Author Archives: Aziz Sonawalla

Bye-bye Race Rocks

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This is my last post as Ecoguardian for summer 2018 – I’m headed back later this afternoon and Laas will be returning to take over.

Weather

  • Visibility: 10 miles
  • Wind: 15-25 knts W
  • Sky: slightly hazy/partly cloudy
  • Water: Calm
  • Strong winds last night cleared part of the haze, and we have blue skies after a long period of grey.

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Guy arrived yesterday to take away all the garbage and recycling from the island, so there would be less to take back today.
  • The increasing number of sea lions on the jetty have caused more and more boats to approach close to the dock – just a reminder that DFO guidelines set a 100m minimum for observing distance!
  • On Tuesday, a group of Pearson students from the SPELL group came for a short tour on the island.

Island maintenance

  • I raised a new Canadian flag yesterday after the old one was beginning to wear out.
  • The Ecoguardian house has been completely cleaned for the next Ecoguardian
  • Guy and I washed some of the pathways outside the science shed

Bird notes

  • The first of the juvenile seagulls have now taken full flight – they soar as high as the adults now and even fly above the ocean.
  • Saw one adult seagull with an injured leg and a juvenile with an injured leg as well. Not sure if this is just a coincidence or an attack tactic by other adult seagulls, but it immobilizes the injured bird almost completely.

Marine mammals

  • A tagged female elephant seal has arrived at the island. The tag number is C887. Apart from a few scratches on the back, the seal is in very good health.
  • The harbour seal pups seem to have grown quite a bit, gaining some weight and coming close to adult size
  • The sea lions have started settling around the helipad and the back of the guest house (near the tidal radar) – an electric fence will be needed soon to allow for movement space.

My last census, Sam leaves

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Weather

  • Visibility: 5-10 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knts NW
  • Sky: Hazy
  • Water: Ripply

A big shoutout to Sam for helping me with this census. He headed back to Vancouver this afternoon.

Census

  • Elephant Seals
    • Male = 0
    • Female = 0
  • Sea Lions
    • California = 58
    • Steller = 91
  • Seagulls = 371 adults + 128 juvenile
  • Pigeon Guillemot = 40
  • Eagles = 0
  • Oystercatchers = 4 adults
  • Harbour Seals = 62 adults, 2 juvenile
  • Geese = 9
  • Black turnstone = 80

J-pod Orcas and the return of the haze

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Weather

  • Visibility: 5-10 miles
  • Wind: 10-20 knts W
  • Sky: Hazy
  • Water: Calm
  • After the strong winds cleared the haze day-before yesterday, the smoke has set in again since the winds died down

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • An average number of whale watching boats in the area
  • Quite a few private boats over the last couple of days trying to get a glimpse of the hauled-out sea lions

Bird notes

  • Spotted a lone pigeon on the island
  • The flock of geese are back on the island in search of food – about 9 of them
  • The juvenile seagulls have started to take flight – the highest I’ve seen one go is about 12 feet in the air, hanging in there for about a minute.

Marine mammals

  • The J-pod of orcas swam past late in the afternoon, going through Race Passage and slowly making their way towards victoria. See here for more details on the j-pod: https://orcaspirit.com/2012/05/the-resident-orcas-of-j-pod/
  • Sea lion numbers have started to stabilize over the last few days, but still growing slowly. Will get an accurate count in tomorrow’s census.

Coast Guard visitors, entangled sea lion and Sam

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 20-25 knts W
  • Sky: Clear
  • Water: Ripply

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • A coast guard helicopter brought technicians this morning to work on the lighthouse electronics
  • Guy, Jeff, Travis and my friend/Pearson alum Sam Unger came to the island later in the afternoon. Travis was getting trained on docking the boat at Race Rocks, while Jeff and Guy came to have a look at the broken laundry machine. Sam came to visit me and he’ll be staying here until Monday.

Marine mammals

  • The last elephant seal left the island yesterday, leaving harbour seals and sea lions as the only mammals on the main island.
  • I received a report from Vancouver Aquarium about an entangled steller in the area. I’ve informed the various whale watching companies, and I’ll be keeping an eye out for it myself.

Census and haze

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10 miles
  • Wind: 0-5 knts W
  • Sky: Hazy
  • Water: Ripply

Mammal Notes

  • More sea lions continue to arrive on the island – spotted a few branded ones, but could only make out one number (steller with brand 348R).

Bird Notes

  • The first of the juvenile seagulls have started to fly short distances (5-6 feet at a time). Most are still grounded though.

Census

  • Elephant Seals
    • Male = 1
    • Female = 0
  • Sea Lions
    • California = 32
    • Steller = 38
  • Seagulls = 305 adults + 128 juvenile
  • Pigeon Guillemot = 67
  • Eagles = 0
  • Oystercatchers = 4 adults
  • Harbour Seals = 16 adults, 2 (maybe more) babies
  • Geese = 9
  • Black turnstone = 85

First rain in a while, sea lion population rapidly growing

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10 miles
  • Wind: 25-35 knts W
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Ripply
  • Light showers this morning, continuing into early afternoon

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • There were quite a few Pearson alumni who visited the island on short 20 min tours this past week, as a part of their 10 year reunion. Photo attached!

Technical

  • The washing machine is now non-functional – it suddenly stopped working earlier this week while I was doing laundry. Guy helped me drain the detergent water from it. We suspect there’s something wrong with the controller – it’s expected of a machine that’s 10+ years old.

Bird Notes

  • No new seagulls chicks have been born in the last 2 weeks, so I’m guessing that is all for this season. There remain a few unhatched eggs and I don’t expect they will hatch.
  • The geese population remains steady at 6-7 birds. They seem to be roaming around the island.

Marine mammals

  • After not seeing that injured/malnourished california sea lion for a week now, I think it most definitely has passed away.
  • There are now 12 sea lions near the jetty area, and many more on the surrounding rocks!

Census, more stellers and fog continues

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10 miles
  • Wind: 20-25 knts W
  • Sky: Clear
  • Water: Ripply
  • Heavy fog in the morning and evening

Mammal Notes

  • More and more stellers have started arriving on the surrounding rocks. I saw stellers on the southeastern rocks for the first time today.
  • No sign of the malnourished/injured california sea lion for the last 2 days, which leads me to believe that he may have finally passed away
  • Spotted both the seal pups today, and looks like they’re getting pretty big. They’re about half the size of the adults now.

Bird Notes

  • Geese continue to remain on the island after their return from their long absence. Counted 6 today.

Census

Species counts may not be fully accurate – the fog hindered visibility significantly.

  • Elephant Seals
    • Male = 2
    • Female = 1
  • Sea Lions
    • California = 6
    • Steller = 41
  • Seagulls = 382 adults + 150 juvenile
  • Pigeon Guillemot = 88
  • Eagles = 2
  • Oystercatchers = 6 adults
  • Harbour Seals = 18 adults, 2 (maybe more) babies
  • Geese = 6
  • Black turnstone = 81

More fog and reunion visitors

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I would usually be doing a census count today, but the heavy fog has made it impossible to get an accurate count of the species. I’ll try again tomorrow.

Weather

  • Visibility: <1 mile
  • Wind: 20-25 knts W
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Ripply
  • Heavy fog over the last few days

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Guy brought some of the alumni who are on campus for the reunion, to the island for a very quick look around. They had leave within 20 minutes as the fog crept back in.

Bird Notes

  • The seagulls seem to be attacking each others offspring regularly now. The last of the chicks were born more than a week ago now.

Marine mammals

  • The injured female elephant seal that has been on and off the island, returned today. It’s resting on the jetty
  • More california sea lions and one steller have been hanging out around the jetty. I think this marks the start of the sea lion season. Time to start putting up the fences soon!

 

Construction site survey

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 mile
  • Wind: 15-20 knts NW
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Ripply

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Ty, Kyle and Doug visited the island to do a construction site survey. They got a good look at the current state of the infrastructure on the island, which will be helpful in determining what repairs are needed.

Technical

  • After the handle on the composting toilet in the main house broke a few days ago, I finally got it working again. In a painstakingly long procedure, I unscrewed the handle from the guest house composting toilet and screwed it on the the one in the main house. The screwing mechanism is quite finicky and involved everything from WD40 to zip ties. Finally got it functional though!

Bird Notes

  • I was surprised to see 6 geese on the island today, after not seeing any for a while. The last geese on the island left after their eggs didn’t hatch. This morning I saw 6 geese roaming the island (on foot) and hanging out near the cistern.

Marine mammals

  • The injured/sick california sea lion looks to be in really bad shape. It’s become really skinny (I can see it’s ribs through its skin) and doesn’t seem to even have the energy to lift its head up when I walk by. I saw it last near the student house yesterday in the morning. No sign of it today.
  • The injured seal that’s been on and off the island over the  last month, was back again today. We spotted it resting at the base of the science shed.

 

Census, end of the fog and more stellers

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Today was the first day in over a week where the island wasn’t covered in dense fog for most of the day. I was finally able to get a good look at what was happening on and around the island.

Weather

  • Visibility: 10 miles
  • Wind: 20-25 knts W
  • Sky: Clear
  • Water: Ripply
  • Heavy fog this morning, lifted by mid-afternoon

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • A few ecotour boats and a couple of private boats as well

Technical

  • I installed bird deterrent strips on all the solar panels this morning. It took a couple of hours of drilling and screwing in strips of wire, but all the panels are now protected from seagulls. This should drastically reduce the frequency with which the panels will have to be cleaned.

Mammal Notes

  • Once the fog lifted, I got a good look at the western rocks and looks like the steller population has doubled! There seem to be several more large bulls. Pictures below.
  • The injured seal that was resting their the jetty for the last week or so, seems to be more mobile now. I saw it playing in the water by itself this evening.
  • The injured california sea lion doesn’t seem in any better condition. It’s getting skinnier every day.
  • I found the spot where the two seal pups like to sleep! I found them dozing on the southeast corner of the island, in a small and shallow inlet.

Bird Notes

  • The seagulls have been gradually getting less and less aggressive. I spent almost 6 hours outdoors today without getting hit on the head – I’ll take it as a good sign!
  • Most of the seagull chicks are now at least 1/2 the size of the adults – some appear almost as big as the adults! However, there are still a few really small ones, especially near the water, that are about a week old. I witnessed an adult seagull trying to kill another’s week-old baby this afternoon.
  • I spotted two geese on the island after a long time

Census

  • Elephant Seals
    • Male = 2
    • Female = 0
  • Sea Lions
    • California = 3
    • Steller = 30
  • Seagulls = 450 adults (a big part of them remain on the smaller rock islands during low tide), ~100 babies (hard to estimate)
  • Pigeon Guillemot = 90
  • Eagles = 0
  • Oystercatchers = 12 adults
  • Harbour Seals = 50 adults, 2 (maybe more) babies
  • Geese = 2
  • Black turnstone = 72