Dec 31: Clear sky, freezing temperature. Wind N 9 knots. 1 recreational and 3 ecotour vessels in the reserve. Worked on month end report, chopped wood.
Jan 1: Clear sky, 3 ecotour vessels. Contacted one company about a boat of theirs in the reserve that was traveling too fast and got too close to sea lions. Worked on writing month end report, cutting fire wood.
Census: Continue reading
Station: Race Rocks Ecological Reserve —–December, 2014,
Recorded daily by the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve Ecoguardian on behalf of Pearson College UWC
Submitted monthly to: Peter Chandler, Institute of Ocean Sciences, Sidney, BC.
This file may be copied and pasted into a spreadsheet for further analysis. Continue reading
Another beautiful day of clear sky and light wind. The barometer hit a high of over 1040 hPa today.
sunrise, mpountain peaks in the US
rosedale reef buoy, olympic mountains in background
birds feeding in the straight, olympics in background
Vessels observed in the reserve today: 1 ecotour, 1 dive boat, 1 pleasure craft (rental from Pedder Bay Marina). The rental boat was traveling over the designated speed limit of 7 knots within 400 meters of the rocks. I photographed the vessel with 4 people onboard, got the hull numbers and reported it to Pedder Bay Marina who said they would speak with the operators-who were likely unaware of the regulations.
Chopped wood and did some more cleanup of debris in the jetty area.
A few days to catch up on…
Dec 25th: good weather, went off island early and got to spend the day with family. On the way back there was a very cooperative juvenile bald eagle on top of the crane and I was able to photograph it from the jetty. In the vertical photo the eagle’s nictitating membrane is half way across it’s eye.
I got back to a nice sun set and a very calm sea.
Dec 26th: NE 10-15 knot wind. 1 sports fishing boat, 1 eco-tour vessel. Went off island in afternoon to bring guests out for the night. Had a wet ride and in the evening a lot of driftwood got blown in to the jetty.
rainbow in the morning, to the East.
Dec 27th: Calm in the morning but picked up to 30-25 knots West around noon. Rain throughout the day, often sideways. Went off island in the morning to bring back guests, wet ride again. 2 eco tour vessels. Cleaned up boat ramp/jetty and cut wood.
Dec 28th: Wind N 10 knots, partly sunny. Went off island in the morning to pick up Garry and Val for the annual bird count (see previous post). Notably, Val and Garry discovered a (regionally) rare Boreal Owl during their count. Earlier in the morning 3 juvenile bald eagles wrestled over a small fish and displayed some impressive acrobatics. In the evening the internet and phone connection went offline.
Dec 29th: Clear sky, 20 -25 knots N wind in the morning that picked up to 35-40 knots before noon. Strong winds persisted most of the day dropping to around 25 knots in the afternoon. Winds picked up again in the evening gusting to 35 knots. I went up the tower in the morning to check on the internet/phone disconnection. Was able to reboot and get it working again. I had a good view of the elephant seals on the W rock today, there are two males, Chunk and a younger male as well as one fairly large looking female, possibly Bertha. Temperature is going down, will be keeping an eye on water lines More driftwood accumulating with the NE wind. Cleared boat ramp and cut fire wood.
Got some sun here today, wind has been West 15-20 knots.
Topped up the deionized water in the battery bank, moved firewood.
Rain throughout the day, wind 15-20 knots most of the day, started North then shifted to West. West wind picked up in the evening gusting over 35 knots. Barometer reached a high of over 1025 hPa on Monday and has been falling today towards 1010 hPa.
One eco tour vessel in the reserve
Chunk has been on the main island all day until the evening. There is a second large male elephant seal on west rock, visible on camera 1, that I haven’t seen on the main island yet.
With the rain came the Green Winged Teals (3) again to the muddy flats on the NE side of the island.
Cleared some logs out of the jetty bay with the pike pole and chopped fire wood.
Wind has been West 15-25 knots yesterday shifting this afternoon and blowing North 20 knots this evening. There was heavy rain yesterday morning.
Worked on cutting, clearing and collecting driftwood yesterday. Went off island most of the day today to run errands and pick up supplies.
morning light on the olympic peninsula, Washington.
Wind light in the morning, below 10 knots, but large swells rolling in throughout the day. At Trial and Discovery the wind was clocking at 30 knots SE, gusting over 40, which was creating the waves. In the evening the wind changed direction and was gusting over 35 knots West.
The high tide combined with NE swell meant the jetty was practically submerged a good part of the day. Some logs and debris were thrown up and piled at the top of the jetty walkway. I got the boat ramp cleared but will have wood to deal with tomorrow, the big log is about 26 feet long.
debris left from the high tide and waves
Sealions were clinging to the small amount of rocks that were left with the tide and swells. Chunk came onto the main island, I couldnt see the other elephant seals anywhere, waves were washing over the West rocks where they had been resting.
sealions on the South rocks
Census today: There was a higher than usual number of Black Oyster Catchers on the south side of the island.
California Sea lions: 8
Northern Sea Lions: 133
Harbour Seals: 2
Elephant Seals: 1
Cormorants: 79
Canada Geese: 2
Gulls: 300
Bald Eagle: 5
Harlequin Ducks: 4
Black Turnstone: 18
Dunlin: 4
Sparrow: 2
Green Winged Teals: 7
Black Oyster Catchers: 116
Surfbirds: 7
Calm day, North wind under 10 knots. Partly clear, brief period of rain. A lot of the driftwood cleared out overnight.
Went off island with the zodiac in the morning. Picked up some supplies including first aid supplies and a new 16 ft pike pole, thanks to Courtney. Went to part of the Pearson College end of year staff lunch and then returned in the station whaler, which had been in for servicing.
One ecotour vessel in the reserve, maybe more while I was off island.
Pike poled some logs into the ebb current.
Wind was from the North in the morning, 10 knots and shifted to 20 knots West in the evening. Pressure falling to a low of around 1000 hPa in the evening then rising.
One ecotour in the reserve today.
Tides have been getting lower earlier in the day so I am able to do more wood cutting and clearing in the afternoons.