Human Interaction
Erik, the two winch mechanics and their two guests visited the island today.
There were 5 visitors to the island today.
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.
Human Interaction
A school group with students from Japan and New York came for a tour of the island today.
There were 20 visitors to the island today.
Vessels in reserve:
Eco-Tour: 3
Pleasure: 1
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!
Human Interaction
Josh from Maintenance at PC, several students staying the summer at the College and Christina came for a late afternoon tour of the Island. There were 5 visitors to the island today.
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.
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.
Elephant Seals: 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.
Eco-Tour: 5
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.
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. El seal tagged#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.
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.
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.
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.
Orca: 2
Two transient orcas were spotted last evening swimming west to east through Race Passage, possibly feeding.Human Interaction
There were 3 visitors to the island today.( Ryan Murphy)
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.