Monthly Archives: May 2016

Windy Grey Day

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles, later on 10
  • Wind: a relentless 30-40 knots West
  • Sky: overcast, occasional showers
  • Water: 3′ chop

Ecological

  • 17 elephant seals on Great Race
  • Most of them spent the day huddled in a big pile; warmth is good!
Flowers saved from the weed eater

Marigolds saved from the weed eater

Maintenance

  • Did some weed whacking.
  • Too windy to paint.

Boats

  • 3 eco-tours came by today.

Eco-tour in choppy water

Flipper Tag 5086

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots West, later 0-5 South
  • Sky: clear and sunny
  • Water: calm
  • Temperature: Just a match under 16C (60F)

Ecological

  • Got a better view of the tagged elephant seal today. The tag reads: 5086.
  • Apparently she was born at Año Nuevo in 2011, the daughter of G2234, an 8 year old born at Año Nuevo in 2003.
  • She was last documented at Race Rocks on April 22 2012.

E-seal tag 5086 Lone cormorant and seagulls

Maintenance

  • Took out all the remaining Canada Thistle with the weed-eater.
  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • Began painting.

Boats

  • A couple of small pleasure craft came by today.
  • One boat appeared to be only a few yards from the sea lions on South Rock.

Boat and sea lionsToo close to the sea lions

A Visitor From Afar

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10-15 miles today. At times quite hazy.
  • Wind: 15-25 knots West
  • Sky: clear and sunny
  • Water: 1′ chop

Ecological

  • Conducted a census today.
  • Found a tiny dead harbour seal on the rocks.
  • A flock of geese arrived in the late afternoon.
  1. Harbour Seals: 91
  2. Northern Sea Lions: 35
  3. Elephant Seals: 22 (17 on Great Race, 5 on Middle Rock)
  4. California Sea Lions: 20
  5. Seagulls: 275
  6. Pigeon Guillemots: 130
  7. Canada Geese: 20! (although for much of the day only 10)
  8. Black Oystercatchers: 8
  9. Harlequin Ducks: 3 (2 females, 1 male)
  10. Cormorants: 2
  11. Bald Eagle: 1
  12. Rock Sandpiper: 1
  13. Unidentified large bird on Middle Rock; Owl?: 1

Maintenance

  • Removed lots of algae from the boat house.
  • (Re)discovered that the pressure washer does not work.

Boats

  • About 4 eco-tours came by today.
  • Chris dropped off and picked up my friend Greg O’.

Visitors

  • Greg O’, the tree scientist of Vernon, came by in the afternoon for a 3 hour visit!

Greg O come for a visit!

Other

  • A couple of big DND blasts in the afternoon.

Thick Foggy Day

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10 miles at 5:30, down to 1/4 mile from 8:00-early afternoon. Back up to 10 in the evening.
  • Wind: 10-15 knots West in the morning, up to 25 in the evening.
  • Sky: fog everywhere! Fog horn went off continuously from 5:30-2:30.
  • Water: rippled, 2′ chop in the evening.

Ecological

  • 17 elephant seals on Great Race today!
  • I think the 2 new ones are from Middle Rock, where only 2 remain.
  • Counted 88 harbour seals on Turbine Rock.
  • A rather subdued day for all the animals today. I suspect the fog had an impact.

Maintenance

  • Re-attached the gasket on the door of the wood stove. It had been partially pulled off by an errant log last time I made a fire.
  • Weed whacked more thistles and stuff.

Boats

  • Zero boats because fog.

Pretty Average Day

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Great view of Mt. Baker and the Olympics today.
  • There appears to be a very small fire across the water in Washington.
  • Wind: 5-10 knots West, up to 20 in the evening.
  • Sky: clear with a view clouds.
  • Water: mostly calm

Ecological

  • The usual 15 elephant seals on Great Race today.
  • I enjoyed watching them play on the ramp.
  • Some of them just lie there and occasionally splash water onto their backs with a flipper. Very handlike those flippers of theirs.

Maintenance

  • More weed whacking. Took out lots of the Canada Thistle.
  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • Investigated the pressure washer for future use.

Boats

  • At least 5 eco-tours today.

Other

  • A few DND blasts today.
  • The detonations occurred farther to the West than usual.

Smokey bang!

Marine Sciences Field Exam

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots West, in the evening up to 20.
  • Sky: clear
  • Water: calm

Ecological

  • The 15 elephant seals were slower down to the water today, perhaps due to the influx of students.
  • One California Sea Lion spent most of the exam at the end of the jetty, unfazed by all the activity going on. Quite unusual for a sea lion!
  • All manner of barnacle, shell creatures, and algae plant things were examined today by the Pearson College students.

Visitors!

  • Approximately 30 folk from Pearson College made their way out to Race Rocks today.
  • This included Laura Verhegge who was running the Marine Sciences field exam, Johanna who was observing Pearson’s instruction techniques, one 2nd year student, one alumni, Chris, and 25 or so students.
  • The first group arrived at 8:15, the final group left at about 12:15.

Maintenance/Chores

  • Weed whacking.
  • Algicide application. Photo shows before scrubbing.
  • Safety observation and hosting of students during exam.
  • Ran the desalinator.

Algae before

Boats

  • The Ocean River Kayak Discovery Shuttle and Haiaku each took two trips of students to and from Race Rocks.
  • On the return voyage the tide was very low, and the sea lions were in the way, so the shuttle boat “docked” against the rocks on the NE part of Great Race.
  • At least 4 eco-tours came by the reserve today.
  • Saw a nice red sailed sailboat to the north of the reserve.
  • One boat spent much of the day fishing on the edge of the reserve.

Doing some Chores

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 15-20 knots West, later up to 35.
  • Sky: mix of sun and cloud
  • Water: 3′ chop

Ecological

  • 15 elephant seals on Great Race.
  • Quite social and entertaining today. Some of them even trying to follow me around, though they didn’t like the noise of the weed eater.
  • About half as many Canada Geese on the island today!

Maintenance

  • Did some more weed whacking along the paths.
  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • Stacked some firewood.
  • Cleaned part of the students’ house with algicide.

Boats

  • 3 eco-tours today.
  • 1 rented pleasure craft was seen fishing to the East of Great Race, quite likely within the reserve area where no fishing is allowed.
  • The photos I took aren’t the best. I spied them fishing with the binoculars before I could grab the camera.

 

Strong Gale

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 0-5 knots W in the morning, by 14:00 it had jumped to 40+ knots.
  • The highest reading I saw was 48 knots, which is no longer a “strong gale” but a “storm”.
  • Sky: clear in the morning, dark clouds by evening.
  • Water: initially calm, but the wind kicked up massive waves!
  • Forecast: looks like more gale tomorrow.

48 knots winds! stormy waters!

Ecological

  • 15 elephant seals on Great Race.
  • A few California Sea Lions on the jetty today.
  • One lone crane fly was attached to a window for the second day straight. The gale blew it away.
  • The same elephant seal who blocked me outside yesterday tried the same trick again! Only this time I was already inside, so I wisely used a different door.

Maintenance

  • Goose work.
  • Weed eating. Or “whacking” if you prefer.

Boats

  • 6 eco-tours today.
  • 1 small pleasure craft had what appeared to be a family with young children fishing in the reserve. They departed very quickly before I could identify their boat, perhaps realizing their mistake independent of me?

 

Blocked out of the house!

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 0-5 knots North, later 10-15 West
  • Sky: clear
  • Water: calm

Sunset last night

Ecological

  • 15 elephant seals on Great Race today.
  • For about an hour either side of noon, I was blocked out of the house by one elephant seal who insisted on sleeping against the door.
  • The two deck entrance doors to the house were both locked, and seem to require keys no longer on the main key ring.
  • One of the female elephant seals has a tag on her flipper: 980S (?)
  • Update 13 May 2016: the flipper tag was upside down. It actually says: 5086
  • A new flower has opened today, the beautiful red Gladiolus imbricatus.

Gladiolus imbricatus 2

Maintenance

  • Finished cleaning the outside of all the windows of the two dwellings.
  • Set up the new weed whacker.
  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • A bit of goose work.

Boats

  • At least 9 eco-tours came into the reserve today.
  • Didn’t get photos of them all, as I was blocked outside for some of them.
  • One small fishing boat was fishing to the east of Great Race; it looked like it might be just inside the borders of the rockfish conservation area?
  • Two fishing boats passed through the reserve at speeds that appeared to be too fast.
  • The first of these created a very large wake near the jetty; unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a photo of the peak wake.

Other

  • Two medium DND blasts today; 9:52 & 10:15~

SUP’ers and Census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 0-5 knots South in the morning, 15 knots West in the evening
  • Sky: clear and sunny
  • Water: calm

Ecological

  • Conducted a census.
  • Surprised I didn’t see any Black Turnstones today.
  • Saw one Northern sea lion branded 524R.
  1. Northern Sea Lions: 93
  2. California Sea Lions: 59
  3. Elephant Seals: 20 (15 on Great Race. 5 on Middle Rock)
  4. Harbour Seals: 6
  5. Seagulls: 355
  6. Pigeon Guillemots: 101
  7. Canada Geese: 18
  8. Black Oystercatchers: 10
  9. Harlequin Ducks: 6 (5 male, 1 female)
  10. Cormorants: 4
  11. Bald Eagles: 4 (1 adult, 3 immature)
  12. Rock Sandpipers: 2
  13. Crow: 1

Maintenance

  • Cleaned more exterior windows.
  • More goose work.

Boats

  • 12 eco-tours today!
  • Some of them appeared to get too close to the sea lions.
  • Three uninvited SUP’ers (stand up paddle boarders) came by Great Race today.
  • After a short rest and a quick chat I sent them on their way again.

Other

  • Five DND blasts today.
  • Two medium blasts at 10:13 and 10:15.
  • One big blast at 10:17.
  • Two medium blasts at around 12:10.