Author Archives: Courtney Edwards

Baby Elephant Seal for the Holidays

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Newborn Elephant Seal pup! After a night of squawking we were met in the morning by this adorable squishy new baby. It makes the cutest sounds!

Weather: 2 days of over 30 knots. Sleet on the afternoon of December 21st after a morning of NW bringing lots of logs into the jetty.

Visitors: 4 tourism boats coming out to view wildlife. Coast Guard doing maneuvers in the crazy currents. Navy ship and submarine out for a jaunt.

 

Maintenance: Greg got the desalinator going. We got Ocean Network Canada’s equipment up and running, I’m told it measures the tides and currents using radar?! Pretty cool. Maybe the subject of a blog post already?

Wildlife: The Elephant Seals showed up in the first week of December, so we were expecting a few months of them hanging out on Race Rocks before anything significant happened. Just kidding! The lone female on the island (pink tag #2) gave birth at around 10pm on December 21st after a chilly afternoon with a bit of snow.

Baby Elephant Seal #1. Could be last years pup? They are thought to return to their same birthing/moulting grounds.

The big male that has been posted up with the female since the beginning of December seems to be pretty protective of the new baby, making sure the rowdy teen male seal knows he is not welcome around the female and pup. There is another large male hanging out next to the generator building, and a small male (possibly last years pup) was hanging out here for a few weeks before heading back into the ocean.

The big male chased the female around the island for a few days before she found her favourite spot and posted up. Turns out those rocks right in from of her is the best nursery.

Momma Seal: Pink tag #2

Having a well deserved rest with her newborn the the giant male stands guard for other males.

We’ve still got lots of California and Steller Sea Lions hanging out on the island/jetty, with lots of bait balls and kelp rafts drifting by. There’s been at least 2 humpbacks feeding between Race Rocks and Edye Point for a few days.

 

Only 1 gull has died in the last week, and was pretty quickly eaten by a couple of eagles.

Because every Race Rocks blog should feature a lighthouse photo.

 

December 18 2020 Wildlife (Census)

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Visitors/Traffic: A few whale watching boats and small fishing vessels came out to look at the sea lions.

Ecological Notes: One new observation of a gull acting weird before dying and being eaten by eagles. Currently there are 4 elephant seals on Race Rocks: One dominant male, one submissive male, one juvenile male, and one pregnant female. Looks like this female showed up a little earlier than last year, which may be an attempt to birth and nurse in peace before other mothers show up.

Census:

Gulls: 318

Cormorants (mostly Brant’s): 816

Eagles: 3

Elephant Seals: 4

Steller Sea Lions: 330

California Sea Lions: 144

Turnstones: 11

 

 

Shift Change

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Overcast. Moderate Southerly winds in the am, moderate West in the pm.
The barometer has been slowly falling today. Forecast is for gale force West tomorrow afternoon.

3 tour boats
1 halibut boat

Business as usual in the reserve today. I saw the pair of Caspian terns again today. The big male elephant seal moved over to the Energy building.

Off station from 1400 to 1600 to pick up Julie.
-prep for shift change
-shift change training

Water Heater

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Clear skies. Light variable winds in the am, moderate West in the pm.
The barometer has been steady all day. Forecast is for similar weather tomorrow.

24 tour boats
2 recreational fishing boats passed through
1 halibut boat off the West edge of the reserve

Business as usual for the animal life in the reserve today. The elephant seals went down to the water midday to cool off. The gulls are noisy and trying to attack me. I saw the river otter this afternoon by the crane deck. Max spotted an Oystercatcher nest right next to the jetty walkway, on the West side just as the ramp steps up. There were a lot of tour boats today. They are sometimes hard to count because some boats make several passes through the reserve on their way West and on their way back to the city. But I saw all the usual boats today. There was an aircraft carrier by Esquimalt harbour most of the day, it left late this afternoon.

Max brought out the hot water heater technicians today. He also took away the broken ladders, which was much appreciated. Chris brought two groups out in Second Nature for a tour through the reserve, but they didn’t stop on land. I’ll be taking the techs back to the college this evening.
-worked on Whaler bilge pump and running lights
-continued shift change prep
-finalized draft of SOPs and sent it to Chris

Animal Census

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Clear skies. Light South early this morning and strong to Gale Westerlies the rest of the day. The barometer has been falling steadily all day. The forecast for light in the am, strong West in the pm continues. 6 tour boats 3 halibut boats Animal Census Elephant Seal: 7 Harbour Seal: 267 Eagle: 3 Gull: 332 Pigeon Guillemot: 30 Oyster Catcher: 7 It is now the season of the Gull and Harbour seal, with a few hundred of each using the reserve. There are two large male elephant seals on Great Race, and only one Elephant seal out on Middle Rock. There are no Sea lions left in the reserve, they have all gone to their breeding grounds. If the Oystercatchers are nesting, I can’t find their nests, although I am pretty limited with where I can go because there are so many Gull nests on the island. I saw the Caspian Terns again today, this time they flew really low over the East side of the island making their tell-tale squawking noise. The island is drying out and all the grass is turning brown. Despite the lack of rain, the cistern is still full. It will be interesting to see if we can make it through the summer without having to top it up with seawater from the fire pump.

Gale

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Overcast sky. Strong to Gale Westerlies all day. Force 6-7.
The barometer peaked midday and then dropped. The forecast is for the strong Westerlies to continue.
June has proven to be a very windy month. Usually a bit calmer in the morning, and blowing string West by mid-afternoon.
Big tides today: 0.1m low, 2.8m high. And strong currents: -6.7kn and +5.7kn. The flood is probably a lot faster at the surface with these strong West winds.

6 tour boats

Business as usual in the reserve today. The Gulls are getting very defensive of their nests. A few Eagles flew over throughout the day. There are 5 elephant seals behind the boat shed.

-Island wide putter/tidy
-Shift change prep

Back on Station

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Overcast, with moderate Westerlies in the am. Clear with Gale force West in the pm.
The barometer is on the rise. The Gale is forecasted to continue tomorrow.

Looks like business as usual for the animals in the reserve today. The cranking wind is keeping the Gulls on the ground. The few Elephant seals are behind the boat house in the lee of the West bluff.

Max came into the college this morning. I was back on station by ~0900.

Eagles

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[Log entry from Max]

Overcast
Visibility 15 miles
Wind 20 kts
Four eagles were flying around the west side of the main island this morning at 0530. Either baby eagles, or golden eagles. I don’t know if there are Golden Eagles here, but it seemed odd that there would be four immature bald eagles flying together, and no adults to be seen.
The large male elephant seal has relocated to near the engine room.
No Whale watching boats today.

HMCS Oriole

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[Log entry from Max]

Barometer 101.4 kpa and falling at 0600
Three eagles sitting on Middle rock at 0600 pictures
W 1 kt. A welcome relief from the constant breeze, although looking at the forcast, it looks like the calm won’t last long.
A fogbank sitting offshore, in the Strait.
Beautiful sunrise this morning
Batteries at 49.1 this morning at 0530
The plumber came out today to measure out the space for the new hot water on demand system, to replace the broken hot water tank in the keeper’s house.
HMCS Oriole motorsailed east through race passage.

Max on station

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[Log entry from Max]

Barometer 101.5 kpa and rising at 0900
Overcast this morning
Lots of seagulls making sweet seagull love
Two smaller elephant seals on the main island
Wind at the tower W 25 at 0900
Excellent visibility. No fogbank in the strait.
1100 Large male elephant seal moved onto the island
two sets of Canada geese on the island; a set with three babies, and a set without
Sunny in the afternoon
Two eagles did a couple of Flybys, as well as a possible hawk
Gorgeous sunset this evening.