Monthly Archives: June 2016
Busy Week -end for the gulls
Weather
Saturday:Wind:20 knots Westerly breezes stayed almost the whole day,Visibility : over10 miles;Forecast:30 knots in the afternoon,Sky clear to cloudy;Sea state :choppy.
Sunday:Wind : between 17th and 25 knots for the most part of the day and a gust around 30 knots in the evening at 9:00PM. Sky : clear
Ecological
Gull incubation is happening right now. You can see laying female almost everywhere with their protecting mate . I guess more gulls are coming because it looks to me that it was more crowded last year. Only 2 geese this WE: the couple with the incubating female .. More pigeon- guillemots (some mating) and a few Steeler Seals (5)on the rocks closed to the jetty. 10 Elephants Seals at night …the 2 large males and even the bad looking one always in the same spot closed to the solar panels building. Her skin is not so pinkish so her condition has maybe improved.
Boats
Saturday:A few whale watching boats today . The usual cruising boats going out in the sunset.
Sunday:Early in the morning a tug hauling a big barge with a mechanical pele on, going towards Sooke ,Vancouver Island side. Many many whale watching vessels:5 at a time around noon and even one of them came back 5 times in the same day.
Maintenance
Chainsaw:filling up and sharpening. Some wood shopping for the reserve.Cleaning of the jetty (with the sea water pump and hose :a lot of fun !)soiled by the Sea lions living there almost all the time . They even get so much used to us that it’s difficult to make them dive when we have to get fresh water for the sampling . Solar Panels
Other
Plane heard maybe not above the Rocks but not far .
Quiet day
Weather:
Wind:12.4 knots southwest ;Sea:flat;Visibility at 5:00: to 10 miles;sky: clear. Very sunny day.
Boats
Like usual especially when it’s flat and calm many eco-tour vessels going back and forth even in the evening at sunset.
Maintenance
This week the water sampling has to be done very late around 9 PM
Other: We went to Victoria for some errands and especially to buy some fabric:We would like to put some curtains on the windows ; First in the eco-guardians house and later in the student house.
Census day
Weather
g 5:00 17 knots West wind;Visibility:10m;Sky:cloudy,Sea:Wavelets,white caps.In the evening 8:00 PM. A gust of South wind ,very local ,not expected brought an heavy rain that clean our windows and the solar panels!
Boats
Intense traffic the whole day in the strait and around the Rocks …eco-tour boats more than 30 for sure! We got call from Amatuana coming back from its trip . We had a look on it.
Ecological
7 elephants seals back from fishing at 7:00AM.(9 on the main Rock at night) Census done during the whole day. We were lucky to see for a second like in a dream a humpback whale, tail outside the water. The flowers are almost done this year ..so early if we compare with last year…I found a dead gull .
Visitors
Kyle brought some stuff,took back some barrels,went to check the whaler engine with Guy. A tool was needed to do the job so we will go to the college tomorrow.
Maintenance
Guy emptied completely the diesel barrels in the tank of the main house.. He looked at the yellow cistern:old pipes ,hoses and lines need to be removed pretty soon. With Kyle they looked at the best way to put the new ladder on the jetty.We weeps the alley and did the solar panels. Guy modified the outside pipes for the eco-mar toilets :he put an elbow shape pipe to let the air in but not the rain…Eco-mar toilets are working perfectly well.Heavy duty oven cleaning done …
Census
Harbour seals: 103
Seagulls :around 350
Canada guess:5
Californian lion seals :20
Stellers :0
Black oystercatchers:10 birds and 3 nests found
Elephant seals:9 and none on the other Rocks
Humpback whale : 1 (one today and another one this week at the green boyd) on the south side
Orcas : a few this week
Harlequin ducks: 1
Other
What do you think about this I found today (Yogi tea bag): “You are the sky the rest is just the weather”..Made my day!
Efficient solar panels
Weather
At 5:00 Wind:30 knots West wind;Visibility :5miles;Sky:cloudy;Sea:Wavelets and white caps.At 7:00:30knots, 8:30:34k, 9:30:40.6k,1o:30:30.6 and rain.In the afternoon it became sunny giving a intense blue to the ocean..gorgeous with the white heads everywhere and the currents…The water temperature was 9.8 and the salinity 33.5.
Ecological
The elephants Seal at least 8 of them spent the day sleeping on the grass but the young one were pretty nervous ..May be the wind?
Maintenance
House cleaning
Trimming of the rusty iron bolts where the old ladder was attached the jetty.
Filling up of the water tank.It’s full. The pump has been running for 11 hours. This needs to be done every 8/9 days. We have been here for a week and we never used the generator even if the pump worked for so long. Thanks to the solar panels. They are working really well but it’s really important to keep them cleaned all the time. It works and it’s free.
Guy finished to empty the house tanks barrels
Solar panels
Boats
No one to 10:30,one big fishing boat heading against the wind,one whale watcher around noon by a 35 knots wind and later another long and fast one by 36 knots wind! A Canadian coast guard boat going towards Sooke very slow in the Sunset.
Other
DND activity: 3 blasts (2 strong ones)
Gale Warning
Weather
At 5:00AM Wind:17 knots from West ,Visibility:8 to 10 miles,Sea:choppy. At 6:30 no wind and foggy :Horn on.Wind getting Southwest and raising later.Gale warning in effect for the night.Air temperature at 5:00:12.5 degrees celsius.and 9.5 at dew point.From 6:30 to 1:00 the horn has been honking despite the 18 knots wind.All the sudan it was pretty foggy on one West/North side but totally clear on the South side of the rocks and just the time to spot a humpback whale fishing around the green boyd:beautiful scenery.a little too far for good pictures.In the beginning of the afternoon we could observe some large patches of fog but later the wind picked up to 30 knots and no fog anymore for the day.
Ecological
When we had finished with the solar panel cleaning I went around looking for the nest Riley was speaking about,the one we couldn’t find with James the other day .Finally I found it with 2 eggs in it an by the way I discovered a hatching goose and the male close by.She was amazingly hidden and protected by 2 rocks and hard to see…so that means that we have 5 geese instead of 3 and maybe more pretty soon. Guy saw on South Rocks 5 huge Steeler sea lions and one had the word ROB on its left side.No time to get pictures ,they jumped hastily.
Did you have a look on the oystercatcher nest? beautiful especially by night !
I realized that I have seen no pelagic cormorants this year. 12 elephant seals in the morning on main ;none on the other Rocks.We will do the census as soon as the weather will be good enough.
Boats
7 to 10 eco-tour boats and the first one not before 11AM. Around 18:00 a big US coast guard vessel at the border line.
Maintenance
We restart the new camera connection.
Guy finished to repaired the starboard corner of the whaler :water infiltrations in the hule in that spot.
I brought to date the freezer. Windows need attention as soon as possible !
Oystercatcher Cam – Race Rocks Ecological Reserve
Recently James and Max from the It Department at Lester Pearson College have set up a live camera to follow the development of one of the Black Oystercatcher nests with two eggs in the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve. The camera had infrared night vision, so this samople of night behaviour was captured, see the video below taken at 11:30 PM June 6 2016
Other references and images of Black Oystercatchers at Race Rocks can be found at these links:
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| The Black Oystercatcher with more videos and pictures in the Gallery of the Race Rocks Taxonomy | All entries on this website tagged with Black Oystercatcher: |
48 knots gust of wind!
Weather
At 5:30AM 25 knots west wind;Sea :wavelets and white cups,Visibility :+10 miles,Gale warning for Noon.Fog on the american coast 1st time in a week. No real change to 2:00 in the afternoon. At 1:40 fog is coming towards us…rushing for my earplugs (the best wax kind ). At 2:00 the wind pick up at 29 knots and the fog got pretty thick and was at 150 meters from Great .First 3 notes of the season at 2:48 !!!
The wind forced up regularly from #5 knots at 3:45 to 39 at 4:30 to reach a pick of 47.8 at 7:50. We were (I mean the house) shaking!!! At 9:00 the wind was down around 30 knots
At 7:27 A Mae West at the radio VHF on the 16 ,Problems around Jericho Beach.
Boats
A big eco – tour boat at 8:30 PM with a 40 knots wind.
We saw a big fishing boat heading up towards Sooke against the wind in the afternoon.
Maintenance
House cleaning jobs
Yellow tank ( generator) filled up to full.
Starboard corner being rebuilt in fiberglass (Water infiltrations )
Solar panels.
Other
Finally I managed not perfectly but…to put some “not so good pictures “on the log. I will get used to this beautiful but very heavy camera.
Water sampling: Because of the wind we did it a little bit later but the tide was still rising to midnight. the water was colder than the days before and the salinity a little bit higher.
Calm and beautiful week-end
Weather
Saturday at 5H30
Wind: East wind,4 knots to 0.4 later
Sky :clear
Visibility:+10 miles
Sea like a mirror
Ecological
The same 3 geese on the main lawn.
The old or sick elephant seal finally went to the water. at 10:00 .It took her a long time but she managed…
Gulls are getting more aggressive ; Proof:one tried to poop on me ! The whole day was hot and the elephants spent the day in the water…The old /sick one came back to her favorite spot.In the evening we had 13elephant seals on Great Race Rocks.
Vessels
No eco – tour boats to 1:00PM because of the tide I guess…3 cruising ships in a row going out slowly from Victoria in the sunset…That means that around 5000 people could have looked at The Rocks at the same time…scary!
Maintenance
Guy took out the boat for a checking . We did a short trip to the college . Everything OK but the spark plugs need to be changed so a kit has been ordered.
Sunday
Weather
At 5:30: Wind :North 6 knots,Sky :clear ,Visibility:over 10 miles,Sea like a mirror. Around 7PM the wind got stronger to 30 knots at 9:30 PM.It was expected.The direction changed to Southwest/West.
Boats
Many recreational fishing boats at the entrance of Pedder Bay and between East Sooke and the First Nations territories.Again cruising boats closed to the american coast leaving.
Other
Small plane above at 9:45 AM.
1st week of June 2016 ‘s pictures
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- Camera 3 being installed
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- Black Oystercatcher
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- Max
