Author Archives: Derek Sterling

Animal Census Nov 11

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(Temporary mobility issues prevented too much movement in the lower inter tidal zones)

Birds

  • Harlequin duck                           4
  • Bald eagle adult                         3
  • Bald eagle juvenile                     2
  • Black Turnstones                                  47 *
  • Killdeer                                         6
  • Gulls                                             287
  • Cormorants                                  565
  • Oyster catcher                             12 *
  • Canadian goose                           23
  • Pacific Wren                                   4

* in addition to the “Regular” birds i saw large flocks  (up to about 70 birds each) of both Turnstones and Oyster Catchers …. that I assume were passing through before and after the large storm(?)

 

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                                 342
  • Harbour seal                                       43
  • California sea lion                            395
  • Elephant seal female(pregnant)         1
  • Humpback Whales – several around the reserve, occasionally venturing inside
  • Animal Tracking and Injuries:          
    • 1 California Sea Lion identified as “Tuck” disentangled last year at Race Rocks…. still has a large open wound on the back of his neck, but quite well healed compared to the original injury

After storm

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Ecological Notes:

  • 1 female Elephant Seal landed, still in the upper ramp area
  • all Birds thinned out, potentially sensing the upcoming storm
  • still finding deceased birds daily
  • working continuously to encourage sea lions to avoid the main ramp area

Visitors:

  • work crews working on the student/science center

Facility Work:

  • daily repair and updating fencing
  • battery fluid top ups
  • fuel transfers from fuel shed to generator building

DND events:

  • flags were up 2 days, but lots of Humpback whales right off the normal blast area …. did not notice any blasts

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 4 to 5 Ecotourism vessels a day

 Noted Infractions:

  • overall, very good behaviour

Weather Events:

  • Tuesday, November 05:
    • Sky: overcast with occasional sunny breaks
    • Wind: Variable winds, rotating back and forth from  E to W 5-10 kts
    • Sea: rippled to 2′ chop
    • Temperature Low 8 oC, High 10oC
  • Wednesday, November 06:
    • Sky: high overcast
    • Wind: westerly 15-25 kts
    • Sea:  1 meter waves
    • Temperature Low 8 oC, High 10oC
  • Thursday, November 07:

    • Sky: morning – clear and sunny around the reserve….. low fog/mist in the distance gradually overcast by afternoon
    • Wind: N/NE 8kts shifting to E in the afternoon
    • Sea:  Flat and calm
    • Temperature Low 7oC, High 10oC

 

 

Weather – Current:

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

 

Weather – Past:

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

Back to the Rock!

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Happy to be back at Race Rocks for my second stint this year!

 

Ecological Notes:

  • 1 female Elephant Seal landed, still in the upper ramp area

The Sea Lion appeared to realize that while I chase the Sea Lions off the ramp area, I don’t chase the female Elephant Seal. Normally when he see’s me coming, he quickly moves behind her now.

  • all Birds thinned out, potentially sensing the upcoming storm
  • still finding deceased birds daily
  • working continuously to encourage sea lions to avoid the main ramp area

Visitors:

  • work crews working on the student/science center

Facility Work:

  • daily repair and updating fencing
  • battery fluid top ups
  • fuel transfers from fuel shed to generator building

DND events:

  • flags were up 2 days, but lots of Humpback whales right off the normal blast area …. did not notice any blasts

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 4 to 5 Ecotourism vessels a day

 Noted Infractions:

  • overall, very good behaviour

Weather Events:

  • Saturday, November 02:
    • Sky: overcast with occasional sunny breaks
    • Wind: Variable winds, rotating back and forth from  E to W 5-10 kts
    • Sea: rippled to 2′ chop
    • Temperature Low 8 oC, High 10oC
  • Sunday, November 03:
    • Sky: high overcast
    • Wind: westerly 15-25 kts
    • Sea:  1 meter waves
    • Temperature Low 8 oC, High 10oC
  • Monday, November 04: Blow out storm!

    • Sky: mist fog , not dense though, good vis for a couple miles around the lighthouse
    • Wind: W 50kts gusts to 60K
    • Sea:  very high storm waves throughout the day
    • Temperature Low 4oC, High 8oC

 

** 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?

October 2024 Temperature and Salinity Report

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DAILY SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE AND SALINITY OBSERVATIONS
Institute of Ocean Sciences, North Saanich, B.C., V8L 4B2
Please email monthly to jennifer.jackson@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
Station: RACE ROCKS
Observer: Kendra Luckow Month: October
YSI ID: 15 Year: 2024
YSI YSI
Temp Sal
Day Time ºC ppt
1 14:00 10.4 32.8
2 13:45 10.9 32.7
3 14:45 10.7 31.5
4 14:00 11.1 32.6
5 15:10 10.8 32.2
6 15:05 11.2 32.2
7 16:00 10.8 32.8
8 16:45 10.7 31.6
9 17:45 10.7 32.2
10 15:15 9:36 32.90
11 14:00 10.6 33.0
12 9:45 10.3 31.9
13 10:00 10.3 32.8
14 11:00 10.2 32.9
15 11:30 10.2 32.6
16 12:30 10.1 31.4
17 13:55 10.3 32.7
18 13:50 9.8 33.2
19 n/a n/a n/a n/a due to weather
20 12:00 9.7 33.3
21 15:45 9.8 31.8
22 n/a n/a n/a n/a due to weather
23 n/a n/a n/a n/a due to weather
24 8:00 9.3 33.7
25 9:50 9.4 33.4
26 11:20 9.8 32.9
27 10:45 9.9 33.2
28 11:00 10.0 33.2
29 11:50 10.0 32.9
30 n/a n/a n/a n/a due to weather
31 0.45 9.7 32.8

Seawater Data

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DAILY SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE AND SALINITY OBSERVATIONS
Institute of Ocean Sciences, North Saanich, B.C., V8L 4B2
Station: RACE ROCKS
Observer: Derek Month: February
YSI ID: 23 Year: 2024
YSI YSI
Temp Sal
Day Time ºC ppt
1 18:30 8.7 31.7
2 19:00 8.9 31.8
3 8:00 8.8 31.8
4 8:30 8.8 31.6
5 9:30 8.9 31.5
6 10:30 8.8 31.9
7 13:45 8.7 31.8
8 12:00 8.7 31.5
9 12:45 8.8 31.6
10 13:45 8.8 31.8
11 14:40 8.7 31.9
12 15:40 8.8 31.9
13 16:30 8.6 31.6
14 17:30 8.5 31.6
15 18:00 8.6 31.7
16 8:00 8.4 31.5
17 8:00 8.3 31.9
18 8:30 8.4 31.9
19 9:30 8.5 31.8
20 10:30 8.6 31.8
21 11:30 8.5 31.6
22 12:30 8.6 31.7
23 13:00 8.5 31.7
24 14:00 8.5 31.9
25
26 15:00 8.5 31.6
27 15:45 8.5 31.7
28 16:30 8.6 31.7
29 17:00 8.4 31.9

Early Spring = Cleaning

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Ecological Notes:

  • The birds are starting to pair off …. Geese, Gulls, and Oyster Catchers most notably. Lots of Adult Bald Eagle courtship in the air.

  • Young adult Elephant Seal male arrived a few days ago. After resting a couple days, he has spent most of every night bellowing and calling from a high point on the island.

One of his favourite calling spots is right below the window!

Realizing the female is calling from the other side of the rise

  • One adult Female Elephant Seal has since come to the island. She moves towards the males calls, but retreats when he tries to approach her. I can only speculate that she instinctively wants to haul out for her moult with other seals, but feels he not big enough to breed with(?)

She calls out a lot as well

  • I’m hoping his calls may attract others to the island
  • Normally I just get reports of “Ollie” the Sea Otter, but while I was up by the north camera, I could see him just beyond  helicopter rock.

very far away

  • 4 Transient (Biggs) Orca travel through the northern edge of the reserve without cutting in to hunt. I watched from the north camera rock, to see if they might double back, but they continued east.

T019B “Galliano” … 28 year old male

Visitors:

  • 2 techs from the Coastguard returned to complete repairs to the fog horn.
  • The upcoming Eco-Guardian also visited for an overview of the Ecological Reserve and day to day operations.

Facility Work:

  • Added water to the cistern to allow more desalination to fill the main water tank.
  • Gathered all the  hose on the island to pressure wash the pier.
  • Tackled the rather daunting job of moving and bucking the very large logs collected when I had help to pull them out of the ocean.  Even with a good understanding of leverage and pivot points, these logs were a brute! Most were well over 12-16 inches in diameter, and the bucked sections were 400-500 lbs! Task was cut short by rain (and exhaustion!), but moved the next sections into place for  the first buck. Next will be moving them to the final bucking and splitting area up top.

DND events:

  • some blasting, some fires

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Still occasional Eco-Tourism vessels

** 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?

Foghorn and tower updates

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Ecological Notes:

  • Large female Elephant Seal came up to the centre haul out area on the Island. She appeared to be one of the females from last year. She spent regular periods ca.ling out, before leaving after 3 days ……. a pattern I have seen each time any single Elephant Seal has come to the reserve this season

  • Juvenile Golden Eagle still visiting occasionally
  • One morning there was an extra high number of eagles here….. 40+. I looked for new carrion or any other reason for there to be so many, but couldn’t find any.
  • California Sea Lion that had a band removed a while ago is around, and his neck appears to be healing well

Visitors:

  • 2 techs from the college
  • 3 techs from coastguard

Facility Work:

  • Pearson College IT installed new Starlink system at the top of the tower. Still awaiting implementation

  • Coastguard attempted to repair foghorn system but are awaiting parts now, and serviced the battery system for thew lighthouse
  • Cleaned the filter on the main house furnace, but detected a probably leak in the main fuel line
  • Received new files to re-work the chainsaw chain
  • Cleaned the rest of the outside walls of the student building, save for one area where I couldn’t position  the ladder safely by myself.(once the green is gone, the residue comes off after a couple rains)
  • Cleaned a small section of the roof, but found it pretty sketchy for a “larger” old guy to extend his reach that far above the ladder!

  • Daily attempts to keep the boat ramp clear of driftwood

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Eco-Tourism vessels

Weather Events:

  • Thursday, February 15:
    • Sky: Overcast, with brief showers
    • Wind: N 30kts, dropping to 15kts late afternoon
    • Sea:  .5M chop
    • Temperature Low 3oC, High 8oC
  • Wednesday, February 13:
    • Sky: High overcast with sunny breaks, rain showers
    • Wind: NE 20-25 kts, rising to 30kts in the evening
    • Sea:  waves to 1M, high standing waves in the channels
    • Temperature Low 7oC, High 9oC
  • Tuesday, February 12:
    • Sky: Overcast with a few sunny breaks
    • Wind: N 20kts, switching to E 5-10kts during the day
    • Sea:  light chop
    • Temperature Low 7oC, High 9oC

 

 

** 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?

Educational Visit, and Orca

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Ecological Notes:

  • Steller Sea Lion photographed nursing what appears to be a yearling “pup”

photo by Ashley Warwick

  • 2 Orca hunting in the reserve, 6 more hunting south of the reserve. This is not uncommon behaviour, as the 2 inside can panic and scatter the seals and sea lions out into the deeper water
  • Juvenile Golden Eagle present 2 days in the reserve. (there has been one frequently sighted in the Rocky Point area since last fall)
  • Students conducted the animal census

Visitors:

  • In cooperation with Pearson College, 7 Students and 1 chaperone for the WestCoast Adventure College stayed for 4 days. Current Eco-Guardian taught classes in Marine Mammals of the Salish Sea, and did some Heritage Arts projects in the evening. In addition, students learned about Race Rocks, all operations out here, and helped the Eco-Guardian with projects …. especially projects like work on ladders, and moving logs that are difficult to do by himself

Learning how to fill the cistern, photo by Sean Thompson

Facility Work:

  • Gutters cleaned on the Student House/ Science Center
  • Most paths, wooden stairs, roof of desalinator bunker, some exterior walls treated to remove algae
  • Paths pressure washed
  • logs stacked in the ramp area, pre-bucked and moved to the upper bucking area
  • More large logs salvaged and moved onto the ramp area
  • Weekly battery maintenance

DND events:

  • 3 days with occasional blasting, some delays when Orca in the pass

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Eco-tourism vessels
  • Cetacean Research vessel when whales present, and Marine Mammal Observer Vessel present blasting

Research vessel – Mike 1, photo by Ashley Warwick

 

Weather Events:

  • Week ending February 10

    • Sky:Overcast with sunny breaks
    • Wind: 5-15 kts
    • Sea:light swells
    • Temperature Low 6oC, High 9oC

 

 

** 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?

Animal Census

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Census done by Students of WestCoast Adventure College during their stay here for classes

 

Birds

  • Harlequin duck                         12
  • Bald eagle adult                        5
  • Bald eagle juvenile                    2
  • Golden Eagle juvenile               1
  • Turnstones                                 10
  • Gulls                                            323
  • Cormorants                                243
  • Pigeon Guillemots                      18
  • Oyster catcher                            6
  • Canadian goose                         10
  • Surf Birds                                    2
  • Dunlin                                          4
  • Savannah Sparrow                     1

 

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                     79, including 1 female nursing a yearling
  • Harbour seal                         25
  • California sea lion                40
  • Sea otter                                1
  • Humpback whale,                 mid strait south of Race
  • Orca                                        2 hunting in the reserve
  •                                                 6 hunting south of the reserve, waiting until the
  •                                                 2 joined them

Detailed Bird Count

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Report by fill-in Eco-Guardian Ann Nightingale, accompanied by James Kennerley
Landed on Great Race Rock to conduct gull survey on behalf of RPBO. Principally observed birds on Great Race Rock and surrounding islands. Didn’t really seawatch from the island.
22 Species observed
+4 other taxa
871 individuals
1 Species with photos

Observations

  1. Harlequin Duck

    Number observed: 16

    Details

    Several groups, largest was eight birds. Many smart drakes. Some males moulting into formative plumage too.

  2. Surf Scoter

    Number observed: 6

  3. White-winged Scoter

    Number observed: 8

    Details

    Single group close to shore of Great Race Rock.

  4. Black Oystercatcher

    Number observed: 4

    Details

    Two pairs flying around on arrival.

  5. Black Turnstone

    Number observed: 12

    Details

    Ones, twos and threes scattered around. A few initially on grassy areas when we arrived before moving towards the shoreline.

  6. Surfbird

    Number observed: 5

    Details

    At least five singles scattered around.

  7. Dunlin

    Number observed: 3

    Details

    Scurrying around grassy area when we arrived then moved towards rocky shoreline. One definitive, two formative.

  8. Rock Sandpiper

    Number observed: 3

    Details

    Two together on south side which I had good views of through my scope for a couple of minutes as they moved in and out of view between rocks. I moved closer for a better look but they vanished either walked around the back of the little island or flew off.

    Later I had superb views of a definitive bird (see definitive wing coverts) on the north shore but only for a couple of minutes before the bird quickly moved west along the shore and around a corner.

    Media

    Rock Sandpiper - James Kennerley
    © James Kennerley Macaulay Library
    Rock Sandpiper - James Kennerley
    © James Kennerley Macaulay Library
    Rock Sandpiper - James Kennerley
    © James Kennerley Macaulay Library
    Rock Sandpiper - James Kennerley
    © James Kennerley Macaulay Library
    Rock Sandpiper - James Kennerley
    © James Kennerley Macaulay Library
    Rock Sandpiper - James Kennerley
    © James Kennerley Macaulay Library

  9. Pigeon Guillemot

    Number observed: 12

    Details

    Most moulting into alternate plumage.

  10. Common Murre

    Number observed: 4

    Details

    One in alternate plumage.

  11. Short-billed Gull

    Number observed: 25

    Details

    All loafing on West Race Rock.

  12. Western Gull

    Number observed: 4

    Details

    Two definitive, two first cycles.

  13. Herring Gull

    Number observed: 7

    Details

    At least a couple of definitive birds, a couple of second cycles and three first cycles (juv).

  14. California Gull

    Number observed: 3

    Details

    Definitive and two first cycles (juv).

  15. Glaucous-winged Gull

    Number observed: 180

    Details

    130 in main flock on Great Race Rock. 10 on West Race Rock. 40 others scattered around. Approximately 95% of adults with primaries darker than mantle to varying degrees so likely this number includes some individuals that may better fall under ‘Olympic Gull’.

  16. Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)

    Number observed: 25

    Details

    Estimate for the number of especially distinctive hybrids.

  17. Herring x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)

    Number observed: 5

    Details

    At least a handful of ‘Cook Inlet Gulls’. Likely were more which I may have overlooked or incorrectly called ‘Olympic’.

  18. Iceland Gull (Thayer’s)

    Number observed: 292

    Details

    240 in main flock on west side. 27 on West Race Rock. 25 on north side. Approximately 90% were definitive birds.

  19. Larus sp.

    Number observed: 60

    Details

    Estimate of the number of indetermined hybrids.

  20. loon sp.

    Number observed: 2

    Details

    Distant on water and another in flight.

  21. Brandt’s Cormorant

    Number observed: 88

    Details

    Majority loafing on north side of Great Race Rock near gull flock.

  22. Pelagic Cormorant

    Number observed: 25

    Details

    Majority loafing on north side of Great Race Rock near gull flock.

  23. Double-crested Cormorant

    Number observed: 61

    Details

    Majority loafing on north side of Great Race Rock near gull flock.

  24. Bald Eagle

    Number observed: 17

    Details

    Spread out loafing on high points of islands.

  25. Barn Swallow

    Number observed: 3

    Details

    Three appeared just as we were leaving hawking low around jetty for insects.

  26. Savannah Sparrow

    Number observed: 1

    Details

    Lurking along edge of rocks. Fairly dark chocolatey and rufous bird. Slim bill. Prominent yellow at base of supercilium.

    https://ebird.org/checklist/S160741512