Monthly Archives: March 2016

Eco-Guardian Outreach

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Weather Information

It was a beautiful day, calm with lots of sunshine until the fog and fog wind came in from the west in the late afternoon. The westerly rose quickly to 30 knots, gusting to 35 knots as the light faded. There is a gale warning in effect and although it is supposed to come down to 10 – 15 overnight the westerly is expected to rise again late Friday afternoon. The forecast calls for sunny skies with some fog patches. Today the UV Index was just over 4 (moderate) and tomorrow it is expected go higher, to 5 (moderate). Today the barometric pressure went up, from 1016 to 1018 HPa, then back down to 1016 HPa.

Vessel Observations

I picked up Riley this morning in the whaler and then spent most of the day ashore returning in the late afternoon with Alex just before the fog and wind. I was not here most of the day to observe vessels. Second Nature made a visit and delivered 4 barrels of fuel in the morning. On return in the late afternoon, there was one ‘sportsfishing’ vessel trolling in the area closed to fishing. It was enveloped in fog soon after our return.

During the time ashore today, I worked with a group of grade 7 students from the Victoria school district. These students are taking a year-long marine studies program and were very lucky to be able to spend most of today’s school day, studying plankton, marine invertebrates, algae, birds, physical oceanography and marine ecology in the lab and on the foreshore at Pearson College. Thanks to Project Wild, Kelly Nordin and Kathryn Cook, Monterey Middle School parents and Laura Verhegge for making this great learning experience happen.

Ecological Observations

There are still Northern Elephant Seals on Middle Rock and it will be interesting to see how many during tomorrow’s animal census. The Steller’s Sea Lions were sound asleep on South Rock as the fog rolled in late afternoon.

The eagles and gulls continued their deadly game of chase. One goose nest was found with three freshly laid eggs, in front of the student house. This nest is the first of the season.

Solar energy was high and contributed significantly to the island’s power needs, today.

 

Flowers, Birds, and Stuff

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 0-5 knots East, later up to 20 from the West.
  • Sky: sunny
  • Water: calm
Blurry like a painting 2

Blurry like a painting!

Ecological

  • I believe there are at minimum 3 elephant seals out on Middle Rock, perhaps 5.
  • The seagulls continue their coupling and courting.

Maintenance

  • Added 36.5 gallons to the tidy tank from the one remaining diesel barrel.
  • It now has just under 82 gallons in it; should be good for a while.
  • Scraped the rust off the empty barrel and spray painted it blue.
  • Cleaned the solar panels.

Boats

  • One mostly empty eco-tour came by in the morning.
  • Lots of small fishing boats around the reserve today.
  • Only one passed through to my knowledge.

Almost empty eco-tour

One50Canada Photo Shoot

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Weather

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

The Sunset

Ecological

  • Seagulls woke me up at 6:00, something that never happened in February.
  • Had an easier time shooing away the Canada Geese today.
  • The river otter was out exploring and rolling around. It delighted the visitors.

A pair of seagulls

Maintenance

  • I helped Chris and Kyle install the new wifi “distributor” at the top of the tower.
  • Later I tidied up the extra cord, searched for outdoor rated Cat5 (unsuccessfully) and measured out the distance required for the future permanent cord. Twenty-five feet if you’re interested!
  • Cleaned the solar panels.

Boats

  • Two eco-tours came by at around 11:00.
  • Second Nature docked on the jetty at 11:00 and departed at 13:00.

Visitors

  • Chris came by in Second Nature with Kyle (a new dock hand) and a group of three from the One50Canada project.
  • Their names are Martin Gregus, Martin Gregus Jr. and Elena Gregusova.
  • The two Martin’s are trying to make the largest documented collection of photos and information about what Canada is like in the years around 2017, her 150th year of independence. The final project will include a massive coffee table book.
  • They were interested in all aspects of the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve.
  • They took photographs of and asked questions about the mammals, birds, lighthouse, other buildings, vintage Coast Guard equipment, First Nations rock formations, etc.
  • If you are interested in learning more about the One50Canada Society, check out their website at: http://www.one50canada.ca/index.html

The One50Canada family

Sunny Day Back on the Rock

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Log Entry by Riley Strother

Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Sky: sunny
  • The mercury hit 11C today (which is over 50F!) so you know it was a warm day.

Ecological

  • Spent 30 minutes in the morning chasing the Canada Geese off the island. I did so by walking around the perimeter of the island, and every time I completed a loop the original pair would have returned, necessitating a further loop to invariably chase away some other returned pair.
  • Eventually I only had to walk about once per hour to scare off any geese that had returned. By the evening there only remained one persistent pair near the Students’ House.
  • As Anne has noted, there are lots of gulls and they take to the sky at the slightest swoop of an eagle.
  • It looked to me as though there were 4 elephant seals hauled out on Middle Rock.
  • Several times today the sea lions seemed agitated by the boats that perhaps got a bit too close. They generally chose to bark rather than stampede though.
  • I saw the river otter in the afternoon, my favourite Race Rocks character. It’s good to be back. Thornton W. Burgess should write a book about him/her.
Agitated Sea Lions

Oft’ agitated Sea Lions

Maintenance

  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • Settled back in to the house for my short stay.

Boats

  • As befits a beautiful statutory holiday, there were many boats about today.
  • Anne dropped me off in the Whaler in the morning.
  • Five eco-tours came through the reserve to look at the sea lions.
  • The Prince of Whales came by two times. The first time they appeared to be speeding through the SW part of the reserve to join up with the catamaran.
  • The large Eagle Wings catamaran came by twice.
  • An unidentified black eco-tour came by in the late afternoon.
  • One pleasure craft with a family on board passed through the South Channel, which is definitely too close to the sea lions.
  • Two fishing boats came by. The first one seemed too close to the sea lions. The second one appeared to be going too fast.
  • The Pacific Scout pilot vessel passed to the north of the reserve.
  • The Sir Wilfred Laurier patrol vessel passed to the south of the reserve.

Other

  • Got a phone call from a wrong number; someone asking for Mike. That seems rather unusual.

Nothing Subdued About a Westerly Gale

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The west wind came up sometime after midnight and was already blowing 25 to 30 knots at 04:00 in the morning. The wind rose more with the sun and blew 35 gusting to 40 most of the morning and early afternoon. Late afternoon it dropped to 25 – 30 knots. Although there were showers and some very dramatic looking thunderheads, west wind also tends to bring good weather and the barometer which had taken a dive overnight, spent the day climbing out of its hole. The forecast calls for the wind to drop to light after midnight.

Except for large sea-going vessels, sea conditions around Race Rocks and the central Juan de Fuca Strait area were unsuitable for safe boating. No small vessels were observed in or out of the Ecological Reserve today.

There were eight or nine Bald Eagles here today and as usual the gulls would all lift off when the eagles they passed over the flock. A smaller, more compact bird of prey that flew and behaved like a Peregrine Falcon but had a reddish tail like a Red-tailed Hawk made the gulls extra nervous this evening as the sun was setting. The light was not good enough to get a good look at it except to note that it was an exceptionally agile flyer in the heavy winds and from top view it had reddish, burnt sienna-coloured tail. It would swoop through the vegetated area about a half-meter off of the grass; pick up speed and then wheel up into the flock of gulls. The hawk (?) falcon landed on the rock beside camera five, a vantage point, then peeled off backwards with the wind as an eagle approached. It was almost half the size of the eagle.

It was a day dominated by wind and that is perhaps why the big female Northern Elephant Seal left early this morning. Other pinnipeds continued to haul-out as usual.

Sunshine powered the desalinator again today. The system’s media filter was back-flushed, rinsed and refilled and the 20-micron cartridge filter, replaced with a clean one. Other chores were more routine, such as fighting entropy. There were no visitors.

 

 

 

 

 

A Subdued Day on the Rock

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Light northeasterly winds and grey skies made for a subdued day. The barometric pressure dropped a little, from 1020 to 1010 hPa. The forecasters are calling for a westerly gale starting after midnight, with showers and a risk of a thunderstorm.

Five whale-watching vessels were observed working in the protected area today and there were lots of sports fishing boats in the area, not fishing in the Fisheries and Oceans conservation area.

The usual Saturday dive charter was operating in the protected area and had his divers in the water on the ebb tide. They were picked up over by Turbine Rock.

Ecologically, more migrants are passing through each day. More Dunlin were spotted today, all with two legs. There were larger numbers of Black Turnstone and Surfbirds today as well. California Sea Lions are hauling out on Great Race again now, a little too close to the house for a quiet night. Geese are starting to arrive in the middle of the night too and they always do a lot of honking on touch down.

Work was mostly cleaning up and packing for a few days away. If the weather cooperates, I will head home tomorrow and Riley will take over until March 31st. I look forward to reading Riley’s blog.

 

 

Classic Spring Day

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Weather Observations

Today was quintessentially spring. It was already getting light at 05:30 and although there were a few clouds around during the day, it was sunny all day. The UV Index reached almost four, which is rated as moderate. Accumulated solar energy for the day in Langleys was the highest day this week at over 450. (One Langley = 11.62 watt hours per meter2.) Winds were 5 – 20 knots from the west until evening, when they switched to light easterly breezes. There was a significant ocean swell late in the day. The barometer was steady most of the day at ~ 1020 hPA. The marine forecast is calling for light winds becoming easterly 10 to 15 knots early Saturday morning.

Vessel Observations

There were seven visits by whale-watching vessels into the Ecological Reserve. Except for getting too close to the rocks and wildlife, most operators followed the regulations and were careful. The same company that is problematic almost daily has a new larger vessel that sped in the Reserve twice today. The company was notified. Not all vessel operators in this company’s fleet behave badly however the reputation of the company will suffer with a hothead at the helm and so will animals involved in collisions. One speedboat broke down between Great Race and South Rock. The engine cover was off and they were drifting (slowly). I asked them if they were okay and they said they were fine. Soon after, the two-stroke sprung to life in a cloud of fumes and they motored off towards Pedder Bay. An Oak Bay Marine Group vessel followed one of the whale watchers in behind South Rock today and then sped out of the Protected Area. Pedder Bay Marina was advised although they are able to track their boats so can tell where the vessel is and how fast it is going.

Today was animal census day and the results follow.

2016 25-Mar
River Otter 1
Northern Elephant Seal 2
Harbour Seal 72
Northern Sea Lion (Steller’s) 78
California Sea Lion 176
Canada Goose 2
Harlequin Duck 12
Surf Scoter 0
Common Merganser 1
Brandt’s Cormorant 42
Double-crested Cormorant 71
Pelagic Cormorant 43
Cormorant (not ID’d to species) 75
Bald Eagle (juvenile) 7
Bald Eagle (adult) 2
Killdeer 4
Black Oystercatcher 12
Black Turnstone 30
Surfbird 6
Rock Sandpiper 1
Dunlin 2
Mew Gull 0
Glaucous-winged Gull (+ Xs in nesting area) 558
Glaucous-winged Gull (+ Xs outside of nesting area) 529
Thayers Gulls 0
Calfiornia Gulls 11
Western Gull 1
Common Murres 0
Pigeon Guillemot 93
Northwestern Crow 2
Fox Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Red-winged Blackbird 1

Maintenance

Chores were routine, plus tank shed reorganization and basement clean-up. Month-end report started.

Sunlight levels excellent for making water, doing laundry and charging batteries.

 

 

83rd Day of Gregorian Calendar

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Today was a more dramatic day featuring strong westerlies, 25 -30 with gusts over 35 knot, lashing rain, dark horizon lines and brief periods of brilliant sunshine. The barometric pressure has been rising since the westerly started last night and reached 1019 hPa by early evening. The forecast is for westerly winds of 20 to 30 knots diminishing to westerly 15 to 20 this evening and to light Friday morning. Friday has a sunnier look and the UV index is forecast to be 4 or moderate.

No whale-watching vessels were observed working in the area today and it would have been miserable for those on deck if they had been out in this weather. No boats were seen in the Protected Area today.

Migratory shorebirds continue to take rest, food and shelter on Great Race. Today I had the opportunity to observe two feeding on (?) above the inter-tidal but in a ‘rich’ spot occupied by hundreds of sea lions in the fall. The cormorants and sea lions switched rocks today. I am not sure how the various haul-outs are chosen by the different species but see the changes.

The large, female Northern Elephant Seal (nick-named Beulah) got really energetic this morning and moved about 15 meters. She is now stretched out beside the walkway to the Eco-guardian’s house.

Today was animal census day but the weather was so bad that I am going to do it tomorrow. Harbour Seal haul-outs almost all have breaking waves so few hauled out; very windy and rough.

There wasn’t enough light to run the de-salinator today but there was enough to take a few photos. No visitors today. Chores were routine.

Beulah Rolls Over

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Winds were light and variable today under cloudy skies with occasional showers. Tomorrow has a similar forecast, partly cloudy, 40% chance of showers with the strong west wind warning continued. The barometric pressure reached 1020 hPa in the early hours of the morning and then dropped to 1012 by dusk. The wind materialized with rain after dark, gusting over 30 from the west.

Only two whale-watching vessels were seen today and neither was in the reserve. To the northeast of Victoria, J-pod (Resident Killer Whales), a Minke Whale and Transients (Bigg’s Killer Whales) were a draw for the whale watching fleet.  Two sports fishing vessels cruised through slowly.

Nothing to much report ecologically today other than spring is progressing rapidly. The female Northern Elephant Seal (Beulah) made the huge effort of rolling over today. That was it for activity there. Bald Eagles continue to fish and hunt birds in the reserve. The River Otter showed himself again today, near the derrick and within a meter of a small gaggle of geese. The River Otter was busy rubbing his scent gIands all over the grass there and then went into the sea and swam off in the direction of North Rock. From the scat, it looks like a fish diet, lots of scales and medium sized fish bones. I continue efforts to persuade the geese to nest on Vancouver Island. Seals, sea lions and cormorants rest, roost and dry out on the rocks. Glaucous-winged gulls, Black Oystercatchers and Pigeon Guillemots all make preparations for parenthood.

Pearson College divers, under the supervision of Laura Verhegge, visited this afternoon in Second Nature. They did a dive with three groups of divers, during the flood, in the back eddy by the jetty. Some of the students were ‘over the moon’ about their experience and really enjoyed the colours and rich sea life. They wanted to continue exploring even when it was time to go. Others were in ‘a little over their head’ and glad to be back on board. Great leadership and teamwork brought out the best in everyone. A very small sea lion appeared to enjoy having students to investigate and some of the students noticed.

No photos today, sorry, technical problems with camera.

 

Big Beulah Back

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Today’s winds were light, southwest in the morning and west with showers in the  afternoon. Peak force was during the sombre sunset at 22 knots from the west. The UV index was less than 2.5 even during the greatest period of sunshine mid-day. The barometric pressure rose steadily all day and had levelled off at 1017 hPa as dusk settled down.

Four whale watching vessels were observed operating in the Protected Area today. Three out four travelled slowly and respected the regulations; the fourth sped leaving the Reserve by traversing half of its length at top speed. I am curious if it is the same person every day. It is the same company but they have multiple zodiacs that look the same from a distance. I don’t want to think it is an engrained part of the culture in that company to operate in an irresponsible way. It is certainly not sustainable.

A large, female Northern Elephant Seal came ashore. She was dry at dawn and there was no wet trail on the path leading to her napping spot, so I assumed she came ashore early last night. She is the first back since Chunk, (the pup killer) left a few weeks ago. She seems to be in fine form with no wounds, only old scars. Her girth is magnificent and she has an organically hydrodynamic shape. What an amazing creature of the deep.

The gulls on the island are taking advantage of big boils of forage fish coming up with the turbulent currents. This morning as I was cleaning the solar panels on the energy building roof, most of the  500+ gulls gave the call for food, vacated the island and high-tailed it directly to a mixed species, feeding flock frenzy. This evening, fish bone remains can be seen around the island in fresh bolus balls left by the gulls.

The Bald Eagles continue to fish during the day and make the gulls nervous at dawn and dusk. I wish they had that effect on Canada Geese.

The River Otter showed itself today, waddling up past the derrick and heading in under the old platform which is where I am sure they have a den.

Sunlight levels were higher than they have been for the last few days. Insolation peaked at over 650 W/m2, enough sunshine to run the de-salinator for three hours, using only solar power.

Chores were routine and there were no visitors.