Author Archives: Anne Stewart

Westerly Winds Prevail

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Well it blew hard west, west-southwest all night and all day without let up. I didn’t see the tower anemometer drop below 20 knots and it was often gusting to 30 (and over last night). Although there were a few serious clouds and showers that came through it was overall a sunny day and the barometer climbed high and fast in the late morning, slowing to a more gradual ascent in the afternoon. The forecast continues to be the same with a strong wind warning in effect but winds are forecast to drop to 10 to 20 overnight and become light in the morning.

There were no boats of any kind in the Ecological Reserve today. It was a wild place with the wind combing whitecaps, on top of a big oceanic swell. Beautiful to watch from shore but not something you would want to be out in, especially in a small boat.

Northern Elephant Seals sleeping in the old garden.

Northern Elephant Seals sleeping in the old garden.

The ecological happenings are subtle right now. There is nest building, courtship, egg laying and brooding, lots of resting and sleeping by the seals and sealions and continuing predation by the eagles. The Northern Elephant Seals visiting Great Race spent the day sleeping in the heritage garden and another 22 animals could be seen asleep on Middle Rock bringing the total to 27. These are mostly sub-adult animals and some of them appear to be starting their moult. This time on land looks really labourious for them but it is important in building bone density to have some weight bearing time ashore.

Mian sleeepy M

I believe that the animals here on Great Race now are the some of the same ones that were here in the fall. It is easy to know for sure with the tagged animal and I am quite sure with one other animal that had terrible looking psoriasis last fall and still does now. The only place the skin is not scratched raw is under the flippers. The others look really familiar too but that could just be their generic elephant seal look.

It was sunny enough to run the desalinator off the solar energy today and it always feels good to know that the sustainability plan is paying off. Now we just need to add to the suite of diesel alternatives and wind is such a natural for this site.

There were no visitors today.

Lawn Crushers Extraordinaires

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It was a cold and blustery day with winds from the west-southwest, blowing 25 to 35 knots. It was also dark, with a cumulative solar radiation of only ~130 Langleys and a peak of less than 500 Watts/m2, which was half of yesterday’s high. The temperature was about 6o C most of the day but it felt much colder in the wind. The barometer bottomed out around noon and although the trend is rising it seems tentative. The forecast is calling for a little less of the same, with a gale warning for Central Juan de Fuca Strait and an expectation for westerlies to blow 25 -25 knots again by Tuesday evening.

In late afternoon there was one brave, little whale watching boat in the Ecological Reserve. No other vessels were noted in Reserve today.

The folks on the tour boat were watching the sealions on the south side. The sealions which are usually hauled out on the rocks there these days, were almost all hanging out in the water where it was a few degrees warmer than the air and even cozier for a wet animal in the wind.

The lawn was freshly crushed, by four Northern Elephant Seals today. It certainly beats mowing. All but the one with the skin condition woke up after a profound 33 hour sleep to “romp” in the grass. The two young males sparred and a larger male and female practiced for parenthood. They all conked out after about three hours of activity and are now back into deep sleeps. The tagged one (5850) left yesterday afternoon and was not seen today.

Young male Northern Elephant Seals practicing for battle. One can see why size matters in this game.

Young male Northern Elephant Seals practicing for battle. One can see why size matters in this game.

Male (left) and female Northern Elephant Seals romping in the grass.

Northern Elephant Seals romping in the grass. The tulips in the background are now firmly squashed.

The Mist Maidens, which I mentioned a few days ago, are a rare plant found on Race Rocks and they seem to be doing really well. They don’t live in places frequented by the elephant seals so are safe from that threat. I will repeat Courtney’s documentation protocol in May to confirm or deny my qualitative impression that they are doing well.

Tracy's Mist Maidens, or Romazoffia tracyi are a rare plant that appears to be making a come-back on Great Race Island in the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve.

Tracy’s Mist Maidens, or Romazoffia tracyi is a rare plant that appears to be making a come-back on Great Race Island in the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve. It is an early bloomer with delicate white flowers.

The solar panels did not put out much energy today as could be expected from the low light levels. I had to start the generator early and run it a little longer, due to low solar power. It would really be great to have a small, bird-impermeable, wind generator for days like today and to supplement, the rest of the time, as it is usually windy here.

Other than the daily chores, I concentrated on risk mitigation today starting with locating and going through first aid kits. I tried to order first aid supplies and started a health, safety and environment risk mitigation report.

April 12

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As the sun set, the wind shifted around to south-southeast after blowing about 10 knots  from a westerly direction most of the day. The snow line across the Strait is very low and the chill in the air continues. Although there was some sunshine today producing a high solar radiation reading of 1,000 watts/m2, there was also a lot of cloud. The barometer reached a high of 1020 hPa mid-day and then began to fall. The forecast is for southeast showers switching back to westerlies tomorrow afternoon.

Only one tour boat was observed in the Ecological Reserve today and although there were dozens of sports-fishing boats all around the reserve none were observed inside.

American Pipits have been spotted bobbing and flitting around Great Race and there is a photo below as evidence. Thanks go out to Rocky Point Bird Observatory for the identification confirmation.

American Pipits have been busy feeding on insects on the ground at Great Race.

American Pipits  busy feeding on insects on the ground at Great Race.

Six Northern Elephant Seals came ashore at first light and spent the whole day sleeping in the garden. One was a tagged, with a pale green tag #5850. This same individual had two tags when I first saw it last fall, October 14.

Goose exclusion cage keeps seals from flattening all the grass. Cage may be flattened too.

Goose exclusion cage keeps seals from flattening all the grass. Cage may be flattened too.

Northern Elephant Seal tagged at Ano Nuevo as a weaner in 2012.

Northern Elephant Seal tagged at Ano Nuevo as a weaner in 2012.

 

The Canada Geese are in over-drive right now and uber-territorial. One pair tried again to take up residence in the entrance way to the de-salinator room which is just not going to work.

Canada Geese defending the entrance to the de-salinator.

Canada Geese defending the entrance to the de-salinator.

The Glaucous-winged Gulls are engaging in more definite pairing behaviours and also becoming more territorial. Many are nest building, pulling out chunks of grass turf for padding. Black Oystercatchers are looking broody too and I observed Black Oystercatchers eating limpets today.

 

There were no visitors today.

 

Dramatic Weather

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Strong west-southwest winds blew all day with a continuous cycle of showers and dramatic clouds scudding through. Wind velocities ranged from 10 to over 30 knots, up the tower. A low snowline could be seen in the Olympic Mountains from time to time and the air was chilly. The barometer has been climbing steadily since last night and the forecast is for more of the same with a risk of thunderstorms.

No tour boats or fishers were observed in the Ecological Reserve and Rockfish Conservation Area today.

A Sea Otter was spotted in the main channel in front of the eco-guardians’ house again today. As the tide turned, it swam over to Turbine Rock and on arrival was surrounded by six or seven small Harbour Seals. The adult seals remained uninterested, asleep on the rock. Through the spotting scope, it looked like interspecies play with lots of exaggerated diving and washing up onto the rock and back out. This is one of the first times I have looked at a sea otter for any length of time when it was not eating, grooming or sleeping.

Sleepy head.

Sleepy head Mirounga angustirostrus.

Three Northern Elephant Seals moved right up onto Great Race today. When I did the water sample at six there was one individual lolling around by the jetty. I looked up mid-morning and three of them were doing the wave along the walkway. One stopped at the intersection, one went back closer to the boat shed and the third went right around the science house onto the rocks on the west side.  None of these individuals were tagged. Once settled, they slept soundly for the rest of the day.

Rear view of Norther Elephant Seal. You can see why they are unable to rotate those flippers forward to support their weight.

Rear view of Norther Elephant Seal. You can see why they are unable to rotate those flippers forward to support their weight.

Most of the Canada Geese are sitting on eggs already and the ganders are fearless defenders. I am trying to discourage one insistent pair of geese that haven’t laid yet (I think) from nesting right beside the path to the Energy Building but it seems to be a losing battle.  The area near the stone burial cairns has been seriously overgrazed by the geese and the earth around the biggest one is eroding around the edges. In that area the goose exclusion cages show up a large difference between grazed and un-grazed (caged). In other areas where crab-grass dominates there is little difference inside and out of the cages.

There were no visitors today.

April 10

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Light airs from the southwest and a light overcast sky, dominated the first part of the day. At about 16:00, an abrupt directional switch to west by northwest saw winds rise to 20 to 30 knots within a few minutes. Those winds were accompanied by moderate rain and a darkened, overcast sky. The wind direction remained the same but velocity dropped to 5 – 10 knots after the storm passed through leaving sunshine and outrageous double rainbows in its wake. The barometer continued to fall slowly today and the forecast calls for west winds and a 40% chance of showers.

There were five whale-watching boats observed in the Ecological Reserve today all during the downpour. One sports fisher was observed speeding in the go-slow area.

A sea otter was spotted in the Ecological Reserve again today, after being either absent or well hidden for almost a month. Thanks go out to the operator of the Prince of Whales vessel in the area, for radioing the location and description to me.

On land, there are many flowers blooming on Great Race right now. Many of the flowers are heritage plants, part of the legacy left by light keepers from 155 years ago and on.

 

Flowers lined the original route to the tower and keeper's house.

Flowers lined the original route to the tower and keeper’s house.

More heritage flowers.

More heritage flowers.

An exception to the imported non-native plants, are the Mist Maidens blooming right now. There are several patches but the most vigorous one is in the scree above the Pigeon Guillemot nesting area, just uphill from the boat-house. Mist Maidens or Romanzoffia tracyi are considered to be a rare plant and I will take some photos to share with you tomorrow if the light is better.

A group of visitors were here today using the science house and Great Race for a retreat. Courtney brought them out on Second Nature and stayed to help trouble-shoot a few issues with the generator and aggressive geese. Alex left with Courtney in the afternoon.

 

 

April 9th was a beautiful day.

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Except for the chill early and late, April 9th was almost like a summer day. Solar radiation reached a high of ~825 watts/meter2 today, certainly enough to make bull kelp shoot up and solar panels top up batteries. Light airs from the south barely moved the flag most of the day and the westerlies The barometer was fairly steady today but is falling now and the forecast is for increasing cloudiness overnight and rain tomorrow.

A pod of four Killer Whales (probably Bigg's or transients) passes close by Race Rocks Ecological Reserve today heading west.

A pod of four Killer Whales (probably Bigg’s or transients) passes close by Race Rocks Ecological Reserve today heading west.

OrorApr9_15

There was active whale watching activity today and six tour boat visits observed inside the Ecological Reserve. A pod of four Killer Whales passing just to the south of the Ecological Reserve drew a crowd. There seemed to be a small one that was breaching, a larger sub-adult, a large adult male and a female. I did not see the whales enter the Ecological Reserve.

There was military blasting today on the surface at Bentick Island, from late morning through into the afternoon.

Male Harlequin Duck feeding in the shallows off Great Race.

Harlequin drake feeding in the shallows off Great Race.

Thursday is census day and here are the results.

Killer Whales 4 (just outside of ER)

Northern Elephant Seals 19

Harbour Seals 87

California Sea lions 31

Northern Sea lions 27

Canada Geese 22

Harlequin Ducks 8

Pelagic Cormorants 15

Double Crested Cormorants 12

Brandt’s Cormorants 4 (Flying through, did not stop.)

Bald Eagle 2 adults, 6 sub-adult

Turkey Vulture 1

Killdeer 2 (at least, difficult to count in the dark)

Black Oystercatcher 8

Black Turnstone 7

Surfbird 9

Pigeon Guillemots 344

Glaucous-winged Gull 298

Gull sp. 1 (see photo)

Northwestern Crow 10

Dark-eyed Junco 1

 

Harlequin drake and hen take off.

Harlequin drake and hen take off.

Lots of chores were completed today, including extras like fixing the solar panel squeegee, washing outside windows, fixing another bench, beach-combing and tidying. We rearranged the desk/office area to make it more efficient and ergonomic, stood radio watch for a field trip to Swordfish Island, fixed the phone/internet again with subsequent re-boots of weather system and underwater camera, etc. Internet/phone down again just as I go to post this. Now back up after one last tower visit for the night.

Benchmark

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Resurrected with found and modified pieces, this old bench graces the front of the science house now with a broad panorama for sunset viewing.

Resurrected with found and modified pieces, this old bench graces the front of the science house now with a broad panorama for sunset viewing.

Dawn broke in reds and pinks heralding another glorious day. Early on there were feeble zephyrs from the southwest and east but the most obvious wind tell-tale on Race Rocks, the Canadian flag, hung limply most of the morning. Westerly breezes started in the early afternoon and developed into moderate breezes, late afternoon with gusts to 23 knots. The strong wind warning forecast is downgraded now to 15 to 20 knots westerly, overnight in the central Straits of Juan de Fuca and it is already dropping, as the sun sets.

No tour boats were observed in the Ecological Reserve although one hardtop sport-fishing boat cruised past the sea lions at a respectful distance and speed.

In the water new Bull Kelp are growing quickly, shooting to the surface buoyed by their float and photosynthesizing faster than any land plant.

Bull kelp, Nereocystis luetkeaena is growing fast now.

Bull kelp, Nereocystis luetkeaena is growing fast now.

A Northern Elephant Seal visited the marine railway for a snooze on the falling tide this morning. It was a perfectly symmetrical ellipsoid. From the light tower another 16 elephant seals could be seen on Middle Rock. Two more in the shallows of Middle Rock, looked so much like smooth rocks draped in seaweed, that they had me fooled for a while. That makes 19 in total, a high count for me so far.

There have also been a lot of Bald Eagles present with a total of twelve individuals today. I have been trying to figure out what they are eating and have seen them chasing both gulls and geese.

 

Five of the twelve Bald Eagles on site today.

Five of the twelve Bald Eagles on site today.

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I have also seen some casualties, including three gull carcasses but they do not have the look of eagle food. The one in the photo above is completely pristine even after several days, with no trace of blood or predation.

Adult Bald Eagle feeding on fresh meat.

Adult Bald Eagle feeding on fresh meat.

This evening the eagles caught and ate something but I could not tell what it was, there were no feathers at the site where they were dining but it may have been turned inside out (skinned). Four adults and two sub-adults fed off the one carcass.

Glaucous-winged gulls in their fine new feathers, are guarding their nesting territories but have not started nesting yet.

Glaucous-winged gulls in their fine new feathers, are guarding their nesting territories but have not started nesting yet.

Alex continues to be my only visitor and we had a belated Easter dinner, highlighting delicious, fresh halibut. I wonder when the last time was, this kitchen had freshly jigged halibut? Alex resurrected a bench that was both broken and had missing parts. It now sits in front of the Science House with a view out to sea and east up the Strait.

The phone and Internet went off again last night and I didn’t realize it until late. The problem was different this time and required a UPS reset in the tower this morning. I am getting quite adept at restarting the weather system now and we also tried (again) to fix the wind direction indicator on the system. I had success getting the underwater camera going again but it really needs a good scrub. The desalinator filled up the water tank again, running on sunlight through the solar panels. I cleaned up the visitor sign-in cabinet a little and put in some fresh pamphlets about how the public can support Race Rocks through Pearson College.

Note this blog posted next day due to yet another failure of phone/Internet last night due to UPS overload in tower.

Gorgeous Day.

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What a gorgeous day. It started and ended on equally lovely notes and was nice in between. It was clear all day and light breezes from the east, eventually swung around to the west. The barometer was fairly steady, not doing much and the forecast is for those westerlies to come up tonight and tomorrow.

It is incredibly beautiful here right now with the flowers blooming everywhere, a legacy from light-keepers with gardens. Tulips, daffs, bluebells, grape hyacinth, snapdragon, phlox and calendula are everywhere, reminders the long history of the place going back to when light-keeping happened here at Race Rocks, before Canada was a country. The stone cairns bear witness to people using this place long before it was a light station and a worry today is that the Canada Geese are over-grazing and trampling these iconic and ancient cairns.

I was off-station today, my first trip since arriving twelve days ago. Everything worked well including the winch, marine railway, carriage and the Boston Whaler with its Yahama engine. Alex (my husband) came back with me and will spend a few days here.

Emil, one of the Pearson College students here over the weekend sent me this photo to include in the blog. You can see that they were enjoying being theatrical and generally had a great time on the rock.

whats the point

It is all in the branding

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The weather was chilly today but bright, with breezes from the east and west and a few points in between. As the sun sets, brilliant pinks and orange light up the bottom of purple clouds and the wind has picked up to 10 knots from the west. The barometer started a slow climb for the first time since Thursday and the forecast is for a warmer, sunnier day tomorrow.

There were some very persistent sports fishers jigging in the Rockfish Conservation Area today: five men in a fibreglass run-about with an old engine and a kicker.

No tour boats were sighted today.

Another three branded sea lions, two Northern and one Californian were spotted today but only one photograph was good enough to be unequivocal – a Northern (or Steller’s) Sea lion #975R born at Rogue Reef, off southern Oregon in 2011.

Another Steller's Sea Lion branded as a pup in southern Oregon.

Another Steller’s Sea Lion branded as a pup in southern Oregon.

The California Sea Lion being used as a head rest by the Steller's has a brand on the left side but only the tops of numbers are visible.

The California Sea Lion being used as a head rest by the Steller’s has a brand on the left side but only the tops of numbers are visible. Maybe 3427 but I will get back to you on that one.

Ubiquitous Canada Geese - photogenic, but a bit hard on the vegetation and other island inhabitants.

Ubiquitous Canada Geese – photogenic, but a bit hard on the vegetation and other island inhabitants.

Chris in Second Nature, picked up the student group, which was here for the long weekend, just before noon today. It was a treat to have them here as visitors and they even managed to have fun helping with some of the chores. I was a little taken aback by the obvious increase in energy consumption while they were here though, and had to run the generator twice today to keep the batteries up, even though it was fairly sunny all day. Part of that may have been me staying up late to do the blog last night. After I discovered that the genny needed to be run a second time, I went over and turned off several breakers in the science house.

Mount Baker to Bahokas Peak.

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It was clear here early and once easterly outflow breezes cleared the American side, it was a beautiful day on the Strait. There was a hazy view all the way to Mt. Baker in the east and out to Bahokas Peak in the west. The barometer is continuing its leisurely dive, started Thursday and as the sunsets, is close to 1003 hPa. The forecast is for more of the same with showers and a chance of thunderstorms.

No tour boats or fishers were noted in the Ecological Reserve today however one boat sped through Middle Channel from the west and then after slowing down went between the South Islands and extremely close to seals and sea lions. Sea lions and seals were on high alert. All of the seals went into the water and some of the sea lions jumped in between the rock and the boat. The boat went back and forth very close to the sea lions several times before speeding off in the direction of Victoria. The whole thing only took a few minutes. The rest of the day made up for it in calm and peacefulness.

Antenna just visible in top left, boat below sea lions.

Antenna just visible in top left, boat below sea lions.

Speeding off.

Speeding off.

Last night as I was saying goodnight to the students who had been helping with chores, there was a definite smell of baleen whale breath in the evening air. I thought it might be the first Humpback Whale of the season. We looked but it was almost dusk and we didn’t see a whale. I heard on the VHF radio today that the whale watching boats had spotted their first Minke Whale of the season, so my guess is that there was a stinky Minke upwind last night.

While doing the seawater sample today, I noticed that there is plenty of big plankton right now. Visible from the jetty are gazillions of beautiful ctenophores or comb jellies. Their scientific name is Pleurobrachia and another common name is sea gooseberry. These jellies are spherical and unlike most jellies they don’t have stinging cells, just sticky cells on their two dangling tentacles, to tangle their prey. They also have eight rows of amazing, tiny paddle-like structures called combs or ctenes. The combs basically do the wave and when they do, it makes a rainbow-like shimmering. So a clear ball, with eight rows of rainbow inducing pulsations and two trailing tentacles; this is a pretty intriguing looking creature.

Ctenophores are important top-down regulators of copepod abundance so they are important ecologically. Copepods are little crustaceans that feed directly on phytoplankton, the photosynthetic kind of plankton. The copepods can be so abundant that at times most of the phytoplankton biomass can be found in their guts. One reason the water is so clear right now may be due to an abundance of copepods. There are also lots of cross-jellies, which are true jellies or cnidarians, meaning they can sting. Their scientific name is Mitrocoma cellularia and they are also predators on smaller animal plankton like copepods. These large plankters are of course also food for baleen whales.

I had a bit of a catch-up day today. I gave the solar panels a thorough scrub and wash, fixed the underwater camera, took photos, cleaned up in front of the boat-house and generally monitored and documented things while tidying up.

A more peaceful sail past ata more respectful and legal distance.

A more peaceful sail past at a more respectful and legal distance.

It has been a treat to have students out for the weekend and I think they have been enjoying the peacefulness, nature and each other’s company. I went out to dinner for the first time on the island and we had a delicious meal prepared by the students.