Author Archives: Courtney Edwards

Marine Science Exam

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Light variable North wind. Overcast to clear skies. Force 0-1
Barometer is on a slow but steady decline. The forecast is for East winds to shift to moderate West this evening as a small low pressure system moves northward.

6 tour boats

DND was blasting this morning. They sent out an email recently warning people about this scheduled munitions testing. There was about 6 blasts in total, all really loud. The Guillemots are startled by the blasts and fly away, but most of the other animals don’t seem to react.

Erik brought out Laura and Anne along with the first half of the marine science students today to do their 3 hour field exam. The weather and elephant seals cooperated nicely. The DND blasting probably didn’t help with the exam stress.

-sanded and painted drywall repair
-attached Whaler VHF speaker to console stand
-greased hardware on windows that open in the Science house
-Worked on SOPs

Animal Census

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Clear skies, variable light to no wind. Force 0.
Barometer is falling. Forecast is for light to moderate Easterlies.

9 tour boats
2 recreational fishing boats passed through

Animal Census
Steller Sea lion: 24
California Sea lion: 8
Elephant Seal:30
Harbour Seal: 111
Eagle: 3
Canada Goose: 39 adults, 8 goslings
Gull: 180
Oyster Catcher: 10
White Fronted Goose: 1
Pigeon Guillemots: 34

This is the highest number of Elephant seals we have ever counted in the reserve. This morning there were 2 juvenile eagles, and one adult. I have found 3 Oyster Catcher nests: one by the Keeper’s House, one on the bluff West of the jetty, and one on the rocks by the energy building. The Cackling goose is gone. I took the boat past the West bluffs yesterday on my way home and there is no sign of Pigeon Guillemot nesting yet.

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Calm

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Clear skies. Light NE in the am, glassy calm by evening. Force 0.
Barometer dropped a little, but levelled off this evening at 1024 hPa. Forecast is for moderate Easterlies tomorrow.

4 tour boats in the afternoon.

5 bald eagles this morning. The Elephant seals were in the water again first thing this morning. They came back up onto the island around 0900, and then went back for a late afternoon cool down. A new juvenile came ashore today with some very uncomfortable looking scabby-molt. The large male is next to the diesel bunker. Many of the seal are fully moulted now and look sleek and healthy. I’m curious to see how long they stick around. Many of the Steller Sea lions were not in the reserve this afternoon when I came back on the boat. No sign of Guillemot nesting on the bluff yet.

Off station for most of today for groceries and errands.
Took in garbage and recycling.
Took hedge trimmer into maintenance for servicing.
Traded broken VHF antenna for a working antenna.

Advisee group

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Patchy clouds. Strong Westerlies, low West swell. Force 5 most of the day.
Barometer on the rise since last night. Forecast is for more strong West.

4 tour botas
2 halibut boats on edge of reserve
1225 fly-over by a small plane

The Elephant seals have officially moved all the way to the other side of the path. They are now next to the water tank shed. Not sure why they decide to move, or how they choose the location, but they are busy creatures in their own way. There are lots of Gull nests taking shape all over the island. No sign yet of any of eggs or nesting though. There are still 3 Canada goose goslings being aggressively guarded by their parents.

Erik dropped off an Advisee group for the weekend.

-Checked battery bank specific gravity
-topped up batteries
-put voltage controller back together
-Ran generator and monitored inverters and battery bank

Elephant seals

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Light variable North wind most of the day, blowing strong West this evening. Clouds and intermittent rain all day. Force 1 in the am, Force 5 this evening. The barometer levelled out just above 1000 hPa around 1800. The forecast is for strong West, diminishing to slightly-less strong SW overnight.

4 tour boats
3 halibut boats on the edge of the reserve

I’m used to seeing the little zodiacs out for the marine tours, but there are a couple tour boats that are really really big. I usually catch them out of the corner of my eye and have to do a double take. It’s a bit like suddenly seeing a small house sitting off the island where it is normally just empty water. It’s crazy that a boat that big will casually pass past the end of the jetty, through a narrow channel that is ripping with the fastest currents on Southern Vancouver Island.

The males Elephant seals are more active and aggressive and have lots of little sparing battles throughout the day. The females might growl, but otherwise they are pretty chill. There doesn’t seem to be any patterns in groups in terms of sex, with the males and females spread out pretty evenly. Although the larger males tend to spend more time away from the group. There are still 2 small juveniles (nicknamed Jellybean and Peanut since they are so darn round and cute). One of the young adult males spent some time ‘chasing’ me while I scoped out the other E-seals. He also chased some sea gulls for a while. They definitely don’t hesitate to growl at the Canada Geese or Gulls when they are too close or fly over. I’ve been keeping my eye out for any E-seal flipper tags, but haven’t seen any in a while. Lots of Pigeon Guillemots today.

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Albatross..?

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Strong Westerlies, clear skies. Force 4-5
Barometer is falling again, with a strong West wind warning overnight.
The Washington Marine text forecast has not been updating since yesterday.

4 tour boats
3 halibut boats on the edge of the reserve

RIP Farley Mowat: acclaimed Canadian author, and ardent environmentalist.

I saw another pair of Canada geese with a single gosling today. There are now 3 goslings in total. I realized the other day that there are no Black Turnstones around any more, I guess they’ve gone North for the summer breeding season. There is a pair of Oyster catchers setting up shop on the steep slope East of the jetty, I hope they make a nest there where it is easy for me to observe them. The Cackling goose and White Fronted goose are both still on Great Race. The animal highlight of the day was a mystery bird. It was up really high above Great Race when I first came out this morning. It was mostly white underneath and was clearly an offshore bird because it had that albatross-esque silhouette. It made a really awkward, throaty sound, almost like a heron. On the Race Rocks species page the only offshore birds list are the Sooty Shearwater and the Laysan Albatross. The Shearwater is ruled out because it is grey underneath, so my best guess is that this morning I saw a Laysan albatross.

-Trouble shooting temperature issues on inverter 1
-Finished leak repair on outside of Science house door
-Washed Keeper’s house windows

Clear skies, strong Westerlies

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Strong Westerlies all day. Clear skies. Force 5
The barometer has been pretty level, the forecast is for the wind to ease overnight and pick up as strong Westerlies again tomorrow afternoon.

6 tour boats
3 halibut boats on the edge of the reserve

Business as usual in the reserve today. The Elephant seals are still in the front yard. The Sea lions are on Middle Rock. Lots of Gulls. My windows are in dire need of washing after being seriously bombed by the Gulls. The challenge is that there are two very aggressive Canada Geese nesting next to the tap I need to use to get the pump running off the rain water collection tank. We have a truce for getting firewood but I get attacked every time I go to the compost. I’m hoping that the Geese and I can work something out for using the hose.

-Ran desalinator off the PV panels
-Worked on SOPs and shift calendar
-Started cleaning sludge of roof of energy building
-Worked on Science house basement door