Daily Archives: Saturday,September 19, 2026

Preparing for the Change of Watch

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My 10 days on Race Rocks in coming to an end. Its been a great learning experience and I have enjoyed the animals (most of them). Tomorrow Christine will return and the sea lions can test some else’s patience. I’ll miss my friends that lay at the top of the ramp. I can walk right past their noses and they don’t move. However, if I tell them they need to move, they will. They are probably the most trained seal lions regarding where they are allowed to go.

These are the regulars. Sometimes the noses are right at the line.

Started the day the usual way with running the generator and cleaning the solar panels. The panels were a bit more dirty this morning. I have been trying to corelate the amount of soil vs. the weather. Do the seagulls spend more time on the panels on a calm day vs a windy day? Does the sun or cloud cover affect their roosting? I haven’t found an answer, but it’s good research.

Greg stopped by later in the morning to tour some guests around the island. Michael Pearson (grandson of our namesake Lester B. Pearson) and his wife Kerry Buck (retired Canadian diplomat, formerly Canada’s Ambassador to NATO) are in town and the College wanted to show them the Ecological Reserve. After their island tour they went around the reserve to view the outer islets. They picked a great day for a tour; the weather was warm and the sun was shining.

And what would a Saturday be without a census. After spending a week with these mammals since the last census, I can pretty much tell the California Sea Lions from the Steller Sea Lions. I was surprised when I walked around the island looking for shore birds and found the Black Turnstone hiding place. They seemed to multiply throughout the day.

Mammals:

  • California sealion: 476, plus ~164 on the outer islets
  • Stellar sealion: 94 plus ~54 on the outer islets
  • Harbour seal: 32
  • Humpback whales: 3 inside the reserve, there are many more outside throughout the day

Birds:

  • Gulls: 339 plus 132 on outer islands
  • Cormorant: 377, more may be just out of view
  • Black turnstone: 109; I found where they like to hide
  • Savannah Sparrow: 6
  • Other shorebirds: 3

Facility work

  • Clean solar panels
  • Run gas generator
  • Fence repairs in a few places
  • Removed concrete forms

Vessels

  • Ecotourism: 23
  • Private: 6

Weather

Sunny throughout the day.  Winds 9 to 16 knots, predominantly West. Daytime temperatures 12 to 14 degrees.