Monthly Archives: November 2025

Getting ready for the cold

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Ecological Notes:

  • Still no Elephant Seals
  • Snow Goose is still here

  • Daily visits from Eagles hunting Gulls
  • Smaller sea otter reported to me by an Eco-Tourism vessel

Visitors:

  • Greg and Richard from shorefront team
  • Service Tech
  • Students from Pearson College each weekend

Facility Work:

  • Another clean up of dead birds…… mostly Eagle predation, but a couple of “healthy looking” birds as well
  • Service Tech came out again for the hot water system in the main house
  • Some weeding accomplished in the hollow in front of the water tank
  • Ongoing fence repairs
  • Battery fluids maintained
  • Delsalinator run when ever the generator was running during the day
  • Students from Pearson College helped with the animal census and laying out the hose to fill the cistern with salt water

  • more firewood split to stock it up for the colder weather coming! Thank you Richard for the platform for the wood splitter, up off the floor and now able to keep face away from the mechanism while using

  • Set up, flushed, and then ran the water pump to start filling the cistern, will need more as the tide ran low

DND events:

  • a few blasts earlier in the week, disturbing the Sea Lions and birds

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Some Eco-Tourism and educational vessels
  • Some private vessels, including Kayakers, and a small dinghy

  • 1 Spill Response Vessel transiting 

  • All behaved responsibly 

Weather Events:

  • Thursday, November 27:
    • Sky: Overcast, with very brief sunny periods
    • Wind: NNE 25-30kts
    • Sea: 3-5 waves, hitting the pier heavily 
    • Temperature Low 8.1oC, High 9.6oC
  • Friday, November 28:
    • Sky: Clear in the morning,gradually becoming high overcast as the day progressed, tempest system report slight rain during the night
    • Wind: NE winds, 5kts in the morning, rising to 18kts by mid afternoon 
    • Sea:  remained light chop as when the wind rose, it was tide with wind
    • Temperature Low 8.1oC, High 10.4oC
  • Saturday, November 29:
    • Sky: High overcast
    • Wind: NE 10-15 kts
    • Sea:  light chop 
    • Temperature Low 6oC, High 8.2oC
  • Sunday, November 30:
    • Sky: Clear all day
    • Wind: ENE 15kts, dropping to 5kts mid afternoon
    • Sea:  light chop 
    • Temperature Low 6oC, High 8oC

 

 

** Any wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Animal Census for Saturday, November 22

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Count aided by Pearson College students

 

Birds

  • Bald eagle adult                               1
  • Bald eagle juvenile                            3
  • Turnstones                                    12
  • Gulls                                              304 
  • Cormorants                                 468
  • Oyster catcher                                 6 +plus a large group flew overhead 40+
  • Canadian goose                             13
  • Snow Goose                                     1
  • Pigeon Guillemots                                4

 

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                               434
  • Harbour seal                                     27
  • California sea lion                          645

First week back

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Ecological Notes:

  • Difficult to count without disturbing them, but observations from the rock, and previous observations from the water show many more female sea lions, and nursing pups present
  • Elephant Seal female was seen on the outer rocks for the first couple days, not been seen since
  • Although there were 2 when I first arrived, now there is just 1 Snow Goose present

Visitors:

  • 2 Education classes from Pearson College stayed here, 1 set each weekend
  • Shorefront crew delivered me, and supplies to the reserve
  • IT tech, and 2 contractors to service the propane systems

Facility Work:

  • Students from the college helped with the animal census
  • checked battery levels, checked overall fuel levels
  • added some fuel to the main house furnace tank
  • IT person reset the switches on the starlink system to give direct internet access (it has been running through the original college system)
  • Crew serviced the propane valves and hot water systems  on both the main house and the student/science house
  • Shorefront staff helped moved fuel and cut firewood blocks
  • Used the Hydraulic woodsplitter for the first time 
  • Currently, the propane water heater in the main house is not firing up…. working with shorefront coordinator and techs to solve

DND events:

  • A few blasts Monday, scheduled for ongoing this week … noted more disturbance from the sea lions than I have noted in the past (maybe as it it earlier in the season, there are more “new” ones here)

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 3 Eco-Tourism vessels
  • 1 education program vessel with a few visits ( these are run by one of the Eco-Tourism companies, but separate from the regular tours)
  • Various private vessels, including kayaks, and a small dinghy, have visited the reserve, all behaving properly

Weather Events:

The standard mix of fall weather no extremely high winds, minimal rain over night, mostly clear with cloudy patches

  • Saturday, November 22:
    • Sky: clear with light haze, overcast later in the day
    • Wind:  W 25 kts 
    • Sea: rippled  with very little chop, becoming 1-2 ft chop later in the afternoon
    • Temperature 10oC

 

 

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Animal Census for Saturday, November 15

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Count aided by Pearson College students

 

Birds

  • Bald eagle adult                               2
  • Turnstones                                     23
  • Gulls                                              197 
  • Cormorants                                   225
  • Oyster catcher                                  6
  • Canadian goose                             14
  • Snow Goose                                     2

 

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                               525
  • Harbour seal                                  18
  • California sea lion                          700
  • Elephant seal female                    1(?)
      • possible on outer rock

A short stay

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It has been almost four months since I was last here in July. Things have changed considerably. The water making system is operational and with an ample supply of water and student help, and the hard work of the waterfront staff and Ecoguardians, the buildings, walkways and decks have been scrubbed clean and the weeds are under control. The place looks fantastic!

The vegetation is green and all evidence of the summer nesting season chaos (gull nests, egg shells and chick corpses) has been blown away. The number of gulls is greatly reduced. The pigeon guillemots are absent. The cormorant population has exploded. A group of thirty plus oyster catchers were seen but they have given up on their evening fly abouts. The Canada geese are back and a lone snow goose.

East Beach is no longer covered with hundreds of turnstones and surfbirds. The beaches and rocks now belong to the sea lions and they make sure you know it. They would take over the entire island if it weren’t for the electric fence and removing them from the boat ramp when I collect the sea water data is a daily battle.

Noses in the air, refusing to move

Sea lions on East Beach

Sea lions on the west shore

With the gull population, and their rain of excrement, dramatically reduced, my summer morning ritual of cleaning the solar array has been replaced with electric fence patrol and repair. During my short stay from Nov 10 to 14, I have been occupied with fence upkeep, general cleaning, battery maintenance, getting firewood and transferring diesel.

Cutting rounds in the sunshine on Tuesday

An electric log splitter was delivered on Wednesday. I had mixed emotions, having a fondness for splitting wood but I am over it. It is an amazing new addition and sure made fast work of the splitting.

It has been a great short visit to Race Rocks. I am grateful for the opportunity to experience this incredible place at this time of year.

DND Activity

Several blasts on Nov 13 caused minor disturbance to the sea lions.

Facility work

  • electric fence repair
  • battery fluid levels
  • cutting and splitting rounds of firewood
  • diesel delivery – 530L

Vessels

Nov 10 – ecotourism: 3
Nov 11 – ecotourism: 4, private: 4
Nov 12 – ecotourism: 2
Nov 13 – ecotourism: 0

Weather

The weather has ranged from crisp sunshine to high winds with driving rain.

Nov 10 – partly cloudy, W gusting 37 knots, daytime temp 10 -11
Nov 11 – partly cloudy, veering from SW to E 10 knots, daytime temp 8 – 10
Nov 12 – cloudy, NE 6-12 knots, daytime temp 9 – 10
Nov 13 – overcast, rain, W 3-27 knots, daytime temp 9 – 11

Last day!

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Today was my Last day here on Race Rocks for the Year!

Spent the day tidying things up, and getting ready to pass on the torch to Christine who is coming over tomorrow morning.

The students and I also pulled up a huge log to be chopped up for the winter. There is a new wood splitter that will be soon be delivered, that will hopefully make short work for of it!

As always, I have had an amazing time here, and I am so thankful to Pearson College for keeping this place running. It is truly a privilege <3

See you next Year :)

Facilities

  • Cleaned Pathways
  • Re-rigged Tidy Tank
  • Collected logs
  • Cleaned main house
  • Swept tank shed

Weather

  • Sky: Sunny
  • Sea State: Calm
  • Wind: S 3kts
  • Air Temp: 9C

Bluebird Day on the Rock

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It has been an eventful couple of days here. Yesterday Richard came by with a new group of students here for the weekend. They are here to do some data collection for various marine science projects, and they also helped me with chores all day today!

They also removed all the grass growing up between the cracks in the sidewalks, and cleaned all the windows on the island!

Amazing students doing my work for me :)

Richard also brought along my MOM yesterday!! She is in town for a week, and it lined up perfectly with the students weekend, so we have been having a great time! She even helped me with the census today!

Counting seagulls!

Census

  • Stellar Sea Lions: 446
  • California Sea Lions: 419
  • Harbour Seals: 24
  • Elephant Seals: 1 (Female)
  • Seagulls: 250
  • Cormorants: 230
  • Canada geese: 7
  • Snow Geese: 1
  • Turnstones: 10
  • Bald Eagles: 2

Today the students and I also noticed some new injured sea lions. These have now been reported.

Facilities (Since Thursday)

  • Ran Desal (~600L)
  • Cleaned Pathways
  • Sprayed south side of student house
  • Filled Generator
  • Checked and Refilled Batteries
  • Swept lighthouse platform and stairs

Weather

  • Sky: Sunny
  • Sea Condition: Calm
  • Wind: E 5kts
  • Air Temp: 9C

Algae Updates

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Last night was pretty windy on the island, with winds exceeding 25 kts. This extended into the morning with super high tides, and large waves building in the currents in middle channel.

I spent the day doing little tasks, and thought it was prime time for an update on the endless battle against algae.

Facilities (Yesterday and Today)

  • Refill batteries
  • Check Battery specific gravity
  • Cleaned main house basement

Weather

  • Sky: Partially cloudy
  • Sea State: Large chop (~3ft)
  • Wind: SW 25kts
  • Air Temp: 10 C

Cute stellar babies

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Yesterday Greg brought over a group of 8 students for a night in the Student House. They made themselves right at home and baked a bunch of delicious bread!

I went over for the evening, and was greatly entertained by the shenanigans of High School students.

Playing Catan on the New Couch

Today, I weed-whacked and cleaned up the edges of all the pathways on island, and I got very distracted by all the cute little stellar families chilling on the South Seal Rocks.

 

Facilities

  • Fixed Fence
  • Sprayed Boat shed and tank shed
  • Filled Generator
  • Ran Desal
  • Weedwhacked
  • Cleaned Pathways

Weather

  • Sky: Partially cloudy
  • Sea Surface: Wind Chop
  • Wind: NE 10kts
  • Air Temp: 8C

 

Census Day

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Though the day started out quite wet, It cleared up nicely for the census.

Census:

  • California Sea Lion – 371
  • Stellar Sea Lion – 408
  • Harbour Seals – 5
  • Elephant Seals – 1
  • Canada Geese -13
  • Snow Geese – 2
  • Seagulls – 238
  • Cormorants – 455
  • Bald Eagle – 3
  • Turnstones – 3

Facilities

  • Weedwhack the pathways
  • Battery fluid levels checked and refilled
  • Fixed the fence
  • End of Month Report