This is a temporary file to retain the Ecoguardians notes on marine animal observations from 2003 to 2011. Eventually I will get these placed IN THE WORDPRESS LOG  WITH a post for the specific date.
-1, ‘2003-01-01’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘large wading shorebird- – wimbrel?)- heavily brown markings down by winch house feeding in intertidal.’, ‘Garry’, ’20:37:21 ,

-3, ‘2003-12-25’, ‘Other’, 2500, ‘Thayer’s on Great Race and a almost as many in the water around middle and North Rock’, ‘Garry’, ’10:52:13 ,

-6, ‘2004-06-15’, ‘Other’, 8, ‘flew over Racerocks -west to east), looked very similar to Great Egrets which wander to s. Canada post-breeding ‘, ‘Garry’, ’13:59:13 ,
-7, ‘2004-08-12’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 2500, ‘2’, ‘Garry’, ’06:47:54 ,

-21, ‘2008-10-24’, ‘Orca’, 1, ‘One orca swam west-north-west past Great Race Rock breaching several times, then turned around at West Rock before heading south again.’, ‘ LBPC’, ’09:40:13 ,
-22, ‘2009-07-02’, ‘Orca’, 1, ‘Spotted breaching once passing through reserve E->W’, ‘Adam’, ’16:50:24 ,
-24, ‘2009-08-09’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 17, ”, ‘max’, ’20:00:02 ,
-25, ‘2009-08-12’, ‘Other’, 4, ‘Sea gull chick carcasses, in various stages of decomposition.’, ‘max’, ’19:14:13 ,

-32, ‘2009-11-01’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘My guests were up early for sunrise and captured video of an owl sitting atop the fog horn. I am awaiting a copy of the footage but it was a very large bird with rounded head. It was suggested it could be a Great Gray Owl.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:21:14 ,

-40, ‘2009-12-14’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ‘Slash who had spent yesterday on Middle Rocks has returned to Great Race Island and is joined by a small female -elephant seal) in the jetty area.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:21:50 ,

 

-46, ‘2010-01-12’, ‘Other’, 16, ’16 Bald eagles were spotted this morning here at Race Rocks. The morning started with 6 positioned around remote control camera 5 and I managed to snap a couple of close up shots with it.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:33:57 ,

-50, ‘2010-01-20’, ‘Other’, 1000, ‘The bast majority of the gulls in the area were observed feeding around the reserve boundaries this morning. A group of 800 was spread south from West Race Rock with another pocket of 200 gulls SW of Great Race Island. Two Bald Eagles are perched on North Race Rock, too far out of range to harass the feeding gulls.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:39:14 ,

-52, ‘2010-02-01’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 7, ‘A new adult female arrived on Great Race Island last night, so Misery ”s incessant vocalizations have not been in vain! This new arrival could very well be Bertha -Ninene”s mother) as she is cuddled up with Misery against the Energy Centre on the S side of the island. The last time they were sighted together was around October 31st, 2009.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:32:52 ,

-54, ‘2010-02-04’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 6, ‘The female elephant seal here on Great Race Island is Bertha -Ninene’s mother). She and Misery moved to the leeward side of the Science Centre and I was able to observe ID scar on her underside. She is heavily pregnant so a pup should be born here in the coming week -s). The pup on Middle Rock has not been sighted recently.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:46:04 ,
–
-56, ‘2010-02-13’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 4, ‘Misery was observed mating with Bertha today around 3, much less of a production than last year and the baby is keeping out of harm ”s way.’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:25:52 ,
-57, ‘2010-02-15’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘An American Robin was observed at 15:01 on the West lawn of the Main Keeper ”s residence.’, ‘Ryan’, ’14:59:44 ,
-58, ‘2010-02-17’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 5, ‘Slash and just one female are alone on Middle Rocks. It would appear the two females who had and lost their pups out there have moved on again. Last night was a rough night for our newest pup as Misery was trying to mate with it. Tooth marks on the pup ”s chin were evident a couple days ago, but now its baby coat is marred by 20cm scratches from Misery ”s sexual aggression.’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:45:00 ,
-59, ‘2010-02-17’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘A solitary Brandt was seen in the water about 100m south of Great Race Island. This area is largely protected from anything but a W wind, and is relatively unaffected by both ebb and flood currents. I have to date observed a total of 6 Brandts in this area and 1 on Great Race Island itself. ‘, ‘Ryan’, ’11:14:44 ,
-60, ‘2010-02-18’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 5, ‘The pup had its first bowel movement today and is steering clear of its mother and amorous Misery.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:18:53 ,
-61, ‘2010-02-19’, ‘Other’, 5, ‘A fifth Brandt joined the group here today. The calm waters and sunny day saw them explore the are between North and Middle Rocks.’, ‘Ryan’, ’22:22:50 ,
-62, ‘2010-02-19’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 4, ‘Slash appears to be all alone on Middle Rocks. Misery was very active today, mating several times with Bertha. The pup barely moved all day!’, ‘Ryan’, ’22:23:56 ,
-63, ‘2010-03-02’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 3, ‘The three named elephant seals are all on Great Race Island now. Slash has displaced Misery and is now seldom far from Bertha. The photography students at Pearson College were able to watch Slash move from the Helicopter pad base to Bertha’s side, mount and then eventually mate with her -all within 10 minutes of arriving!).Bertha shows much less reluctance to mate with Slash. Misery is now on the E side of the island next to the solar panels for the foghorn. Murray -who had filled in for me this past week) noted that Slash and Misery had fought briefly.’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:22:13 ,
-64, ‘2010-03-04’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ‘Misery left at some point during the night, now just Slash and Bertha on the island.I was told that a small female elephant seal was spotted at Maintenance back at Pearson College. That is well inside Pedder Bay, within 100m of the marina.’, ‘Ryan’, ’10:46:28 ,
-65, ‘2010-03-08’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘Slash came up onto the lawn early this morning -before 7) and spent most of the day sleeping there. About 3 hours before sunset he made his way back down to the water and was seen in the shallows around Middle Rock at 18:00’, ‘Ryan’, ’18:42:39 ,
-66, ‘2010-03-10’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 15, ‘A group of Steller sea lions has returned to the SE Rock haul out. The first animals arrived on Sunday and the group has grown to between 15 and 20 animals.’, ‘Ryan’, ’20:09:13 ,
-67, ‘2010-03-10’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘Slash continues to make his rounds between Middle Rock and Great Race. Quite a bit of effort hauling himself all the way up to the grass in front of the helicopter pad each trip. He spends time in the shallows vocalizing, though there are no longer any females around.’, ‘Ryan’, ’20:10:38 ,
-68, ‘2010-03-12’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 6, ‘Today was everywhere weather-wise, but cleared and was quite nice in the afternoon. 6 California sea lions were rafting near the SE rocks while 2 large Stellers kept the haul out to themselves.’, ‘Ryan’, ’12:42:26 ,
-69, ‘2010-03-15’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ‘Slash continues his trips back and forth between his haul outs. An unknown adult female was seen on the SE corner of Great Race on the rubble field that is a favourite spot for Harbour seals. Slash came to Great Race before midnight and vocalized for several hours.’, ‘Ryan’, ’01:49:20 ,
-70, ‘2010-03-17’, ‘Other’, 10, ‘The Rock Sandpipers have returned to Race Rocks on their spring migration. A small group was observed with Surfbirds and Turnstones on the E side of Great Race staying out of the wind.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:23:38 ,
-71, ‘2010-03-24’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ‘We have a returning visitor today, X201/202 a tagged female elephant seal is up on the island about 15m away from Slash. The only other female elephant seal to have ventured so far is Bertha, the mother of the two pups born here. Slash has been hauled out near the helicopter pad and has not moved for 5 days. ‘, ‘Ryan’, ’19:25:44 ,
-72, ‘2010-03-25’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 3, ‘Another female elephant seal arrived on the island today. She made two trips down to the jetty and back again spending most of the day on the end of the jetty. I recognize her as one of the females who was here late 2009 and about one year ago when she also spent some time moving up and down the jetty. Slash has turned 180 degree.’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:13:55 ,
-73, ‘2010-03-27’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ‘Slash left yesterday, the two females are still on the lawn in front of the Science Centre.’, ‘Ryan’, ’00:08:28 ,

-78, ‘2010-04-03’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 8, ‘A third young female arrived on Great Race Island last night and the 5 females on Middle Rocks stayed through the storm on Good Friday.’, ‘Ryan’, ’20:17:51 ,
-79, ‘2010-04-02’, ‘Other’, 1, ’70+ knot winds and a black-bellied Dunlin made an appearance near the Science Centre.’, ‘Ryan’, ’20:19:07 ,
-80, ‘2010-04-04’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 9, ‘There are 6 female elephant seals on Middle Rocks, including 3 large adults. One is easily identifiable as Scarlet, and it appears the ropes embedded in her flesh have opened large wounds across most of her body. 3 smaller females are still here on Great Race.’, ‘Ryan’, ’10:43:57 ,
-81, ‘2010-04-09’, ‘Other’, 3, ‘There were two adult and one juvenile bald eagles here today. At 13:00 I just happened to watch as the juvenile dove out of the air and tried to snare a Canada Goose on the path outside my window. The predation attempt was unsuccessful, but at least I ”m free of geese on the island right now! ‘, ‘Ryan’, ’13:24:57 ,

-83, ‘2010-04-16’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 9, ‘A new cow arrived on Great Race Island, hauling out in the intertidal region on the W shore. The two already here are well into their moults, with slick grey skin starting to show.’, ‘Ryan’, ’22:04:33 ,

-87, ‘2010-04-22’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘An adult Brown pelican was spotted in the reserve today from noon onwards. It was perched on the SE Rocks before spending some time on the water in the channel between Great Race and Middle Rocks.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:34:14 ,
-86, ‘2010-04-16’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘With the unusually calm winds I”ve noticed a surge in song-bird numbers, including some new visitors. A group of 5 Wilson’s warblers -Wilsonia pusilla) and several White-throated sparrows -Zonotrichia albicollis) are new in my experience.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:32:40 ,
-88, ‘2010-04-25’, ‘Other’, 2, ‘Two Black-bellied Plovers -Pluvialis squatarola) in breeding plumage were seen on the SE corner of Great Race Island. My first sighting of this species.’, ‘Ryan’, ’20:10:14 ,

-95, ‘2010-05-13’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘4 Western sandpipers this morning on Great Race.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:31:18 ,
-96, ‘2010-05-14’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 10, ‘Using both robotic cameras I was able to get a better picture of the elephant seal population on Middle Rocks. My last count was 10 animals, and what appeared to either be a newly arrived male or very large female.’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:49:04 ,
-97, ‘2010-05-14’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘Lots of wind today but still another new arrival to report. A Ruddy Turnstone in full breeding plumage was spotted near the jetty, pictures to follow.’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:51:10 ,
-98, ‘2010-05-20’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘Adult Brown Pelican flew around the reserve today at 19:00.’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:08:06 ,
-99, ‘2010-05-21’, ‘Other’, 4, ‘Two pairs of Barn swallows -Hirundo rustica) have been zipping around Great Race Island over the last week feasting on kelp flies.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:53:03 ,
-100, ‘2010-05-21’, ‘Other’, 2, ‘Whimbrels continue to inhabit the reserve.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:53:31 ,

-103, ‘2010-06-02’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 3, ‘Misery has been hauled up behind the boathouse for several days now, while Bertha is beside the fuel hose container. A small, young elly is NW of the Science House. She has a green tag that reads 4252 in her flipper.’, ‘adam’, ’18:38:37 ,
-104, ‘2010-06-02’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 10, ‘Sad to report our first neck ring sighting this year. A juvenile California sea lion was hauled out with a group of ~9 other sea lions; its neck was constricted and lacerated by a ring of marine garbage. Given the numbers of California sea lions spotted here so far this season, this sighting fits the 1-2% entanglement rate observed here last fall.’, ‘ryan’, ’09:53:42 ,

-107, ‘2010-06-11’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘Over the last few days, a number of gull nests with eggs have been spotted around the island. By now, most gulls have nested, although there are still a number of pairs that appear to be without nests still. Gull numbers seem to be down compared to the same time last year.’, ‘adam’, ’09:01:22 ,
-108, ‘2010-06-11’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 0, ‘Bertha seems to have taken off sometime in the last few days, although Misery and #4252 -soon to be named) are still sticking around. A female elephant was spotted on Middle Race several days ago.’, ‘adam’, ’09:02:37 ,

-114, ‘2010-06-27’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ‘Slash has been spotted! He is out on Middle Rock, king of the domain out there. Misery is up on Great Race. 4252 and Bertha have not been seen today.’, ‘adam’, ’18:17:18 ,
-115, ‘2010-06-28’, ‘Harbour Seal’, 1, ‘A dead adult male harbour seal was found washed up today on the rocks beside the derrick. There were no trauma marks from predation or a boat strike and the corpse was still in good condition with no bloating or decomposition. It was removed and taken to Pearson College.’, ‘adam’, ’13:54:09 ,
,
-117, ‘2010-07-02’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ‘Slash and Misery have both been hauled up on Great Race over the last few days. A solitary sea lion was spotted up on the NE corner of Great Race a few days ago. Gull hatching is well underway. PLEASE NOTE: The weather data and some of the cameras are offline at the moment. I am attempting to rectify the situation as fast as possible and hope to get the system back online as soon as I can. Apologies for the inconvenience.’, ‘adam’, ’19:28:31 ,

-120, ‘2010-07-04’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘The weather and camera systems were out for most of the day. The cameras are back online now. The weather system is also, but it appears to be giving only sporadic updates. Sorry for the inconvenience. Two pelagic cormorants were spotted on the north point of Great Race this morning. A few moments ago I spotted what appeared to be a black turnstone out in the eastern surge channel. This morning I noticed a gull with blood seeping from beneath its feathers on its left side. Presumably it was injured in a territorial fight. Check on my flickr site later -www.flickr.com/photos/adamharding)as I ”ll put up a picture or two of the wound.’, ‘adam’, ’21:54:58 ,
-121, ‘2010-07-05’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘Weather and camera systems are all up and running today. Yay!’, ‘adam’, ’21:04:46 ;

-124, ‘2010-07-16’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘Camera 5 is down due to power supply failure. Apologies for the interruption in service. We ”re working on rectifying the problem as quickly as possible. ‘, ‘adam’, ’11:07:42 ,
-125, ‘2010-07-17’, ‘Orca’, 0, ‘At least several orcas were seen well south of the Reserve late this afternoon, pursued by the whale watching vessels ”Eagle Wing ” and ”Ocean Magic II ”’, ‘adam’, ’22:00:15 ,
-126, ‘2010-07-17’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘Camera 5 has been removed from its mount at the top of the hill due to what appears to be a major problem with an electronics board within the camera. It will be taken over to Pearson College -and perhaps beyond) early this week. Apologies for the interruption in service. In the meantime, please continue to view Camera 1.’, ‘adam’, ’22:03:11 ,
-127, ‘2010-07-23’, ‘Harbour Porpoise’, 2, ‘While out for a Friday afternoon sail on ”Fairwinds ” this afternoon, we spotted a harbour porpoise mother and calf east of Great Race.’, ‘adam’, ’18:16:03 ,
-128, ‘2010-07-25’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 2, ‘The sea lions have begun to make a comeback to Race Rocks. There is one California on Middle Rock, one each night on the jetty, and one northern sea lion on the south rocks. They ”ve arrived at approximately the same time they did last year, and their numbers will only increase now.’, ‘adam’, ’18:04:57 ,

-131, ‘2010-08-08’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘Camera 5 has been reinstalled on its mount. You can find it by navigating to videocams from the homepage of the website.’, ‘adam’, ’16:05:14 ,
-132, ‘2010-08-13’, ‘Orca’, 8, ‘A group of possibly 8 orcas swam west to east through Race Passage at about mid morning, pursued by a group of whale watching boats.’, ‘adam’, ’07:14:29 ,
-133, ‘2010-08-13’, ‘Harbour Porpoise’, 2, ‘Out on the boat yesterday, I briefly saw two harbour porpoises breach over near Bentinck Island at about 1700hrs yesterday.’, ‘adam’, ’07:15:39 ,
-134, ‘2010-08-24’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘The temperature sensor on the Davis Weather Instrument seems to be broken. We ”re working on getting this problem fixed. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.’, ‘adam’, ’16:49:36 ,
-135, ‘2010-09-12’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 120, ‘The vast majority of the Zalophus californianus sea lions in the reserve are hauled out around the jetty on Great Race Island. This year ”s visitors have been all male to date, however there is a larger proportion of juveniles compared with last year. A California sea lion that had hauled out with a group of ~50 others NE of the Main Keeper ”s residence was confirmed dead this morning. The sea lion died with its eyes open.’, ‘Ryan’, ’21:26:53 ,
-136, ‘2010-09-12’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘The last elephant seal cow in the reserve -4252) has been approaching groups of California sea lions hauled out on Great Race Island but her advances have always been rebuked. The seal had been sleeping next to the dead sea lion discovered today but moved off in the morning when the flies and smell became noticeable to her, however soon returned and spent the day resting within 5m of the fly-ridden carcass.’, ‘Ryan’, ’21:25:43 ,
-137, ‘2010-09-12’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 100, ‘The rain today brought down the total number of sea lions counted in the reserve, however the Eumetopias jubatus sea lions remained and are largely concentrated on Middle Rocks. The Ogden Point divers were out for a good part of the day and I can imagine in the calm seas they had some amazing sea lion encounters in the slacks and eddies around the reserve.’, ‘Ryan’, ’21:29:57 ,
-138, ‘2010-09-16’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘A small brown bat was seen under the eaves of the Power Centre -new extension). It was disturbed as the solar panels were being cleaned and tried to find another perch around the Science Centre.’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:12:34 ,

-140, ‘2010-09-26’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 90, ‘There are perhaps 200 Northern Sea Lions in the reserve, however with uncharacteristically large swells for this time of year, their preferred haul out of Middle Rocks has been completely inundated around midday. A large group of about 80 were clinging to the NW corner of Great Race Rock, some had even climbed up to 20 ” up the steep rock surface.’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:57:24 ,
-141, ‘2010-09-27’, ‘Other’, 5, ‘Anthus rubescens: After seeing several of these birds around the past couple of weeks I finally tracked down an ID. American Pipits have very wide North American distribution, but upcoming photos are the first I believe recorded here at Race Rocks. ‘, ‘Ryan’, ’17:55:43 ,
-142, ‘2010-10-12’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘The water around the jetty is full of jellyfish this morning. Mitrocoma cellularia are the dominant species in terms of abundance with greater than 20 per cubic metre. 4 large -greater than 30cm) Cyanea capillata, 2 Aurelia aurita, and 1 Phacellophora camtschatica were also noted. ‘, ‘Ryan’, ’09:39:26 ,

-174, ‘2010-11-23’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘The elephant seal Misery is now on Race Rocks.’, ‘VirginieLP’, ’17:38:22 ,
-175, ‘2011-01-10’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ‘A small female elephant seal was observed on Middle Rocks today and yesterday. Misery -young bull) has been going back and forth between Great Race and Middle Rocks, trumpeting as he arrived back at the jetty last night. The young female may be the green-tagged 1402/1403 observed here Dec. 29-30.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:50:34 ,
-176, ‘2011-01-09’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ‘Misery -young bull) left Great Race last night and was seen hauled out on Middle Rocks near the Steller Sea Lions with a small female nearby.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:52:06 ,
-177, ‘2011-01-12’, ‘Other’, 2, ‘Two mature brown pelican spent the morning on the NE corner of Great Race Rock to avoid the S and W winds. They are accompanied by a small group of gulls and cormorants -multiple species).’, ‘Ryan’, ’12:12:31 ,
-178, ‘2011-01-13’, ‘Other’, 10, ‘Pigeon guillemots were spotted during the Christmas Bird Count last year, and have now moved to the passage in front of the jetty where they will be now until September. This important foraging area runs along 3 Pigeon Guillemot nesting areas on Great Race Rock. Birds foraging in this area are routinely disrupted by boat traffic.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:14:13 ,
-179, ‘2011-01-14’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 1, ‘A solitary wanderer hauled out on the jetty this morning after the high-tide reading. These sea lions have been shown by our remote camera users to have strong spatial memories and to choose locations and poses year in and year out.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:13:13 ,
-180, ‘2011-01-14’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘The elephant seal “Misery ” was trumpeting on Middle Rocks last night but came back to the main residence ”s lawn this morning.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:13:52 ,
-181, ‘2011-01-15’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘Quick sighting this morning, a female elephant seal appeared during the night. The scar pattern on her back, her size, her chosen haul out location, and the timing all point to this female being Bertha.’, ‘Ryan’, ’10:01:03 ,
-182, ‘2011-01-16’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 4, ‘Yesterday, at least 3 elephant seal cows arrived in the reserve. A long-time visitor named Bertha who has twice given birth on Great Race Rock is here again and probably 2-3 weeks from having her third pup here on the island. Two smaller females were seen on Middle Rocks. The only bull present named Misery spent the day chasing Bertha around the island. During the night Bertha hid on higher ground, seeking refuge on the rood of the cistern.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:39:26 ,
-183, ‘2011-01-20’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ‘Misery and Bertha are still on Great Race Rock.’, ‘Raisa’, ’11:37:33 ,
-184, ‘2011-01-24’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 4, ‘An adult cow has returned to Middle Rocks, it appears to be the entangled individual identified as Scarlet. Bertha gave birth during the night to her third pup here on Great Race.’, ‘Ryan’, ’07:39:03 ,
-185, ‘2011-01-26’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 4, ‘The new pup is almost certainly a female. Shortly after birth it found itself in a rock pile about 1 m below where Bertha and Misery are laying. Today it is in the exact same location as yesterday, about half-way back up the wall. It was active last night, with very high-pitched squeals to which both Bertha and Misery responded. There are no wounds or bite marks on the pup, and it is possible it sneaks some nursing time during the night. The entangled female known as Scarlet has been in the reserve for the better part of a week. She approached the jetty on Great Race yesterday, but so far Bertha is the only adult cow who has moved past the boat house up onto the island.’, ‘Ryan’, ’12:07:42 ,
-186, ‘2011-01-28’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 5, ‘A juvenile female joined the family of 3 on Great Race today. The pup freed itself from the rock wall, leaving a half-dried, half-rotten umbilical cord on a rock ”s sharp edge. Misery greeted the pup with unusual tenderness, but it was not long before he was biting down on the pup ”s neck and tossing it into the air. Scarlet is making noises on Middle Rocks and it may not be long before her pup is born.’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:00:52 ,
-187, ‘2011-01-29’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 4, ‘The pup died today after suffering further violence from the young male known as Misery.’, ‘Raisa’, ’17:47:24 ,
-188, ‘2011-02-01’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 4, ‘The juvenile cow left Great Race and an adult cow joined Scarlet on Middle Rocks.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:02:41 ,
-189, ‘2011-02-01’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 30, ‘Numbers have dwindled this week and the remaining Stellers have relocated from Middle Rocks to SE Rocks.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:03:14 ,
-190, ‘2011-02-03’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘1 small female elephan is moulting on south side of Race Rocks. ‘, ‘VirginieLP’, ’08:33:22 ,
-191, ‘2011-02-08’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 12, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’08:27:37 ,
-192, ‘2011-02-09’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘Snow Bunting sighted around the freshwater pool and the north rock pool.’, ‘VirginieLP’, ’19:54:06 ,
-193, ‘2011-02-19’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ‘Both Bertha and Misery entered the water overnight. Misery returned to the island in the morning and was very vocal as he moved around. Bertha came to the rocks in the S gut -less than 10m from she had spent the last month) before hauling out on Middle Rocks. Misery eventually left Great Race again to haul out on Middle Rocks by which time Bertha had already left the reserve.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:19:46 ,
-194, ‘2011-02-20’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘Misery remains the only elephant seal in the reserve and spent the day hauled out and vocalizing on Middle Rocks.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:21:02 ,
-195, ‘2011-02-24’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘Misery has been going back and forth between Great Race and Middle Rocks as of late. It was easy to see his return here yesterday and track his progress through the snow! His movement around the island left a long, winding, 139cm-wide icy path. The low friction of the snow aided his progress and he seemed to delight burrowing his trunk in the snow banks and cover him back with snow scooped up by his front flippers.’, ‘Ryan’, ’06:43:24 ,
-196, ‘2011-03-08’, ‘Other’, 14, ‘Harlequin Ducks have arrived at Race Rocks and are making good use of the fine weather this past week. Unfortunately, these shy birds have been scared away today by bomb blasts on Bentinck Island. Blasting by CFAD Rocky Point has been continuous today with the exception of a lunch break at noon. It is very disappointing that the 5-minute interval designed to minimize DND impact on the ecological reserve has not been observed. Most blasts come in clusters with ~2-minute intervals. The blasting occurring around the time of this report ~13:54 had ~1-minute intervals.’, ‘Ryan’, ’13:49:17 ,
-197, ‘2011-03-15’, ‘Other’, 80, ‘The gulls have arrived this week. The once silent days are now a cacophony of caws and screams and will continue so until the fall. The gulls are taking up nesting territories and perches around the island, however all had abandoned Great Race last night as the barometer dipped.’, ‘Ryan’, ’14:03:32 ,
-198, ‘2011-04-02’, ‘Other’, 2, ‘Birds of prey are a common sight these days. Photos of Red Tailed Hawks who have landed here show at least 2 different individuals this week. A juvenile vulture was also photographed. Spring must be here with these migrants ” arrival.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:22:32 ,
-199, ‘2011-04-09’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘A winter wren was observed near the Main Keeper ”s Residence. This species was noted in the fall but not seen for the last 4 months.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:55:54 ,
-200, ‘2011-04-23’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 2, ”, ‘Raisa’, ’10:21:29 ,
-201, ‘2011-04-23’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 7, ‘all females, Scarlet and another seen battling, raised up face to face and striking each other -mouth to chest).’, ‘Raisa’, ’10:22:27 ,
-202, ‘2011-04-23’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 2, ‘very large males, sharing Middle Rock with the other 3 species of pinnipeds.’, ‘Raisa’, ’10:22:53 ,
-203, ‘2011-05-02’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 10, ‘A number of northern sea lions and a few Californians are hauled out on Middle Rocks beneath the elephant seals. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’07:12:54 ,
-204, ‘2011-05-02’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 5, ‘Five or so female elephant seals are hauled out at the top of Middle Rock. They are staying well apart from the sea lions below.’, ‘Adam’, ’07:13:49 ,

-206, ‘2011-05-20’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘Ryan and I have spotted at least four oystercatcher nests on the rocky shoreline in the last few days. The total egg count between all nests is nine. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’07:49:31 ,
-207, ‘2011-06-01’, ‘Orca’, 6, ”, ‘Adam’, ’16:53:10 ,
-208, ‘2011-07-05’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 1, ”, ‘Adam’, ’16:58:11 ,
-209, ‘2011-07-05’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 3, ”, ‘Adam’, ’16:58:21 ,

-213, ‘2011-07-11’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 1, ‘A CSL is hauled-up on the NE haul-out.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:31:51 ,
-214, ‘2011-07-11’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 3, ‘Misery, Junior and Oscar are all present on Great Race.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:32:09 ,
-215, ‘2011-08-07’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘A double-crested cormorant was spotted on the rocks on the east side of Great Race at 2040hrs PDT.’, ‘Adam’, ’20:41:14 ,
-216, ‘2011-08-09’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 7, ‘# of sealions at the NE haul out -first of a series of daily reports).’, ‘Adam’, ’08:19:50 ,
-217, ‘2011-08-08’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 1, ”, ‘Adam’, ’08:20:07 ,
-218, ‘2011-08-09’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘Saw an abalone for the first time in 3 years while on a dive today.’, ‘Adam’, ’17:19:29 ,
-219, ‘2011-08-11’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 14, ”, ‘Adam’, ’19:46:19 ,
-220, ‘2011-08-10’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 8, ”, ‘Adam’, ’09:17:49 ,
-221, ‘2011-08-14’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 35, ”, ‘Adam’, ’18:31:35 ,
-222, ‘2011-08-14’, ‘Orca’, 1, ‘A transient bull passed through Rosedale Reef this afternoon. I was informed by Straitwatch that 6 more transients passed by earlier.’, ‘Adam’, ’18:30:15 ,
-223, ‘2011-08-14’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 5, ”, ‘Adam’, ’18:32:07 ,
-224, ‘2011-08-22’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 103, ‘NE haulout – 63; East Bay – 36; South & West haulouts – 4’, ‘Adam’, ’08:02:50 ,
-225, ‘2011-08-22’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 67, ‘NE haulout – 35; East Bay – 1; South & west haulouts – 1; Middle Rock – 29; North Race – 1’, ‘Adam’, ’08:02:33 ,
-226, ‘2011-08-24’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 172, ‘NE haulout – 97; East Bay – 44; South Rocks – 8; S/W/NW Great Race – 30; Middle Island – 0’, ‘Adam’, ’08:19:09 ,
-227, ‘2011-08-24’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 95, ‘NE haulout – 34; Middle Island – 61’, ‘Adam’, ’08:19:41 ,
-228, ‘2011-08-29’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 128, ‘NE haulout – 189; South Rocks – 5; South and West Great Race – 34; Middle Rock – 0’, ‘Adam’, ’09:13:13 ,
-229, ‘2011-08-29’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 120, ‘NE haulout – 35; South Rocks – 0; South and West Great Race – 0; Middle Rocks – 85’, ‘Adam’, ’09:13:54 ,
-230, ‘2011-08-31’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘A female elephant hauled up on Great Race yesterday afternoon. Haven ”t had a chance to get an ID on it. Looks too small to be Bertha.’, ‘Adam’, ’08:20:15 ,

-232, ‘2011-09-03’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 164, ‘ -front lawn @ dawn)’, ‘Ryan’, ’06:32:30 ,
-233, ‘2011-09-03’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 27, ‘ -front lawn @ dawn)’, ‘Ryan’, ’06:32:42 ,
-235, ‘2011-09-04’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘A lone osprey visited the reserve today and was photographed from the lighthouse flying SE across Great Race.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:33:35 ,
-236, ‘2011-09-12’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘An immature brown pelican landed on Great Race today at sunset. It flew in from the East.’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:28:19 ,

-238, ‘2011-09-22’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 102, ‘With the heavy rain last night, most of the sea lions here at Race Rocks had already taken to the water by sunrise, so counts of hauled out animals during the day were ~50% of those hauled out at night.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:26:32 ,
-240, ‘2011-09-26’, ‘Other’, 26, ‘The most black oystercatchers I ”ve seen this time of year.’, ‘Ryan’, ’12:03:36 ,

-242, ‘2011-09-27’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 87, ‘Most of the California sea lions cleared out this morning before I could get a proper count. LGL continues to monitor the DND blasting. Brand c867 is near the jetty this morning.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:56:09 ,
-243, ‘2011-10-04’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 129, ‘The nursing pup is still here and is very vocal for most of the day. It is surprisingly spritely given the ungainly proportions of its flippers!’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:01:59 ,
-244, ‘2011-10-17’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 5, ‘A new arrival TOPP#6375 was photographed on the S side of Great Race.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:36:43 ,
-245, ‘2011-10-20’, ‘Other’, 2, ‘Humpbacks passed South of Race Rocks today before 14:00.’, ‘Ryan’, ’14:05:29 ,
-246, ‘2011-11-16’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘Hauled out near jetty around 17:00. Now near diesel.’, ‘AlexF’, ’19:22:35 ;
-2002-08-14′, ’10:49:58′, ‘Most of the young gulls are flying now but still hesitant about landing in the water.They continue to have problems with safe landings but getting better, not so many fights today. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’10:50:39 ,
-2002-08-13′, ’10:54:49′, ‘The number of sea lions continues to increase,most seem to arrive in little groups during the night.This morning counted over 50 hauled out and several small groups floating about in the kelp. There were 6 Northern sea lions swimming along the south shore’, ‘Mike’, ’07:16:16 ,
-2002-08-22′, ’11:05:05′, ‘Happy to report, missing adult goose back with the group today, no signs of trauma and no clue to explain its absence. The geese arrived mid-morning and flew off again late afternoon. Saw a group of about 16 Canada Geese in the familiar V formation fly over.’, ‘Mike’, ’07:18:31 ,
-2002-08-11′, ’11:10:11′, ‘The geese: 1 adult and the 5 young, flew in late this morning and stayed around until about 16:00, then headed over towards Pedder Bay.They still come every day but there is really not much for them to eat, I expect they will eventually stop coming alto’, ‘Mike-Carol’, ’14:06:51 ,
-2002-08-09′, ’07:19:00′, ‘The Canadian Geese returned again today, still without the one adult. I first heard the one adult honking and then looked up to see the 6 geese near Mike and Carol”s home. Orcas may very well have gone by the reserve today, but with the fog followed by gl’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:54:55 ,
-2002-08-15′, ’22:10:27′, ‘MARINE LIFE: A few more sea lions arrived during the night, total count approx. 70 California and 11 Northern. The Californian branded # 62 spent most of the day hauled out on the end of the dock, a bit of a loner. At 09:20 a Coast Guard chopper landed on’, ‘Mike-Carol’, ’22:17:49 ,
-2002-06-28′, ’06:29:46′, ‘MARINE LIFE: Things are fairly quiet except for the occasional hunting attempt by an eagle that causes the birds to take flight to ward it off. The gulls incubating eggs seem to prefer the cooler weather and certainly look more comfortable than they do in’, ‘Mike’, ’06:31:03 ,
-2002-08-25′, ’23:03:47′, ‘Occasionally see adult gulls feeding young, young that are as big as the parent gulls! Still a good supply of food fish. The young gulls are very noisy off and on during the night but the noise on the roof has diminished considerably.Look forward to the cleansing rains of fall, really notice the smell of bird droppings after being in town for a few hours and then returning.’, ‘Mike and Carol’, ’23:04:14 ,

-2002-03-01′, ’15:52:00′, ‘Bald eagles 3 mature and 2 immature on West Race and by the Helipad. I only saw 2 Canada geese so far today.’, ‘Chris Blondeau’, ’15:25:00 ,

-2002-10-18′, ’00:01:11′, ‘Both species of Sea lions have been hauled out by the winch area for some time now. Camera 3 is in on a close up of them, from the winch house. They were around the divers today frequently. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’00:02:35 ,

-2002-11-09′, ’13:16:00′, ‘Today the blasting is over. We will finish the footage and it will appear on the website in a few days. We have had some impressive looking swells crashing on the rocks today, and they have been disturbing the seabirds from their resting places. ‘, ‘Jeremias Rosie and Ahmad- Race R’, ’22:22:08 ,

-2002-03-02′, ’22:02:00′, ‘3 Bald Eagles – 1 mature’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:35:00 ,
-2002-08-04′, ’15:34:48′, ‘Heard a group of California sealions just after 2 a.m. this morning, three were hauled out on the southeast rocks until just after 7 a.m.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’15:35:26 ,
-2002-03-03′, ’18:12:00′, ‘4 bald eagles – 3 mature’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:40:18 ,
-2002-08-02′, ’15:43:47′, ‘The elephant seal hauled out on the boat ramp early this morning for a couple of hours then returned to the area near Middle Rock.The east bay was a favourite today with about 15 harbour seals and their pups. The mothers and pups that frequent the dock area did not show up until around noon, I think they avoid the elephant seals especially with the pups still quite small.\n’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’15:44:08 ,
-2002-03-04′, ’18:11:00′, ‘3 Bald Eagles – 2 immature. In pairs, the Black Oyster Catchers are spending most of the mornings along the shore adjacent to nesting areas on Gr. Race. The Glaucous-winged Gulls are visiting the nesting areas in the early morning, they are very noticeable by their vocalizing in contrast to the gulls that winter over which are very quiet.’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:45:20 ,

-2002-03-06′, ’18:22:00′, ‘5 Bald Eagles – 3 mature- arrived first light but left the area earlier than usual as the weather deteriorated.’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:55:30 ,

–

-2002-03-07′, ’18:43:00′, ‘1 lone mature Bald Eagle this morning but did not stay long. Seems the closer we get to the first day of spring the worse the weather.2 pair of geese today and the 2 bull Elephant seals are very vocal as they spend the night in the area around the boat ramp. We are used to the usual ”snorting” sounds but lately they have been letting out some great bellows which I have read can be heard up to a mile away. Certainly they are loud enough to wake us at 2 a.m.! ‘, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’16:08:39 ,

-2001-12-19′, ’17:21:00′, ‘The Sea Lions seen on cameras 1 and 2 show about 1/2 the population presently hauled out, the other half are spread out along the east and south shores of Gr. Race and on the Southeast Rks.There are quite a few young Northern Sea Lions this year maybe an indication of a healthy population growth? The Northern Sea Lions presently hauled out, out number the California Sea Lions approximately 8-1,there being approx. 325 Northern Sea Lions hauled out this afternoon. 5 immmature Bald Eagles visited the area today but stayed only 50 minutes,arriving and leaving within minutes of each other,three sat over on the southeast rocks and the other two on the highest point on West Race. Was nice to have a day with light winds and even enjoyed a few glimpses of the sun! ‘, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’16:11:17 ,

-2002-04-01′, ’16:10:59′, ‘Good Evening TEMPERATURE: Max. 10.0 1?4C ?? Min. 5.9 1?4C ?? Reset 7.5 1?4C MARINE LIFE: 1 mature bald Eagle today. The geese are still here but I expect any day now they will move on in search of better nesting sites. The two elephant seals have inched their way up the ramp to within 8 inches of the boat house door and show no signs of leaving. Many of the gulls are spending all day in nesting areas and some are engaging in the preliminaries of early courtship-very entertaining to watch- much neck stretching and head bobbing.It can get quite noisy what with the gulls,Oyster Catchers and 7 crows all vocalizing at once when the eagle flies over head, even the geese get in the act. HUMAN INTERACTION: 2 Ecotour boats and 5 Pleasure Craft through the MPA today. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’16:11:44 ,
-2002-08-10′, ’18:31:00′, ‘ Middle rock is the favoured haul out spot for the 20 or so California sea lions now in the reserve, the fishing is good and have seen several good sized salmon caught. There is great activity as the sea lion shakes the fish back and forth at the water surface and the gulls rush over to pick up any bits that break away.Many of the gull chicks are able to fly but are still not following the adults out to sea to feed, they peck persistantly at the adult”s bill hoping for food and do eventually get some but the push is on for them to learn how to feed themselves.There are fewer Pigeon Guillemots coming ashore everyday now and the Black Oyster Catchers are away for long periods of time.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’16:12:31 ,

-2002-01-08′, ’16:16:08′, ‘The Bald Eagles started to arrive early in groups of 2 and 3 and by 8:30 there were 8 – 1 mature ) sitting shoulder to shoulder along the ridge by the chopper pad.They were holding their wings at about a 45 degree angle as if to dry off.By 9am there were 17 eagles -4 mature- mostly on the southeast Rks. At 11:30 I noticed quite a number of birds flying around the Rosedale buoy,with the telescope we could see thousands of birds feeding in the tide line.There must be a lot of fish as the birds were active all afternoon. ‘, ‘Mike or Carol’, ’16:16:49 ,
’16:17:46 ,
-2001-12-15′, ’15:25:30′, ‘It was nice to be able to hear the sea lions growling and barking again. Looks like we may be in for another stormy night judging from the swell that is starting to come in from the south east.Some of the Sea Lions on the east ridge are jumping into the water as the 3-4metre waves break over them while others are moving down the west side of the ridge to join a group of 14 California sea lions and the 2 Elephant Seals that have been hauled out all day.The Harbour seals are hauling out as the tide ebbs and unless disturbed will stay ”high and dry” until the tide comes in again. –Today is the first day we have seen the large male elephant seal back on middle rock – – see camera1- note added by Garry) ‘, ‘Mike or Carol’, ’15:26:35 ,
-2002-03-08′, ’18:07:00′, ‘2 mature Bald Eagles arrived a little after 10 a.m. and left 11:45- don”t think they like the weather any more than we do! 2 pair of Geese today, they spent most of the time down by the desalination plant building and there are now 2 bull Elephant Seals hauling out on the boat ramp-Mike paced out the bigger one to just over 5 m long.Feel sorry for the birds with this unseasonable weather , hope it does not last as the rubarb has started to leaf up nicely’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:47:47 ,
-2002-03-09′, ’18:14:00′, ‘4 Bald Eagles – 3 mature,still 2 pair Canada Geese. The gulls and Black Oyster catchers arrive noisily soon after daybreak and spend a good part of the day in and around the nesting areas; the Oyster Catchers foraging along the shoreline call out to each and often form a group of 22-24 birds then fly around the island several times before pairing off again to search for food.There are now 3 Elephant seals hauled out on the boat ramp, the 2 bulls and 1 smaller one about 11/2 metres long juvenile,they are very noisy especially from 1-3 a.m.’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:51:43 ,

-2002-04-11′, ’17:59:00′, ‘4 Bald Eagles – 1 immature; 1 pair of Geese today. We now have 4 Elephant Seals on Gr. Race, two bulls, 1 fair sized female and the small juvenile from the ”incident” yesterday. The 2 bulls and the juvenile are stretched out on the grass between the winch house and our front porch.The juvenile seems non the worse for violent encounter yesterday but has stayed close to the house.In the 13 years that we have been here we have often had elephant seals haul out on the boat ramp and even as far as the grass around the houses but they were always the smaller juveniles up to 2 metres.’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:59:48 ,
-2002-03-12′, ’18:07:00′, ‘2 Bald Eagles – 1 mature, 2 pair of Geese. The largest bull elephant seal and the juvenile spent the day on the grass in front of the house, the large bull did make one trip to the ramp and back but the juvenile was quite still except for the occasional stretch and yawn.’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’16:05:41 ,
-2002-11-29′, ’18:00:00′, ‘The number of Sea Lions hauled out is still low for this time of year, counted 310 with the majority on the Middle rock. The group seen in Camera #3 by the winch house and along the dock are quite calm as we move in the area as long as we move slowly.The bird population is down considerably I expect they have followed the food- see only the occasional small fish ball.There were 2 juvenile Bald Eagles on West Race for a couple of hours in the morning, no hunting activity observed. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’13:59:40 ,
-2002-12-01′, ’17:30:00′, ‘3 juvenile Bald Eagles seen along the top ridge of West Race,also about 60 Cormorants and various Gulls. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’14:13:37 ,
-2002-12-04′, ’17:30:00′, ‘ Juvenile Elephant Seal has hauled out on the boat ramp and as usual with these mammals is not bothered by our presence’, ‘Mike’, ’14:18:12 ,
-2002-12-15′, ’20:30:00′, ‘ In the morning there were 120 Northern Sea Lions hauled out on Gr. Race, mostly along the east ridge and another 65 on the southeast rocks.Scattered among them were about 30 Californias.Another 15 California Sea Lions lined the dock. Middle rock was quite populated with another 200 or so Sea Lions mostly Northern, and one very large Elephant Seal. As the swells started to build around 14:00 from the weather system moving in from the east some sea lions moved farther in shore but as the winds picked up over 40 knts. the swells were breaking over them and all but 6 Californias took to the sea. The animals on the dock were repeatedly washed into the water by the 2-3 metre waves and finally gave up the struggle.By 15:00 no animals were left on the rocks and could see many groups seemingly enjoying diving into and ”riding”the swells. ‘, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:24:58 ,
-2003-01-01′, ’18:00:00′, ‘ A blustery beginning to the new year! although the winds were not as fierce as reported east of us the sea swells along with the very high tides made it hard for the Sea Lions to haul out on the rocks. Most of the Californias preferred to ”raft” about in the relative calm on the west side of Gr. Race while the Northern Sea Lions swam about in fairly large groups.We could hear rocks grinding as the swells roared into the boat landing and at one point one of the Harbour seals was caught between the shore and the boiling mass of logs and driftwood, it tried several times to get into the deeper water but was tossed back and forth and was really close to being badly hurt or killed by a huge log. Finally the seal gave up trying to enter the water and made the arduous trip across the island to where it could dive into deep water. We counted over 3500 gulls,Mews,Thayer”s,Glaucous-winged and a few Western and Herring on Gr.Race, they spent most of the day crouched low to the ground facing into the wind. Counted 33 Black Oyster Catchers,6 together tucked in behind some large boulders near the north shore with the rest bunched together in the lee by the west side of the engine room. Every once in a while a huge swell sent spray across the sitting birds and most of them would take flight en masse then settle back down.’, ‘mike’, ’01:14:52 ,
-2003-01-02′, ’18:30:00′, ‘Another day of rough seas and extremly high tides. A large elephant seal came ashore this morning on the boat ramp but did not stay long as the swells were tossing 5-10 lb rocks almost to the door of the boat house, a dangerous place to stretch out for a nap. The Elephant Seal has been spending part of the night near the dock the past week and vocalizing quite a bit. There is a Northern Sea Lion hauled out about 3 metres from the front porch, he looks a little thin and has several small wounds on his head,he spent the whole day there, hardly moving at all.Island ”covered” in gulls again today a lot of them left after 13:00 as the winds let up and the sea conditions improved, out searching for food I expect.’, ‘mike’, ’01:37:57 ,
-2003-01-03′, ’18:30:00′, ‘The wind and rain are typical weather for January but the thunder and lightening that went on for about 3 hours beginning near midnight was a bonus! Today the swells were not so big and the huge Elephant Seal spent most of the day floating about by the dock, he hauled out on the ramp for about 4 hours and is now back in the water snorting and bellowing. The Northern Sea Lion hauled out by the porch has not moved very much all day. Hear the Black Oyster Catchers vocalizing in the dark while they are feeding, this time of the year the tides are low enough to expose their food source only at night.There were about 80 Cormorants in the reserve today, most along the ridges of West Race and North Rocks. The number of gulls down to about 800 on the land.’, ‘Mike’, ’01:04:27 , -2003-01-04′, ’16:50:19′, ‘Middle Rock has the biggest population about 270 Sea Lions,mostly Northern.The westerly picked up in the forenoon and before long the swells were breaking over onto the animals- so much for sleeping and soaking up the sun.Another group is hauled out on the western slope of the southeast rocks about 85 animals, the majority are quite young judging from their size.The Sea Lion hauled out on the grass by the house left during the night and cannot identify it in any of the groups hauled out nearby. There is a group of 18 California Sea lions just below the light tower. The elephant seal spends a lot of the day floating about close to shore and periodically hauls out on the boat ramp for an hour or so. With the 30+ westerly most of the birds are fairly inactive, hunkered down, facing into the wind. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’17:19:50 ,
-2003-01-05′, ’17:21:45′, ‘With the relitively light NE winds the birds were very active- feeding in the tide lines some distance from the reserve.There were 3 Bald Eagles -1 Mature) in the reserve today. 7 Harlequin Ducks – 4 male )and one Heron’, ‘Mike’, ’17:27:50 ,
-2003-01-06′, ’18:44:02′, ‘ 9 -5 immature) Bald Eagles spent most of the day in the reserve actively hunting,did see two gulls taken just to the east of Gr. Race. The birds were alerted all day as the eagles made many flights back and forth between West Race and the Southeast rocks. Heard the Oyster Catchers again after dark as they foraged along the shore areas exposed by the lower tides. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’18:55:43 ,

-2002-06-24′, ’19:08:00′, ‘ Again today only one bald eagle which flew over just after 9 a.m., no birds were taken.The Eagle was gone by 9:30 so the resident bird population was fairly quiet until The Oyster Catchers did their evening flight, dipping and diving along the shoreline calling out with their distinctive high pitched cheeps.Often hear them at night especially when the moon is bright, it”s a cheerful sound but wonder what they are up to in the dark.’, ‘Carol and Mike S’, ’16:24:18 ,
-2002-06-23′, ’18:19:00′, ‘ Lone mature bald eagle made several unsuccessful hunts over Gr. Race finally giving up and flying over towards Whirl Bay just after 15:00, the birds were unsettled for several hours.The goslings are growing fast and are about 3/4 the size of the adults with the most noticable increase in their wings which they ”exercise” frequently-I think I know where the expression ”silly as a goose” comes from- balance is everything!\n’, ‘Carol and Mike S’, ’16:29:38 ,
-2003-01-08′, ’18:15:00′, ‘ Very few gulls on land again today except for about 200 in front of the Science/learning Centre. There were several large gatherings about 1/2 mile southeast in the afternoon but none of the birds returned to the Island for the night. There were 13 -5 mature) Bald Eagles today and saw 3 gulls taken. One gull taken by an immature eagle dropped into the sea and was swiftly retrieved by one of the mature eagles which was then unsucessfully pursued by 3 immatures.Another day of soaking up the sun for the hauled out Sea Lions. The Elephant Seal spent some time leisurely floating in the east bay and along the south shore below the engineroom but did not haul out on Gr. Race.’, ”, ’18:41:33 ,
-2003-01-07′, ’17:57:53′, ‘ The number of gulls is down drastically while the Bald Eagle count is up to 11 – 4 mature ). The eagles are very aggressive and the constant harassment of the birds seems to have driven them away. Saw 4 gulls taken today, three by immature eagles that actually shared the ”meal”’, ‘Mike’, ’18:43:48 ,
-2003-01-09′, ’18:30:00′, ‘1 small Elephant Seal is hauled out halfway down the western slope of the largest of the southeast rocks. Also there is a rather thin looking Northern Sea Lion that could be the one with the head wounds that spent several days hauled out by himself near the house, just too far away to get a good look. Quite a lot of bird feeding activity again near the Rosedale buoy and to the east however the 7 -3 mature) Bald Eagles kept the birds alerted all day.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:43:17 ,
-2003-01-10′, ’18:30:00′, ‘6 immature, 5 mature Bald Eagles ”hunted” from the southeast rocks all day- saw one gull taken and other carcasses being eaten.There were many attempts to steal another”s catch, Eagles can be very patient but also very aggressive and the more experienced adults usually come out the winners against the immatures unless they work in pairs or as a group- survival of the fittest for sure! The Juvenile Elephant Seal and the lone Northern Sea Lion are still hauled out on the west slope of the southeat rocks.’, ‘Mike’, ’01:08:31 ,
-2003-01-11′, ’18:30:00′, ‘Not a great day for the birds, with the unrelenting cold NE wind of 20+ knts and the ever present hungry Eagles they must have used up a lot of energy trying to keep warm and out of the Eagles grasp.There were 5 mature and 6 immature in the area all day. There was a group of about 8 California sealions”rafting” about just off shore below the engineroom, most likely warmer in the water than out in the wind.’, ‘Mike’, ’01:23:31 ,
-2003-01-12′, ’18:30:00′, ‘ There were about 170 sealions hauled out on Middle Rock and another 85-90 on the smaller rock to the east.There were 11 mature and 10 immature Bald Eagles in the area for most of the day. They hunted back and forth between Gr. Race and West Race and didn”t leave until just before dark.The gulls seem to be the favourite targets as the diving sea birds have an obvious advantage. The cormorants on the rocks will move from rock to rock but for the most part take to the sea as the eagles fly near.There were 3 pair Harlequin Ducks along the north shore of Gr. Race all day.’, ‘Mike’, ’01:39:05 ,
-2003-01-13′, ’00:52:01′, ‘A very quiet day, the 11 Bald Eagles -6 mature) that spent the day made very few hunting trips across the islands, perhaps the small number of gulls in the area was a factor.The juvenile elephant and the skinny looking Northern Sea Lion have left the haul out on the slope of the southeast rocks. There is a wide range in size in the Northern Sealion population hauled out just now -quite a few in fact in the 300/500 lbs., about 1/4 seem to be the really mature fellows some as big as 2000lbs. Usually there are mostly males but some of the smaller animals look very much like the females which appear more cylindrical in shape and colour more uniformly brown.Very easy to tell the Northern Sea Lions even at night by their growling which they seem to do a lot of as they tend to feed at night.The Califonia Sea Lions sound like a pack of large dogs. Mostly what we hear these nights are the Northern Sea Lions and the snorting, bellowing Elephant Seals. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’01:27:53 ,
-2003-01-14′, ’00:50:59′, ‘Very calm most of the day, the Harbour Seals were content to haul out and sleep in the sunshine. The large Elephant Seal floated along the south shore of Gr. Race until near noon then hauled out on the rocks just below the fog horn tower where he remained the rest of the day. Now that the tide is relativly low during daylight we are able to enjoy watching the Black Oyster Catchers forage along the shore. There were only 9 -5 mature) Bald Eagles,really expected more with such good weather.Did not see any birds caught and actually the Eagles spent most of the time just sitting along the highest rock ridges with only the occassional flight around the islands. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’01:09:27 ,
-2003-01-16′, ’01:35:04′, ‘There were 8 -2 mature) Bald eagles today,and as they flew around the area the cormorants were kept on the go, some taking to the sea while others in groups of 20 or more set down on other rocks.The large Elephant Seal continues to spend the night and early morning floating around Gr. Race then hauling out for the rest of the day, lately on the south side below the engine room. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’01:45:31 ,
-2003-01-17′, ’00:11:36′, ‘A nice bright day even with the chilly NE wind,surprised that there were only 5 -2 mature) Bald Eagles today. The small but noisy group of California Sealions that arrived during the predawn quiet, hauled out along the north shore of Gr Race and spent most of the day sleeping. They were somewhat wary of any activity so everyone stayed well away from them.I”ts nice to hear them although they do wake us up with their ”barking” so close to the house.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:22:24 ,
-2003-01-19′, ’00:40:42′, ‘We have a very disturbing and sad situation here with one of the Elephant Seals. In the late morning an elephant seal hauled out by the boat house, it was immediately apparent that this poor animal has had a run in with a boat prop. There are several deep gashes in the forehead just above his eyes. One eye is very bloodshot and the other eye seems to be getting red. There are other wounds or slashes from the head down to below the front flippers. The wounds are curved slices like a series of long parallel ”S”es on both sides.The deepest gashes are on the head and right side cheek area. We checked on him all during the day, just before dark he moved into the water. The other much larger elephant seal is still around and happy to say he has no marks on him. He has hung around by the dock all afternoon and at times quite loud. I do wonder if there is any communication between these two great creatures. They are really quite placid most of the time and we can get as close as a foot if we approach from the front. Hopefully the one fellow”s wounds are not fatal. People must take extra care moving boats through the area to avoid hitting seals and sealions and causing what must be very painful injuries. See http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/archives/vidinjureseal.htm for a video of the elephant seal…..There were 6 -2 mature) Bald Eagles today and although they kept the birds on the move did not see any kills.’, ‘Mike’, ’11:28:16 ,
-2003-01-20′, ’23:37:11′, ‘A grey overcast day but fairly light winds. The Harlequins were around most of the day also 12 Bald Eagles – saw one large Cod carcass being picked over,most likely discarded by a seal or possibly a passing fishboat.No sightings of the injured Elephant Seal but the big fellow was bobbing about by the dock most of the morning then around Gr. Race. A lot of bird activity with the eagles hunting as usual.Second Nature in this afternoon – Chris and students for a dive. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’23:45:55 ,
-2003-01-18′, ’01:46:29′, ‘A chilly NE wind this morning but by 13:00 it was almost spring like. There were 5 -1 mature) Bald Eagles in the reserve today. Didn”t see any birds taken but one juvenile eagle came up lucky with a fish about 30 cms just off the southeast rocks. Immediately the other 3 juveniles took flight and followed the one with the fish.The successful ”hunter” tried to land off by it”self but they were right on it”s tail and after several circles around the rocks they all landed, the one with the fish ”threatened” with thrusts of it”s head and beak getting the others to back off at least 3 feet or so. Now the problem is to eat the fish while keeping the others at bay! With wings spread and frequent thrusts of it”s head towards the hopeful on-lookers the lucky diner ate it”s fill then flew off,immediately the others moved in to scrape up any leftovers. The Elephant Seal floated leisurely in the dock area all morning and infact we had to wait around for nearly half an hour for him to move away so we could launch the boat for a quick trip to Pedder Bay – fresh veggies and mail!) He was very vocal last night, maybe he liked the company of the 8 noisy California Sealions hauled out by the winch house.The day was capped off with a very colourful Juan de Fuca sunset that turned the calm sea orange and yellow and the Olympic Mountain peaks pink. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’02:07:34 ,
-2003-01-21′, ’00:29:08′, ‘Wet and windy was the order of the day.The Large Elephant Seal continues to spend a good deal of the day bobbing about in the dock area. The Eagles 5 -2 mature) were somewhat bedraggled looking and had to work hard to maintain their balance at times in the wind,they prefer the highest points to sit on and so are exposed to all weather.One Mature dropped a fish carcass near the boat house which quickly drew a crowd of young gulls. The gulls spent most of the afternoon taking turns picking out the bits and pieces. The Geese are still here most days,occassionaly the 7th flies in for a few hours but for some reason doesn’t stay.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:42:08 ,
-2003-01-22′, ’00:23:28′, ‘Not too surprising what with the horizontal rain whipped along by the northeastly wind of 25+ only 3 Bald Eagles today and they did not stay very long. Most of the Sealions preferred the water to the wave swept rocks.The big Elephant Seal spends a good deal of the day in the dock area vocalizing often enough to let us know he”s still here,when he really bellows he is loud enough we can hear him over the roar of the wind and the sea!’, ‘Mike’, ’00:33:31 ;
-2003-01-23′, ’23:58:42′, ‘There were 7 Eagles -2 mature) first thing this morning and they did seem to be getting the odd herring. The large Elephant Seal continues to circle Gr. Race all day and all night.As for the wounded fellow there have not be any sightings today.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:04:53 ,
-2003-01-24′, ’00:22:13′, ‘By 13:00 there were 42 -23 mature) Bald Eagles in the reserve, most of the action was in the southeast rocks area.Did see many fish caught and judging by the thousands of gulls and sea birds feeding there must be a lot of fish around. Later in the afternoon most of the eagles moved over to West Race- Second Nature came out intending to dive West Race but not wanting to disturb the Eagles dove off the southwest corner of Gr. Race’, ‘Mike’, ’00:29:01 ,
-2003-01-25′, ’01:25:59′, ‘Only 7 Bald Eagles today, but the morning started out very foggy and did not really clear off until near noon.The large Elephant Seal continues to spend his time floating here and there around Gr.Race We keep track of him by his ”snorting” which can be quite loud and heard over a fair distance.’, ‘Mike’, ’01:32:52 ,
-2003-01-26′, ’01:34:43′, ‘ Saw just 3 Bald Eagles today,most of the gulls have moved on and the ones still here spent most of the day hunched down out of the wind. With winds out of the west 25-35 knts and high tide the Sealions hauling out on the rocks was not an option until near noon. The Elephant Seal hauled out on the boat ramp out of the wind and spent the day,not always quietly soaking up a little sun.’, ‘Mike’, ’01:45:58 ,
-2003-01-27′, ’23:45:37′, ‘7 -3 mature) Eagles arrived early a.m. but as the swells continued to build and break against the rocks they seemed to get tired of the cold salty showers and left the area.The weather improved in the afternoon and by 13:30 there were 17 -8 mature) Bald Eagles.The Elephant Seal continues to spend his time either hauled out on the boat ramp or floating about on either side of the dock.Although it seems too early the Oyster Catchers were engaged in some preliminary courtship displays.The usual 6 geese are now 8! the 2 are obviously a pair and don”t like the others following them,well actually 1 of the pair doesn’t like the company and will lower it”s head,wave it back and forth as it runs towards the group.As the others back off the 2 ”pair up” again.This little drama is played out many times as they all travel the island feeding on the grass which thanks to the rain and mild temperatures is lush and growing.There are about 185 Northern Sealions hauled out mostly on the 2 middle rocks. The group hauled out on the southeast rocks number about 40 with only 6 very large fellows.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:36:06 ,
-2003-01-29′, ’00:18:21′, ’11 Bald Eagles arrived in the area just after 7:30, first landing on West Race then over to the rocks to the southeast of Gr. race. There has been some sea bird feeding activity the last week or so about 1/2 to a mile south and east of the reserve boundries.Although most of the action is on the water there are always eagles slowly circling 1-2 hundred feet overhead.Sometimes the eagle will gradually circle down over the water, fly close to the surface, a slight touch to the sea and rise up with a fish. Others seem to have a more direct approach, they circle above for a bit then make a deep,quick desent, make contact with the water and fly off with a fish tightly clutched in it”s talons. Usually they land on the southeast rocks to feed.Sometimes the envious on lookers get too close and the feeding eagle will fly to another ridge to complete it”s meal.The Elephant Seal continues to divde his time between the boat ramp and the water by the dock.There were 4 pair Harlequin Ducks and a group of Surf Scoters out front all day,also the 8 geese and 1 Blue Heron in the East Bay. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’00:38:32 ,
-2003-01-30′, ’00:41:12′, ‘Sounds at night besides the roaring wind are the Oyster Catchers, the Elephant Seal and the low growling of the Northern Sealions.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:43:44 ,
-0000-00-00′, ’00:29:14′, ‘A lot of activity on the water today with birds feeding in the small but numerous herring balls. Amazing to watch the Bald Eagles scoop up fish in the twirling mass of sea birds and in a 2/3foot choppy sea.There were 17 -12 mature) Eagles until the fish balls petered out about 15:30 then all but 5 flew off towards Whirl Bay and Bentinck Island. The Elephant Seal hauled out on the boat ramp just after 16:00 for about an hour then went back into the water,can hear him peiodically snorting out by the winch house.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:45:57 ,
-2001-10-22′, ’15:54:59′, ‘The poor quality video from camera#1 and especially #3 is because of the sheets of rain driven by the 45-50knt. winds we are enjoying at this time! The visibility is very poor but looks like all but 8 or 9 sea lions have moved into the water, the aprox. 300 gulls are all huddled together in small groups facing into the westerly.13 Black Oyster Catchers are together in a small depression on the east side of Gr. Race in the shelter of the house. posted by Carol or Mike S at 3:48 Pm’, ‘Mike or Carol’, ’15:55:44 ,
-2001-11-01′, ’16:02:27′, ‘ Fishing was good for the birds and sea lions today! Just after 10a.m. the sky was filled with hundreds and hundreds of sea birds,gulls,cormorants and common murres streaming across the islands southward to a tideline about 1/2 km. away.Looking with the telescope I estimated 3500-4000 sea birds feeding—-by 13:30 most had dispersed. In a space of three hours we saw 5 Steller -northern)sea lions catch salmon –that looked to be 5-8lbs) in the kelp bed between North Rocks and Gr. Race. The birds,especially gulls rush over to get any bits of fish that break away as the sea lion thrashes the fish back and forth at the surface.The two juvenile elephant seals that were hauled out in the little bay with a group of about 20 harbour seals, swam out into the large kelp bed along the east side of Gr. Race just before 14:00 and had not returned before dark.Have not seen the large bull elephant seal that spends a good portion of the year stretched out atop West Rock.Did a boat tour around all the islands today and counted 97 California and 27 Steller sea lions. Also counted over 800 Cormorants’, ‘Mike orCarol’, ’16:03:14 ,
-2001-11-02′, ’16:05:30′, ‘ The birds continue to feed in in large numbers but impossible to count because of the glare on the sea.It was also impossible to positively identify a whale that looked like a 18-20” Minke Whale even with the telescope, because of the glare and distance.2 of the 4 Northern Elephant Seals regularly hauling out in various areas of Gr. Race spent several hours on the boat ramp enjoying the sun. HUMAN INTERACTION: There were 5 tour boats and one pleasure craft -4 metre sailboat) in the M.P.A. today.’, ‘Mike or Carol’, ’16:06:11 ,
-2001-11-05′, ’16:12:33′, ‘PC STUDENTS: Project week students –Well we are just finishing our second day here at Racerocks. Today Sarah and I seeded some grass in the fissures of the newly restored rock. Along with Salla we ventured to the top of the lighthouse. The view is spectacular! The high light of our day was a poignant video captured by Kiprop of a sea lion sneezing. We vacuumed the tank, and we all learned to syphon, valuable skill. It was a fantastic day out today, which culminated in a great pizza. We will attept to rise for 7:30am in order to do the morning recordings. We have decided today to make a video, entitled “How to survive on racerocks, for dummies.” We will start production tomorrow. Goodnight! posted by HANNAH McKinnon at 7:21 PM\n \n-PC STUDENTS: Project Week students-On Sunday, five students from Lester Pearson College, Salla from Finland, Sarah from Saskatchewan, Hannah from Manitoba, Muyad from Palestine and Kiprop from Kenya moved out to stay at Race Rocks in the Marine Science Centre for the week. They have a number of projects they are doing while there so they will be commenting on what is happening on this log over the next few days’, ‘Garry+Hannah’, ’16:14:00 ,
-2001-11-07′, ’16:18:59′, ‘ Five Harlequin Ducks have arrived back for the winter. We were filming them as they patrolled through the kelp beds around the edge of Great Race Rocks.Over 150 Northern Sea Lions were on Middle Rocks in the mid afternoon, another 15 on North Rocks. Harbour seals are scattered in several little pockets an various islands usually no more than 8 in one area. Many of the Californian Sea Lions have moved to the rocky beach just South of the Tower. I also saw for the first time this fall, the flock of 20 Black Oyster Catchers high on the Rocky shore, to the sw of the engine room. ‘, ‘Garry+Kiprop’, ’16:19:55 ,
-2003-02-05′, ’00:34:03′, ’13 Bald Eagles -9 mature) today, kept the birds on the alert but did not see any kills. The young Elephant Seal seems settled in for an extended stay in front of the boat house and except for rolling from one side to the other a couple of times has not moved much.Unlike the big males this juvenile ”growls” if anyone approaches within 8-10 feet,we keep our distance anyway, don”t want to add stress to an already stressed animal.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:43:08 ,
-2003-02-04′, ’00:51:48′, ‘The large Elephant Seal has not returned to the boat ramp but we do now have a juvenile that appears to be going through it”s ”molt”. This is a stressful time for these animals and they usually don”t eat often if at all until the molting is completed. Some of these animals encountered on shore have been mistakenly diagnosed as critically ill or dying because of the many ”sores”, shivering and what seems like laboured breathing. We have had as many as 5 hauled out at the same time.’, ‘Mike’, ’01:10:49 ,
-2003-02-03′, ’01:33:20′, ‘The large male Elephant Seal is still hauling out on the boat ramp for several hours at a time then returning to the water to leisurely circle the island just off shore.He is not as vocal as he has been but do hear him snorting every half hour or so.There was a group of 11 Harlequins for most of the day, they like the water swirling around the rocks in the little bay on the east side of Gr. Race. There was the unmistakable sound of spring this morning, about 15 Glaucous-winged Gulls arrived to spend a couple of hours in the nesting areas. They will visit more often and stay longer as the courting/mating season approaches. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’01:54:31 ,
-2003-02-06′, ’02:00:31′, ‘The blasting at DND had the usual effect on the wildlife,the birds imediately took flight and after being alerted by the first in a series of blasts 50% of the 120 Northern Sealions hauled out, stampeded into the water. A few animals hauled out again but did not stay and by nightfall the rocks were still bare. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’02:06:51 ,
-2003-02-10′, ’10:58:11′, ‘ 11 Bald Eagles -9 mature) most of the day -More and more Pigeon Guillemots in the area and some came ashore for brief visits through out the day. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’11:04:30 ,
-2003-02-17′, ’00:08:54′, ‘The Elephant Seal still spends most of the day near the end of the dock with 2 or 3 ”haul outs” by the boat house usually in the early morning and mid afternoon and since he often floats just below the surface boaters should take special caution in the area.There were 11 Bald Eagles -6 mature) today.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:16:21 ,
-2003-02-11′, ’00:18:56′, ’12 Bald Eagles -8 mature) today,the attraction seemed to be a few Herring balls a mile or so south and east of the reserve. Could see them circling high and occasionally dipping low over the water but did not see any fish brought back to the rocks where they usually come to eat their catch. The molting juvenile Elephant Seal is still hauled out next to the boat house and just likes to be left alone.The Elephant Seal that was injured has returned! He has moved inland about half way across Gr. Race near the Science building. The wounds look like they are healing very well, his eyes are clear and healthy looking. The other male Elephant Seal still around but did not come ashore today.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:35:16 ,
-2003-02-12′, ’00:37:46′, ‘9 -2 immature) Bald Eagles today. The injured Elephant Seal has moved over near the engine room, he seems to like the long grass. We haven”t heard him vocalize but the other big fellow is quite noisey. The molting juvenile Elephant Seal left sometime during the night.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:44:03 ,
-2003-02-13′, ’00:45:26′, ’13 -5 immature) Bald Eagles today, spent most of the time along the ridges of West Race.There were about 40 Cormorants perched along the west ridge of Gr. Race, would be nice if they were to nest there this year. Recovering Elephant Seal still over by the engine room, other big fellow still favours the dock area. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’00:52:49 ,
-2003-02-14′, ’00:59:02′, ’12 – 8 mature) Bald Eagles today- not a lot of hunting in the reserve, most of the gulls and cormorants seem to have moved east along with the herring.The Elephant Seal seems quite happy by the engine room and not moved around much.The other male was very vocal today, spent most of the morning hauled out by the boat house. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’01:08:49 ,
-2003-02-15′, ’01:13:08′, ’15 Bald Eagles -6 immature) There were a few fish balls in the morning and the eagles were very active.There was a lot of screeching and food stealing going on. Watched for about 10 minutes as one fish was chopped into little pieces that ”rained” down as it was snatched from eagle to eagle.There were 3 and 4 attackers, none got a meal from that catch!The recovering Elephant Seal moved from the area by the engine room to the long grass across from the flag pole. The Black Oyster Catchers were dipping and diving and chirping all morning,at times in a group of 24/26 then in pairs.Most of the afternoon they spent sleeping and preening near nesting areas. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’01:32:36 ,
-2003-02-18′, ’12:32:58′, ‘ 5 -1 immature) Bald Eagles today, 3 of them spent several hours on Gr. Race, did not see any active hunting. The starlings and shore birds seemed to instantly ”disappear” when a juvenile Peregrine Falcon set down just west of the helicopter pad.The young falcon stayed for about an hour then flew off towards Bentinck Island, almost immediately the other birds reappeared.The Peregrine although smaller, seems to be feared more than the much larger Bald Eagle.The recovering Elephant Seal has hauled out again and is stretched out along the rock wall bordering the walkway to the Stevenson Screen. The other big fellow is on the boat ramp.They were making enough noise about 4 a.m. to wake us, could have been the time they both hauled out.’, ‘Mike’, ’12:54:30 ,
-2003-02-19′, ’02:03:19′, ‘ 7 -2immature) Bald Eagles today, saw one gull taken near the southeast rocks. Three of the other eagles made several attempts to snatch the gull but soon gave up,they were an attentive audience for the 25 minutes the lucky hunter took to eat it”s fill.Judging from the short time the onlooks took to poke amongst the scraps, not much was left but feathers.Both Elephant Seals are hauled out again today, the one still near the sidewalk. They were quite noisy again last night.They”re quiet for 40 minutes or so then bellow and snort for 10 to 15 minutes. Last night there was a lone California Sealion barking but no sign of him in the morning. A few Glaucous-winged gulls visit first thing every morning,they spend an hour or so in the nesting areas then take off again. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’02:39:00 ,
-2003-02-20′, ’16:34:56′, ‘The 2 big Elephant Seals both spent the day hauled out,one on the boat ramp and the recovering one in the long grass between the Science centre and the boat house. We can get quite close without disturbing them but for some reason they react to people wearing red jackets. There were 11 Bald Eagles -4 immature) first thing this morning but as the weather deteriorated most of them went inland. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’16:55:55 ,
-2003-03-01′, ’11:12:44′, ”, ‘Mike’, ’16:28:03 ,
-2003-03-02′, ’16:32:39′, ‘The 2 Elephant Seals still spending most of the day hauled out on Gr. Race,the one that had been injured prefers an inland spot while the other one favours the boat ramp.We hear them after midnight,they can be quite noisy going and returning from feeding.The Pigeon Guillemots are in the area but are not coming ashore yet, a little too early for courting and nesting.Still only a few Glaucous-winged gulls, they are spending part of the morning in their traditional nesting areas, none have paired off yet-too early in the season.A group of about 40 Cormorants were kept on the alert and moving from rock to rock enmasse as one or more of the 4 Bald Eagles -mature)circled the area every 20 minutes or so. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’16:44:48 ,
-2003-02-21′, ’11:31:53′, ‘Blasting on Bentinck today and the first blast cleared the rocks of Sea Lions -Northern) no animals hauled out again until late afternoon.Pigeon Guillemots in the area but none came ashore.Still hear the Elephant Seals at night,sounds like they are going into the water to feed about 1 a.m. and returning a couple hours later. The one that hauls out by the boat house is the more vocal one.The smaller one roams the island but usually ends up behind the boat house,seems to like the grass.We are careful to take a flashlight at night, never know where he will be stretched out in the dark!’, ‘Mike’, ’11:50:51 ,
-2003-02-23′, ’12:03:17′, ‘3 -2 mature) Bald Eagles but they only stayed about an hour. The recovering Elephant Seal was very restless,spent most of they day moving around the island trying to find the best spot.He finally settled near the south end of the boat house.The other Elephant Seal spent the day in his usual spot just below the door to the boat house. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’12:10:07 ,
-2003-02-25′, ’12:14:01′, ‘There were just 2 mature Bald Eagles today. The recovered Elephant Seal still spending a good part of the day roaming about then usually settles down behind the boat house.There are only 31 Northern Sea Lions hauled out and no California Sea Lions. A few, 25-30 Glaucous-winged Gulls arrive early a.m.- can”t miss them as they are very noisy calling back and forth as they ”visit” the nesting areas for several hours. Usually by 10 a.m. they have flown off again. Chris,Laura,Catrin in with students forenvironmental chem. class.’, ‘Mike’, ’12:27:10 ,
-2003-02-26′, ’12:29:14′, ‘5 -3 mature)Bald Eagles today. The 2 Elephant Seals hauled out most of the day. The one by the boat ramp is not bothered at all with our coming and going in the boat, even the noise from the winch for the boat dolly does not bother him,he does turn his head to use his good eye to watch the boat move up the rails and we are careful to give him lots of time to back out of the way.Once the boat is put away he usually stretches back across the rails in his favourite spot!’, ‘Mike’, ’12:38:17 ,
-2003-02-28′, ’12:42:50′, ‘5 -2 mature) Bald Eagles this morning,a couple looked quite disheveled in the rain and were holding their wings out at an angle possibly to shed the rain faster.They stayed about 2 hours then flew off towards Whirl Bay.’, ‘Mike’, ’12:50:28 ,
-2003-03-06′, ’17:16:04′, ‘5 -3 mature) Bald Eagles early a.m. The LGL observers arrived inspite of the moderate seas. They tied their boat at the outer end of the dock, maybe a little imtimidated by the Elephant Seal stretched out on the ramp,but most likely they didn”t want to disturb him. He is actually very docile especially if you approach him slowly and carefully.’, ‘Mike’, ’17:23:09 ,
-2003-03-05′, ’17:24:56′, ‘Wet and windy all day – the 7 Bald Eagles -4 juveniles)looking a little soggy, stayed about an hour then flew off towards Bentinck Island.The 2 Elephant Seals are still hauled out, the ”roamer”has stayed tucked in behind the boat house out of the wind.The other has become a fixture by the boat house door.’, ‘Mike’, ’17:33:56 ,
-2003-03-07′, ’17:38:05′, ‘Both Elephant Seals still hauled out most of the day,one on the ramp and the other a bit restless today moving from place to place,ended up behind the boat house.Some G-W Gulls visiting nesting areas in the afternoon now but still singly. The 7 Harlequins spent the day in the relative calm of the small East Bay and along the NE shore.’, ‘Mike’, ’17:53:00 ,
-2003-03-08′, ’17:56:45′, ‘5 -2 mature) Bald Eagles first thing this morning as usual but as the weather deteriorated they went off towards Bentinck Island and Whirl Bay. The Elephant Seals took to the water which at 7.4? would be warmer than the air at 0? with the blowing snow and NE wind at 30+ knts.’, ‘Mike’, ’18:04:52 ,
-2003-03-09′, ’18:05:11′, ‘Although few in number the Glaucous-winged Gulls are already protecting their territory by driving off the Eagles as they fly over Gr.Race ‘, ‘Mike’, ’18:12:46 ,
-2003-03-10′, ’13:30:46′, ‘5 -1 mature) Bald Eagles today. The 2 Elephant Seals hauled out all day in their usual spots.Heard a couple of California Sea Lions ”barking” during the night but no sign of them in the morning.The Black Oyster Catchers fly around in a group of 26 or so, dipping and diving and calling out with their very distinctive high pitched whistle for 10-15 minutes then break off into pairs. The pairs then spend a couple of hours near their usual nesting areas preening and resting with their bills tucked under their wings.The Oyster Catchers are the first of the birds to nest here and will soon start their courting displays which include quite elaborate flight manoeuvres and a lot of the loud whistling.’, ‘Mike’, ’13:51:42 ,
-2003-03-11′, ’13:52:08′, ‘ 7 -5 immature) Bald Eagles in the reserve first thing this morning but by noon only 3 -1 Mature) remained.Just after 15:00 the adult Eagle flew over-head with what looked like part of a small fish-herring maybe- and was very aggressively pursued by one of the juveniles. The 2 big birds literally did som-er-saults in the air, one trying to get the fish and the other desperately trying to keep it! This air dance went on for almost ten minutes in a 30 knt. wind. Unfortuately did not see the outcome as the one with the fish finally dropped quite low over the water and flew over towards Rocky Pt.The juvenile followed close behind and they were soon too far away to see even with the telescope.A group of about 150 Pigeon Guillemots arrived this morning.They spread out over the island near their nesting areas,spent about 2 hours and then in a flurry were gone again.’, ‘Mike’, ’14:24:26 ,
-2003-03-13′, ’21:33:13′, ‘Another wet and at times breezy day.There were no Eagles in the area until after noon and then only 2 soggy looking immatures that spent about an hour out on the ridge of West Race.The one Elephant Seal we call the roamer did not haul out today but the other big fellow moved up out of the way of the swells on the ramp and spent the whole day with his nose literally pressed against the boat house door.Felt sorry for the gulls hunched down especially when the rain was really heavy,which was most of the afternoon.’, ‘Mike’, ’21:49:57 ,
-2003-03-15′, ’01:02:37′, ‘3 -1 mature) Bald Eagles today mostly on the southeast rocks. They made several attempts to fly over gr. Race but the gulls were quick to drive them off shore, a couple of times even the Black Oyster Catchers joined in with the gulls. ‘, ‘mike’, ’01:10:32 ,
-2003-03-17′, ’01:18:48′, ‘1 mature and 1 immature Bald Eagle today.The larger Elephant Seal in his favoured spot but the ”recovered” one spent quite some time trying to plan a route to the water-he moved down to the ramp but seemed reluctant to get too close to the other which had spread himself across the tracks, so he went overland! 3/4 of the distance was fairly soft grass but the last 20 ft. was a rough and rocky descent just east of the winch house.’, ‘mike’, ’01:29:45 ,
-2003-03-19′, ’01:33:24′, ‘Heard several California Sea Lions during the night but no sign of them in the morning. The Gulls are increasing in numbers and are spending longer in the nesting areas. Have seen several territorial scuffels, tail pulling and head pecking,somewhat half hearted and short lived compared to what things will be like when courting and nest building begin in earnest.’, ‘mike’, ’01:41:47 ,
-2003-03-20′, ’01:44:05′, ‘The Elephant Seal that seemed a permanent fixture on the ramp slipped into the water early this morning and has not returned-miss seeing and hearing. Small group 5 or 6, Northern Sea Lions hauled out on the northern tip of West Race most of the day.’, ‘mike’, ’01:47:39 ,
-2003-03-22′, ’01:50:05′, ‘The gulls spent most of the day hunkered down facing into the wind. Still no sign of either of the Elephant Seals but did hear a group of California Sea Lions arrive during the night, they spent the day hauled out on the southeast rocks.’, ‘mike’, ’01:54:44 ,
-2003-03-26′, ’01:30:14′, ‘About 60 Pigeon Guillemots came ashore this morning but did not stay long.They hung about in small groups just off shore for the rest of the day. Just the one Elephant Seal today in his usual spot on the boat ramp.The Gulls still spending only the daytime in the nesting areas and no serious nest building yet.’, ‘mike’, ’01:39:54 ,
-2003-03-27′, ’01:44:08′, ‘The Elephant Seal took to the water just after 7 this morning and had not returned by dark, did not hear him at all, he may have hauled out on one of the other rocks.The Pigeon Guillemots came ashore again this morning for several hours but returned to the water.They are very nervous little birds and dive or fly off at the first sign of danger.’, ‘mike’, ’01:51:20 ,
-2003-04-02′, ’02:01:25′, ‘The Gulls are getting more territorial and there are more noisy confrontations with a few feathers flying. There were 4 immature Bald Eagles and try as they might they were unable to land on Gr. Race, the Gulls are just so tenacious in driving them away.’, ‘mike’, ’02:09:13 ,
-2003-04-03′, ’02:12:25′, ‘Did a boat trip around West Race and the Middle rocks and counted 11 Elephant Seals hauled out.There were 3 fairly large males and the rest assorted smaller males and females.The one big fellow that has been hauled out near the boat house for the last few weeks was floating about just off the south tip of the middle rock.There were 5 Northern and 14 California Sea Lions also hauled out with the Elephant seals’, ‘mike’, ’02:21:01 ,
-2003-04-06′, ’00:29:51′, ‘There were 13 Elephant Seals,12 hauled out on Middle Rock and the one large male floating about close to the shore this afternoon.The Elephant Seals have been joined by about 20 California and 9 Northern Sea Lions.The Nights are getting noisier now with some gulls spending full time in and around the nesting areas and the Black Oyster Catchers calling back and forth.Some of the gulls sit on the roof but make quite a racket when they take off or land.Will take a week or so to get used to the not so light footed gulls thumping about on the roof during the night, also small rocks and shells that they often take up on the roof make a fair bit of noise clattering down the slope. ‘, ‘mike’, ’00:46:40 ,
-2003-04-07′, ’00:48:26′, ‘The Pigeon Guillemots are still just making short visits to land,a few spread out in the rocky areas where they usually nest but most just sit on the dock. There was a very emaciated California Sea Lion hauled out on the eastern tip of North Rocks.He seemed to have a mobility problem with his hind end and could only drag himself along very slowly,took him a good 1/2 hour to move about 20 feet into the water.There were no obvious wounds and once he went into the water we did not see him again.’, ‘mike’, ’00:56:04 ,
-2003-04-08′, ’00:58:50′, ‘There were 7 -5 immature) Bald Eagles which spent most of the day along the ridges of the southeast rocks.They made quite a few attempts to fly over Gr. Race but the gulls and Oyster Catchers were quick to give chase and drive them away.There were 5 Northern Sea Lions hauled out all day on the western slope of the southeastern rocks, one was a very large fellow but very thin and bony.’, ‘mike’, ’01:07:52 ,
-2003-04-09′, ’01:09:07′, ‘There were 5 California and 6 Northern Sea LIons hauled out on the southeast rocks all day,the large thin Northern Sea Lion still there.Some of the gulls are going through the courting dances but still a little casual about it, they get started and one will just wander off disinterested. ‘, ‘mike’, ’01:15:23 ,
-2003-04-10′, ’01:16:03′, ‘5 Bald Eagles today -2 mature)’, ‘mike’, ’01:17:14 ,
-2003-04-14′, ’01:23:44′, ‘There were about 35 California and 9 Northern Sea Lions hauled out on Middle rock with the Elephant Seals.The Pigeon Guillemots still spending most of the time just off shore with a few coming ashore for short visits. A pair of Mallards were on Gr.Race all day also 2 pr. Canada Geese.’, ‘mike’, ’01:32:42 ,
-2003-04-15′, ’03:30:17′, ‘lone male transient Orca spotted briefly along the south shore of Great Race.The Harbour Seals scrambled into the water. They kept quite close together bobbing about to watch out for the big Orca for half an hour or so then gradually relaxed. a few swam off while others hauled back out on the rocks. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’03:41:15 ,
-2003-06-29′, ’06:58:44′, ‘I note on the remote control camera that the gulls have young now. Scan over to the rock outcroppings on the right and zoom in. One nest has three young. -posted by Garry- 0700)’, ‘Garry’, ’07:08:05 ,
-2003-07-05′, ’01:26:14′, ‘The nesting season is in full swing and most of the activity on the island is the never ending search for food by the adult birds. The Black Oyster Catchers have hatched and been moved down from the nesting areas above the high tide mark closer to the food supply of limpets,chitons muscles and the like. The chicks grow quite quickly but are still being fed for the most part but do go about pecking at bits and pieces. The Pigeon Guillimots chicks are still secreted in the rocky crevices and the adults are busy flying back and forth with a supply of small eel like fish called blennies.These are nervous little birds and will sit with the fish hanging out of their bills for quite a while before heading off to the nest,they are careful not to ”advertize” the nest”s location.The Gulls seem to be getting food in Pedder Bay where we see frequent but small fish balls and the chicks appear to be growing quickly. Even the smallest often flap their downy wings, instinctive activity I guess that builds the muscles for flying in a few weeks.There are fewer gulls than in previous years partly because of the 4 otters that completly wiped out the chicks two years in a row. With fewer nesters there is a lot of space between nests and thus very little fighting.The Eagle visits have also been few and far between, the gulls are quick to give chase as soon as the great birds approach the island. The chicks get the warning calls and scatter to hide as best they can beside rocks or in the grass and the adult gulls take flight enmasse screeching and diving at the intruder until it is forced well out to sea.Today there were 2 pair of gulls still running about collecting nesting materials.The weather has been good for the chicks,not too hot.There was an otter spotted a couple of times earlier in the spring but no sign of it lately and have not heard the usual panic among the gulls as usual when the otter would run through the nests at night gobbling up eggs and chicks. ‘, ‘mike’, ’02:07:36 ,
-2003-07-06′, ’02:10:09′, ‘The Elephant Seal that was injured earlier this spring has spent the last few weeks hauling out during his ”molt” He was quite scruffy looking as the old skin sloughed off like skin from a bad sunburn. He moves around quite a bit but his favourite places are on the boar ramp, the grass behind the boat house and lately in a hollow 20 feet from the front porch. He is usually quiet but every once in a while he gets quite noisy, could be he is trying to get the attention of the much smaller Elephant Seal – about 4ft) that came ashore a couple of weeks ago,also to go through it”s molt. Since it”s the males that molt this time of the year we guess it is also a male but so young to not yet have the prominent snout of the mature male. The little one does not move around much and stretches out on the sidewalk near the flagpole or tucks up against the rocks by the boat house out of the wind.The big fellow is almost finished his molt and is now a nice elephant grey,the scars along his back and sides from the run in with the boat prop are like white chalk swirls and are less noticible. The deeper wounds above his eyes are still quite big and sadly the vision is gone in the right eye. He has surrvived so far, so hopefully this is the end of his bad luck.He is obviously able to feed as he is a good size.’, ‘mike’, ’02:36:16 ,
-2003-07-07′, ’02:37:57′, ‘The gulls spent most of the day hunched down with chicks tucked under wings trying to get some shelter from the howling westerly.A couple of the more adventurous chicks were blown down the hill as they flapped their wings so there were a few minutes of pandemonium getting them back to their own nesting area,a few pecks from other adults but no harm done.’, ‘mike’, ’02:46:32 ,
-2003-07-09′, ’20:17:28′, ‘The bull elephant seal left Great Race today. He wallowed in the shallows with the smaller elephant seal for several hours around midday, and hasn”t yet come back to his grassy bed behind the boathouse.’, ‘ LBPC’, ’20:18:36 ,
-2003-07-13′, ’13:18:51′, ‘Adult birds busy with many trips to sea and back with food for chicks that never seem full! The Elephant seals continue to spend a good portion of the day hauled out with brief swims/floats around the end of the dock.The birds seem to enjoy the cooler showery weather. Not a lot of rain but was refreshing while it lasted.’, ‘Mike’, ’13:23:26 ,
-2003-07-14′, ’11:59:55′, ‘Harbour seal pup born overnight on the boat ramp.Looks to be a good size and already a good swimmer! There are 7 other females in the area on the west side of the dock hauled out on various rocks, most look very pregnant so expect more pups over the next few days. These females seem to congregatehere about this time every year prior to having their pups.Some have markings that we recognize and the others are so unafraid of us that we think they return each year and are used to our comings and goings.’, ‘Mike’, ’12:11:21 ,
-2003-07-15′, ’12:12:27′, ‘The large Elephant Seal although still hauling out on the island spends more time in the water now. He tends to come ashore in the pre dawn and makes his way to his favourite spot behind the boat house until about noon when he returns to the sea. The smaller elephant seal has been joined by another, a little larger fellow and the two are always within a couple feet of each other. They do not roam much, they like the sidewalk near the touch tank building.’, ‘Mike’, ’12:23:11 ,
-2003-07-16′, ’12:24:52′, ‘Another Harbour seal born overnight, seems healthy and feeding well. The pup born Monday is also feeding well judging by the noticeable growth.We limit our activity near the dock,but the seals do not seem too bothered by us even the ones with pups.’, ‘Mike’, ’12:33:27 ,
-2003-07-18′, ’12:37:25′, ‘Most of the Pigeon Guillemots have left their nests so the constant flights back and forth with food for the young are very few now. The Black Oyster Catcher chicks are full grown and are only distinguished from the adults by the paler orange bills. Some of the gulls are adult size and very agressively persue the adults wanting to be fed.Often the adults having enough of the pestering fly up and sit on our roof-our red roof is now white!’, ‘Mike’, ’12:50:17 ,
-2003-07-19′, ’12:52:58′, ‘2 more Harbour Seal pups around dock area but no signs that that they were born on the ramp.They were most likely born on one of the flat rock areas along the north and east shore of the island.The little ”bay” formed by the dock is a favourite spot for the mothers and pups as it is quite sheltered and close to the large kelp bed, another favourite spot.’, ‘Mike’, ’12:58:48 ,
-2003-07-20′, ’12:58:57′, ‘A group of Orca went by but were mostly along the shore of Van.Island.There were many boats out to ”view” the whales and most came through the MPA as part of the tour.’, ‘Mike’, ’13:13:48 ,
-2003-07-21′, ’13:16:58′, ‘It is hard to believe how fast the Harbour Seal pups are growing. The one born on the 14th is almost twice it”s birth size.The milk is very rich and they do feed often. Just after sunset there was a flurry of activity as a small fishball appeared 50 feet off shore, the gulls took off noisily and had a feeding frenzy.It was quite noisy for a time as the adults returned and the chicks demanded their share of the fresh silvery fish.’, ‘Mike’, ’13:33:06 ,
-2003-07-22′, ’13:38:23′, ‘The 2 smallish elephant seals still hauled out and staying close to each other.The big fellow continues to haul out behind the boat house for a time each day.The three do not interact, infact the 2 smaller ones do their best to move out of the big fellow”s way as he ambles along the sidewalk to ”his” spot ‘, ‘Mike’, ’13:43:33 ,
-2003-07-24′, ’14:44:00′, ‘The gull chicks spend a lot of time trying to fly – very entertaining – easy to get air borne but still mostly rough landings.Many are still being fed fairly often but others it seems are being weaned. They are very agressive towards the adults pecking at their heads and bills the ”feed me” behavoir.The chicks will crouch down to make themselves look smaller and when that does not work they just get more persistant. Finally having enough the adult gulls will fly out to sea or up to the roof. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’14:59:48 ,
-2003-08-13′, ’19:17:49′, ‘Noted a new pair of gull chicks just hatched within the last few days. Rather late for them to be able to mature this season. Some of the other juveniles now have smooth gray plumage. The ones most mature are flying now. Note -error in wind speed for this morning – should read West at 0.5 Knots. Sea state calm’, ‘Garry Fletcher’, ’21:38:42 ,
-2003-08-12′, ’19:29:24′, ‘Dead seal in bay behind generator fuel tanks. ‘, ‘Shamsher’, ’19:38:34 ,
-2003-08-14′, ’08:00:17′, ‘We have camera 3 focused in on a nest of recently hatched gulls today. You should see feeding frequently throughout the day.’, ‘Garry’, ’08:01:23 ,
-2003-10-09′, ’21:09:59′, ‘On 9 October 2003, Virgil Hawkes and I, of LGL Limited, were conducting a monitoring session as part of our research on the effects of disturbance on marine birds and mammals at Race Rocks Ecological Reserve, British Columbia. At 15:20, something scared hundreds of Thayer”s Gulls from an area just north of the light tower on Great Race Rock. We figured it was likely a Bald Eagle or Peregrine Falcon, based on the gulls” behaviour. We then spotted an adult Red-tailed Hawk flying in from the northeast. It landed on a rock right in front of a large male California sealion -photo). The hawk looked very tired and was breathing hard. Perhaps it had attempted to migrate across the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but had to turn back -all day, wind direction was unfavourable for such a crossing). We figured it would just rest up then head back to Vancouver Island. At 15:38 we were observing it once again when suddenly, the hawk collapsed and fell backwards into a crevice. A few seconds later a surge of water flushed the bird into view. It was facing breast-down in the water, lifeless. The surge then drew it back into the crevice and out of view. We were interested in retrieving the carcass for further inspection of its body condition -besides it being a beautiful specimen), but in keeping with the conditions of our research permit and because doing so would have caused many sealions to charge off into the water, we refrained. We were just left to contemplate the strange event and consider ourselves fortunate to have witnessed one of nature”s fascinating dramas. Mike Demarchi– See photo here: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/marmam/sealion/redtail.jpg ‘, ‘Garry’, ’21:27:39 ,
-1970-01-10′, ’14:19:56′, ‘Sea Lions rafting most of the afternoon near the docks Divers observed Pycnopodia -Sea Star) eating salmon near the end of the docks’, ‘Irena’, ’14:21:53 ,
-2003-11-12′, ’12:25:00′, ‘3 Whales through MPA’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:23:38 ,
-2003-12-25′, ’14:37:33′, ‘Pinniped census in the reserve: -Animals hauled out) ———North Rock :0 Middle Rocks : Northern Sealions:65, California Sealions:1 ————Great Race Rocks : Northern Sealions: 8, California Sealions: 4 Harbour seals:7, Elephant seal :1 -Male) West Race Rocks California Sealiion: 1 – About one third of the animals observed were very young ) . Weather conditions: Wind West 32 , Sea 3”- Heavy Swell. Other noteworthy sightings : We estimated approximately 2500-3000 Herring Gulls on the island today.’, ‘Mike’, ’12:10:11 ,
-2003-12-26′, ’10:54:23′, ‘Two thirds of the Herring Gulls have left today leaving us with about 1000.’, ‘Garry’, ’10:55:31 ,
-2004-01-01′, ’11:11:11′, ‘HAPPY NEW YEAR’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:19:31 ,
-2004-01-03′, ’11:50:15′, ‘I see today that Mike has camera3 aimed at an elephant seal – This adult male must have moved up on the lawn behind the boathouse to get out of the northern gale today. This is probably the one who recovered from the encounter with the boat last year. – see in the marine mammals video archive.) On camera 1 today there is a male and several females out on the middle rock . Precipitation is snow 5.5 cm’, ‘Garry’, ’18:27:41 ,
-2004-01-09′, ’17:09:52′, ‘Over 250 Northern Sea Lions – many juveniles) on middle rock only today- One large male elephant seal there also and one on Great Race – – On the lawn near helipad- check on the robotic camera ) Several bald eagles on the rocks. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’17:14:58 ,
-2004-01-24′, ’23:04:20′, ‘Two elephant seals haul out on the lawn and provide evidence of mating behaviour. See http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/marmam/elseal/elsealmate.htm The female has a large cut around her neck indicating an old injury.’, ‘Garry’, ’23:09:46 ,
-2004-05-24′, ’10:20:02′, ‘1 California Sealion on end of dock brand # 691 on his rump.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’15:02:19 ,
-2004-06-15′, ’13:59:57′, ”, ‘Mike’, ’14:00:06 ,
-2002-08-12′, ’06:59:00′, ‘testing’, ‘tim’, ’07:15:37 ,
-2004-02-29′, ’07:14:09′, ”, ‘Garry’, ’07:13:56 ,
-2008-06-11′, ’17:50:38′, ‘Black Oystercatcher still nesting near the Docks, see Cam2, http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/video2.htm. Glaucous winged gulls have territories established, most with nests started, some with eggs, some are still breeding. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’08:12:08 ,
-2008-06-03′, ’01:00:00′, ‘The Canada Goose nest with 1 egg was terminated by a parent bird eating the last egg. This was captured on the remote camera by PB and is now on the Canada Goose page on the Race Rocks Taxonomy http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/bio2002/brantac.htm Three male elephant seals were observed on middle rock. Two California and 1 Northern sealion are all that are left on the islands.’, ‘Garry’, ’18:28:55 ,
-2008-06-10′, ’18:30:42′, ‘No Sea lions were seen. Very few harbour seals are around today. estimated 10. Two elephant seals on middle island, old Slash and one juvenile male – dark colored)’, ‘Garry’, ’22:21:46 ,
-2008-06-07′, ’22:19:25′, ‘test’, ‘Garry’, ’22:19:35 ,
-2008-06-12′, ’07:41:31′, ‘Erik and Garry checked out and photographed the reported entangled elephant seal on Middle Rock. File opened at http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/miroungaa/roped.htm ‘, ‘Garry’, ’07:43:03 ,
-2008-06-17′, ’21:58:49′, ‘Most gulls are now on eggs, No sea lions visible from noon to 4:30. One elephant seal on Middle island, and Slash, our favourite old elephant seal hauled out on Great Race again this morning, but he had moved over to middle island in the afternoon. The entangled one we saw last week was not around this afternoon.’, ‘Garry’, ’22:05:12 ,
-2008-06-22′, ’17:18:32′, ‘The Black Oystercatcher nest hatched two young ones today. They will probably remain on camera 3 for today, but will leave tomorrow.. last year they hatched on the 21st of June. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’09:50:13 ,
-2008-06-23′, ’09:48:37′, ‘The two Black Oystercatcher which hatched yesterday are still with their mother at the nest although they go out and wander occasionally. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’09:49:43 ,
-2008-01-06′, ’13:45:08′, ”, ‘Garry’, ’17:25:30 ,
-2008-12-06′, ’16:21:31′, ‘This is the first day since late October that we have noted that the Elephant seals are back.. There is one large male and one smaller individual on Middle rock. Also notable is the large number of small northern sea lions.. look like very immature ones next to the large bulls. Over 100 northerns on middle island Still no California Sea lions.. They have been very scarce this fall. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’16:24:36 ,
-2008-12-13′, ’10:20:59′, ‘1 California sea lion spotted on Middle Rock.’, ‘Ryan’, ’10:26:32 ,
-2008-12-19′, ’15:53:31′, ‘A beautiful day here at Race, though there”s been a chilly NW wind all day. The Canada geese returned today after being absent since the first winter storm. Slash -the elephant seal) is still out on Middle Rock surrounded by all sizes of Stellar sea lions. I”ve seen Pelagic, Brandt”s, and Double-crested Cormorants and there have been 2-3 pairs of Harlequin Ducks around too.’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:59:51 ,
-2008-02-07′, ’13:52:44′, ‘Extreme low negative tide. Pterophyga exposed on several reefs. Cameras 1,2 and 3 all repositioned. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’13:54:04 ,
-2008-07-01′, ’20:56:21′, ‘5 eagles on middle island in the afternoon. Frequently one does a flyby and causes mass lift off from the island. There is a very high influx of gulls that are not nesting. several thousand rest on the North East corner and the South west corner. Pictures will be in the gull taxonomy page. Slash the elephant seal makes a regular habit of sleeping during the day up behind the boathouse. He moves when he gets too hot in the sun to the shade in front of the boathouse. I am working on several pictures to put up on the elephant seal page. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’12:01:08 ,
-2008-07-03′, ’12:30:54′, ‘Slash was having a good sleep in the morning behind the boathouse. I was able to approach without disturbing him and video a complete breathing cycle which is now linked from the elephant seal taxonomy. He goes through at least 4 minutes of sleep apnea before breathing again. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’20:44:11 ,
-2008-07-02′, ’09:00:00′, ‘I found another black oystercatcher nest down in front of the Winch House, so moved camera3 over to it. -Update note on July 17–2 young were observed near the nest). In the morning I went out on the intertidal for the minus tide. Excellent long exposure of the surge channel and the cave on the South west side. Also got onto Anita”s intertidal island down from the helipad. I was looking for the large – 45 cm diameter Purple star. Which I saw there two years ago, and at that time I thought he was the only one on the island. This time I found another smaller one– 30 cm diameter in a similar protected channel only 2 metres from the other one. Since these sea stars inhabit the lower intertidal zone, they cannot withstand the heavy wave action that occurs in that area without these deep channels which are protected by a rise on the seaward side to the west. As far as I know these are the only two purple stars occurring at Race Rocks. They are very common however in other sheltered inland coastlines in BC and are frequently the first sea star that visitors to BC shores notice. I also made note of a large number of very colourful brooding anemone exposed on the same protected mussel-covered wall on that island. There was an unusual abundance of blue ones which I remember to be rather rare when seen by diving in that area previously . One gull nest close to the science centre has chicks hatching.’, ‘Garry’, ’09:59:49 ,
-2008-07-14′, ’07:08:37′, ‘test’, ‘Garry’, ’07:08:47 ,
-2008-07-20′, ’00:16:00′, ‘The island was on the edge of the fog bank with a strong westerly blowing. Oystercatcher parents noted in the two nesting locations near the docks. The young succeed in hiding quickly . Baby gulls are everywhere now. Several harbour seal young are with their mothers on the rocks south of the tower. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’12:54:24 ,
-2008-07-21′, ’12:55:32′, ‘2 bald eagles by west rocks, 1 bald eagle by southeast rocks. Slash has turned around but is still sleeping in the lee of a rock. 4 young seal pups visible. Most of the gull eggs have hatched.’, ‘david’, ’21:36:31 ,
-2008-07-07′, ’13:00:08′, ‘Gull chicks by the flagpole were just starting to hatch. One egg had a dime sized hole pecked through. Oystercatchers by winch house are still nesting. This year there are at least 5 nests on the island.’, ‘Garry’, ’20:41:18 ,
-2008-07-08′, ’17:04:54′, ‘Two gull chicks hatched from the nest near the flagpole by the time we left at 5:PM. Oystercatcher parents seen with two chicks which hatched several weeks ago on the left side of docks. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’13:07:34 ,
-2008-07-23′, ’07:59:41′, ‘Elephant seal changed location; now behind boat house. Slash spent from 5:00PM to 8:00 PM in the sea, otherwise up behind boathouse. – preset 1 on cam 1) He has 3/4 of his old hair moulted off, new light gray color beneath. The old hair was light brown.’, ‘Garry’, ’01:50:18 ;
-2008-07-24′, ’13:13:38′, ’34 gull chicks counted in the rocky area just north from Science centre window. Many are panting for cooling. Slash moved down again to the shade of the Workshop as it is very hot at noon. 8 seals in area below winch. In mid afternoon, three black oystercatcher chicks were feeding with their parents down on the point in front of the winch house. Right beside were two harbour seals with their pups. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’15:23:48 ,
-2008-07-25′, ’13:42:10′, ‘Slash now moved up to his spot on the lawn west of the Science house. -Can be seen on camera2) One other male elephant seal and one smaller female remain out on the Middle rock. 5 Northern sea lions are back on middle rock as well. 1 adult eagle on middle rock ‘, ‘Garry’, ’13:50:48 ,
-2008-07-26′, ’15:53:02′, ‘Approximately 43 seals basking and swimming on the south end. ‘, ‘Laurie’, ’15:54:28 ,
-2008-07-28′, ’10:58:08′, ‘About 45 harbour seals counted this morning. But yesterday a hoard of them–ca. 70 seals ! -2 counts) ‘, ‘Laurie’, ’11:00:02 ,
-2008-07-27′, ’00:01:15′, ’70 – 72 harbour seals feasting off south shore of the island.’, ‘Laurie’, ’00:02:14 ,
-2008-07-29′, ’11:00:00′, ‘From Pam Birley, England -on Cam 5):”For one hour and ten minutes I watched a mini-drama. Took me a while to realise what was going on. A Harbour Seal had dropped her pup between large rocks in the jetty. It was trapped and struggling. At first I could not tell what it was and as the adult kept approaching and retreating towards it I thought it may be a really large fish or something and she was afraid…but NO….it was her pup. It was head down and lashing its tail to try and free itself. The tide was coming in fortunately. It kept getting tired and lying still. Eventually, with the help of some lift from the water it struggled into an upright position. At this stage I have some pictures of the mother touching noses with the pup…so lovely !! I have pictures which show the birth blood on the rock and you can actually see the umbilical chord on the pup. I also think you could see the placenta in the water, something whitish with red on it which looked like blood. After a whole lot more struggling and encouragement from its mother the pup finally climbed over the last rock and slipped into the water to follow its mother alongside the jetty. At that stage I lost sight of them but what a dramatic hour. I was cheering in the end….come ON you can do it !! ” See Pam”s pictures in the July gallery linked from the Daily Log page. ‘, ‘Pam Birley, England -on Cam 5)’, ’00:44:52 ,
-2008-07-30′, ’07:18:08′, ’71 harbour seals 2 adult bald eagles, one immature bald eagle Slash is still on the lawn west of the science house -camera 2).’, ‘Laurie’, ’07:22:31 ,
-2008-08-19′, ’14:11:19′, ‘The Glaucous Winged Gull chicks are now almost fully fledged in their dark grey plumage. Only a two or three very late hatched ones remain with some down showing. This has been a very productive year for the gulls as can be seen in the census numbers below. Bird and Mammal Census done from top of tower for all islands: Harbour seal: 90 California seal: 36 Northern sea lion: 17 Elephant seal: 2 Glaucous winged gulls: adult: 240 : juvenile-139 California gull-425 Heermann”s gull- 80 Black Turnstone-8 Surfbird- 4 Pigeon guillemot-110 Canada Goose -1 ‘, ‘Garry’, ’13:19:48 ,
-2008-08-20′, ’12:56:13′, ‘Over 90 pigeon guillemots are feeding regularly off the front docks in the channel. I don”t recall such high numbers of this species before. Four cormorants were sighted at noon, they have been noticeably down in numbers this summer. For the first year for a long time none have nested on the West cliff face. Several feeding frenzies by birds were seen with the herring balls in the north channel. I noted on the way out yesterday that Pedder Bay was jumping with herring as we went over the surface. Two Orcas, were in feeding close to the west cliff before noon, three others were sighted heading west being pursued by a whale watching boat. 3 Elephant seals are on middle island today, two large males and one smaller animal. None of them are Slash however. He has been absent both today and yesterday. At 1545– 7 Orcas are off the South WWest corner of the reserve.. surrounded right now by 6 whale watching boats. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’15:56:27 ,
-2008-09-25′, ’14:00:00′, ‘At least 200 Northern Sea Lions on Middle Rock, 20 on North Rocks and 20 California Sea lions at the docks and up on the lawn by winch house. Camera 3 is set up to see some of these at short range. Also it was noted that one California sea lion there has a plastic ring around his neck. -from fishing net bundles) We have a file for pictures we have taken of problems that sea lions have with fishing equipment at: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/marmam/sealion/northernflasher.htm Adult glaucous winged gulls are starting to moult, now have grey heads. see pictures added to the taxonomy file at : http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/juanpabloh.htm ‘, ‘Garry’, ’22:42:08 ,
-2008-09-23′, ’08:30:00′, ‘Swells .5-1 metre on the West side. Up to 100 California Gulls out on the South West corner, Heermanns gull juveniles also up to 30 One juvenile male elephant seal was up on the lawn by the science house.. Slash has not been around for some time now. 150 Northern sea lions on middle rock, 6 calif sea lions below cliff on main island. 15 California sea lions by the jetty. One with brand Number c 5–? ‘, ‘Garry’, ’18:39:02 ,
-2008-09-20′, ’10:30:00′, ‘Northern Sea Lion population building up on Middle Island .. at least 180 there now. We have started a new web file to keep a running image census on that island from the remote camera. https://racerocks.ca/rr2/census/census.htm ‘, ‘Garry’, ’19:02:59 ,
-2008-09-09′, ’10:00:00′, ‘branded Calif. sea lion 3284 near jetty. 100 Northern seals on middle island 20 California sea lions on West side of cliff. 40 harbour seals in various locations. 4 Killer whales passed us near Bentinck Island on our way out’, ‘Garry’, ’19:16:53 ,
-2008-09-16′, ’21:03:29′, ‘Glaucous winged gull adults still hang out in their nesting territory locations. Juveniles are now all fledged and yet still come back occasionally to beg for extra food. 120 Northern Sea lions on Middle Rock 40 harbour seals near main island and southern rocks. 25 California sea lions, at Jetty and on west side. No elephant seals’, ‘Garry’, ’21:07:28 ,
-2008-10-21′, ’21:12:35′, ‘California Sea Lions: 180 Stellar Sea Lions: 80 Harbour Seals: 15’, ‘ LBPC’, ’21:13:55 ,
-2008-10-22′, ’16:36:41′, ‘Approximately 120 sea lions were spotted in the reserve today. About 25 harbour seals were also seen.’, ‘ LBPC’, ’17:22:47 ,
-2008-10-23′, ’19:09:00′, ‘West Rock – 20 sea lions Middle Rock – 20 sea lions West Rock – 15 sea lions Rosedale Rocks – 25 sea lions, 25 harbour seals Great Rock – 5 sea lions, 3 harbour seals’, ‘ LBPC’, ’19:10:37 ,
-2008-11-04′, ’15:00:00′, ‘A small number of northern sea lions were on middle rock when the college boat arrived at Race Rocks. Two very loud blasts from the DND blasting at Race Rocks cleared the rocks of the sea lions. A heavy concentration of juvenile gulls, – several species..indeterminate) and California Gulls covered much of the north west corner of Great Race.’, ‘Garry’, ’23:43:19 ,
-2008-11-15′, ’08:30:00′, ‘- harbour seals: ca. 52 – Northern Sea Lions: ca. 70’, ‘laurie’, ’08:43:57 ,
-2008-11-16′, ’08:45:21′, ‘harbour seals: 29 Northern sea lions: 30’, ‘laurie’, ’08:46:10 ,
-2008-07-06′, ’12:00:00′, ‘Marine Life Slash jhas moved back on Great race Rocks. He stays on the lawn below helicopter pad or in the shade in front of the boathouse. A new Black oystercatcher nest has been found by the winch house, so it is now on camera 3. Thousands of immature and young adult gulls of several species,: western, California and herring? have arrived in the past week on the island. They stay to the south side outside of the area where the Glaucous-winged gulls nest. Also several Heermanns gulls are in the group. PB has sent new images of them which have been added to the taxa page. http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/2007/larusheerm/larusheerm.htm A few of the gull nests now have newly hatched chicks. Over 100 harbour seals , some with young are on the outlying islands. It seems like it could be a smaller population than previous years. Human Interaction Garry out at noon to relieve for a few days for Mike. There were 0 visitors to the island today.’, ‘Garry’, ’16:54:29 ,
-2008-12-20′, ’08:56:52′, ‘After I finished reporting the morning weather to Pedder Bay I heard Slash returning to the island. He”s been checking out a favourite lounging spot, vocalizing and then moving to the next one.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:00:17 ,
-2008-12-21′, ’09:03:06′, ‘Slash weathered the storm tucked up behind the helicopter pad last night. There”s a nice Slash-sized imprint between the rocks and the snowbank that formed against him. His body heat melted the snow and earth beneath him so there is a muddy trail looping around the center of the island to where he is now.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:05:58 ,
-2009-01-25′, ’12:17:59′, ‘A single orca was spotted about 1 mile south of Great Race today, my first sighting of 2009.’, ‘Ryan’, ’12:18:33 ,
-2009-01-29′, ’15:00:00′, ‘ Pam Birley sent in an image from the remote camera today of the entangled elephant seal male which last appeared in June. Copy this URL to see the image . http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/miroungaa/roped.htm Since we have a year round population of birds and mammals in our reserve, It might be appropriate to consider the implications of an oil spill in this area. An initiative started recently by the Dogwood Initiative may be interesting to follow up on . Follow the link to http://dogwoodinitiative.org/notankers/loonie-project …and watch for oil-pollution loonies.’, ‘Garry’, ’14:46:36 ,
-2009-01-30′, ’12:00:41′, ‘The female elephant seal had a pup last night, what a surprise! There are some great new photos and video on the elephant seal page. http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/miroungaa/newborn/jan3009.htm ‘, ‘Ryan’, ’09:44:53 ,
-2009-02-01′, ’10:05:23′, ‘Elephant seals awoke this morning at about 0930. Baby tried to nurse at approximately 0945. -Adam H. Further note.. Adam went on to get some great video which we have installed on the new pups page:http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/miroungaa/newborn/jan3009.htm — GF ‘, ‘ LBPC’, ’16:21:27 ,
-2009-02-02′, ’08:22:00′, ‘Today I heard early vocalizations from our new elephant seal pup Ninene. It, the young male, and its mother are still tucked in between some rocks at one corner of the heli-pad. This morning also marks the return of the Pigeon Guillemot -Cepphus columba). I counted 32 birds around the jetty on the N side of the island, most moving around as pairs.’, ‘ryan’, ’08:24:55 ,
-2009-02-04′, ’16:12:43′, ‘Second new pup out on Middle Island seems to be doing well. WE weerr able to get some new pictures of him and the eagles that were hanging around all afternoon.’, ‘Garry’, ’16:14:49 ,
-2009-02-03′, ’16:16:02′, ‘Ninene is doing well on the main island but Pam our keen observer in England points out a new pup on the scene in the morning out on middle rock: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/miroungaa/newborn/midisle/secondpup.htm ‘, ‘Garry’, ’16:17:56 ,
-2009-02-07′, ’18:12:49′, ‘eagles: 5 on Middle rock -3 juveniles and 2 adults 1 on East rocks 8 Canada Geese on great Race Rocks baby elephant seal nursing 1530hrs’, ‘Chris’, ’18:15:04 ,
-2009-02-08′, ’14:00:00′, ‘sealion count: 24 Northern sealions 1 California sealion East Rocks only group in the reserve’, ‘Chris’, ’06:53:34 ,
-2009-02-09′, ’13:30:16′, ‘A real absence of mammal and bird life, brisk wind picking up from the East. Perhaps they are aware of the approaching storm. The baby elephant seal is doing well outside the marine centre where we are staying but the male, when he is awake is regularly harassing the female. The animals never leave the spot to feed themselves so rely on fat storage for energy and for nursing. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’13:33:45 ,
-2009-02-10′, ’13:36:49′, ‘With large swells washing over the docks by noon, nothing much is moving.. only a small group of 80 Thayer”s Gulls were sitting all pointing into the wind over on the south shore. 5 or 6 eagles around all day. Approx. 10 Northern sea lions are on the two South Islands. The three elephant seals remained throughout the storm over on Middle Rock. The baby out on middle island has not been seen for the past few days two females and the male Slash remain there. One female has the two bands of rope around her girth.. a picture is linked to the elephant seal taxonomy page. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’13:43:07 ,
-2009-02-11′, ’13:44:55′, ‘Definitely no baby Elephant seal now out on Middle rock … only the three adults. Mother and baby and young male elephant seal on Great Race are still in the same location below the South end of the Helicopter pad. 5 eagles around in the morning. 14 Thayer”s Gulls are on South shore rock, along with 10 cormorants. Afternoon on Middle rock 64 Thayers Gulls and 39 cormorants Very little evidence of any Glaucous -winged gulls. 3 pairs of Canada Geese persist on the island. We are concerned with the close cropping of the grass which has made many areas of soil pockets prone to erosion. A further concern is that since they do not eat the introduced species of Stonecrop, this [-plant has spread extensively throughout the island. It is hoped that it will not crowd out the few native species left here. I checked the few beds of Romanzoffia and they are so far unintruded, but this should be monitored closely. Mosses on rock wall to water treatment plant are in Sporophyte stage. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’14:13:43 ,
-2009-02-12′, ’10:33:43′, ’42 Brandt”s Cormorants on middle island 62 Thayer”s Gulls on middle island 40 Northern Sea lions on South rock. 12 harbour seals on south rock and south beaches. 5 elephant seals and 1 pup in the reserve ‘, ‘Garry’, ’22:32:09 ,
-2009-02-22′, ’10:46:05′, ‘Little Ninene the elephant seal pup is not so little anymore! It has now been over 3 weeks since it was born, and despite the harassment from the young bull it seems to be doing well. There are visible wounds over most of the pup”s body from the male”s attacks, though the male”s aggression has lessened since it was observed copulating with the pup”s mother on Feb. 19. Neither of the three elephant seals have left the island since they arrived in late January, and the mother has visibly lost weight.’, ‘Ryan’, ’10:50:50 ,
-2009-02-23′, ’17:51:57′, ‘Today I noted a young female elephant seal hauled up behind the boat house. The pup -Ninene) is keeping its distance from the mother and the young bull. The black turnstones were seen in pairs all over the island, and I counted 62 Pigeon Guillemots off the jetty in the morning. A robin spent the day around Great Race, and struck the newly replaced -and clean) window in the keeper”s residence! It”s ok though.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:55:22 ,
-2009-02-26′, ’18:16:31′, ‘At dusk last night -Feb. 25) the female elephant seal -mother to Ninene) was seen shuffling down the path towards the jetty with the male in hot pursuit. Once in the water they floated around for a bit before the female disappeared. This morning the male had returned but not the female. Tonight at dusk the male was seen clasping the neck of the pup and trying to ”mount” it. This sexual aggression has resulted in a number of wounds to the pup -see photos under the elephant seal taxonomy page).’, ‘ryan’, ’18:51:47 ,
-2009-03-02′, ’20:22:19′, ‘Slash, the large male elephant seal has moved up to his favourite spot behind the boathouse. The pup Ninene, although still bleeding, has not been disturbed over on the south side. Misery, the aggressive elephant seal male is still recuperating from his bite wounds on the back below the flagpole. Now it is suggested by a marine mammal vet that his bites appear to be from another male elephant seal. Slash is the only other one around. No females are hauled out on any of the islands. Ryan has some good images on his Flickr site of a sealion killing a white sturgeon in the ecological reserve. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryanjmurphy/ also at: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/2009/acipensert/acipensert.htm ‘, ‘Garry’, ’10:19:47 ,
-2009-02-28′, ’10:30:08′, ‘With the pictures of the elephant seal pup from the last two days showing extensive damage from aggression by the male. I have asked DFO if they could deal with moving the pup into a less exposed location on the island. They contacted the marine mammal rescue centre in Vancouver to get involved. Scheduled for tomorrow but weather does not look favourable with a gale warning impending. These normally spend several weeks on their own after weaning before entering the water, so If she can be removed for that time she may have a better chance. It is always a concern in ecosystem management whether their should be human intervention or whether nature should take its course. In this case due to the unusual behaviour of the male, and the chance that if separated from the male the pup may still survive on its own, the first option was chosen, and we will have to see where it goes from here. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’10:40:10 ,
-2009-03-01′, ’10:42:21′, ‘Due to the Gale warning still in effect, the intervention mentioned yesterday has been postponed. Ryan reports that ” the pup was alive this morning, a little further out on the rocks to the SW of the island. The male has moved back to my lawn near the water tank shed. The wind has increased from 15 to 20 knots from 6:00 to 6:30. ….I”ll keep an eye on the situation today, and let them know this evening how the day turned out.. I don”t believe the pup is in imminent danger anymore.” ‘, ‘Garry’, ’10:46:31 ,
-2009-02-25′, ’15:00:00′, ‘Photos taken in the afternoon of Ninene the female pup indicated a much improved condition as she has been able to stay separated from the mal for a few days. In the evening, The aggressive male and the female moved back to the water for the first time in a month. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’10:51:33 ,
-2009-02-27′, ’10:59:20′, ‘The male elephant seal returned again last night to the island and again has been abusing the pup Ninene. The mother has not returned, this is normal , as at weaning time, they leave the pups on their own. The conditions here however are much different from a normal pupping colony on a beach in California where up to 50 pups congregate together for several weeks before heading to the water. With only one Pup, the male has been relentless in his attempts to breed with it. Ryan is keeping an eye on the situation and his photos appear on his Flickr site today. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’11:05:28 ,
-2009-03-11′, ’20:49:46′, ‘slash is on the island relaxing.’, ‘pearson college’, ’20:51:54 ,
-2009-03-12′, ’20:05:01′, ‘The large bull elephant seal -Slash) left around 10 this morning only to return at 2:30 in the afternoon. Baby Ninene has moved a little closer to the gut on the southern side of the island which will make for a relatively easy water entry when she decides she”s hungry enough. Very few other marine mammals hauled out.’, ‘ryan’, ’20:06:48 ,
-2009-03-18′, ’17:41:36′, ‘Three Black Brants -Branta bernicla nigricans) were observed preening 100m south of Great Race for several hours this afternoon.’, ‘ryan’, ’17:43:20 ,
-2009-03-25′, ’14:23:29′, ‘Our little elephant seal pup -Ninene) made her first motion towards the ocean today. She made her way down to the jetty, chewed on some driftwood and kelp, then turned around and moved all the way to the S side of the island after a nap half-way through the trip.’, ‘Ryan’, ’14:24:54 ,
-2009-03-26′, ’12:36:57′, ‘Plenty of immature bald eagles around today, both on Great Race and the surrounding rocks.’, ‘Ryan’, ’22:37:36 ,
-2009-03-31′, ’14:31:02′, ‘The seabirds are all hunkered down in the strong winds today.’, ‘Ryan’, ’14:31:40 ,
-2009-04-09′, ’00:21:23′, ‘A link was added to the page on Ninene since she has shown up in Port Angeles in Washington State on April 2. Links are provided to the “Penninsula News” which reported on the seal. http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/miroungaa/newborn/jan3009.htm ‘, ‘Garry’, ’00:24:04 ,
-2009-04-10′, ’08:46:56′, ‘There is a large group -70+) gulls on North Rocks and I have observed large feeding aggregations of gulls in the channel.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:48:22 ,
-2009-04-13′, ’13:43:57′, ‘3 California sea lions are hauled out on the E side for the first time this year.’, ‘Ryan’, ’13:44:15 ,
-2009-04-22′, ’07:19:14′, ‘There have been up to 6 California sea lions on Great Race during the past several days, sticking to the N and W shores. Virtually all female Purple Shore Crabs are brimming with eggs in the intertidal.’, ‘Ryan’, ’07:20:37 ,
-2009-04-23′, ’09:06:20′, ‘The westerlies of the past couple of days have cleared out Middle Rocks with only a few Elephant Seals and Northern sea lions remaining.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:06:58 ,
-2009-04-26′, ’19:59:51′, ‘During our dive today, 3 students and I had a fantastic steller sea lion encounter with 5 large bulls circling us for several minutes. A sixth steller circled the group as we returned to shore. Also, a brown pelican was sighted on the SE rocks preening midday.’, ‘Ryan’, ’20:03:32 ,
-2009-04-29′, ’09:22:25′, ‘A small Greater White-fronted Goose arrived yesterday and spent the night.’, ‘Ryan’, ’13:13:07 ,
-2009-05-03′, ’08:54:57′, ‘Yesterday a gosling that escaped the addling survey hatched.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:55:31 ,
-2009-05-07′, ’11:39:47′, ‘Two Barn Swallows -Hirundo rustica) were observed today around the helicopter pad. The white-fronted goose -Anser albifrons) is still around the island, however the Canada Goose gosling has not been seen for 2 days. The Steller sea lions have moved from West Race back to Middle Rocks where up to 10 female and one juvenile male elephant seals have been hauled out.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:43:35 ,
-2009-05-11′, ’17:42:46′, ‘Garry spotted a large flock of brown pelicans flying W to E today in the afternoon. I got a quick shot before they disappeared and counted 56 birds! Another 3 pelicans flew by in the same direction a couple hours later.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:44:26 ,
-2009-05-13′, ’07:54:31′, ‘Today is the first day the California sea lions have moved up onto the grass on the NE corner of the island.’, ‘Ryan’, ’07:54:54 ,
-2009-05-18′, ’12:12:41′, ‘Two californian sea lions are on the rocks E of the jetty and have been since some time last night. The small Anser albifrons has not been since since before the weekend. The Guillemots and Oystercatchers are both moving further inland to watch their nesting sites. On Saturday I watched an Oystercatcher harass a Bald eagle perched SE of Great Race.’, ‘Ryan’, ’12:15:54 ,
-2009-05-19′, ’13:19:27′, ‘Both a California sea lion and unknown male elephant seal were playing the shallows off the jetty today. I get a lot of hard looks when I tell the eco-tour operators that they have to respect the 100m viewing restriction even on the N side of Great Race, but hopefully the last few ”rogues” will smarten up before there is a boat strike.’, ‘Ryan’, ’13:21:37 ,
-2009-05-21′, ’08:14:37′, ‘Yesterday the ”unknown” bull elephant seal hauled up on Great Race… it”s everyone”s favourite ”Misery”. He certainly has grown since I saw him last, and the bite wounds from his encounter with Slash are healing nicely. The deepest scar must still be a little fresh as kelp flies were burrowing in deep. He is still asleep on the lawn this morning.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:16:39 ,
-2009-05-26′, ’09:44:44′, ‘Yesterday -the 25th) I spotted a very small Northern sea lion on the NE corner of the island. It was there with 2 other Northerns and 3 Californian sea lions. This little one was shorter than the Californian”s shoulder when both were sat upright, definitely the youngest individual I”ve seen here.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:46:08 ,
-2009-05-27′, ’14:26:43′, ‘The male elephant seal Misery hauled himself up on the the island between the science house and the tank room last night sometime after 0200hrs. He remained there until about 1300hrs today, where he was spotted in the water just off the jetty. Bits of fur from his winter coat were found in his sleeping spot, and the shedding is very noticeable on his body.’, ‘Adam’, ’14:31:01 ,
-2009-05-28′, ’18:14:18′, ‘Misery, one of the resident male elephant seals, hauled himself out on the island again for the night on the south side of the helipad. At about noon, as the temperature began to warm up, he moved down into the water off the jetty again.’, ‘Adam’, ’18:18:02 ,
-2009-05-29′, ’13:58:46′, ‘A lone male orca with drooping dorsal fin -to the right when viewed from anterior) traveled W->E through the North Rocks. A large American eco-tour boat the “Olympus” pursued it through the reserve at speed breaking several marine mammal viewing restrictions.’, ‘Ryan’, ’14:00:44 ,
-2009-05-31′, ’13:44:51′, ‘Misery has hauled himself out onto West Rock today. This is the first time he has been seen in several days. At about 1800hrs, two bald eagles flew down low on the NE side of Great Rock and appeared to be hunting. Gulls, oystercatchers and guillemots tried to chase the eagles away. This action continued for about 10 minutes before the eagles took off.’, ‘Adam’, ’18:30:49 ,
-2009-06-01′, ’13:42:11′, ‘Update on marine life within the reserve:6 California sea lions -on Middle Rock) 1 elephant seal -Misery, on Middle Rock) 97 harbour seals 1 bald eagle Pigeon guillemots are in plentiful supply as well, with many nests with eggs around the island, not to mention many oystercatchers. Many of the gulls have found partners and have started to mate. However, no gulls have been seen laying eggs nor sitting on nests yet. There are still pairs of Canadian Geese on the island. Although three chicks have been spotted in the last week, most eggs thankfully did not hatch this year.’, ‘Adam’, ’13:55:30 ,
-2009-06-02′, ’12:56:50′, ‘A pod of 8 orcas has been spotted approximately 1 nm east of the reserve. Swam E->W on N side of reserve then headed NW down the Strait. 2 other orcas spotted later in the afternoon swimming in same directions.’, ‘Adam’, ’21:28:27 ,
-2009-06-03′, ’22:39:39′, ‘A female elephant seal with scars from entanglement has been noticed to have hauled out on Middle Rock. This is most likely Scarlet, who has been seen in the reserve for the last 4 years. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’22:40:44 ,
-2009-06-05′, ’19:51:34′, ‘An older male sea lion with the brand #651 has been hauled out on the jetty for a few days now. He sleeps there at night, and is seen on and off it throughout the day.’, ‘Adam’, ’19:52:48 ,
-2009-06-07′, ’18:38:36′, ‘Slash has hauled himself up on the island once again. He arrived last night, and rested in the sun beside the tank room for most of the day today. Several sea lions have parked themselves on the rocks southeast of the jetty for the past few days. Haven”t seen #651 though. Many gulls have nests with eggs around the island now. Two new geese nests were noticed the other day, each with two new eggs.’, ‘Adam’, ’18:40:18 ,
-2009-06-14′, ’15:10:08′, ‘An update on marine life within the reserve:130 harbour seals spread across Great Rock and surrounding islets 115 active Glaucous-winged gull nests 2 elephant seals -male and female) hauled up on Great Rock. Varying numbers of black oystercatchers and pigeon guillemots ‘, ‘Adam’, ’15:14:36 ,
-2009-06-19′, ’09:15:18′, ‘Misery has been spotted once again on Great Rock and is as miserable as ever.’, ‘Adam’, ’09:15:53 ,

-2009-06-25′, ’21:39:10′, ‘Both Slash and Misery have been hauled up on Great Race for the last two days. Slash spent most of today floating in the water off the jetty while Misery snoozed in the sun -and rain).’, ‘Adam’, ’21:40:10 ;

INSERT INTO `visitors`
-2002-08-15′, 0, ‘HUMAN INTERACTION:There were 24 Ecotour boats, 3 pleasure craft and 2 Zodiac Military Police boats through the reserve today. Unfortunately the 2 military and 1 ecotour boat the ”Tsunami” breached the ”no wake” policy, passed this info on to D.F.O.’, ”, ’22:13:42 ,
-2002-08-12′, 5, ‘the Hyaku in from P.C. with Garry and guests about 13:30 and again about 18:30 -Ryan at the wheel- with a group tour of the M.P.A. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’06:47:41 ,
-2002-06-28′, 0, ‘HUMAN INTERACTION:Station Boat to campus to return Garry and guests. 3 pleasure craft through the reserve and 2 ecotour boats. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’06:30:56 ,
-2002-08-16′, 0, ‘went out to boat fishing in the M.P.A.’, ‘Mike-Carol’, ’19:41:25 ,
-2002-08-25′, 2, ‘Ryan out to say goodbye as he heads off back to Mt Allison for Unversity. Kiprop arrives for a few days before college opens.’, ‘Mike’, ’23:05:57 ,
-2002-10-24′, 22, ‘Mike D and 3 observers for the DND study out in the tower all day. Garry out with Biology class for introductory field lab at noon. Garry, Scott and Don out to work on Data logging equipment at 3:00PM ‘, ‘Garry’, ’23:49:50 ,
-2002-10-22′, 13, ‘Garry came out with Block A Biology class at 4:45 for Introductory Field lab. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’23:55:28 ,
-2002-10-18′, 10, ‘Garry and Laura and Divers out at 3:00PM excellent conditions- dived off docks, cleaned sensors.’, ‘Garry’, ’23:59:14 ,
-2002-11-10′, 18, ‘Goodbye RR, thanks for the marvellous project week.’, ‘Rosie, Ahmad and Jeremias’, ’22:14:10 ,
-2002-03-01′, 0, ‘2 eco-tour boats this afternoon and onf sport fishing vessel on the western reserve border this morning. Just received a call from Mike – the regular eco-guardian) He is coming back today. I am meeting him at the marina at 1700hrs to do the watch change.’, ‘Chris Blondeau’, ’15:24:16 ,
-2002-10-13′, 0, ’13 tour boats and 4 pleasure craft through today. Second Nature in at about 14:00 to pick up students who spent the weekend. Hyaku and Second Nature in with group from CISTA .Yesterday there were 9 tour boats and one dive charter off West Race. ‘, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:35:26 ,
-2002-03-02′, 0, ‘9:10 Juan de Fuca Warrior with divers off West Race. 10:20 2 eco tour boats from Gr. Pacific Adventures. 11:20 2 ecotour boats; 14:00 ecotour boat Discovery Launch through M.P.A.’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:35:42 ,
-2002-08-04′, 2, ‘There were 53 ecotour boats and 13 pleasure craft though the reserve today!’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’15:52:15 ,
-2002-09-07′, 0, ‘Good evening! It was a very quiet day here at Race Rocks. No ecotour boats came in the reserve. Only one dive charter -Ogden Point) came into the reserve for two different dives. There were four visitors from Pearson College… we gave them a tour of the ‘, ‘Carol/mike’, ’15:42:05 ,
-2002-08-02′, 2, ‘Ryan and Alex were out in the Hyaku. There were also 6 ecotour boats and 7 pleasure craft through the reserve.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’15:44:51 ,
-2002-03-05′, 0, ”, ”, ’15:50:55 ,
-2002-03-06′, 0, ’12:30 Angus arrived to take Garry back to campus. With the wind and easterly swell it was another tricky manoeuver to ”nudge” into the dock so Garry could jump into the boat – timing is everything, not for the squeamish!’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:56:00 ,
-2001-12-24′, 0, ’12:15 1 Rib with 2 divers -burrrr) 14:30 Discovery Launch -2 passengers) Thank You Jane and Chris for holding the ”fort” so we could visit with family and restock the pantry. ‘, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’16:02:13 ,
-2002-11-08′, 3, ‘ We had a visit from three scientists from LGL who were studying the impact of the blasts for the DND. We conducted an interview which should hopefully be available with the rest of the footage on this website.’, ‘Rosie, Jeremias and Ahmad’, ’16:10:23 ,
-2002-01-07′, 0, ‘2nd Nature arrived approx. 13:45 -a tricky landing at the dock with an ebbing tide and 1-2 metre swells.The supplies – 8 pails of oil for generator oil change) and 4 passengers were quickly off-loaded and Angus waited off shore until the visitors were rea’, ‘Mike or Carol’, ’16:13:02 ,
-2001-12-16′, 0, ’12:10am -1:45pm Boat with 6 divers -West Race’, ‘Garry’, ’16:18:09 ,
-2002-03-12′, 0, ‘1 Pleasure craft and several low flying planes searching for 2 fishers missing from a 5 metre boat found over turned just west of Race Rocks.’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’16:07:19 ,
-2002-11-29′, 0, ‘Station boat trip to Pedder Bay and back. There were 2 Ecotour boats through today.’, ‘Mike’, ’14:01:16 ,
-2003-01-01′, 0, ‘Happy New Year’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’08:43:28 ,
-2002-08-26′, 0, ”, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:56:16 ,
-2002-06-25′, 0, ‘There were 9 ecotour boats and 3 pleasure craft through the reserve.The Hyaku was in this morning with Garry, Angus and guest to film the boats in the Victoria to Maui race, unfortunately no wind and in fact it was about 16:00 before the first boat reache’, ‘Carol and Mike S’, ’16:20:48 ,
-2002-06-24′, 0, ‘1 pleasure craft through the reserve today,also station boat to Pedder Bay and back.\n’, ‘Carol and Mike S’, ’16:24:56 ,
-2002-06-23′, 0, ‘ There were 23 eco tour boats, 7 pleasure craft,one college Zodiac and 1 dive boat in the reserve today, the station boat made a trip out to assist boater out of fuel! Station boat also made a trip to Pedder Bay and back.\n’, ‘Carol and Mike S’, ’16:30:34 ,
-2003-01-08′, 0, ‘ ‘, ”, ’16:35:56 ,
-2003-01-09’, 4, ‘2nd Nature in – Garry, Scott,Chris – working on the data recorder etc. Chris picked up the fuel transfer pump, in for servicing.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:46:24 ,
-2003-01-17′, 4, ‘ The 2 observers from LGL arrived first thing in the morning in their small Zodiac to spend the day in the tower montoring the wildlife. Just after 16:00 a Coast Guard Helicopter set down on the pad for about 5 minutes evidently to check the bird populat’, ‘Mike’, ’00:11:20 ,
-2003-01-20′, 2, ‘Two observers from LGL arrived first thing in a.m ‘, ‘Mike’, ’23:47:37 ,
-2003-01-23′, 5, ‘2 Fisheries officers were in today for about an hour to investigate our report of the injured Elephant Seal.After viewing the video tape they both agreed the injuries are consistent with contact with a boat prop. 3 observers from LGL were here for the da’, ‘Mike’, ’00:21:22 ,
-2003-01-30′, 3, ‘Observers from LGL arrived first thing this morning to monitor the wildlife re. DND blasting but the fog rolling in and out made things a bit difficult at times to see the wildlife! ‘, ‘Mike’, ’00:47:12 ,
-2003-01-03′, 1, ‘The Juan de Fuca Warrior dive charter arrived 09:40 and spent most of the day in the M.P.A. Morning dive between Gr. Race and West Race-afternoon dive,the west ”wall” of West Race.’, ‘Mike or Carol’, ’16:08:58 ,
-2003-01-06′, 0, ‘PC STUDENTS: Yet another day at Racerocks! Today, we had the pleasure of refilling the oil tanks with the assistance of Mike and Chris. Garry and I managed to restore the remote camera which had jammed.We are looking forward to yet another interesting day’, ‘Michael Kiprop’, ’16:18:12 ,
-2003-01-07′, 0, ‘PC STUDENTS:Our fourth day at Racerocks has just ended. Today, we managed to finish off refilling the oil tanks and this should take us until April. Garry came over to deliver the G3 Powerbook for a webcast later this evening. \nHUMAN INTERACTION: One boa’, ‘Michael Kiprop’, ’16:20:42 ,
-2003-02-03′, 2, ‘Angus and guest ‘, ‘Mike’, ’01:56:01 ,
-2003-02-13′, 4, ‘Chris in with Second Nature first thing this morning, 4 passengers. Matthew stayed all day to work on Data computer system. 2 visitors to measure etc. re installation of enviro. toilet. Chris back to pick up Matthew on return from afternoon dive-students ‘, ‘Mike’, ’00:58:36 ,
-2003-02-20′, 3, ‘ 3 obsevers from LGL here today. The trip back in 4 ft seas and 32knt winds was a wet one for them. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’16:34:54 ,
-2003-02-21′, 6, ‘Garry and students came in after Dive.’, ‘Mike’, ’11:54:00 ,
-2003-03-02′, 5, ‘Second Nature in -Chris) with students and supplies for the week. Filming for archives and working on website.’, ‘Mike’, ’16:46:46 ,
-2003-03-06′, 2, ‘LGL observers.’, ‘Mike’, ’17:14:10 ,
-2003-03-09′, 26, ’22 Guests from the Nautilus Explorer for a tour of Race Rocks.Garry and Chris in Hyaku. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’18:18:03 ,
-2003-03-20′, 2, ‘Observers with LGL out for the day.’, ‘mike’, ’01:48:29 ,
-2003-03-26′, 4, ‘Angus and 3 guests’, ‘mike’, ’02:13:26 ,
-2003-03-27′, 2, ‘LGL observers ‘, ‘mike’, ’02:15:09 ,
-2003-04-01′, 0, ‘Mike Wheatley for an over night visit to do research on alternate power systems for Race Rocks’, ‘mike’, ’01:58:11 ,
-2003-04-10′, 4, ‘Garry,Matthew and 2 LGL observers.’, ‘mike’, ’01:20:54 ,
-2003-06-01′, 1, ‘Ryan Murphy came from Pearson College in the Zodiak at 1200. He dove with the the LBPC students and left at approx 1:30.’, ‘student LBPC’, ’14:12:22 ,
-2003-04-16′, 3, ‘LGL observers’, ‘Mike’, ’03:44:06 ,
-2003-04-24′, 3, ‘Scott and Ken to work on towercam and upgrade RAM NT server. M.McKenzie/ research from SFU’, ‘Mike’, ’04:09:45 ,
-2003-04-15′, 0, ‘4 classes for biology labs.’, ‘Mike’, ’04:41:23 ,
-2003-06-02′, 0, ‘Second Nature -boat number 14K34426) came and landed at 0915 and dropped off 10 visitors from West Coast Eco-Adventures. It left at 1030 and then returned to pick them up at 1300. It cruised by West Race. No marine life was seen to be disturbed’, ‘student LBPC’, ’13:12:32 ,
-2003-06-05′, 2, ‘Scientists from LGL, landed with their Zodiac at the docks at around 9.00 am’, ‘mike’, ’11:09:55 ,
-2003-07-13′, 5, ‘Anita and Garry -research Chris with visitors’, ‘Mike’, ’13:19:05 ,
-2003-07-17′, 2, ‘LGL Observers’, ‘Mike’, ’12:34:16 ,
-2003-08-05′, 0, ‘Mike and Carol have left the island today under upsetting circumstances. We are all praying for Carol”s recovery and will keep her in our hearts and minds.’, ‘ LBPC’, ’22:26:43 ,
-2003-08-11′, 1, ‘A Coast Guard Helicopter touched down several times, forcing young birds into other nests where the adult birds pecked them apart. The disembodied heads and dismembered bodies of seagull chicks now litter the island.’, ‘ LBPC’, ’10:48:49 ,
-2003-09-24′, 0, ‘Garry”s class – field trip’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:43:35 ,
-2003-09-25′, 0, ”, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’19:39:02 ,
-2003-10-09′, 2, ”, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:28:51 ,
-2003-10-14′, 15, ‘Garry”s class – web broadcasting’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:46:09 ,
-2003-10-19′, 6, ‘Garry, film crew and divers out doing a live web cast. form 9:00 – 10:30 ‘, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’16:31:45 ,
-2003-10-20′, 3, ‘LGL out’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’16:38:54 ,
-2003-10-23′, 2, ‘Garry out to make repairs on camera one’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’16:54:34 ,
-2003-10-26′, 6, ‘Divers -Irena, Maeve, Mike, Mael, Jaimie, Yuki) were transported onto the island by Garry and Chris to stay until Friday’, ‘Irena’, ’14:35:04 ,
-1970-01-01′, 0, ”, ‘Irena’, ’10:11:18 ,
-2003-10-31′, 1, ‘Garry in to pick up 6 students after a 6 day stay.’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:32:12 ,
-2003-11-02′, 10, ”, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:19:05 ,
-2003-11-06′, 3, ‘LGL out’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:18:29 ,
-2003-11-07′, 1, ‘Chris bring Carol home’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:17:04 ,
-2003-11-13′, 2, ‘LGL out’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:26:32 ,
-2003-11-14′, 1, ‘refueling’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:25:15 ,
-2003-11-20′, 3, ‘LGL’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:21:38 ,
-2003-11-21′, 3, ‘LGL’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:21:05 ,
-2003-11-27′, 2, ‘LGL last trip’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:24:12 ,
-2003-12-03′, 2, ‘Chris out to refuel. Ken out to check computers.’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:26:20 ,
-2003-12-15′, 2, ‘Second Nature – refueling’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:39:42 ,
-2003-12-24′, 0, ‘Chris and the Blondeau clan came to the island to relieve for the Slaters over the Christmas holidays. Arrive on the island at 1630hrs’, ‘Chris’, ’12:12:39 ,
-2004-01-12′, 2, ‘Chris and Michael out to pick up two pumps for repairs. Bought out desalinator.’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:23:05 ,
-2004-01-27′, 1, ”, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:24:46 ,
-2004-02-03′, 4, ”, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:30:43 ,
-2004-02-05′, 2, ‘Coast Guard 359 dropped off two techs to service the automated nav. aids.’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:48:41 ,
-2004-02-13′, 1, ‘Garry in to replace camera 1 computer’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:37:26 ,
-2004-02-19′, 2, ‘Garry and Ken out to install Apple Airport Extremes’, ‘Garry’, ’17:31:34 ,
-2004-02-18′, 8, ‘Garry and Chris out with Shelby Davis and Mrs Davis, and other guests. Tour of buildings and explanation of the racerocks.com technology.’, ‘Garry’, ’17:39:17 ,
-2004-02-15′, 10, ‘Garry out to fix audio camera1 etc . Stuart and Chris out with UWC Evaluation Team who will be with us at Pearson College this week .’, ‘Garry’, ’17:44:12 ,
-2004-03-11′, 0, ‘Garry and Chris groups out for a dive’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:19:31 ,
-2004-03-12′, 13, ‘divers from L.B.P.C.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:12:09 ,
-2004-03-17′, 3, ‘Garry and two students working on camera three.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:39:00 ,
-2004-03-31′, 1, ‘Chris out with a class’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:30:46 ,
-2004-04-04′, 19, ”, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:25:47 ,
-2004-04-05′, 10, ‘divers from L.B.P.C.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:16:09 ,
-2004-04-07′, 2, ‘Chris and Scot’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:42:46 ,
-2004-04-21′, 21, ”, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:47:24 ,
-2004-04-23′, 3, ‘Scot out to work on new camera’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’19:08:39 ,
-2004-05-04′, 16, ‘With talk of lifting the moratorium on off shore drilling it was interesting to see the Coast Guard ship Bartlett along with a small flotilla of other craft busy with a day long oil spill recovery exercise in the waters between William Head and Albert Hea’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’17:06:10 ,
-2004-05-07′, 1, ‘Chris out to check cable’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’19:39:30 ,
-2004-05-11′, 2, ‘Chris and Ken out to work on new camera’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:47:10 ,
-2004-05-12′, 2, ‘Chris and Ken finishing touches to camera 5’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’19:53:04 ,
-2004-05-10′, 2, ‘Today just after 11:00 a.m. a small chopper landed on the Middle island. The sea Lions scurried into the water as it approached. The mammals were quite close to the water as they have been in and out of the water because of the blasting on the DND range.Th’, ‘Garry’, ’17:15:08 ,
-2004-05-18′, 1, ”, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:15:14 ,
-2004-05-19′, 43, ‘Students test and second year students who have not been to Race Rocks as this is there last chance to see it.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’19:44:18 ,
-2004-05-27′, 9, ‘a group of students will be staying in the learning centre for several days to work on a few projects.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:29:52 ,
-2004-06-04′, 6, ‘students left island today after a week stay.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:49:23 ,
-2004-06-07′, 5, ‘College bout out with Garry and two CBC radio personalities.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’21:16:29 ,
-2004-06-09′, 1, ‘Chris out’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:56:16 ,
-2004-06-17′, 5, ‘Garry and Scot out working on cameras. Chris and helpers out delivering fuel.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:51:33 ,
-2004-06-23′, 9, ‘Chris out to pick up fuel tank and drop off supples, at this time there where 5 gust’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’19:23:03 ,
-2004-06-24′, 2, ‘Chris and Mike refueling one trip.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:54:01 ,
-2004-06-25′, 2, ‘Chris and Michael out delivering fuel’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:46:32 ,
-2008-04-08′, 0, ”, ”, ’22:27:17 ,
-2008-06-03′, 10, ‘Garry and Catrin and 2 students came out in Second Nature with the members of the West Coast Ecoadventure Group http://pearsoncollege.ca/outreach/summer/eco/index.htm ‘, ‘Garry’, ’18:35:39 ,
-2008-06-10′, 10, ‘Catrin and Garry with two assisting students were out with 6 participants in the West Coast Ecoadventure program.’, ‘Garry’, ’18:34:52 ,
-2008-06-12′, 2, ‘Erik delivered Oil to RR in Second Nature. Garry installed new temp/humidity sensor, and changed cameras on nesting oystercatcher.. now cam era 3. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’07:45:12 ,
-2008-01-06′, 0, ”, ‘Garry’, ’17:26:04 ,
-2008-07-06′, 0, ‘Garry out at oon to relieve for Mike fr a few days.’, ‘Garry’, ’17:27:05 ,
-2008-07-01′, 0, ‘Garry out at noon to relieve for Mike’, ‘Garry’, ’11:56:17 ,
-2008-07-02′, 0, ‘West Coast Wildlife Adventures approached to view the elephant seal within 10 meters of the seal. I advised him he was too close since slash was there basking in the water. He had moved in to get a close look from a few metres. Images placed on ecotourism page on web. This is not the first whale watching boat that is coming in too close this season. With seal pups in the water this is a dangerous thing to do. See the ecotourism page for more information.’, ‘Garry’, ’12:41:23 ,
-2008-07-14′, 2, ‘Testing’, ‘Garry’, ’07:25:28 ,
-2008-07-20′, 7, ‘Chris ferried David and family of three to the island to relieve for Mike. Garry and former Thai student Amp Lao -year 27) went along for a quick visit. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’20:46:34 ,
-2008-07-07′, 1, ‘GF out to the island to change IPs to new network settings. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’13:00:05 ,
-2008-07-08′, 2, ‘GF out with Sam all day to finish the network changeover. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’13:08:32 ,
-2008-07-22′, 0, ‘Chris, Jane, Morgan, Catriona on watch 1930hrs’, ‘chris’, ’20:51:21 ,
-2008-07-23′, 1, ‘Garry took over from Chris and family to relieve the next three days.’, ‘Garry’, ’01:45:18 ,
-2008-07-24′, 0, ‘A calm day so the whale watching boats are here. They all respected the guidelines for observation. It is important to emphasize the need to drive boats cautiously as baby seals in the water are vulnerable. See our file on ecotourism: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/admin/ecotourism/ecotourism.htm I may have missed one or two boats but most are recorded below along with their numbers: 0950 West Coast Orca Spirit: 10 passengers 1045 Real Pacific Adventures: 8 1050 Sooke Coastal Explorations: 3 1110 Prince of Whales : 12 1115 Cetacean : 6– -no lifejackets worn) 1200 Sooke Costal Expeditions: 12 1200 Shop@whalestore.com:; 12 1200 Prince of Whales : 12 1215 Springtide : 8 1215 Orca Spirit: 6 1230 Orca— —- 6 1245 Great Pacific Adventures – King Salmon) : 26 1800 S—- King? -Fibreglass) 6 1845 Eagle wing tours: 26 1900 Prince of Whales: 26 i.e. Approximate total ecotourists in the reserve today: 180 Total funding they contributed towards ensuring the sustainability of the resource at Race Rocks: $0.00 ‘, ‘Garry’, ’22:12:04 ,
-2008-07-25′, 0, ‘9:49 Eagle wing tours –8 passengers.’, ‘Garry’, ’13:51:35 ,
-2008-07-28′, 0, ‘Blasting by the DND sent the 5 newly returned sea lions into water. Slash hits the water to cruise by the dock. 18 eco-tour boats sited in channel close to sea lions -also later main dock where Slash was lying by boat house). Some of which were the following tour companies : – Sooke Coastal Expeditions -multiple returns) – Springtide 384-4444 -Eaglewing Tours.com -Five Star Whale Watching -Great Pacific Adventures -Prince Whales, Whale Watching -multiple returns)’, ‘Laurie’, ’00:05:28 ,
-2008-08-19′, 0, ‘Census from 1100 to 1600: Some passenger numbers + or -2 Prince of Whales– 30 Prince of Whales inflatable–9 Springtide– 58 5 star– 40 5 star- 48 red inflatable C11201 BC -12 Prince of whales– 25 Prince of whales inflatable –11 Seafun Safari–8 Pr.of Whales–25 Orca Spirit– 32 Prince of Whales–8 Spring Tide– 50 Great northern Adventures–`12 Great pacific adventures– 13 Spring tide –10 Wildcat –40 Inflatable–8 Inflateable–8 Orange inflatable?– 8 Possibly 3 or 4 boats were missed in this census during the day. Total– 463 ‘, ‘Garry’, ’13:19:10 ,
-2008-08-20′, 3, ‘Coast Guard Helicopter with three aboard landed at tower for electrical maintenance. Incomplete census of a few of the Whale watching boats today: 1130- Seafun Safari –8 1230 – C11201 BC —8 1330- Eagle Wing —12 13:45- Eagle Wing– -28 1400-1530 4 boats approx 120 1530- Prince of Whales- 45 1538 -Cetacean– 7 1545- Springtide- 20 15:47– Ocean explorations–11 1600-Sea fun Safaris–12 1610- prince of whales–11 1612- Ocean explorations–10 1612- C11201 BC —12 1614- Great Pacific Adventures -15 1616- Real Pacific Adventures-13 1623- Prince of whales–9 1814-Eagle wing tours –24 1817-Prince of whales–8 1833-Eagle Wing tours–13 ‘, ‘Garry’, ’18:32:34 ,
-2008-09-23′, 14, ‘Faculty member Judy Ranns was out with her class of Biology students from Pearson College for a tidepool field lab. Garry accompanied. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’18:33:35 ,
-2008-09-20′, 14, ‘Garry and Adam out with Friends of Ecological Reserves Annual Field Trip. In a few weeks check the FER LOG fall edition writeup by Mary: http://www.ecoreserves.bc.ca/newsletters.html ‘, ‘Garry’, ’19:00:37 ,
-2008-09-09′, 3, ‘Garry took Pam and Dennis Birley out to the island today. Pam does the monthly photo diary from camera 5 from her home in England. http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/diary/ ‘, ‘Garry’, ’19:16:04 ,
-2008-09-16′, 6, ‘Garry and Arno out with the racerocks.com Tuesday afternoon activity group to review some of the program plans for the island. We did a video of Mike explaining the operation of the Lister engine on the Winch, and the salt water pumping system. We will make videos to illustrate these back in class later. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’21:02:36 ,
-2008-09-25′, 16, ‘Faculty member Judy Ranns was out with her class of Biology students from Pearson College for a tidepool field lab. Garry out with 3 visitors in afternoon.’, ‘Judy’, ’22:38:02 ,
-2008-10-06′, 12, ‘Faculty members Catrin Brown and Judy Ranns were out with a class of Biology students from Pearson College for a tidepool field lab and population study.’, ‘Judy’, ’08:16:23 ,
-2008-09-30′, 13, ‘Faculty member Judy Ranns was out with her class of Biology students from Pearson College for a tidepool field lab’, ‘Judy’, ’08:14:19 ,
-2008-10-20′, 3, ‘Pearson College faculty member Erik Schauff brought a man to measure window dimensions and a man to service the desalinator.’, ‘ LBPC’, ’14:50:01 ,
-2008-10-21′, 3, ‘Two environmental consultants from LGL Limited visited the island to monitor the effects of military blasting on the sea lion population. PC faculty member Erik Schauff visited the island as well.’, ‘ LBPC’, ’14:57:06 ,
-2008-10-22′, 6, ‘Three environmental consultants from LGL Limited visited the island today to monitor the effects of military blasting on sea lion behaviour. PC faculty member Erik Schauff also visited the island with two engineers from Clean Current.’, ‘ LBPC’, ’16:36:54 ,
-2008-10-23′, 5, ‘Two envrironmental consultants from LGL visited the island again today to monitor military blasting on the sea lion population. Erik also brought two Clean Current engineers out to the island again to continue work on the turbine, and to oversee students diving on the turbine for project week.’, ‘ LBPC’, ’19:13:09 ,
-2008-10-24′, 5, ‘Two environmental consultants from LGL returned to the island today, as did two engineers from Clean Current. Erik dropped off and picked up the engineers.’, ‘ LBPC’, ’15:38:31 ,
-2008-11-04′, 17, ‘Erik was out with divers along with Garry and four members of the racerocks.com activity and Lorraine and camera from Shaw TV. Several video clips were made for the channel 11 Daily program. Two of Clean Current crew had come out earlier in the day and returned with the crew from the college. LGL investigators up the tower when we were there. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’23:48:51 ,
-2008-11-15′, 7, ‘Two additional people from Clean Current arrived to join two of their colleagues. Laurie, along with her son and brother also arrived today, bringing the total RR visitors up to seven. ‘, ‘laurie’, ’08:52:23 ,
-2008-11-16′, 5, ‘The five remaining visitors, two from Clean Current, and three others depart in morning. Clean Current successfully ran the turbine during the night, charging the battery full. There was no need to run the generator. ‘, ‘laurie’, ’08:47:29 ,
-2009-02-07′, 0, ‘!330hrs Ryan shore leave Chris on watch.’, ‘Chris’, ’14:09:16 ,
-2009-02-09′, 0, ‘We were concerned over a very low fly over and circling of the float plane C-GJZE at 1343 hours. He circled low over the islands and came right across great race at about 100 meters elevation. It looked pretty close from my vantage point up the tower!’, ‘Garry’, ’13:51:28 ,
-2009-02-23′, 12, ‘Erik and some of the PC Divers came to dive on the slack this afternoon.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:56:14 ,
-2009-02-25′, 10, ‘Garry was out with the two IT people from the college to try to sort out the continuing problems with the video streams and the weather station. Also Erik took out to the island the crew from the contracting company Integrity who are working on Tower restoration. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’10:54:45 ,
-2009-03-12′, 10, ‘A work crew of 2 came today to finish off the job. The tower is now sheathed all the way up to the light in scaffolding. Two more students joined the 6 already present for Project Week.’, ‘ryan’, ’20:08:46 ,
-2009-03-15′, 0, ‘An update on the current view of the tower: If you are looking at it from the remote camera 5, you can see the scaffolding now complete around the outside of the tower. As a result of the passage of the Heritage Lighthouse Protection act last year: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/history/heritagetower.htm the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada has contracted for a complete restoration of the tower inside and out. This page documents the process. http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/history/restoration/restoration.htm’, ‘Garry’, ’11:00:17 ,
-2009-03-25′, 3, ‘Chris, Richard and a visitor to the College were on the island today.’, ‘Ryan’, ’14:23:27 ,
-2009-04-10′, 4, ‘4 Pearson students arrived on the island for the weekend in order to dive. -ADAM H.’, ‘ LBPC’, ’18:12:38 ,
-2009-04-26′, 7, ‘A large group of students, mostly first-year divers are here for this beautiful weekend.’, ‘Ryan’, ’07:59:08 ,
-2009-05-16′, 4, ‘2 students as well as Garry and a guest are here for the day.’, ‘Ryan’, ’13:55:29 ,
-2009-06-03′, 5, ‘A PC student was here for the day in order to study the effects of salinity, temperature, etc on the growth of a certain organism in tidepools as part of an extended essay. A graduate has been here for two weeks as well to work on finishing the Divemaster course. Two contractors are daily visitors to the island as well. They”ve been painting the light tower for the last month. Erik came to do some diving today.’, ‘Adam’, ’17:00:46 ,
-2009-06-05′, 5, ‘The same PC student out a few days ago arrived again to stay for two weeks in order to work on an EE.’, ‘Adam’, ’09:15:29 ,
-2009-06-12′, 37, ’33 students from Camosun College visited the island to tour the alternate energy system. Erik and Chris accompanied. Both painters working on the lighthouse were also out.’, ‘Adam’, ’11:29:17 ,
-2009-06-15′, 1, ‘A man interested in the alternative energy system at RR visited the island this morning.’, ‘Adam’, ’09:05:05 ,
-2009-06-21′, 7, ‘Seven kayakers showed up on the jetty at about noon and were in the process of preparing themselves for a little tour around the island before they were halted. After politely explaining that this was not possible and asking that they head off, they requested to stay for lunch. We had them record their names in the visitors log, and under direct supervision they were confined to eating their lunch and staying on the jetty. We gave them donation pamphlets and they headed out within approximately half an hour of their arrival.’, ‘Adam’, ’07:27:46 ,
-2009-06-23′, 16, ‘Garry was out this morning with some guests to do a quick tour of the island. 10 or so students arrived in the afternoon for a short tour of the island.’, ‘Adam’, ’12:23:10 ,
-2009-06-25′, 10, ‘8 affiliates of DFO arrived this morning for a quick tour with Garry and Chris facilitating.’, ‘Adam’, ’21:38:46 ,
-2009-07-03′, 5, ‘Today was a bit of a work day on the island. Two IT pros were out to work on some of the tech systems on the island with Garry. Peter was also out this morning to help with some renovations in the keeper ”s house as well as the plumber to fix the broken hot water heater.’, ‘Adam’, ’09:50:14 ,
-2009-07-15′, 4, ‘test of the system’, ‘Garry’, ’17:05:12 ,
-2009-07-23′, 2, ‘PV contractors’, ‘max’, ’22:52:24 ,
-2009-07-27′, 2, ‘A desalinator technician and one guest came today. We gave a tour and helped fix the desalinator.’, ‘max’, ’19:27:13 ,
-2009-08-09′, 0, ‘The California sea lions have started to return to the rocks. Seventeen were sighted this evening, up from four just one week ago. They are mainly on Great Race Rock east of the jetty, although some have hauled out on West Rock.’, ‘max’, ’20:00:48 ,
-2009-08-10′, 0, ‘It now appears as if there are 20 sea lions of both the Northern and California species, both of which have hauled out on Great Race Rock.’, ‘max’, ’19:29:14 ,
-2009-08-11′, 5, ’45 sea lions are now hauled out/in the water in the reserve The painters have returned, starting work on the exterior of the tower. An engineer from Clean Current was also here to perform maintenance on the tidal turbine rectifier.’, ‘max’, ’20:22:25 ,
-2009-08-12′, 2, ’50+ sea lions are noted this evening. 4 sea gull chick carcasses, in various stages of decomposition are also noted, scattered throughout Great Race Rock.’, ‘max’, ’19:15:04 ,
-2009-08-13′, 5, ‘Painters & contractors. 75+ sea lions noted’, ‘max’, ’11:03:14 ,
-2009-08-14′, 2, ’70+ sea lions and one baby elephant seal are hauled out.’, ‘max’, ’19:10:38 ,
-2009-08-15′, 0, ‘The baby elephant seal is present outside the concrete pad again today. Its back is covered in small wounds and every move it takes seems to be an effort. It spent all day sleeping beside the jetty. Wondering if it is sick or in poor health… The number of sea lions -both stellar and California) is growing daily. Most are hauled out on the NE corner of Gr. Race and on Middle Rock. Some are also on the southern rocks as well. A flock of four Canada Geese was present on the island for a few hours this morning. Seagull chicks are still growing, with many spreading their wings and starting to lift off from the ground. Carcasses in various stages of decomposition have been found scattered across the island this week, with two new ones beside the cistern spotted yesterday. Slash has not been seen for a week now. A number of infractions from recreational boats occurred today, including viewing animals from less than 100 metres, fishing and traveling at speeds greater than 7 kts. Recreational boaters are reminded that violation of the Marine Mammal Regulations -rev. 2006) may constitute a fine up to $100 000.’, ‘Adam’, ’21:25:22 ,
-2009-08-04′, 0, ‘he seagull chicks are growing. I haven ”t seen any new chicks in the last week or two, which leads me to believe that everyone has now hatched. None of the young have started to fly yet -as far as I have seen), but many of the chicks appear now to at least realise that the protrusions from their bodies may someday put them in the air. It is quite entertaining to watch the chicks hop up and down and flap their wings before falling on their heads! I haven ”t seen our family of young geese now for a week or so. I suspect that they have outgrown the island and moved off. This week though we did have two stopovers from geese flocks. The first flock consisted of seven individuals while the second had twelve. Each flock landed for a few hours then left. Slash, as always, is still lazing around in the sun on the island. We did have Beatrice return a few weeks ago, but she only stayed for a day or two. I haven ”t seen any more elephant seals these days. Four or five California sea lions have returned to the reserve. Several are currently hauled out on Middle Rock, and several more are hauled out on the northeast corner of Great Race Rock. Unfortunately, they appear to be quite the attraction for whale watching tourists. Many pigeon guillemots are still present across the island, as well as a number of black oystercatchers that can often be seen out on the jetty at night when I do the water sampling. Life underwater is also flourishing, as expected. Yesterday I did two dives off the north side of the island and saw the normal plethora of creatures. Many of my fellow divers also spotted a wolf eel lurking in the upper reef. I, unfortunately, missed it.Pam has also reported seeing an otter skulking around too. I ”ve been on and off the island in the last week quite a bit, so I guess I must have missed it. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’21:27:09 ,
-2009-08-19′, 4, ‘Painters & contractors are continuing work on the lighthouse exterior. Some seagull chicks are managing to fly short distances around Gr Race, and many have started to flap their wings in preparation for flight. The baby elephant seal was not hauled out this morning, but from last night her wounds look as if they are not healing.’, ‘max’, ’10:07:58 ,
-2009-08-25′, 1, ‘Testing Human’, ‘admin’, ’12:31:17 ,
-2009-08-26′, 2, ‘Orcas were spotted along the boundary of the reserve at several points throughout the day today. Our little friend the injured elephant seal has not been seen for several days now. However, the other young seal, possibly a male, was hauled up on the jetty last night. The number of sea lions continues to grow, as does the reach of their haul outs. A particularly stubborn and rather aggressive fellow was inhabiting the jetty this afternoon. Seagull chicks are beginning to lift off. Unfortunately, many are being found to have met their demise at the hands of the river otter which seems to frequent the island regularly these days. Two contractors from Home Energy Solutions in Victoria were here today to install new solar panels.’, ‘Adam’, ’22:41:06 ,
-2009-09-01′, 1, ‘We were fortunate enough to have a demonstration of a SeaLegs vessel yesterday, but our narrow ramp would not permit it to land! Adam left the island yesterday, thanks for all your hard work! Upon returning to the island Chris and Erik pointed out an injured Steller sea lion with a large open wound on its chest. In photographing that one I noticed another Steller with a fresh prop wound on its back and two California sea lions entangled in fishing gear around their necks. That brings my tally up to 5 injured sea lions in 7 days, and I haven ”t exactly been keeping a close eye on them.’, ‘Ryan’, ’07:33:01 ,
-2009-09-02′, 0, ‘Today I spent mainly in Pedder Bay, but I was treated to some nice wildlife moments on the way back to Great Race today at 5:30. First, 20 or so Sooty Shearwaters flew by E to W right as I was passing North Race. Adam and I had another flock of them fly by last week, but at that time there were hundreds flying low to the water. Then as I entered the reserve a Peregrine left the tower and flew towards North Race, getting very low on the water and captured a small bird that had been standing on the bull kelp. The California sea lions have really taken over the jetty, and depending on the time of day there can be Stellers up there too.’, ‘Ryan’, ’18:16:02 ,
-2009-09-06′, 0, ‘The numbers of sea lions -both kinds) have seriously declined over the past two days. With highs of >100 Northerns on Middle Rocks and >50 Californians on the lawn of Great Race 3 days ago, there are just 18 Northerns on Middle Rocks and 6 Californians on the lawn as of 20:00 this evening. I just read that the Sockeye return is an order of magnitude smaller than DFO predicted for this year, though that ”s hardly surprising for a species that DFO manages -just ask Peter Gardner). However, if these sea lions follow the food, then it would be good to know where they go when they leave here.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:26:02 ,
-2009-09-08′, 7, ‘Garry, friends of the ecological reserves as well as Pam Birley and her husband Dennis arrived with Erik today. It was a productive morning with an important biological sample being towed to campus for further work.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:36:10 ,
-2009-09-09′, 0, ‘Jamie and Micah of LGL were out today to spend a damp gray day at the top of the tower observing the sea lions. Not much boat traffic to report.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:26:41 ,
-2009-09-11′, 0, ‘Blasting continued today with 2 more blasts from Bentinck Island. I noticed the second blast caused some stampeding, and that returning today Middle Rocks had only 20 or so sea lions as opposed to the 100+ several days ago. This afternoon the MV DLORNA parked off the jetty for 15 minutes as other recreational boats -Adam ”s Fishing Charter and an unnamed Grady White boat) clogged up the passage trying to get snapshots of the sea lions. ‘, ‘Ryan’, ’17:09:16 ,
-2009-09-13′, 0, ‘Four of the six pleasure craft in the reserve today violated reduced speed regulations. Only 1 of the 4 violators monitored/responded to hails on VHF68. I see in reviewing the log that beyond a certain number of boat entries, they are not displayed -though are still in the database). The display is not designed for real-time entries.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:13:49 ,
-2009-09-15′, 0, ‘Laura ”s Marine Science arrived in the morning for an initial introduction to the ecosystem and the research facilities. Erik and some second year divers came in the evening to pick up the fuel tank in preparation for re-fueling of the station.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:12:09 ,
-2009-09-19′, 0, ‘I noticed that Camera 5 was down today after lunch, and I ”m not sure when it went offline. I apologize for any inconvenience, it is functioning again.’, ‘Ryan’, ’14:04:02 ,
-2009-09-21′, 3, ‘Erik brought out the paint crew again today for what could be their second last week on the job!’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:43:28 ,
-2009-09-23′, 9, ‘Erik brought the painters in the morning and Chris arrived around 3:30 with a group to discuss the tidal generator and our push for renewable energies.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:25:32 ,
-2009-10-08′, 7, ‘The scaffolders and the painters were here today to take down the last bit of scaffolding around the tower. It now shines so brightly! 2 LGL scientists were here as well. The boat traffic, etc associated with all this work combined with some small explosions from DND on Bentinck Island to make it a rather disturbing day for the sea lions hauled out on Great Race.’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:43:53 ,
-2009-10-11′, 12, ‘The Japan House girls are here for the night and were dropped off by Chris and the head of UWC USA and family.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:36:43 ,
-2009-10-12′, 13, ‘The NE delivered a strange wooden box to the kelp bed on the E side of Great Race this morning. With the help of some of the girls staying here overnight, we went and towed it back here for a closer inspection. It was made of wood, ~ 2 ”x 2 ”x 6 ” and the bottom had been fibreglassed. Any nail holes had been filled and the fibreglass resin had been used to coat the entire box. The oysters, tubeworms, and mussels were all of substantial sizes, indicating it had been at sea for a number of years. Interestingly, it had maintained its orientation all these years with all the growth occurring below a constant water line. On the top of the box was the only opening which was filled with a conically-cut wooden plug. Some water had seeped inside this opening. I taught the girls how to safely swing an axe -effectively swinging an axe will be next class!) and we as we opened it up we found it was subdivided into 3 compartments.Chris came for the Japan House girls before 3 as the swells were still building on the jetty. ‘, ‘Ryan’, ’15:38:07 ,
-2009-10-18′, 5, ‘Alisha, Brandi, Emma, Katie, and Oscar -members of the Race Rocks service activity) were out today and helped me install a curtain around the construction materials and crane to keep sea lions out of this area. There has been a real concern that they can hurt themselves in this area and their damage to our infrastructure has been considerable. This was Oscar ”s first time seeing Race Rocks and as we approached the jetty he exclaimed “Wow, Animal Planet! “. Definitely the feeling I get living here :) A buoy with scientific instruments was installed today SW of Great Race.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:00:32 ,
-2009-10-19′, 6, ‘Jonathan and Erik helped the Axys team in installing some weather instrumentation near the diesel tanks.’, ‘Ryan’, ’21:50:07 ,
-2009-11-16′, 2, ‘LGL scientists arrived before 09:00.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:11:00 ,
-2009-11-22′, 0, ‘The AXYS wind sentinel was removed.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:34:50 ,
-2009-12-09′, 9, ‘A visiting professor from College of the Atlantic was accompanied by some marine science students and staff today.’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:48:27 ,
-2010-01-29′, 4, ‘Emily off Jayesh and Elena on Chris visiting’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:34:34 ,
-2010-02-15′, 3, ‘A Coast Guard helicopter came to do some service and maintenance work on the tower. The noise and commotion did little to cool Misery ”s ardor as he continued to mate with Bertha during the landing and power down sequence!’, ‘Ryan’, ’14:55:02 ,
-2010-02-19′, 17, ‘-Colleen ”s advisor group is here for the night -a video crew from Parks was here to get some footage for an upcoming documentary.’, ‘Ryan’, ’22:25:24 ,
-2010-04-27′, 12, ‘Several visitors today including some Pearson employees, someone from UWC London, the roofer, a volunteer from Ontario, and 7 marine science students.’, ‘Ryan’, ’18:59:21 ,
-2010-05-09′, 0, ‘Friends of the Ecological Reserves were able to visit today after their scheduled trip had been delayed several times throughout the year. The weather was pleasant and wind sufficient to keep the kelp flies off as we walked and talked around the island. A botanist in the group remarked on the diversity of grass species on the island.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:46:32 ,
-2010-05-12′, 10, ‘A local Metchosin group visited this evening.’, ‘Ryan’, ’20:55:28 ,
-2010-06-01′, 3, ”, ‘adam’, ’22:45:11 ,
-2010-06-18′, 5, ‘Josh from Maintenance at PC, several students staying the summer at the College and Christina came for a late afternoon tour of the Island. ‘, ‘adam’, ’08:00:01 ,
-2010-06-21′, 20, ‘A school group with students from Japan and New York came for a tour of the island today.’, ‘adam’, ’18:18:20 ,
-2010-06-22′, 5, ‘Erik, the two winch mechanics and their two guests visited the island today.’, ‘adam’, ’18:40:47 ,
-2010-06-27′, 5, ‘David H. brought out two visitors from the Adriatic College today for a tour. Max and Ebony are also on the Island.’, ‘adam’, ’18:18:02 ,
-2010-06-28′, 5, ‘Erik and Al the plumber visited RR today. Ebony departed on the outgoing boat. David H. came later in the afternoon with some guests for a quick tour.’, ‘adam’, ’20:07:33 ,
-2010-07-08′, 12, ‘Chris, Erik and Garry came out this morning with a crew from BC Parks. Bill and Susan also came out so Bill could replace the desalinator door -good work Bill). Bruce visited later in the day to finish maintenance on the winch. My friend Graham is also here visiting for a few days. ‘, ‘adam’, ’19:25:28 ,
-2010-07-15′, 3, ‘Two folks from Environment Canada came out today to service the anemometer on the tower. Erik drove them out.’, ‘adam’, ’22:13:51 ,
-2010-07-14′, 1, ‘A roofing contractor stopped by today for a brief visit to inspect the roof of the main residence. Plans are in the works to begin some badly needed re-roofing.’, ‘adam’, ’22:15:06 ,
-2010-07-28′, 7, ‘David and family came to RR for an overnight trip last night.’, ‘adam’, ’08:53:20 ,
-2010-08-02′, 4, ‘A film crew of four from Germany arrived late last night to spend the week making a documentary TV show about Race Rocks. Will air on public TV in Germany!’, ‘adam’, ’10:12:40 ,
-2010-09-10′, 1, ‘A First Nations fisher who visited the reserve last week returned today. He anchored and fished in 4 or 5 locations around the Rockfish Conservation Area, catching lingcod, cabezon, and several rockfish species. This individual informed me he had talked with the Chief at Beecher Bay and received written permission to fish this area as he is not a member of either of the 4 local tribes.’, ‘Ryan’, ’13:18:55 ,
-2010-09-15′, 40, ‘I share here an educational example of the interaction of Eco Tour vessels and the wildlife at Race Rocks. This occurred from 10:50 to 11:05 this morning: A Seafun Safaris boat entered the reserve first and maintained a respectable distance from marine mammals while making a passive drift tour of the sea lions hauled out on Great Race Island. The driver obviously is aware of and believes in the importance of the PWWA ”s stewardship protocols for viewing wildlife at Race Rocks. The Eagle Wing Tours vessel “Gold Wing ” entered the reserve and approached the Seafun Safaris vessel motoring against the current. Its noisy, active approach alerted the Steller sea lions on the NE corner of Great Race Island causing some individuals to take to the water. The Seafun Safaris vessel finished its drift tour and left the reserve after a respectful and sustainable tour. The Eagle Wing Tours vessel drifted and motored against the current several more times while viewing the sea lions on Great Race Island before motoring further against the current to view the sea lions on Middle Rocks. Sound and traffic congestion in the narrow channels are concerns for both Ecological Reserve management and community stakeholders. All vessels are reminded that passive drift tours are encouraged “whenever possible “, particularly in conditions of rippled seas as we are enjoying today.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:10:13 ,
-2010-10-31′, 5, ‘Project Week finished, 4 students returned to campus.’, ‘Ryan’, ’12:24:42 ,
-2010-11-03′, 0, ‘5 roofers worked from 10:00 to 16:00, removing shingles from the main house. ‘, ‘VirginieLP’, ’08:22:40 ,
-2010-11-04′, 2, ‘roofers arrived at 10:30 and left at 17:00’, ‘VirginieLP’, ’19:20:45 ,
-2010-11-05′, 4, ‘4 roofers arrived at 9:30 and left earlier than planned -14:00) due to weather -strong W winds and intermittent drizzling rain).’, ‘VirginieLP’, ’12:12:54 ,
-2010-11-07′, 3, ‘Alex and Ian left Race Rocks at 16:30. Raisa returned to Race Rocks with friends Jackie and Taylor. ‘, ‘VirginieLP’, ’08:16:10 ,
-2010-11-10′, 0, ‘Eric and Jonathan arrived at 10:00. Jonathan checked on Cam. 5 and brought it back to campus for further examination. Raisa, Jacquie, Taylor, Eric and Jonathan left the island around 11:00. ‘, ‘VirginieLP’, ’11:14:17 ,
-2010-11-21′, 3, ‘Alex, Carmen and Ian left with Chris at 12:00’, ‘VirginieLP’, ’20:25:10 ,
-2010-11-23′, 3, ‘Ryan, Chris and Alex came to the island to help out with a few post-blizzard repair projects. ‘, ‘VirginieLP’, ’17:41:08 ,
-2010-11-24′, 2, ‘Erik and Alex arrived 11 am. Erik stayed an hour to fix frozen water lines. Alex is staying on until mid december.’, ‘AlexF’, ’21:47:45 ,
-2010-11-25′, 1, ‘Erik came out around 1030 and picked up Virginie who has completed her shift on the island.’, ‘AlexF’, ’20:18:11 ,
-2010-11-28′, 2, ‘LGL monitoring’, ‘AlexF’, ’09:17:00 ,
-2010-11-29′, 2, ‘LGL monitoring’, ‘AlexF’, ’09:20:22 ,
-2010-11-30′, 3, ‘2 people from LGL monitoring of DND came around 830 am and left around 3 pm Erik arrived with divers around 430pm, Raisa stayed and Alex went off island’, ‘AlexF’, ’09:44:46 ,
-2010-12-05′, 0, ‘at about 14:30 Chris picked up Ryan, Raisa and group of students, dropped off Alex’, ‘AlexF’, ’09:28:05 ,
-2010-12-09′, 4, ‘Chris and Raisa came out with two guests around 16:00 to drop off some supplies.’, ‘AlexF’, ’22:24:53 ,
-2010-12-13′, 4, ‘Erik came out in the morning with Don -electrician)and his two sons to deliver two new furnaces and do some work on the island. Erik returned to campus and came back out around 15:00 to pick them up.’, ‘AlexF’, ’09:09:41 ,
-2010-12-15′, 1, ‘Erik came out in the morning to do some work, left around 13:00.’, ‘AlexF’, ’08:58:22 ,
-2011-01-20′, 2, ”, ‘Raisa’, ’11:37:56 ,
-2011-01-24′, 3, ‘Erik came out with Alex around 13:30. Alex stayed and Ryan departed Race Rocks. ‘, ‘AlexF’, ’19:18:17 ,
-2011-01-25′, 1, ‘Ryan came back out with Erik and divers and gave Alex a ride off island’, ‘AlexF’, ’13:35:04 ,
-2011-01-29′, 16, ‘A group of 6 kayakers visited the reserve today around noon. They did not disturb any marine mammals. Most of the foraging seabirds relocated away from the reserve during their visit but returned later in the day. A faculty member from Pearson College and 6 of his students are here for a second night. A visiting Pearson College alum is being hosted at the Main Residence.’, ‘Raisa’, ’17:50:01 ,
-2011-02-02′, 7, ‘Chris brought Raisa, Sarah Nelems, Garrry, Alex and Virginie out to Race Rocks around 11:00. Spent a bout an hour on the island, left Alex and Virginie on race rocks to caretake while Ryan and Raisa are on vacation. Max came out around 14:00 with hyaku to take off garbage.’, ‘AlexF’, ’08:06:58 ,
-2011-02-03′, 7, ‘6 divers and Chris worked on conduit for new underwater camera to be installed at the end of the jetty.’, ‘VirginieLP’, ’08:28:00 ,
-2011-02-09′, 0, ‘Max brought back 1 fridge and 1 freezer that were not functioning back to the College. Eric is more than halfway through dismantling one of the diesel tanks. ‘, ‘VirginieLP’, ’08:36:02 ,
-2011-02-08′, 0, ‘The two old furnaces have been sent back to Pearson College. ‘, ‘VirginieLP’, ’08:36:47 ,
-2011-02-10′, 0, ‘Eric finished dismantling the diesel tank. Coast guards Leonard and Jeff stopped by helicopter to do some lighthouse maintenance and volunteered to help us move the tank back to campus. It took 4 trips to move all the parts to the PC parking lot using 3 heavy duty nets. Their help was really appreciated!’, ‘VirginieLP’, ’20:02:20 ;
INSERT INTO `visitors` -`day`, `qty`, `notes`, `puser`, `ptime`) VALUES
-2011-04-09′, 1, ‘A visiting Pearson alum clued up his volunteer service at Race Rocks today. In other news, increased US Navy and Coast Guard activity was punctuated today when the HOS Arrowhead and HOS Eagleview made an extraordinarily close pass of Race Rocks while flanking a nuclear submarine West out the Juan de Fuca Strait. Radio communication on VHF Ch.16 indicated they were “2.5 miles SW of Race Rocks “. Other activity in recent weeks has included live fire exercises by USCG medium response boat -RBM) SSE of Race Rocks on 03/15/11 and 500-foot low altitude helicopter flights through the reserve by USCG helicopter on 04/05/11.’, ‘Ryan’, ’18:04:10 ,
-2011-05-19′, 38, ‘The Pearson College first year marine science students visisted RR for their field exam, accompanied by Laura and Jonathan. The electrician also made a quick visit to the island, and later in the day a Pearson student, his mother and a UWC Red Cross alumnus arrived to stay overnight.’, ‘Adam’, ’07:52:51 ,
-2011-07-05′, 0, ‘At 0840hrs a floatplane flew low over Great Race towards Victoria Harbour. A licence number or company name was not obtained. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’08:39:53 ,
-2011-07-02′, 3, ”, ‘Adam’, ’08:40:33 ,
-2011-07-04′, 0, ‘At around 1200hrs a vessel -license #25K5588) with 7 persons on board entered the Reserve and began to fish on the south side of North Race, within the limits of the RCA. The vessel was reported to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Violation Reporting Hotline. Shortly after, the vessel stopped fishing and motored towards Great Race at high speed. The vessel then slowed and approached the rocks near the sea lion haulout on the NE corner of Great Race. At this point, the Eco-Guardian had left the house and headed down to get a closer look. By the time the Eco-Guardian reached the rocks, the vessel had made contact with the rocks and deposited three young children -6-10 yrs, all female) on the rocks. The boat was floating offshore at approximately 10-15 feet from the rocks, with two adult males and an adult female holding a young child. Asked of their intentions, the folks on board said they were just letting the children play around in the intertidal. The Eco-Guardian then informed them both of the no-fishing rule at Race Rocks and that they weren ”t allowed to land their boat on the rocks and walk around. The gentlemen said they were from Alberta and had no idea that these rules were in place and that they would depart immediately. The girls were plucked off the rocks and the boat departed the Reserve. At around 1330hrs an aluminum runabout -no license number obtained) proceeded at very high speed through the main channel between Great Race and Middle Race in the direction west to east. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’09:57:48 ,
-2011-05-28′, 0, ‘A low-flying Canadian Search and Rescue helicopter flew over the south side of the Reserve.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:39:46 ,
-2011-06-18′, 0, ‘A low-flying aircraft flew SW to NE over the island, heading in the direction of Victoria.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:40:40 ,
-2011-05-12′, 0, ‘The vessel “Servus “, license 14K3162 passed E to W through the Reserve at high speed.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:42:01 ,
-2011-05-14′, 0, ‘The vessel Sondrah-Leah passed at high speed E to W through the Reserve.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:43:06 ,
-2011-05-22′, 0, ‘The vessel “Chinook Spirit ” passed at high speed through the Reserve, maneuvered unnecessarily in the main current channel and approached close to sea lions on Middle Rock.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:44:07 ,
-2011-05-23′, 0, ‘A small zodiac passed at high speed through the channel between North Race and Middle Race.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:44:56 ,
-2011-06-01′, 0, ‘The vessel “Draggin ” Balls ” passed at high speed E to W through the Reserve. The MV Eaglewing of Eagle Wing Tours entered the Reserve while orcas were active within the Reserve. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’16:52:58 ,
-2011-07-01′, 0, ‘The vessel “Chinook Spirit ” passed at high speed through the Reserve, maneuvered unnecessarily in the main current channel and blasted its horn while in close proximity to harbour seals. Three OBMG boats were found to be fishing in the Reserve through the day. Pedder Bay Marina was notified of each incident and sent a staff member to intercept the vessels.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:50:54 ,
-2011-05-06′, 0, ‘A OBMG rental boat was found fishing in the main current channel. The Eco-Guardians were able to communicate the RCA rules and the vessel departed. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’16:48:02 ,
-2011-06-05′, 0, ‘A small zodiac with two gentlemen on board was found to be fishing near West Race. The station vessel was launched and the Eco-Guardian communicated the RCA rules. The gentlemen were unaware of the rules. They also informed the Eco-Guardian that they had dropped a crab pot near West Race but had subsequently lost it as their line was too short.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:49:34 ,
-2011-06-09′, 0, ‘A small zodiac with 3 persons on board approached within 100 metres to sealions on the NE haulout.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:53:57 ,
-2011-06-28′, 0, ‘Blasting occurred at DND Rocky Point today. Numerous blasts were heard throughout the day including several spaced at intervals less than 10 minutes apart. Some sets of detonations also occurred in series of three. This activity does not conform to the guidelines layed out on the RR website at http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/admin/military.htm.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:56:38 ,
-2011-07-06′, 0, ‘At 1042hrs PDT a floatplane flew over Great Race at less than 1000ft heading W to E. No license number or company name was obtained.’, ‘Adam’, ’11:22:36 ,
-2011-07-07′, 5, ‘Two technicians from Environment Canada arrived today to service some weather instruments. Erik and two students came out to help unload some equipment.’, ‘Adam’, ’12:09:50 ,
-2011-07-09′, 0, ‘At 0835hrs PDT a Pat Bay Air floatplane flew over Great Race at less than 1000 ft, entering from a direction WNW and exiting E. The aircraft license number was C-FGLU. At approximately 1135hrs PDT an OBMG rental boat was found to be intermittently maneuvering unnecessarily in the main channel west of Great Race, and to the SW corner of Great Race. The cessel made a pattern of slowing down, speeding up, slowing down, speeding up. Two persons on board, license number 14K37828. At 1259hrs PDT a pleasure vessel passed over Rosedale Reef at high speed in a direction W to E. No license number or photos obtained. At 1845hrs PDT a white fibreglass vessel with three persons -man, woman, child) on board was spotted fishing in the RCA in the vicinity of the tidal turbine. The name was “The Liquidator ” and the license #6K155545. The incident was reported to DFO and by 1858hrs PDT the vessel had departed in the direction of Becher Bay. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’19:04:04 ,
-2011-07-11′, 0, ‘At 0835hrs PDT a floatplane flew W to E over the south side of the Reserve under 1000 ft. No license or photos obtained. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’08:36:03 ,
-2011-07-12′, 3, ‘David and friends arrived for an overnight stay. At 1950hrs PDT a Canadian Coast Guard chopper flew in from the west over the strait and circled the tower once before heading east in the direction of the CCG Victoria base. Suspect they were performing a quick visual inspection of their equipment while on a return trip from servicing stations up the coast. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’21:31:29 ,
-2011-07-14′, 1, ‘At 0945hrs PDT a recreational vessel with a man and a woman on board entered from the NE near North Rock at high speed and approached Great Race where they slowed down to transit the Reserve. DND has been blasting since 0900hrs this morning. A Pearson alumn arrived today to help with some projects over the next few days. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’17:32:28 ,
-2011-07-15′, 0, ‘At around 1430hrs PDT a vessel was spotted fishing within the limits of the RCA. The vessel was reported to DFO and is described as an aluminum vessel, 3 persons on board, license number BC580071. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’16:46:16 ,
-2011-07-21′, 1, ‘A scientist from DFO ”s Institute of Ocean Sciences visited RR this morning to discuss the collection of seawater temperature and density readings. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’13:45:16 ,
-2011-07-16′, 0, ‘At 0840hrs PDT a floatplane flew low from W to E over the south side of the Reserve. At 0930hrs PDT a OBMG rental boat was spotted maneuvering carelessly near the SW side of Great Race. At 1000hrs PDT the United States Coast Guard Cutter Swordfish entered the E side of the Reserve and approached Great Race. A launch boat with three persons on board was deployed and began to maneuver carelessly and at excessive speed along the E and SE side of Great Race and over Rosedale Reef. VHF contact with the captain of the USCG Cutter Swordfish was made and the vessel left shortly thereafter. At 1030hrs PDT a recreational vessel was spotted fishing near North Race. The license number 13K115028 was recorded and reported to DFO. The station vessel was launched and the violators were spoken to. At ~1400hrs PDT a vessel was observed speeding through the channel between North Race and Middle Rock. In the late afternoon a vessel drifted in and out of the Reserve on the current while fishing. The incident was reported to DFO. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’15:17:27 ,
-2011-07-22′, 0, ‘At 0838hrs PDT a Pat Bay Air floatplane, license number C-FGLU flew W to E over the south side of Great Race under 1000 ft. At 0956hrs PDT an aluminum boat sped over Rosedale Reef at a speed greater than 7 knots. At 1200hrs PDT an OBMG rental boat sped over Rosedale Reef at a speed greater than 7 knots. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’16:32:49 ,
-2011-07-24′, 2, ‘At 0837hrs PDT a floatplane flew from W to E over the south side of the Reserve at an altitude less than 1000 ft. At 1015hrs PDT an aluminum vessel with red markings and a red canopy passed at high speed over Rosedale Reef. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’21:59:21 ,
-2011-07-25′, 2, ‘At 1438hrs PDT a float plane flew E to W over the north side of the Reserve under 1000 ft. At 1614hrs PDT a float plane flew W to E over the south side of the Reserve under 1000 ft. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’16:48:02 ,
-2011-07-26′, 2, ‘At 0836hrs PDT a floatplane flew W to E over the south side of the Reserve under 1000 ft. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’08:42:01 ,
-2011-07-27′, 7, ‘Mid-morning -exact time n/r) a small aluminum vessel with 4 persons on board entered the main channel and transited W to E to the NE corner of Great Race at which point they proceeded to throttle up, maneuver around the kelp beds and out of the Reserve. At 1350hrs PDT an aluminum vessel with 4 persons on board was spotted fishing in a line drawn directly westward from North Race. A license number was not recorded. At 1357hrs PDT a vessel was spotted transiting the west side of the Reserve at high speed -14K 27490). At 1357hrs PDT a fibreglass vessel -WN 0516 NH) was spotted fishing on the W side of Great Race within the limits of the RCA. This incident was reported to the DFO Fisheries Violation Reporting Hotline. At 1425hrs PDT a pod of orcas passed over Rosedale Reef from E to W. A whale watching boat -red/orange RHIB, name not visible) previously outside the Reserve and following the whales, approached within 100 metres of the pod and followed the whales into the Reserve. As the whales passed through the Reserve, the vessel headed south towards the green buoy but ultimately passed on the Reserve side of the buoy. This action is in violation of the PWWA guidelines stating that eco-tour vessel operators must not follow whales into the Reserve. Photos of the incident were taken. At 1430hrs PDT, Chris, Garry, Andrew and son, two photographers and an employee from the Development Office arrived at RR for a tour/meeting. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’17:01:07 ,
-2011-07-29′, 0, ‘At 1230hrs PDT a vessel -13K 116013) was observed entering the Reserve under high speed from the west. Within 100 metres of Great Race, the vessel slowed, passed near Rosedale Reef, then turned around and sped back out to the west under high power. Mid-afternoon, a vessel was spotted drifting into the NW side of the Reserve while fishing. The vessel departed after about 10 minutes. At ~1515hrs PDT a red eco-tour zodiac -company name not visible) transited the main channel from E to W at a speed greater than 7 knots and fast enough to keep the vessel up on a plane. At 1533hrs PDT a floatplane passed from E to W over the north side of the Reserve. At ~1600hrs PDT a whale watching vessel approached closer than 100 metres to a California sea lion hauled out near the derrick. The vessel was actually within the kelp bed off the rocks. Upon sighting me [Adam] the vessel backed off and sped through the main channel to the west. After passing between West Race and Middle Race, the vessel throttled up well within the limits of the Reserve. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’16:54:14 ,
-2011-07-31′, 1, ‘At 0842hrs PDT a floatplane flew W to E over the south side of the Reserve. At 1017hrs PDT a floatplane flew in from the E, banked over top of the south side of the Reserve then headed SE towards the Puget Sound region. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’20:55:16 ,
-2011-08-01′, 18, ‘At 0835hrs PDT a floatplane flew W to E over the south side of the Reserve under 1000 ft. At 1035hrs PDT a small RHIB entered the east side of the Reserve near North Race at high speed. The vessel proceeded to transit the main passage to the south side of Middle Race where they approached within 30 metres of harbour seals on the Rocks. At least 25 seals took flight to the water. At ~1100hrs PDT a vessel was spotted entering the Reserve from the east at high speed. At ~1330hrs PDT a vessel was spotted transiting the main passage at very high speed. Communication was made with the vessel and it slowed. At 1510hrs PDT an OBMG vessel was spotted fishing within the limits of the Reserve. PBM was alerted. The vessel was halted by another recreational fishermen before PBM staff could respond. At 1515hrs PDT an OBMG vessel was spotted speeding in the waters west of Great Race. The vessel eventually departed. At 1515hrs PDT a recreational vessel was spotted fishing near West Race. The station vessel was launched to intercept the violators and they departed shortly thereafter. At ~1900hrs PDT a recreational vessel was spotted speeding into the eastern portion of the Reserve in the direction of the North Race-Middle Race channel. The vessel slowed before entering the channel. Divers from Ocean Educations arrived in the afternoon to dive off the front side of the island. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’20:54:17 ,
-2011-08-03′, 0, ‘At 0742hrs PDT a vessel passed at very high speed from W to E over Rosedale Reef. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’09:58:37 ,
-2011-08-05′, 4, ‘As of last night, the RR weather station is once again successfully uploading data to the internet. \Also, apologies for the technical issues we are experiencing with camera 5. We are investigating and will hopefully have the unit up and running soon.Trevor and Flo Anderson, lightkeepers at Race Rocks from July 28, 1966 until March 2, 1982 had a very pleasant visit at Race Rocks today. Trev and Flo provided endless stories of their 16 years here and certainly provided some historical tidbits for our benefit. Many, many things have changed on the Island since the Anderson ”s time. Garry accompanied while Erik drove the boat. The Anderson ”s file may be found at: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/history/rrkeeper/rr66-82/anderson.htm.’, ‘Adam’, ’21:12:13 ,
-2011-08-06′, 4, ‘At 0845hrs PDT a vessel was spotted speeding through the SW side of the Reserve in the fog. At 0958hrs PDT a vessel was spotted speeding W to E over Rosedale Reef. At ~1100hrs PDT two vessels were spotted fishing at North Race. By the time the station vessel was launched and on scene, the vessels had departed. At ~1120hrs PDT a vessel was spotted entering the Reserve from the NW at high speed. It slowed as it passed the station vessel.At ~1130hrs PDT a vessel was spotted entering the main channel from the E. It slowed while it transited the passage then sped up as it exited the Reserve.At 1214hrs PDT a vessel passed from E to W through the passage between North Race and Middle race at a speed capable of producing significant wake. At 1215hrs PDT a vessel passed W to E over Rosedale Reef at very high speed. At ~1400hrs PDT a small aluminum vessel was spotted speeding out of the Reserve. The station vessel, already on the water nearby, chased the vessel down and asked the mariners to slow down. They were friendly and complied. At 1709hrs PDT an OBMG vessel was spotted speeding into the Reserve near North Race. The vessel transited the main passage slowly then provided to speed up and circle West Race before heading back to PB.At 1746hrs PDT a large fibreglass cabin cruiser was spotted trolling in close proximity to West Race within the limits of the RCA and pulling up fish. The station vessel was launched and the friendly persons on board happily agreed to move their fishing activities elsewhere.At 1845hrs PDT two vessels travelling side by side passed at high speed from SE to NW over Rosedale Reef., ‘Adam’, ’18:51:23 ,
-2011-08-07′, 1, ‘At ~1400hrs PDT a vessel was spotted fishing on the E side of the South Rocks kelp bed. The station vessel was launched and the vessel was found to be in 106 ft. of water. The four older folks on board proved to be extremely friendly and stated that they had just purchased the boat the week before and it was their very first time on the water! We actually had a great 20 minute conversation about Race Rocks, fishing restrictions, how to distinguish between different types of salmon and general boating practices -how to use a VHF!). The folks were very happy to find out the area was protected and happily moved to deeper waters. At ~1430hrs PDT a large aluminum vessel entered the W side of the main channel, slowed to look at sea lions on Middle Race, then sped through the main channel to North Race where they approached extremely close to seals hauled out on the rocks.At ~1445hrs PDT a small aluminum vessel was spotted fishing on the W corner of the North Race kelp bed. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’17:10:26 ,
-2011-08-08′, 0, ‘At 0952hrs PDT a Prince of Whales vessel was spotted ripping out of the main channel heading westbound into the Strait.At 1130hrs PDT a small, white, fibreglass vessel was spotted entering the west side of the Reserve and transiting at high speed around West Race before leaving the Reserve and heading in the direction of Pedder Bay.’, ‘Adam’, ’11:32:27 ,
-2011-08-09′, 6, ‘At 0829hrs PDT a floatplane flew under 1000 ft from E to W over Rosedale Reef. A pod of orcas passed through Race Passage -W to E) this afternoon. At one point, at least 15 whale watching vessels were in pursuit. Subsequently, heavy eco-tour traffic was experienced in the Reserve this afternoon. Most vessels respected established guidelines, but there were a few notable exceptions: 1. Birds of a Feather approached within 100 metres of California sea lions hauled out near the jetty. The sealions did not upset as there was already activity on the jetty. 2. A vessel from Seaquest based out of Sidney was observed speeding into the east side of the Reserve, well within the limits of the 7 knot speed restriction, then later observed speeding out in the same direction. 3. Several other vessel were observed speeding within the boundaries of the Reserve, either to obtain a better vantage point for viewing whales or to shorten travel time to the whales once the whales had moved well past Race Rocks. Luke came out to RR to dive this afternoon with Adam to help take measurements of the materials testing platform and for pleasure. Erik and Hao also arrived as did a contact from “The Big Blue Technologies ” of Victoria and his two young kids. ‘Adam’, ’19:39:55 ,
-2011-08-10′, 4, ‘At 1111hrs PDT a Prince of Whales vessel was spotted entering the Reserve at high speed in close proximity to West Race. A CCG helicopter did a reconnaissance flight around the tower this morning. Erik and Evgeny arrived to install the cable for the new underwater camera. Two techs from Environment Canada arrived to work on their weather equipment. ‘Adam’, ’11:46:34 ,
-2011-08-11′, 2, ‘At ~1935hrs PDT a vessel was spotted fishing within the limits of the RCA in close proximity to the E side of Rosedale Reef. The vessel eventually made its way out. At 1245hrs PDT a vessel was spotted speeding into the Reserve from the E side. The station vessel was already on the water and advised the mariners to slow down. At least 4 OBMG vessels were spotted this afternoon approaching close to mammals on Middle Rock and on Great Race and proceeding at a speed in excess of 7 knots. Ocean Magic II produced a very large wake this afternoon while transiting the Middle-North Race channel against the current. At 1945hrs PDT a CCG or CCGA rescue RHIB transited the South Passage E to W, then the main passage W to E. Once near the jetty end of the passage, the vessel throttled up and proceeded to power through the Middle-North Race Passage at high speed before exiting into Race Passage heading westbound. At 2010hrs PDT a floatplane flew exceptionally low over the N side of the Reserve, E to W. No license/company name obtained. Overall, yesterday and today were very traffic-heavy days due to whales in the area. At times 8 or more boats were in the Reserve at any single time. Two techs arrived from Environment Canada to finish servicing the EC weather equipment at the top of the tower.’, ‘Adam’, ’20:07:44 ,
-2011-08-15′, 0, ‘At 1313hrs PDT a small aluminum runabout with 3 POB was found to be approaching too close to sea lions on the NE corner, then speeding out of the Reserve. Around 75 sea lions have hauled out today. A pod of transient orcas was spotted passing W to E through Race Passage this afternoon. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’19:56:12 ,
-2011-08-14′, 0, ‘At 1202hrs PDT a red eco-tour RHIB was spotted pulling up kelp on the W side of the South Rocks kelp bed. No kelp was cut although kelp was certainly pulled onboard the vessel for examination before being released. The license number of the vessel was CO2242BC with the name “Kodiak “. Photos are on file. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’07:29:16 ,
-2011-08-17′, 1, ‘A second-year Pearson student arrived today to volunteer until classes resume in a couple of weeks. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’07:30:00 ,
-2011-08-18′, 0, ‘At 0800hrs PDT a vessel was spotted trolling along the N side of North Rock. At 0800hrs PDT a second vessel was spotted trolling along the N side of North Rock. At 0800hrs PDT a third vessel was spotted trolling along the N side of North Rock. At 0825hrs PDT a fourth vessel was spotted trolling along the N side of North Rock. At 0825hrs PDT an OBMG vessel was spotted trolling along the N side of North Rock. At 0833hrs PDT the OBMG vessel previously found to be fishing was spotted speeding through the Reserve on the N side of North Rock. At 0936hrs PDT a small aluminum vessel was spotted fishing near the kelp bed on the east side of the south rocks. By the time the station vessel was launched the vessel had departed. At 1014hrs PDT large fibreglass boat was spotted trolling through the RCA north of North Rock. At 1250hrs PDT an OBMG vessel was spotted fishing east of Rosedale Reef. The station boat was deployed to deal with the issue. At 1545hrs PDT a large displacement hull vessel passed through the narrow, small channel between Great Race and the south rocks and was thus in close proximity to sea lions swimming around East Bay., ‘Adam’, ’15:52:04 ,
-2011-08-20′, 0, ‘At 0845hrs PDT an OBMG vessel was spotted speeding along the outside of the kelp bed east of Great Race. At 0906hrs PDT a red vessel was spotted speeding out of the west side of the main channel. At 0932hrs PDT an aluminum vessel with blue trim was spotted speeding out of the west side of the main channel. At ~1000hrs PDT the eco-tour vessel Serengeti from Seafun Safaris was spotted speeding out of the Reserve around the kelp bed east of Great Race. At ~1000hrs PDT a white vessel was spotted speeding into the Reserve from the east side of the main channel. At 1016hrs PDT a blue aluminum vessel with ~3 POB was spotted speeding into the Reserve beside West Race. The vessel slowed once it actually entered the kelp bed near Middle Race. The vessel proceeded to transit the main passage W to E, then turn around and transit E to W before throttling up at the western edge of Great Race. At 1025hrs PDT a white vessel was spotted speeding into Rosedale Reef via the edge of the kelp bed east of Great Race. The vessel approached less than 100 metres to the South Rocks before turning around and proceeding around the kelp bed to the main channel, eastern boundary. The vessel proceeded to the NE sea lion haul out and approached within 20 metres of sea lions on the jetty. Three persons were on board the vessel with license number BC1668350. At 1040hrs PDT a white Bayliner with three persons on board proceeded to approach within 100 metres of sea lions hauled out on the jetty and on the NE rocks. The vessel license number was BC1668350. This incident was reported to DFO. At 1130hrs PDT a white Bayliner with blue trim and four persons on board proceeded to approach within 100 metres of sea lions hauled out on the jetty and NE rocks. The vessel also made a point of circling and maneuvering unnecessarily in front of the jetty while sea lions were in the water. The vessel name was Sea Sprite and the license number is 2J 3444. This incident was reported to DFO. At 1145hrs PDT an aluminum vessel with blue trim was spotted fishing around the east side of the kelp bed east of Great Race. The vessel continued to fish as it trolled towards Great Race, crossed the main channel and exited via the North-Middle Race channel. The vessel license number was BC1589784. Three persons on board. This incident was reported to DFO.At 1215hrs PDT a small fibreglass vessel was spotted speeding out of the Reserve near North Race. At 1327hrs PDT an aluminum vessel with a canvas canopy sped around and into the Reserve via the kelp bed east of Great Race. At 1235hrs PDT a grey RHIB sped into the Middle-North Race channel while producing significant wake.At 1343hrs PDT a fibreglass vessel was spotted speeding into the Reserve on the south side of Great Race. The vessel slowed eventually. At 1347hrs PDT the aluminum vessel spotted at 1327hrs was found to be speeding out of the Reserve heading east.At 1347hrs PDT a small fibreglass vessel with two persons on board was found to approaching closer than 100 metres to sea lions near the jetty. THis vessel sped westward out of the Reserve at 1352hrs PDT.At 1416hrs PDT the grey RHIB previously found to be speeding into the Reserve was spotted speeding out towards the east.At 1439hrs PDT Ocean Magic entered the Reserve at a speed greater than 7 knots producing a very large wake.At 1440hrs PDT an OBMG vessel was found to be within 100 metres of sealions on the jetty. At 1440hrs PDT a small white fibreglass vessel was found to be speeding into the Reserve from the east. At 1442hrs PDT a white fibreglass vessel was found to be speeding out of the Reserve heading east. At 1512hrs PDT a white fibreglass vessel was spotted speeding out of the Reserve heading eastbound.’, ‘Adam’, ’15:08:59 ,
-2011-08-21′, 2, ‘DFO Fisheries Officer Cam Blacklock and BC Parks Ranger Jenn Plotnikoff visited the island today.’, ‘Adam’, ’08:04:07 ,
-2011-08-25′, 0, ‘At 1019hrs PDT a vessel was spotted speeding out of the Reserve heading west. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’10:16:15 ,
-2011-08-27′, 2, ‘At ~1000hrs PDT the vessel “Rogue ” was spotted speeding out of the Reserve and maneuvering unnecessarily. At ~1014hrs PDT a Prince of Whales vessel was spotted throttling up and speeding out of the Reserve. A small runabout with three POB pulled up to the island this afternoon, out of gas and with battery issues. The ecoguardian sold some gas to the men and helped them to recharge their battery before they headed off towards Becher Bay. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’19:10:53 ,
-2011-08-30′, 0, ‘At 1422hrs PDT a vessel was spotted passing over Rosedale Reef E to W at high speed. A pod of orcas was observed passing through Race Passage W to E this afternoon. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’14:22:17 ,
-2011-08-31′, 0, ‘An OBMG vessel was spotted transiting the main passage at very high speed ~1245hrs. The vessel also approached too close to sea lions on the Rocks. A fishing vessel entered the Reserve at high speed this afternoon. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’13:07:47 ,
-2011-09-01′, 0, ‘This is Adam ”s last day at Race Rocks. Passing the torch off to Ryan once again. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’08:06:09 ,
-2011-09-03′, 0, ‘The weekend was not as busy as I had expected, however there were hundreds of people here from sunrise to sunset. The general public has shown increased knowledge or respect for the reserve guidelines and the majority of the traffic was sight-seers. I am pleased to report there were 0 marine mammal disturbances yesterday. However, rental boats with weekend-warrior fishermen continue to threaten the Race Rocks ecosystem. Pedder Bay Marina continues to respond to reports from the Eco-Guardian concerning illegal fishing by their customers. There were 6 boats poaching in the reserve yesterday, half belonging to Pedder Bay Marina.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:59:59 ,
-2011-09-04′, 200, ‘A distinctly different type of person on the water today. As of 13:30 there have been 4 Bayliner-type vessels speed through the reserve. A recreational fishing vessel serial 14K36817 has been illegally fishing the RCA for over an hour now. When hailed on VHF68 an anonymous station twice responded with profanities after which radio communications were obstructed by loud music playing over an open mic. Earlier today a call was put into Pedder Bay Marina to stop their vessels fishing and pulling kelp.’, ‘Ryan’, ’13:34:31 ,
-2011-09-10′, 0, ‘I counted 65 boats in the reserve today, just under half were visits by eco-tours. Recreational boaters did not cause any disturbances and all but 5 kept to the 7 knot speed limit for the reserve. One recreational fisher poached in the reserve off North Race before leaving to fish in Pedder Bay.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:32:13 ,
-2011-09-16′, 8, ‘Divers attached buoys to the 4 anchor blocks this morning as the tidal turbine removal gears up.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:04:30 ,
-2011-09-24′, 41, ‘Transient & Resident orcas as well as Humpback whales brought eco-tour vessels from all over the Salish Sea to Race Rocks today. 41 vessels were counted as of 15:00. A maximum of 12 vessels were in the reserve at any one time. The manoeuvring and repositioning of 20+ vessels in Race Passage and surrounding the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve was enough at times to drown out the sea gulls and sea lions on Great Race. The Vancouver-based Vancouver Whale Watching had two boats transit the reserve in pursuit of both orcas and humpbacks. A spokesperson for Vancouver Whale Watching indicated that their vessels do not pursue or chase the whales, they are there to watch them. The Explorathor Express and Explorathor II both entered the reserve from the W -watching whales from behind) as the orcas and humpbacks transited W to E through the N and S ends of the reserve. The Peregrine, a Washington-based ecotour vessel followed the pattern of the previous two boats. I am happy to report that local eco-tours showed respect for the Ecological Reserve and did not enter the waters surrounding Race Rocks when the whales were present. The FastCat vessel however did not wait until it was 400 yards away from Great Race before exceeding 7 knots as it exited the reserve to watch whales as they moved East.’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:12:08 ,
-2011-09-27′, 4, ‘LGL continues their monitoring today. Erik and Evgeny arrived to work on the underwater camera. I am very excited for this to be online. In just a few seconds of watching I ”ve seen 4 species of fish and a couple sea lions swim by.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:56:58 ,
-2011-10-04′, 16, ‘Erik, Catrin and her first year Biology class came today to for work on the u/w camera installation and study of populations and communities respectively.’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:00:00 ,
-2011-10-30′, 10, ‘5 First Year and 2 Second Year students are finishing their project week today. Their service and enthusiasm was a fantastic component of my last week at Race Rocks. Alex Fletcher is staying on the island as he starts his shift. Best of luck to everyone at Pearson College and Race Rocks, thanks for these amazing 3 years!’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:27:58 ,
-2011-11-01′, 1, ‘Ian came to island in the afternoon. ‘, ‘AlexF’, ’22:19:07 ,
-2011-11-02′, 1, ‘Erik came out to unload septic around 14:00’, ‘AlexF’, ’18:32:53 ,
-2011-11-04′, 1, ‘Ian left island in the morning’, ‘AlexF’, ’13:05:29 ,
-2011-11-05′, 9, ‘Chris brought Mark and his advisee group to the island around 16:00 to stay overnight.’, ‘AlexF’, ’10:39:27 ,
-2011-11-08′, 9, ‘Erik brought out a group of 9 visitors who stayed from around 10:30-14:00. ‘, ‘AlexF’, ’15:44:46 ,
-2011-11-10′, 3, ‘Erik came out around noon to help with motor boat start up. I came back out around sunset with 2 guests.’, ‘AlexF’, ’08:51:36 ,
-2011-11-11′, 7, ‘Erik came out with 5 students around sunset and took 2 guests off island. A Great Horned owl showed up today after the wind. He stays around the winch pad and upper dock area See : https://racerocks.ca/racerock/taxalab2/2011/bubovirginianus/bubovirginianus.htm’, ‘AlexF’, ’20:32:16 ,
-2011-11-13′, 6, ‘Chris came out at 10:30 to pick up students who stayed the past two nights. While they were here they helped with organizing the basement of the marine science center. Two students did work for science experiments. Winds reached 50 knots last night.’, ‘AlexF’, ’11:31:39 ,
-2011-11-14′, 0, ‘Erik and Laura were out in the afternoon with a group of divers.’, ‘AlexF’, ’17:12:00 ,
-2011-11-16′, 0, ”, ‘AlexF’, ’18:55:13 ,
-2011-11-17′, 0, ‘Elephant seal was up near desalination most of the day but went back down to hang out in the water near the jetty around sunset. Hadnt seen the owl since Tuesday but was happy to see it up on the crane around sunset today.’, ‘AlexF’, ’18:54:31 ,
-2011-11-20′, 0, ‘The continuation of the log is now at: https://www.racerocks.ca/’, ‘garry’, ’11:15:40 ;

— ——————————————————–

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— T
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–table `lifesighting`
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INSERT INTO `lifesighting` -`id`, `day`, `animal`, `qty`, `notes`, `puser`, `ptime`) VALUES
-1, ‘2003-01-01’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘large wading shorebird- – wimbrel?)- heavily brown markings down by winch house feeding in intertidal.’, ‘Garry’, ’20:37:21 ,
-2, ‘2003-10-09’, ‘Other’, 0, ”, ‘Garry’, ’21:09:55 ,
-3, ‘2003-12-25’, ‘Other’, 2500, ‘Herring gulls on Great Race and a almost as many in the water around middle and Norht Rock’, ‘Garry’, ’10:52:13 ,
-5, ‘2004-06-07’, ‘Orca’, 6, ‘L pod heading west through Race Passage.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’21:20:29 ,
-6, ‘2004-06-15’, ‘Other’, 8, ‘flew over Racerocks -west to east), looked very similar to Great Egrets which wander to s. Canada post-breeding ‘, ‘Garry’, ’13:59:13 ,
-7, ‘2004-08-12’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 2500, ‘2’, ‘Garry’, ’06:47:54 ,
-8, ‘2004-05-24’, ‘Orca’, 4, ”, ‘Garry’, ’15:05:26 ,
-9, ‘2008-07-23’, ‘Harbour Seal’, 150, ”, ‘Garry’, ’01:42:54 ,
-10, ‘2008-07-23’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 5, ”, ‘Garry’, ’01:43:12 ,
-11, ‘2008-07-23’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 2, ”, ‘Garry’, ’01:43:32 ,
-12, ‘2008-07-23’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘One ruddy turnstone reported to be near the docks in the morning.’, ‘Garry’, ’01:52:25 ,
-13, ‘2008-07-24’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 4, ‘On middle island’, ‘Garry’, ’11:13:53 ,
-14, ‘2008-07-24’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ”, ‘Garry’, ’11:32:28 ,
-15, ‘2008-08-20’, ‘Orca’, 5, ”, ‘Garry’, ’12:56:42 ,
-17, ‘2008-10-20’, ‘Orca’, 2, ‘Swam north past west side of Great Rock, breaching several times.’, ‘ LBPC’, ’13:03:13 ,
-18, ‘2008-10-20’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 40, ”, ‘ LBPC’, ’17:27:10 ,
-19, ‘2008-10-20’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 20, ”, ‘ LBPC’, ’17:27:20 ,
-20, ‘2008-10-20’, ‘Harbour Seal’, 15, ”, ‘ LBPC’, ’17:27:37 ,
-21, ‘2008-10-24’, ‘Orca’, 1, ‘One orca swam west-north-west past Great Race Rock breaching several times, then turned around at West Rock before heading south again.’, ‘ LBPC’, ’09:40:13 ,
-22, ‘2009-07-02’, ‘Orca’, 1, ‘Spotted breaching once passing through reserve E->W’, ‘Adam’, ’16:50:24 ,
-23, ‘2009-07-14’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 0, ‘Test2’, ‘admin’, ’12:21:42 ,
-24, ‘2009-08-09’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 17, ”, ‘max’, ’20:00:02 ,
-25, ‘2009-08-12’, ‘Other’, 4, ‘Sea gull chick carcasses, in various stages of decomposition.’, ‘max’, ’19:14:13 ,

-27, ‘2009-09-29’, ‘Other’, 2, ‘2 Humpbacks were observed to the E of the reserve, showing feeding behaviour for several hours within the same area. One ”s dorsal fin was completely shredded by what I would assume was an orca attack.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:39:14 ,
-28, ‘2009-10-01’, ‘Orca’, 3, ‘A large male and what appeared to be two females entered the reserve from the West and spent time moving back and forth in the general area between West Race and Middle Rocks. The engineers and painters were here with Erik and we were treated to a spy-hop before they went through the channel in front of the jetty and moved E towards Victoria.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:45:41 ,
-29, ‘2009-10-15’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 2, ‘C467 1344’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:43:35 ,
-30, ‘2009-10-19’, ‘Orca’, 2, ‘2-3 miles E of the reserve traveling south. Had boats from Washington, Vancouver and Victoria in pursuit.’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:11:46 ,
-31, ‘2009-10-19’, ‘Orca’, 8, ‘About 30 minutes after the first group, these whales came through Race Passage and into the N part of the reserve heading E. Moving as two loose groups, I counted 2 males, 4-5 females and 2-3 calves.’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:14:03 ,
-32, ‘2009-11-01’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘My guests were up early for sunrise and captured video of an owl sitting atop the fog horn. I am awaiting a copy of the footage but it was a very large bird with rounded head. It was suggested it could be a Great Gray Owl.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:21:14 ,
-33, ‘2009-11-11’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 5, ‘First I have to apologize, I have been entering a lot of observations lately under the “Marine Life ” category, and either this isn ”t a public heading or all those entries have been lost to cyberspace. Recap: For the last week there have been 3 intermediate-sized elephant seal cows staying together near the boat house. One has rear flipper tags X201 and X202. The other two animals are a bit smaller than her. They alternate between an ever-rearranging sleeping pile to swimming around together in the shallows around the boat ramp. I have photos and footage of both. One of the smaller females ”s right eye is milky/bluish, much like Slash ”s bad eye. They are most often hauled out, but were swimming together as recently as yesterday morning. A fourth cow, this one a large adult was spotted yesterday hauled out on the intertidal island on the SE corner of the island. She has a distinctive bite scar on her lower back on the right side. She was observed this morning in the tidal channel partially submerged, facing the incoming water. As the tide reached a certain level she swam off. At the same time, a fifth large cow was observed in the shallows on the W side of the jetty. I photographed her smelling the air with her head raised out of the water, and I believe from that perspective she would have been able to see the smaller 3 by the boat house. However, there was no direct path that she could take and she eventually left. The only route elephant seals can take to access the majority of the island is the boat ramp on the E side of the jetty. This fifth cow had a distinctive long scar on the back right of her head/neck. I don ”t know if there was this much elephant seal activity last year. I believe 5 females may be the most observed on Great Race Island on record.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:45:09 ,
-34, ‘2009-12-02’, ‘Other’, 2, ‘Brown pelicans were spotted here yesterday. A juvenile brown pelican has been here off and on for the past week, a rarity in these parts so late in the season.’, ‘Ryan’, ’07:53:46 ,
-35, ‘2009-12-02’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘Our long-time viewers will be happy to know that Slash has returned to Great Race Island. His other preferred haul out in the reserve -Middle Rocks) is still densely packed with Steller sea lions. Slash is looking hefty, having put on weight during his time away from Race Rocks in preparation for the breeding season due to start soon!’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:31:30 ,
-36, ‘2009-12-05’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘A pelican came to land on the SW corner of Great Race Island around 8:00 this morning.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:52:52 ,
-37, ‘2009-12-06’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘Slash ”s haul out behind the boat house was sheltered from most of the 50+ knot wind recorded here today. He did move about 10m -the most he ”s moved in 4 days). Not much other wildlife to observe here today, with large swells pounding the exposed half of the island and foot-deep sea foam collecting between the boat house and the tank room. Phone and Internet were down here today as Metchosin and the College was hit by a power outage.’, ‘Ryan’, ’20:09:51 ,
-38, ‘2009-12-09’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘The juvenile Brown Pelican was sighted again today.’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:47:19 ,
-39, ‘2009-12-12’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ‘Slash left this morning and the female sighted yesterday -http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4037/4178222112_a28060e6d0_o.jpg) has departed as well. A heavily pregnant harbour seal was seen near the jetty yesterday as well -http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/4178224852_9360beb97e_o.jpg)’, ‘Ryan’, ’20:49:48 ,
-40, ‘2009-12-14’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ‘Slash who had spent yesterday on Middle Rocks has returned to Great Race Island and is joined by a small female -elephant seal) in the jetty area.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:21:50 ,
-41, ‘2009-12-22’, ‘Other’, 2, ‘Two peregrine falcons were observed at the reserve today. One had taken position near on the lighthouse itself and its territorial calls first alerted me to its presence. Another bird had perched on the rocks to the SE of Great Race Island. No hunting was observed.’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:52:00 ,
-42, ‘2009-12-22’, ‘Other’, 4, ‘Slash has been making short trips into the water and over to Middle Rocks but remains mostly hauled out here at Great Race Island. Two adult cow elephant seals are on Middle Rocks today, and a third female is here on the E side of the main island.’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:53:05 ,
-43, ‘2009-12-30’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 4, ‘A more or less constant number of elephant seals in the reserve this past week. Both our adult and sub-adult males -Slash and Misery) have been spending most of their time on Great Race Island. Misery has been napping near the lighthouse for most of the week while Slash has been moving around Great Race Island and going back and forth between here and Middle Rocks where two or three females are hauled out.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:23:02 ,
-44, ‘2009-12-30’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘With the N and NE wind blowing so consistently this past week, I have noticed the peregrine falcon -s) approach the island more often than usual. This week I have seen 4 fly-bys and 1 perched on top of the tower.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:24:45 ,
-45, ‘2010-01-09’, ‘Other’, 18, ‘Pigeon guillemots still in their winter plumage were foraging in front of the jetty this morning. I believe this is about 10 days earlier than they were first spotted last year. I have been more conscious of their presence in Race Passage and Pedder Bay this winter as well.’, ‘Ryan’, ’10:49:29 ,
-46, ‘2010-01-12’, ‘Other’, 16, ’16 Bald eagles were spotted this morning here at Race Rocks. The morning started with 6 positioned around remote control camera 5 and I managed to snap a couple of close up shots with it.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:33:57 ,
-47, ‘2010-01-17’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 4, ‘Two adult males and 2 juvenile males are hauled out on the intertidal island on the SE corner of Great Race Island today. At least one adult male has been around this week.’, ‘Ryan’, ’12:19:52 ,
-48, ‘2010-01-17’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 50, ‘Northern or Steller sea lion population has remained relatively constant this past month, with no major storms dispersing them for any amount of time. Interestingly, only 1 or 2 animals have ventured back to the largest of the Middle Rocks where the entangled sea lion was rescued. Instead, they have chosen to stay crowded on the smaller adjacent rock to the East.’, ‘Ryan’, ’12:21:57 ,
-49, ‘2010-01-17’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 4, ‘Both Slash and Misery have been hauled out on Great Race Island this past week. Misery prefers to take the higher ground to keep a strategic advantage against any of Slash ”s aggression. Misery has new bite wounds on his flank, though nothing like what Slash inflicted on him in the spring. Slash has a small cut on his nare and a small puncture wound on his hood/trunk. Pam Birley has captured and shared some photos on her flickr site which depict one of their territorial disputes in action! Both males trumpet -gurgle-burp) throughout the day, but most often at night. Neither male visibly responds to the other ”s calls. A small female has been seen frequently hauled out in the small cove formed by the gut on the South side of the island. She is much too small to mate or to climb from there up onto the rest of the island. Misery has been spending a lot of his time lounging around the Energy Centre, about 10m from the small female. Slash left here last night to join a large adult female on Middle Rock. I do not know if she is one of the three identifiable adult females who have visited Great Race Island this year, though she is the best candidate for another baby so far this season.’, ‘Ryan’, ’12:34:44 ,
-50, ‘2010-01-20’, ‘Other’, 1000, ‘The bast majority of the gulls in the area were observed feeding around the reserve boundaries this morning. A group of 800 was spread south from West Race Rock with another pocket of 200 gulls SW of Great Race Island. Two Bald Eagles are perched on North Race Rock, too far out of range to harass the feeding gulls.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:39:14 ,
-51, ‘2010-01-21’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 5, ‘Camera 5 user Pam Birley first spotted our FOURTH recorded elephant seal birth here at Race Rocks. The new pup is with two adult females and Slash on Middle Rocks and so far appears to be doing well. Its mother has been discouraging eagles, gulls, and black turnstones attracted to the afterbirth.’, ‘Ryan’, ’10:31:06 ,
-52, ‘2010-02-01’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 7, ‘A new adult female arrived on Great Race Island last night, so Misery ”s incessant vocalizations have not been in vain! This new arrival could very well be Bertha -Ninene ”s mother) as she is cuddled up with Misery against the Energy Centre on the S side of the island. The last time they were sighted together was around October 31st, 2009.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:32:52 ,
-53, ‘2010-01-31’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘New pup heard over the sound of the boat at 100m… “Sounds like a frog ” -Jayesh -Year 35). Recognized the squawk as the pup vocalizing. Came through the West-Middle Rock channel -that is a popular and protected spot for local boat-based diving) and spotted the pup facing the three females -Scarlet and at least one of the two adults that landed on Great Race earlier in the year) but resting alongside Slash on the N side of the middle Middle Rock -out of sight of Camera 5). Beautiful day here, very nice and dry. Adult Bald eagle landed on the roof of the Science Centre, something I haven ”t observed until now… probably Pam has lots of pics over the years; definitely a different season this time last year. Most of the ~40 Black oystercatchers -that had been on the south side of Great race in two large parcels around the Energy Centre this past week) have dispersed around the this part of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. They were the earliest of the bird activity this morning, sneaking around the exposed intertidal well before dawn. Looking South from the Main Keeper ”s residence is a flat calm with scattered driftwood armadas of Mew Gulls. Prince of Whales came through on an always-pleasant late day flood from the West as well. The ever-colourful character Misery is slouched across the concrete pathway to the Science Centre. The safest route now is across the exposed bedrock from the Energy Centre to the foundation of the old satellite dish and the steps on the SE corner of the building. Geese and gulls on the island are beginning to establish strutting and flutter room, pairs of Geese are acting territorially.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:47:25 ,
-54, ‘2010-02-04’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 6, ‘The female elephant seal here on Great Race Island is Bertha -Ninene ”s mother). She and Misery moved to the leeward side of the Science Centre and I was able to observe ID scar on her underside. She is heavily pregnant so a pup should be born here in the coming week -s). The pup on Middle Rock has not been sighted recently.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:46:04 ,
-55, ‘2010-02-07’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 7, ‘I received a phone call this morning from the Chemistry teacher at Pearson College who was here overnight. He and his mother had heard “Bertha ” in the night and woke to see a new elephant seal pup and a group of eagles tearing at the afterbirth. Both Camera 1 and 3 are now located in the S window of the Science Centre, right above the action. The pup appears to be a male, and this time is the offspring of our other resident male “Misery ” not “Slash “.’, ‘Ryan’, ’13:13:04 ,
-56, ‘2010-02-13’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 4, ‘Misery was observed mating with Bertha today around 3, much less of a production than last year and the baby is keeping out of harm ”s way.’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:25:52 ,
-57, ‘2010-02-15’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘An American Robin was observed at 15:01 on the West lawn of the Main Keeper ”s residence.’, ‘Ryan’, ’14:59:44 ,
-58, ‘2010-02-17’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 5, ‘Slash and just one female are alone on Middle Rocks. It would appear the two females who had and lost their pups out there have moved on again. Last night was a rough night for our newest pup as Misery was trying to mate with it. Tooth marks on the pup ”s chin were evident a couple days ago, but now its baby coat is marred by 20cm scratches from Misery ”s sexual aggression.’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:45:00 ,
-59, ‘2010-02-17’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘A solitary Brandt was seen in the water about 100m south of Great Race Island. This area is largely protected from anything but a W wind, and is relatively unaffected by both ebb and flood currents. I have to date observed a total of 6 Brandts in this area and 1 on Great Race Island itself. ‘, ‘Ryan’, ’11:14:44 ,
-60, ‘2010-02-18’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 5, ‘The pup had its first bowel movement today and is steering clear of its mother and amorous Misery.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:18:53 ,
-61, ‘2010-02-19’, ‘Other’, 5, ‘A fifth Brandt joined the group here today. The calm waters and sunny day saw them explore the are between North and Middle Rocks.’, ‘Ryan’, ’22:22:50 ,
-62, ‘2010-02-19’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 4, ‘Slash appears to be all alone on Middle Rocks. Misery was very active today, mating several times with Bertha. The pup barely moved all day!’, ‘Ryan’, ’22:23:56 ,
-63, ‘2010-03-02’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 3, ‘The three named elephant seals are all on Great Race Island now. Slash has displaced Misery and is now seldom far from Bertha. The photography students at Pearson College were able to watch Slash move from the Helicopter pad base to Bertha ”s side, mount and then eventually mate with her -all within 10 minutes of arriving!). Bertha shows much less reluctance to mate with Slash. Misery is now on the E side of the island next to the solar panels for the foghorn. Murray -who had filled in for me this past week) noted that Slash and Misery had fought briefly.’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:22:13 ,
-64, ‘2010-03-04’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ‘Misery left at some point during the night, now just Slash and Bertha on the island. I was told that a small female elephant seal was spotted at Maintenance back at Pearson College. That is well inside Pedder Bay, within 100m of the marina.’, ‘Ryan’, ’10:46:28 ,
-65, ‘2010-03-08’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘Slash came up onto the lawn early this morning -before 7) and spent most of the day sleeping there. About 3 hours before sunset he made his way back down to the water and was seen in the shallows around Middle Rock at 18:00’, ‘Ryan’, ’18:42:39 ,
-66, ‘2010-03-10’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 15, ‘A group of Steller sea lions has returned to the SE Rock haul out. The first animals arrived on Sunday and the group has grown to between 15 and 20 animals.’, ‘Ryan’, ’20:09:13 ,
-67, ‘2010-03-10’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘Slash continues to make his rounds between Middle Rock and Great Race. Quite a bit of effort hauling himself all the way up to the grass in front of the helicopter pad each trip. He spends time in the shallows vocalizing, though there are no longer any females around.’, ‘Ryan’, ’20:10:38 ,
-68, ‘2010-03-12’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 6, ‘Today was everywhere weather-wise, but cleared and was quite nice in the afternoon. 6 California sea lions were rafting near the SE rocks while 2 large Stellers kept the haul out to themselves.’, ‘Ryan’, ’12:42:26 ,
-69, ‘2010-03-15’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ‘Slash continues his trips back and forth between his haul outs. An unknown adult female was seen on the SE corner of Great Race on the rubble field that is a favourite spot for Harbour seals. Slash came to Great Race before midnight and vocalized for several hours.’, ‘Ryan’, ’01:49:20 ,
-70, ‘2010-03-17’, ‘Other’, 10, ‘The Rock Sandpipers have returned to Race Rocks on their spring migration. A small group was observed with Surfbirds and Turnstones on the E side of Great Race staying out of the wind.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:23:38 ,
-71, ‘2010-03-24’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ‘We have a returning visitor today, X201/202 a tagged female elephant seal is up on the island about 15m away from Slash. The only other female elephant seal to have ventured so far is Bertha, the mother of the two pups born here. Slash has been hauled out near the helicopter pad and has not moved for 5 days. ‘, ‘Ryan’, ’19:25:44 ,
-72, ‘2010-03-25’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 3, ‘Another female elephant seal arrived on the island today. She made two trips down to the jetty and back again spending most of the day on the end of the jetty. I recognize her as one of the females who was here late 2009 and about one year ago when she also spent some time moving up and down the jetty. Slash has turned 180 degree.’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:13:55 ,
-73, ‘2010-03-27’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ‘Slash left yesterday, the two females are still on the lawn in front of the Science Centre.’, ‘Ryan’, ’00:08:28 ,
-74, ‘2010-03-27’, ‘Orca’, 4, ‘Transients were seen feeding in Eemdyk Passage’, ‘Ryan’, ’00:12:39 ,
-75, ‘2010-03-30’, ‘Orca’, 5, ‘The group of transients that has been in the area over the weekend came by the reserve in a near carbon copy of their Sunday route. The large male breached once while in the SE end of the reserve and 2-3 times S of the reserve. The group spent about 20 minutes criss-crossing around SE rocks in apparent feeding behaviour -tail slaps, etc.).’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:45:23 ,
-76, ‘2010-03-28’, ‘Orca’, 5, ‘A group of transients visited the reserve, feeding behaviours were observed.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:02:14 ,
-77, ‘2010-03-30’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 7, ‘5 females were seen hauled out on Middle Rocks; they ranged from small juveniles to large adults. They join the 2 small females here on Great Race.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:04:03 ,
-78, ‘2010-04-03’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 8, ‘A third young female arrived on Great Race Island last night and the 5 females on Middle Rocks stayed through the storm on Good Friday.’, ‘Ryan’, ’20:17:51 ,
-79, ‘2010-04-02’, ‘Other’, 1, ’70+ knot winds and a black-bellied Dunlin made an appearance near the Science Centre.’, ‘Ryan’, ’20:19:07 ,
-80, ‘2010-04-04’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 9, ‘There are 6 female elephant seals on Middle Rocks, including 3 large adults. One is easily identifiable as Scarlet, and it appears the ropes embedded in her flesh have opened large wounds across most of her body. 3 smaller females are still here on Great Race.’, ‘Ryan’, ’10:43:57 ,
-81, ‘2010-04-09’, ‘Other’, 3, ‘There were two adult and one juvenile bald eagles here today. At 13:00 I just happened to watch as the juvenile dove out of the air and tried to snare a Canada Goose on the path outside my window. The predation attempt was unsuccessful, but at least I ”m free of geese on the island right now! ‘, ‘Ryan’, ’13:24:57 ,
-82, ‘2010-04-15’, ‘Orca’, 10, ‘There is something particularly special about sitting down at the kitchen table and literally hearing the whales outside. I ”ve been on the water before and heard the the heavy exhalations of a whale before spotting it, but to be on land inside a building is something else entirely. The group of 10 or more orcas were traveling N along the E edge of the reserve towards Victoria. There were two adult bulls, one with a very tattered dorsal fin. They were quite active, with some whales doing back flips and swimming upside down, flopping their tails on the surface.’, ‘Ryan’, ’14:31:09 ,
-83, ‘2010-04-16’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 9, ‘A new cow arrived on Great Race Island, hauling out in the intertidal region on the W shore. The two already here are well into their moults, with slick grey skin starting to show.’, ‘Ryan’, ’22:04:33 ,
-84, ‘2010-04-17’, ‘Orca’, 3, ‘A group of orcas were followed through Race Passage traveling E to W.’, ‘Ryan’, ’22:06:22 ,
-87, ‘2010-04-22’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘An adult Brown pelican was spotted in the reserve today from noon onwards. It was perched on the SE Rocks before spending some time on the water in the channel between Great Race and Middle Rocks.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:34:14 ,
-86, ‘2010-04-16’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘With the unusually calm winds I ”ve noticed a surge in song-bird numbers, including some new visitors. A group of 5 Wilson ”s warblers -Wilsonia pusilla) and several White-throated sparrows -Zonotrichia albicollis) are new in my experience.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:32:40 ,
-88, ‘2010-04-25’, ‘Other’, 2, ‘Two Black-bellied Plovers -Pluvialis squatarola) in breeding plumage were seen on the SE corner of Great Race Island. My first sighting of this species.’, ‘Ryan’, ’20:10:14 ,
-89, ‘2010-04-30’, ‘Orca’, 0, ‘A large group of orcas came through the reserve today traveling W to E. They all passed between Middle and Great Race and then fanned out once outside the reserve. I recognized the dorsal fin of one bull and assume this is the same group of transients that was here earlier in the month.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:33:36 ,
-90, ‘2010-05-09’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘The diversity of bird life has increased greatly with the improving weather this week. Rock sandpipers, Western sandpipers, Red Knots, and Greater Yellowlegs have all been seen in the intertidal zone. Yesterday evening a juvenile brown pelican spent a number of hours on Great Race before heading towards Port Angeles just after sunset. Today around noon a peregrine falcon zipped by Great Race and scared most of the small bird species away for the day. The Black Oystercatchers are becoming very territorial with one another, and the nest above the cove on the E side of Great Race now has 2 eggs.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:42:48 ,
-91, ‘2010-05-09’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 8, ‘8 females remain on Middle Rocks, still in various stages of their moults. The tagged female X201/X202 recently left Great Race Island after completing her moult, but was photographed yesterday on Middle Rocks with the other females. This year is a pattern reversal compared to last year when it was the sub-adult male -Misery) who completed his moult on Great Race and few if any female elephant seals were seen here during this time.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:45:02 ,
-92, ‘2010-05-12’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 5, ‘Fewer females are visible on Middle Rocks. The tagged female has returned to Great Race Island despite having completed her moult. The larger females on Middle Rocks are in various stages of their moults.’, ‘Ryan’, ’20:56:43 ,
-93, ‘2010-05-12’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘The diversity of bird life continues to increase with the appearance of Dunlins, Brandts and Pacific Loons today. Small groups of Brandts flew West throughout the day, followed by several large flocks numbering up to 100 birds in the evening. A mature Brown pelican roosted here for the night, much to the gulls ” dissatisfaction. There are still 2 pairs of Harlequin ducks spending their days around Great Race Island, plus 4 Whimbrels were again seen on the SW corner of the island where up to 3 Black Oystercatcher pairs have staked nesting territories. There are a total of 7 pairs of Oystercatchers with territories on the island, but only 2 confirmed nests so far, and of those only one nest with 2 eggs at the moment. Could be a bumper year as a maximum of 5 breeding Oystercatcher pairs have been recorded in the past. ‘, ‘Ryan’, ’21:08:11 ,
-94, ‘2010-05-12’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 10, ‘The numbers of Northern Sea Lions have been down the past several days, however they are still finding food in the reserve. A commotion right above the tidal turbine today attracted a number of gulls, and I could soon see a Northern sea lion was thrashing a large fish on the surface. Reviewing my photos it turns out the sea lion had captured a wolf eel! Long tasty filets on those protected fish, I can ”t say I ”m not envious!’, ‘Ryan’, ’21:10:38 ,
-95, ‘2010-05-13’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘4 Western sandpipers this morning on Great Race.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:31:18 ,
-96, ‘2010-05-14’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 10, ‘Using both robotic cameras I was able to get a better picture of the elephant seal population on Middle Rocks. My last count was 10 animals, and what appeared to either be a newly arrived male or very large female.’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:49:04 ,
-97, ‘2010-05-14’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘Lots of wind today but still another new arrival to report. A Ruddy Turnstone in full breeding plumage was spotted near the jetty, pictures to follow.’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:51:10 ,
-98, ‘2010-05-20’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘Adult Brown Pelican flew around the reserve today at 19:00.’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:08:06 ,
-99, ‘2010-05-21’, ‘Other’, 4, ‘Two pairs of Barn swallows -Hirundo rustica) have been zipping around Great Race Island over the last week feasting on kelp flies.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:53:03 ,
-100, ‘2010-05-21’, ‘Other’, 2, ‘Whimbrels continue to inhabit the reserve.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:53:31 ,
-101, ‘2010-06-01’, ‘Orca’, 2, ‘Two transient orcas were spotted last evening swimming west to east through Race Passage, possibly feeding.’, ‘Adam’, ’09:09:20 ,
-102, ‘2010-06-02’, ‘Orca’, 2, ‘Two transient orcas were spotted this morning travelling westwards between Great Race and Middle Race. A number of whale watching boats were in pursuit.’, ‘adam’, ’14:45:33 ,
-103, ‘2010-06-02’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 3, ‘Misery has been hauled up behind the boathouse for several days now, while Bertha is beside the fuel hose container. A small, young elly is NW of the Science House. She has a green tag that reads 4252 in her flipper.’, ‘adam’, ’18:38:37 ,
-104, ‘2010-06-02’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 10, ‘Sad to report our first neck ring sighting this year. A juvenile California sea lion was hauled out with a group of ~9 other sea lions; its neck was constricted and lacerated by a ring of marine garbage. Given the numbers of California sea lions spotted here so far this season, this sighting fits the 1-2% entanglement rate observed here last fall.’, ‘ryan’, ’09:53:42 ,
-105, ‘2010-06-03’, ‘Other’, 22, ‘Black Oystercatchers are the species of the day with the first chicks sighted in the nest to the E of the Main Keeper ”s house. Camera 1 will just be able to make them out if they stay put. Another nest was discovered directly behind tank #1 that is a “limited-time only ” infrastructure feature on the island. 3 nests with eggs:3,2,3 -now 2+chicks,2,3), 2 brooding pairs with undiscovered nests, and 2 pairs with overlapping feeding territories but no suspected nest sites.’, ‘ryan’, ’23:39:33 ,
-106, ‘2010-06-03’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 3, ‘An eventful day for the elephant seals. More sunlight and less wind than we ”ve been used to this spring brought all three Elephant Seals on Great Race down to the water… but not before Misery had a go at mounting Bertha. She escaped up the “steep ” path to the grass on top of the foundation left from the original keeper ”s house. Bertha then slipped past the sleeping Misery and lay on the ramp right at the water line in the shade but not in the water. Misery woke and detected the deception and came barreling down the path and boat ramp. Bertha took off through the water like a startled harbour seal, moving closer to the hauled-out California sea lions. She did not come back on land until dark. After all his effort, Misery followed just until he was in the water and took to splashing water back across his body which both trickled and steamed off his late winter coat. Once refreshed, he moved further into the water, floating and steaming in the warm sunshine. Seeing/smelling Bertha in deeper waters, he followed her only to have her swim even further away. 4252 was already in the water and Misery soon sensed her and tried to pin her against the rocks in the shallow sea lion haul-out, but she snapped at him and also swam to deeper waters. Just before sunset, Misery returned to land, trumpeting in the shallows. Looking at records -and noting how much girth Misery has put on lately), the habitat use of our two adult bull elephant seals is very different. Misery: showed up for the ”season ” first in October, was back before Slash showed up for the pupping season, stayed longer through the breeding season, and is now here moulting -as he did this time last year). His moult is delayed 1-2 weeks compared to last year. That all said, Misery has grown significantly this season after spending much of the last 6 months here at Race Rocks, while our dominant bull spends much greater times away before returning with added mass.’, ‘ryan’, ’23:56:01 ,
-107, ‘2010-06-11’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘Over the last few days, a number of gull nests with eggs have been spotted around the island. By now, most gulls have nested, although there are still a number of pairs that appear to be without nests still. Gull numbers seem to be down compared to the same time last year.’, ‘adam’, ’09:01:22 ,
-108, ‘2010-06-11’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 0, ‘Bertha seems to have taken off sometime in the last few days, although Misery and #4252 -soon to be named) are still sticking around. A female elephant was spotted on Middle Race several days ago.’, ‘adam’, ’09:02:37 ,
-109, ‘2010-06-14’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘Misery is hauled up between the path and the desalinator bunker, a change from the grassy area west of the boathouse. He is now almost finished his moult and seems to be much more docile these days. He was observed vocalizing loudly this afternoon -perhaps at a seagull that decided to stare him down on the path). The young female #4252 -soon to be named) has been observed hauled up on the island lately -didn ”t see her today). She ”s been making almost daily trips to the water from the grassy area near the boathouse -compared to Misery who decides to haul his girth down to the water only when the temperature becomes unbearable for his copious amounts of body mass). #4252 seems much more nervous than other elephant seals, perhaps because she is younger and is not as acquainted with our human presence on the island as compared to the other Mirounga. I have not seen Bertha around for a number of days now, and I ”ve not seen Slash since my return to the island two weeks ago. ‘, ‘adam’, ’22:20:14 ,
-110, ‘2010-06-21’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘As we officially kick off summer, I thought I ”d give a bit of an update on life on the island right now. The black oystercatcher chicks have hatched in the nest up beside the jetty and down off the tank room! While outside doing some cleanup yesterday morning, I spotted at least one chick, and I suspect there may be more, as there were three eggs in total. This hatching brings some relief, as all of us were quite worried about this nest. Mother oystercatcher had not been spending as much time on her nest as she should have, what with the high traffic transiting the area. However, last week I cordoned off the area with large ropes and she settled down a lot, just in time for the hatching. I also set up camera 3 beside the nest; it can be viewed at http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/video3.htm. I apologize in advance for the moisture on the lens; we ”ve had some high winds and rain over the last day and it has become a bit dirty. At this point though, I ”m a bit apprehensive to get close and clean it, as it ”s really only a foot away from the nest. There are at least two other nests on the island with chicks; one in the surge channel facing the southeast, and one in the channel facing the southwest. In other news, Bertha has decided to make a reappearance on the island after a few days off in the water somewhere. She is hauled up in her favourite spot behind the tank room. Her bad eye is looking worse than ever, and is dripping quite a lot of serum. #4252 is up beside the base of the lighthouse, on the side adjacent to the desalinator bunker, and seems to be enjoying the shelter of the long grasses. Misery is up around the science house somewhere. From the house this morning, I also noticed a possibly fourth, middle-aged, female elephant seal making her way up from the boat ramp -it may have been Bertha though, it ”s hard to tell). Yesterday, three harlequin ducks were spotted in the southeast surge channel, sitting contentedly on rocks. There appeared to be two males and one female. I took some pictures yesterday, but am not sure if they turned out because of the distance. Check on my Flickr site later: http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamharding/. Most seagulls have now settled down into their nests, with a few still mating. Nest numbers seem to be down from this time last year. Enjoy the solstice!’, ‘adam’, ’07:57:59 ,
-111, ‘2010-06-22’, ‘Other’, 230, ‘230 glaucous-winged gulls were counted on the island today, which puts us at around 115 nests, down from 150 last year at this time.’, ‘adam’, ’12:09:54 ,
-112, ‘2010-06-26’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘Our three newest black oystercatcher chicks are doing quite well. They ”ve left the nest and are now in the rocky area just beside the jetty. There are several other families on this side of the island, notably one beside the winch house and one in the east bay. There ”s also a family or two over in the west surge channel. Most gulls have now settled down into their nests with mating coming to a close. Pam reports a nest up near the fresh water pool is about to hatch; be sure to keep your eye on that one over the next few days! I ”ve noticed on several occasions some broken eggs scattered on the grass around the island. Probable cause: the otter. I saw it scampering across the winch pad the other evening, much to the gulls ” discontentment. There ”s also a dead gull up beside the base of the tower; it ”s been there for a few days now considering the state of decomposition. I expect that it was killed in a territorial fight. Gulls are very territorial birds and will aggressively defend an area of about one metre in radius -with exceptions) around their nest. Any other gull who infringes upon this territory will be the subject of an intense attack -http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamharding/3858558278/in/set-72157622022028013/) by the owners of that piece of waterfront real estate. Territorial defence is actually one of the reasons why it is important to keep human traffic down in the reserve during gull season: once chicks hatch, any disturbances that cause them to stray from their native territory into another family ”s territory will result in retaliation by the adults of that foreign territory. Chicks are usually helpless to the attacks and will be ruthlessly killed. We have three elephant seals hauled up on Great Race: Misery is up near the engine room, Bertha is behind the tank room and #4252 is on the concrete area at the top of the jetty. 4252 seems to be a bit unwell these days; I ”ve recently observed her breathing heavily and coughing, and her spittle is often flecked with blood. Garry suggests that she could be going through her moult; however, females typically moult in April and May, sub-adult males moult in May and June and adult males moult in July and August. Considering that Misery has now completed his moult and is a breeding male, I ”d expect that 4252, a young female, certainly would have by now. I ”ll be keeping my eye on her over the next bit. There is still an elephant seal out on Middle Rock. Bertha is now most likely approaching the beginning of her seven month gestation period. Female elephant seals come into heat 24 days after giving birth. However, after mating, the fertilized egg does not implant in the wall of the uterus for up to four months, a rare phenomenon called “delayed implantation “. The currently favoured theory is that the female is to weak after giving birth and nursing that she doesn ”t have enough energy to nurture the egg. However, once implantation does occur, the actual gestation period is seven months. This gives a total of eleven months and explains the yearly cycle we see. So, if Bertha gave birth and mated in late February, her egg is most likely reaching the implantation stage right now, late June. I expect that in a few weeks gestation will be well underway. I saw a hummingbird pass by my window this morning. I ”m not sure how common they are around here. Unfortunately I couldn ”t get a picture as it only briefly flew by. Sea lions are at a seasonal low right now as the California variety move south to breed for the summer while most of the northern variety move northwards for the summer.’, ‘adam’, ’11:28:56 ,
-113, ‘2010-06-26’, ‘Orca’, 3, ‘Three, I presume transient, orcas swam W -> E through the main passage between Middle Rock and Great Race at 1730, then turned south as they exited the Reserve.’, ‘adam’, ’17:38:53 ,
-114, ‘2010-06-27’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ‘Slash has been spotted! He is out on Middle Rock, king of the domain out there. Misery is up on Great Race. 4252 and Bertha have not been seen today.’, ‘adam’, ’18:17:18 ,
-115, ‘2010-06-28’, ‘Harbour Seal’, 1, ‘A dead adult male harbour seal was found washed up today on the rocks beside the derrick. There were no trauma marks from predation or a boat strike and the corpse was still in good condition with no bloating or decomposition. It was removed and taken to Pearson College.’, ‘adam’, ’13:54:09 ,
-116, ‘2010-06-30’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘A California sea lion decided to haul out this morning on the NE corner of Great Race. Slash has not been sighted yet today on Middle Rock. Bertha and 4252 have not been seen on Great Race for a few days. The seagulls are hatching! Pam B. reports a chick up near the helicopter pad, and a nest beside the winch pad hatched yesterday with two healthy chicks. Pam thinks that the chick near the helicopter pad is several days old. The three black oystercatcher chicks are still being fed down on the rocks beside the jetty. They ”ve grown considerably in the last number of days. There are at least two other families on the NE corner of Great Race, as I ”ve seen at least two pairs of parents who act quite distressed when I get near. ‘, ‘adam’, ’08:34:08 ,
-117, ‘2010-07-02’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ‘Slash and Misery have both been hauled up on Great Race over the last few days. A solitary sea lion was spotted up on the NE corner of Great Race a few days ago. Gull hatching is well underway. PLEASE NOTE: The weather data and some of the cameras are offline at the moment. I am attempting to rectify the situation as fast as possible and hope to get the system back online as soon as I can. Apologies for the inconvenience.’, ‘adam’, ’19:28:31 ,
-118, ‘2010-07-03’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘All camera and weather systems are up and running again; apologies for the interruption in service. The outage was caused by a major problem from one of our male elephant seals. Yesterday night, our friend Misery moved overtop of the waterline connected to the science house used for cleaning camera 5. The line broke off of the spigot and caused about 5000 litres of fresh water to drain, emptying the tank overnight. I ”ve been running the desalinator continuously to make up the lost water. I have bypassed the hybrid energy system and am running the island straight off of the generators to preserve the batteries and to save fuel. Unfortunately, this method sometimes produces dirty power and can wreak havoc on the computer systems running here. Garry and I managed to restart the systems this morning and things seem to be running smoothly for the moment.’, ‘adam’, ’14:50:59 ,
-119, ‘2010-07-03’, ‘Orca’, 0, ‘Several orcas -not sure on the numbers) passed by the north side and the south side of the Reserve this morning. As is typically the case, they were pursued by a flock of 10-15 whale watching boats. Many of these boats sped through the outskirts of the Reserve to reach the whales and then returned later to view other animals within the Reserve. At one point, at least 5 boats surrounded a Steller sea lion on the eastern point of West Race.’, ‘adam’, ’14:53:53 ,
-120, ‘2010-07-04’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘The weather and camera systems were out for most of the day. The cameras are back online now. The weather system is also, but it appears to be giving only sporadic updates. Sorry for the inconvenience. Two pelagic cormorants were spotted on the north point of Great Race this morning. A few moments ago I spotted what appeared to be a black turnstone out in the eastern surge channel. This morning I noticed a gull with blood seeping from beneath its feathers on its left side. Presumably it was injured in a territorial fight. Check on my flickr site later -www.flickr.com/photos/adamharding)as I ”ll put up a picture or two of the wound.’, ‘adam’, ’21:54:58 ,
-121, ‘2010-07-05’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘Weather and camera systems are all up and running today. Yay!’, ‘adam’, ’21:04:46 ;
INSERT INTO `lifesighting` -`id`, `day`, `animal`, `qty`, `notes`, `puser`, `ptime`) VALUES
-122, ‘2010-07-07’, ‘Orca’, 10, ‘The last three days have been the most beautiful I ”ve ever experienced out here. The wind is flat calm, the sea like is glass and the air is warm. Yesterday evening about eight to ten orcas of the southern resident population swam eastbound around and through the Reserve. There are four populations of orcas in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the southern residents being the smallest. The southern residents consistent of one clan -J) and three pods -J, K and L), with several matrilines within each pod. The southern residents are the only orcas listed as endangered by the US Fisheries and Wildlife Service and there are approximately 87 individuals making up the population. The population is a hierarchical one built upon the matrilineal system whereby groups of individuals are connected by maternal descent. Each matriline consists of a female, her sons and daughters, and the offspring of the daughters. A matriline may consist of one to seventeen individuals and up to five generations. Pods are groups of matrilines connected by a common female ancestor. Hunting techniques and vocalisations in the orca species are specific to groups of individuals and are passed along these ancestral paths; the specificity and uniqueness of these habits have been described as manifestations of culture by some. Worldwide, there are three different types of orcas that have been described as different races or subspecies: residents, transients and offshore orcas. Resident orcas are fish-eaters and exhibit complex social structures -as described above, the orcas frequenting Race Rocks are one of four of the northeast Pacific resident populations). Resident orcas will frequent the same area through their lives and the southern residents are among the most intensively studied marine mammals in the world. Over the last 30 years, scientists have identified and named over 300 individuals. Transient orcas exclusively eat marine mammals. They do not exhibit the complex social structures seen in the resident populations, and will travel widely in their lifetime–some individuals have been spotted in both California and Alaska during their lifetimes. Offshore orcas are the third type and were only discovered in 1988. They primarily travel far offshore and eat schooling fish. They may congregate in groups of about 200 individuals. Very little is known about offshore orcas. Resident and transient orcas are genetically isolated and have not interbred for approximately 10 000 years; researchers estimate that the evolutionary split between residents and transient occurred about two million years ago. The southern resident orcas, listed as an endangered species, face a plethora of anthropogenic threats. Up to 90% of the orca ”s diet consists of salmon, with chinook -king) salmon being by far their favourite. However, over the last half-century, many wild salmon runs on the Pacific Coast have become extinct due to overfishing and loss of habitat. Furthermore, some scientists believe that orcas dive up to 800 feet in search of rockfish. With rockfish in the Salish Sea having declined to 2% of historical levels since 1950, orcas face incredible pressure to search for the appropriate amounts of food to sustain themselves. Some scientists believe that the depletion of fish stocks in the Salish Sea may be causing changes in movement patterns of the southern resident population. The resident orcas must also contend with unacceptably high levels of toxins in their environment. Because orcas are at the top of the food chain and because toxins accumulate in higher concentrations as they move up the food chain, orcas accumulate considerably more toxins than other marine mammals. Studies of dead and stranded southern resident orcas have shown extremely high levels of lead, mercury and poly-chlorinated hydrocarbons -PCBs). PCBs are an endocrine disruptor, meaning that they interact and have adverse affects on the hormonal system of the body. One of the most dire consequences of this interaction is on the development of offspring, as the endocrine system is one of the big factors playing into the growth and development of offspring during gestation. Obviously, reducing the level of toxins in the environment would require sweeping societal changes. Some PCBs were banned in the 1970s, but due to their nature, PCBs tend to build up and do not disintegrate. In the case of the Salish Sea, they accumulate in orcas. Some scientists reckon that toxins such as PCBs are the biggest threat orcas face, even more so than depleting fish stocks. To add fuel to the fire: because fish stocks have been depleted so much, orcas must eat more small fish in order to meet their nutritional requirements. However, eating more small fish means that orcas ingest more toxins than they would if they were eating fewer large fish. Thus, more small fish means more toxins, a double-whammy effect. A third pressure orcas in the Salish Sea face is from boating. The Strait of Georgia, the Juan de Fuca Strait and Puget Sound are all areas of high vessel traffic. Collision avoidance -or not), air pollution and noise all put pressure on the population. In short, the southern resident orcas, an infamous symbol of the Salish Sea, face an already large, and growing, list of threats. Their intelligence and culture alone are symbols of a species deserving merit and protection. They have as much right to be here as we do, and we must give them the respect they deserve. When viewing whales, be sure to follow the ”Be Whale Wise ” guidelines found at http://www.bewhalewise.org/. If you take a trip on one of the many whale watching boats in the Victoria area, be sure to ask your guide about their policies towards viewing and respecting the rights of whales. There is a plethora of information that can be found on the web about the southern resident orcas if you seek more information.’, ‘adam’, ’08:34:27 ,

 

-123, ‘2010-07-15’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘Camera 5 is out of service at the moment. It stopped working a day or two ago for an unknown reason, perhaps a malfunctioning electrical or ethernet connection. I ”ll take a look at it tomorrow and see what I can do. Misery and Slash are still co-habitating on the Island these days, although Slash is definitely filling the alpha male role. It ”s quite interesting, as Misery is very aware that he is not the dominant one and may often be observed scooting down a path or taking the long way into the water in order to avoid a confrontation with Slash. More and more seagull nests are hatching every day. This week I ”ve been noticing two or three per day. The ones that hatched first are now getting quite big! There are still oystercatcher babies over by the jetty, and they too are getting large. Along the baby line, I ”ve been noticing a number of baby harbour seals around the rocks. We ”re in prime pupping season for them now.’, ‘adam’, ’22:13:15 ,
-124, ‘2010-07-16’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘Camera 5 is down due to power supply failure. Apologies for the interruption in service. We ”re working on rectifying the problem as quickly as possible. ‘, ‘adam’, ’11:07:42 ,
-125, ‘2010-07-17’, ‘Orca’, 0, ‘At least several orcas were seen well south of the Reserve late this afternoon, pursued by the whale watching vessels ”Eagle Wing ” and ”Ocean Magic II ”’, ‘adam’, ’22:00:15 ,
-126, ‘2010-07-17’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘Camera 5 has been removed from its mount at the top of the hill due to what appears to be a major problem with an electronics board within the camera. It will be taken over to Pearson College -and perhaps beyond) early this week. Apologies for the interruption in service. In the meantime, please continue to view Camera 1.’, ‘adam’, ’22:03:11 ,
-127, ‘2010-07-23’, ‘Harbour Porpoise’, 2, ‘While out for a Friday afternoon sail on ”Fairwinds ” this afternoon, we spotted a harbour porpoise mother and calf east of Great Race.’, ‘adam’, ’18:16:03 ,
-128, ‘2010-07-25’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 2, ‘The sea lions have begun to make a comeback to Race Rocks. There is one California on Middle Rock, one each night on the jetty, and one northern sea lion on the south rocks. They ”ve arrived at approximately the same time they did last year, and their numbers will only increase now.’, ‘adam’, ’18:04:57 ,
-129, ‘2010-07-28’, ‘Orca’, 2, ‘Last night I returned to RR at about 1600hrs and was greeted by some great wildlife. A new female elephant seal had hauled up and was lying near the foot of the jetty. She was very, very nervous, especially as I tried to sneak around her and I later observed her getting quite agitated by the gulls as she hauled up on the grass and tried to find a comfortable sleeping spot for the night. Late in the evening she eventually settled close to Slash behind the boathouse. This was the first time I had seen this female, and she was definitely a very beautiful female. A few hours later, I went down to the jetty and a juvenile female was just beginning to haul up. However, a few minutes after I spotted her, she turned around and headed back to the ocean. She was not tagged so there was no possibility of her being Ninene or #4252. Around 1600hrs as I landed the boat, I looked up and saw two orcas breach in the channel between Middle Rock and Great Race, heading eastward on the flood current. They disappeared for a while, then breached on the other side of the kelp bed near Middle Rock. For the next minute or so, there was quite a commotion with tail fins flapping in the water and dorsal fins popping to the surface. I expect that these two orcas were hunting seals, which makes me assume that they were two transients passing through the Reserve. Sea lions are now beginning to make more and more of an appearance in the Reserve. There are several on the jetty each night, and some large northern sea lions out on the Rocks. Harbour seals are all now having their pups as well. Pam has caught some fantastic images of pups nursing and a possible placenta in the east bay a few days ago.’, ‘adam’, ’08:52:54 ,
-130, ‘2010-08-07’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘Hello all, I realise that it has been a little while since I last wrote in the daily log. Things have been busy. Ocean Educations, a three week summer diving program at Pearson College just finished this week and I ”ve been busy with that, as well as keeping a German film crew of four from German public TV busy -you may have noticed Tom, Christian, Florian and Michael on the Island this week). They were busy shooting two documentaries at Race Rocks. They left this morning and I ”m pleased to say that they acquired some stunning footage, above and below the water, during their stay. Things have quieted down a bit now though, so I hope to be a bit more regular in my entries for these last few weeks of my stationing at Race. Many of you will be pleased to hear that camera 5 has been repaired. Apparently there was a problem in the electrical board inside. I have it on the Island and am planning on re-installing on its mount tomorrow. If all goes to plan, it should be up and running by tomorrow afternoon. Over the last week or so, the sea lions have made quite a return. I ”d estimate that there are probably around 100 individuals in the Reserve right now, with an equal split between northern sea lions and California sea lions. Their numbers will continue to grow as the summer draws slowly to a close. Slash is still hauled up on Great Race these days, as always. I ”ve not seen Misery for a while now, although it ”s possible he ”s out on Middle Rock as I saw a couple of elephant seals out there a few days ago. I suspect that Misery got a bit sick of Slash and decided to seek out some peace and quiet. There was also a mature female here for a few days late last week and early this week, but she has since left. The gull chicks are now getting quite large. Many have started to fledge and are beginning to ”test their wings ”. I ”ve not seen any in the air yet, although I ”ve seen many flapping their limbs energetically as they try to see how their wings work! This week I also found quite a large number of dead and/or injured chicks. I think they are often attacked by other adults from outside their territory. There is actually a chick right outside my basement door that has been there for four days now; my best guess is that it wandered or ran off far from the nest then couldn ”t find its way back. On the third day -yesterday), I woke up to find it with a broken wing. It ”s quite sad to see it huddling in the damp grass with a broken wing, while a couple of metres away, a mother feeds her three healthy chicks. Quite a stark division. I expect this chick will soon die from starvation or predation. I saw the otter several times this week. I haven ”t seen as many eagles around this week as I have in previous weeks. I ”ll keep you updated to this poor little gull over the next few days. That ”s all for now. Adam’, ‘adam’, ’21:20:54 ,
-131, ‘2010-08-08’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘Camera 5 has been reinstalled on its mount. You can find it by navigating to videocams from the homepage of the website.’, ‘adam’, ’16:05:14 ,
-132, ‘2010-08-13’, ‘Orca’, 8, ‘A group of possibly 8 orcas swam west to east through Race Passage at about mid morning, pursued by a group of whale watching boats.’, ‘adam’, ’07:14:29 ,
-133, ‘2010-08-13’, ‘Harbour Porpoise’, 2, ‘Out on the boat yesterday, I briefly saw two harbour porpoises breach over near Bentinck Island at about 1700hrs yesterday.’, ‘adam’, ’07:15:39 ,
-134, ‘2010-08-24’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘The temperature sensor on the Davis Weather Instrument seems to be broken. We ”re working on getting this problem fixed. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.’, ‘adam’, ’16:49:36 ,
-135, ‘2010-09-12’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 120, ‘The vast majority of the Zalophus californianus sea lions in the reserve are hauled out around the jetty on Great Race Island. This year ”s visitors have been all male to date, however there is a larger proportion of juveniles compared with last year. A California sea lion that had hauled out with a group of ~50 others NE of the Main Keeper ”s residence was confirmed dead this morning. The sea lion died with its eyes open.’, ‘Ryan’, ’21:26:53 ,
-136, ‘2010-09-12’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘The last elephant seal cow in the reserve -4252) has been approaching groups of California sea lions hauled out on Great Race Island but her advances have always been rebuked. The seal had been sleeping next to the dead sea lion discovered today but moved off in the morning when the flies and smell became noticeable to her, however soon returned and spent the day resting within 5m of the fly-ridden carcass.’, ‘Ryan’, ’21:25:43 ,
-137, ‘2010-09-12’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 100, ‘The rain today brought down the total number of sea lions counted in the reserve, however the Eumetopias jubatus sea lions remained and are largely concentrated on Middle Rocks. The Ogden Point divers were out for a good part of the day and I can imagine in the calm seas they had some amazing sea lion encounters in the slacks and eddies around the reserve.’, ‘Ryan’, ’21:29:57 ,
-138, ‘2010-09-16’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘A small brown bat was seen under the eaves of the Power Centre -new extension). It was disturbed as the solar panels were being cleaned and tried to find another perch around the Science Centre.’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:12:34 ,
-139, ‘2010-09-21’, ‘Orca’, 5, ‘Great to see some transients in action, something that never happens during the busy traffic times. An adult harbour seal was taken and thrown around while the pod circled, rolled, spy-hopped and thrashed in the water in the SE of the reserve.’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:03:50 ,
-140, ‘2010-09-26’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 90, ‘There are perhaps 200 Northern Sea Lions in the reserve, however with uncharacteristically large swells for this time of year, their preferred haul out of Middle Rocks has been completely inundated around midday. A large group of about 80 were clinging to the NW corner of Great Race Rock, some had even climbed up to 20 ” up the steep rock surface.’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:57:24 ,
-141, ‘2010-09-27’, ‘Other’, 5, ‘Anthus rubescens: After seeing several of these birds around the past couple of weeks I finally tracked down an ID. American Pipits have very wide North American distribution, but upcoming photos are the first I believe recorded here at Race Rocks. ‘, ‘Ryan’, ’17:55:43 ,
-142, ‘2010-10-12’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘The water around the jetty is full of jellyfish this morning. Mitrocoma cellularia are the dominant species in terms of abundance with greater than 20 per cubic metre. 4 large -greater than 30cm) Cyanea capillata, 2 Aurelia aurita, and 1 Phacellophora camtschatica were also noted. ‘, ‘Ryan’, ’09:39:26 ,
-143, ‘2010-10-21’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘Our first sighting of Troglodytes troglodytes -Winter wren) was made today. This very small bird is making use of the old rock walls leading up to the foundation for the original lightkeeper ”s house. Photos by Raisa Mirza to follow.’, ‘Ryan’, ’18:08:13 ,
-144, ‘2010-10-24’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘I was really excited to see a Rock Greenling on one of the dives today. The students and I were making a wide counter-clockwise drift dive around Great Race Rock and in the surf-grass bed on the W side of the island a beautiful Rock Greenling was spotted. It was a very curious fish, leaving its position to check out each diver individually before returning to the grass.’, ‘Ryan’, ’13:11:06 ,
-145, ‘2010-10-31’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 10, ”, ‘Ryan’, ’12:22:06 ,
-146, ‘2010-10-31’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 100, ”, ‘Ryan’, ’12:22:36 ,
-147, ‘2010-10-31’, ‘Other’, 5, ‘White-fronted Geese’, ‘Ryan’, ’12:23:28 ,
-148, ‘2010-11-02’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘Sighted 1 owl. Either barred owl or a cross between spotted and barred.’, ‘VirginieLP’, ’20:32:45 ,
-149, ‘2010-11-02’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 50, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’20:35:38 ,
-150, ‘2010-11-02’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 10, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’20:35:56 ,
-151, ‘2010-11-03’, ‘Other’, 2, ‘humpback whales sighted south of the island at sunrise and sunset’, ‘VirginieLP’, ’10:25:11 ,
-152, ‘2010-11-03’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 10, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’10:24:19 ,
-153, ‘2010-11-03’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 150, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’10:24:34 ,
-154, ‘2010-11-04’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 10, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’19:16:39 ,
-155, ‘2010-11-04’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 100, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’19:16:55 ,
-156, ‘2010-11-04’, ‘Other’, 2, ‘humpback whales feeding south of Race Rocks sighted at 8:00, during the morning and at 18:15.’, ‘VirginieLP’, ’19:19:45 ,
-157, ‘2010-11-05’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 10, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’09:09:12 ,
-158, ‘2010-11-05’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 50, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’09:08:57 ,
-159, ‘2010-11-06’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 5, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’09:08:51 ,
-160, ‘2010-11-06’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 25, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’09:09:04 ,
-161, ‘2010-11-07’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 50, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’08:16:52 ,
-162, ‘2010-11-08’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 40, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’23:01:37 ,
-163, ‘2010-11-09’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 15, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’11:10:20 ,
-164, ‘2010-11-10’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 40, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’11:14:33 ,
-165, ‘2010-11-11’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 25, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’22:57:33 ,
-166, ‘2010-11-15’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 25, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’09:33:49 ,
-167, ‘2010-11-16’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 25, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’11:50:20 ,
-168, ‘2010-11-17’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 35, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’19:04:31 ,
-169, ‘2010-11-19’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 20, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’18:56:05 ,
-170, ‘2010-11-18’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 40, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’18:56:36 ,
-171, ‘2010-11-20’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 35, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’18:59:58 ,
-172, ‘2010-11-20’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘Sighted 1 humpback juvenile at 10:00, approximately 50 ft off the jetty. ‘, ‘VirginieLP’, ’19:01:24 ,
-173, ‘2010-11-21’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 35, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’20:25:30 ,
-174, ‘2010-11-23’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘The elephant seal Misery is now on Race Rocks.’, ‘VirginieLP’, ’17:38:22 ,
-175, ‘2011-01-10’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ‘A small female elephant seal was observed on Middle Rocks today and yesterday. Misery -young bull) has been going back and forth between Great Race and Middle Rocks, trumpeting as he arrived back at the jetty last night. The young female may be the green-tagged 1402/1403 observed here Dec. 29-30.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:50:34 ,
-176, ‘2011-01-09’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ‘Misery -young bull) left Great Race last night and was seen hauled out on Middle Rocks near the Steller Sea Lions with a small female nearby.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:52:06 ,
-177, ‘2011-01-12’, ‘Other’, 2, ‘Two mature brown pelican spent the morning on the NE corner of Great Race Rock to avoid the S and W winds. They are accompanied by a small group of gulls and cormorants -multiple species).’, ‘Ryan’, ’12:12:31 ,
-178, ‘2011-01-13’, ‘Other’, 10, ‘Pigeon guillemots were spotted during the Christmas Bird Count last year, and have now moved to the passage in front of the jetty where they will be now until September. This important foraging area runs along 3 Pigeon Guillemot nesting areas on Great Race Rock. Birds foraging in this area are routinely disrupted by boat traffic.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:14:13 ,
-179, ‘2011-01-14’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 1, ‘A solitary wanderer hauled out on the jetty this morning after the high-tide reading. These sea lions have been shown by our remote camera users to have strong spatial memories and to choose locations and poses year in and year out.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:13:13 ,
-180, ‘2011-01-14’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘The elephant seal “Misery ” was trumpeting on Middle Rocks last night but came back to the main residence ”s lawn this morning.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:13:52 ,
-181, ‘2011-01-15’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘Quick sighting this morning, a female elephant seal appeared during the night. The scar pattern on her back, her size, her chosen haul out location, and the timing all point to this female being Bertha.’, ‘Ryan’, ’10:01:03 ,
-182, ‘2011-01-16’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 4, ‘Yesterday, at least 3 elephant seal cows arrived in the reserve. A long-time visitor named Bertha who has twice given birth on Great Race Rock is here again and probably 2-3 weeks from having her third pup here on the island. Two smaller females were seen on Middle Rocks. The only bull present named Misery spent the day chasing Bertha around the island. During the night Bertha hid on higher ground, seeking refuge on the rood of the cistern.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:39:26 ,
-183, ‘2011-01-20’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ‘Misery and Bertha are still on Great Race Rock.’, ‘Raisa’, ’11:37:33 ,
-184, ‘2011-01-24’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 4, ‘An adult cow has returned to Middle Rocks, it appears to be the entangled individual identified as Scarlet. Bertha gave birth during the night to her third pup here on Great Race.’, ‘Ryan’, ’07:39:03 ,
-185, ‘2011-01-26’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 4, ‘The new pup is almost certainly a female. Shortly after birth it found itself in a rock pile about 1 m below where Bertha and Misery are laying. Today it is in the exact same location as yesterday, about half-way back up the wall. It was active last night, with very high-pitched squeals to which both Bertha and Misery responded. There are no wounds or bite marks on the pup, and it is possible it sneaks some nursing time during the night. The entangled female known as Scarlet has been in the reserve for the better part of a week. She approached the jetty on Great Race yesterday, but so far Bertha is the only adult cow who has moved past the boat house up onto the island.’, ‘Ryan’, ’12:07:42 ,
-186, ‘2011-01-28’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 5, ‘A juvenile female joined the family of 3 on Great Race today. The pup freed itself from the rock wall, leaving a half-dried, half-rotten umbilical cord on a rock ”s sharp edge. Misery greeted the pup with unusual tenderness, but it was not long before he was biting down on the pup ”s neck and tossing it into the air. Scarlet is making noises on Middle Rocks and it may not be long before her pup is born.’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:00:52 ,
-187, ‘2011-01-29’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 4, ‘The pup died today after suffering further violence from the young male known as Misery.’, ‘Raisa’, ’17:47:24 ,
-188, ‘2011-02-01’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 4, ‘The juvenile cow left Great Race and an adult cow joined Scarlet on Middle Rocks.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:02:41 ,
-189, ‘2011-02-01’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 30, ‘Numbers have dwindled this week and the remaining Stellers have relocated from Middle Rocks to SE Rocks.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:03:14 ,
-190, ‘2011-02-03’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘1 small female elephan is moulting on south side of Race Rocks. ‘, ‘VirginieLP’, ’08:33:22 ,
-191, ‘2011-02-08’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 12, ”, ‘VirginieLP’, ’08:27:37 ,
-192, ‘2011-02-09’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘Snow Bunting sighted around the freshwater pool and the north rock pool.’, ‘VirginieLP’, ’19:54:06 ,
-193, ‘2011-02-19’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 2, ‘Both Bertha and Misery entered the water overnight. Misery returned to the island in the morning and was very vocal as he moved around. Bertha came to the rocks in the S gut -less than 10m from she had spent the last month) before hauling out on Middle Rocks. Misery eventually left Great Race again to haul out on Middle Rocks by which time Bertha had already left the reserve.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:19:46 ,
-194, ‘2011-02-20’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘Misery remains the only elephant seal in the reserve and spent the day hauled out and vocalizing on Middle Rocks.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:21:02 ,
-195, ‘2011-02-24’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘Misery has been going back and forth between Great Race and Middle Rocks as of late. It was easy to see his return here yesterday and track his progress through the snow! His movement around the island left a long, winding, 139cm-wide icy path. The low friction of the snow aided his progress and he seemed to delight burrowing his trunk in the snow banks and cover him back with snow scooped up by his front flippers.’, ‘Ryan’, ’06:43:24 ,
-196, ‘2011-03-08’, ‘Other’, 14, ‘Harlequin Ducks have arrived at Race Rocks and are making good use of the fine weather this past week. Unfortunately, these shy birds have been scared away today by bomb blasts on Bentinck Island. Blasting by CFAD Rocky Point has been continuous today with the exception of a lunch break at noon. It is very disappointing that the 5-minute interval designed to minimize DND impact on the ecological reserve has not been observed. Most blasts come in clusters with ~2-minute intervals. The blasting occurring around the time of this report ~13:54 had ~1-minute intervals.’, ‘Ryan’, ’13:49:17 ,
-197, ‘2011-03-15’, ‘Other’, 80, ‘The gulls have arrived this week. The once silent days are now a cacophony of caws and screams and will continue so until the fall. The gulls are taking up nesting territories and perches around the island, however all had abandoned Great Race last night as the barometer dipped.’, ‘Ryan’, ’14:03:32 ,
-198, ‘2011-04-02’, ‘Other’, 2, ‘Birds of prey are a common sight these days. Photos of Red Tailed Hawks who have landed here show at least 2 different individuals this week. A juvenile vulture was also photographed. Spring must be here with these migrants ” arrival.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:22:32 ,
-199, ‘2011-04-09’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘A winter wren was observed near the Main Keeper ”s Residence. This species was noted in the fall but not seen for the last 4 months.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:55:54 ,
-200, ‘2011-04-23’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 2, ”, ‘Raisa’, ’10:21:29 ,
-201, ‘2011-04-23’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 7, ‘all females, Scarlet and another seen battling, raised up face to face and striking each other -mouth to chest).’, ‘Raisa’, ’10:22:27 ,
-202, ‘2011-04-23’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 2, ‘very large males, sharing Middle Rock with the other 3 species of pinnipeds.’, ‘Raisa’, ’10:22:53 ,
-203, ‘2011-05-02’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 10, ‘A number of northern sea lions and a few Californians are hauled out on Middle Rocks beneath the elephant seals. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’07:12:54 ,
-204, ‘2011-05-02’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 5, ‘Five or so female elephant seals are hauled out at the top of Middle Rock. They are staying well apart from the sea lions below.’, ‘Adam’, ’07:13:49 ,
-205, ‘2011-05-12’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘The Reserve has had the greatest abundance of Pelagic cormorants that I [Ryan] have seen in my 3 years here. The NW corner of Great Race is coated in guano and is a very different sight and smell! From 1/3 to 1/2 of the Pelagics are adult in beautiful breeding plumage. Adam and I have noted groups of 50 or more feeding in the channel between Great Race and Middle Rocks -photos on file). Abundance peaked early this week at ~120 individuals. There are a few Brandt ”s around and equal numbers of juvenile and adult Double-crested -~20). ‘, ‘Adam’, ’17:05:27 ,
-206, ‘2011-05-20’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘Ryan and I have spotted at least four oystercatcher nests on the rocky shoreline in the last few days. The total egg count between all nests is nine. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’07:49:31 ,
-207, ‘2011-06-01’, ‘Orca’, 6, ”, ‘Adam’, ’16:53:10 ,
-208, ‘2011-07-05’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 1, ”, ‘Adam’, ’16:58:11 ,
-209, ‘2011-07-05’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 3, ”, ‘Adam’, ’16:58:21 ,
-210, ‘2011-07-09’, ‘Orca’, 6, ‘A pod of around 6-8 orcas passed W to E through Rosedale Reef this morning.’, ‘Adam’, ’12:59:15 ,
-211, ‘2011-07-09’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 1, ”, ‘Adam’, ’18:53:11 ,
-212, ‘2011-07-09’, ‘Orca’, 8, ‘At 2025hrs PDT a pod of orcas was spotted heading E to W through Race Passage against the flood current. Seven eco-tour boats were in pursuit.’, ‘Adam’, ’20:28:24 ,
-213, ‘2011-07-11’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 1, ‘A CSL is hauled-up on the NE haul-out.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:31:51 ,
-214, ‘2011-07-11’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 3, ‘Misery, Junior and Oscar are all present on Great Race.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:32:09 ,
-215, ‘2011-08-07’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘A double-crested cormorant was spotted on the rocks on the east side of Great Race at 2040hrs PDT.’, ‘Adam’, ’20:41:14 ,
-216, ‘2011-08-09’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 7, ‘# of sealions at the NE haul out -first of a series of daily reports).’, ‘Adam’, ’08:19:50 ,
-217, ‘2011-08-08’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 1, ”, ‘Adam’, ’08:20:07 ,
-218, ‘2011-08-09’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘Saw an abalone for the first time in 3 years while on a dive today.’, ‘Adam’, ’17:19:29 ,
-219, ‘2011-08-11’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 14, ”, ‘Adam’, ’19:46:19 ,
-220, ‘2011-08-10’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 8, ”, ‘Adam’, ’09:17:49 ,
-221, ‘2011-08-14’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 35, ”, ‘Adam’, ’18:31:35 ,
-222, ‘2011-08-14’, ‘Orca’, 1, ‘A transient bull passed through Rosedale Reef this afternoon. I was informed by Straitwatch that 6 more transients passed by earlier.’, ‘Adam’, ’18:30:15 ,
-223, ‘2011-08-14’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 5, ”, ‘Adam’, ’18:32:07 ,
-224, ‘2011-08-22’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 103, ‘NE haulout – 63; East Bay – 36; South & West haulouts – 4’, ‘Adam’, ’08:02:50 ,
-225, ‘2011-08-22’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 67, ‘NE haulout – 35; East Bay – 1; South & west haulouts – 1; Middle Rock – 29; North Race – 1’, ‘Adam’, ’08:02:33 ,
-226, ‘2011-08-24’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 172, ‘NE haulout – 97; East Bay – 44; South Rocks – 8; S/W/NW Great Race – 30; Middle Island – 0’, ‘Adam’, ’08:19:09 ,
-227, ‘2011-08-24’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 95, ‘NE haulout – 34; Middle Island – 61’, ‘Adam’, ’08:19:41 ,
-228, ‘2011-08-29’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 128, ‘NE haulout – 189; South Rocks – 5; South and West Great Race – 34; Middle Rock – 0’, ‘Adam’, ’09:13:13 ,
-229, ‘2011-08-29’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 120, ‘NE haulout – 35; South Rocks – 0; South and West Great Race – 0; Middle Rocks – 85’, ‘Adam’, ’09:13:54 ,
-230, ‘2011-08-31’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘A female elephant hauled up on Great Race yesterday afternoon. Haven ”t had a chance to get an ID on it. Looks too small to be Bertha.’, ‘Adam’, ’08:20:15 ,
-231, ‘2011-08-31’, ‘Orca’, 1, ‘T31 was found to be feeding around the SW side of Great Race and over Rosedale in a strong ebb.’, ‘Adam’, ’11:11:32 ,
-232, ‘2011-09-03’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 164, ‘ -front lawn @ dawn)’, ‘Ryan’, ’06:32:30 ,
-233, ‘2011-09-03’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 27, ‘ -front lawn @ dawn)’, ‘Ryan’, ’06:32:42 ,
-235, ‘2011-09-04’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘A lone osprey visited the reserve today and was photographed from the lighthouse flying SE across Great Race.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:33:35 ,
-236, ‘2011-09-12’, ‘Other’, 1, ‘An immature brown pelican landed on Great Race today at sunset. It flew in from the East.’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:28:19 ,
-237, ‘2011-09-15’, ‘Other’, 0, ‘Sea lion populations have stabilized in terms of numbers. With just ~250 California ”s and ~150 Steller ”s. Ever since the earthquake on 09/09/11 -which was not felt by me here), the sea lions have moved up from “the arena ” and East bay on Great Race to surround three sides of the Keeper ”s residence. They have blocked 2 of 3 entrances! They can be shooed away, but return during the night. The cool winds and overcast days permit them to sleep comfortably during the day only to be particularly raucous during the night. The transition between Glaucous winged gulls and their winter replacements the Thayer ”s gulls has begun. Some Heerman ”s gulls are present now as well. It appears at least one oystercatcher clutch was successful as an adult pair and their two fledged chicks are still present on Great Race.’, ‘Ryan’, ’10:03:54 ,
-238, ‘2011-09-22’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 102, ‘With the heavy rain last night, most of the sea lions here at Race Rocks had already taken to the water by sunrise, so counts of hauled out animals during the day were ~50% of those hauled out at night.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:26:32 ,
-239, ‘2011-09-25’, ‘Other’, 3, ‘Another first for my stay here at Race Rocks. This evening a trio of Pelagic cormorants flew along the N side of Great Race. The first is that the third was miniature version of what I assume to be its parents. I have never seen a juvenile pelagic cormorant before!’, ‘Ryan’, ’18:23:22 ,
-240, ‘2011-09-26’, ‘Other’, 26, ‘The most black oystercatchers I ”ve seen this time of year.’, ‘Ryan’, ’12:03:36 ,
-241, ‘2011-09-26’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘Small female TOPP tag 6375 is hauled out at the jetty.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:41:39 ,
-242, ‘2011-09-27’, ‘California Sea Lion’, 87, ‘Most of the California sea lions cleared out this morning before I could get a proper count. LGL continues to monitor the DND blasting. Brand c867 is near the jetty this morning.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:56:09 ,
-243, ‘2011-10-04’, ‘Northern Sea Lion’, 129, ‘The nursing pup is still here and is very vocal for most of the day. It is surprisingly spritely given the ungainly proportions of its flippers!’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:01:59 ,
-244, ‘2011-10-17’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 5, ‘A new arrival TOPP#6375 was photographed on the S side of Great Race.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:36:43 ,
-245, ‘2011-10-20’, ‘Other’, 2, ‘Humpbacks passed South of Race Rocks today before 14:00.’, ‘Ryan’, ’14:05:29 ,
-246, ‘2011-11-16’, ‘Elephant Seal’, 1, ‘Hauled out near jetty around 17:00. Now near desal.’, ‘AlexF’, ’19:22:35 ;

— ——————————————————–

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— Table structure for table `marinelife`
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CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `marinelife` –
`day` date NOT NULL DEFAULT ‘1901-01-01′,
`time` time NOT NULL DEFAULT ’00:00:00′,
`notes` text NOT NULL,
`puser` varchar -32) NOT NULL DEFAULT ”,
`ptime` time NOT NULL DEFAULT ’00:00:00′,
PRIMARY KEY -`day`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;

—
— Dumping data for table `marinelife`
—

INSERT INTO `marinelife` -`day`, `time`, `notes`, `puser`, `ptime`) VALUES
-2002-08-14′, ’10:49:58’, ‘Most of the young gulls are flying now but still hesitant about landing in the water.They continue to have problems with safe landings but getting better, not so many fights today. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’10:50:39 ,
-2002-08-13′, ’10:54:49′, ‘The number of sea lions continues to increase,most seem to arrive in little groups during the night.This morning counted over 50 hauled out and several small groups floating about in the kelp. There were 6 Northern sea lions swimming along the south shore’, ‘Mike’, ’07:16:16 ,
-2002-08-22′, ’11:05:05′, ‘Happy to report, missing adult goose back with the group today, no signs of trauma and no clue to explain its absence. The geese arrived mid-morning and flew off again late afternoon. Saw a group of about 16 Canada Geese in the familiar V formation fly over.’, ‘Mike’, ’07:18:31 ,
-2002-08-11′, ’11:10:11′, ‘The geese: 1 adult and the 5 young, flew in late this morning and stayed around until about 16:00, then headed over towards Pedder Bay.They still come every day but there is really not much for them to eat, I expect they will eventually stop coming alto’, ‘Mike-Carol’, ’14:06:51 ,
-2002-08-09′, ’07:19:00′, ‘The Canadian Geese returned again today, still without the one adult. I first heard the one adult honking and then looked up to see the 6 geese near Mike and Carol”s home. Orcas may very well have gone by the reserve today, but with the fog followed by gl’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:54:55 ,
-2002-08-15′, ’22:10:27′, ‘MARINE LIFE: A few more sea lions arrived during the night, total count approx. 70 California and 11 Northern. The Californian branded # 62 spent most of the day hauled out on the end of the dock, a bit of a loner. At 09:20 a Coast Guard chopper landed on’, ‘Mike-Carol’, ’22:17:49 ,
-2002-06-28′, ’06:29:46′, ‘MARINE LIFE: Things are fairly quiet except for the occasional hunting attempt by an eagle that causes the birds to take flight to ward it off. The gulls incubating eggs seem to prefer the cooler weather and certainly look more comfortable than they do in’, ‘Mike’, ’06:31:03 ,
-2002-08-25′, ’23:03:47′, ‘Occasionally see adult gulls feeding young, young that are as big as the parent gulls! Still a good supply of food fish. The young gulls are very noisy off and on during the night but the noise on the roof has diminished considerably.Look forward to the cleansing rains of fall, really notice the smell of bird droppings after being in town for a few hours and then returning.’, ‘Mike and Carol’, ’23:04:14 ,
-2002-10-24′, ’23:34:55′, ‘MARINE LIFE: -Reported by Garry Fletcher) I had the opportunity to be at Race Rocks twice today. On first arriving at 11:45 AM it was obvious that the DND had been conducting their explosions on Bentick island. We have gotten used to the sealions building up their numbers over the past few weeks. The main island to the East of the House , and the whole northeast front have been covered with animals throughout the daytime. The major concentration however has been on the middle island, which if you have been checking on camera 1 these days has been covered with a mass of bodies. By 11:45 today most of these areas were bare.. only a few brave individuals had crawled back up on the rocks we will see tomorrow how many have returned, but if it follows the patterns of other years, their numbers will start to taper off if the harassment continues. This year the DND has decided to check out our allegations of harassment of these marine mammals. A contract has been let to the consultants of LGL to survey the effect of disturbances, so they have had observers in the tower on the two occasions of blasting this fall. Today the result was obvious. The irony does not escape one that this is an ecological reserve, an MPA and even that does not protect marine mammals in Canada.. For a video of the effect of a blast on the behaviours of the birds and mammals at Race Rocks, go to one I recorded on October 7 – its in the marine mammals archive at: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/archives/viddndblast.htm’, ‘Garry’, ’22:45:01 ,
-2002-03-01′, ’15:52:00′, ‘Bald eagles 3 mature and 2 immature on West Race and by the Helipad. I only saw 2 Canada geese so far today.’, ‘Chris Blondeau’, ’15:25:00 ,
-2002-10-07′, ’23:42:00′, ‘First day since the sealions have returned this fall that the DND has conducted Demolition exercises at Bentinck island video archive at http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/archives/viddndblast.htm’, ‘Garry’, ’23:43:54 ,
-2002-10-18′, ’00:01:11′, ‘Both species of Sea lions have been hauled out by the winch area for some time now. Camera 3 is in on a close up of them, from the winch house. They were around the divers today frequently. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’00:02:35 ,
-2002-11-10′, ’21:53:46′, ‘This morning after the students returned to Pearson College, Garry and Mark took out fourteen international visitors from a conference on Sea Ducks in Victoria. They were particularly impressed by the assortment of bird life on the way out, Belted Kingfishers, Great Blue Herons, Double- Crested Cormorants, and Bonaparte”s Gulls were common, Rhinocerous Auklets and a flock of , 6 Ancient Murrelets as well as several flocks of Marbled Murrelets -20+) were an added bonus. A few Western Grebes were also in the Pedder Bay region. Double Crested Cormorants, Western and Thayer”s gulls were the most common around Race Rocks, with a few juvenile Glaucous winged gulls mixed in. ‘, ‘Garry Fletcher’, ’22:05:42 ,
-2002-11-09′, ’13:16:00′, ‘Today the blasting is over. We will finish the footage and it will appear on the website in a few days. We have had some impressive looking swells crashing on the rocks today, and they have been disturbing the seabirds from their resting places. ‘, ‘Jeremias Rosie and Ahmad- Race R’, ’22:22:08 ,
-2002-11-08′, ’18:13:00′, ‘The storm has not yet materialised, but the blasting continues. Today the blasting is louder, and the seals and sea lions have already deserted their islet. If you want to see the blasting, you can track it on the remote control camera at racerocks.com. The first blast occurred at around 9.30 am and sent all the animals stampeding off their respective islets. We had a visit from some scientists who were studying the impact of the blasts. We conducted an interview which should hopefully be available with the rest of the footage on this website.We finished two of our video projects today, which only leaves one to complete.’, ‘RR Relief’, ’22:34:08 ,
-2002-11-07′, ’12:55:00′, ‘If you are checking out camera 1 or the remote camera today, you probably noticed that the middle island was full of sea lions this morning and was completely empty by noon. The Department of National Defence is doing their blasting exercises today again over at Bentinck Island . They will be doing the same tomorrow. A rather tragic occurance that happens every fall. Eventually the Northern Sea Lions and the Californian Sea Lions just move out of the Race Rocks area. There is a video on the marine mammals archive page that shows the effect of the Oct 7 blast. We have recorded todays events, -so far seven blasts) and will have it up in the archives also in a few days. In the meantime, look at the before and after pictures taken from the sitezap robotic camera just before and after noon today. This will appear in a file at http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/marmam/sealion/dndblastnov7.htm ‘, ‘Garry’, ’15:35:39 ,
-2002-10-13′, ’18:04:19′, ‘Orcas sighted about 14:00 to the northeast of Gr. Race, could be the same group seen yesterday morning along the south shore.’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:34:21 ,
-2002-03-02′, ’22:02:00′, ‘3 Bald Eagles – 1 mature’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:35:00 ,
-2002-08-04′, ’15:34:48′, ‘Heard a group of California sealions just after 2 a.m. this morning, three were hauled out on the southeast rocks until just after 7 a.m.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’15:35:26 ,
-2002-03-03′, ’18:12:00′, ‘4 bald eagles – 3 mature’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:40:18 ,
-2002-08-02′, ’15:43:47′, ‘The elephant seal hauled out on the boat ramp early this morning for a couple of hours then returned to the area near Middle Rock.The east bay was a favourite today with about 15 harbour seals and their pups. The mothers and pups that frequent the dock area did not show up until around noon, I think they avoid the elephant seals especially with the pups still quite small.\n’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’15:44:08 ,
-2002-03-04′, ’18:11:00′, ‘3 Bald Eagles – 2 immature. In pairs, the Black Oyster Catchers are spending most of the mornings along the shore adjacent to nesting areas on Gr. Race. The Glaucous-winged Gulls are visiting the nesting areas in the early morning, they are very noticeable by their vocalizing in contrast to the gulls that winter over which are very quiet.’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:45:20 ,
-2002-01-02′, ’15:45:15′, ‘It was sooo nice to see the sun after so many dark, windy days! It was such a pleasure to do the morning walk without getting chilled to the bone with the north wind and drenched in spray.We had 7 -2 mature) Bald Eagles and 1 immature Peregrine Falcon today.The Eagles spent several hours on the Southeast rocks then moved over to West Race.The crows and starlings were nowhere to be seen while the Peregrine Falcon was around but soon reappeared after it flew off towards the north.The gulls and cormorants seemed more alerted to the Falcon than the Eagles.The eagles are impressive in their size but the Falcon is incredibly fast.A group of 22 Black Oyster Catchers spent a good part of the day along the south shore of Gr. race. The 7 harlequins were also back today in the east bay.The big job tomorrow will be clearing the boat ramp of all the driftwood that has piled up over the past week. ‘, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:46:06 ,
-2002-03-05′, ’18:07:00′, ‘Mike gave me a lift over this morning to work on the data computer, I will be going back to “civilization?” at noon tomorrow. Students are all off on Project week this week so it is rather quiet around the campus. The pair of Black Oystercatchers was active here with their high pitched calls down by the docks this afternoon. One can hear them occasionally these days on cameras 1 and 3. I also noted an eagle perched on the subtidal island directly to the West this afternoon at low tide. You may often see an eagle along the island rock crests in presets 2 and 4 of ther remote camera if you pan along the cliff edge. I noted an absence of gulls this evening. They don”t stay around at night until they have established territories and taken up nesting. Go to the video archives for recent website additions: several new videos in the invertebrate section and a new Northern Sea Lion video.’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:49:12 ,
-2002-01-03′, ’15:48:41′, ‘Another red letter day,calm sea,blue sky and wonderful warm sunshine. There were 3 – 1 mature ) Bald Eagles today. Counted 18 Black Oyster Catchers and again 7 Harlequins – 4 Male ). There was a lot of feed in the water in the tide lines, 200-300 hundred metres off the reserve to the west and north,and into Pedder Bay.There must have been 2500 to 3000 sea birds feeding. The eagles were flying low just skimming the surface, talons outstretched as they hit the water.As the eagles circled,the other birds flew off and landed some distance away, except for about 7 or 8 gulls that tried to ”herd” the eagles away.Every once in a while the eagles would dive at the gulls, I think more out of frustration from the harassment then wanting to catch the gull- it was the fish they were after.It is so quiet with the light wind that we have heard Elephant Seals vocalizing tonight.’, ‘Mike or Carol’, ’15:49:37 ,
-2002-03-06′, ’18:22:00′, ‘5 Bald Eagles – 3 mature- arrived first light but left the area earlier than usual as the weather deteriorated.’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:55:30 ,
-2002-01-04′, ’15:57:46′, ‘From about 9:45 this morning until just after 2 pm there were thousands of sea birds feeding,a few small groups just inside the reserve around North Rocks,but mostly south and east of Gr. Race and Rosedale buoy.Guessing, but there must have been 4500-5000 Birds. Gulls,Cormorants,Common Murres and Bald Eagles were the obvious ones,unfortunately even with the telescope could not identify many other small dark plumaged birds.Once the feeding frency was over 6 of the 9 Bald Eagles left the area, 2 flew over to North Rocks and the 1 mature Eagle to visit today settled on the high point on the Southeast Rocks where he has stayed except for a couple of circles over several small groups of gulls. As it starts to get dark there are approx. 230 gulls,beaks into the 16 knt.North wind, along the North East ridge on Gr. Race -another 200 gulls along the Southwest shore.The Harbour seals have hauled out for the night on the ebbing tide,some singly but mostly in groups of 10-20.The Bald Eagle is still on the South East ridge. ‘, ‘Mike or Carol’, ’15:58:25 ,
-2001-12-24′, ’16:00:20′, ‘Yesterday Angus Mattews took Alan MacLeod, Andrew Harcombe, and Ron Satterfield out in the Pearson College boat, 2nd Nature for the annual Sooke Christmas bird count. The trip was postponed from the 22nd because of the 40knt. north winds. Following is a list of the birds seen between the Pearson College dock and Race Rocks- most of the sightings were in the area around Race Rocks. The highlight was the lone Iceland Gull, a very rare bird in this area! The first sighting of this bird for the trio of bird counters! Pacific Loon 14 Common Loon 1 Horned Greb 1 Double Crested Cormorant 80 Brandt”s Cormorant 60 Pelagic Cormorant 12 Harlequin Duck 2 Surf Scoter 30 Bufflehead 60 Hooded Merganser 5 Bald Eagle 4 adult,2 immature Black Oyster Catcher 16 Black Turnstone 6 Surfbird 6 Rock Sandpiper 9 Mew Gull 15 Herring Gull 8 Thayers Gull 530 Western Gull 1 Glaucous Winged Gull 720 Common Murre 40 Pigeon Guillemot 8 Marbled Murrelet 6 Belted Kingfisher 1 Eurasian Starling 8 Common Flicker 1 You may check out the file on the Christmas Count with pictures at: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/seabirds/xmascount/xmascount2001.htm Thank you Angus,Alan,Ron and Andrew, maybe it wasn”t blowing 40knots from the north but it was still a cold bumpy trip with 20 knots from the north east!’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’16:00:54 ,
-2002-01-05′, ’16:02:09′, ‘Most of the activity was in the air today starting quite early, just before 8 am with the arrival of 3 Bald Eagles.They settled on the ridge of the Southeast Rks. but after several flights over and around Gr. Race chose to settle on the high points of North Rks.The first arrivals were all immature and were soon joined by 12 more immatures and 4 matures. The Eagles were quite aggressivly hunting birds. One cormorant was separated, in flight by 2 pursuing eagles – immatures) and at the last minute dropped into the sea. One of the eagles gave up at that point but the other circled the cormorant, stretched out it”s talons, skimmed over the sea and just before contact the quick thinking? definitely lucky cormorant dove below the surface.With 19 eagles the rest of the birds were on alert all day.As soon as an eagle would take flight most of the gulls etc. would also take flight,when the eagled landed so did the other birds, and so it went until the last eagle left at 16:25. We did not see any birds caught,nor did we see any prey being eaten’, ‘Mike or Carol’, ’16:02:50 ,
-2002-08-08′, ’18:40:00′, ‘The gull chicks are growing rapidly, a lot of wing flapping, unfortuately getting airbourne has it”s risks.Several chicks have been blown into unfriendly territory ie- a neighbouring nest, been attacked and have died. Most of the wounds were around the head and neck. The chicks still unable to fly in any organized way, run but in a panic just get farther from the safety of their nesting area. The adults treat a chick from a neighbouring nest as they would any other threat to the safety of their own young, they chase and peck at it and of course the squawking attracks other gulls and so there is the helpless chick set upon by 20 or so adult gulls. Fortuately most of the time the chick is able to get to neutral territory and by trial and error make it”s way back to the relative safety of it”s own nesting area.Six of the geese were back this morning, one of the adults was missing – we know the missing one is an adult because the five young are still making the ”peeping” sounds and do not show the ”threat” behavior of neck waving and hissing. Just before 20:00 they flew off towards Pedder Bay, wonder what happened to the ”missing” goose? There was another group of California sealions in the area last night just after 2 a.m. – sounded like a larger group, maybe 15 or so judging from the barking\nwhich woke me up but this morning counted only 6 floating about in the kelp.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’16:06:22 ,
-2002-01-06′, ’16:06:28′, ‘ Another good day for watching eagles, 23 altogether – 5 mature ).They were spread out along the ridges of West Race, North Rks. and The Southeast Rks. At 9:15 one mature eagle caught a juvenile gull just over the northwest ridge above the boat house,unfortunately the gull which seemed lifeless dropped and landed in a pile of drift wood washing against the shore on the west side of the boat dock. A group of gulls hurried to the area but with the breaking waves and some fair sized logs crashing about, the gulls were unable to get at the dead bird.The weather started to worsen with winds picking up to 22-27knts. from the northeast, and by 12:50 in moderate rain showers all but 2 eagles left the area.The 2 remaining -immatures) left just before 13:30 ‘, ‘Mike or Carol’, ’16:07:22 ,
-2002-03-07′, ’18:43:00′, ‘1 lone mature Bald Eagle this morning but did not stay long. Seems the closer we get to the first day of spring the worse the weather.2 pair of geese today and the 2 bull Elephant seals are very vocal as they spend the night in the area around the boat ramp. We are used to the usual ”snorting” sounds but lately they have been letting out some great bellows which I have read can be heard up to a mile away. Certainly they are loud enough to wake us at 2 a.m.! ‘, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’16:08:39 ,
-2001-12-20′, ’16:58:23′, ‘With the relatively calm sea today the hauled out Sea Lions slept the time away.The most action came from a few Northern Sealions on Southeast Rks. that went into the water to investigate the Orcas that came in from the West at 1:20pm.There was one bull,3 that could be females or juveniles and one fairly small one.It was really hard to get a good look as they didn”t stay on the surface very long.The whales made their way along the south shore of Gr. Race then veered out towards the Rosedale light buoy where they spent until 3:40 swimming back and forth with frequent tail slapping,breaching and slapping of flippers. 200+ gulls and 30 or so Cormorants stayed with whales I would guess feeding on any scraps floating about on the surface.Since the Orcas stayed well off shore,were quite ”noisy” and did not seem interested in the seals and sealions my guess is that they were residents. The last we saw of them they were headed SW. ‘, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’16:08:56 ,
-2001-12-19′, ’17:21:00′, ‘The Sea Lions seen on cameras 1 and 2 show about 1/2 the population presently hauled out, the other half are spread out along the east and south shores of Gr. Race and on the Southeast Rks.There are quite a few young Northern Sea Lions this year maybe an indication of a healthy population growth? The Northern Sea Lions presently hauled out, out number the California Sea Lions approximately 8-1,there being approx. 325 Northern Sea Lions hauled out this afternoon. 5 immmature Bald Eagles visited the area today but stayed only 50 minutes,arriving and leaving within minutes of each other,three sat over on the southeast rocks and the other two on the highest point on West Race. Was nice to have a day with light winds and even enjoyed a few glimpses of the sun! ‘, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’16:11:17 ,
-2002-01-07′, ’16:10:30′, ‘The bull Elephant Seal is still hauling out on the rocks below the engine room and for a few hours, usually in the morning,floats leisurely along the shore, upright with his head and snout just above the surface. With the fairly light winds we are able to hear his distinctive ”bellow” mostly at night.Only one immature Bald Eagle visited today. The fog was very thick and right down to the water surface not the best hunting conditions. 22-24 Black Oyster Catchers arrived on Gr. Race about 11:00am, broke off into pairs and spent 1/2 hour or so in previous years nesting areas.Although they are the first of the birds to nest, January seems too early for serious courting and nest building even with the very mild temperatures!’, ‘Mike or Carol’, ’16:11:43 ,
-2002-04-01′, ’16:10:59′, ‘Good Evening TEMPERATURE: Max. 10.0 1?4C ?? Min. 5.9 1?4C ?? Reset 7.5 1?4C MARINE LIFE: 1 mature bald Eagle today. The geese are still here but I expect any day now they will move on in search of better nesting sites. The two elephant seals have inched their way up the ramp to within 8 inches of the boat house door and show no signs of leaving. Many of the gulls are spending all day in nesting areas and some are engaging in the preliminaries of early courtship-very entertaining to watch- much neck stretching and head bobbing.It can get quite noisy what with the gulls,Oyster Catchers and 7 crows all vocalizing at once when the eagle flies over head, even the geese get in the act. HUMAN INTERACTION: 2 Ecotour boats and 5 Pleasure Craft through the MPA today. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’16:11:44 ,
-2002-08-10′, ’18:31:00′, ‘ Middle rock is the favoured haul out spot for the 20 or so California sea lions now in the reserve, the fishing is good and have seen several good sized salmon caught. There is great activity as the sea lion shakes the fish back and forth at the water surface and the gulls rush over to pick up any bits that break away.Many of the gull chicks are able to fly but are still not following the adults out to sea to feed, they peck persistantly at the adult”s bill hoping for food and do eventually get some but the push is on for them to learn how to feed themselves.There are fewer Pigeon Guillemots coming ashore everyday now and the Black Oyster Catchers are away for long periods of time.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’16:12:31 ,
-2002-04-02′, ’16:13:49′, ‘Good Evening TEMPERATURE: Max. 10.1 1?4C ?? Min. 4.0 1?4C ?? Reset 7.7 1?4C MARINE LIFE: Not much activity this morning, the north wind was really cold but the afternoon sun was very therapeutic.While I was out picking a few greens the geese waddled over to see what I was up to, they are quite tame and a bit like puppies. As I worked my way along the garden they they kept up about a foot behind me.They enjoyed the carrots I threw on the grass and they spent an hour or so after I went inside, up in the garden scratching about for more. The small pond was popular this afternoon with the gulls and crows. The geese tried to join the gulls in the pond but the gulls squawked and took off , the geese happily shared with the crows and starlings About 14:00 a Blue Heron flew over from Pedder Bay and sat majestically on the east ridge of Gr. Race and is still there as the sun sets. HUMAN INTERACTION: 2 Ecotour boats and 2 College boats this afternoon with students for a dive with Chris and filming with Garry. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’16:14:29 ,
-2002-01-08′, ’16:16:08′, ‘The Bald Eagles started to arrive early in groups of 2 and 3 and by 8:30 there were 8 – 1 mature ) sitting shoulder to shoulder along the ridge by the chopper pad.They were holding their wings at about a 45 degree angle as if to dry off.By 9am there were 17 eagles -4 mature- mostly on the southeast Rks. At 11:30 I noticed quite a number of birds flying around the Rosedale buoy,with the telescope we could see thousands of birds feeding in the tide line.There must be a lot of fish as the birds were active all afternoon. ‘, ‘Mike or Carol’, ’16:16:49 ,
-2001-12-16′, ’00:00:22′, ‘4 Bald Eagles visited the Reserve today,3 immatures and one mature.The first one -mature) arrived just after 9:30 this morning with it”s breakfast-an unidentified fish -grasped in it”s talons. The big bird set down on the NW bluff just above the boat house to eat. As the eagle tore off pieces of fish the 5 crows danced around it, wary, but anxious to get any bits that scattered.After only 5 or 6 minutes the eagle flew off leaving the crows to scour the rocks for any scraps however tiny! I did not see anything that would have scared the eagle,certainly not the crows! Just after 10 a.m. a lone California Sea Lion came ashore just east of the boat dock and proceeded to lumber across the island stopping every 3 metres or so to roll and rub on the grass.The reason we took note of the poor fellow is that he has a terrible scar around his neck -garbage in the sea or maybe some type of discarded fishing gear.Sea Lions with this type of wound, unfortunately are not that rare.We could not get close enough to see if it was just a scar or whether something was still in the wound.About noon 3 immature Bald Eagles landed on the ridge of West Race.They sat there for about 10 minutes until a boat approached -divers) and they flew over to N Rocks.After 1/2 hour or so they flew over to SE rocks where they stayed except for a couple of flights around the islands, unsuccessful attempts at getting a bird dinner.Two of these birds looked somewhat bedraggled with the mottled appearance of the head and tail feathers.The distinctive white plumage gradually appears with each molt over 4 or 5 years. Just before 1:30 I noticed two Orcas northeast of North Rks. They were being followed by several groups of Sea Lions at about 100 metres. The whales surfaced 4 or 5 times as they made their way south just at the edge of the east side kelp bed.The last we saw they were in front of the engine room 200-300 metres off shore.As we watched for the whales to come back a 3-4 metre bull Elephant Seal drifted by and came into the small east bay.I did get some video as he floated around with just his head and unmistakable nose above the surface.He stayed in the bay only 12-15 minutes,arched his back,flared his great nostrils,dove into a wave and was gone! We often hear the elephant Seals vocalizing at night, it sounds like a calf bellowing in a tin can, but not lately, and from the sound of the roaring 45+ knt. not tonight either!’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’16:17:46 ,
-2001-12-15′, ’15:25:30′, ‘It was nice to be able to hear the sea lions growling and barking again. Looks like we may be in for another stormy night judging from the swell that is starting to come in from the south east.Some of the Sea Lions on the east ridge are jumping into the water as the 3-4metre waves break over them while others are moving down the west side of the ridge to join a group of 14 California sea lions and the 2 Elephant Seals that have been hauled out all day.The Harbour seals are hauling out as the tide ebbs and unless disturbed will stay ”high and dry” until the tide comes in again. –Today is the first day we have seen the large male elephant seal back on middle rock – – see camera1- note added by Garry) ‘, ‘Mike or Carol’, ’15:26:35 ,
-2002-03-08′, ’18:07:00′, ‘2 mature Bald Eagles arrived a little after 10 a.m. and left 11:45- don”t think they like the weather any more than we do! 2 pair of Geese today, they spent most of the time down by the desalination plant building and there are now 2 bull Elephant Seals hauling out on the boat ramp-Mike paced out the bigger one to just over 5 m long.Feel sorry for the birds with this unseasonable weather , hope it does not last as the rubarb has started to leaf up nicely’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:47:47 ,
-2002-03-09′, ’18:14:00′, ‘4 Bald Eagles – 3 mature,still 2 pair Canada Geese. The gulls and Black Oyster catchers arrive noisily soon after daybreak and spend a good part of the day in and around the nesting areas; the Oyster Catchers foraging along the shoreline call out to each and often form a group of 22-24 birds then fly around the island several times before pairing off again to search for food.There are now 3 Elephant seals hauled out on the boat ramp, the 2 bulls and 1 smaller one about 11/2 metres long juvenile,they are very noisy especially from 1-3 a.m.’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:51:43 ,
-2002-03-10′, ’15:55:40′, ‘1 immature Bald Eagle today and only 1 pair of Geese.A very interesting morning! Although it is a policy not to interfere with the wildlife, today we did step in and avert what we thought would have been death to a small Elephant Seal. There was a great ruckus out in front of the boat house,looking out I could see the largest Elephant Seal moving the upper part of his body back and forth with what seemed determined force. Since I could see him only when he reared up, had to go out to see what all the fuss was about.At first it appeared we were witnessing an amourous encounter ! however it did not take long to realize such was not the case. This great creature had the smallest elephant seal pinned down on the concret against the step and was pummeling it for all it”s worth totally unconcerned with it”s squeals and efforts to get away. Our first instinct was to jump up and down, wave and shout, which we did, unfortuately and somewhat predictably all we managed to do was further antagonize the big fellow and he lunged towards us, luckily we ”encouraged” him to back off by waving a couple of towels from the tank room as close to his head as we dared.I”m sure I read more into the relief that seemed to show in the big watery eyes of the now rescued seal but it moved toward us and we were able to inspect the bloody scrapes which looked superficial, I was more concerned that there might be internal injuries.We kept an eye on the little fellow and by nightfall it had moved up to the grass just below the front porch. I would have let it in the basement to re-couperate…but that would be rediculous… right.’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:56:14 ,
-2002-04-11′, ’17:59:00′, ‘4 Bald Eagles – 1 immature; 1 pair of Geese today. We now have 4 Elephant Seals on Gr. Race, two bulls, 1 fair sized female and the small juvenile from the ”incident” yesterday. The 2 bulls and the juvenile are stretched out on the grass between the winch house and our front porch.The juvenile seems non the worse for violent encounter yesterday but has stayed close to the house.In the 13 years that we have been here we have often had elephant seals haul out on the boat ramp and even as far as the grass around the houses but they were always the smaller juveniles up to 2 metres.’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:59:48 ,
-2002-03-12′, ’18:07:00′, ‘2 Bald Eagles – 1 mature, 2 pair of Geese. The largest bull elephant seal and the juvenile spent the day on the grass in front of the house, the large bull did make one trip to the ramp and back but the juvenile was quite still except for the occasional stretch and yawn.’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’16:05:41 ,
-2002-11-29′, ’18:00:00′, ‘The number of Sea Lions hauled out is still low for this time of year, counted 310 with the majority on the Middle rock. The group seen in Camera #3 by the winch house and along the dock are quite calm as we move in the area as long as we move slowly.The bird population is down considerably I expect they have followed the food- see only the occasional small fish ball.There were 2 juvenile Bald Eagles on West Race for a couple of hours in the morning, no hunting activity observed. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’13:59:40 ,
-2002-12-01′, ’17:30:00′, ‘3 juvenile Bald Eagles seen along the top ridge of West Race,also about 60 Cormorants and various Gulls. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’14:13:37 ,
-2002-12-04′, ’17:30:00′, ‘ Juvenile Elephant Seal has hauled out on the boat ramp and as usual with these mammals is not bothered by our presence’, ‘Mike’, ’14:18:12 ,
-2002-12-15′, ’20:30:00′, ‘ In the morning there were 120 Northern Sea Lions hauled out on Gr. Race, mostly along the east ridge and another 65 on the southeast rocks.Scattered among them were about 30 Californias.Another 15 California Sea Lions lined the dock. Middle rock was quite populated with another 200 or so Sea Lions mostly Northern, and one very large Elephant Seal. As the swells started to build around 14:00 from the weather system moving in from the east some sea lions moved farther in shore but as the winds picked up over 40 knts. the swells were breaking over them and all but 6 Californias took to the sea. The animals on the dock were repeatedly washed into the water by the 2-3 metre waves and finally gave up the struggle.By 15:00 no animals were left on the rocks and could see many groups seemingly enjoying diving into and ”riding”the swells. ‘, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:24:58 ,
-2003-01-01′, ’18:00:00′, ‘ A blustery beginning to the new year! although the winds were not as fierce as reported east of us the sea swells along with the very high tides made it hard for the Sea Lions to haul out on the rocks. Most of the Californias preferred to ”raft” about in the relative calm on the west side of Gr. Race while the Northern Sea Lions swam about in fairly large groups.We could hear rocks grinding as the swells roared into the boat landing and at one point one of the Harbour seals was caught between the shore and the boiling mass of logs and driftwood, it tried several times to get into the deeper water but was tossed back and forth and was really close to being badly hurt or killed by a huge log. Finally the seal gave up trying to enter the water and made the arduous trip across the island to where it could dive into deep water. We counted over 3500 gulls,Mews,Thayer”s,Glaucous-winged and a few Western and Herring on Gr.Race, they spent most of the day crouched low to the ground facing into the wind. Counted 33 Black Oyster Catchers,6 together tucked in behind some large boulders near the north shore with the rest bunched together in the lee by the west side of the engine room. Every once in a while a huge swell sent spray across the sitting birds and most of them would take flight en masse then settle back down.’, ‘mike’, ’01:14:52 ,
-2003-01-02′, ’18:30:00′, ‘Another day of rough seas and extremly high tides. A large elephant seal came ashore this morning on the boat ramp but did not stay long as the swells were tossing 5-10 lb rocks almost to the door of the boat house, a dangerous place to stretch out for a nap. The Elephant Seal has been spending part of the night near the dock the past week and vocalizing quite a bit. There is a Northern Sea Lion hauled out about 3 metres from the front porch, he looks a little thin and has several small wounds on his head,he spent the whole day there, hardly moving at all.Island ”covered” in gulls again today a lot of them left after 13:00 as the winds let up and the sea conditions improved, out searching for food I expect.’, ‘mike’, ’01:37:57 ,
-2003-01-03′, ’18:30:00′, ‘The wind and rain are typical weather for January but the thunder and lightening that went on for about 3 hours beginning near midnight was a bonus! Today the swells were not so big and the huge Elephant Seal spent most of the day floating about by the dock, he hauled out on the ramp for about 4 hours and is now back in the water snorting and bellowing. The Northern Sea Lion hauled out by the porch has not moved very much all day. Hear the Black Oyster Catchers vocalizing in the dark while they are feeding, this time of the year the tides are low enough to expose their food source only at night.There were about 80 Cormorants in the reserve today, most along the ridges of West Race and North Rocks. The number of gulls down to about 800 on the land.’, ‘Mike’, ’01:04:27 ,
-2003-01-04′, ’16:50:19′, ‘Middle Rock has the biggest population about 270 Sea Lions,mostly Northern.The westerly picked up in the forenoon and before long the swells were breaking over onto the animals- so much for sleeping and soaking up the sun.Another group is hauled out on the western slope of the southeast rocks about 85 animals, the majority are quite young judging from their size.The Sea Lion hauled out on the grass by the house left during the night and cannot identify it in any of the groups hauled out nearby. There is a group of 18 California Sea lions just below the light tower. The elephant seal spends a lot of the day floating about close to shore and periodically hauls out on the boat ramp for an hour or so. With the 30+ westerly most of the birds are fairly inactive, hunkered down, facing into the wind. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’17:19:50 ,
-2003-01-05′, ’17:21:45′, ‘With the relitively light NE winds the birds were very active- feeding in the tide lines some distance from the reserve.There were 3 Bald Eagles -1 Mature) in the reserve today. 7 Harlequin Ducks – 4 male )and one Heron’, ‘Mike’, ’17:27:50 ,
-2003-01-06′, ’18:44:02′, ‘ 9 -5 immature) Bald Eagles spent most of the day in the reserve actively hunting,did see two gulls taken just to the east of Gr. Race. The birds were alerted all day as the eagles made many flights back and forth between West Race and the Southeast rocks. Heard the Oyster Catchers again after dark as they foraged along the shore areas exposed by the lower tides. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’18:55:43 ,
-2002-06-25′, ’18:01:00′, ‘Mature bald eagle made one flight just after 6 this morning but was driven out by the gulls and all was quiet until a juvenile eagle arrived approx. 16:00. The gulls were quickly in the air and the young eagle gave up rather easily and headed off towards Bentinck Island.Just at suset a lone adult bald eagle flew low over the water by West Race but the gulls spotted the big bird and headed it off before reaching Gr. Race. It really is amazing how the gulls work together to chase pedators away. One of the large Elephant Seals spent several hours floating with his head just above the water near the east tip of Middle Rock.In the late afternoon there was a fair size fish ball near the kelp bed south of Gr. Race, the birds had a good feed.The sports fishers talking on the VHF radios are reporting a lot of bait fish so hope it”s a good supply for the nesters and their young this year.’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’16:19:41 ,
-2002-06-24′, ’19:08:00′, ‘ Again today only one bald eagle which flew over just after 9 a.m., no birds were taken.The Eagle was gone by 9:30 so the resident bird population was fairly quiet until The Oyster Catchers did their evening flight, dipping and diving along the shoreline calling out with their distinctive high pitched cheeps.Often hear them at night especially when the moon is bright, it”s a cheerful sound but wonder what they are up to in the dark.’, ‘Carol and Mike S’, ’16:24:18 ,
-2002-06-23′, ’18:19:00′, ‘ Lone mature bald eagle made several unsuccessful hunts over Gr. Race finally giving up and flying over towards Whirl Bay just after 15:00, the birds were unsettled for several hours.The goslings are growing fast and are about 3/4 the size of the adults with the most noticable increase in their wings which they ”exercise” frequently-I think I know where the expression ”silly as a goose” comes from- balance is everything!\n’, ‘Carol and Mike S’, ’16:29:38 ,
-2003-01-08′, ’18:15:00′, ‘ Very few gulls on land again today except for about 200 in front of the Science/learning Centre. There were several large gatherings about 1/2 mile southeast in the afternoon but none of the birds returned to the Island for the night. There were 13 -5 mature) Bald Eagles today and saw 3 gulls taken. One gull taken by an immature eagle dropped into the sea and was swiftly retrieved by one of the mature eagles which was then unsucessfully pursued by 3 immatures.Another day of soaking up the sun for the hauled out Sea Lions. The Elephant Seal spent some time leisurely floating in the east bay and along the south shore below the engineroom but did not haul out on Gr. Race.’, ”, ’18:41:33 ,
-2003-01-07′, ’17:57:53′, ‘ The number of gulls is down drastically while the Bald Eagle count is up to 11 – 4 mature ). The eagles are very aggressive and the constant harassment of the birds seems to have driven them away. Saw 4 gulls taken today, three by immature eagles that actually shared the ”meal”’, ‘Mike’, ’18:43:48 ,
-2003-01-09′, ’18:30:00′, ‘1 small Elephant Seal is hauled out halfway down the western slope of the largest of the southeast rocks. Also there is a rather thin looking Northern Sea Lion that could be the one with the head wounds that spent several days hauled out by himself near the house, just too far away to get a good look. Quite a lot of bird feeding activity again near the Rosedale buoy and to the east however the 7 -3 mature) Bald Eagles kept the birds alerted all day.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:43:17 ,
-2003-01-10′, ’18:30:00′, ‘6 immature, 5 mature Bald Eagles ”hunted” from the southeast rocks all day- saw one gull taken and other carcasses being eaten.There were many attempts to steal another”s catch, Eagles can be very patient but also very aggressive and the more experienced adults usually come out the winners against the immatures unless they work in pairs or as a group- survival of the fittest for sure! The Juvenile Elephant Seal and the lone Northern Sea Lion are still hauled out on the west slope of the southeat rocks.’, ‘Mike’, ’01:08:31 ,
-2003-01-11′, ’18:30:00′, ‘Not a great day for the birds, with the unrelenting cold NE wind of 20+ knts and the ever present hungry Eagles they must have used up a lot of energy trying to keep warm and out of the Eagles grasp.There were 5 mature and 6 immature in the area all day. There was a group of about 8 California sealions”rafting” about just off shore below the engineroom, most likely warmer in the water than out in the wind.’, ‘Mike’, ’01:23:31 ,
-2003-01-12′, ’18:30:00′, ‘ There were about 170 sealions hauled out on Middle Rock and another 85-90 on the smaller rock to the east.There were 11 mature and 10 immature Bald Eagles in the area for most of the day. They hunted back and forth between Gr. Race and West Race and didn”t leave until just before dark.The gulls seem to be the favourite targets as the diving sea birds have an obvious advantage. The cormorants on the rocks will move from rock to rock but for the most part take to the sea as the eagles fly near.There were 3 pair Harlequin Ducks along the north shore of Gr. Race all day.’, ‘Mike’, ’01:39:05 ,
-2003-01-13′, ’00:52:01′, ‘A very quiet day, the 11 Bald Eagles -6 mature) that spent the day made very few hunting trips across the islands, perhaps the small number of gulls in the area was a factor.The juvenile elephant and the skinny looking Northern Sea Lion have left the haul out on the slope of the southeast rocks. There is a wide range in size in the Northern Sealion population hauled out just now -quite a few in fact in the 300/500 lbs., about 1/4 seem to be the really mature fellows some as big as 2000lbs. Usually there are mostly males but some of the smaller animals look very much like the females which appear more cylindrical in shape and colour more uniformly brown.Very easy to tell the Northern Sea Lions even at night by their growling which they seem to do a lot of as they tend to feed at night.The Califonia Sea Lions sound like a pack of large dogs. Mostly what we hear these nights are the Northern Sea Lions and the snorting, bellowing Elephant Seals. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’01:27:53 ,
-2003-01-14′, ’00:50:59′, ‘Very calm most of the day, the Harbour Seals were content to haul out and sleep in the sunshine. The large Elephant Seal floated along the south shore of Gr. Race until near noon then hauled out on the rocks just below the fog horn tower where he remained the rest of the day. Now that the tide is relativly low during daylight we are able to enjoy watching the Black Oyster Catchers forage along the shore. There were only 9 -5 mature) Bald Eagles,really expected more with such good weather.Did not see any birds caught and actually the Eagles spent most of the time just sitting along the highest rock ridges with only the ocassional flight around the islands. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’01:09:27 ,
-2003-01-16′, ’01:35:04′, ‘There were 8 -2 mature) Bald eagles today,and as they flew around the area the cormorants were kept on the go, some taking to the sea while others in groups of 20 or more set down on other rocks.The large Elephant Seal continues to spend the night and early morning floating around Gr. Race then hauling out for the rest of the day, lately on the south side below the engineroom. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’01:45:31 ,
-2003-01-17′, ’00:11:36′, ‘A nice bright day even with the chilly NE wind,surprised that there were only 5 -2 mature) Bald Eagles today. The small but noisy group of California Sealions that arrived during the predawn quiet, hauled out along the north shore of Gr Race and spent most of the day sleeping. They were somewhat wary of any activity so everyone stayed well away from them.I”ts nice to hear them although they do wake us up with their ”barking” so close to the house.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:22:24 ,
-2003-01-19′, ’00:40:42′, ‘We have a very disturbing and sad situation here with one of the Elephant Seals. In the late morning an elephant seal hauled out by the boat house, it was immediately apparent that this poor animal has had a run in with a boat prop. There are several deep gashes in the forhead just above his eyes. One eye is very bloodshot and the other eye seems to be getting red. There are other wounds or slashes from the head down to below the front flippers. The wounds are curved slices like a series of long parallel ”S”es on both sides.The deepest gashes are on the head and right side cheek area. We checked on him all during the day, just before dark he moved into the water. The other much larger elephant seal is still around and happy to say he has no marks on him. He has hung around by the dock all afternoon and at times quite loud. I do wonder if there is any communication between these two great creatures. They are really quite placid most of the time and we can get as close as a foot if we approach from the front. Hopefully the one fellow”s wounds are not fatal. People must take extra care moving boats through the area to avoid hitting seals and sealions and causing what must be very painful injuries. See http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/archives/vidinjureseal.htm for a video of the elephant seal…..There were 6 -2 mature) Bald Eagles today and although they kept the birds on the move did not see any kills.’, ‘Mike’, ’11:28:16 ,
-2003-01-20′, ’23:37:11′, ‘A grey overcast day but fairly light winds. The Harlequins were around most of the day also 12 Bald Eagles – saw one large Cod carcass being picked over,most likely discarded by a seal or possibly a passing fishboat.No sightings of the injured Elephant Seal but the big fellow was bobbing about by the dock most of the morning then around Gr. Race. A lot of bird activity with the eagles hunting as usual.Second Nature in this afternoon – Chris and students for a dive. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’23:45:55 ,
-2003-01-18′, ’01:46:29′, ‘A chilly NE wind this morning but by 13:00 it was almost spring like. There were 5 -1 mature) Bald Eagles in the reserve today. Didn”t see any birds taken but one juvenile eagle came up lucky with a fish about 30 cms just off the southeast rocks. Immediately the other 3 juveniles took flight and followed the one with the fish.The successful ”hunter” tried to land off by it”self but they were right on it”s tail and after several circles around the rocks they all landed, the one with the fish ”threatened” with thrusts of it”s head and beak getting the others to back off at least 3 feet or so. Now the problem is to eat the fish while keeping the others at bay! With wings spread and frequent thrusts of it”s head towards the hopeful on-lookers the lucky diner ate it”s fill then flew off,immediately the others moved in to scrape up any leftovers. The Elephant Seal floated leisurely in the dock area all morning and infact we had to wait around for nearly half an hour for him to move away so we could launch the boat for a quick trip to Pedder Bay – fresh veggies and mail!) He was very vocal last night, maybe he liked the company of the 8 noisy California Sealions hauled out by the winch house.The day was capped off with a very colourful Juan de Fuca sunset that turned the calm sea orange and yellow and the Olympic Mountain peaks pink. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’02:07:34 ,
-2003-01-21′, ’00:29:08′, ‘Wet and windy was the order of the day.The Large Elephant Seal continues to spend a good deal of the day bobbing about in the dock area. The Eagles 5 -2 mature) were somewhat bedraggled looking and had to work hard to maintain their balance at times in the wind,they prefer the highest points to sit on and so are exposed to all weather.One Mature dropped a fish carcass near the boat house which quickly drew a crowd of young gulls. The gulls spent most of the afternoon taking turns picking out the bits and pieces. The Geese are still here most days,occasionally the 7th flies in for a few hours but for some reason doesn’t stay.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:42:08 ,
-2003-01-22′, ’00:23:28′, ‘Not too surprising what with the horizontal rain whipped along by the northeastly wind of 25+ only 3 Bald Eagles today and they did not stay very long. Most of the Sealions preferred the water to the wave swept rocks.The big Elephant Seal spends a good deal of the day in the dock area vocalizing often enough to let us know he”s still here,when he really bellows he is loud enough we can hear him over the roar of the wind and the sea!’, ‘Mike’, ’00:33:31 ;
-2003-01-23′, ’23:58:42′, ‘There were 7 Eagles -2 mature) first thing this morning and they did seem to be getting the odd herring. The large Elephant Seal continues to circle Gr. Race all day and all night.As for the wounded fellow there have not be any sightings today.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:04:53 ,
-2003-01-24′, ’00:22:13′, ‘By 13:00 there were 42 -23 mature) Bald Eagles in the reserve, most of the action was in the southeast rocks area.Did see many fish caught and judging by the thousands of gulls and sea birds feeding there must be a lot of fish around. Later in the afternoon most of the eagles moved over to West Race- Second Nature came out intending to dive West Race but not wanting to disturb the Eagles dove off the southwest corner of Gr. Race’, ‘Mike’, ’00:29:01 ,
-2003-01-25′, ’01:25:59′, ‘Only 7 Bald Eagles today, but the morning started out very foggy and did not really clear off until near noon.The large Elephant Seal continues to spend his time floating here and there around Gr.Race We keep track of him by his ”snorting” which can be quite loud and heard over a fair distance.’, ‘Mike’, ’01:32:52 ,
-2003-01-26′, ’01:34:43′, ‘ Saw just 3 Bald Eagles today,most of the gulls have moved on and the ones still here spent most of the day hunched down out of the wind. With winds out of the west 25-35 knts and high tide the Sealions hauling out on the rocks was not an option until near noon. The Elephant Seal hauled out on the boat ramp out of the wind and spent the day,not always quietly soaking up a little sun.’, ‘Mike’, ’01:45:58 ,
-2003-01-27′, ’23:45:37′, ‘7 -3 mature) Eagles arrived early a.m. but as the swells continued to build and break against the rocks they seemed to get tired of the cold salty showers and left the area.The weather improved in the afternoon and by 13:30 there were 17 -8 mature) Bald Eagles.The Elephant Seal continues to spend his time either hauled out on the boat ramp or floating about on either side of the dock.Although it seems too early the Oyster Catchers were engaged in some preliminary courtship displays.The usual 6 geese are now 8! the 2 are obviously a pair and don”t like the others following them,well actually 1 of the pair doesn’t like the company and will lower it”s head,wave it back and forth as it runs towards the group.As the others back off the 2 ”pair up” again.This little drama is played out many times as they all travel the island feeding on the grass which thanks to the rain and mild temperatures is lush and growing.There are about 185 Northern Sealions hauled out mostly on the 2 middle rocks. The group hauled out on the southeast rocks number about 40 with only 6 very large fellows.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:36:06 ,
-2003-01-29′, ’00:18:21′, ’11 Bald Eagles arrived in the area just after 7:30, first landing on West Race then over to the rocks to the southeast of Gr. race. There has been some sea bird feeding activity the last week or so about 1/2 to a mile south and east of the reserve boundries.Although most of the action is on the water there are always eagles slowly circling 1-2 hundred feet overhead.Sometimes the eagle will gradually circle down over the water, fly close to the surface, a slight touch to the sea and rise up with a fish. Others seem to have a more direct approach, they circle above for a bit then make a deep,quick desent, make contact with the water and fly off with a fish tightly clutched in it”s talons. Usually they land on the southeast rocks to feed.Sometimes the envious on lookers get too close and the feeding eagle will fly to another ridge to complete it”s meal.The Elephant Seal continues to divde his time between the boat ramp and the water by the dock.There were 4 pair Harlequin Ducks and a group of Surf Scoters out front all day,also the 8 geese and 1 Blue Heron in the East Bay. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’00:38:32 ,
-2003-01-30′, ’00:41:12′, ‘Sounds at night besides the roaring wind are the Oyster Catchers, the Elephant Seal and the low growling of the Northern Sealions.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:43:44 ,
-0000-00-00′, ’00:29:14′, ‘A lot of activity on the water today with birds feeding in the small but numerous herring balls. Amazing to watch the Bald Eagles scoop up fish in the twirling mass of sea birds and in a 2/3foot choppy sea.There were 17 -12 mature) Eagles until the fish balls petered out about 15:30 then all but 5 flew off towards Whirl Bay and Bentinck Island. The Elephant Seal hauled out on the boat ramp just after 16:00 for about an hour then went back into the water,can hear him peiodically snorting out by the winch house.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:45:57 ,
-2001-10-22′, ’15:54:59′, ‘The poor quality video from camera#1 and especially #3 is because of the sheets of rain driven by the 45-50knt. winds we are enjoying at this time! The visibility is very poor but looks like all but 8 or 9 sea lions have moved into the water, the aprox. 300 gulls are all huddled together in small groups facing into the westerly.13 Black Oyster Catchers are together in a small depression on the east side of Gr. Race in the shelter of the house. posted by Carol or Mike S at 3:48 Pm’, ‘Mike or Carol’, ’15:55:44 ,
-2001-11-01′, ’16:02:27′, ‘ Fishing was good for the birds and sea lions today! Just after 10a.m. the sky was filled with hundreds and hundreds of sea birds,gulls,cormorants and common murres streaming across the islands southward to a tideline about 1/2 km. away.Looking with the telescope I estimated 3500-4000 sea birds feeding—-by 13:30 most had dispersed. In a space of three hours we saw 5 Steller -northern)sea lions catch salmon –that looked to be 5-8lbs) in the kelp bed between North Rocks and Gr. Race. The birds,especially gulls rush over to get any bits of fish that break away as the sea lion thrashes the fish back and forth at the surface.The two juvenile elephant seals that were hauled out in the little bay with a group of about 20 harbour seals, swam out into the large kelp bed along the east side of Gr. Race just before 14:00 and had not returned before dark.Have not seen the large bull elephant seal that spends a good portion of the year stretched out atop West Rock.Did a boat tour around all the islands today and counted 97 California and 27 Steller sea lions. Also counted over 800 Cormorants’, ‘Mike orCarol’, ’16:03:14 ,
-2001-11-02′, ’16:05:30′, ‘ The birds continue to feed in in large numbers but impossible to count because of the glare on the sea.It was also impossible to positively identify a whale that looked like a 18-20” Minke Whale even with the telescope, because of the glare and distance.2 of the 4 Northern Elephant Seals regularly hauling out in various areas of Gr. Race spent several hours on the boat ramp enjoying the sun. HUMAN INTERACTION: There were 5 tour boats and one pleasure craft -4 metre sailboat) in the M.P.A. today.’, ‘Mike or Carol’, ’16:06:11 ,
-2001-11-05′, ’16:12:33′, ‘PC STUDENTS: Project week students –Well we are just finishing our second day here at Racerocks. Today Sarah and I seeded some grass in the fissures of the newly restored rock. Along with Salla we ventured to the top of the lighthouse. The view is spectacular! The high light of our day was a poignant video captured by Kiprop of a sea lion sneezing. We vacuumed the tank, and we all learned to syphon, valuable skill. It was a fantastic day out today, which culminated in a great pizza. We will attept to rise for 7:30am in order to do the morning recordings. We have decided today to make a video, entitled “How to survive on racerocks, for dummies.” We will start production tomorrow. Goodnight! posted by HANNAH McKinnon at 7:21 PM\n \n-PC STUDENTS: Project Week students-On Sunday, five students from Lester Pearson College, Salla from Finland, Sarah from Saskatchewan, Hannah from Manitoba, Muyad from Palestine and Kiprop from Kenya moved out to stay at Race Rocks in the Marine Science Centre for the week. They have a number of projects they are doing while there so they will be commenting on what is happening on this log over the next few days’, ‘Garry+Hannah’, ’16:14:00 ,
-2001-11-07′, ’16:18:59′, ‘ Five Harlequin Ducks have arrived back for the winter. We were filming them as they patrolled through the kelp beds around the edge of Great Race Rocks.Over 150 Northern Sea Lions were on Middle Rocks in the mid afternoon, another 15 on North Rocks. Harbour seals are scattered in several little pockets an various islands usually no more than 8 in one area. Many of the Californian Sea Lions have moved to the rocky beach just South of the Tower. I also saw for the first time this fall, the flock of 20 Black Oyster Catchers high on the Rocky shore, to the sw of the engine room. ‘, ‘Garry+Kiprop’, ’16:19:55 ,
-2003-02-05′, ’00:34:03′, ’13 Bald Eagles -9 mature) today, kept the birds on the alert but did not see any kills. The young Elephant Seal seems settled in for an extended stay in front of the boat house and except for rolling from one side to the other a couple of times has not moved much.Unlike the big males this juvenile ”growls” if anyone approaches within 8-10 feet,we keep our distance anyway, don”t want to add stress to an already stressed animal.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:43:08 ,
-2003-02-04′, ’00:51:48′, ‘The large Elephant Seal has not returned to the boat ramp but we do now have a juvenile that appears to be going through it”s ”molt”. This is a stressful time for these animals and they usually don”t eat often if at all until the molting is completed. Some of these animals encountered on shore have been mistakenly diagnosed as critically ill or dying because of the many ”sores”, shivering and what seems like laboured breathing. We have had as many as 5 hauled out at the same time.’, ‘Mike’, ’01:10:49 ,
-2003-02-03′, ’01:33:20′, ‘The large male Elephant Seal is still hauling out on the boat ramp for several hours at a time then returning to the water to leisurely circle the island just off shore.He is not as vocal as he has been but do hear him snorting every half hour or so.There was a group of 11 Harlequins for most of the day, they like the water swirling around the rocks in the little bay on the east side of Gr. Race. There was the unmistakable sound of spring this morning, about 15 Glaucous-winged Gulls arrived to spend a couple of hours in the nesting areas. They will visit more often and stay longer as the courting/mating season approaches. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’01:54:31 ,
-2003-02-06′, ’02:00:31′, ‘The blasting at DND had the usual effect on the wildlife,the birds imediately took flight and after being alerted by the first in a series of blasts 50% of the 120 Northern Sealions hauled out, stampeded into the water. A few animals hauled out again but did not stay and by nightfall the rocks were still bare. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’02:06:51 ,
-2003-02-10′, ’10:58:11′, ‘ 11 Bald Eagles -9 mature) most of the day -More and more Pigeon Guillemots in the area and some came ashore for brief visits through out the day. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’11:04:30 ,
-2003-02-17′, ’00:08:54′, ‘The Elephant Seal still spends most of the day near the end of the dock with 2 or 3 ”haul outs” by the boat house usually in the early morning and mid afternoon and since he often floats just below the surface boaters should take special caution in the area.There were 11 Bald Eagles -6 mature) today.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:16:21 ,
-2003-02-11′, ’00:18:56′, ’12 Bald Eagles -8 mature) today,the attraction seemed to be a few Herring balls a mile or so south and east of the reserve. Could see them circling high and occasionally dipping low over the water but did not see any fish brought back to the rocks where they usually come to eat their catch. The molting juvenile Elephant Seal is still hauled out next to the boat house and just likes to be left alone.The Elephant Seal that was injured has returned! He has moved inland about half way across Gr. Race near the Science building. The wounds look like they are healing very well, his eyes are clear and healthy looking. The other male Elephant Seal still around but did not come ashore today.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:35:16 ,
-2003-02-12′, ’00:37:46′, ‘9 -2 immature) Bald Eagles today. The injured Elephant Seal has moved over near the engine room, he seems to like the long grass. We haven”t heard him vocalize but the other big fellow is quite noisey. The molting juvenile Elephant Seal left sometime during the night.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:44:03 ,
-2003-02-13′, ’00:45:26′, ’13 -5 immature) Bald Eagles today, spent most of the time along the ridges of West Race.There were about 40 Cormorants perched along the west ridge of Gr. Race, would be nice if they were to nest there this year. Recovering Elephant Seal still over by the engine room, other big fellow still favours the dock area. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’00:52:49 ,
-2003-02-14′, ’00:59:02′, ’12 – 8 mature) Bald Eagles today- not a lot of hunting in the reserve, most of the gulls and cormorants seem to have moved east along with the herring.The Elephant Seal seems quite happy by the engine room and not moved around much.The other male was very vocal today, spent most of the morning hauled out by the boat house. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’01:08:49 ,
-2003-02-15′, ’01:13:08′, ’15 Bald Eagles -6 immature) There were a few fish balls in the morning and the eagles were very active.There was a lot of screeching and food stealing going on. Watched for about 10 minutes as one fish was chopped into little pieces that ”rained” down as it was snatched from eagle to eagle.There were 3 and 4 attackers, none got a meal from that catch!The recovering Elephant Seal moved from the area by the engine room to the long grass across from the flag pole. The Black Oyster Catchers were dipping and diving and chirping all morning,at times in a group of 24/26 then in pairs.Most of the afternoon they spent sleeping and preening near nesting areas. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’01:32:36 ,
-2003-02-18′, ’12:32:58′, ‘ 5 -1 immature) Bald Eagles today, 3 of them spent several hours on Gr. Race, did not see any active hunting. The starlings and shore birds seemed to instantly ”disappear” when a juvenile Peregrine Falcon set down just west of the helicopter pad.The young falcon stayed for about an hour then flew off towards Bentinck Island, almost immediately the other birds reappeared.The Peregrine although smaller, seems to be feared more than the much larger Bald Eagle.The recovering Elephant Seal has hauled out again and is stretched out along the rock wall bordering the walkway to the Stevenson Screen. The other big fellow is on the boat ramp.They were making enough noise about 4 a.m. to wake us, could have been the time they both hauled out.’, ‘Mike’, ’12:54:30 ,
-2003-02-19′, ’02:03:19′, ‘ 7 -2immature) Bald Eagles today, saw one gull taken near the southeast rocks. Three of the other eagles made several attempts to snatch the gull but soon gave up,they were an attentive audience for the 25 minutes the lucky hunter took to eat it”s fill.Judging from the short time the onlooks took to poke amongst the scraps, not much was left but feathers.Both Elephant Seals are hauled out again today, the one still near the sidewalk. They were quite noisy again last night.They”re quiet for 40 minutes or so then bellow and snort for 10 to 15 minutes. Last night there was a lone California Sealion barking but no sign of him in the morning. A few Glaucous-winged gulls visit first thing every morning,they spend an hour or so in the nesting areas then take off again. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’02:39:00 ,
-2003-02-20′, ’16:34:56′, ‘The 2 big Elephant Seals both spent the day hauled out,one on the boat ramp and the recovering one in the long grass between the Science centre and the boat house. We can get quite close without disturbing them but for some reason they react to people wearing red jackets. There were 11 Bald Eagles -4 immature) first thing this morning but as the weather deteriorated most of them went inland. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’16:55:55 ,
-2003-03-01′, ’11:12:44′, ”, ‘Mike’, ’16:28:03 ,
-2003-03-02′, ’16:32:39′, ‘The 2 Elephant Seals still spending most of the day hauled out on Gr. Race,the one that had been injured prefers an inland spot while the other one favours the boat ramp.We hear them after midnight,they can be quite noisy going and returning from feeding.The Pigeon Guillemots are in the area but are not coming ashore yet, a little too early for courting and nesting.Still only a few Glaucous-winged gulls, they are spending part of the morning in their traditional nesting areas, none have paired off yet-too early in the season.A group of about 40 Cormorants were kept on the alert and moving from rock to rock enmasse as one or more of the 4 Bald Eagles -mature)circled the area every 20 minutes or so. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’16:44:48 ,
-2003-02-21′, ’11:31:53′, ‘Blasting on Bentinck today and the first blast cleared the rocks of Sea Lions -Northern) no animals hauled out again until late afternoon.Pigeon Guillemots in the area but none came ashore.Still hear the Elephant Seals at night,sounds like they are going into the water to feed about 1 a.m. and returning a couple hours later. The one that hauls out by the boat house is the more vocal one.The smaller one roams the island but usually ends up behind the boat house,seems to like the grass.We are careful to take a flashlight at night, never know where he will be stretched out in the dark!’, ‘Mike’, ’11:50:51 ,
-2003-02-23′, ’12:03:17′, ‘3 -2 mature) Bald Eagles but they only stayed about an hour. The recovering Elephant Seal was very restless,spent most of they day moving around the island trying to find the best spot.He finally settled near the south end of the boat house.The other Elephant Seal spent the day in his usual spot just below the door to the boat house. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’12:10:07 ,
-2003-02-25′, ’12:14:01′, ‘There were just 2 mature Bald Eagles today. The recovered Elephant Seal still spending a good part of the day roaming about then usually settles down behind the boat house.There are only 31 Northern Sea Lions hauled out and no California Sea Lions. A few, 25-30 Glaucous-winged Gulls arrive early a.m.- can”t miss them as they are very noisy calling back and forth as they ”visit” the nesting areas for several hours. Usually by 10 a.m. they have flown off again. Chris,Laura,Catrin in with students forenvironmental chem. class.’, ‘Mike’, ’12:27:10 ,
-2003-02-26′, ’12:29:14′, ‘5 -3 mature)Bald Eagles today. The 2 Elephant Seals hauled out most of the day. The one by the boat ramp is not bothered at all with our coming and going in the boat, even the noise from the winch for the boat dolly does not bother him,he does turn his head to use his good eye to watch the boat move up the rails and we are careful to give him lots of time to back out of the way.Once the boat is put away he usually stretches back across the rails in his favourite spot!’, ‘Mike’, ’12:38:17 ,
-2003-02-28′, ’12:42:50′, ‘5 -2 mature) Bald Eagles this morning,a couple looked quite disheveled in the rain and were holding their wings out at an angle possibly to shed the rain faster.They stayed about 2 hours then flew off towards Whirl Bay.’, ‘Mike’, ’12:50:28 ,
-2003-03-06′, ’17:16:04′, ‘5 -3 mature) Bald Eagles early a.m. The LGL observers arrived inspite of the moderate seas. They tied their boat at the outer end of the dock, maybe a little imtimidated by the Elephant Seal stretched out on the ramp,but most likely they didn”t want to disturb him. He is actually very docile especially if you approach him slowly and carefully.’, ‘Mike’, ’17:23:09 ,
-2003-03-05′, ’17:24:56′, ‘Wet and windy all day – the 7 Bald Eagles -4 juveniles)looking a little soggy, stayed about an hour then flew off towards Bentinck Island.The 2 Elephant Seals are still hauled out, the ”roamer”has stayed tucked in behind the boat house out of the wind.The other has become a fixture by the boat house door.’, ‘Mike’, ’17:33:56 ,
-2003-03-07′, ’17:38:05′, ‘Both Elephant Seals still hauled out most of the day,one on the ramp and the other a bit restless today moving from place to place,ended up behind the boat house.Some G-W Gulls visiting nesting areas in the afternoon now but still singly. The 7 Harlequins spent the day in the relative calm of the small East Bay and along the NE shore.’, ‘Mike’, ’17:53:00 ,
-2003-03-08′, ’17:56:45′, ‘5 -2 mature) Bald Eagles first thing this morning as usual but as the weather deteriorated they went off towards Bentinck Island and Whirl Bay. The Elephant Seals took to the water which at 7.4? would be warmer than the air at 0? with the blowing snow and NE wind at 30+ knts.’, ‘Mike’, ’18:04:52 ,
-2003-03-09′, ’18:05:11′, ‘Although few in number the Glaucous-winged Gulls are already protecting their territory by driving off the Eagles as they fly over Gr.Race ‘, ‘Mike’, ’18:12:46 ,
-2003-03-10′, ’13:30:46′, ‘5 -1 mature) Bald Eagles today. The 2 Elephant Seals hauled out all day in their usual spots.Heard a couple of California Sea Lions ”barking” during the night but no sign of them in the morning.The Black Oyster Catchers fly around in a group of 26 or so, dipping and diving and calling out with their very distinctive high pitched whistle for 10-15 minutes then break off into pairs. The pairs then spend a couple of hours near their usual nesting areas preening and resting with their bills tucked under their wings.The Oyster Catchers are the first of the birds to nest here and will soon start their courting displays which include quite elaborate flight manoeuvres and a lot of the loud whistling.’, ‘Mike’, ’13:51:42 ,
-2003-03-11′, ’13:52:08′, ‘ 7 -5 immature) Bald Eagles in the reserve first thing this morning but by noon only 3 -1 Mature) remained.Just after 15:00 the adult Eagle flew over-head with what looked like part of a small fish-herring maybe- and was very aggressively pursued by one of the juveniles. The 2 big birds literally did som-er-saults in the air, one trying to get the fish and the other desperately trying to keep it! This air dance went on for almost ten minutes in a 30 knt. wind. Unfortuately did not see the outcome as the one with the fish finally dropped quite low over the water and flew over towards Rocky Pt.The juvenile followed close behind and they were soon too far away to see even with the telescope.A group of about 150 Pigeon Guillemots arrived this morning.They spread out over the island near their nesting areas,spent about 2 hours and then in a flurry were gone again.’, ‘Mike’, ’14:24:26 ,
-2003-03-13′, ’21:33:13′, ‘Another wet and at times breezy day.There were no Eagles in the area until after noon and then only 2 soggy looking immatures that spent about an hour out on the ridge of West Race.The one Elephant Seal we call the roamer did not haul out today but the other big fellow moved up out of the way of the swells on the ramp and spent the whole day with his nose literally pressed against the boat house door.Felt sorry for the gulls hunched down especially when the rain was really heavy,which was most of the afternoon.’, ‘Mike’, ’21:49:57 ,
-2003-03-15′, ’01:02:37′, ‘3 -1 mature) Bald Eagles today mostly on the southeast rocks. They made several attempts to fly over gr. Race but the gulls were quick to drive them off shore, a couple of times even the Black Oyster Catchers joined in with the gulls. ‘, ‘mike’, ’01:10:32 ,
-2003-03-17′, ’01:18:48′, ‘1 mature and 1 immature Bald Eagle today.The larger Elephant Seal in his favoured spot but the ”recovered” one spent quite some time trying to plan a route to the water-he moved down to the ramp but seemed reluctant to get too close to the other which had spread himself across the tracks, so he went overland! 3/4 of the distance was fairly soft grass but the last 20 ft. was a rough and rocky descent just east of the winch house.’, ‘mike’, ’01:29:45 ,
-2003-03-19′, ’01:33:24′, ‘Heard several California Sea Lions during the night but no sign of them in the morning. The Gulls are increasing in numbers and are spending longer in the nesting areas. Have seen several territorial scuffels, tail pulling and head pecking,somewhat half hearted and short lived compared to what things will be like when courting and nest building begin in earnest.’, ‘mike’, ’01:41:47 ,
-2003-03-20′, ’01:44:05′, ‘The Elephant Seal that seemed a permanent fixture on the ramp slipped into the water early this morning and has not returned-miss seeing and hearing. Small group 5 or 6, Northern Sea Lions hauled out on the northern tip of West Race most of the day.’, ‘mike’, ’01:47:39 ,
-2003-03-22′, ’01:50:05′, ‘The gulls spent most of the day hunkered down facing into the wind. Still no sign of either of the Elephant Seals but did hear a group of California Sea Lions arrive during the night, they spent the day hauled out on the southeast rocks.’, ‘mike’, ’01:54:44 ,
-2003-03-26′, ’01:30:14′, ‘About 60 Pigeon Guillemots came ashore this morning but did not stay long.They hung about in small groups just off shore for the rest of the day. Just the one Elephant Seal today in his usual spot on the boat ramp.The Gulls still spending only the daytime in the nesting areas and no serious nest building yet.’, ‘mike’, ’01:39:54 ,
-2003-03-27′, ’01:44:08′, ‘The Elephant Seal took to the water just after 7 this morning and had not returned by dark, did not hear him at all, he may have hauled out on one of the other rocks.The Pigeon Guillemots came ashore again this morning for several hours but returned to the water.They are very nervous little birds and dive or fly off at the first sign of danger.’, ‘mike’, ’01:51:20 ,
-2003-04-02′, ’02:01:25′, ‘The Gulls are getting more territorial and there are more noisy confrontations with a few feathers flying. There were 4 immature Bald Eagles and try as they might they were unable to land on Gr. Race, the Gulls are just so tenacious in driving them away.’, ‘mike’, ’02:09:13 ,
-2003-04-03′, ’02:12:25′, ‘Did a boat trip around West Race and the Middle rocks and counted 11 Elephant Seals hauled out.There were 3 fairly large males and the rest assorted smaller males and females.The one big fellow that has been hauled out near the boat house for the last few weeks was floating about just off the south tip of the middle rock.There were 5 Northern and 14 California Sea Lions also hauled out with the Elephant seals’, ‘mike’, ’02:21:01 ,
-2003-04-06′, ’00:29:51′, ‘There were 13 Elephant Seals,12 hauled out on Middle Rock and the one large male floating about close to the shore this afternoon.The Elephant Seals have been joined by about 20 California and 9 Northern Sea Lions.The Nights are getting noisier now with some gulls spending full time in and around the nesting areas and the Black Oyster Catchers calling back and forth.Some of the gulls sit on the roof but make quite a racket when they take off or land.Will take a week or so to get used to the not so light footed gulls thumping about on the roof during the night, also small rocks and shells that they often take up on the roof make a fair bit of noise clattering down the slope. ‘, ‘mike’, ’00:46:40 ,
-2003-04-07′, ’00:48:26′, ‘The Pigeon Guillemots are still just making short visits to land,a few spread out in the rocky areas where they usually nest but most just sit on the dock. There was a very emaciated California Sea Lion hauled out on the eastern tip of North Rocks.He seemed to have a mobility problem with his hind end and could only drag himself along very slowly,took him a good 1/2 hour to move about 20 feet into the water.There were no obvious wounds and once he went into the water we did not see him again.’, ‘mike’, ’00:56:04 ,
-2003-04-08′, ’00:58:50′, ‘There were 7 -5 immature) Bald Eagles which spent most of the day along the ridges of the southeast rocks.They made quite a few attempts to fly over Gr. Race but the gulls and Oyster Catchers were quick to give chase and drive them away.There were 5 Northern Sea Lions hauled out all day on the western slope of the southeastern rocks, one was a very large fellow but very thin and bony.’, ‘mike’, ’01:07:52 ,
-2003-04-09′, ’01:09:07′, ‘There were 5 California and 6 Northern Sea LIons hauled out on the southeast rocks all day,the large thin Northern Sea Lion still there.Some of the gulls are going through the courting dances but still a little casual about it, they get started and one will just wander off disinterested. ‘, ‘mike’, ’01:15:23 ,
-2003-04-10′, ’01:16:03′, ‘5 Bald Eagles today -2 mature)’, ‘mike’, ’01:17:14 ,
-2003-04-14′, ’01:23:44′, ‘There were about 35 California and 9 Northern Sea Lions hauled out on Middle rock with the Elephant Seals.The Pigeon Guillemots still spending most of the time just off shore with a few coming ashore for short visits. A pair of Mallards were on Gr.Race all day also 2 pr. Canada Geese.’, ‘mike’, ’01:32:42 ,
-2003-04-15′, ’03:30:17′, ‘lone male transient Orca spotted briefly along the south shore of Great Race.The Harbour Seals scrambled into the water. They kept quite close together bobbing about to watch out for the big Orca for half an hour or so then gradually relaxed. a few swam off while others hauled back out on the rocks. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’03:41:15 ,
-2003-06-29′, ’06:58:44′, ‘I note on the remote control camera that the gulls have young now. Scan over to the rock outcroppings on the right and zoom in. One nest has three young. -posted by Garry- 0700)’, ‘Garry’, ’07:08:05 ,
-2003-07-05′, ’01:26:14′, ‘The nesting season is in full swing and most of the activity on the island is the never ending search for food by the adult birds. The Black Oyster Catchers have hatched and been moved down from the nesting areas above the high tide mark closer to the food supply of limpets,chitons muscles and the like. The chicks grow quite quickly but are still being fed for the most part but do go about pecking at bits and pieces. The Pigeon Guillimots chicks are still secreted in the rocky crevices and the adults are busy flying back and forth with a supply of small eel like fish called blennies.These are nervous little birds and will sit with the fish hanging out of their bills for quite a while before heading off to the nest,they are careful not to ”advertize” the nest”s location.The Gulls seem to be getting food in Pedder Bay where we see frequent but small fish balls and the chicks appear to be growing quickly. Even the smallest often flap their downy wings, instinctive activity I guess that builds the muscles for flying in a few weeks.There are fewer gulls than in previous years partly because of the 4 otters that completly wiped out the chicks two years in a row. With fewer nesters there is a lot of space between nests and thus very little fighting.The Eagle visits have also been few and far between, the gulls are quick to give chase as soon as the great birds approach the island. The chicks get the warning calls and scatter to hide as best they can beside rocks or in the grass and the adult gulls take flight enmasse screeching and diving at the intruder until it is forced well out to sea.Today there were 2 pair of gulls still running about collecting nesting materials.The weather has been good for the chicks,not too hot.There was an otter spotted a couple of times earlier in the spring but no sign of it lately and have not heard the usual panic among the gulls as usual when the otter would run through the nests at night gobbling up eggs and chicks. ‘, ‘mike’, ’02:07:36 ,
-2003-07-06′, ’02:10:09′, ‘The Elephant Seal that was injured earlier this spring has spent the last few weeks hauling out during his ”molt” He was quite scruffy looking as the old skin sloughed off like skin from a bad sunburn. He moves around quite a bit but his favourite places are on the boar ramp, the grass behind the boat house and lately in a hollow 20 feet from the front porch. He is usually quiet but every once in a while he gets quite noisy, could be he is trying to get the attention of the much smaller Elephant Seal – about 4ft) that came ashore a couple of weeks ago,also to go through it”s molt. Since it”s the males that molt this time of the year we guess it is also a male but so young to not yet have the prominent snout of the mature male. The little one does not move around much and stretches out on the sidewalk near the flagpole or tucks up against the rocks by the boat house out of the wind.The big fellow is almost finished his molt and is now a nice elephant grey,the scars along his back and sides from the run in with the boat prop are like white chalk swirls and are less noticible. The deeper wounds above his eyes are still quite big and sadly the vision is gone in the right eye. He has surrvived so far, so hopefully this is the end of his bad luck.He is obviously able to feed as he is a good size.’, ‘mike’, ’02:36:16 ,
-2003-07-07′, ’02:37:57′, ‘The gulls spent most of the day hunched down with chicks tucked under wings trying to get some shelter from the howling westerly.A couple of the more adventurous chicks were blown down the hill as they flapped their wings so there were a few minutes of pandemonium getting them back to their own nesting area,a few pecks from other adults but no harm done.’, ‘mike’, ’02:46:32 ,
-2003-07-09′, ’20:17:28′, ‘The bull elephant seal left Great Race today. He wallowed in the shallows with the smaller elephant seal for several hours around midday, and hasn”t yet come back to his grassy bed behind the boathouse.’, ‘ LBPC’, ’20:18:36 ,
-2003-07-13′, ’13:18:51′, ‘Adult birds busy with many trips to sea and back with food for chicks that never seem full! The Elephant seals continue to spend a good portion of the day hauled out with brief swims/floats around the end of the dock.The birds seem to enjoy the cooler showery weather. Not a lot of rain but was refreshing while it lasted.’, ‘Mike’, ’13:23:26 ,
-2003-07-14′, ’11:59:55′, ‘Harbour seal pup born overnight on the boat ramp.Looks to be a good size and already a good swimmer! There are 7 other females in the area on the west side of the dock hauled out on various rocks, most look very pregnant so expect more pups over the next few days. These females seem to congregatehere about this time every year prior to having their pups.Some have markings that we recognize and the others are so unafraid of us that we think they return each year and are used to our comings and goings.’, ‘Mike’, ’12:11:21 ,
-2003-07-15′, ’12:12:27′, ‘The large Elephant Seal although still hauling out on the island spends more time in the water now. He tends to come ashore in the pre dawn and makes his way to his favourite spot behind the boat house until about noon when he returns to the sea. The smaller elephant seal has been joined by another, a little larger fellow and the two are always within a couple feet of each other. They do not roam much, they like the sidewalk near the touch tank building.’, ‘Mike’, ’12:23:11 ,
-2003-07-16′, ’12:24:52′, ‘Another Harbour seal born overnight, seems healthy and feeding well. The pup born Monday is also feeding well judging by the noticeable growth.We limit our activity near the dock,but the seals do not seem too bothered by us even the ones with pups.’, ‘Mike’, ’12:33:27 ,
-2003-07-18′, ’12:37:25′, ‘Most of the Pigeon Guillemots have left their nests so the constant flights back and forth with food for the young are very few now. The Black Oyster Catcher chicks are full grown and are only distinguished from the adults by the paler orange bills. Some of the gulls are adult size and very agressively persue the adults wanting to be fed.Often the adults having enough of the pestering fly up and sit on our roof-our red roof is now white!’, ‘Mike’, ’12:50:17 ,
-2003-07-19′, ’12:52:58′, ‘2 more Harbour Seal pups around dock area but no signs that that they were born on the ramp.They were most likely born on one of the flat rock areas along the north and east shore of the island.The little ”bay” formed by the dock is a favourite spot for the mothers and pups as it is quite sheltered and close to the large kelp bed, another favourite spot.’, ‘Mike’, ’12:58:48 ,
-2003-07-20′, ’12:58:57′, ‘A group of Orca went by but were mostly along the shore of Van.Island.There were many boats out to ”view” the whales and most came through the MPA as part of the tour.’, ‘Mike’, ’13:13:48 ,
-2003-07-21′, ’13:16:58′, ‘It is hard to believe how fast the Harbour Seal pups are growing. The one born on the 14th is almost twice it”s birth size.The milk is very rich and they do feed often. Just after sunset there was a flurry of activity as a small fishball appeared 50 feet off shore, the gulls took off noisily and had a feeding frenzy.It was quite noisy for a time as the adults returned and the chicks demanded their share of the fresh silvery fish.’, ‘Mike’, ’13:33:06 ,
-2003-07-22′, ’13:38:23′, ‘The 2 smallish elephant seals still hauled out and staying close to each other.The big fellow continues to haul out behind the boat house for a time each day.The three do not interact, infact the 2 smaller ones do their best to move out of the big fellow”s way as he ambles along the sidewalk to ”his” spot ‘, ‘Mike’, ’13:43:33 ,
-2003-07-24′, ’14:44:00′, ‘The gull chicks spend a lot of time trying to fly – very entertaining – easy to get air borne but still mostly rough landings.Many are still being fed fairly often but others it seems are being weaned. They are very agressive towards the adults pecking at their heads and bills the ”feed me” behavoir.The chicks will crouch down to make themselves look smaller and when that does not work they just get more persistant. Finally having enough the adult gulls will fly out to sea or up to the roof. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’14:59:48 ,
-2003-08-13′, ’19:17:49′, ‘Noted a new pair of gull chicks just hatched within the last few days. Rather late for them to be able to mature this season. Some of the other juveniles now have smooth gray plumage. The ones most mature are flying now. Note -error in wind speed for this morning – should read West at 0.5 Knots. Sea state calm’, ‘Garry Fletcher’, ’21:38:42 ,
-2003-08-12′, ’19:29:24′, ‘Dead seal in bay behind generator fuel tanks. ‘, ‘Shamsher’, ’19:38:34 ,
-2003-08-14′, ’08:00:17′, ‘We have camera 3 focused in on a nest of recently hatched gulls today. You should see feeding frequently throughout the day.’, ‘Garry’, ’08:01:23 ,
-2003-10-09′, ’21:09:59′, ‘On 9 October 2003, Virgil Hawkes and I, of LGL Limited, were conducting a monitoring session as part of our research on the effects of disturbance on marine birds and mammals at Race Rocks Ecological Reserve, British Columbia. At 15:20, something scared hundreds of Thayer”s Gulls from an area just north of the light tower on Great Race Rock. We figured it was likely a Bald Eagle or Peregrine Falcon, based on the gulls” behaviour. We then spotted an adult Red-tailed Hawk flying in from the northeast. It landed on a rock right in front of a large male California sealion -photo). The hawk looked very tired and was breathing hard. Perhaps it had attempted to migrate across the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but had to turn back -all day, wind direction was unfavourable for such a crossing). We figured it would just rest up then head back to Vancouver Island. At 15:38 we were observing it once again when suddenly, the hawk collapsed and fell backwards into a crevice. A few seconds later a surge of water flushed the bird into view. It was facing breast-down in the water, lifeless. The surge then drew it back into the crevice and out of view. We were interested in retrieving the carcass for further inspection of its body condition -besides it being a beautiful specimen), but in keeping with the conditions of our research permit and because doing so would have caused many sealions to charge off into the water, we refrained. We were just left to contemplate the strange event and consider ourselves fortunate to have witnessed one of nature”s fascinating dramas. Mike Demarchi– See photo here: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/marmam/sealion/redtail.jpg ‘, ‘Garry’, ’21:27:39 ,
-1970-01-10′, ’14:19:56′, ‘Sea Lions rafting most of the afternoon near the docks Divers observed Pycnopodia -Sea Star) eating salmon near the end of the docks’, ‘Irena’, ’14:21:53 ,
-2003-11-12′, ’12:25:00′, ‘3 Whales through MPA’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:23:38 ,
-2003-12-25′, ’14:37:33′, ‘Pinniped census in the reserve: -Animals hauled out) ———North Rock :0 Middle Rocks : Northern Sealions:65, California Sealions:1 ————Great Race Rocks : Northern Sealions: 8, California Sealions: 4 Harbour seals:7, Elephant seal :1 -Male) West Race Rocks California Sealiion: 1 – About one third of the animals observed were very young ) . Weather conditions: Wind West 32 , Sea 3”- Heavy Swell. Other noteworthy sightings : We estimated approximately 2500-3000 Herring Gulls on the island today.’, ‘Mike’, ’12:10:11 ,
-2003-12-26′, ’10:54:23′, ‘Two thirds of the Herring Gulls have left today leaving us with about 1000.’, ‘Garry’, ’10:55:31 ,
-2004-01-01′, ’11:11:11′, ‘HAPPY NEW YEAR’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:19:31 ,
-2004-01-03′, ’11:50:15′, ‘I see today that Mike has camera3 aimed at an elephant seal – This adult male must have moved up on the lawn behind the boathouse to get out of the northern gale today. This is probably the one who recovered from the encounter with the boat last year. – see in the marine mammals video archive.) On camera 1 today there is a male and several females out on the middle rock . Precipitation is snow 5.5 cm’, ‘Garry’, ’18:27:41 ,
-2004-01-09′, ’17:09:52′, ‘Over 250 Northern Sea Lions – many juveniles) on middle rock only today- One large male elephant seal there also and one on Great Race – – On the lawn near helipad- check on the robotic camera ) Several bald eagles on the rocks. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’17:14:58 ,
-2004-01-24′, ’23:04:20′, ‘Two elephant seals haul out on the lawn and provide evidence of mating behaviour. See http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/marmam/elseal/elsealmate.htm The female has a large cut around her neck indicating an old injury.’, ‘Garry’, ’23:09:46 ,
-2004-05-24′, ’10:20:02′, ‘1 California Sealion on end of dock brand # 691 on his rump.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’15:02:19 ,
-2004-06-15′, ’13:59:57′, ”, ‘Mike’, ’14:00:06 ,
-2002-08-12′, ’06:59:00′, ‘testing’, ‘tim’, ’07:15:37 ,
-2004-02-29′, ’07:14:09′, ”, ‘Garry’, ’07:13:56 ,
-2008-06-11′, ’17:50:38′, ‘Black Oystercatcher still nesting near the Docks, see Cam2, http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/video2.htm. Glaucous winged gulls have territories established, most with nests started, some with eggs, some are still breeding. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’08:12:08 ,
-2008-06-03′, ’01:00:00′, ‘The Canada Goose nest with 1 egg was terminated by a parent bird eating the last egg. This was captured on the remote camera by PB and is now on the Canada Goose page on the Race Rocks Taxonomy http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/bio2002/brantac.htm Three male elephant seals were observed on middle rock. Two California and 1 Northern sealion are all that are left on the islands.’, ‘Garry’, ’18:28:55 ,
-2008-06-10′, ’18:30:42′, ‘No Sea lions were seen. Very few harbour seals are around today. estimated 10. Two elephant seals on middle island, old Slash and one juvenile male – dark colored)’, ‘Garry’, ’22:21:46 ,
-2008-06-07′, ’22:19:25′, ‘test’, ‘Garry’, ’22:19:35 ,
-2008-06-12′, ’07:41:31′, ‘Erik and Garry checked out and photographed the reported entangled elephant seal on Middle Rock. File opened at http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/miroungaa/roped.htm ‘, ‘Garry’, ’07:43:03 ,
-2008-06-17′, ’21:58:49′, ‘Most gulls are now on eggs, No sea lions visible from noon to 4:30. One elephant seal on Middle island, and Slash, our favourite old elephant seal hauled out on Great Race again this morning, but he had moved over to middle island in the afternoon. The entangled one we saw last week was not around this afternoon.’, ‘Garry’, ’22:05:12 ,
-2008-06-22′, ’17:18:32′, ‘The Black Oystercatcher nest hatched two young ones today. They will probably remain on camera 3 for today, but will leave tomorrow.. last year they hatched on the 21st of June. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’09:50:13 ,
-2008-06-23′, ’09:48:37′, ‘The two Black Oystercatcher which hatched yesterday are still with their mother at the nest although they go out and wander occasionally. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’09:49:43 ,
-2008-01-06′, ’13:45:08′, ”, ‘Garry’, ’17:25:30 ,
-2008-12-06′, ’16:21:31′, ‘This is the first day since late October that we have noted that the Elephant seals are back.. There is one large male and one smaller individual on Middle rock. Also notable is the large number of small northern sea lions.. look like very immature ones next to the large bulls. Over 100 northerns on middle island Still no California Sea lions.. They have been very scarce this fall. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’16:24:36 ,
-2008-12-13′, ’10:20:59′, ‘1 California sea lion spotted on Middle Rock.’, ‘Ryan’, ’10:26:32 ,
-2008-12-19′, ’15:53:31′, ‘A beautiful day here at Race, though there”s been a chilly NW wind all day. The Canada geese returned today after being absent since the first winter storm. Slash -the elephant seal) is still out on Middle Rock surrounded by all sizes of Stellar sea lions. I”ve seen Pelagic, Brandt”s, and Double-crested Cormorants and there have been 2-3 pairs of Harlequin Ducks around too.’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:59:51 ,
-2008-02-07′, ’13:52:44′, ‘Extreme low negative tide. Pterophyga exposed on several reefs. Cameras 1,2 and 3 all repositioned. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’13:54:04 ,
-2008-07-01′, ’20:56:21′, ‘5 eagles on middle island in the afternoon. Frequently one does a flyby and causes mass lift off from the island. There is a very high influx of gulls that are not nesting. several thousand rest on the North East corner and the South west corner. Pictures will be in the gull taxonomy page. Slash the elephant seal makes a regular habit of sleeping during the day up behind the boathouse. He moves when he gets too hot in the sun to the shade in front of the boathouse. I am working on several pictures to put up on the elephant seal page. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’12:01:08 ,
-2008-07-03′, ’12:30:54′, ‘Slash was having a good sleep in the morning behind the boathouse. I was able to approach without disturbing him and video a complete breathing cycle which is now linked from the elephant seal taxonomy. He goes through at least 4 minutes of sleep apnea before breathing again. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’20:44:11 ,
-2008-07-02′, ’09:00:00′, ‘I found another black oystercatcher nest down in front of the Winch House, so moved camera3 over to it. -Update note on July 17–2 young were observed near the nest). In the morning I went out on the intertidal for the minus tide. Excellent long exposure of the surge channel and the cave on the South west side. Also got onto Anita”s intertidal island down from the helipad. I was looking for the large – 45 cm diameter Purple star. Which I saw there two years ago, and at that time I thought he was the only one on the island. This time I found another smaller one– 30 cm diameter in a similar protected channel only 2 metres from the other one. Since these sea stars inhabit the lower intertidal zone, they cannot withstand the heavy wave action that occurs in that area without these deep channels which are protected by a rise on the seaward side to the west. As far as I know these are the only two purple stars occurring at Race Rocks. They are very common however in other sheltered inland coastlines in BC and are frequently the first sea star that visitors to BC shores notice. I also made note of a large number of very colourful brooding anemone exposed on the same protected mussel-covered wall on that island. There was an unusual abundance of blue ones which I remember to be rather rare when seen by diving in that area previously . One gull nest close to the science centre has chicks hatching.’, ‘Garry’, ’09:59:49 ,
-2008-07-14′, ’07:08:37′, ‘test’, ‘Garry’, ’07:08:47 ,
-2008-07-20′, ’00:16:00′, ‘The island was on the edge of the fog bank with a strong westerly blowing. Oystercatcher parents noted in the two nesting locations near the docks. The young succeed in hiding quickly . Baby gulls are everywhere now. Several harbour seal young are with their mothers on the rocks south of the tower. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’12:54:24 ,
-2008-07-21′, ’12:55:32′, ‘2 bald eagles by west rocks, 1 bald eagle by southeast rocks. Slash has turned around but is still sleeping in the lee of a rock. 4 young seal pups visible. Most of the gull eggs have hatched.’, ‘david’, ’21:36:31 ,
-2008-07-07′, ’13:00:08′, ‘Gull chicks by the flagpole were just starting to hatch. One egg had a dime sized hole pecked through. Oystercatchers by winch house are still nesting. This year there are at least 5 nests on the island.’, ‘Garry’, ’20:41:18 ,
-2008-07-08′, ’17:04:54′, ‘Two gull chicks hatched from the nest near the flagpole by the time we left at 5:PM. Oystercatcher parents seen with two chicks which hatched several weeks ago on the left side of docks. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’13:07:34 ,
-2008-07-23′, ’07:59:41′, ‘Elephant seal changed location; now behind boat house. Slash spent from 5:00PM to 8:00 PM in the sea, otherwise up behind boathouse. – preset 1 on cam 1) He has 3/4 of his old hair moulted off, new light gray color beneath. The old hair was light brown.’, ‘Garry’, ’01:50:18 ;
-2008-07-24′, ’13:13:38′, ’34 gull chicks counted in the rocky area just north from Science centre window. Many are panting for cooling. Slash moved down again to the shade of the Workshop as it is very hot at noon. 8 seals in area below winch. In mid afternoon, three black oystercatcher chicks were feeding with their parents down on the point in front of the winch house. Right beside were two harbour seals with their pups. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’15:23:48 ,
-2008-07-25′, ’13:42:10′, ‘Slash now moved up to his spot on the lawn west of the Science house. -Can be seen on camera2) One other male elephant seal and one smaller female remain out on the Middle rock. 5 Northern sea lions are back on middle rock as well. 1 adult eagle on middle rock ‘, ‘Garry’, ’13:50:48 ,
-2008-07-26′, ’15:53:02′, ‘Approximately 43 seals basking and swimming on the south end. ‘, ‘Laurie’, ’15:54:28 ,
-2008-07-28′, ’10:58:08′, ‘About 45 harbour seals counted this morning. But yesterday a hoard of them–ca. 70 seals ! -2 counts) ‘, ‘Laurie’, ’11:00:02 ,
-2008-07-27′, ’00:01:15′, ’70 – 72 harbour seals feasting off south shore of the island.’, ‘Laurie’, ’00:02:14 ,
-2008-07-29′, ’11:00:00′, ‘From Pam Birley, England -on Cam 5):”For one hour and ten minutes I watched a mini-drama. Took me a while to realise what was going on. A Harbour Seal had dropped her pup between large rocks in the jetty. It was trapped and struggling. At first I could not tell what it was and as the adult kept approaching and retreating towards it I thought it may be a really large fish or something and she was afraid…but NO….it was her pup. It was head down and lashing its tail to try and free itself. The tide was coming in fortunately. It kept getting tired and lying still. Eventually, with the help of some lift from the water it struggled into an upright position. At this stage I have some pictures of the mother touching noses with the pup…so lovely !! I have pictures which show the birth blood on the rock and you can actually see the umbilical chord on the pup. I also think you could see the placenta in the water, something whitish with red on it which looked like blood. After a whole lot more struggling and encouragement from its mother the pup finally climbed over the last rock and slipped into the water to follow its mother alongside the jetty. At that stage I lost sight of them but what a dramatic hour. I was cheering in the end….come ON you can do it !! ” See Pam”s pictures in the July gallery linked from the Daily Log page. ‘, ‘Pam Birley, England -on Cam 5)’, ’00:44:52 ,
-2008-07-30′, ’07:18:08′, ’71 harbour seals 2 adult bald eagles, one immature bald eagle Slash is still on the lawn west of the science house -camera 2).’, ‘Laurie’, ’07:22:31 ,
-2008-08-19′, ’14:11:19′, ‘The Glaucous Winged Gull chicks are now almost fully fledged in their dark grey plumage. Only a two or three very late hatched ones remain with some down showing. This has been a very productive year for the gulls as can be seen in the census numbers below. Bird and Mammal Census done from top of tower for all islands: Harbour seal: 90 California seal: 36 Northern sea lion: 17 Elephant seal: 2 Glaucous winged gulls: adult: 240 : juvenile-139 California gull-425 Heermann”s gull- 80 Black Turnstone-8 Surfbird- 4 Pigeon guillemot-110 Canada Goose -1 ‘, ‘Garry’, ’13:19:48 ,
-2008-08-20′, ’12:56:13′, ‘Over 90 pigeon guillemots are feeding regularly off the front docks in the channel. I don”t recall such high numbers of this species before. Four cormorants were sighted at noon, they have been noticeably down in numbers this summer. For the first year for a long time none have nested on the West cliff face. Several feeding frenzies by birds were seen with the herring balls in the north channel. I noted on the way out yesterday that Pedder Bay was jumping with herring as we went over the surface. Two Orcas, were in feeding close to the west cliff before noon, three others were sighted heading west being pursued by a whale watching boat. 3 Elephant seals are on middle island today, two large males and one smaller animal. None of them are Slash however. He has been absent both today and yesterday. At 1545– 7 Orcas are off the South WWest corner of the reserve.. surrounded right now by 6 whale watching boats. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’15:56:27 ,
-2008-09-25′, ’14:00:00′, ‘At least 200 Northern Sea Lions on Middle Rock, 20 on North Rocks and 20 California Sea lions at the docks and up on the lawn by winch house. Camera 3 is set up to see some of these at short range. Also it was noted that one California sea lion there has a plastic ring around his neck. -from fishing net bundles) We have a file for pictures we have taken of problems that sea lions have with fishing equipment at: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/marmam/sealion/northernflasher.htm Adult glaucous winged gulls are starting to moult, now have grey heads. see pictures added to the taxonomy file at : http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/juanpabloh.htm ‘, ‘Garry’, ’22:42:08 ,
-2008-09-23′, ’08:30:00′, ‘Swells .5-1 metre on the West side. Up to 100 California Gulls out on the South West corner, Heermanns gull juveniles also up to 30 One juvenile male elephant seal was up on the lawn by the science house.. Slash has not been around for some time now. 150 Northern sea lions on middle rock, 6 calif sea lions below cliff on main island. 15 California sea lions by the jetty. One with brand Number c 5–? ‘, ‘Garry’, ’18:39:02 ,
-2008-09-20′, ’10:30:00′, ‘Northern Sea Lion population building up on Middle Island .. at least 180 there now. We have started a new web file to keep a running image census on that island from the remote camera. https://racerocks.ca/rr2/census/census.htm ‘, ‘Garry’, ’19:02:59 ,
-2008-09-09′, ’10:00:00′, ‘branded Calif. sea lion 3284 near jetty. 100 Northern seals on middle island 20 California sea lions on West side of cliff. 40 harbour seals in various locations. 4 Killer whales passed us near Bentinck Island on our way out’, ‘Garry’, ’19:16:53 ,
-2008-09-16′, ’21:03:29′, ‘Glaucous winged gull adults still hang out in their nesting territory locations. Juveniles are now all fledged and yet still come back occasionally to beg for extra food. 120 Northern Sea lions on Middle Rock 40 harbour seals near main island and southern rocks. 25 California sea lions, at Jetty and on west side. No elephant seals’, ‘Garry’, ’21:07:28 ,
-2008-10-21′, ’21:12:35′, ‘California Sea Lions: 180 Stellar Sea Lions: 80 Harbour Seals: 15’, ‘ LBPC’, ’21:13:55 ,
-2008-10-22′, ’16:36:41′, ‘Approximately 120 sea lions were spotted in the reserve today. About 25 harbour seals were also seen.’, ‘ LBPC’, ’17:22:47 ,
-2008-10-23′, ’19:09:00′, ‘West Rock – 20 sea lions Middle Rock – 20 sea lions West Rock – 15 sea lions Rosedale Rocks – 25 sea lions, 25 harbour seals Great Rock – 5 sea lions, 3 harbour seals’, ‘ LBPC’, ’19:10:37 ,
-2008-11-04′, ’15:00:00′, ‘A small number of northern sea lions were on middle rock when the college boat arrived at Race Rocks. Two very loud blasts from the DND blasting at Race Rocks cleared the rocks of the sea lions. A heavy concentration of juvenile gulls, – several species..indeterminate) and California Gulls covered much of the north west corner of Great Race.’, ‘Garry’, ’23:43:19 ,
-2008-11-15′, ’08:30:00′, ‘- harbour seals: ca. 52 – Northern Sea Lions: ca. 70’, ‘laurie’, ’08:43:57 ,
-2008-11-16′, ’08:45:21′, ‘harbour seals: 29 Northern sea lions: 30’, ‘laurie’, ’08:46:10 ,
-2008-07-06′, ’12:00:00′, ‘Marine Life Slash jhas moved back on Great race Rocks. He stays on the lawn below helicopter pad or in the shade in front of the boathouse. A new Black oystercatcher nest has been found by the winch house, so it is now on camera 3. Thousands of immature and young adult gulls of several species,: western, California and herring? have arrived in the past week on the island. They stay to the south side outside of the area where the Glaucous-winged gulls nest. Also several Heermanns gulls are in the group. PB has sent new images of them which have been added to the taxa page. http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/2007/larusheerm/larusheerm.htm A few of the gull nests now have newly hatched chicks. Over 100 harbour seals , some with young are on the outlying islands. It seems like it could be a smaller population than previous years. Human Interaction Garry out at noon to relieve for a few days for Mike. There were 0 visitors to the island today.’, ‘Garry’, ’16:54:29 ,
-2008-12-20′, ’08:56:52′, ‘After I finished reporting the morning weather to Pedder Bay I heard Slash returning to the island. He”s been checking out a favourite lounging spot, vocalizing and then moving to the next one.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:00:17 ,
-2008-12-21′, ’09:03:06′, ‘Slash weathered the storm tucked up behind the helicopter pad last night. There”s a nice Slash-sized imprint between the rocks and the snowbank that formed against him. His body heat melted the snow and earth beneath him so there is a muddy trail looping around the center of the island to where he is now.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:05:58 ,
-2009-01-25′, ’12:17:59′, ‘A single orca was spotted about 1 mile south of Great Race today, my first sighting of 2009.’, ‘Ryan’, ’12:18:33 ,
-2009-01-29′, ’15:00:00′, ‘ Pam Birley sent in an image from the remote camera today of the entangled elephant seal male which last appeared in June. Copy this URL to see the image . http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/miroungaa/roped.htm Since we have a year round population of birds and mammals in our reserve, It might be appropriate to consider the implications of an oil spill in this area. An initiative started recently by the Dogwood Initiative may be interesting to follow up on . Follow the link to http://dogwoodinitiative.org/notankers/loonie-project …and watch for oil-pollution loonies.’, ‘Garry’, ’14:46:36 ,
-2009-01-30′, ’12:00:41′, ‘The female elephant seal had a pup last night, what a surprise! There are some great new photos and video on the elephant seal page. http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/miroungaa/newborn/jan3009.htm ‘, ‘Ryan’, ’09:44:53 ,
-2009-02-01′, ’10:05:23′, ‘Elephant seals awoke this morning at about 0930. Baby tried to nurse at approximately 0945. -Adam H. Further note.. Adam went on to get some great video which we have installed on the new pups page:http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/miroungaa/newborn/jan3009.htm — GF ‘, ‘ LBPC’, ’16:21:27 ,
-2009-02-02′, ’08:22:00′, ‘Today I heard early vocalizations from our new elephant seal pup Ninene. It, the young male, and its mother are still tucked in between some rocks at one corner of the heli-pad. This morning also marks the return of the Pigeon Guillemot -Cepphus columba). I counted 32 birds around the jetty on the N side of the island, most moving around as pairs.’, ‘ryan’, ’08:24:55 ,
-2009-02-04′, ’16:12:43′, ‘Second new pup out on Middle Island seems to be doing well. WE weerr able to get some new pictures of him and the eagles that were hanging around all afternoon.’, ‘Garry’, ’16:14:49 ,
-2009-02-03′, ’16:16:02′, ‘Ninene is doing well on the main island but Pam our keen observer in England points out a new pup on the scene in the morning out on middle rock: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/miroungaa/newborn/midisle/secondpup.htm ‘, ‘Garry’, ’16:17:56 ,
-2009-02-07′, ’18:12:49′, ‘eagles: 5 on Middle rock -3 juveniles and 2 adults 1 on East rocks 8 Canada Geese on great Race Rocks baby elephant seal nursing 1530hrs’, ‘Chris’, ’18:15:04 ,
-2009-02-08′, ’14:00:00′, ‘sealion count: 24 Northern sealions 1 California sealion East Rocks only group in the reserve’, ‘Chris’, ’06:53:34 ,
-2009-02-09′, ’13:30:16′, ‘A real absence of mammal and bird life, brisk wind picking up from the East. Perhaps they are aware of the approaching storm. The baby elephant seal is doing well outside the marine centre where we are staying but the male, when he is awake is regularly harassing the female. The animals never leave the spot to feed themselves so rely on fat storage for energy and for nursing. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’13:33:45 ,
-2009-02-10′, ’13:36:49′, ‘With large swells washing over the docks by noon, nothing much is moving.. only a small group of 80 Thayer”s Gulls were sitting all pointing into the wind over on the south shore. 5 or 6 eagles around all day. Approx. 10 Northern sea lions are on the two South Islands. The three elephant seals remained throughout the storm over on Middle Rock. The baby out on middle island has not been seen for the past few days two females and the male Slash remain there. One female has the two bands of rope around her girth.. a picture is linked to the elephant seal taxonomy page. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’13:43:07 ,
-2009-02-11′, ’13:44:55′, ‘Definitely no baby Elephant seal now out on Middle rock … only the three adults. Mother and baby and young male elephant seal on Great Race are still in the same location below the South end of the Helicopter pad. 5 eagles around in the morning. 14 Thayer”s Gulls are on South shore rock, along with 10 cormorants. Afternoon on Middle rock 64 Thayers Gulls and 39 cormorants Very little evidence of any Glaucous -winged gulls. 3 pairs of Canada Geese persist on the island. We are concerned with the close cropping of the grass which has made many areas of soil pockets prone to erosion. A further concern is that since they do not eat the introduced species of Stonecrop, this [-plant has spread extensively throughout the island. It is hoped that it will not crowd out the few native species left here. I checked the few beds of Romanzoffia and they are so far unintruded, but this should be monitored closely. Mosses on rock wall to water treatment plant are in Sporophyte stage. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’14:13:43 ,
-2009-02-12′, ’10:33:43′, ’42 Brandt”s Cormorants on middle island 62 Thayer”s Gulls on middle island 40 Northern Sea lions on South rock. 12 harbour seals on south rock and south beaches. 5 elephant seals and 1 pup in the reserve ‘, ‘Garry’, ’22:32:09 ,
-2009-02-22′, ’10:46:05′, ‘Little Ninene the elephant seal pup is not so little anymore! It has now been over 3 weeks since it was born, and despite the harassment from the young bull it seems to be doing well. There are visible wounds over most of the pup”s body from the male”s attacks, though the male”s aggression has lessened since it was observed copulating with the pup”s mother on Feb. 19. Neither of the three elephant seals have left the island since they arrived in late January, and the mother has visibly lost weight.’, ‘Ryan’, ’10:50:50 ,
-2009-02-23′, ’17:51:57′, ‘Today I noted a young female elephant seal hauled up behind the boat house. The pup -Ninene) is keeping its distance from the mother and the young bull. The black turnstones were seen in pairs all over the island, and I counted 62 Pigeon Guillemots off the jetty in the morning. A robin spent the day around Great Race, and struck the newly replaced -and clean) window in the keeper”s residence! It”s ok though.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:55:22 ,
-2009-02-26′, ’18:16:31′, ‘At dusk last night -Feb. 25) the female elephant seal -mother to Ninene) was seen shuffling down the path towards the jetty with the male in hot pursuit. Once in the water they floated around for a bit before the female disappeared. This morning the male had returned but not the female. Tonight at dusk the male was seen clasping the neck of the pup and trying to ”mount” it. This sexual aggression has resulted in a number of wounds to the pup -see photos under the elephant seal taxonomy page).’, ‘ryan’, ’18:51:47 ,
-2009-03-02′, ’20:22:19′, ‘Slash, the large male elephant seal has moved up to his favourite spot behind the boathouse. The pup Ninene, although still bleeding, has not been disturbed over on the south side. Misery, the aggressive elephant seal male is still recuperating from his bite wounds on the back below the flagpole. Now it is suggested by a marine mammal vet that his bites appear to be from another male elephant seal. Slash is the only other one around. No females are hauled out on any of the islands. Ryan has some good images on his Flickr site of a sealion killing a white sturgeon in the ecological reserve. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryanjmurphy/ also at: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/2009/acipensert/acipensert.htm ‘, ‘Garry’, ’10:19:47 ,
-2009-02-28′, ’10:30:08′, ‘With the pictures of the elephant seal pup from the last two days showing extensive damage from aggression by the male. I have asked DFO if they could deal with moving the pup into a less exposed location on the island. They contacted the marine mammal rescue centre in Vancouver to get involved. Scheduled for tomorrow but weather does not look favourable with a gale warning impending. These normally spend several weeks on their own after weaning before entering the water, so If she can be removed for that time she may have a better chance. It is always a concern in ecosystem management whether their should be human intervention or whether nature should take its course. In this case due to the unusual behaviour of the male, and the chance that if separated from the male the pup may still survive on its own, the first option was chosen, and we will have to see where it goes from here. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’10:40:10 ,
-2009-03-01′, ’10:42:21′, ‘Due to the Gale warning still in effect, the intervention mentioned yesterday has been postponed. Ryan reports that ” the pup was alive this morning, a little further out on the rocks to the SW of the island. The male has moved back to my lawn near the water tank shed. The wind has increased from 15 to 20 knots from 6:00 to 6:30. ….I”ll keep an eye on the situation today, and let them know this evening how the day turned out.. I don”t believe the pup is in imminent danger anymore.” ‘, ‘Garry’, ’10:46:31 ,
-2009-02-25′, ’15:00:00′, ‘Photos taken in the afternoon of Ninene the female pup indicated a much improved condition as she has been able to stay separated from the mal for a few days. In the evening, The aggressive male and the female moved back to the water for the first time in a month. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’10:51:33 ,
-2009-02-27′, ’10:59:20′, ‘The male elephant seal returned again last night to the island and again has been abusing the pup Ninene. The mother has not returned, this is normal , as at weaning time, they leave the pups on their own. The conditions here however are much different from a normal pupping colony on a beach in California where up to 50 pups congregate together for several weeks before heading to the water. With only one Pup, the male has been relentless in his attempts to breed with it. Ryan is keeping an eye on the situation and his photos appear on his Flickr site today. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’11:05:28 ,
-2009-03-11′, ’20:49:46′, ‘slash is on the island relaxing.’, ‘pearson college’, ’20:51:54 ,
-2009-03-12′, ’20:05:01′, ‘The large bull elephant seal -Slash) left around 10 this morning only to return at 2:30 in the afternoon. Baby Ninene has moved a little closer to the gut on the southern side of the island which will make for a relatively easy water entry when she decides she”s hungry enough. Very few other marine mammals hauled out.’, ‘ryan’, ’20:06:48 ,
-2009-03-18′, ’17:41:36′, ‘Three Black Brants -Branta bernicla nigricans) were observed preening 100m south of Great Race for several hours this afternoon.’, ‘ryan’, ’17:43:20 ,
-2009-03-25′, ’14:23:29′, ‘Our little elephant seal pup -Ninene) made her first motion towards the ocean today. She made her way down to the jetty, chewed on some driftwood and kelp, then turned around and moved all the way to the S side of the island after a nap half-way through the trip.’, ‘Ryan’, ’14:24:54 ,
-2009-03-26′, ’12:36:57′, ‘Plenty of immature bald eagles around today, both on Great Race and the surrounding rocks.’, ‘Ryan’, ’22:37:36 ,
-2009-03-31′, ’14:31:02′, ‘The seabirds are all hunkered down in the strong winds today.’, ‘Ryan’, ’14:31:40 ,
-2009-04-09′, ’00:21:23′, ‘A link was added to the page on Ninene since she has shown up in Port Angeles in Washington State on April 2. Links are provided to the “Penninsula News” which reported on the seal. http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/miroungaa/newborn/jan3009.htm ‘, ‘Garry’, ’00:24:04 ,
-2009-04-10′, ’08:46:56′, ‘There is a large group -70+) gulls on North Rocks and I have observed large feeding aggregations of gulls in the channel.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:48:22 ,
-2009-04-13′, ’13:43:57′, ‘3 California sea lions are hauled out on the E side for the first time this year.’, ‘Ryan’, ’13:44:15 ,
-2009-04-22′, ’07:19:14′, ‘There have been up to 6 California sea lions on Great Race during the past several days, sticking to the N and W shores. Virtually all female Purple Shore Crabs are brimming with eggs in the intertidal.’, ‘Ryan’, ’07:20:37 ,
-2009-04-23′, ’09:06:20′, ‘The westerlies of the past couple of days have cleared out Middle Rocks with only a few Elephant Seals and Northern sea lions remaining.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:06:58 ,
-2009-04-26′, ’19:59:51′, ‘During our dive today, 3 students and I had a fantastic steller sea lion encounter with 5 large bulls circling us for several minutes. A sixth steller circled the group as we returned to shore. Also, a brown pelican was sighted on the SE rocks preening midday.’, ‘Ryan’, ’20:03:32 ,
-2009-04-29′, ’09:22:25′, ‘A small Greater White-fronted Goose arrived yesterday and spent the night.’, ‘Ryan’, ’13:13:07 ,
-2009-05-03′, ’08:54:57′, ‘Yesterday a gosling that escaped the addling survey hatched.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:55:31 ,
-2009-05-07′, ’11:39:47′, ‘Two Barn Swallows -Hirundo rustica) were observed today around the helicopter pad. The white-fronted goose -Anser albifrons) is still around the island, however the Canada Goose gosling has not been seen for 2 days. The Steller sea lions have moved from West Race back to Middle Rocks where up to 10 female and one juvenile male elephant seals have been hauled out.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:43:35 ,
-2009-05-11′, ’17:42:46′, ‘Garry spotted a large flock of brown pelicans flying W to E today in the afternoon. I got a quick shot before they disappeared and counted 56 birds! Another 3 pelicans flew by in the same direction a couple hours later.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:44:26 ,
-2009-05-13′, ’07:54:31′, ‘Today is the first day the California sea lions have moved up onto the grass on the NE corner of the island.’, ‘Ryan’, ’07:54:54 ,
-2009-05-18′, ’12:12:41′, ‘Two californian sea lions are on the rocks E of the jetty and have been since some time last night. The small Anser albifrons has not been since since before the weekend. The Guillemots and Oystercatchers are both moving further inland to watch their nesting sites. On Saturday I watched an Oystercatcher harass a Bald eagle perched SE of Great Race.’, ‘Ryan’, ’12:15:54 ,
-2009-05-19′, ’13:19:27′, ‘Both a California sea lion and unknown male elephant seal were playing the shallows off the jetty today. I get a lot of hard looks when I tell the eco-tour operators that they have to respect the 100m viewing restriction even on the N side of Great Race, but hopefully the last few ”rogues” will smarten up before there is a boat strike.’, ‘Ryan’, ’13:21:37 ,
-2009-05-21′, ’08:14:37′, ‘Yesterday the ”unknown” bull elephant seal hauled up on Great Race… it”s everyone”s favourite ”Misery”. He certainly has grown since I saw him last, and the bite wounds from his encounter with Slash are healing nicely. The deepest scar must still be a little fresh as kelp flies were burrowing in deep. He is still asleep on the lawn this morning.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:16:39 ,
-2009-05-26′, ’09:44:44′, ‘Yesterday -the 25th) I spotted a very small Northern sea lion on the NE corner of the island. It was there with 2 other Northerns and 3 Californian sea lions. This little one was shorter than the Californian”s shoulder when both were sat upright, definitely the youngest individual I”ve seen here.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:46:08 ,
-2009-05-27′, ’14:26:43′, ‘The male elephant seal Misery hauled himself up on the the island between the science house and the tank room last night sometime after 0200hrs. He remained there until about 1300hrs today, where he was spotted in the water just off the jetty. Bits of fur from his winter coat were found in his sleeping spot, and the shedding is very noticeable on his body.’, ‘Adam’, ’14:31:01 ,
-2009-05-28′, ’18:14:18′, ‘Misery, one of the resident male elephant seals, hauled himself out on the island again for the night on the south side of the helipad. At about noon, as the temperature began to warm up, he moved down into the water off the jetty again.’, ‘Adam’, ’18:18:02 ,
-2009-05-29′, ’13:58:46′, ‘A lone male orca with drooping dorsal fin -to the right when viewed from anterior) traveled W->E through the North Rocks. A large American eco-tour boat the “Olympus” pursued it through the reserve at speed breaking several marine mammal viewing restrictions.’, ‘Ryan’, ’14:00:44 ,
-2009-05-31′, ’13:44:51′, ‘Misery has hauled himself out onto West Rock today. This is the first time he has been seen in several days. At about 1800hrs, two bald eagles flew down low on the NE side of Great Rock and appeared to be hunting. Gulls, oystercatchers and guillemots tried to chase the eagles away. This action continued for about 10 minutes before the eagles took off.’, ‘Adam’, ’18:30:49 ,
-2009-06-01′, ’13:42:11′, ‘Update on marine life within the reserve:6 California sea lions -on Middle Rock) 1 elephant seal -Misery, on Middle Rock) 97 harbour seals 1 bald eagle Pigeon guillemots are in plentiful supply as well, with many nests with eggs around the island, not to mention many oystercatchers. Many of the gulls have found partners and have started to mate. However, no gulls have been seen laying eggs nor sitting on nests yet. There are still pairs of Canadian Geese on the island. Although three chicks have been spotted in the last week, most eggs thankfully did not hatch this year.’, ‘Adam’, ’13:55:30 ,
-2009-06-02′, ’12:56:50′, ‘A pod of 8 orcas has been spotted approximately 1 nm east of the reserve. Swam E->W on N side of reserve then headed NW down the Strait. 2 other orcas spotted later in the afternoon swimming in same directions.’, ‘Adam’, ’21:28:27 ,
-2009-06-03′, ’22:39:39′, ‘A female elephant seal with scars from entanglement has been noticed to have hauled out on Middle Rock. This is most likely Scarlet, who has been seen in the reserve for the last 4 years. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’22:40:44 ,
-2009-06-05′, ’19:51:34′, ‘An older male sea lion with the brand #651 has been hauled out on the jetty for a few days now. He sleeps there at night, and is seen on and off it throughout the day.’, ‘Adam’, ’19:52:48 ,
-2009-06-07′, ’18:38:36′, ‘Slash has hauled himself up on the island once again. He arrived last night, and rested in the sun beside the tank room for most of the day today. Several sea lions have parked themselves on the rocks southeast of the jetty for the past few days. Haven”t seen #651 though. Many gulls have nests with eggs around the island now. Two new geese nests were noticed the other day, each with two new eggs.’, ‘Adam’, ’18:40:18 ,
-2009-06-14′, ’15:10:08′, ‘An update on marine life within the reserve:130 harbour seals spread across Great Rock and surrounding islets 115 active Glaucous-winged gull nests 2 elephant seals -male and female) hauled up on Great Rock. Varying numbers of black oystercatchers and pigeon guillemots ‘, ‘Adam’, ’15:14:36 ,
-2009-06-19′, ’09:15:18′, ‘Misery has been spotted once again on Great Rock and is as miserable as ever.’, ‘Adam’, ’09:15:53 ,
-2009-06-23′, ’12:22:09′, ‘The painters today spotted twelve orcas including babies swim W->E through the reserve. A possibly dead elephant seal was noticed washed up in the intertidal -but still partially submerged) this morning. Black oystercatchers have chicks! In the S surge channel beneath the science house, two chicks were noticed with a parent. They are still very small. The three baby geese are growing still. Every day they are growing stronger and venturing further and further from their parents. There is an old goose on the SE side of the keeper”s house that is looking very frail -this has been going on for a while now). I would expect that it is on its last legs.’, ‘Adam’, ’12:29:50 ,
-2009-06-25′, ’21:39:10′, ‘Both Slash and Misery have been hauled up on Great Race for the last two days. Slash spent most of today floating in the water off the jetty while Misery snoozed in the sun -and rain).’, ‘Adam’, ’21:40:10 ;

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— Dumping data for table `visitors`
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INSERT INTO `visitors` -`day`, `qty`, `notes`, `puser`, `ptime`) VALUES
-2002-08-15′, 0, ‘HUMAN INTERACTION:There were 24 Ecotour boats, 3 pleasure craft and 2 Zodiac Military Police boats through the reserve today. Unfortunately the 2 military and 1 ecotour boat the ”Tsunami” breached the ”no wake” policy, passed this info on to D.F.O.’, ”, ’22:13:42 ,
-2002-08-12′, 5, ‘the Hyaku in from P.C. with Garry and guests about 13:30 and again about 18:30 -Ryan at the wheel- with a group tour of the M.P.A. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’06:47:41 ,
-2002-06-28′, 0, ‘HUMAN INTERACTION:Station Boat to campus to return Garry and guests. 3 pleasure craft through the reserve and 2 ecotour boats. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’06:30:56 ,
-2002-08-16′, 0, ‘went out to boat fishing in the M.P.A.’, ‘Mike-Carol’, ’19:41:25 ,
-2002-08-25′, 2, ‘Ryan out to say goodbye as he heads off back to Mt Allison for Unversity. Kiprop arrives for a few days before college opens.’, ‘Mike’, ’23:05:57 ,
-2002-10-24′, 22, ‘Mike D and 3 observers for the DND study out in the tower all day. Garry out with Biology class for introductory field lab at noon. Garry, Scott and Don out to work on Data logging equipment at 3:00PM ‘, ‘Garry’, ’23:49:50 ,
-2002-10-22′, 13, ‘Garry came out with Block A Biology class at 4:45 for Introductory Field lab. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’23:55:28 ,
-2002-10-18′, 10, ‘Garry and Laura and Divers out at 3:00PM excellent conditions- dived off docks, cleaned sensors.’, ‘Garry’, ’23:59:14 ,
-2002-11-10′, 18, ‘Goodbye RR, thanks for the marvellous project week.’, ‘Rosie, Ahmad and Jeremias’, ’22:14:10 ,
-2002-03-01′, 0, ‘2 eco-tour boats this afternoon and onf sport fishing vessel on the western reserve border this morning. Just received a call from Mike – the regular eco-guardian) He is coming back today. I am meeting him at the marina at 1700hrs to do the watch change.’, ‘Chris Blondeau’, ’15:24:16 ,
-2002-10-13′, 0, ’13 tour boats and 4 pleasurecraft through today. Second Nature in at about 14:00 to pick up students who spent the weekend. Hyaku and Second Nature in with group from CISTA .Yesterday there were 9 tour boats and one dive charter off West Race. ‘, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:35:26 ,
-2002-03-02′, 0, ‘9:10 Juan de Fuca Warrior with divers off West Race. 10:20 2 eco tour boats from Gr. Pacific Adventures. 11:20 2 ecotour boats; 14:00 ecotour boat Discovery Launch through M.P.A.’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:35:42 ,
-2002-08-04′, 2, ‘There were 53 ecotour boats and 13 pleasure craft though the reserve today!’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’15:52:15 ,
-2002-09-07′, 0, ‘Good evening! It was a very quiet day here at Race Rocks. No ecotour boats came in the reserve. Only one dive charter -Ogden Point) came into the reserve for two different dives. There were four visitors from Pearson College… we gave them a tour of the ‘, ‘Carol/mike’, ’15:42:05 ,
-2002-08-02′, 2, ‘Ryan and Alex were out in the Hyaku. There were also 6 ecotour boats and 7 pleasure craft through the reserve.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’15:44:51 ,
-2002-03-05′, 0, ”, ”, ’15:50:55 ,
-2002-03-06′, 0, ’12:30 Angus arrived to take Garry back to campus. With the wind and easterly swell it was another tricky manouver to ”nudge” into the dock so Garry could jump into the boat – timing is everything, not for the squeamish!’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:56:00 ,
-2001-12-24′, 0, ’12:15 1 Rib with 2 divers -burrrr) 14:30 Discovery Launch -2 passengers) Thank You Jane and Chris for holding the ”fort” so we could visit with family and restock the pantry. ‘, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’16:02:13 ,
-2002-11-08′, 3, ‘ We had a visit from three scientists from LGL who were studying the impact of the blasts for the DND. We conducted an interview which should hopefully be available with the rest of the footage on this website.’, ‘Rosie, jeremias and Ahmad’, ’16:10:23 ,
-2002-01-07′, 0, ‘2nd Nature arrived approx. 13:45 -a tricky landing at the dock with an ebbing tide and 1-2 metre swells.The supplies – 8 pails of oil for generator oil change) and 4 passengers were quickly off-loaded and Angus waited off shore until the visitors were rea’, ‘Mike or Carol’, ’16:13:02 ,
-2001-12-16′, 0, ’12:10am -1:45pm Boat with 6 divers -West Race’, ‘Garry’, ’16:18:09 ,
-2002-03-12′, 0, ‘1 Pleasure craft and several low flying planes searching for 2 fishers missing from a 5 metre boat found over turned just west of Race Rocks.’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’16:07:19 ,
-2002-11-29′, 0, ‘Station boat trip to Pedder Bay and back. There were 2 Ecotour boats through today.’, ‘Mike’, ’14:01:16 ,
-2003-01-01′, 0, ‘Happy New Year’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’08:43:28 ,
-2002-08-26′, 0, ”, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’15:56:16 ,
-2002-06-25′, 0, ‘There were 9 ecotour boats and 3 pleasure craft through the reserve.The Hyaku was in this morning with Garry, Angus and guest to film the boats in the Victoria to Maui race, unfortunately no wind and in fact it was about 16:00 before the first boat reache’, ‘Carol and Mike S’, ’16:20:48 ,
-2002-06-24′, 0, ‘1 pleasure craft through the reserve today,also station boat to Pedder Bay and back.\n’, ‘Carol and Mike S’, ’16:24:56 ,
-2002-06-23′, 0, ‘ There were 23 eco tour boats, 7 pleasure craft,one college Zodiac and 1 dive boat in the reserve today, the station boat made a trip out to assist boater out of fuel! Station boat also made a trip to Pedder Bay and back.\n’, ‘Carol and Mike S’, ’16:30:34 ,
-2003-01-08′, 0, ‘ ‘, ”, ’16:35:56 ,
-2003-01-09’, 4, ‘2nd Nature in – Garry, Scott,Chris – working on the data recorder etc. Chris picked up the fuel transfer pump, in for servicing.’, ‘Mike’, ’00:46:24 ,
-2003-01-17′, 4, ‘ The 2 observers from LGL arrived first thing in the morning in their small Zodiac to spend the day in the tower montoring the wildlife. Just after 16:00 a Coast Guard Helicopter set down on the pad for about 5 minutes evidently to check the bird populat’, ‘Mike’, ’00:11:20 ,
-2003-01-20′, 2, ‘Two observers from LGL arrived first thing in a.m ‘, ‘Mike’, ’23:47:37 ,
-2003-01-23′, 5, ‘2 Fisheries officers were in today for about an hour to investigate our report of the injured Elephant Seal.After viewing the video tape they both agreed the injuries are consistent with contact with a boat prop. 3 observers from LGL were here for the da’, ‘Mike’, ’00:21:22 ,
-2003-01-30′, 3, ‘Observers from LGL arrived first thing this morning to monitor the wildlife re. DND blasting but the fog rolling in and out made things a bit difficult at times to see the wildlife! ‘, ‘Mike’, ’00:47:12 ,
-2003-01-03′, 1, ‘The Juan de Fuca Warrior dive charter arrived 09:40 and spent most of the day in the M.P.A. Morning dive between Gr. Race and West Race-afternoon dive,the west ”wall” of West Race.’, ‘Mike or Carol’, ’16:08:58 ,
-2003-01-06′, 0, ‘PC STUDENTS: Yet another day at Racerocks! Today, we had the pleasure of refilling the oil tanks with the assistance of Mike and Chris. Garry and I managed to restore the remote camera which had jammed.We are looking forward to yet another interesting day’, ‘Michael Kiprop’, ’16:18:12 ,
-2003-01-07′, 0, ‘PC STUDENTS:Our fourth day at Racerocks has just ended. Today, we managed to finish off refilling the oil tanks and this should take us until April. Garry came over to deliver the G3 Powerbook for a webcast later this evening. \nHUMAN INTERACTION: One boa’, ‘Michael Kiprop’, ’16:20:42 ,
-2003-02-03′, 2, ‘Angus and guest ‘, ‘Mike’, ’01:56:01 ,
-2003-02-13′, 4, ‘Chris in with Second Nature first thing this morning, 4 passengers. Matthew stayed all day to work on Data computer system. 2 visitors to measure etc. re installation of enviro. toilet. Chris back to pick up Matthew on return from afternoon dive-students ‘, ‘Mike’, ’00:58:36 ,
-2003-02-20′, 3, ‘ 3 obsevers from LGL here today. The trip back in 4 ft seas and 32knt winds was a wet one for them. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’16:34:54 ,
-2003-02-21′, 6, ‘Garry and students came in after Dive.’, ‘Mike’, ’11:54:00 ,
-2003-03-02′, 5, ‘Second Nature in -Chris) with students and supplies for the week. Filming for archives and working on website.’, ‘Mike’, ’16:46:46 ,
-2003-03-06′, 2, ‘LGL observers.’, ‘Mike’, ’17:14:10 ,
-2003-03-09′, 26, ’22 Guests from the Nautilus Explorer for a tour of Race Rocks.Garry and Chris in Hyaku. ‘, ‘Mike’, ’18:18:03 ,
-2003-03-20′, 2, ‘Observers with LGL out for the day.’, ‘mike’, ’01:48:29 ,
-2003-03-26′, 4, ‘Angus and 3 guests’, ‘mike’, ’02:13:26 ,
-2003-03-27′, 2, ‘LGL observers ‘, ‘mike’, ’02:15:09 ,
-2003-04-01′, 0, ‘Mike Wheatley for an over night visit to do research on alternate power systems for Race Rocks’, ‘mike’, ’01:58:11 ,
-2003-04-10′, 4, ‘Garry,Matthew and 2 LGL observers.’, ‘mike’, ’01:20:54 ,
-2003-06-01′, 1, ‘Ryan Murphy came from Pearson College in the Zodiak at 1200. He dove with the the LBPC students and left at approx 1:30.’, ‘student LBPC’, ’14:12:22 ,
-2003-04-16′, 3, ‘LGL observers’, ‘Mike’, ’03:44:06 ,
-2003-04-24′, 3, ‘Scott and Ken to work on towercam and upgrade RAM NT server. M.McKenzie/ research from SFU’, ‘Mike’, ’04:09:45 ,
-2003-04-15′, 0, ‘4 classes for biology labs.’, ‘Mike’, ’04:41:23 ,
-2003-06-02′, 0, ‘Second Nature -boat number 14K34426) came and landed at 0915 and dropped off 10 visitors from West Coast Eco-Adventures. It left at 1030 and then returned to pick them up at 1300. It cruised by West Race. No marine life was seen to be disturbed’, ‘student LBPC’, ’13:12:32 ,
-2003-06-05′, 2, ‘Scientists from LGL, landed with their Zodiac at the docks at around 9.00 am’, ‘mike’, ’11:09:55 ,
-2003-07-13′, 5, ‘Anita and Garry -research Chris with visitors’, ‘Mike’, ’13:19:05 ,
-2003-07-17′, 2, ‘LGL Observers’, ‘Mike’, ’12:34:16 ,
-2003-08-05′, 0, ‘Mike and Carol have left the island today under upsetting circumstances. We are all praying for Carol”s recovery and will keep her in our hearts and minds.’, ‘ LBPC’, ’22:26:43 ,
-2003-08-11′, 1, ‘A Coast Guard Helicopter touched down several times, forcing young birds into other nests where the adult birds pecked them apart. The disembodied heads and dismembered bodies of seagull chicks now litter the island.’, ‘ LBPC’, ’10:48:49 ,
-2003-09-24′, 0, ‘Garry”s class – field trip’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:43:35 ,
-2003-09-25′, 0, ”, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’19:39:02 ,
-2003-10-09′, 2, ”, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:28:51 ,
-2003-10-14′, 15, ‘Garry”s class – web broadcasting’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:46:09 ,
-2003-10-19′, 6, ‘Garry, film crew and divers out doing a live web cast. form 9:00 – 10:30 ‘, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’16:31:45 ,
-2003-10-20′, 3, ‘LGL out’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’16:38:54 ,
-2003-10-23′, 2, ‘Garry out to make repairs on camera one’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’16:54:34 ,
-2003-10-26′, 6, ‘Divers -Irena, Maeve, Mike, Mael, Jaimie, Yuki) were transported onto the island by Garry and Chris to stay until Friday’, ‘Irena’, ’14:35:04 ,
-1970-01-01′, 0, ”, ‘Irena’, ’10:11:18 ,
-2003-10-31′, 1, ‘Garry in to pick up 6 students after a 6 day stay.’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:32:12 ,
-2003-11-02′, 10, ”, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:19:05 ,
-2003-11-06′, 3, ‘LGL out’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:18:29 ,
-2003-11-07′, 1, ‘Chris bring Carol home’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:17:04 ,
-2003-11-13′, 2, ‘LGL out’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:26:32 ,
-2003-11-14′, 1, ‘refueling’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:25:15 ,
-2003-11-20′, 3, ‘LGL’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:21:38 ,
-2003-11-21′, 3, ‘LGL’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:21:05 ,
-2003-11-27′, 2, ‘LGL last trip’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:24:12 ,
-2003-12-03′, 2, ‘Chris out to refuel. Ken out to check computers.’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:26:20 ,
-2003-12-15′, 2, ‘Second Nature – refueling’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:39:42 ,
-2003-12-24′, 0, ‘Chris and the Blondeau clan came to the island to relieve for the Slaters over the Christmas holidays. Arrive on the island at 1630hrs’, ‘Chris’, ’12:12:39 ,
-2004-01-12′, 2, ‘Chris and Michael out to pick up two pumps for repairs. Bought out desalinator.’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:23:05 ,
-2004-01-27′, 1, ”, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:24:46 ,
-2004-02-03′, 4, ”, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:30:43 ,
-2004-02-05′, 2, ‘Coast Guard 359 dropped off two techs to service the automatated nav. aids.’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:48:41 ,
-2004-02-13′, 1, ‘Garry in to replace camera 1 computer’, ‘Carol + Mike’, ’18:37:26 ,
-2004-02-19′, 2, ‘Garry and Ken out to install Apple Airport Extremes’, ‘Garry’, ’17:31:34 ,
-2004-02-18′, 8, ‘Garry and Chris out with Shelby Davis and Mrs Davis, and other guests. Tour of buildings and explanation of the racerocks.com technology.’, ‘Garry’, ’17:39:17 ,
-2004-02-15′, 10, ‘Garry out to fix audio camera1 etc . Stuart and Chris out with UWC Evaluation Team who will be with us at Pearson College this week .’, ‘Garry’, ’17:44:12 ,
-2004-03-11′, 0, ‘Garry and Chris groups out for a dive’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:19:31 ,
-2004-03-12′, 13, ‘divers from L.B.P.C.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:12:09 ,
-2004-03-17′, 3, ‘Garry and two students working on camera three.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:39:00 ,
-2004-03-31′, 1, ‘Chris out with a class’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:30:46 ,
-2004-04-04′, 19, ”, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:25:47 ,
-2004-04-05′, 10, ‘divers from L.B.P.C.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:16:09 ,
-2004-04-07′, 2, ‘Chris and Scot’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:42:46 ,
-2004-04-21′, 21, ”, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:47:24 ,
-2004-04-23′, 3, ‘Scot out to work on new camera’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’19:08:39 ,
-2004-05-04′, 16, ‘With talk of lifting the moratorium on off shore drilling it was interesting to see the Coast Guard ship Bartlett along with a small flotilla of other craft busy with a day long oil spill recovery exercise in the waters between William Head and Albert Hea’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’17:06:10 ,
-2004-05-07′, 1, ‘Chris out to check cable’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’19:39:30 ,
-2004-05-11′, 2, ‘Chris and Ken out to work on new camera’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:47:10 ,
-2004-05-12′, 2, ‘Chris and Ken finishing touches to camera 5’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’19:53:04 ,
-2004-05-10′, 2, ‘Today just after 11:00 a.m. a small chopper landed on the Middle island. The sea Lions scurried into the water as it approached. The mammals were quite close to the water as they have been in and out of the water because of the blasting on the DND range.Th’, ‘Garry’, ’17:15:08 ,
-2004-05-18′, 1, ”, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:15:14 ,
-2004-05-19′, 43, ‘Students test and second year students who have not been to Race Rocks as this is there last chance to see it.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’19:44:18 ,
-2004-05-27′, 9, ‘a group of students will be staying in the learning centre for several days to work on a few projects.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:29:52 ,
-2004-06-04′, 6, ‘students left island today after a week stay.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:49:23 ,
-2004-06-07′, 5, ‘College bout out with Garry and two CBC radio personalities.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’21:16:29 ,
-2004-06-09′, 1, ‘Chris out’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:56:16 ,
-2004-06-17′, 5, ‘Garry and Scot out working on cameras. Chris and helpers out delivering fuel.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:51:33 ,
-2004-06-23′, 9, ‘Chris out to pick up fuel tank and drop off supples, at this time there where 5 gust’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’19:23:03 ,
-2004-06-24′, 2, ‘Chris and Mike refueling one trip.’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:54:01 ,
-2004-06-25′, 2, ‘Chris and Michael out delivering fuel’, ‘Carol or Mike’, ’18:46:32 ,
-2008-04-08′, 0, ”, ”, ’22:27:17 ,
-2008-06-03′, 10, ‘Garry and Catrin and 2 students came out in Second Nature with the members of the West Coast Ecoadventure Group http://pearsoncollege.ca/outreach/summer/eco/index.htm ‘, ‘Garry’, ’18:35:39 ,
-2008-06-10′, 10, ‘Catrin and Garry with two assisting students were out with 6 participants in the West Coast Ecoadventure program.’, ‘Garry’, ’18:34:52 ,
-2008-06-12′, 2, ‘Erik delivered Oil to RR in Second Nature. Garry installed new temp/humidity sensor, and changed cameras on nesting oystercatcher.. now cam era 3. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’07:45:12 ,
-2008-01-06′, 0, ”, ‘Garry’, ’17:26:04 ,
-2008-07-06′, 0, ‘Garry out at oon to relieve for Mike fr a few days.’, ‘Garry’, ’17:27:05 ,
-2008-07-01′, 0, ‘Garry out at noon to relieve for Mike’, ‘Garry’, ’11:56:17 ,
-2008-07-02′, 0, ‘West Coast Wildlife Adventures approached to view the elephant seal within 10 meters of the seal. I advised him he was too close since slash was there basking in the water. He had moved in to get a close look from a few metres. Images placed on ecotourism page on web. This is not the first whale watching boat that is coming in too close this season. With seal pups in the water this is a dangerous thing to do. See the ecotourism page for more information.’, ‘Garry’, ’12:41:23 ,
-2008-07-14′, 2, ‘Testing’, ‘Garry’, ’07:25:28 ,
-2008-07-20′, 7, ‘Chris ferried David and family of three to the island to relieve for Mike. Garry and former Thai student Amp Lao -year 27) went along for a quick visit. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’20:46:34 ,
-2008-07-07′, 1, ‘GF out to the island to change IPs to new network settings. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’13:00:05 ,

-2008-07-08′, 2, ‘GF out with Sam all day to finish the network changeover. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’13:08:32 ,
-2008-07-22′, 0, ‘Chris, Jane, Morgan, Catriona on watch 1930hrs’, ‘chris’, ’20:51:21 ,
-2008-07-23′, 1, ‘Garry took over from Chris and family to relieve the next three days.’, ‘Garry’, ’01:45:18 ,
-2008-07-24′, 0, ‘A calm day so the whale watching boats are here. They all respected the guidelines for observation. It is important to emphasize the need to drive boats cautiously as baby seals in the water are vulnerable. See our file on ecotourism: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/admin/ecotourism/ecotourism.htm I may have missed one or two boats but most are recorded below along with their numbers: 0950 West Coast Orca Spirit: 10 passengers 1045 Real Pacific Adventures: 8 1050 Sooke Coastal Explorations: 3 1110 Prince of Whales : 12 1115 Cetacean : 6– -no lifejackets worn) 1200 Sooke Costal Expeditions: 12 1200 Shop@whalestore.com:; 12 1200 Prince of Whales : 12 1215 Springtide : 8 1215 Orca Spirit: 6 1230 Orca— —- 6 1245 Great Pacific Adventures – King Salmon) : 26 1800 S—- King? -Fibreglass) 6 1845 Eagle wing tours: 26 1900 Prince of Whales: 26 i.e. Approximate total ecotourists in the reserve today: 180 Total funding they contributed towards ensuring the sustainability of the resource at Race Rocks: $0.00 ‘, ‘Garry’, ’22:12:04 ,
-2008-07-25′, 0, ‘9:49 Eagle wing tours –8 passengers.’, ‘Garry’, ’13:51:35 ,
-2008-07-28′, 0, ‘Blasting by the DND sent the 5 newly returned sea lions into water. Slash hits the water to cruise by the dock. 18 eco-tour boats sited in channel close to sea lions -also later main dock where Slash was lying by boat house). Some of which were the following tour companies : – Sooke Coastal Expeditions -multiple returns) – Springtide 384-4444 -Eaglewing Tours.com -Five Star Whale Watching -Great Pacific Adventures -Prince Whales, Whale Watching -multiple returns)’, ‘Laurie’, ’00:05:28 ,
-2008-08-19′, 0, ‘Census from 1100 to 1600: Some passenger numbers + or -2 Prince of Whales– 30 Prince of Whales inflatable–9 Springtide– 58 5 star– 40 5 star- 48 red inflatable C11201 BC -12 Prince of whales– 25 Prince of whales inflatable –11 Seafun Safari–8 Pr.of Whales–25 Orca Spirit– 32 Prince of Whales–8 Spring Tide– 50 Great northern Adventures–`12 Great pacific adventures– 13 Spring tide –10 Wildcat –40 Inflatable–8 Inflateable–8 Orange inflatable?– 8 Possibly 3 or 4 boats were missed in this census during the day. Total– 463 ‘, ‘Garry’, ’13:19:10 ,
-2008-08-20′, 3, ‘Coast Guard Helicopter with three aboard landed at tower for electrical maintenance. Incomplete census of a few of the Whale watching boats today: 1130- Seafun Safari –8 1230 – C11201 BC —8 1330- Eagle Wing —12 13:45- Eagle Wing– -28 1400-1530 4 boats approx 120 1530- Prince of Whales- 45 1538 -Cetacean– 7 1545- Springtide- 20 15:47– Ocean explorations–11 1600-Sea fun Safaris–12 1610- prince of whales–11 1612- Ocean explorations–10 1612- C11201 BC —12 1614- Great Pacific Adventures -15 1616- Real Pacific Adventures-13 1623- Prince of whales–9 1814-Eagle wing tours –24 1817-Prince of whales–8 1833-Eagle Wing tours–13 ‘, ‘Garry’, ’18:32:34 ,
-2008-09-23′, 14, ‘Faculty member Judy Ranns was out with her class of Biology students from Pearson College for a tidepool field lab. Garry accompanied. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’18:33:35 ,
-2008-09-20′, 14, ‘Garry and Adam out with Friends of Ecological Reserves Annual Field Trip. In a few weeks check the FER LOG fall edition writeup by Mary: http://www.ecoreserves.bc.ca/newsletters.html ‘, ‘Garry’, ’19:00:37 ,
-2008-09-09′, 3, ‘Garry took Pam and Dennis Birley out to the island today. Pam does the monthly photo diary from camera 5 from her home in England. http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/diary/ ‘, ‘Garry’, ’19:16:04 ,
-2008-09-16′, 6, ‘Garry and Arno out with the racerocks.com Tuesday afternoon activity group to review some of the program plans for the island. We did a video of Mike explaining the operation of the Lister engine on the Winch, and the salt water pumping system. We will make videos to illustrate these back in class later. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’21:02:36 ,
-2008-09-25′, 16, ‘Faculty member Judy Ranns was out with her class of Biology students from Pearson College for a tidepool field lab. Garry out with 3 visitors in afternoon.’, ‘Judy’, ’22:38:02 ,
-2008-10-06′, 12, ‘Faculty members Catrin Brown and Judy Ranns were out with a class of Biology students from Pearson College for a tidepool field lab and population study.’, ‘Judy’, ’08:16:23 ,
-2008-09-30′, 13, ‘Faculty member Judy Ranns was out with her class of Biology students from Pearson College for a tidepool field lab’, ‘Judy’, ’08:14:19 ,
-2008-10-20′, 3, ‘Pearson College faculty member Erik Schauff brought a man to measure window dimensions and a man to service the desalinator.’, ‘ LBPC’, ’14:50:01 ,
-2008-10-21′, 3, ‘Two environmental consultants from LGL Limited visited the island to monitor the effects of military blasting on the sea lion population. PC faculty member Erik Schauff visited the island as well.’, ‘ LBPC’, ’14:57:06 ,
-2008-10-22′, 6, ‘Three environmental consultants from LGL Limited visited the island today to monitor the effects of military blasting on sea lion behaviour. PC faculty member Erik Schauff also visited the island with two engineers from Clean Current.’, ‘ LBPC’, ’16:36:54 ,
-2008-10-23′, 5, ‘Two environmental consultants from LGL visited the island again today to monitor military blasting on the sea lion population. Erik also brought two Clean Current engineers out to the island again to continue work on the turbine, and to oversee students diving on the turbine for project week.’, ‘ LBPC’, ’19:13:09 ,
-2008-10-24′, 5, ‘Two environmental consultants from LGL returned to the island today, as did two engineers from Clean Current. Erik dropped off and picked up the engineers.’, ‘ LBPC’, ’15:38:31 ,
-2008-11-04′, 17, ‘Erik was out with divers along with Garry and four members of the racerocks.com activity and Lorraine and camera from Shaw TV. Several video clips were made for the channel 11 Daily program. Two of Clean Current crew had come out earlier in the day and returned with the crew from the college. LGL investigators up the tower when we were there. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’23:48:51 ,
-2008-11-15′, 7, ‘Two additional people from Clean Current arrived to join two of their colleagues. Laurie, along with her son and brother also arrived today, bringing the total RR visitors up to seven. ‘, ‘laurie’, ’08:52:23 ,
-2008-11-16′, 5, ‘The five remaining visitors, two from Clean Current, and three others depart in morning. Clean Current successfully ran the turbine during the night, charging the battery full. There was no need to run the generator. ‘, Laurie’, ’08:47:29 ,
-2009-02-07′, 0, ‘!330hrs Ryan shore leave Chris on watch.’, ‘Chris’, ’14:09:16 ,
-2009-02-09′, 0, ‘We were concerned over a very low fly over and circling of the float plane C-GJZE at 1343 hours. He circled low over the islands and came right across great race at about 100 meters elevation. It looked pretty close from my vantage point up the tower!’, ‘Garry’, ’13:51:28 ,
-2009-02-23′, 12, ‘Erik and some of the PC Divers came to dive on the slack this afternoon.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:56:14 ,
-2009-02-25′, 10, ‘Garry was out with the two IT people from the college to try to sort out the continuing problems with the video streams and the weather station. Also Erik took out to the island the crew from the contracting company Integrity who are working on Tower restoration. ‘, ‘Garry’, ’10:54:45 ,
-2009-03-12′, 10, ‘A work crew of 2 came today to finish off the job. The tower is now sheathed all the way up to the light in scaffolding. Two more students joined the 6 already present for Project Week.’, ‘ryan’, ’20:08:46 ,
-2009-03-15′, 0, ‘An update on the current view of the tower: If you are looking at it from the remote camera 5, you can see the scaffolding now complete around the outside of the tower. As a result of the passage of the Heritage Lighthouse Protection act last year: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/history/heritagetower.htm the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada has contracted for a complete restoration of the tower inside and out. This page documents the process. http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/history/restoration/restoration.htm’, ‘Garry’, ’11:00:17 ,
-2009-03-25′, 3, ‘Chris, Richard and a visitor to the College were on the island today.’, ‘Ryan’, ’14:23:27 ,
-2009-04-10′, 4, ‘4 Pearson students arrived on the island for the weekend in order to dive. -ADAM H.’, ‘ LBPC’, ’18:12:38 ,
-2009-04-26′, 7, ‘A large group of students, mostly first-year divers are here for this beautiful weekend.’, ‘Ryan’, ’07:59:08 ,
-2009-05-16′, 4, ‘2 students as well as Garry and a guest are here for the day.’, ‘Ryan’, ’13:55:29 ,
-2009-06-03′, 5, ‘A PC student was here for the day in order to study the effects of salinity, temperature, etc on the growth of a certain organism in tidepools as part of an extended essay. A graduate has been here for two weeks as well to work on finishing the Divemaster course. Two contractors are daily visitors to the island as well. They”ve been painting the light tower for the last month. Erik came to do some diving today.’, ‘Adam’, ’17:00:46 ,
-2009-06-05′, 5, ‘The same PC student out a few days ago arrived again to stay for two weeks in order to work on an EE.’, ‘Adam’, ’09:15:29 ,
-2009-06-12′, 37, ’33 students from Camosun College visited the island to tour the alternate energy system. Erik and Chris accompanied. Both painters working on the lighthouse were also out.’, ‘Adam’, ’11:29:17 ,
-2009-06-15′, 1, ‘A man interested in the alternative energy system at RR visited the island this morning.’, ‘Adam’, ’09:05:05 ,
-2009-06-21′, 7, ‘Seven kayakers showed up on the jetty at about noon and were in the process of preparing themselves for a little tour around the island before they were halted. After politely explaining that this was not possible and asking that they head off, they requested to stay for lunch. We had them record their names in the visitors log, and under direct supervision they were confined to eating their lunch and staying on the jetty. We gave them donation pamphlets and they headed out within approximately half an hour of their arrival.’, ‘Adam’, ’07:27:46 ,
-2009-06-23′, 16, ‘Garry was out this morning with some guests to do a quick tour of the island. 10 or so students arrived in the afternoon for a short tour of the island.’, ‘Adam’, ’12:23:10 ,
-2009-06-25′, 10, ‘8 affiliates of DFO arrived this morning for a quick tour with Garry and Chris facilitating.’, ‘Adam’, ’21:38:46 ,
-2009-07-03′, 5, ‘Today was a bit of a work day on the island. Two IT pros were out to work on some of the tech systems on the island with Garry. Peter was also out this morning to help with some renovations in the keeper ”s house as well as the plumber to fix the broken hot water heater.’, ‘Adam’, ’09:50:14 ,
-2009-07-15′, 4, ‘test of the system’, ‘Garry’, ’17:05:12 ,
-2009-07-23′, 2, ‘PV contractors’, ‘max’, ’22:52:24 ,
-2009-07-27′, 2, ‘A desalinator technician and one guest came today. We gave a tour and helped fix the desalinator.’, ‘max’, ’19:27:13 ,
-2009-08-09′, 0, ‘The California sea lions have started to return to the rocks. Seventeen were sighted this evening, up from four just one week ago. They are mainly on Great Race Rock east of the jetty, although some have hauled out on West Rock.’, ‘max’, ’20:00:48 ,
-2009-08-10′, 0, ‘It now appears as if there are 20 sea lions of both the Northern and California species, both of which have hauled out on Great Race Rock.’, ‘max’, ’19:29:14 ,
-2009-08-11′, 5, ’45 sea lions are now hauled out/in the water in the reserve The painters have returned, starting work on the exterior of the tower. An engineer from Clean Current was also here to perform maintenance on the tidal turbine rectifier.’, ‘max’, ’20:22:25 ,
-2009-08-12′, 2, ’50+ sea lions are noted this evening. 4 sea gull chick carcasses, in various stages of decomposition are also noted, scattered throughout Great Race Rock.’, ‘max’, ’19:15:04 ,
-2009-08-13′, 5, ‘Painters & contractors. 75+ sea lions noted’, ‘max’, ’11:03:14 ,
-2009-08-14′, 2, ’70+ sea lions and one baby elephant seal are hauled out.’, ‘max’, ’19:10:38 ,
-2009-08-15′, 0, ‘The baby elephant seal is present outside the concrete pad again today. Its back is covered in small wounds and every move it takes seems to be an effort. It spent all day sleeping beside the jetty. Wondering if it is sick or in poor health… The number of sea lions -both stellar and California) is growing daily. Most are hauled out on the NE corner of Gr. Race and on Middle Rock. Some are also on the southern rocks as well. A flock of four Canada Geese was present on the island for a few hours this morning. Seagull chicks are still growing, with many spreading their wings and starting to lift off from the ground. Carcasses in various stages of decomposition have been found scattered across the island this week, with two new ones beside the cistern spotted yesterday. Slash has not been seen for a week now. A number of infractions from recreational boats occurred today, including viewing animals from less than 100 metres, fishing and traveling at speeds greater than 7 kts. Recreational boaters are reminded that violation of the Marine Mammal Regulations -rev. 2006) may constitute a fine up to $100 000.’, ‘Adam’, ’21:25:22 ,
-2009-08-04′, 0, ‘he seagull chicks are growing. I haven ”t seen any new chicks in the last week or two, which leads me to believe that everyone has now hatched. None of the young have started to fly yet -as far as I have seen), but many of the chicks appear now to at least realise that the protrusions from their bodies may someday put them in the air. It is quite entertaining to watch the chicks hop up and down and flap their wings before falling on their heads! I haven ”t seen our family of young geese now for a week or so. I suspect that they have outgrown the island and moved off. This week though we did have two stopovers from geese flocks. The first flock consisted of seven individuals while the second had twelve. Each flock landed for a few hours then left. Slash, as always, is still lazing around in the sun on the island. We did have Beatrice return a few weeks ago, but she only stayed for a day or two. I haven ”t seen any more elephant seals these days. Four or five California sea lions have returned to the reserve. Several are currently hauled out on Middle Rock, and several more are hauled out on the northeast corner of Great Race Rock. Unfortunately, they appear to be quite the attraction for whale watching tourists. Many pigeon guillemots are still present across the island, as well as a number of black oystercatchers that can often be seen out on the jetty at night when I do the water sampling. Life underwater is also flourishing, as expected. Yesterday I did two dives off the north side of the island and saw the normal plethora of creatures. Many of my fellow divers also spotted a wolf eel lurking in the upper reef. I, unfortunately, missed it. Pam has also reported seeing an otter skulking around too. I ”ve been on and off the island in the last week quite a bit, so I guess I must have missed it. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’21:27:09 ,
-2009-08-19′, 4, ‘Painters & contractors are continuing work on the lighthouse exterior. Some seagull chicks are managing to fly short distances around Gr Race, and many have started to flap their wings in preparation for flight. The baby elephant seal was not hauled out this morning, but from last night her wounds look as if they are not healing.’, ‘max’, ’10:07:58 ,
-2009-08-25′, 1, ‘Testing Human’, ‘admin’, ’12:31:17 ,
-2009-08-26′, 2, ‘Orcas were spotted along the boundary of the reserve at several points throughout the day today. Our little friend the injured elephant seal has not been seen for several days now. However, the other young seal, possibly a male, was hauled up on the jetty last night. The number of sea lions continues to grow, as does the reach of their haul outs. A particularly stubborn and rather aggressive fellow was inhabiting the jetty this afternoon. Seagull chicks are beginning to lift off. Unfortunately, many are being found to have met their demise at the hands of the river otter which seems to frequent the island regularly these days. Two contractors from Home Energy Solutions in Victoria were here today to install new solar panels.’, ‘Adam’, ’22:41:06 ,
-2009-09-01′, 1, ‘We were fortunate enough to have a demonstration of a SeaLegs vessel yesterday, but our narrow ramp would not permit it to land! Adam left the island yesterday, thanks for all your hard work! Upon returning to the island Chris and Erik pointed out an injured Steller sea lion with a large open wound on its chest. In photographing that one I noticed another Steller with a fresh prop wound on its back and two California sea lions entangled in fishing gear around their necks. That brings my tally up to 5 injured sea lions in 7 days, and I haven ”t exactly been keeping a close eye on them.’, ‘Ryan’, ’07:33:01 ,
-2009-09-02′, 0, ‘Today I spent mainly in Pedder Bay, but I was treated to some nice wildlife moments on the way back to Great Race today at 5:30. First, 20 or so Sooty Shearwaters flew by E to W right as I was passing North Race. Adam and I had another flock of them fly by last week, but at that time there were hundreds flying low to the water. Then as I entered the reserve a Peregrine left the tower and flew towards North Race, getting very low on the water and captured a small bird that had been standing on the bull kelp. The California sea lions have really taken over the jetty, and depending on the time of day there can be Stellers up there too.’, ‘Ryan’, ’18:16:02 ,
-2009-09-06′, 0, ‘The numbers of sea lions -both kinds) have seriously declined over the past two days. With highs of >100 Northerns on Middle Rocks and >50 Californians on the lawn of Great Race 3 days ago, there are just 18 Northerns on Middle Rocks and 6 Californians on the lawn as of 20:00 this evening. I just read that the Sockeye return is an order of magnitude smaller than DFO predicted for this year, though that ”s hardly surprising for a species that DFO manages -just ask Peter Gardner). However, if these sea lions follow the food, then it would be good to know where they go when they leave here.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:26:02 ,
-2009-09-08′, 7, ‘Garry, friends of the ecological reserves as well as Pam Birley and her husband Dennis arrived with Erik today. It was a productive morning with an important biological sample being towed to campus for further work.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:36:10 ,
-2009-09-09′, 0, ‘Jamie and Micah of LGL were out today to spend a damp grey day at the top of the tower observing the sea lions. Not much boat traffic to report.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:26:41 ,
-2009-09-11′, 0, ‘Blasting continued today with 2 more blasts from Bentinck Island. I noticed the second blast caused some stampeding, and that returning today Middle Rocks had only 20 or so sea lions as opposed to the 100+ several days ago. This afternoon the MV DLORNA parked off the jetty for 15 minutes as other recreational boats -Adam ”s Fishing Charter and an unnamed Grady White boat) clogged up the passage trying to get snapshots of the sea lions. ‘, ‘Ryan’, ’17:09:16 ,
-2009-09-13′, 0, ‘Four of the six pleasure craft in the reserve today violated reduced speed regulations. Only 1 of the 4 violators monitored/responded to hails on VHF68. I see in reviewing the log that beyond a certain number of boat entries, they are not displayed -though are still in the database). The display is not designed for real-time entries.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:13:49 ,
-2009-09-15′, 0, ‘Laura ”s Marine Science arrived in the morning for an initial introduction to the ecosystem and the research facilities. Erik and some second year divers came in the evening to pick up the fuel tank in preparation for re-fueling of the station.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:12:09 ,
-2009-09-19′, 0, ‘I noticed that Camera 5 was down today after lunch, and I ”m not sure when it went offline. I apologize for any inconvenience, it is functioning again.’, ‘Ryan’, ’14:04:02 ,
-2009-09-21′, 3, ‘Erik brought out the paint crew again today for what could be their second last week on the job!’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:43:28 ,
-2009-09-23′, 9, ‘Erik brought the painters in the morning and Chris arrived around 3:30 with a group to discuss the tidal generator and our push for renewable energies.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:25:32 ,
-2009-10-08′, 7, ‘The scaffolders and the painters were here today to take down the last bit of scaffolding around the tower. It now shines so brightly! 2 LGL scientists were here as well. The boat traffic, etc associated with all this work combined with some small explosions from DND on Bentinck Island to make it a rather disturbing day for the sea lions hauled out on Great Race.’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:43:53 ,
-2009-10-11′, 12, ‘The Japan House girls are here for the night and were dropped off by Chris and the head of UWC USA and family.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:36:43 ,
-2009-10-12′, 13, ‘The NE delivered a strange wooden box to the kelp bed on the E side of Great Race this morning. With the help of some of the girls staying here overnight, we went and towed it back here for a closer inspection. It was made of wood, ~ 2 ”x 2 ”x 6 ” and the bottom had been fibreglassed. Any nail holes had been filled and the fibreglass resin had been used to coat the entire box. The oysters, tubeworms, and mussels were all of substantial sizes, indicating it had been at sea for a number of years. Interestingly, it had maintained its orientation all these years with all the growth occurring below a constant water line. On the top of the box was the only opening which was filled with a conically-cut wooden plug. Some water had seeped inside this opening. I taught the girls how to safely swing an axe -effectively swinging an axe will be next class!) and we as we opened it up we found it was subdivided into 3 compartments. Chris came for the Japan House girls before 3 as the swells were still building on the jetty. ‘, ‘Ryan’, ’15:38:07 ,
-2009-10-18′, 5, ‘Alisha, Brandi, Emma, Katie, and Oscar -members of the Race Rocks service activity) were out today and helped me install a curtain around the construction materials and crane to keep sea lions out of this area. There has been a real concern that they can hurt themselves in this area and their damage to our infrastructure has been considerable. This was Oscar ”s first time seeing Race Rocks and as we approached the jetty he exclaimed “Wow, Animal Planet! “. Definitely the feeling I get living here :) A buoy with scientific instruments was installed today SW of Great Race.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:00:32 ,
-2009-10-19′, 6, ‘Jonathan and Erik helped the Axys team in installing some weather instrumentation near the diesel tanks.’, ‘Ryan’, ’21:50:07 ,
-2009-11-16′, 2, ‘LGL scientists arrived before 09:00.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:11:00 ,
-2009-11-22′, 0, ‘The AXYS wind sentinel was removed.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:34:50 ,
-2009-12-09′, 9, ‘A visiting professor from College of the Atlantic was accompanied by some marine science students and staff today.’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:48:27 ,
-2010-01-29′, 4, ‘Emily off Jayesh and Elena on Chris visiting’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:34:34 ,
-2010-02-15′, 3, ‘A Coast Guard helicopter came to do some service and maintenance work on the tower. The noise and commotion did little to cool Misery ”s ardor as he continued to mate with Bertha during the landing and power down sequence!’, ‘Ryan’, ’14:55:02 ,
-2010-02-19′, 17, ‘-Colleen ”s advisor group is here for the night -a video crew from Parks was here to get some footage for an upcoming documentary.’, ‘Ryan’, ’22:25:24 ,
-2010-04-27′, 12, ‘Several visitors today including some Pearson employees, someone from UWC London, the roofer, a volunteer from Ontario, and 7 marine science students.’, ‘Ryan’, ’18:59:21 ,
-2010-05-09′, 0, ‘Friends of the Ecological Reserves were able to visit today after their scheduled trip had been delayed several times throughout the year. The weather was pleasant and wind sufficient to keep the kelp flies off as we walked and talked around the island. A botanist in the group remarked on the diversity of grass species on the island.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:46:32 ,
-2010-05-12′, 10, ‘A local Metchosin group visited this evening.’, ‘Ryan’, ’20:55:28 ,
-2010-06-01′, 3, ”, ‘adam’, ’22:45:11 ,
-2010-06-18′, 5, ‘Josh from Maintenance at PC, several students staying the summer at the College and Christina came for a late afternoon tour of the Island. ‘, ‘adam’, ’08:00:01 ,
-2010-06-21′, 20, ‘A school group with students from Japan and New York came for a tour of the island today.’, ‘adam’, ’18:18:20 ,
-2010-06-22′, 5, ‘Erik, the two winch mechanics and their two guests visited the island today.’, ‘adam’, ’18:40:47 ,
-2010-06-27′, 5, ‘David H. brought out two visitors from the Adriatic College today for a tour. Max and Ebony are also on the Island.’, ‘adam’, ’18:18:02 ,
-2010-06-28′, 5, ‘Erik and Al the plumber visited RR today. Ebony departed on the outgoing boat. David H. came later in the afternoon with some guests for a quick tour.’, ‘adam’, ’20:07:33 ,
-2010-07-08′, 12, ‘Chris, Erik and Garry came out this morning with a crew from BC Parks. Bill and Susan also came out so Bill could replace the desalinator door -good work Bill). Bruce visited later in the day to finish maintenance on the winch. My friend Graham is also here visiting for a few days. ‘, ‘adam’, ’19:25:28 ,
-2010-07-15′, 3, ‘Two folks from Environment Canada came out today to service the anemometer on the tower. Erik drove them out.’, ‘adam’, ’22:13:51 ,
-2010-07-14′, 1, ‘A roofing contractor stopped by today for a brief visit to inspect the roof of the main residence. Plans are in the works to begin some badly needed re-roofing.’, ‘adam’, ’22:15:06 ,
-2010-07-28′, 7, ‘David and family came to RR for an overnight trip last night.’, ‘adam’, ’08:53:20 ,
-2010-08-02′, 4, ‘A film crew of four from Germany arrived late last night to spend the week making a documentary TV show about Race Rocks. Will air on public TV in Germany!’, ‘adam’, ’10:12:40 ,
-2010-09-10′, 1, ‘A First Nations fisher who visited the reserve last week returned today. He anchored and fished in 4 or 5 locations around the Rockfish Conservation Area, catching lingcod, cabezon, and several rockfish species. This individual informed me he had talked with the Chief at Beecher Bay and received written permission to fish this area as he is not a member of either of the 4 local tribes.’, ‘Ryan’, ’13:18:55 ,
-2010-09-15′, 40, ‘I share here an educational example of the interaction of Eco Tour vessels and the wildlife at Race Rocks. This occurred from 10:50 to 11:05 this morning: A Seafun Safaris boat entered the reserve first and maintained a respectable distance from marine mammals while making a passive drift tour of the sea lions hauled out on Great Race Island. The driver obviously is aware of and believes in the importance of the PWWA ”s stewardship protocols for viewing wildlife at Race Rocks. The Eagle Wing Tours vessel “Gold Wing ” entered the reserve and approached the Seafun Safaris vessel motoring against the current. Its noisy, active approach alerted the Steller sea lions on the NE corner of Great Race Island causing some individuals to take to the water. The Seafun Safaris vessel finished its drift tour and left the reserve after a respectful and sustainable tour. The Eagle Wing Tours vessel drifted and motored against the current several more times while viewing the sea lions on Great Race Island before motoring further against the current to view the sea lions on Middle Rocks. Sound and traffic congestion in the narrow channels are concerns for both Ecological Reserve management and community stakeholders. All vessels are reminded that passive drift tours are encouraged “whenever possible “, particularly in conditions of rippled seas as we are enjoying today.’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:10:13 ,
-2010-10-31′, 5, ‘Project Week finished, 4 students returned to campus.’, ‘Ryan’, ’12:24:42 ,
-2010-11-03′, 0, ‘5 roofers worked from 10:00 to 16:00, removing shingles from the main house. ‘, ‘VirginieLP’, ’08:22:40 ,
-2010-11-04′, 2, ‘roofers arrived at 10:30 and left at 17:00’, ‘VirginieLP’, ’19:20:45 ,
-2010-11-05′, 4, ‘4 roofers arrived at 9:30 and left earlier than planned -14:00) due to weather -strong W winds and intermittent drizzling rain).’, ‘VirginieLP’, ’12:12:54 ,
-2010-11-07′, 3, ‘Alex and Ian left Race Rocks at 16:30. Raisa returned to Race Rocks with friends Jackie and Taylor. ‘, ‘VirginieLP’, ’08:16:10 ,
-2010-11-10′, 0, ‘Eric and Jonathan arrived at 10:00. Jonathan checked on Cam. 5 and brought it back to campus for further examination. Raisa, Jacquie, Taylor, Eric and Jonathan left the island around 11:00. ‘, ‘VirginieLP’, ’11:14:17 ,
-2010-11-21′, 3, ‘Alex, Carmen and Ian left with Chris at 12:00’, ‘VirginieLP’, ’20:25:10 ,
-2010-11-23′, 3, ‘Ryan, Chris and Alex came to the island to help out with a few post-blizzard repair projects. ‘, ‘VirginieLP’, ’17:41:08 ,
-2010-11-24′, 2, ‘Erik and Alex arrived 11 am. Erik stayed an hour to fix frozen water lines. Alex is staying on until mid december.’, ‘AlexF’, ’21:47:45 ,
-2010-11-25′, 1, ‘Erik came out around 1030 and picked up Virginie who has completed her shift on the island.’, ‘AlexF’, ’20:18:11 ,
-2010-11-28′, 2, ‘LGL monitoring’, ‘AlexF’, ’09:17:00 ,
-2010-11-29′, 2, ‘LGL monitoring’, ‘AlexF’, ’09:20:22 ,
-2010-11-30′, 3, ‘2 people from LGL monitoring of DND came around 830 am and left around 3 pm Erik arrived with divers around 430pm, Raisa stayed and Alex went off island’, ‘AlexF’, ’09:44:46 ,
-2010-12-05′, 0, ‘at about 14:30 Chris picked up Ryan, Raisa and group of students, dropped off Alex’, ‘AlexF’, ’09:28:05 ,
-2010-12-09′, 4, ‘Chris and Raisa came out with two guests around 16:00 to drop off some supplies.’, ‘AlexF’, ’22:24:53 ,
-2010-12-13′, 4, ‘Erik came out in the morning with Don -electrician)and his two sons to deliver two new furnaces and do some work on the island. Erik returned to campus and came back out around 15:00 to pick them up.’, ‘AlexF’, ’09:09:41 ,
-2010-12-15′, 1, ‘Erik came out in the morning to do some work, left around 13:00.’, ‘AlexF’, ’08:58:22 ,
-2011-01-20′, 2, ”, ‘Raisa’, ’11:37:56 ,
-2011-01-24′, 3, ‘Erik came out with Alex around 13:30. Alex stayed and Ryan departed Race Rocks. ‘, ‘AlexF’, ’19:18:17 ,
-2011-01-25′, 1, ‘Ryan came back out with Erik and divers and gave Alex a ride off island’, ‘AlexF’, ’13:35:04 ,
-2011-01-29′, 16, ‘A group of 6 kayakers visited the reserve today around noon. They did not disturb any marine mammals. Most of the foraging seabirds relocated away from the reserve during their visit but returned later in the day. A faculty member from Pearson College and 6 of his students are here for a second night. A visiting Pearson College alum is being hosted at the Main Residence.’, ‘Raisa’, ’17:50:01 ,
-2011-02-02′, 7, ‘Chris brought Raisa, Sarah Nelems, Garry, Alex and Virginie out to Race Rocks around 11:00. Spent a bout an hour on the island, left Alex and Virginie on race rocks to caretake while Ryan and Raisa are on vacation. Max came out around 14:00 with hyaku to take off garbage.’, ‘AlexF’, ’08:06:58 ,
-2011-02-03′, 7, ‘6 divers and Chris worked on conduit for new underwater camera to be installed at the end of the jetty.’, ‘VirginieLP’, ’08:28:00 ,
-2011-02-09′, 0, ‘Max brought back 1 fridge and 1 freezer that were not functioning back to the College. Eric is more than halfway through dismantling one of the diesel tanks. ‘, ‘VirginieLP’, ’08:36:02 ,
-2011-02-08′, 0, ‘The two old furnaces have been sent back to Pearson College. ‘, ‘VirginieLP’, ’08:36:47 ,
-2011-02-10′, 0, ‘Eric finished dismantling the diesel tank. Coast guards Leonard and Jeff stopped by helicopter to do some lighthouse maintenance and volunteered to help us move the tank back to campus. It took 4 trips to move all the parts to the PC parking lot using 3 heavy duty nets. Their help was really appreciated!’, ‘VirginieLP’, ’20:02:20 ;
INSERT INTO `visitors` -`day`, `qty`, `notes`, `puser`, `ptime`) VALUES
-2011-04-09′, 1, ‘A visiting Pearson alum clued up his volunteer service at Race Rocks today. In other news, increased US Navy and Coast Guard activity was punctuated today when the HOS Arrowhead and HOS Eagleview made an extraordinarily close pass of Race Rocks while flanking a nuclear submarine West out the Juan de Fuca Strait. Radio communication on VHF Ch.16 indicated they were “2.5 miles SW of Race Rocks “. Other activity in recent weeks has included live fire exercises by USCG medium response boat -RBM) SSE of Race Rocks on 03/15/11 and 500-foot low altitude helicopter flights through the reserve by USCG helicopter on 04/05/11.’, ‘Ryan’, ’18:04:10 ,
-2011-05-19′, 38, ‘The Pearson College first year marine science students visisted RR for their field exam, accompanied by Laura and Jonathan. The electrician also made a quick visit to the island, and later in the day a Pearson student, his mother and a UWC Red Cross alumnus arrived to stay overnight.’, ‘Adam’, ’07:52:51 ,
-2011-07-05′, 0, ‘At 0840hrs a floatplane flew low over Great Race towards Victoria Harbour. A licence number or company name was not obtained. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’08:39:53 ,
-2011-07-02′, 3, ”, ‘Adam’, ’08:40:33 ,
-2011-07-04′, 0, ‘At around 1200hrs a vessel -license #25K5588) with 7 persons on board entered the Reserve and began to fish on the south side of North Race, within the limits of the RCA. The vessel was reported to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Violation Reporting Hotline. Shortly after, the vessel stopped fishing and motored towards Great Race at high speed. The vessel then slowed and approached the rocks near the sea lion haulout on the NE corner of Great Race. At this point, the Eco-Guardian had left the house and headed down to get a closer look. By the time the Eco-Guardian reached the rocks, the vessel had made contact with the rocks and deposited three young children -6-10 yrs, all female) on the rocks. The boat was floating offshore at approximately 10-15 feet from the rocks, with two adult males and an adult female holding a young child. Asked of their intentions, the folks on board said they were just letting the children play around in the intertidal. The Eco-Guardian then informed them both of the no-fishing rule at Race Rocks and that they weren’t allowed to land their boat on the rocks and walk around. The gentlemen said they were from Alberta and had no idea that these rules were in place and that they would depart immediately. The girls were plucked off the rocks and the boat departed the Reserve. At around 1330hrs an aluminum runabout -no license number obtained) proceeded at very high speed through the main channel between Great Race and Middle Race in the direction west to east. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’09:57:48 ,
-2011-05-28′, 0, ‘A low-flying Canadian Search and Rescue helicopter flew over the south side of the Reserve.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:39:46 ,
-2011-06-18′, 0, ‘A low-flying aircraft flew SW to NE over the island, heading in the direction of Victoria.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:40:40 ,
-2011-05-12′, 0, ‘The vessel “Servus “, license 14K3162 passed E to W through the Reserve at high speed.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:42:01 ,
-2011-05-14′, 0, ‘The vessel Sondrah-Leah passed at high speed E to W through the Reserve.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:43:06 ,
-2011-05-22′, 0, ‘The vessel “Chinook Spirit ” passed at high speed through the Reserve, maneuvered unnecessarily in the main current channel and approached close to sea lions on Middle Rock.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:44:07 ,
-2011-05-23′, 0, ‘A small zodiac passed at high speed through the channel between North Race and Middle Race.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:44:56 ,
-2011-06-01′, 0, ‘The vessel “Draggin ” Balls ” passed at high speed E to W through the Reserve. The MV Eaglewing of Eagle Wing Tours entered the Reserve while orcas were active within the Reserve. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’16:52:58 ,
-2011-07-01′, 0, ‘The vessel “Chinook Spirit ” passed at high speed through the Reserve, maneuvered unnecessarily in the main current channel and blasted its horn while in close proximity to harbour seals. Three OBMG boats were found to be fishing in the Reserve through the day. Pedder Bay Marina was notified of each incident and sent a staff member to intercept the vessels.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:50:54 ,
-2011-05-06′, 0, ‘A OBMG rental boat was found fishing in the main current channel. The Eco-Guardians were able to communicate the RCA rules and the vessel departed. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’16:48:02 ,
-2011-06-05′, 0, ‘A small zodiac with two gentlemen on board was found to be fishing near West Race. The station vessel was launched and the Eco-Guardian communicated the RCA rules. The gentlemen were unaware of the rules. They also informed the Eco-Guardian that they had dropped a crab pot near West Race but had subsequently lost it as their line was too short.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:49:34 ,
-2011-06-09′, 0, ‘A small zodiac with 3 persons on board approached within 100 metres to sealions on the NE haulout.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:53:57 ,
-2011-06-28′, 0, ‘Blasting occurred at DND Rocky Point today. Numerous blasts were heard throughout the day including several spaced at intervals less than 10 minutes apart. Some sets of detonations also occurred in series of three. This activity does not conform to the guidelines layed out on the RR website at http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/admin/military.htm.’, ‘Adam’, ’16:56:38 ,
-2011-07-06′, 0, ‘At 1042hrs PDT a floatplane flew over Great Race at less than 1000ft heading W to E. No license number or company name was obtained.’, ‘Adam’, ’11:22:36 ,
-2011-07-07′, 5, ‘Two technicians from Environment Canada arrived today to service some weather instruments. Erik and two students came out to help unload some equipment.’, ‘Adam’, ’12:09:50 ,
-2011-07-09′, 0, ‘At 0835hrs PDT a Pat Bay Air floatplane flew over Great Race at less than 1000 ft, entering from a direction WNW and exiting E. The aircraft license number was C-FGLU. At approximately 1135hrs PDT an OBMG rental boat was found to be intermittently maneuvering unnecessarily in the main channel west of Great Race, and to the SW corner of Great Race. The cessel made a pattern of slowing down, speeding up, slowing down, speeding up. Two persons on board, license number 14K37828. At 1259hrs PDT a pleasure vessel passed over Rosedale Reef at high speed in a direction W to E. No license number or photos obtained. At 1845hrs PDT a white fibreglass vessel with three persons -man, woman, child) on board was spotted fishing in the RCA in the vicinity of the tidal turbine. The name was “The Liquidator ” and the license #6K155545. The incident was reported to DFO and by 1858hrs PDT the vessel had departed in the direction of Becher Bay. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’19:04:04 ,
-2011-07-11′, 0, ‘At 0835hrs PDT a floatplane flew W to E over the south side of the Reserve under 1000 ft. No license or photos obtained. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’08:36:03 ,
-2011-07-12′, 3, ‘David and friends arrived for an overnight stay. At 1950hrs PDT a Canadian Coast Guard chopper flew in from the west over the strait and circled the tower once before heading east in the direction of the CCG Victoria base. Suspect they were performing a quick visual inspection of their equipment while on a return trip from servicing stations up the coast. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’21:31:29 ,
-2011-07-14′, 1, ‘At 0945hrs PDT a recreational vessel with a man and a woman on board entered from the NE near North Rock at high speed and approached Great Race where they slowed down to transit the Reserve. DND has been blasting since 0900hrs this morning. A Pearson alumn arrived today to help with some projects over the next few days. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’17:32:28 ,
-2011-07-15′, 0, ‘At around 1430hrs PDT a vessel was spotted fishing within the limits of the RCA. The vessel was reported to DFO and is described as an aluminum vessel, 3 persons on board, license number BC580071. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’16:46:16 ,
-2011-07-21′, 1, ‘A scientist from DFO ”s Institute of Ocean Sciences visited RR this morning to discuss the collection of seawater temperature and density readings. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’13:45:16 ,
-2011-07-16′, 0, ‘At 0840hrs PDT a floatplane flew low from W to E over the south side of the Reserve. At 0930hrs PDT a OBMG rental boat was spotted maneuvering carelessly near the SW side of Great Race. At 1000hrs PDT the United States Coast Guard Cutter Swordfish entered the E side of the Reserve and approached Great Race. A launch boat with three persons on board was deployed and began to maneuver carelessly and at excessive speed along the E and SE side of Great Race and over Rosedale Reef. VHF contact with the captain of the USCG Cutter Swordfish was made and the vessel left shortly thereafter. At 1030hrs PDT a recreational vessel was spotted fishing near North Race. The license number 13K115028 was recorded and reported to DFO. The station vessel was launched and the violators were spoken to. At ~1400hrs PDT a vessel was observed speeding through the channel between North Race and Middle Rock. In the late afternoon a vessel drifted in and out of the Reserve on the current while fishing. The incident was reported to DFO. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’15:17:27 ,
-2011-07-22′, 0, ‘At 0838hrs PDT a Pat Bay Air floatplane, license number C-FGLU flew W to E over the south side of Great Race under 1000 ft. At 0956hrs PDT an aluminum boat sped over Rosedale Reef at a speed greater than 7 knots. At 1200hrs PDT an OBMG rental boat sped over Rosedale Reef at a speed greater than 7 knots. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’16:32:49 ,
-2011-07-24′, 2, ‘At 0837hrs PDT a floatplane flew from W to E over the south side of the Reserve at an altitude less than 1000 ft. At 1015hrs PDT an aluminum vessel with red markings and a red canopy passed at high speed over Rosedale Reef. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’21:59:21 ,
-2011-07-25′, 2, ‘At 1438hrs PDT a float plane flew E to W over the north side of the Reserve under 1000 ft. At 1614hrs PDT a float plane flew W to E over the south side of the Reserve under 1000 ft. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’16:48:02 ,
-2011-07-26′, 2, ‘At 0836hrs PDT a floatplane flew W to E over the south side of the Reserve under 1000 ft. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’08:42:01 ,
-2011-07-27′, 7, ‘Mid-morning -exact time n/r) a small aluminum vessel with 4 persons on board entered the main channel and transited W to E to the NE corner of Great Race at which point they proceeded to throttle up, maneuver around the kelp beds and out of the Reserve. At 1350hrs PDT an aluminum vessel with 4 persons on board was spotted fishing in a line drawn directly westward from North Race. A license number was not recorded. At 1357hrs PDT a vessel was spotted transiting the west side of the Reserve at high speed -14K 27490). At 1357hrs PDT a fibreglass vessel -WN 0516 NH) was spotted fishing on the W side of Great Race within the limits of the RCA. This incident was reported to the DFO Fisheries Violation Reporting Hotline. At 1425hrs PDT a pod of orcas passed over Rosedale Reef from E to W. A whale watching boat -red/orange RHIB, name not visible) previously outside the Reserve and following the whales, approached within 100 metres of the pod and followed the whales into the Reserve. As the whales passed through the Reserve, the vessel headed south towards the green buoy but ultimately passed on the Reserve side of the buoy. This action is in violation of the PWWA guidelines stating that eco-tour vessel operators must not follow whales into the Reserve. Photos of the incident were taken. At 1430hrs PDT, Chris, Garry, Andrew and son, two photographers and an employee from the Development Office arrived at RR for a tour/meeting. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’17:01:07 ,
-2011-07-29′, 0, ‘At 1230hrs PDT a vessel -13K 116013) was observed entering the Reserve under high speed from the west. Within 100 metres of Great Race, the vessel slowed, passed near Rosedale Reef, then turned around and sped back out to the west under high power. Mid-afternoon, a vessel was spotted drifting into the NW side of the Reserve while fishing. The vessel departed after about 10 minutes. At ~1515hrs PDT a red eco-tour zodiac -company name not visible) transited the main channel from E to W at a speed greater than 7 knots and fast enough to keep the vessel up on a plane. At 1533hrs PDT a floatplane passed from E to W over the north side of the Reserve. At ~1600hrs PDT a whale watching vessel approached closer than 100 metres to a California sea lion hauled out near the derrick. The vessel was actually within the kelp bed off the rocks. Upon sighting me [Adam] the vessel backed off and sped through the main channel to the west. After passing between West Race and Middle Race, the vessel throttled up well within the limits of the Reserve. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’16:54:14 ,
-2011-07-31′, 1, ‘At 0842hrs PDT a floatplane flew W to E over the south side of the Reserve. At 1017hrs PDT a floatplane flew in from the E, banked over top of the south side of the Reserve then headed SE towards the Puget Sound region. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’20:55:16 ,
-2011-08-01′, 18, ‘At 0835hrs PDT a floatplane flew W to E over the south side of the Reserve under 1000 ft. At 1035hrs PDT a small RHIB entered the east side of the Reserve near North Race at high speed. The vessel proceeded to transit the main passage to the south side of Middle Race where they approached within 30 metres of harbour seals on the Rocks. At least 25 seals took flight to the water. At ~1100hrs PDT a vessel was spotted entering the Reserve from the east at high speed. At ~1330hrs PDT a vessel was spotted transiting the main passage at very high speed. Communication was made with the vessel and it slowed. At 1510hrs PDT an OBMG vessel was spotted fishing within the limits of the Reserve. PBM was alerted. The vessel was halted by another recreational fishermen before PBM staff could respond. At 1515hrs PDT an OBMG vessel was spotted speeding in the waters west of Great Race. The vessel eventually departed. At 1515hrs PDT a recreational vessel was spotted fishing near West Race. The station vessel was launched to intercept the violators and they departed shortly thereafter. At ~1900hrs PDT a recreational vessel was spotted speeding into the eastern portion of the Reserve in the direction of the North Race-Middle Race channel. The vessel slowed before entering the channel. Divers from Ocean Educations arrived in the afternoon to dive off the front side of the island. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’20:54:17 ,
-2011-08-03′, 0, ‘At 0742hrs PDT a vessel passed at very high speed from W to E over Rosedale Reef. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’09:58:37 ,
-2011-08-05′, 4, ‘As of last night, the RR weather station is once again successfully uploading data to the internet. Also, apologies for the technical issues we are experiencing with camera 5. We are investigating and will hopefully have the unit up and running soon. Trevor and Flo Anderson, lightkeepers at Race Rocks from July 28, 1966 until March 2, 1982 had a very pleasant visit at Race Rocks today. Trev and Flo provided endless stories of their 16 years here and certainly provided some historical tidbits for our benefit. Many, many things have changed on the Island since the Anderson ”s time. Garry accompanied while Erik drove the boat. The Anderson ”s file may be found at: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/history/rrkeeper/rr66-82/anderson.htm. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’21:12:13 ,
-2011-08-06′, 4, ‘At 0845hrs PDT a vessel was spotted speeding through the SW side of the Reserve in the fog. At 0958hrs PDT a vessel was spotted speeding W to E over Rosedale Reef. At ~1100hrs PDT two vessels were spotted fishing at North Race. By the time the station vessel was launched and on scene, the vessels had departed. At ~1120hrs PDT a vessel was spotted entering the Reserve from the NW at high speed. It slowed as it passed the station vessel. At ~1130hrs PDT a vessel was spotted entering the main channel from the E. It slowed while it transited the passage then sped up as it exited the Reserve. At 1214hrs PDT a vessel passed from E to W through the passage between North Race and Middle race at a speed capable of producing significant wake. At 1215hrs PDT a vessel passed W to E over Rosedale Reef at very high speed. At ~1400hrs PDT a small aluminum vessel was spotted speeding out of the Reserve. The station vessel, already on the water nearby, chased the vessel down and asked the mariners to slow down. They were friendly and complied. At 1709hrs PDT an OBMG vessel was spotted speeding into the Reserve near North Race. The vessel transited the main passage slowly then provided to speed up and circle West Race before heading back to PB. At 1746hrs PDT a large fibreglass cabin cruiser was spotted trolling in close proximity to West Race within the limits of the RCA and pulling up fish. The station vessel was launched and the friendly persons on board happily agreed to move their fishing activities elsewhere. At 1845hrs PDT two vessels travelling side by side passed at high speed from SE to NW over Rosedale Reef. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’18:51:23 ,
-2011-08-07′, 1, ‘At ~1400hrs PDT a vessel was spotted fishing on the E side of the South Rocks kelp bed. The station vessel was launched and the vessel was found to be in 106 ft. of water. The four older folks on board proved to be extremely friendly and stated that they had just purchased the boat the week before and it was their very first time on the water! We actually had a great 20 minute conversation about Race Rocks, fishing restrictions, how to distinguish between different types of salmon and general boating practices -how to use a VHF!). The folks were very happy to find out the area was protected and happily moved to deeper waters. At ~1430hrs PDT a large aluminum vessel entered the W side of the main channel, slowed to look at sea lions on Middle Race, then sped through the main channel to North Race where they approached extremely close to seals hauled out on the rocks. At ~1445hrs PDT a small aluminum vessel was spotted fishing on the W corner of the North Race kelp bed. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’17:10:26 ,
-2011-08-08′, 0, ‘At 0952hrs PDT a Prince of Whales vessel was spotted ripping out of the main channel heading westbound into the Strait. At 1130hrs PDT a small, white, fibreglass vessel was spotted entering the west side of the Reserve and transiting at high speed around West Race before leaving the Reserve and heading in the direction of Pedder Bay. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’11:32:27 ,
-2011-08-09′, 6, ‘At 0829hrs PDT a floatplane flew under 1000 ft from E to W over Rosedale Reef. A pod of orcas passed through Race Passage -W to E) this afternoon. At one point, at least 15 whale watching vessels were in pursuit. Subsequently, heavy eco-tour traffic was experienced in the Reserve this afternoon. Most vessels respected established guidelines, but there were a few notable exceptions: 1. Birds of a Feather approached within 100 metres of California sea lions hauled out near the jetty. The sealions did not upset as there was already activity on the jetty. 2. A vessel from Seaquest based out of Sidney was observed speeding into the east side of the Reserve, well within the limits of the 7 knot speed restriction, then later observed speeding out in the same direction. 3. Several other vessel were observed speeding within the boundaries of the Reserve, either to obtain a better vantage point for viewing whales or to shorten travel time to the whales once the whales had moved well past Race Rocks. Luke came out to RR to dive this afternoon with Adam to help take measurements of the materials testing platform and for pleasure. Erik and Hao also arrived as did a contact from “The Big Blue Technologies ” of Victoria and his two young kids. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’19:39:55 ,
-2011-08-10′, 4, ‘At 1111hrs PDT a Prince of Whales vessel was spotted entering the Reserve at high speed in close proximity to West Race. A CCG helicopter did a reconnaissance flight around the tower this morning. Erik and Evgeny arrived to install the cable for the new underwater camera. Two techs from Environment Canada arrived to work on their weather equipment. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’11:46:34 ,
-2011-08-11′, 2, ‘At ~1935hrs PDT a vessel was spotted fishing within the limits of the RCA in close proximity to the E side of Rosedale Reef. The vessel eventually made its way out. At 1245hrs PDT a vessel was spotted speeding into the Reserve from the E side. The station vessel was already on the water and advised the mariners to slow down. At least 4 OBMG vessels were spotted this afternoon approaching close to mammals on Middle Rock and on Great Race and proceeding at a speed in excess of 7 knots. Ocean Magic II produced a very large wake this afternoon while transiting the Middle-North Race channel against the current. At 1945hrs PDT a CCG or CCGA rescue RHIB transited the South Passage E to W, then the main passage W to E. Once near the jetty end of the passage, the vessel throttled up and proceeded to power through the Middle-North Race Passage at high speed before exiting into Race Passage heading westbound. At 2010hrs PDT a floatplane flew exceptionally low over the N side of the Reserve, E to W. No license/company name obtained. Overall, yesterday and today were very traffic-heavy days due to whales in the area. At times 8 or more boats were in the Reserve at any single time. Two techs arrived from Environment Canada to finish servicing the EC weather equipment at the top of the tower.’, ‘Adam’, ’20:07:44 ,
-2011-08-15′, 0, ‘At 1313hrs PDT a small aluminum runabout with 3 POB was found to be approaching too close to sea lions on the NE corner, then speeding out of the Reserve. Around 75 sea lions have hauled out today. A pod of transient orcas was spotted passing W to E through Race Passage this afternoon. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’19:56:12 ,
-2011-08-14′, 0, ‘At 1202hrs PDT a red eco-tour RHIB was spotted pulling up kelp on the W side of the South Rocks kelp bed. No kelp was cut although kelp was certainly pulled onboard the vessel for examination before being released. The license number of the vessel was CO2242BC with the name “Kodiak “. Photos are on file. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’07:29:16 ,
-2011-08-17′, 1, ‘A second-year Pearson student arrived today to volunteer until classes resume in a couple of weeks. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’07:30:00 ,
-2011-08-18′, 0, ‘At 0800hrs PDT a vessel was spotted trolling along the N side of North Rock. At 0800hrs PDT a second vessel was spotted trolling along the N side of North Rock. At 0800hrs PDT a third vessel was spotted trolling along the N side of North Rock. At 0825hrs PDT a fourth vessel was spotted trolling along the N side of North Rock. At 0825hrs PDT an OBMG vessel was spotted trolling along the N side of North Rock. At 0833hrs PDT the OBMG vessel previously found to be fishing was spotted speeding through the Reserve on the N side of North Rock. At 0936hrs PDT a small aluminum vessel was spotted fishing near the kelp bed on the east side of the south rocks. By the time the station vessel was launched the vessel had departed. At 1014hrs PDT large fibreglass boat was spotted trolling through the RCA north of North Rock. At 1250hrs PDT an OBMG vessel was spotted fishing east of Rosedale Reef. The station boat was deployed to deal with the issue. At 1545hrs PDT a large displacement hull vessel passed through the narrow, small channel between Great Race and the south rocks and was thus in close proximity to sea lions swimming around East Bay. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’15:52:04 ,
-2011-08-20′, 0, ‘At 0845hrs PDT an OBMG vessel was spotted speeding along the outside of the kelp bed east of Great Race. At 0906hrs PDT a red vessel was spotted speeding out of the west side of the main channel. At 0932hrs PDT an aluminum vessel with blue trim was spotted speeding out of the west side of the main channel. At ~1000hrs PDT the eco-tour vessel Serengeti from Seafun Safaris was spotted speeding out of the Reserve around the kelp bed east of Great Race. At ~1000hrs PDT a white vessel was spotted speeding into the Reserve from the east side of the main channel. At 1016hrs PDT a blue aluminum vessel with ~3 POB was spotted speeding into the Reserve beside West Race. The vessel slowed once it actually entered the kelp bed near Middle Race. The vessel proceeded to transit the main passage W to E, then turn around and transit E to W before throttling up at the western edge of Great Race. At 1025hrs PDT a white vessel was spotted speeding into Rosedale Reef via the edge of the kelp bed east of Great Race. The vessel approached less than 100 metres to the South Rocks before turning around and proceeding around the kelp bed to the main channel, eastern boundary. The vessel proceeded to the NE sea lion haul out and approached within 20 metres of sea lions on the jetty. Three persons were on board the vessel with license number BC1668350. At 1040hrs PDT a white Bayliner with three persons on board proceeded to approach within 100 metres of sea lions hauled out on the jetty and on the NE rocks. The vessel license number was BC1668350. This incident was reported to DFO. At 1130hrs PDT a white Bayliner with blue trim and four persons on board proceeded to approach within 100 metres of sea lions hauled out on the jetty and NE rocks. The vessel also made a point of circling and maneuvering unnecessarily in front of the jetty while sea lions were in the water. The vessel name was Sea Sprite and the license number is 2J 3444. This incident was reported to DFO. At 1145hrs PDT an aluminum vessel with blue trim was spotted fishing around the east side of the kelp bed east of Great Race. The vessel continued to fish as it trolled towards Great Race, crossed the main channel and exited via the North-Middle Race channel. The vessel license number was BC1589784. Three persons on board. This incident was reported to DFO. At 1215hrs PDT a small fibreglass vessel was spotted speeding out of the Reserve near North Race. At 1327hrs PDT an aluminum vessel with a canvas canopy sped around and into the Reserve via the kelp bed east of Great Race. At 1235hrs PDT a grey RHIB sped into the Middle-North Race channel while producing significant wake. At 1343hrs PDT a fibreglass vessel was spotted speeding into the Reserve on the south side of Great Race. The vessel slowed eventually. At 1347hrs PDT the aluminum vessel spotted at 1327hrs was found to be speeding out of the Reserve heading east. At 1347hrs PDT a small fibreglass vessel with two persons on board was found to approaching closer than 100 metres to sea lions near the jetty. THis vessel sped westward out of the Reserve at 1352hrs PDT. At 1416hrs PDT the grey RHIB previously found to be speeding into the Reserve was spotted speeding out towards the east. At 1439hrs PDT Ocean Magic entered the Reserve at a speed greater than 7 knots producing a very large wake. At 1440hrs PDT an OBMG vessel was found to be within 100 metres of sealions on the jetty. At 1440hrs PDT a small white fibreglass vessel was found to be speeding into the Reserve from the east. At 1442hrs PDT a white fibreglass vessel was found to be speeding out of the Reserve heading east. At 1512hrs PDT a white fibreglass vessel was spotted speeding out of the Reserve heading eastbound.’, ‘Adam’, ’15:08:59 ,
-2011-08-21′, 2, ‘DFO Fisheries Officer Cam Blacklock and BC Parks Ranger Jenn Plotnikoff visited the island today.’, ‘Adam’, ’08:04:07 ,
-2011-08-25′, 0, ‘At 1019hrs PDT a vessel was spotted speeding out of the Reserve heading west. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’10:16:15 ,
-2011-08-27′, 2, ‘At ~1000hrs PDT the vessel “Rogue ” was spotted speeding out of the Reserve and maneuvering unnecessarily. At ~1014hrs PDT a Prince of Whales vessel was spotted throttling up and speeding out of the Reserve. A small runabout with three POB pulled up to the island this afternoon, out of gas and with battery issues. The ecoguardian sold some gas to the men and helped them to recharge their battery before they headed off towards Becher Bay. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’19:10:53 ,
-2011-08-30′, 0, ‘At 1422hrs PDT a vessel was spotted passing over Rosedale Reef E to W at high speed. A pod of orcas was observed passing through Race Passage W to E this afternoon. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’14:22:17 ,
-2011-08-31′, 0, ‘An OBMG vessel was spotted transiting the main passage at very high speed ~1245hrs. The vessel also approached too close to sea lions on the Rocks. A fishing vessel entered the Reserve at high speed this afternoon. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’13:07:47 ,
-2011-09-01′, 0, ‘This is Adam ”s last day at Race Rocks. Passing the torch off to Ryan once again. ‘, ‘Adam’, ’08:06:09 ,
-2011-09-03′, 0, ‘The weekend was not as busy as I had expected, however there were hundreds of people here from sunrise to sunset. The general public has shown increased knowledge or respect for the reserve guidelines and the majority of the traffic was sight-seers. I am pleased to report there were 0 marine mammal disturbances yesterday. However, rental boats with weekend-warrior fishermen continue to threaten the Race Rocks ecosystem. Pedder Bay Marina continues to respond to reports from the Eco-Guardian concerning illegal fishing by their customers. There were 6 boats poaching in the reserve yesterday, half belonging to Pedder Bay Marina.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:59:59 ,
-2011-09-04′, 200, ‘A distinctly different type of person on the water today. As of 13:30 there have been 4 Bayliner-type vessels speed through the reserve. A recreational fishing vessel serial 14K36817 has been illegally fishing the RCA for over an hour now. When hailed on VHF68 an anonymous station twice responded with profanities after which radio communications were obstructed by loud music playing over an open mic. Earlier today a call was put into Pedder Bay Marina to stop their vessels fishing and pulling kelp.’, ‘Ryan’, ’13:34:31 ,
-2011-09-10′, 0, ‘I counted 65 boats in the reserve today, just under half were visits by eco-tours. Recreational boaters did not cause any disturbances and all but 5 kept to the 7 knot speed limit for the reserve. One recreational fisher poached in the reserve off North Race before leaving to fish in Pedder Bay.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:32:13 ,
-2011-09-16′, 8, ‘Divers attached buoys to the 4 anchor blocks this morning as the tidal turbine removal gears up.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:04:30 ,
-2011-09-24′, 41, ‘Transient & Resident orcas as well as Humpback whales brought eco-tour vessels from all over the Salish Sea to Race Rocks today. 41 vessels were counted as of 15:00. A maximum of 12 vessels were in the reserve at any one time. The manoeuvring and repositioning of 20+ vessels in Race Passage and surrounding the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve was enough at times to drown out the sea gulls and sea lions on Great Race. The Vancouver-based Vancouver Whale Watching had two boats transit the reserve in pursuit of both orcas and humpbacks. A spokesperson for Vancouver Whale Watching indicated that their vessels do not pursue or chase the whales, they are there to watch them. The Explorathor Express and Explorathor II both entered the reserve from the W -watching whales from behind) as the orcas and humpbacks transited W to E through the N and S ends of the reserve. The Peregrine, a Washington-based ecotour vessel followed the pattern of the previous two boats. I am happy to report that local eco-tours showed respect for the Ecological Reserve and did not enter the waters surrounding Race Rocks when the whales were present. The FastCat vessel however did not wait until it was 400 yards away from Great Race before exceeding 7 knots as it exited the reserve to watch whales as they moved East.’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:12:08 ,
-2011-09-27′, 4, ‘LGL continues their monitoring today. Erik and Evgeny arrived to work on the underwater camera. I am very excited for this to be online. In just a few seconds of watching I ”ve seen 4 species of fish and a couple sea lions swim by.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:56:58 ,
-2011-10-04′, 16, ‘Erik, Catrin and her first year Biology class came today to for work on the u/w camera installation and study of populations and communities respectively.’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:00:00 ,
-2011-10-30′, 10, ‘5 First Year and 2 Second Year students are finishing their project week today. Their service and enthusiasm was a fantastic component of my last week at Race Rocks. Alex Fletcher is staying on the island as he starts his shift. Best of luck to everyone at Pearson College and Race Rocks, thanks for these amazing 3 years!’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:27:58 ,
-2011-11-01′, 1, ‘Ian came to island in the afternoon. ‘, ‘AlexF’, ’22:19:07 ,
-2011-11-02′, 1, ‘Erik came out to unload septic around 14:00’, ‘AlexF’, ’18:32:53 ,
-2011-11-04′, 1, ‘Ian left island in the morning’, ‘AlexF’, ’13:05:29 ,
-2011-11-05′, 9, ‘Chris brought Mark and his advisee group to the island around 16:00 to stay overnight.’, ‘AlexF’, ’10:39:27 ,
-2011-11-08′, 9, ‘Erik brought out a group of 9 visitors who stayed from around 10:30-14:00. ‘, ‘AlexF’, ’15:44:46 ,
-2011-11-10′, 3, ‘Erik came out around noon to help with motor boat start up. I came back out around sunset with 2 guests.’, ‘AlexF’, ’08:51:36 ,
-2011-11-11′, 7, ‘Erik came out with 5 students around sunset and took 2 guests off island. A Great Horned owl showed up today after the wind. He stays around the winch pad and upper dock area See : https://racerocks.ca/racerock/taxalab2/2011/bubovirginianus/bubovirginianus.htm’, ‘AlexF’, ’20:32:16 ,
-2011-11-13′, 6, ‘Chris came out at 10:30 to pick up students who stayed the past two nights. While they were here they helped with organizing the basement of the marine science center. Two students did work for science experiments. Winds reached 50 knots last night.’, ‘AlexF’, ’11:31:39 ,
-2011-11-14′, 0, ‘Erik and Laura were out in the afternoon with a group of divers.’, ‘AlexF’, ’17:12:00 ,
-2011-11-16′, 0, ”, ‘AlexF’, ’18:55:13 ,
-2011-11-17′, 0, ‘Elephant seal was up near desalination most of the day but went back down to hang out in the water near the jetty around sunset. Hadnt seen the owl since Tuesday but was happy to see it up on the crane around sunset today.’, ‘AlexF’, ’18:54:31 ,
-2011-11-20′, 0, ‘The continuation of the log is now at: https://www.racerocks.ca/’, ‘garry’, ’11:15:40 ; –