Author Archives: Derek Sterling

Census

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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?

census

Posted on by

Birds

  • Bald eagle adult                          2
  • Bald eagle juvenile                     6
  • Turnstones                                   22
  • Dunlin                                            7
  • Gulls, Glaucous and Western    88
  • Cormorants                                  48
  • Canadian goose                          10
  • Crows/ Ravens(?)                         7
  • Harlequin Duck                             9

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                          302
  • Harbour seal                                42
  • California sea lion                       98
  • Male Elephant Seal                      1
  • Female Elephant Seal                  1

Weather Days

Posted on by

Ecological Notes:

  • The large Male Elephant Seal has been coming and going from the island, often bellowing for a while each day.
  • During the stormy weather over the last month, I had noticed more than one Sea Lion with what looked like minor injuries. Now that there are less on the island, I can move about into “their” areas. Unfortunately, I have found 2 of what looked like healthy animals that have passed. This is not uncommon, but always sad.

Visitors:

  • The Waterfront Coordinator delivered fuel for the generator, and electric fence parts.

Facility Work:,

  • Cutting salvage wood recovered from the ocean is hard on the saw chain. Add to this that some of  it is hardwood and you find yourself touching up the blade and/or sharpening it very often.

  • The more you cut, the more you get to split!

  • Rain days mean time best spent on indoor projects ….. some are mundane, but still have to be done.

Clean the fridge

Replace furnace filter

 

DND events:

  • Thursday included several blasts  on the west beach.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Several Ecotourism Vessels, including one that paused for all the guests and crew to sing Happy Birthday to the Ecoguardian!

Weather Events:

  • Several days of high, cold Northeasterly winds gave way to Westerlies of 25 – 30 knots on Thursday. Mix of sun, cloud, and rain squalls throughout the day.

 

** 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

Posted on by

Birds

  • Bald eagle adult                         4
  • Bald eagle juvenile                    9
  • Turnstones                                   32
  • Dunlin                                            9
  • Gulls, Glaucous and Western    132
  • Cormorants                                  63
  • Canadian goose                         10
  • Crows/ Ravens(?)                        4
  • Surf Skoters                                    7

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                          265
  • Harbour seal                               23
  • California sea lion                     123
  • Male Elephant Seal                     2
  • River Otter                                   1

Sunny with a chance of Elephant Seal

Posted on by

Ecological Notes:

  • The Large Male Elephant Seal that has been visiting the water by the jetty decided to come up for a sunbathe and snooze today. He is larger than I originally thought!

  • The Sub-Adult Male Elephant Seal is still hauled out on middle rock.

Facility Work:

  • Although some large drift logs were lost during the last couple weeks, now the tide is lower while it is still daylight, allowing me to tie them off at high tide, and buck them up at low tide.

  • Today though, the large male was in a place that would have put me between him and the water …. not a place I want to be while using a chainsaw and not able to keep a good eye out!

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  •  Just 2 Ecotourism vessels.

Weather Events:

  • Clear and sunny all day, winds primarily westerly 15- 20 knots. Winds shifted to Northwest early evening and dropped to 5 knots. Swells up to 1.5 meters from the west.

 

** 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?

Mature Male Elephant Seal

Posted on by

Ecological Notes:

  • A new Adult Male Elephant Seal has been visiting the main ramp area for periods of time. While not quite as large as the Alpha and Beta males here last winter, this guy is pretty big!

  • The Sub-adult Male Elephant Seal, that was hauled out for a week or so last month, has been hauling out on middle rock.

Facility Work:

  • We got the Desalinator up and running! After changing the control panel, we re-checked and adjusted some settings and it’s working fine now.
  • Finished the new layout on the pier electric fence. As we had added a new, more powerful, fence energizer, many of the old wires and connectors were failing. Each Ecoguardian comes to Race Rocks with their own skillsets and ideas. This new idea will hopefully be more  sturdy, and easier to repair and maintain. ……. (but we’ll see!)

  • Received and assembled a new cart for the portable diesel tidytank. As the last one failed, will be adding an additional safety strap to this one for when someone has to move it by themself..

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Ecotourism vessels and private vessels have been visiting to enjoy the sights and sounds of Race Rocks.
  • A single paddler in an outrigger canoe also ventured out and through the main channel.

Weather Events:

  • Heavy rains over the weekend gave way to light fog on Monday. Westerly winds of 5 – 10 knots prevailed.

 

** 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?

Freedivers, and fixing things

Posted on by

Ecological Notes:

  • 1 Male Elephant Seal out on Helicopter rock
  • California Sealions moving about with a little coaxing.

Visitors:

  • Greg, the waterfront Coordinator, came out to help with maintenance.

Facility Work:

  • Replaced door handles on 2 of the generator building doors.
  • Replaced Control Panel on the Desalinator. It cleared the “stuck in standby” problem we were having, but now we have a new problem we’re troubleshooting.

  • Continued troubleshooting of the hardline (VOIP) phone system. Reset all gates and routers.
  • Made several new fence parts for the electric fences, ready for install.

DND events:

  • Several blasts. Noted disturbance of Sea Lions. They have been very edgy these last few days.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 4 different Ecotourism vessels
  • 2 different private(?) vessels in the reserve, facilitating freedivers in the water. Good boating practices adhered to.

Weather Events:

  • Westerly winds of 30 knots, gave through to westerly winds of up to 40 knots in the evening.mix of overcast and clear skies, swells of up to 1 meter.

 

** 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?