Author Archives: Carol and Mike Slater

D.N.D.started their blasting exercises

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Thursday, March 21, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 5.1 C  Min. – 1.1 C Reset 4.9 C  Snow 2.2 cm  Total Precipitation 2.2mm
MARINE LIFE: Although the wind did not really ease off until late afternoon the temperature started to moderate by noon and 35-40 gulls soon made an appearance along with the Oyster catchers and 2 geese. A little after 15:30 a second pair of geese flew in from the direction of Bentinck Island.The only marine mammals around were small groups of Harbour Seals hauled out on the southeast rocks and middle rock, did see several small groups of sea lions swimming between West Race and North Rocks.
HUMAN INTERACTION: Today the D.N.D.started their blasting exercises at 11:36 and finished up with the last 3 blast series at 13.:14. The Harbour seals lifted their heads at the first blast,then on the second blast 5 seals hauled out on the southeast rocks and 8 on middle rock, went into the water. There were 2 ecotour boats through the M.P.A. this afternoon -would have been an invigorating trip to say the least!
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:17 PM

Good MorningWEATHER:Sky Overcast  Vis. 15 Miles  Wind North East 30 – 37 Knots  Sea 5 Foot Moderate } } Moderate East Swell

posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:21 AM

Hopefully the ‘spring’ is just around the corner!

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Wednesday, March 20, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE:Max. 4.1 C  Min. – 1.9 C  Reset 0.0 C  Rain 5.6mm } } Snow 4.0cm  Total Precipitation 9.6mm
MARINE LIFE: Very little animal activity today and definitely not typical weather for the first day of spring for Race Rocks.Counted 6 gulls just below the northeast ridge, huddled against the really bitter wind. Although the temperatures don’t seem all that cold they are taken in an enclosure protected from the wind,so no wind chill is factored in to give a real feel of how cold it is for the birds, especially.The 7 Northern Sealions that started out the day hauled out on the southeast rocks soon took to the water which at about 7 degrees would be the warmer choice.No Elephant seals hauled out on the ramp today which is good as the 6-7 foot swells toss all sorts of debris including large logs as far as the boat house door. Hopefully the ‘spring’ is just around the corner!
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:20 PM

Good Morning

WEATHER: Sky Overcast  Vis. 1 Miles Snow Wind 29 North North East Gust 37 Knots Sea 5 – 6 Foot Moderate Low East Swell
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:12 AM

Largest bull Elephant Seal spent the morning hauled out

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Tuesday, March 19, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max 6.0 C Min. 2.7 C  Reset 3.9C Rain 6.0mm
MARINE LIFE: 3 Bald Eagles – 2 mature. Largest bull Elephant Seal spent the morning hauled out beside the winch house then rejoined the others on the boat ramp. 1 pair of Geese today.
HUMAN INTERACTION: Coast Guard Helicopter arrived close to 9 a.m. with 2 men to work inside the tower, chopper back at 2:15 to return workers to Victoria Base. Very blustery all day, hard to believe official start of spring is tomorrow.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:07 PM

Good Morning

WEATHER: Sky Overcast  Vis. 15 Miles  Wind West 23 Knots  Sea 4 Foot Moderate
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:39 AM

Search on for lost fishermen

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Tuesday, March 12, 2002

Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 7.5C Min. 4.2C Reset 4.9C Rain 13.8mm
MARINE LIFE: 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.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 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.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:07 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Overcast  Vis. 15 Miles  Light Rain  Wind South West 4 Knots  Sea Rippled  Occasional Breaks
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:13 AM

Elephant seals

Posted on by
Monday, March 11, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 9.3C  Min. 6.3C  Reset 6.3C  Rain 29.4mm
MARINE LIFE: 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.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:59 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Overcast  Vis. 1 Miles  Rain  Wind South 10 Knots  Sea 1 Foot Chop
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:22 AM

Elephant seal encounter

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Sunday, March 10, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 9.9C  Min. 4.5C  Reset 7.7C Rain 1.9mm
MARINE LIFE: 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 concrete 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, unfortunately 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-cooperate…but that would be ridiculous… right.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:34 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy  Vis. 15 Miles  Wind North East 13 Knots Sea 1 Foot Chop
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:20 AM

Black Oyster catchers arrive noisily

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Saturday, March 09, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max 9.0C  Min. 2.7C Reset 6.5C  No Precipitation
MARINE LIFE: 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.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:14 PM

Good Morning: WEATHER: Sky Overcast  Vis. 15 Miles  Wind 23 Knots Sea 3 Foot Moderate >> Low East Swell

posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:39 AM

2 bull Elephant seals are very vocal

Posted on by
Thursday, March 07, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 1.0C  Min. -3.0C  Reset -0.5C  Snow 3.0 cm = 3.0mm
MARINE LIFE: 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.!
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:43 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy  Vis 15 Miles Wind North North East 19 Knots  Sea 3 Foot Moderate >> Low East Swell
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:13 AM

Wind North East 25 G 33 Knots Sea 4 -5 Foot Moderate

Posted on by
Wednesday, March 06, 2002
Good Evening 3/6/2002
TEMPERATURE: Max. 5.0C  Min -2.0C  Reset 0.0C No Rain or Snow
MARINE LIFE: 5 Bald Eagles – 3 mature- arrived first light but left the area earlier than usual as the weather deteriorated.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 12:30 Angus arrived to take Garry back to campus. With the wind and easterly swell it was another tricky manouever to ‘nudge’ into the dock so Garry could jump into the boat – timing is everything, not for the squeamish!
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:22 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy  Vis. 15 Miles  Wind North East 25 G 33 Knots  Sea 4 -5 Foot Moderate  Low Easterly Swell
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:19 AM

Black Oystercatchers active here

Posted on by
Tuesday, March 05, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 8.1C  Min. 4.3 C  Reset 4.5 C  No Rain
3/5/ 8:00 PM Garry
MARINE LIFE: 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 the 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.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 1 Pleasure craft through the M.P.A. today. Race Rocks boat over to Parry Bay to Bring Garry over to work on the data system.posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:07 PM

Good MorningWEATHER: Sky Part Cloudy Vis. 15 Miles Wind West 23 Knots  Sea 3 -4 Foot Moderateposted by Carol or Mike S at 6:34 AM