Eva is now the Ecoguardian at Race Rocks.  She has received the most essential summer survival tool – the gull broom.  This is my last night here and Eva’s first.

“The passing of the broom”, the Ecoguardian initiation ceremony.

Wildlife notes

Nothing of note other than another gull chick with an eye issue was found today. The area affected extends past its eye. This one lives near the cistern.

A gull chick with eye damage. This is the third one found in the past few days.

Facility work

• cleaned solar panels
• cleared a path to the bunker
• helped Eva settle in

Vessels

• Ecotourism: 18
• Private: 0

Weather

Scattered clouds. Winds predominately westerly 11 to 24 knots. Daytime temperatures 12 to 15.

Wildlife notes

I have observed two gull chicks with only one eye. For one chick the eye socket appears almost closed over. The other chick looks much worse off with obvious signs of infection and it is hard to look at. The two chicks seem to move about slower than their nest mates. If they survive, their lack of depth perception will make life more difficult.

With much patience and luck, I was also able to get some pictures of the Keeper’s House black oystercatcher parents eyes.  I had recently learned they can be sexed by the presence of black flecks in eyes of the females.  The Keeper’s House pair did indeed have different eyes!!!

The eyes of the Keeper’s House black oystercatcher parents. The female is likely (93%) the one in the top row with the black fleck on the iris.

Facility work

• cleaned solar panels
• hung the new AED cabinet on the wall in the basement.  The AED kit needs to be set up properly but I have to leave that for Eva to finish.
• finished the compost bin modifications
• started organizing things as Eva is coming tomorrow afternoon

AED cabinet and sign mounted in the basement of the Keeper’s House.  With such a shiny white new box, I would have liked to paint the wall first but it can remounted later if that ever happens. I got to use our new measuring tape and driver bits brought here yesterday.

Compost bins BEFORE.

Compost bins AFTER. I reinforced the burnt posts, removed the front boards, added stringers and cut drop boards for the right hand side. Now the contents of the bin can be removed when fully composted. The gull sitting on top has two chicks on the other side of the bins. I am sure she is happy the job is done.

Vessels

• Ecotourism: 19
• Private:  1

Weather

Scattered clouds. Winds westerly 13 to 27 knots. Daytime temperatures 12 to 13 degrees.

Wildlife notes

The Stellar and California sea lions have started returning to Race Rocks in the past week. In the weekly animal census from June 13 to July 18 there were between zero and 8 sea lions of each species counted.  In a month from now there can be 200 to 300. By the fall, the numbers could double. In the past 12 months, the highest census count was 906 California sea lions (Sept 19 2025) and 525 Stellar sea lions (Nov 18 2025).

Presently on the South Islands there is a 13 year-old male Stellar sea lion who was branded as a pup in Rogue Reef, Oregon. He is breeding age now and the US researchers will be looking for him on their images taken earlier this month at Rogue Reef.  He has been seen about once a year in the last three years but it is a mystery where spent the first 10 years of his life.  To learn more about how sea lion populations have rebounded in the past 50 years see this post.

Resighting records for  SSL 434Y

A male Stellar sea lion (434Y) on the South Islands, photographed on July 27, 2026.

Facility notes

• cleaned solar panels
• vacuumed and cleaned window in the Battery Room
• worked on the compost bins
• finished cleaning the Generator Room

The thorough cleaning of the Energy Building is finally complete! I was chipping away at it over the past two months since Old Lister was hauled away on May 28 2026.  Many hours spent with ear muffs, vacuum and with a respirator, scrub brushes, rags and degreasers. Smells nice in there now and you can look out the windows.

The Generator Room with shelving and the foot print of Old Lister.

The current diesel generator.

A side room with the power washing equipment and a backup gas generator.

One of the windows before.

Without the flies and grime.

Vessels

• Ecotourism: 19
• Private: 2

Weather

Light rain in the am. Partly cloudy in the pm.  Winds mostly from the WNW 10 to 30 knots. Daytime temperature 13 to 19 degrees.

Wildlife notes

It was a quiet day with glassy flat waters.  A perfect day to sit and watch the mom harbour seals play with their pups. Their playful and tender interactions are a delight to watch.  It is astonishing to learn that after 4 to 6 weeks when the pups are weaned, their mothers show no further interest in them and leave them completely.

Mom harbour seal teaching and encouraging her pup to haul out. She had tried in several different places but her pup kept loosing interest, preferring instead to dart away, spin and twirl around in the water. She was successful in this spot to get and keep her pup on the rock.

Mom harbour seal giving her pup a scratch.

The pup having a good yawn. It had tired itself out and was finally ready to nap.

Facility work

• cleaned the solar panels
• filled the generator and small tidy tank with fuel
• cleaned windows in the generator room

Vessels

• Ecotourism: 22
• Private: 5
• Paddle boarder: 1

Weather

Foggy in am. Short periods of drizzle. Partly cloudy in the pm. Winds veering from NE in the am to W by late afternoon, speeds 8 to 15 knots. Daytime temperatures 12 to 17 degrees.

Wildlife notes

Team California, the men’s synchronized swimmers at Race Rocks put in a good practice this morning. These beastly, barking, stinky creatures left their man pile on South Islands to connect with their feminine sides.

Apparently female California sealions stay closer to home and it is the males that travel north. The sealions are holding their flippers (heat exchangers) in the air to thermoregulate.

Facility work

• filled the cistern with salt water for the next Ecoguardian
• cleaning in the Energy Building
• topped up battery fluids

Vessels

• Ecotourism: 27
• Private: 2
• Kayakers: 2

Two very special kayaks. They are high performance open-cockpit ocean kayak/canoe hybrids designed for surfing and racing.

Weather

Light rain into early afternoon. Cloudy in the afternoon. Winds westerly 5 to 10 knots. Daytime temperatures 13 to 15 degrees.

Wildlife notes

One of the banded gulls observed in June was misidentified. The lighting was bad and a brown band appeared black in colour.  I was asked to rephotograph the gull to confirm the colour but it took a while for the bird to return. Now it seems to be a regular visitor to the Energy Building.  The misidentified gull who was banded in Haida Gwaii has been replaced with a gull who was banded in Port Renfrew. It is not so much of a long distance traveler and comes in second to gull from Tofino for furthest distance away. Below is the updated Race Rocks banded gull summary.

To learn more about the Salish Sea Gull Project and read their annual reports see this post.  To report a banded gull follow this link.

Facility work

• cleaned the solar panels
• ran the desalinator
• worked on the compost
• vacuumed flies

Vessels

• Ecotourism: 14
• Private: 0

Weather

Clear skies. Winds westerly 18 to 35 knots. Daytime temperature 12 to 18 degrees.

Wildlife notes

The gull chicks are perfectly camouflaged.  When young their yellowish coats blend with the grass and as they age and turn greyer they blend into the stones. But it does them little good here. From what I have seen, the leading cause of chick death is not capture by eagle. It is their murderous conspecifics and I think it is not just about the calories.  These small chicks seem much less of a meal compared to what I have seen a distressed gull regurgitate.

Where’s Waldo? I stopped by this rock wall yesterday to take a photo and didn’t see the chick pretending to be a stone (image center). It was the persistent cries and agitation of a nearby gull that made me  inspect the surrounding area.

A gull chick being eaten today at the edge of the cistern.

Facility work

• cleaned solar panels
• general cleaning

Vessels

• Ecotourism: 6
• Private: 0

Weather

Partly cloudy. Winds westerlies 17 to 35 knots. Thunderstorm in the afternoon. Daytime temperatures 14 to 17 degrees.