Pam Birley of Leistershire England has regularly photographed this harbour seal which she named 6-spot , since 2008.. Their lifespan is 25-30 years.
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- 6-spot – first photographed at Race Rocks in 2008
Monthly Archives: September 2018
CODAR installation for Race Rocks
Juan de Fuca _CODAR_backgrounder
Today Guy drove me out to Race Rocks with Kevin Bartlett, Marine Equipment, Specialist with Ocean Networks Canada. They had installed equipment earlier in the year but had ro change the frequency of broadcasting before it is operational. Kevin was making repairs, one being fixing the conduit at the base of the tower which had been disturbed by sealions. When this equipment is fully operational it will give acurate current vectors for the eastern entrance of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
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- CODAR antenna
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- Conduit with cables from Antenna to transmitters
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- Sea lions had snapped off this conduit at ther base of thew antenna. We reattached and built up rocks around it to prevent reoccurrence
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- Transmitter and receiver in Science house basement
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- I removed this iron peg which could be a hazard where the sea lions haul out and learned the hard way about gyroscopic precession a disc grinder ..ooops
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- California sea lion in the area.
Sample from a similar station now in operation:
It was has been noticeable this year that instead of hauling out on the neighbouring islets of the Race Rocks Archipelago, the sealions are hauled out entirely on the main island of Great Race Rock. They have heavily impacted the vegetated areas .
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- Northern ( steller) sea lion, also a branded one in this photo, haul out near the docks and on the isthmus under the light tower
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- California Sea lions have occupied much of the main Island.
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- Upper tidepools of the southwest knoll have been heavily impacted by sealion excrement
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- Some damage by sealions to the aboriginal burial cairns
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- Main burial cairn eroded on top where the three concrete anchors were found a few years ago
Branded sea lion
Pam Birley sent these photos today that she took on the remote camera5:
Visitors and census
Weather
- Visibility: 15 Miles
- Wind: 0-10 NW
- Sky: Overcast
- Water: Calm
Boats/Visitors
- Guy came by with Garry and David a Pearson alumni for a little visit
- There are still plenty of ecotours around, also a lot of whales, I don’t think the ecotours are giving them enough space when they are cruising by
Maintenance
- The fence is holding up very well, I still need to extend it though
Ecological
- No elephant seals at the moment, haven’t seen any for a few days
- saw two humpbacks today and an eagle so that was nice
- the geese are also back today, they come and go day by day
- not as many californias but even more stellars
Census
- California sea lion – 311
- Stellar sea lion – 264
- Harbour seal – 70
- Elephant seal – 0
- Cormorants – 44
- Seagulls – 297
- Black turnstones – 12
- Fox sparrows – 6
- Geese – 8
- Eagle 1
- And I suspect 1 sea otter is in the north kelp bed
ER Wardens Report, Sept.21
Today, Guy Ouradou from Pearson College drove me out to Race Rocks Ecological reserve with David Obura, Pearson College alumni from Kenya year 10. The main change since I was there last was the predominance of California sea lions over most of the island. Northern sealions occupied a small portion of rock near the docks and the isthmus below the light tower. Each year the college has to put up an electric fence to prevent the sealions from invading the centre of the island which can result in damage to conduits, and facilities.
Laas adjusts the electric fence on the south side of the house.
A new fence system is being installed this year, which has so far proven to be very effective. Another aspect of the sealions being on the centre part of the island is that they have been damaging the structure of the rocks arranged in the areas of the aboriginal burial cairns. The big change in sealion distribution is that previously they have concentrated on West Race Rocks, North Race Rocks and the south Islands off the tower. This year there are none out on those islands and they are all on the main island.
CODAR antenna and sealions
I also was able to observe the equipment installed by Oceans Network Canada for CODAR. Hopefully we can get a connection to the output of the data obtained from this equipment when we neet with Kevin Bartlett from Ocean Networks Canada next week on Sept 28.
Earlier this year, Lester Pearson College upgraded the solar batteries which have served for the past 11 years. New inverters were also installed.
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- Storage batteries
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- New control panels and inverters for the Solar panels
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- New storage batteries
Leaving the island we have to deal with a dock full of sealions which have returned since our arrival.
A lot of Whales
Weather
- Visibility: 15 Miles
- Wind: 5-20 NW
- Sky: Partly Cloudy
- Water: Waves under a metre
Boats/Visitors
- Plenty of ecotours around today
- Guy also came by, we moved more of the old batteries out today
Maintenance
- Ran the desalinator and the generator when the clouds came in, late afternoon
- moved out some of the old batteries
Ecological
- saw a small pod of killer whales around north rock, about 7 of them late morning, early afternoon
- saw another pod around sunset, south of the island but not too far out
- also saw humpbacks, one or two near both pods
- there have been killdeer hanging around and the geese came back today
Blasting
Weather
- Visibility: 15 Miles
- Wind: 5-15
- Sky: Partly Cloudy
- Water: Flat Calm
Boats/Visitors
- Quite a bit of boat traffic, many ecotours, fishing boats and sailboats
- Guy came by, we junked out the generator room a bit and he gave me a training session on the winch, soon I should be able to take the whaler out by myself
Maintenance
- Had to repair the fence a couple times today, hope to extend the fence all the way to the helicopter pad as soon as I get more stick and pegs
Ecological
- The Geese were around today
- no elephant seals in sight
- the blasting from the DND base was scaring the sea lions
- also there were quite a few killdeer puttering around
Census and so many sea lions
Weather
- Visibility: 15 Miles
- Wind: 0-10 NW
- Sky: Overcast
- Water: Calm
Boats/Visitors
- Guy, Greg and Travis came by to help finish putting up the fence and also fix a couple things in the house
- Still a lot of ecotours cruising by each day
Maintenance
- The fence is up and working better than the old fence for keeping the sea lions out of certain areas
- the washer is now also working, which is great for me
- had to run the generator quite a bit today, the batteries have been running low
Ecological
- About a hundred more sea lions than there were last weak
- also seems to be more gulls and harbour seals
- havent see the geese around today
- also a sea lion with garbage wrapped around its neck, will contact the right people and keep an eye on him
Census
- California sea lion – 371
- Stellar sea lion – 184
- Harbour seal – 77
- Elephant seal – 1 female , there was another female but she left a couple days ago
- Cormorants – 30
- Seagulls – 486
- Black turnstones – 25
- Fox sparrows – 12
More Sea Lions
Weather
- Visibility: 15 Miles
- Wind: 10-20 SW
- Sky: Cloudy
- Water: Calm
Boats/Visitors
- Mostly ecotours going by
- Guy and Travis also came by today to help me with the fence, which is almost completely set up
Maintenance
- Had to run the generator for quite a while today, the batteries have been getting low with lack of solar input, its been pretty foggy on and off lately
Ecological
- I will have a better idea tomorrow of how many sea lions there are but I would guess around 500 right now, about 100 more than last week
- only one female elephant seal around today, havent seen the smaller one since last night
River otters and Fences
Weather
- Visibility: 0-15 Miles Foggy until noon
- Wind: 0-10 NW
- Sky: Cloudy
- Water: Flat Calm
Boats/Visitors
- There were still plenty of ecotours even through the fog that covered the island all morning
- Guy and Greg came by today and we put up the electric fence to keep the sea lions away from the generator room and the guest house
Maintenance
- Putting up the electric fence and running the generator a bit to make up for the lack of sunlight this morning
- Guy also brought me fuel today so we topped up the diesel tank
Ecological
- Found the body of a river otter today near the tank shed, it doesn’t look very old but it was definitely squished
- Still two female elephant seals but no others have shown up
- Seems like there is more and more sea lions everyday