Author Archives: Derek Sterling

A Quick Return

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After finishing my term at Race Rocks on April 19, there was an unexpected schedule change and I was asked to return on April 30. It took a little quick re-arranging, but I was able to help  out!

Always a relaxing view

 

Ecological Notes:

  • 5 Elephant Seals on land, 4 in the process of molting.
  • This year’s only surviving pup is still around with occasional 1 or 2 day ventures out and back

  • Although the adult  Canada Geese are still around, there is only one pair still sitting on a nest. No other chicks around.
  • There are a few sealions returning to the ramp area, but none are hauling out on the actual rocks they normally do … and they all seem very nervous. Just speculation(!), but they all left the main island rock the day the Orca hunted one just of the island.

Visitors:

  • One of the previous Ecoguardian’s friend came out for a quick visit when we were doing the exchange.

Facility Work:

  • More path cleaning, fence repairs and general maintenance.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Gradual increase in the volume of Eco-Tourism vessels coming to the reserve, depending on wind direction.
  • A few  kayaks and even some sailboats making their way around the island.

 Feature Event:

  •  When I was here last time, I designed and prototyped some simple electric fence connectors. The ideas was for something fast and simple to use when the weather was bad, or to quickly secure the fence, followed by the ability to return later and re-enforce it with a wired secure.
  • The ones installed 3 months ago were all in place, so I have made some more. They are made with plant-based resin, and most likely, they will always be replaced before they fail completely.
  • Also making some gifts for co-workers, and teaching props while I have a printer here with me.

Weather Events:

  • The full range of late spring weather and temperatures. Wind days up to 50 knots,a and some shorts and t-shirt days mixed in.

 

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Very busy times

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Ecological Notes:

  • 8 Elephant Seals in various stages of molt
  • 1 of the above is the surviving male pup from this season
  • 5 Canada Goose nests now
  • Gulls are still pairing up and courting, but no nests yet
  • Seals and sealions use the sensitive whiskers, and hair above their eyes to detect vibrations from fish when in the dark depths  of the ocean.

Visitors:

  • 2 separate sets of students from Westcoast Adventure College, each group with chaperone for a total of 9 students and 2 chaperones
  • Each group stayed for 3 days and 3 nights, for 2 days of classes, and 1 day of learning about and helping  with the procedures of the Ecoguardian
  • Class was An Introduction to Marine Mammals of the Salish Sea …… A program the Ecoguardian has been teaching for 17 years to the students of WAC, and this was the first time it could be taught amongst actual marine mammals here at the reserve!

Facility Work:

  • All sidewalks and the generator building have been pressure washed.
  • Even more waste building materials have been gathered and stacked ready for pick up
  • Many logs were salvaged from the rocky shoreline while there were extra people here.
  • An extra thorough cleaning of the Student house.
  • New electric fencing was set up to protect the lower solar panels from the sealions, as they had managed to get under the panels and damaged the wiring in the past.
  • As normal, lots of fence repairs during the windy times. Although there is not much sealion traffic right now, it is much easier to keep it all up than redo it all later.
  • Still working with the old tank on the fuel delivery vessel, so lots of fuel transfers from boat tank, to barrels, to portable tidytank, to generator tank.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Daily visits from Ecotourism Vessels, and some private vessels paused to look at the sealions.
  • In addition to kayakers, a pair of paddlers ventured out and around the reserve in a canoe
  • As the current Ecoguardian is an experienced kayak and canoe guide, all were observed closely to ensure they were equipped properly and had the skill sets to be out here in the currents. Happy to report, all was good!
  • 2 sailboats passed through the main channel east to west before looping around past the southern side of the main island. 1 had a little trouble in the currents on the west side and stalled out, but they recovered before they were any actual danger …. but they looked quite tense through the binoculars!

 

 Feature Event:

  •  The updated Solar power system has continued to function at the high level it was hoped it would provide. With only average sunlight, the system still uses much less generator time, and we have only been running the generator 2 out of 3 days.

Weather Events:

  • Many high wind days, giving way to medium winds and clear skies. Rinse and repeat.

 

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Improved Solar Power

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Ecological Notes:

  • 5  Elephant Seals
    • The Beachmaster (Bernard) has left the island, most likely for one more big feed before molting
    • 2 Adult females, both starting their molt

    • 2 new (to me) animals here, either very large pups, or small yearlings …. waiting to see if they do a normal molt.
    • The only remaining pup that was born here has completed it’s first baby fur molt, and has been tentatively exploring the area by the pier, when encouraged by another new pup I don’t recognize

Tentative first tries

Meeting a new buddy

Moved into the water while he had support

 

  • 3 known Canada geese nests now, one was right by the door to the house. The gulls robbed all the eggs though, so I dismantled that nest so that they would build somewhere else.
  • Gulls and Black Oyster Catchers are pretty much all paired up now, although I have not seen any nests yet as it’s still a bit early in the season

Visitors:

  • 4 contractors stayed for 2 days to work on the solar power system
  • 3 guests of the Ecoguardian  over 2 different time slots
  • College instructors and their guests came for a brief visit and overview of the reserve

Facility Work:

  • Replacement of damaged solar panels
    • added a new array or 4 panels
    • redid most of the wiring involved

There was an immediate improvement  to the system, resulting in a reduction of generator fuel use by about 1/3. This will only improve as the days get longer and brighter.

  • Visiting guests aided the ecoguardian in some tasks better accomplished by have some else there for safety and/or lifting. (including log and firewood prep and other  wastewood and equipment moving and stacking.) they also helped with pressure washing.

Safer to cut down on the rocky shore with someone here with me

DND events:

  • 3 or 4 days of the regular blasting, with safety vessels and Marine Mammal Observers present.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Ecotourism vessels are gearing up for the season and visit on a regular basis, often reporting the location of the sea otter and injured or entangled animals to the ecoguardian.
  • 2 jet skis in today … a little loud running against the current, but they kept proper speeds

 Noted Infractions:

  • Only one private fishing vessel in the reserve noted.

 Feature Event:

  • Spring is in full swing. Flowers are blooming, the pineapple weed is growing and of course the birds are all in courting behavior.

Weather Events:

  • very typical mix of spring weather …..wind from all directions on any given day, mix of sun, clouds and rain squalls.

 

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Census

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march 21/2022

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                         19
  • Harbour seal                            48
  • California sea lion                   38
  • Northern Elephant Seal            6
    • 1 Large male
    • 2 non-nursing female
    • 1 weened pup
    • 2 new have arrived that I don”t recognized … 1 very large pup, 1 small yearling (unsure,, may be able to confirm if it does a full molt)
  • Sea Otter                                 1

 

Birds

  • Bald eagle adult                        4
  • Bald eagle juvenile                      8
  • Turnstones                                  30
  • Gulls, Glaucous and Western     78
  • Cormorants                                 37
  • Canadian goose                           14
    • (4 nests with eggs)
  • Harlequin Ducks                          8
  • Oyster catcher                             10
  • Pigeon Guillemots                        24

Census

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March 15, 2022

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                         14
  • Harbour seal                             38
  • California sea lion                   33
  • Northern Elephant Seal            4

    • 1 Large male
    • 2 Adult female
    • 1 weened Pup male
  • Sea Otter                                 1

 

Birds

  • Bald eagle adult                           4
  • Bald eagle juvenile                      8
  • Turnstones                                  18
  • Gulls, Glaucous and Western    72
  • Cormorants                                 41
  • Canadian goose                          14
  • Harlequin Ducks                         4
  • Oyster catcher                             10
  • Pigeon Guillimots                       8

Spring is in the air

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Ecological Notes:

  • 4 Elephant Seal on the main island
  • The Male Beachmaster (Bernard), 2 Adult Females, and 1 weened Male “pup” (very large now!)
  • The last pup had grown to almost double the size he was when I got here, and  I had hoped to report he was doing well, but unfortunately the nature and the Beachmaster had other plans. The (female)pup passed suddenly about a week ago and was returned to the sea today. Samples were taken for analysis, including hopefully testing for DNA to check paternity.
  • 1 California Sea Lion noted with rope entanglement. He is surprisingly active for the depth of the wound. Reported to the Marine Mammal hotline.
  • On a more positive note, the Black Oystercatchers are paring off, and some Gulls are wondering around showing off nice clumps of grass they have collected to whoever will notice.

“See my stuff????”

Visitors:

  • A couple of visits from the shorefront coordinator, delivering groceries, parcels, diesel fuel, and parts for repairs.

Facility Work:

  • After a couple attempts to repair the existing connections from the outside line to the pump, it was decided to just replace and simplify the pipes ….. to a final success.
  • Repaired the VHF Antenna on the main house, applied tape to hopefully stop it from vibrating the threads free in the wind.

DND events:

  • On and off all week, except the weekend of course

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Several Ecotourism vessels enjoying the sights and sounds of the reserve.

Responsible viewing and educating

  • With the nicer weather, several kayaks and outrigger canoes have looped out around the reserve, experienced paddlers who all stayed out of the main channel in the reserve where currents can be strong.

 Noted Infractions:

  • Some private fishing very close to the reserve, but measurements with a laser rangefinder suggest they were just outside the 40M depth contour.

Weather Events:

  • A mixture of winds, but mostly light days with mostly sun for the last couple days.

 

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Census

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February 28/2022

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                         28
  • Harbour seal                            73
  • California sea lion                   43
  • Northern Elephant Seal            3
    • 1 Large male
    • 1 non-nursing female
    • 1 weened pup
  • Sea Otter                                 1

 

Birds

  • Bald eagle adult                          9
  • Bald eagle juvenile                      15
  • Turnstones                                  28
  • Gulls, Glaucous and Western     47
  • Cormorants                                 52
  • Canadian goose                           14
  • Harlequin Ducks                          6
  • Oyster catcher                             7
  • Pigeon Guillimots                        32

Back at the Reserve

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Great to be back at the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve after a couple months away with family! Thanks to the previous Eco-Guardians who left things in such great shape, in spite of a particularly hard winter weather-wise.

Ecological Notes:

  • The beachmaster Male Elephant Seal is still here, keeping everyone in check.

Spring is in the air

  • 1 Nursing Female/pup set
  • 1 very large male pup here, appears  to be recovering well from injuries received before I arrived.
  • Another Adult Female Elephant Seal has returned.

Facility Work:

  • Tidied up some of the fencing
  • Battery level servicing
  • Equalization Charging of the Battery System
  • Trouble shooting of water pump system in the main house. One-way valve to be serviced once it is confirmed parts are available.
  • Various diesel fuel transfers
  • Ongoing firewood stocking

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 4 Ecotourism vessels and 5 private vessels sightseeing in the reserve.

Weather Events:

  • Primarily westerly winds of 20-30 knots, shifting to cold and clear northeasterly winds on Sunday.

 

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Census

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February 21/2022

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                         45
  • Harbour seal                             65
  • California sea lion                     62
  • Northern Elephant Seal            5
    • 1 Large male
    • 1 nursing female
    • 1 non-nursing female
    • 1 nursing pup
    • 1 weened pup
  • Sea Otter                                 1

 

Birds

  • Bald eagle adult                          4
  • Bald eagle juvenile                      9
  • Turnstones                                  22
  • Gulls, Glaucous and Western     38
  • Cormorants                                 87
  • Canadian goose                           8
  • Harlequin Ducks                          9
  • Oyster catcher                           10

A view from the top

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Ecological Notes:

  • 1 Female Elephant Seal
  • 1 Male Elephant Seal, appears to be last year’s Beachmaster
  • First time I’ve personally noticed this type of tag …. On the Female Elephant Seal

Tag with holes in a pattern

 

harlequin ducks

Facility Work:

  • Cleaning and firewood prep for the next Ecoguardians
  • Looks like tomorrow morning will be all about clearing the pier area of debris and redoing the electric fence. The swells and incoming wind knocked concrete blocks right off the pier.

DND events:

  • 2 days of blasting with noticeable reactions from the Scea Lions.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 3 different Ecotourism vessels
  • Several Sailboats back and forth, cutting between the reserve and Bentinck Island

 Feature Event:

  • Took a few Pictures from the top of the light while I was doing the animal Census.

 

Weather Events:

  • Mostly average winds from the west. Wednesday greeted us with 30-40 knot southeasterly wind, with very large swells!

 

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?