Daily Archives: Friday,July 11, 2025

Race Rocks ER #97 Warden’s Report May 2025

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Ecological Reserve warden Garry Fletcher went out to Race Rocks in May  2025 with Laurag Verhegge and Isabelle Groc on the new Pearson College Boat with College staff Richard and assistant and  electrician Jordan Cole  .,

At the mouth of Pedder Bay near the small island on the north side we came across a sea otter foraging for crabs. This was a great opportunity for Isabelle to get some good photos for her project she is doing on Sea Otters.

On our arrival at the Ecological Reserve,  we were greeted at the jetty by the Ecoguardian hired by Lester Pearson College, Christine Chourmourzis. Christine will be there through  the next few weeks in July . I might add that I have appreciated her excellent coverage of events at Race Rocks in this log for this website, and she has been an effective warden in looking after the operations on the island.

 

Isabelle Groc and Pearson College Marine Biology teacher Laura Verhegge

7One female elephant summer has stayed on the island for the summer, normally they have all left by now and return later in the year. she is moulting now.   one photogenic California Sea lion also greeted us on arrival.

Chriistine  has also discovered several new plant species on the island . showed these to me and i have posted them on iNaturalist where they can be seen at the following link: Eventually they will get their own page in the Biodiversity section here.

I was not able to find any Romanzoffia or mist maidens in one of their usual spots but the long ago introduced Turkish gladiolus has spread to a few new locations East of the Ecoguardians residence.

 

The Glaucous winged gulls were in full nesting mode and one agressive adult even knocked my hat off while I was on a sidewalk.

One nest contained eggs of different colours .. iI am not sure if that is normal.

records are not being recorded on the Davis weather instrument and after a full cleaning some sensors are still not recording so we are looking into that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

we will be asking BC Parks for a replacement of the ER sign , I has withstood the harsh environment for a good length of time now but is showing wear and missing one section.

 

 

 

Christine did the seawater measurements while we were there, A probe is lowered of the end of the jetty to a metre depth every day near high tide These records are submitted monthly to the Institute of Ocean Sciences at Pat Bay. This link provides the seawater récords for past months .

https://racerocks,ca/tag/seawater-data/

 

One of the ecotourism boats passed by while we were there . In a past agreement made with the ecotourism companies and BC Parks, boats are required to stay in the centre of the channel in order to comply with regulations for marine mammal viewing .

 

I noticed that the concrete and wood refuse left in piles from previous construction and repair work that was supposed to be taken off the island by a BC Parks vessel are still there after many reminders by Pearson College staff.

iPast warden’s reports are at this link

https://racerocks.ca/category/er-warden-report/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 11 Census

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Mammals:

  • Steller sea lion: 1* on Middle Rock
  • California sea lion: 1
  • Harbour seal: 181 plus 3 pups (July 4: 54 adults, one pup, June 27: 258)

Birds:

  • Gulls: 1309* (July 4: 514)
  • Pigeon guillemot: 57* (July 4: 163)
  • Cormorants: 28
  • Bald eagle: 3
  • Black oystercatcher: 18 adults (only saw 4 chicks today, likely 10 or more)
  • Harlequin duck: 2
  • Surfbird: 21
  • Black turnstone: 45
  • Ruddy turnstone: 1
  • Western sandpiper: 6
  • Short-billed dowitcher: 1

Wildlife seen this week inside the reserve but not observed today is one humpback whale.

* Notes on census numbers

  • The Stellar sea lion on Middle Rock is likely injured. It is too far away to properly observe or photograph well from Great Race Rocks. I reached out to Eagle Wing Tours who will be photographing and observing the animal over the weekend.

    Stellar sea lion on Middle Rock.

    Stellar sea lion on Middle Rock. Photo taken by Eagle Wing Tours, July 10.

     

  • The pigeon guillemots count today is not reflective of the actual numbers living and nesting on the island. The count from June 19 is more representative.
  • There was an exceptional number of gulls on the islands today and yesterday. The visiting gulls are a mix of adult and immature California, glaucous-wing, Western and Heerman’s gulls. I have broken down the total count of 1309 gulls by location
    257 – South Islands
    345 – Seal Rocks
    4 – Middle Rock
    151 – Great Race Rock, on the periphery beyond the area with gull nests
    552 – Great Race Rocks, inside the nesting area

Part of one of the South Islands covered in gulls.

Wildlife notes

The pigeon guillemot chicks are hatching. I have viewed several nests and the chicks vary in size.

Pigeon guillemot in burrow with chick (in the blue circle). Burrow is near the boat ramp, taken July 10th.

Pigeon guillemot chick in burrow. Burrow is south of the CODAR tower, taken July 11.

The Energy Building oystercatchers have no more eggs on the nest. They had two eggs until July 5 and a single egg was present until today (5 to 6 day period). The parents have remained on the beach in the rocks near the nest. It is possible that both have hatched but I have not been able to spot any chicks. The Keepers House oystercatcher pair have two chicks that hatched several days apart and their chicks are still obviously different in size. Their first chick hatched June 28th and the mother remained on and near the nest until July 3rd. There is about a months time between when the East Beach oystercatchers and the Energy Building oystercatcher eggs hatched.

Facility work

  • cleaned solar panels
  • weeding

Vessels

  • Ecotourism: 17
  • Private: 4

Weather

Moderate westerlies in the morning with periods of fog. Wind strengthening to gale force gusting 40 knots by evening. Daytime temperatures: low 10, high 16.