Monthly Archives: August 2026

Still waters

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Wildlife notes

The sea lions are never still or quiet and there are constant arguments and interactions. Even within the piles or rows of sleeping ones there is more movement than I expected. It is a fluid scene and a bit like watching clouds, where you need to look away for a bit to appreciate the change.  The new wet ones that come in from the water shake things up as they clammer over the mostly unresponsive sleeping bodies. In these large groups they seem to tone down their sensitivities to being touched or climbed on.  This morning I watched a startled lone sea lion bolt up when a gull chick touched its flipper.

I find they are most beautiful in the light of the rising or setting sun when their browns and oranges are highlighted.  I’ve tried to capture it with my phone camera.

Not too long ago this piece of shoreline was a great place to watch the Coast Guard black oystercatcher chicks and the harbour seal moms and pups. Today in the early morning sun I watched the breath and moisture evaporate off the sea lions. The large sea lion in the foreground is spread eagle on its back, rear end facing the camera. One could run out of ideas naming their many sleeping positions.

Facility work

  • cleaned solar panels
  • fence repairs at the Jetty
  • tallied fuel and water supplies and worked on the month end report

Vessels

There were humpbacks around today and it was a busy day on the water.

  • Ecotourism: 30
  • Private: 6
  • Jet ski with two people

Weather

  • Mostly clear, becoming cloudy in the evening.  Winds calm to 10 knots, direction variable.

August 2026 Seawater Data

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DAILY SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE AND SALINITY OBSERVATIONS
Institute of Ocean Sciences, North Saanich, B.C., V8L 4B2
Station: RACE ROCKS
Observer: Eva/Christine Month: Aug
YSI ID: #9 Year: 2026
YSI YSI
Temp Sal
Day Time ºC ppt
1 16:37 10.5 31.8
2 16:57 10.4 31.8
3 17:38 11.2 31.7
4 18:16 11.2 31.5
5 7:20 10.9 31.4
6 8:09 11.2 31.2
7 9:18 11.4 31.0
8 10:27 11.5 30.9
9 11:48 11.4 30.5
10 13:55 11.3 31.2
11 14:09 10.5 31.8
12 14:52 10.7 31.7
13 15:37 10.4 32.0
14 16:17 10.7 31.8
15 16:56 11.2 31.6
16 17:31 10.9 31.8
17 18:06 10.6 31.9
18 18:43 11.1 31.5
19 7:19 10.8 31.6
20 8:16 11.2 31.4
21 10:13 11.7 31.4
22 11:34 11.8 31.1
23 12:28 11.5 31.2
24 13:13 12.3 31.0
25 13:53 12.2 30.9
26 14:29 11.4 31.4
27 14:58 11.3 31.5
28 15:23 11.5 31.4
29 16:39 11.7 31.5
30 16:30 11.1 31.7
31 16:34 11.1 31.7

August 30 Census

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Mammals:

  • California sealion: 457, nearly all on Great Race Rocks (July 25:17)
  • Stellar sealion: 205, half of which are on the outer islands (July 25: 29)
  • harbour seal: 136
  • humpback whales: 6

Birds:

  • gulls: >2200 including chicks
  • cormorant: 73
  • black oystercatcher: 2  (July 25: 14 plus 5 chicks)
  • pigeon guillemot: 3 (July 25: 234)
  • black turnstone: 4 (July 25: 113)

A lot has changed here in the past month. I have included some of my last census numbers from a month ago to highlight the differences.

The sea lion population has exploded and I expect it will continue to grow in size.  It is much louder here and their stench is overpowering.  The amount of guano has also increased. It is not just the rocks along the shore line that are painted white, it is now all the rocks and walkways. You can’t open a window in the house with the combined aroma of the sea lion scat and the guano. The only somewhat fresh smelling air is at the top of the light house.

The harbour seal pups have been weened and can’t be obviously identified by their size or proximity to their mothers. I also could not locate the oystercatcher chicks so they may have fledged or been pushed off the beaches by the sea lions to stretches of the outer shore I can not access or observe.  The pigeon guillemot have mostly left. One of the three I saw today had a meal in its beak so there may be one chick left in a borrow somewhere. There are also very few shorebirds.

Unfortunately the good camera left the island yesterday. I will only have a cell phone camera so the I’ll be selecting things large enough, slow enough or close enough to photograph.  You will be seeing a lot sea lion photos until the good camera comes back.

A large Stellar sea lion with some California sea lions south of the Energy building many meters above the shore line.

The pile up on the boat ramp. I sent them away when it was time to get the sea water readings. I saw one climb right over the electric fence unbothered so I figure it is best to send them along before the situation gets worse. They’ll either get fed up with moving or become harder to move (i.e. accustom to my idle threats).  I hope it is not the latter.

Facility work

  • topped up the battery fluids
  • the generator ran for during the day, so I did not clean the solar panels.
  • ran the desalinator for 8 hours, produced 600 L of fresh water
  • did a load of laundry of bedding and towels
  • patrolled the electric fence

Vessels

  • Ecotourism: 28
  • Private: 11

Weather

Overcast. Winds westerly 9-15 in the morning, west-south-west 8-17 in the afternoon. Daytime temperatures 12 to 14 degrees.

A New Moon

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Last night’s full moon and near-complete eclipse was certainly a sight to see! Alas it was a tricky business getting a clear photo in the wind.

It’s my last night on the ecological reserve. Before leaving to come here, a friend asked how I could bear to live alone for such a long time. I jokingly replied, “I won’t be alone, I’ll have more than a thousand neighbours out there!”

And truly, this has been one of the liveliest neighbourhoods I’ve had the pleasure of being a part of. Whether watching the chicks grow from wobble-kneed balls of down to crazy crash pilots, seeing a sea lion stuck so long in a painful bind finally be freed, or learning to notice and know the whales that pass by- every day has been filled with hard work and wonder. Over the past month I’ve learned so much, from fixing facilities while dodging the liquid assaults of protective gull parents, to wildlife photography and the daily curiosities of marine mammals.

Without taking up too much space on the log, I’d like to express my gratitude to everyone at Pearson College, the ecoguardians, researchers, sponsors, supporters and all those who lend their time, talent and treasure to make this space possible, and the peoples of the Salish coast, long stewards of this land.

 

Wildlife Notes

Discarded down from the fledgelings has settled all over the island. Not even the strong winds have been enough to sweep them all away yet! Their white summer snow is dotted here and there with stray tufts of fur from the molting sea lions.

On a slightly less fun note, I noticed this sea gull chick didn’t seem too wary of my presence when I stepped back to take a photo of the new jetty fence configuration. It was definitely alive, but not running away even though I was only a few feet away at the time. When I came back around after a few minutes, it had died. I don’t believe that any of the adults nearby came to attack, and I wonder what may have caused its death- I’ve heard mention of widespread die-offs previously when the gulls were unable to find enough fish and were feeding their chicks with contaminated garbage. I hope this is not a repeating trend.

 

Facility Notes

  • Cleaned panels
  • Refueled Generator / oil check
  • Final deep clean of main house
  • Reconfigured jetty electric fence

 

Weather

Cloudy, with periods of clear skies. Winds mostly West by Northwesterly, from 15 to 26 knots. Temperatures from 13 to 17 degrees.

 

Vessels Observed

Ecotourism: 16

Private: 2

A Breathtaking Morning

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What a breathtaking sunrise we had this morning. I was hoping for the forecasted rain to help chip away at the uppermost layer of guano settled every across the rocks but was greeted by a multi-layered rainbow instead. Incredible!

At times the enchantment of this place is found in its proximity, the rumble of a Steller’s roar felt through your feet as you walk along dodging new fledglings and protective gulls, or the hot breath of a California sea lion observing from a rock below as you head down the jetty. But so much wonder is also in its openness to the elements. The flicker of a whale’s presence, the shifting, moody clouds of the Salish Sea, and sometimes even a glorious sunrise touched by each end of the visible light spectrum.

Wildlife Notes

Another calm morning sea revealed a whale sighting! I’m beginning to wonder if I’m having confirmation bias and labelling everything humpback because it’s the most easily distinguishable species to me after orcas- to slow with the camera but I drew out a few quick sketches to keep the shape of the dorsal fin in my mind for double checking against identification guides. I’m still pretty sure it was a humpback! It also took two deeper dives, plunging out of sight for a longer while after a show of impressive tail flukes.

I spotted a new tagged sea lion while taking the seawater sample, but didn’t quite manage to catch the number. The quickly fading light and distance weren’t in my favour- but perhaps tomorrow I’ll get another chance.

Facilities

Yesterday’s cloudy skies meant the batteries drew down just before the sun and a good cleaning could keep levels up so the generator kicked on at around 7am this morning. I ran the desalination pump for a few hours, hoping to leave Christine with a solid supply of freshwater for her arrival Saturday afternoon.

The rest of the day has been continuing to deep clean the main house, and packing up for the next adventure.

Cloudy day on the rocks

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Another whale sighting this morning! There’s been so much activity in the area lately. It was hard to tell from the distance, but I’m pretty sure it was the humpbacks again.

Facility Notes

  • Cleaned panels
  • Repaired fence
  • Tidied up main house
  • Pantry inventory

Last night’s winds did a number on the perimeter fence- I was using the old materials and patching them with wire for most of the repairs to conserve the new strands for the September reconfigurations. One or two less carefully secured patches gave out, and there were some sections that just needed replacing altogether. Time to retire some of the older wire and put in new strands for the season.

 Weather

Intermittent clouds, West-by-Southwesterly winds between 11 and 21 knots. Temperature from 13 to 16 degrees.

Vessels Observed

Ecotourism: 21

Private: 2

Whale Sightings

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Wildlife Notes

Whales! I was mesmerized by the sight of humpbacks off to the Southeast in the early morning. Thanks to the surrounding calm glassy waters all afternoon, I caught a few more glimpses throughout the day. The wind picked up towards the end of the day, making them harder to pick out. I’m still learning, but this page by Our Wild Puget Sound is great resource for becoming familiar with the surfacing patterns and shapes and sizes of the most commonly sighted whales in the area.

Facility notes

  • Cleaned panels
  • Tidied up in tank shed
  • Response kit inventories
  • Mended electric fence sections

 

Weather

Smoky calm morning, with mainly Northeasterly winds around 2 knots picking up to 25 at night. Temperature from 22 to 25 degrees.

 

Vessels Observed

Ecotourism: 19

Private: 4

Small projects

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Wildlife

Nothing out of the ordinary, today was filled with the usual shenanigans of newly fledged gulls crashing about and quickly taking off from surrounding nesting sites and sea lions wrestling around the outer edges of the rocks. The gulls that have found themselves suddenly sharing their space with much larger, equally vocal neighbours seem to be tolerating the change of scene as best they can. Every once in awhile, I’ll catch sight of a disgruntled exchange between a sea lion and the gull that has been forced to land on its back for lack of any bare rock around.

 

Facility notes

  • Washed panels
  • Greg and Richard came by to refuel tank in shed, install a buffer at the end of the jetty to prevent lines getting chewed by the concrete when tied up. My first time drilling into concrete- what a fun learning experience!
  • Weeded walkways and removed small driftwood debris from jetty entrance

Weather

Sunny, hazy skies. Shifting winds from WSW to NNE, from 9 to 25 knots. Temperatures from 13 to 16 degrees.

Swollen Chick

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Wildlife

Today I noticed a strange swelling of the neck on this chick. It’s not unusual to see chicks with various injuries from wandering too close to another adult or running in a panic from intrusions into their own nesting site- swollen or missing eyes in particular. Christine’s post from earlier in the nesting season points out a few of the noticeable injuries around. This one is new, and looks serious! The chick doesn’t seem to be impaired otherwise, and is alert and feeding. I’ll keep an eye on it for the next while and see if the swelling improves at all.

In other news, the sea lions seem determined to battle for the jetty! Twice today I came down to find different sections of downed posts and warped fence wiring, and a handful of cheeky haul-outs where they should not be. By the time I went to fix the cracked post at the end of the jetty, it was starting to get dark. A quick reset will have to do for tonight, tomorrow I’ll have to rethink the current setup.

Facility notes

– Cleaned panels

– Washed windows

– Tidied inside student house

– Tidied inside main house

– Fence maintenance

 

Weather

Cloudy, winds mostly from the Southwest from 9 to 18 knots, early morning gusts up to 23 knots. Temperatures 12 to 17 degrees.

 

Vessels

Ecotourism: 19

Private: 1