Author Archives: Courtney Edwards

Elephant seal!!

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Clear skies. Strong NE winds. 4-5ft wind waves this morning. The wind and the waves eased by the evening.

This weather is making my departure day a bit unsure, but it is totally worth it because it made the HUGE male elephant seal that’s been lounging on Middle Rock come over to Great Race. He spent the day on the grass next to the energy building. Whoa! He is way bigger than I thought. Despite his size, it is impossible to take him seriously with that massive nose. Since I have never been formally introduced to the Elephant seal I am assuming that this is the one that previous Eco-guardians named Chunk  because of the scars from Misery on his back.

See sparring in previous post https://www.racerocks.ca/2013/06/10/les-miserables/

At lunch time today the River otter was rolling around in the sun on the wood platform by the crane. I think it lives under the walkway.

-worked on SOPs
-Did a final shift-change tidy

winter has arrived

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Mostly clear skies. Strong West wind. Cold.
Gusted up to 50 kts last night. At dawn it snowed and hailed briefly, and was sunny and raining at the same time.
On top of being chained to the house, I had to lash the propane tanks together with a block of wood between them to keep them from banging into each other in the wind.

There was nothing to count for the Recreational Fishing count today.

A bald eagle visited Great Race briefly and I saw a River otter next to the tank shed.
There are still quite a few Sea lions on the South and East sides of the island.

-sent in my month end report
-sent seawater data to IOS
-took down electric fences
-organized tank shed
-edited SOPs
-cleaned Keeper’s House
 

November Seawater Data

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This month is the first month with the new seawater sampling method. After several months of trying out the YSI digital salinity and temperature meter our contact at IOS told us to just use that instrument. Once a month we are to collect a sample using the old method with the thermometers and hydrometer in order to track any drift on the digital meter and to be able to calibrate the data.

Institute of Ocean Sciences
Daily Seawater Temperature and Density Record Shore Station
Time Zone: PDT
Station Race  Rocks  Lightstation
Month: November Year: 2013
Observer: Lester B. Pearson  College  of  the  Pacific

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river otter

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Cloudy. Strong West wind.
2 Eco-tour boats.

I saw a river otter scurry down the rock bluff by the boat ramp. Earlier in the season there was one living under the pile of wood next to the tank shed, maybe it moved a little down the path and now lives under the crane platform. This could also be a critter that is leaving broken and emptied urchin shells on the end of the jetty.

Erik brought out David Hawley + adivsees in the late afternoon to spend the night.
The replacement solar panel arrived. And Erik took away fuel spill rags and the jugs to fill with deionized water for battery top up.

one day of summer

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Clear skies. Light wind. Glassy seas. 9’C

DND blast: 1055, 1 medium blast

DFO has decided to extend our contract for the recreation fishing count. It starts again on December 1st, and continues until March.

The Canada Geese returned today, hopefully they don’t stay long, and I would prefer it if they stayed off my paths. I was told that the Sea lions leave this time of year, but there’s no sign of it happening yet, with over 1000 Sea lions still in the reserve. Maybe it’s because we have had such a mild Winter, with very few storms. They are mostly out on the Cobble beach on the South side of Greater Race and South Rocks. There are only a few by the jetty. The male elephant seal is still lounging on Middle Rock in easy view of Camera 5 on the West Bluff.

Animal Census
Stellar Sea lion: 479
California Sea lion: 555
Harbour seal: 47
Elephant seal: 1
Gulls: 159
Cormorants: 99
Oster Catcher: 4
Black Turnstone: 6
Eagle: 1
Raven: 1

-Started ‘Spring cleaning’ Keeper’s house for the shift change
-Prepped Science House for tomorrow’s group of students

tafoni

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Clear sky. Light winds.
My shift of nearly-perfect-weather continues.

I was almost finished my animal census (I just needed a couple picture of areas with lot’s of animals) when a Coast Guard helicopter did two circles of the tower. A lot of Gulls took flight the Sea lions on South Rocks took to the water. I guess I’ll try again tomorrow.

The Gulls have been capitalizing on the low tides during daylight hours and have been foraging on green urchins. They leave the broken urchins on walkways, the jetty, and rock outcroppings. This time of year the urchins are full of roe (gonads) which, by Sea gull standards, is high is calories and nutrients.

Tafoni: The blocks of sandstone out a Race Rocks are leftover from building the tower stairs. There are a hand-full of rectangular blocks on the beach by the jetty. These blocks have the signature patterns of pits and holes that are cause by chemical erosion. Because the stone is permeable, saltwater infiltrates throughout the block. As the sun and wind dries the outer surfaces, the water moves outward, dissolving the clay that binds the sand particles together resulting in the surprisingly organized patterns of holes. Another driver is the physical weathering that occurs as salt dries and puts pressure on the rock particles forcing areas to exfoliate and flake. Although the science of tafoni isn’t fully understood, it is thought that there are also biological drivers, particularly in the intertidal region (Tafoni also occurs in deserts, no urchins there). Univavles and Urchins can chemically dissolve and abrade the the surface of the stone and hasten the dissolution of the pits.

-Worked on DFO boat count report
-grease gun scavenger hunt
-washed solar panels
-ran firepump and wiped it down with fluid film
 

sail past

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Cloudy. Moderate Ne/E winds all day.

Off station from 1030 to 1130 to visit friends who were sailing past on their way to Sooke.
On my way back I went past Middle Rock with the HUGE male elephant seal (I’ve never seen a full sized one). Pretty impressive just how big those creatures are. I wish he’d come ashore to Greater Race Rock so I could get a better look at him. There was an adult bald eagle on the Turbine Rock on my way in, and two Harlequins on the jetty steps.

 

-Wrote DFO recreational fishing count report

calm

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Clear skies. Light winds.
A beautiful calm and crisp day. I’m glad the weather is holding out for the end of my shift.

-scrubbed outside tower stairs
-diesel to science house
-cleaned Science house basement
-Started fishing count analysis

male elephant seal

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Clear skies. Moderate NE winds.

I’ve finally seen a large male elephant seal. He is camped out on the top of Middle Rock. You can see him using Camera 5.
There have been juvenile eagles in the morning for the past week, and an adult has taken up on the top of one of the South Rocks for the past few days .

This weekend in the reserve there were:
Tour boats: 3
Dive boats: 2

-SOPs
-Coding Recreational fishing data