mystery photo. Easy to distinguish from Surfbird when they are side by side.

Male Harlequin Duck sitting on rockweed in the inter-tidal.

Male Harlequin Duck sitting on rockweed in the inter-tidal.

What a difference between drake and hen. These 'white water' birds nest in the mountains by rushing streams and rivers.

What a difference between drake and hen. These ‘white water’ birds nest in the mountains by rushing streams and rivers.

It was a busy day with lots accomplished. I managed to get the weather station back up and connected to the Internet, thanks to good instructions. I have been on a bit of a wild goose chase, mapping out the nest locations of the Canada Geese. I troubleshot water loss problem (to no avail) and ran both the desalinator and generator. Sweeping the walkways and tidying up wood is ongoing. The census took quite a while and was totally enjoyable. This is such a special place, a real biodiversity hotspot especially underwater. What we see on the surface is like the tip of the biodiversity iceberg or the biomass (food) pyramid. All that biological activity can traced right back to plankton and sunshine that drives it. Sunshine made most of the fresh water today, thanks to the solar panels and desalinator.

Blustery Spring Weather

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When you live on a small coastal islet, mysterious things happen with Internet and phone connections from time to time. Both crashed here last night so this blog is a combination of the two days. The weather has been typical of early spring weather in coastal British Columbia. Winds have generally been about 10 to 20 knots, swinging around from west to northwest and back again. Spectacular stacks of clouds keep rolling down the Strait from open ocean and the heavy showers visible in the surrounding hills would inspire any watercolour painter. Race Rocks itself seems to be in a drier micro-climate most of the time with showers all around – the centre of the donut. Dramatic skies continued right into sunset tonight with beautiful pinks and oranges framed by sweeping, purple and gray-blue clouds. The forecast for tomorrow looks even brighter.

South across the Strait, there was fresh snow, low in the Elwha Valley this morning and you could feel that cold nip in the air: perfect weather for sea going salmon smolts and just what the herring often spawn in. Speaking of weather, the weather station appears to have crashed so I will trouble-shoot that in the morning.

Eleven Northern Elephant Seals were hauled out on Middle Rock yesterday and one checked out the jetty ramp this morning.

Eleven Northern Elephant Seals were hauled out on Middle Rock yesterday and one checked out the jetty ramp this morning.

In spite of the blustery conditions, there were three whale watching boats in the Ecological Reserve today and lots to see in terms of smaller wildlife which are often over-looked and are really stunning in their own right.

Two charismatic species, a Black Oystercatcher and a Harlequin Duck share a rock.

Two charismatic species, a Black Oystercatcher and a Harlequin Duck share a rock.

This Oystercatcher likes to stand with his/her toes crossed. Does it make for more stability in the wind?

The toe-crossing Black Oystercatcher.

The toe-crossing Black Oystercatcher.

Here is a challenge for you, inspired by the ‘Marine Detective’ who does a similar thing with underwater photos of cryptic fish. How many species and how many birds can you spot in the photo below?

A mixed species flock of shorebirds rests on Race Rocks in the lee of the Light Tower and main house. How many species and how many birds? More hints (photos) to follow on the different species.

A mixed species flock of shorebirds rests on Race Rocks in the lee of the Light Tower and main house. How many species and how many birds? More hints (photos) to follow on the different species.

All of these species nest on the ground so being hard to see is a good thing. So does the stay-at-home Black Oystercatcher which is hard to ignore and nests along the BC coast, close to its’ natal shore.

Many of the shorebirds resting here on Race Rocks, fly all the way up to the arctic to breed. Surfbirds nest on mountain ridges in the Yukon and Alaska while Dunlin prefer wet coastal tundra. Rock Sandpipers make their nests on the tundra in northwestern Alaska near the Bering Sea. Black Turnstones also nest along the Bering Sea, near coastal meadows in western Alaska.

This little bird wings its way to the mountains of the Yukon and Alaska to nest.

This little bird wings its way to the mountains of the Yukon and Alaska to nest.

Another arctic breeder, I think the bird in front is a Dunlin.

Another arctic breeder, I think the bird in front is a Dunlin.

This Bering Sea, tundra nester sips a bit of water off a rock in between naps.

This Bering Sea, tundra nester sips a bit of water off a rock in between naps.

Although I wouldn’t call it a migration, I did a few kilometers today, wheel barrowing around firewood wood and wood chips, tending the desalinator and energy building, and getting distracted from my labours by photographing birds.  I was really pleased that the sunshine allowed for water making with the desalinator without the using the generator. The genny only required an hour run time, to top up the batteries thanks to the solar panels.