A major concern for those of us who work with Race Rocks is the impending disaster that is likely to happen to the Ecological reserve if the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline is built. The Friends of Ecological Reserves is sponsoring the following panel discussion on threats to our Marine environment which has a good chance of happening if this pipeline gets built and the marine transport necessary for it goes within several kilometers of Race Rocks Ecological Reserve. Also see other posts on the Oil Spill Risk Link.
Author Archives: Garry Fletcher
Pearson College and Race Rocks Video
Feature Article on Pam Birley,
From: TheThunderbird.ca News, analysis and commentary by UBC Journalism students
B.C. wildlife webcam protects ecosystem, entertains daily British watcher
Visit Pamela Birley in her Leicester, England, home, and you’ll likely see sea lions hauling themselves onto Great Race Rock – an island in B.C., eight time zones away.
Surrounded by tidal races, open to wind and waves, and dwarfed by views of the Olympic Mountains, the treeless rock off the southern tip of Vancouver Island is a magnet for marine life in the area.
A young elephant seal saunters towards the sea.
Photo: Hanne-Marie Barlach Christensen
Birley, 86, has been watching the wildlife on Great Race Rock, the exposed peak of the seamount comprising the Race Rocks marine ecological reserve, for the past 14 years.
The webcams have performed a unique function since they were installed in 2000 by drawing in visitors from around the world and keeping the public from overwhelming the ecosystem. Birley is a daily watcher.
“It’s the variety of wildlife out there,” she said. “You’re never too sure what you’re going to see, and sometimes you see unusual things.”
Hotspot for biodiversity
Home to millions of plankton, thousands of nesting seabirds, and hundreds of sea lions, the reserve in the Strait of Juan de Fuca is rich in marine life. It’s this diversity that motivated Garry Fletcher, a marine biologist, to push for the area’s protection in the 1970s.
“It’s at the confluence of upwelling from deeper ocean and the fresh water spilling out of the Georgia Basin, so it creates a very unique ecosystem,” Fletcher said. “It’s a real hotspot of biodiversity.”
Fletcher’s efforts paid off. In 1980, the B.C. government designated Race Rocks and surrounding seamount as a provincial marine protected area. The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans subsequently closed the reserve to commercial and ground fishing in 1991 and has designated it an area of interest, slated to become a marine protected area. Spanning 226 hectares, the reserve is managed under lease by the nearby college where Fletcher taught until retirement, Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific.
However, most of those 226 hectares are submerged. Great Race Rock, at merely two hectares, is the only habitable part of the reserve.
Easily crossed on foot in less than 10 minutes, the island has no safe harbour and is cut off from Vancouver Island for days during spells of bad weather. For the island’s resident eco-guardian, Laas Parnell, the island’s size and isolation are impossible to ignore.
Originally from Haida Gwaii, Parnell has lived in isolated, coastal places most of her life. Yet Race Rocks stole her heart when she first visited during a marine-science class in 2011.
“I love it here,” she said of her home of the past year. “I’m not claustrophobic. I keep pretty busy, cooking, cleaning. I spend a lot of time just walking around.”
Still, the island’s tininess can be humbling.
“It reminds me that I’m the only one out there. Alone.” she said.
Light keepers lived on Race Rocks until the beacon was automated in 1997. Their houses, the jetty, and the lighthouse outbuildings remain to house the eco-guardian, researchers, and students. Photo: Hanne-Marie Barlach Christensen
It’s an aspect of the island Birley hadn’t noticed through the webcam.
“It surprised me how compact it was when we actually visited,” she said, reminiscing on the first time she set foot on the island in 2007. “I find it hard to get my bearings on the webcam in relation to what’s near what.”
“Parks end up getting loved to death sometimes”
It was the island’s size that motivated Fletcher to install the webcams. Covered in resting sea lions or seabird nests most of the year, the island can’t handle many visitors. He worried about the impact tourism could have had on the area.
The island is isolated during the winter months by gales and tidal races, but calm seas in the summer make it within easy reach for boats leaving Victoria and other harbours along southern Vancouver Island.
“It’s a bird colony and marine mammal haul-out area,” said Fletcher. “It was just too sensitive to have people coming and going in hordes. You would have every whale-watching boat stop there and disgorge its passengers. Parks end up getting loved to death sometimes.”
To prevent over-visitation, BC Parks mandates that visitors to the island must obtain an education or research permit.
Gulls depend on Great Race Rock as a nesting site and a place to rest.
Photo: Hanne-Marie Barlach Christensen
However, Fletcher wanted to make the reserve’s unique biodiversity and natural beauty publicly available. At the time, webcams offered a novel solution.
Webcams connect wildlife lovers
In 2000, most Canadians relied on dial-up internet, Mark Zuckerberg was 16, and YouTube wouldn’t exist for another five years. Broadcasting online, live from Race Rocks, was a moment Fletcher won’t forget.
“My best memory is when we achieved getting the first video signals off the island, back in 2000,” said Fletcher. “That was quite an accomplishment and represented participation and co-operation from a lot of players.”
For Birley, the introduction of webcams like the ones at Race Rocks were an opportunity to explore the world. She watches four cams daily, including Race Rocks.
“I don’t get out a great deal now,” she said. “But my life is full: I get out in the garden and I do a lot of knitting. I knit birds, just little standing shelf sitters. I can knit while I watch the webcams, so it’s productive.”
Birley’s best-selling knit bird: a peregrine falcon. Photo: Pamela Birley/Etsy
Birley’s knitted birds are popular: she’s sold hundreds in her Etsy shop to buyers far and wide.
Webcams have also fostered international friendships for Birley. Fletcher is one of her regular correspondents, and she’s made friends in Victoria and Seattle through webcams.
It is the animals, however, that keep Birley watching Race Rocks. She documents Race Rocks wildlife extensively through webcam screenshots and turns them into albums on Flickr.
Birley sees some animals regularly, like the gulls and sea lions, but her dedication to the webcam has paid off with an amazing sighting—a snowy owl.
“It was pouring rain, I had the camera on, and I was probably knitting,” she recalls.
“I looked up and thought I saw a funny looking seagull by the rock. I zoomed in and there it was: a snowy owl sitting there, just swivelling its head around from time to time. I’ve only ever seen the one, and that was quite exciting!”
Seeing a snowy owl was a highlight of Birley’s webcam sightings.
Photo: Pamela Birley/Race Rocks
Views From England
Today I received a nice note from Pam Birley, our devoted follower from Leicestershire Great Britain who often captures great images with our remote cameras. She writes: “Couldn’t resist taking these pics today. Spectacular views this morning at RR. ”
Note the nictitating membrane on the right
So I just went on camera 5 and found one of the eagles still in close range:
Guillemots are back
I just received this email from Pam Birley ” The Pigeon Guillemots are back ! They are even earlier this year. It is usually February when I first see them.” Thanks Pam for the observation from Leiscester England! Laas has also been out getting pictures of them.
It is also interesting to note that the elephant seal pup is doing very well this year. As Ecoguardian Laas Parnell has noted the one large male tends to keep the others on the island at bay. Hopefully this year the pup can survive once the mother leaves and it becomes a weaner. In most of the past years since pups first started being born on the island, aggressive males have led to a tragic end. I have requested BC Parks and DFO to produce a policy on what support can be offered in the event a pup is injured in the crucial period before it goes to the ocean after its month long weaning period. So far this has not been acted upon, so again this year it will be left up to chance, and hopefully the so-far protective bull will remain that way. The following pictures are from Camera1 at the top of the tower on Race Rocks.
- Elephant seal mother and 2.5 week old pup
- Elephant seal female,pup and male
Dr. Anita Brinkmann-Voss…. In Memoriam
Dr. Anita Brinckmann-Voss passed away on December 12 at her home in Sooke BC. Anita had been a long time friend of Lester B. Pearson College. From 1986, to 2005, Dr. Anita Brinckmann-Voss BC assisted the students and faculty of Lester Pearson College with her understanding of marine invertebrate ecology and her expertise in the taxonomy of hydroids and other invertebrates. Anita was one of the very few remaining taxonomists in the world who worked at such depth with this group of organisms. She assisted many students with their work in biology and marine science and worked closely with several divers at the college who collected specimens for her. Anita also was a regular donor to the Race Rocks program at the college.
Dr. Dale Calder, a colleague of Anita who works with the Royal Ontario Museum wrote the following about Anita:
“I knew of Dr. Anita Brinckmann-Voss and her research on hydrozoans from my days as a graduate student in Virginia during the 1960s. Her work at the famous Stazione Zoologica in Naples, Italy, was already widely known and respected.
Most noteworthy, however, was a landmark publication to come: her monumental monograph on hydrozoans of the Gulf of Naples, published in 1970. It highlighted studies on hydrozoan life cycles and was accompanied by the most beautiful illustrations of these marine animals that have ever been created. See the complete copy with color plates here: Brinckmann70:
It was not until 1974, and the Third International Conference on Coelenterate Biology in Victoria, British Columbia (BC), Canada, that I met her for the first time. We discovered having common scientific interests and saw absolutely eye-to-eye on most issues. It was the beginning of a scientific collaboration and friendship that would last a lifetime. I always greatly valued her scientific insights, but I also appreciated her humility, good nature, and keen sense of humour.
In having moved from Europe to Canada, first to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and later to Toronto, Ontario, Anita’s research shifted from Mediterranean species to those of Canadian waters and especially British Columbia. Her professional base became the Royal Ontario Museum and the University of Toronto, but it was far from the ocean. She soon acquired a residence in Sooke, BC, conveniently located on the beautiful Pacific coast. Life cycle research was now possible on Canadian species, and at times several hundred cultures of hydrozoans were being maintained by her. One final move was made, from Ontario to permanent residence at her cottage in Sooke. From there she kept marine research underway the rest of her life. A focus became Race Rocks and the rich hydrozoan fauna inhabiting the site.
Anita altered the direction of my career in a most positive way. It was largely thanks to her that I moved from employment as a benthic ecologist in South Carolina to a curatorial position at the Royal Ontario Museum in 1981. It was the best career move of my life. Thank you, Anita!
Over the decades we collaborated in research, shared our libraries, and jointly authored several scientific papers. Outside a professional association, we were close friends. My wife and I often visited Anita at her homes, first in Pickering, Ontario, near Toronto, and later in Sooke. In return, she often visited us in Toronto after moving west. It is an understatement to say she will be sorely missed.”
-(Quote from Dr. Dale Calder, ROM, 2018)
Links to her work with the college:
https://www.racerocks.ca/dr-anita-brinckmann-voss/
Other references: https://www.racerocks.ca/tag/anita-brinckmann-voss/
Christmas Bird Count at Race Rocks- Dec 28, 2017
This year is our 20th year in assisting the local birders with the Rocky Point Bird Observatory in doing a count at Race Rocks. Given the time of year this has to occur, it is often thwarted by bad weather, but in the past counts, some very interesting species and population numbers have shown up. See this index of past years Bird Counts. https://www.racerocks.ca/race-rocks-animals-plants/bird-observations-at-race-rocks-3/christmas-bird-counts-starting-in-1997/
Kim Beardmore same along to record the birds for the 2017 Christmas bird count. Here Kim on the left and the Ecoguardian Mikey Muscat check on one of the 5 male elephant seals.

Although we went to count birds, I found that the most impressive thing was that there were 5 large male elephant seals on the island and two juvenile females. When compared with other years this was quite unusual, and it could be interesting when the females come back in January to have pups. I predict there will be a lot of male aggression going on in mid-January.
- Black Turnstones
- Black Oystercatchers
- 3 species of Cormorant
- Pam Birley sent these Harlequin duck photos taken from camera 5
- Most of the Harlequins we observed were on the outer islands today.
These four species other than several gull species and bald eagles were part of the count which we will add below .
Other observations around the island:
- mud fields on North east corner
- rise to west of jetty
I took advantage of the few hours there to check on other aspects of the island from the ecological reserve warden point of view. Especially noticeable this year were the massive fields of mud over most parts of the island where the california sea lions hauled out over the past few months. I was concerned about the erosion and rock disturbance that this has caused. Most of the plants in many parts of the island have been obliterated. I did however find this one healthy patch of Romanzoffia tracyi behind the boathouse. Protected because of its location among the rocks. I checked some of the other known locations of this rare plant but didn’t see any.
One feature that was very evident with the lack of vegetation was the extensive beds of chiton shells which are evidence of black oystercatcher middens from last season.
Two immature or juvenile female elephant seals were on the island, one tagged ..green C887
- The comfort of a sidewalk?
- C887 juvenile female
- juvenile female
- Note muddy area below helipad
- Green tag C887
The five males:
- Male elephant seal 1
- elephant seal 2
- elephant seal 3
- elephant seal 4
- elephant seal 5
I have been watching the vegetation cover made up of the introduced species of Sedum or stonecrop which was on the top of the reservoir.. In my September photo the bed was quite dried and cracked. Now it has partially recovered.. This is one place the sealions seem to avoid.
Because Pearson College could not provide boat transportation this year, and because I was determined to continue the 20 year tradition of this valuable baseline collection of bird population data, we rented a boat from Pedder Bay marina for the trip to Race Rocks. A list of the birds observed by Kim Beardmore is attached here.
Dec 28, 2017 9:05 AM – 11:37 AM
Protocol: Traveling
7.5 kilometer(s)
Comments: CBC, Race Rocks
16 species (+1 other taxa)Harlequin Duck 10 (North and west Race Rocks)
Surf Scoter 55 (outer pedder bay)
Red-breasted Merganser 18 (mostly outer Pedder bay)
Common Loon 2
Horned Grebe 1
Brandt’s Cormorant 14
Pelagic Cormorant 18
Double-crested Cormorant 10
Bald Eagle 4
Black Oystercatcher 42
Black Turnstone 59
Common Murre 1 ( in outer Pedder bay)
Pigeon Guillemot 10
Mew Gull 14
Iceland Gull (Thayer’s) 8
Glaucous-winged Gull 69
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid) 2
Plectrophenax nivalis: Snow Bunting –The Race Rocks Taxonomy
Laas Parnell took these pictures of Snow Buntings on November 9, 2017. Pam Birley had been the only one to take pictures of them previously in 2005 and 2007 on the remote cameras at Race Rocks.
This is a very pale Snow Bunting . Snow Buntings are uncommon around Victoria and best seen in late fall-early winter, so any bunting in February is unusual. This is only the fourth Snow Bunting record for the Rocky Point Bird Observatory checklist. The last picture is a poor image through a blurry remote camera 5 housing,but the only one we have so far of a male snow bunting which was taken by Pam in March 2007.
Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Sub-Phylum Vertebrata
Class Aves
Order Passerifomes
Family Emberizidae
Genus Plectrophenax
Species nivalis
Common Name: Snow Bunting
Other Members of the Class Aves at Race Rocks.
Images of Snow buntings by Laas Parnell–Ecoguardian at Race Rocks
![]() and Image File |
![]() Garry Fletcher |
TC -On the firing line with the navy
The Royal Canadian Navy says it takes great pains to protect whales, so it was a shock in August when skippers of Victoria-based whale-watching boats reported ugly confrontations with sailors during blasting on Bentinck Island.
Navy officials say they try to avoid endangering passing orcas and humpbacks, just as they take care to protect the ecology of Bentinck Island and the nearby land on shore occupied by the Department of National Defence at Rocky Point in Metchosin.
Its sailors and officers make their homes in Greater Victoria. Like any other residents, they say they want nothing to harm the unique elements of living on southern Vancouver Island, whether it’s marine mammals, migrating birds or the other animals and plants.
“We are actually quite proud of the environmental protection we have in place,” said Commodore J.B. (Buck) Zwick in a special media session.
“We take our roles as environmental stewards very seriously,” said Zwick, who commands the Canadian Fleet Pacific and Naval Training System.
In incidents on Aug. 3 and Aug. 31, whale-watching skippers confronted navy sentries posted in small boats off the island during a blasting session. The whale-watching skippers tried to convince the sentries to call off the blast because orcas were nearby.
Instead, the whale-watchers were told it was too late. The fuse was already lit, and safety procedures forbid any attempt to stop it. According to the whale-watching skippers, when the explosions occurred on the beach minutes later, the creatures were obviously distressed.
The incidents were also a shock for whale-watchers, who say they have always enjoyed a positive relationship with the navy.
Dan Kukat, owner of Spring Tide Whale Watching and navy liaison for the Pacific Whale Watching Association, said in the August incidents, whales were spotted approaching the blast zone, the navy was notified but the blasts went ahead regardless.
Whale-watchers worry the acoustic vibrations from the beach blasting interferes with and even harms the whales. The creatures are echo-locators and make their way around underwater obstacles using sound and echoes.
Kukat emphasized several times he and members of his association have nothing but respect for the navy. It’s just sometimes the natural world could use a break.
“In these days now, when it’s not entirely necessary to defend the country, let’s think about defending the environment, too,” he said in an interview.
The navy, however, maintains it was complying with its Marine Mammal Mitigation Procedure. It’s a 15-year-old document that instructs sailors on what to do at Bentinck Island when marine mammals approach during blasting activity.
It requires sentries, posted in boats 1,000 metres offshore from the beach, to look out for whales. When whales approach within two kilometres, the sentries radio the officer in charge of the blast range, who can shut things down.
In the past, the navy has conducted acoustic studies. They show underwater noise from the land-based explosions is negligible compared to the normal ambient noise levels a whale encounters.
Nevertheless, since August, the navy has taken a second look at its demolition training and how it interacts with whales and whale-watchers. It has halved the maximum amount of C4 plastic explosive to 2.5 pounds from five (1.125 kg from 2.25 kg).
The navy says halving the size of the explosive charge will make no difference to the demolition training for sailors and service people. The noise will be slightly less above ground and water.
“The process is the same, the quantity of the charge makes no difference, except for a bigger bang,” said Capt. (N) Martin Drews, commander of Navy Training and Personnel.
“But it’s important to use live ammunition during training because it helps instil a sense of discipline in our sailors,” said Drews.
Its sailors and officers make their homes in Greater Victoria. Like any other residents, they say they want nothing to harm the unique elements of living on southern Vancouver Island, whether it’s marine mammals, migrating birds or the other animals and plants.
“We are actually quite proud of the environmental protection we have in place,” said Commodore J.B. (Buck) Zwick in a special media session.
“We take our roles as environmental stewards very seriously,” said Zwick, who commands the Canadian Fleet Pacific and Naval Training System.
In incidents on Aug. 3 and Aug. 31, whale-watching skippers confronted navy sentries posted in small boats off the island during a blasting session. The whale-watching skippers tried to convince the sentries to call off the blast because orcas were nearby.
Instead, the whale-watchers were told it was too late. The fuse was already lit, and safety procedures forbid any attempt to stop it. According to the whale-watching skippers, when the explosions occurred on the beach minutes later, the creatures were obviously distressed.
The incidents were also a shock for whale-watchers, who say they have always enjoyed a positive relationship with the navy.
Dan Kukat, owner of Spring Tide Whale Watching and navy liaison for the Pacific Whale Watching Association, said in the August incidents, whales were spotted approaching the blast zone, the navy was notified but the blasts went ahead regardless.
Whale-watchers worry the acoustic vibrations from the beach blasting interferes with and even harms the whales. The creatures are echo-locators and make their way around underwater obstacles using sound and echoes.
Kukat emphasized several times he and members of his association have nothing but respect for the navy. It’s just sometimes the natural world could use a break.
“In these days now, when it’s not entirely necessary to defend the country, let’s think about defending the environment, too,” he said in an interview.
The navy, however, maintains it was complying with its Marine Mammal Mitigation Procedure. It’s a 15-year-old document that instructs sailors on what to do at Bentinck Island when marine mammals approach during blasting activity.
It requires sentries, posted in boats 1,000 metres offshore from the beach, to look out for whales. When whales approach within two kilometres, the sentries radio the officer in charge of the blast range, who can shut things down.
In the past, the navy has conducted acoustic studies. They show underwater noise from the land-based explosions is negligible compared to the normal ambient noise levels a whale encounters.
Nevertheless, since August, the navy has taken a second look at its demolition training and how it interacts with whales and whale-watchers. It has halved the maximum amount of C4 plastic explosive to 2.5 pounds from five (1.125 kg from 2.25 kg).
The navy says halving the size of the explosive charge will make no difference to the demolition training for sailors and service people. The noise will be slightly less above ground and water.
“The process is the same, the quantity of the charge makes no difference, except for a bigger bang,” said Capt. (N) Martin Drews, commander of Navy Training and Personnel.
“But it’s important to use live ammunition during training because it helps instil a sense of discipline in our sailors,” said Drews.
Warden’s report Race Rocks September 2017
I was able to get out to Race Rocks Ecological reserve with Guy today and went with former student Joao Luis de Castro and Yan Corriveau. I wanted to check on what changes have occurred on Great Race Rock Island since my last visit. Since it was an exceptionally dry summer, the effect on vegetation was evident. The spread of hauled out sealions into parts of the island traditionally not invaded also has left a significant impact on vegetation. It will be important to follow up on vegetation recovery once the rains start.
This year the sea lions have hauled out and inhabited many parts of the island formerly not used as a haulout . I am concerned that erosion because of obliteration of most of the plants in the area of the First Nations burial cairns could be detrimental to the cairns. It will be inprtant to check on this once the sealions have left again.
The lack of precipitation since May has resulted in a shrinking of the stonecrop that covers the top of the Reservoir. I had never seen it quite this dry before.
The sealion haulouts at Race Rocks do not segregate by species as they do in some other parts of the coast. Note the cookie-cutter shark bites on the California Sealion on the right hand picture.
Garry Fletcher, Sept 25, 2017