Elephant Seal Shuffle

Posted on Wednesday,December 16, 2015 by Jasper Rea

Female and Male Elephant seals at the jetty

Ecological Happenings

A cold, but bright day with winds building to near gale force later on.
Two female Elephant seals now on middle rocks seen fighting with each other, though somewhat less aggressively than the males.
The males Elephant seals have also come to blows again with the same male displaying injuries as last time. The alpha male retaining standing and access to the area of the main island with a female on it. The other is pushed to the fringe of the main island, though no less vocal.
Large male Orca seen to the north of the reserve, being harried by a whale watching boat that was much too close.

Marine Vessels

One Whale watching boat through the reserve. In clear violation of the “Be Whale Wise” guidelines and Fishery Notice for the reserve by coming within 50m of an Adult Male Orca on the north edge of the reserve.

Maintenance

Works list compiled.
Fuel, energy and water readings taken for end of shift report.
Tidying, cleaning and finishing up.

Other

Sample of Pyramimonas collected for the Marine Science teacher (Laura Verhegge) at Pearson College.

Whale watchers getting far too close to a male Orca on the North side of the reserve

Female Elephant seal

Female Elephant seals fighting on Middle Rocks. Thayer’s gulls, Double-crested and Brant’s Cormorants stay out of the arena.

More wounds on the dominated male

Marbled Godwit still around the main isalnd

Beaten, but not out

Godwit and Guillemots

Posted on Tuesday,December 15, 2015 by Jasper Rea

Marbled Godwit

Ecological Happenings

Calm overcast day with light winds and settled seas.
Allot of driftwood and deadheads floating past in the current around the rocks from the storms and high tides of late.
Marbled Godwit spotted on the main island in the afternoon.
Pigeon guillemots and Surf scoters observed around the main island to the North and East.
The female Elephant seal remains on middle rocks, while the males and smaller Elephant seal remain on the main island.
Pod of Orca seen passing to the south, feeding in the straight. Approximately five in group consisting of males (larger dorsal fins), female and a calf. Group of accompanying birds (gulls and cormorants) circling and highlighting their position.

Marine Vessels

One Whale Watching boat through the reserve.
Courtney visited on 2^nd Nature, from Pearson College, dropping off the winter fuel and a set of repaired steps for the jetty.

Maintenance

Steps and fuel unloading from 2^nd Nature.
General tidying and preparation for end of shift.

Cracking Sunrise

Cormorants taking a rest on some drift wood

Pigeon Guillemots

Marbled Godwit and Black Turnstone feeding

Immature Bald Eagle landing. Beautiful plumage.

Double-crested Cormorants and Thayer’s Gulls

Courtney prepping 2nd Nature to come into the jetty

Male Orca in strait

Female Orca and calf

Sea lion Stampeed

Posted on Monday,December 14, 2015 by Jasper Rea

Juvenile Bald Eagle in flight

Ecological Happenings

A calm bright day with light winds and clear sky.
The female Elephant seal has been spotted on Middle Rocks. The two males and smaller Elephant seal remain on the main island.
Surf Scooters and Pigeon Guillemots observed to the north of the main island.
Whale spouts seen to the East of the rocks about 5nm out. Likely Humpbacks.

Marine Vessels

Two whale watching boats. Though they both respected the speed restrictions in the reserve one came too close to the rocks and caused the Sea lions to stamped into the water.
Several fishing vessels just outside the reserve.

Maintenance

Photo voltaics and windows to main house cleaned.
Rain-washed driftwood chainsawed into lengths for further rain-washing, splitting and drying.

Juvenile Bald Eagle at camera 5

Whale watching boat comes too close and causes Sea lions to stamped

Whale watching boat comes too close and disturbs the Sea lions causing them to stamped into the water

Brandt’s and Double-crested Cormorants

Sea lions looking shabby, but just molting

Rissa tridactyla: Black legged kittiwake

Posted on Sunday,December 13, 2015 by Garry Fletcher

Black-legged -Kittiwake, Rissa tridactyla In the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve

: Black-legged Kittiwake

: Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla

: Photos by Pam Birley

We received an e-mail today from Pam Birley of Leicester England with the photos of this Kittiwake she had taken using the remote controlled camera 5. This is a new photo record for Race Rocks Ecological Reserve.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Laridae
Genus: Rissa (Stephens, 1826)
Species: tridactyla
Rissa tridactyla
Other Members of the Class Aves at Race Rocks.

Return to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File

The 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.

Storms and Surf Scoters

Posted on Sunday,December 13, 2015 by Jasper Rea

Baby Harbour seal -around 2 ft long

Ecological Happenings

Storm warning with high winds overnight and gale force in the morning. Overcast with lashing rain at points.
Small Harbour seal pup seen on the boat ramp first thing.
Surf Scooters seen to the south of the main island in the afternoon.
The Bald Eagles were seen buzzing flocks of gulls and cormorants on the rocks, driving the gulls into the air and the cormorants to sea. The gulls retaliated by mobbing the Eagles in the air and driving them off.
The female Elephant seal was absent this morning and did not return all day. The smaller Elephant seal seemed like it was looking for her through the day. The males barely moved and snoozed through the storm.
Sea lions rafted together and played in the surf jumping clear out the water at times.

Marine Vessels

None

Maintenance

Jetty cleared of driftwood from yesterday’s storm.
Logs at the student house re-stacked as they had been blown over in the high winds last night.
Pressure washer pump lubricated and reassembled.

Surf Scoters

Small Elephant seal

Sea lions rafting

Sea lions playing in the surf

Black Oystercatchers preening and hiding from the wind

Adult (left) and immature (right) Thayer’s Gulls

Humpbacks

Posted on Saturday,December 12, 2015 by Jasper Rea

Humpbacks to the south west

Ecological Happenings

Moderate winds and seas in the morning building to strong gale force winds with rough seas later on.
A group of 3 humpbacks were spotted feeding about 1.5nm SW of the reserve. Group observed to be heading east before they were lost in the building seas.
The alpha male Elephant seal went into the ocean late last night to rehydrate and didn’t return till the afternoon today.
Male Bufflehead seen in the surf zone to the east of the main island.

Marine Vessels

None

Maintenance

Logs removed from jetty.
Electrical outlet in Tank room fixed.
Engine room tidied and cleaned.

Male Bufflehead

Group of Harlequin ducks

Male and female Harlequin ducks

Peakaboo -Smaller Elephant Seal

Female Elephant seal

Male Sea lion. Appears to be blind in right eye, likely from dominance fights

Thayer’s Gull in flight

Sea lions at Sunset

Posted on Friday,December 11, 2015 by Jasper Rea

Ecological Happenings

Light winds from the North East and calm seas. Great visibility.
The alpha male Elephant seal is keeping himself between the other male and female occasionally issuing rumbling snorts of superiority from his inflated proboscis.
The female and smaller Elephant seal continue to remain virtually inseparable, though obviously acutely aware of the males and their movements.

Marine Vessels

None.

Maintenance

Logs removed from jetty/boat ramp.
‘No load’ test carried out on battery bank ‘B’ to check validity of health test results performed yesterday. This indicates some maintenance of the battery bank is required.
O-rings replaced and seals cleaned on pressure washer pump, one-way valves to be checked before reassembly.

Sun on Mount Baker

Proboscis!

All but one of the Elephant seals on the main island

Cormorants

Sea lions at sunset

Flocks on the Rocks – Census Day

Posted on Thursday,December 10, 2015 by Jasper Rea

Flocks on the rocks: Thayer’s gulls and some double crested , Brandts and Pelagic Cormorants. Note orientation into the direction of the wind.

Ecological Happenings

Storm force winds in the morning with large swell from the North East leading to high seas and larges breakers on the rocks. Periods of (horizontal) rain with winds dropping later in the day.
Four elephant seals on the island now. The new arrival is much smaller than the female and thought to be a juvenile/subadult. There also seems to be a bond between the smaller Elephant seal and female. Could this be Squall, born here in 2012? Checks are being made to see if identifying features match.
Birds grouped together in flocks on the rocks while most of the sea lions stayed off the land.

Marine Vessels

Coastguard helicopter overhead.

Maintenance

Electrical outlet in main residence fixed.
Battery health test carried out with individual readings taken on each of the 96 cells.
Pressure washer pump stripped back down and soaked in cleaner. To be reassembled.

Census Count

Sea Lion	194
Harbour Seal	9
Elephant Seal	4
Cormorant	207
Gull	404
Oyster Catcher	42
Black Turnstone	18

Spotted during the week
Bald Eagle (Adult/Immature)	2/8
Sparrow	4
Dunlin	2
Pigeon Guillemots	8
Raven	4
Harlequin Duck	16
Canadian Geese	18

Seawater sample missed due to safety concenrs

Seawater sample missed due to safety concerns.

The latest arrival.

Maternal bond? Elephant Seals are not known for this.

Scratching. Not surprising with all those Kelp flies on old wounds

Scratchy. Not surprising with all those Kelp flies on healing wounds.

Rainbows and Rough seas

Posted on Wednesday,December 9, 2015 by Jasper Rea

Gold at the end of the jetty?

Ecological Happenings

Strong gale force winds in the morning with showers and rough seas. Bright periods later with rainbows. Gale force winds dropping to a fresh breeze before a calmer evening.
Fourth elephant seal seen on North East of the main island. This one seems much smaller, though it is difficult to tell at distance.
The two males and female that have been here for a few days rehydrated, by taking dips in the ocean, at the jetty before returning to land.
Birds found sheltered spots while sea lions either saw out the rough weather in the ocean or braved the rocks. If they could get up.

Marine Vessels

None

Maintenance

Stripped and re-built pressure washer pump. Still not operating correctly.
Oil leak to generator ‘B’ investigated and found. Part required to fix problem.

New Elephant seal

Male and Female Elephant seal

Hmmn… maybe not

Double bow

Immature Bald Eagle

The sun tried to break through…….

Sunset

Battle of the Bulls

Posted on Tuesday,December 8, 2015 by Jasper Rea

Female Elephant Seal

Ecological Happenings

Blustery overcast day with periods of rain.
The male Elephant seals continued to be vocal, following the arrival of the female, and were issuing challenges in the morning. The males fought in the water later with the victor trumpeting after having beaten his opponent.
Injured Black Turnstone seen hopping about as it was missing a leg.

Marine Vessels

Coast Guard Helicopter overhead.

Maintenance

Spliced new stern line onto the Whaler.
Finished heat shrinking electrical connections on the new power/fuse panel to the Whaler.
Cleaned U-bend to bathroom sink in main house.