Monthly Archives: February 2016

Seawater Data: February, 2016

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Feb 23:  No YSI data taken at 16:05 due to battery failure.

Station Race Rocks   Lightstation
Month: February Year: 2016
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 7:30 32.0 8.6
2 8:00 32.0 8.6
3 8:00 31.9 8.5
4 8:30 31.9 8.6
5 9:15 31.7 8.6
6 10:00 22.0 8.5
7 10:50 31.9 8.5
8 11:50 31.9 8.7
9 13:00 31.9 8.9
10 14:00 32.1 8.8
11 15:05 32.4 8.8
12 16:20 32.2 8.9
13 17:30 32.4 8.7
14 6:05 32.5 8.8
15 6:50 8.9 9 10,802 230 31.5 8.7
16 7:35 31.9 8.7
17 8:30 31.7 8.7
18 9:00 31.7 9.6
19 10:05 30.2 8.7
20 11:25 31.9 8.8
21 12:05 32.0 8.6
22 12:50 31.9 8.8
23 14:30 8.9 8.7 232 31.8 9.0
24 14:30 32.0 9.0
25 15:10 32.1 9.0
26 15:55 32.0 8.9
27 17:30 32.1 9.0
28 18:10 32.0 8.8
29 6:05 31.9 8.6
Recorded by Race Rocks Ecological Reserve Guardian for Lester B. Pearson College

 

Last Full Day of the Shift

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots East
  • Water: 1′ chop
  • Sky: mix of sun and cloud

Ecological

  • Chunk and Chuckles still in their respective positions on Great Race.
  • Noticed over 50 harbour seals today.
  • In general much more wildlife than yesterday.

Maintenance

  • Ran the fire pump for 40 minutes. This added about 1′ of water to the cistern.
  • Filled up the tidy tank using the equivalent of one barrel of diesel (55 gallons).
  • Stacked more firewood.
  • Emptied the ash from the wood stove in the main house.
  • General tidying up in the house to make it ready for the next Eco-guardian.
  • Wrote my shift end report.

Boats

  • One pleasure craft was hanging out near West Rock in the morning.
  • In the afternoon one eco-tour came through Middle Channel. It was a strange looking boat that I had never seen before with the words “Luna BC” on it.
  • The HMCS Ottawa was out in the straight. According to the Marine Traffic website it made it all the way out to the open ocean today.

Other

  • I couldn’t get the camera to take any photographs today. I think I bumped one of its many buttons (most of which I don’t know what they do) as it appears to be on a different setting than I am used to.

Animal Census and Gale conditions

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Weather

  • In the morning:
  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 NE
  • Water: 1′ chop
  • Sky: overcast
  • From 10 A.M. onwards:
  • Wind: 25-45 W
  • Sky: showers

Ecological

  • Chuckles spent all day on Great Race.
  • In the morning Chunk went into the water; he returned a couple of hours later. “Watch” him climb over a log in the photo slideshow!
  • Conducted a census. Unfortunately the gale force winds started up just before I climbed the tower to do the largest portion of the census, so by the time I began, many animals had fled seeking shelter.
  1. California Sea Lions: 44
  2. Northern Sea Lions: 13 (1 branded with ?6Y)
  3. Elephant Seals: 2
  4. Seagulls: 106 (there were more before I did my count)
  5. Pigeon Guillemots: 80 (these I counted before the gale)
  6. Cormorants: 57 (there were more before I did my count)
  7. Black Turnstones: 22
  8. Bald Eagles: 20 (13 immature, 7 adults)
  9. Surfbirds: 11
  10. Canada Geese: 10

Boat Mania

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles (except foggy towards Victoria in the A.M.)
  • Wind: 0-10 knots South
  • Water: rippled
  • Sky: sunny

Golden Sunset

Ecological

Cormorants and Sea Lions

Maintenance

  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • Provided two canoeists with duct tape to help repair their broken paddle.

Boats

  • As befits a very lovely Saturday, there were numerous boats in or near the reserve all day.
  • A diving boat was out at Middle Rock and it seemed as though they sent down some divers.
  • Two sailboats passed through the SW corner of the reserve.
  • One fishing boat passed through Middle Channel.
  • The very large catamaran eco-tour was back.
  • A couple of young lads in a canoe came up the ramp. I sent them on their way, but not before a rest and some help with their broken paddle.

Visitors

  • The aforementioned canoeists were on shore near the ramp for a little while as they rested and fixed their paddle.

Canoeists

Very Large Eco-Tour Catamaran

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots NE
  • Water: rippled
  • Sky: overcast

Ecological

  • Chunk and Chuckles are still on Great Race. I’m not even sure they are going off island at night these days.
  • There was a lone harbour seal hauled out on a rock near the derrick most of the day.
  • Saw some bald eagles gnawing away at the dead elephant seal pup.

Maintenance

  • Cleared logs off of the ramp.
  • Began making a list of things to do by the end of the month.

Boats

  • The Sir Wilfred Laurier patrol vessel was out in the straight this morning. Quite a fine looking ship!
  • One pleasure craft with a family on board stopped by to view the sea lions. They seemed to be too close.
  • Two eco-tours came by this afternoon. The first one was the largest boat that I have ever seen in the reserve. The second one appeared to be too close to the sea lions, and a few of them made haste for the water.

Fire Extinguisher Return

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots NE
  • Water: rippled
  • Sky: clear

Ecological

  • Chunk and Chuckles still on Great Race.
  • Chuckles had some fresh wounds on his back that were weeping fluids.
  • Saw a California sea lion branded with 8240.
  • Saw a Sea Slater (Ligia Pallasii) crawling in the muck near the jetty today.

Maintenance

  • Found all the “loaner” fire extinguishers and collected them up.
  • Loaded said fire extinguishers and a box of recycling into the maintenance boat when Jeff and his assistant came by.
  • Checked the water level in the cistern; things are good.

Boats

  • Jeff came by to pick up some items. He did not disembark.

Other

  • Heard six DND blasts today. They came in pairs, each pair progressively bigger, from loud, to house shaking. 10:03, 10:05, 10:55, 10:57, 11:41, and 11:43.

Birds and Boats

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots NE
  • Water: rippled
  • Sky: clear
Sunset

Sunset

Ecological

  • Chunk and Chuckles still on Great Race.
  • Saw a northern sea lion branded with 354Y.
  • Saw a northern sea lion with a cooker cutter shark scar.
  • Noticed at least 50 harbour seals out on the south islands today.
  • Saw a common merganser wash itself on a rock close to shore. Apparently it is quite uncommon to see them at Race Rocks. Later some harlequin ducks swam nearby.
  • Saw a jellyfish floating around near the jetty. Not sure what variety it was.
  • Noticed some grape hyacinth for the first time today. By my estimate there are least 6 different species of flowers now in bloom out here.

Bald Eagles and Snowy Mountains

Maintenance

  • Stacked firewood until there was no remaining space. Will have to restart stacking once some of the stores have been burnt up to create space.

Boats

  • Jeff and his two Belgian volunteers came by with food supplies this morning. Eggs, milk, and bread. Surprised the Belgians didn’t bring me any Jupiler.
  • Quite a bit of traffic today out in the straight. Documented the more interesting looking ones with photographs.
  • One fishing boat went through the middle channel of the reserve.

Other

  • Heard 5 DND blasts today from Bentinck Island. A small one at 12:47, and then 4 medium blasts at 12:50, 12:55, 15:04, and 15:06. The animals didn’t make too much of a fuss.

One of today's DND blasts

Two Branded Sea Lions

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 15-25 knots NE
  • Water: 2′ chop
  • Sky: clear

Ecological

  • Spotted two northern sea lions with brands on them. The bigger one seemed to have 76Y branded on it, although the “7” was a bit undefined. The smaller one had three circles branded on its side. I assumed this was a brand, although in one of Anne Stewart’s log posts she mentions “cookie cutter shark scars” so perhaps this sea lion has three of those in a row?
  • Chunk and Chuckles spent the day in the same positions as yesterday.
  • Sadly, the weaner elephant seal on Middle Rock seems to be deceased. When I looked over there this morning I saw 8 bald eagles and blood stains all over the rock. I assume that one of the males killed it in the night. The body must have washed into the water.
  • With that death, we are now 0/4 at Race Rocks with elephant seal pups for 2016; 1 pup killed accidentally and 3 weaners killed on purpose. Killed for what purpose we do not know.

Maintenance

  • Stacked more firewood today.
  • Hauled some very large logs off the ramp. They seemed like small boats.
  • Had some troubles getting the YSI to turn on, so I took the sea water samples the old fashioned way first, before finally getting the YSI to work.

Boats

  • No boats in the reserve today.

Scratches on Chuckles

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 0-10 knots N
  • Water: rippled
  • Sky: sunny

Sunset in the West

Ecological

  • Chunk and Chuckles were both on Great Race today.
  • Chuckles had several fresh cuts and scrapes on his back. My guess is he has been fighting with Chunk at night, although all the females are gone now, so mating seems to be irrelevant to the fighting?
  • As far as I can tell, the weaner is still on Middle Rock. If the males leave it alone that will raise the odds of survival.

Maintenance

  • Hauled some massive logs off the ramp.
  • Removed half the old firewood in the west shed on the Energy Building and re-stacked closer to the main house. Replaced with newer firewood for curing.

Boats

  • One fishing boat floated out by the jetty for a good while as the occupants admired the lighthouse tower. They left at a good slow speed.

Census and 3rd New Weaner

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 20-30 knots NE, later 15 W
  • Water: 2′ chop
  • Sky: overcast with showers

Ecological

  • Chunk and Chuckles were both on Great Race today, but I saw no interactions.
  • The mother is gone on Middle Rock, making her pup a weaner.
  • Conducted a census.
  1. California Sea Lions: 75
  2. Northern Sea Lions: 32
  3. Harbour Seals: 6
  4. Elephant Seals: 3
  5. Seagulls: 300
  6. Cormorants: 299 (142 on Great Race, of which 87 were Double Crested, 28 Pelagic, 8 male Brandt’s, and 19 unidentifiable to me. 157 on North Rock, too far away to identify.)
  7. Black Turnstones: 39
  8. Surfbirds: 18
  9. Canada Geese: 18
  10. Black Oystercatchers: 13
  11. Harlequin Ducks: 8 (6 male, 2 female)
  12. Bald Eagles: 3 (2 adults, 1 juvenile)
  13. Crows: 3
  14. Ravens: 2
  15. American Pipit: 1

Maintenance

  • Hauled logs off the ramp.
  • Checked the diesel in the tidy tank.

Boats

  • Didn’t see any boats near the reserve today.