On Wednesday I picked up Martin Machacek and his wife Dana of Martycultural Art at Pearson College and brought them to Race Rocks for an overnight stay. Since 1993 Marty has focussed his artistic talent on architecture and has developed a unique style that is part of an “architectural etherealism movement”. He has been commissioned to do a second painting of Race Rocks, a print of his first Race Rocks painting is pictured here. Marty and Dana spent a lot of their time here outside taking photographs and appreciating the island’s very dynamic quality of light. You can find Marty and Dana in the inner harbour of Victoria throughout the “harbour season” and can order prints and cards online. It was a pleasure to host them, looking forward to seeing the new painting!
Author Archives: Alex Fletcher
Moulting elephant seal
On Monday a young moulting female elephant seal showed up near the boat ramp. She spent a couple days on the jetty until a NE wind picked up. Squall is still on the S side of the house, she seems to be mostly finished moulting now. This morning she was making her way N towards boat ramp but Misery perked up and growled, she turned back and stayed on the cistern.
On Monday around dusk a pod of about 7 orca whales passed by the S side of the reserve near the Rosedale Reef buoy.
It has been quite calm and clear the past few days but a 20 knot NE wind this morning.
Project Week-part 3 (final)
Yesterday was the last day of project week, in the morning I brought students back to campus in two trips on the whaler. It has been great group to have out here for the past week, they have helped out with several projects and tasks, endured some stormy weather, survived without a shower, cooked their own food (and shared a few good meals 
with me), and experienced the isolation and richness of the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve. During their stay they were very conscious of the time and resources required for importing fuel and generating energy and fresh water and did a great job minimizing consumption and waste.
In the final days of the week students helped out with transferring diesel to the furnace tanks and cleaning cupboards in the science centre kitchen. Throughout the week the group maintained a daily count of animals in the reserve, the count is included below.
| Feb 27 | Feb 28 | Feb 29 | Mar 1 | Mar 2 | Mar 3 | |
| Harbor seals | 45 | 50 | 10 | 22 | 20 | 16 |
| Elephant seals | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Sea lions | 2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| Gulls | 57 | 23 | 33 | 43 | 31 | 26 |
| Cormorants | 60 | 27 | 29 | 40 | 56 | 32 |
| Oyster Catchers | 3 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 7 | |
| Bald Eagles | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Brown Sandpiper | 4 | 12 | 8 | 6 | ||
| White Sandpiper | 5 | 3 | 4 | |||
| Pigeon Guillemots | 22 | 150 | ||||
| Common Mergansers | 2 | |||||
| Harlequin Ducks | 12 | 7 | 6 |
Thanks to the group for their contributions and good company.
Project Week- part 2
Squall decided to position herself right next to the tank room on Wednesday so we had to put a hold on the siding work. We moved over the the South side of the main house to work on deconstructing an old cache and started work on footings to build a new compost container.
On Thursday Squall made her way around the NE side of the main house and came to rest right in the middle of our new work site. Thanks Squall, now that project is on hold. Fortunately the students did a good job of removing all the nails from the scrap wood, Squall was pretty interested in the 2×4’s.
So, it was back to the siding work yesterday. The students really took the lead on this project: removing the remaining panels, cleaning out rusted nails, replacing the panels that were lost, and putting the siding back up with stainless steel screws. Job well done!
We also put together a third goose exclosure yesterday on the lawn between the science centre and the energy building. Misery (in the background) has been relaxing near the science centre yesterday and today, keeping the students company.
Project Week-part 1
On Sunday, I brought 7 students to Race Rocks in two trips in the whaler. This week is project week at the college so all students are off campus on adventures, being creative, and doing service projects.
At Race Rocks students are helping with daily tasks of measuring ocean temperature and salinity and monitoring wildlife as well as working on a few projects including erecting exclosures to monitor the grazing and erosion impact of geese and doing repairs to the siding of the tank room that was damaged in a storm in January.
On Monday I brought two students back to campus, the other 5 will stay for the duration of the week. Unfortunately, on the way back out to Race Rocks I hit a piece of drift wood and bent a blade on the propeller.
On Sunday there were 3 eco-tour vessels in the reserve.
On Monday Misery gave Squall a chase and caught her on the N side of the main house. He held her down and was biting her, at one point he picked her up about 3 feet in the air and tossed her. Eventually she made it in-between some rocks where he could not reach her. Pam got some good shots of the escape from the web cam: http://www.flickr.com/photos/66339356@N00/6938289865/in/photostream
Yesterday afternoon a SE wind picked up in the afternoon increasing to over 50 knots before dark and pushing some big swells into the island.
Squall discovers water
The wind picked up to around 50 knots W after midnight last night and has been blowing 30 to 40 knots all day.
On Thursday I got a break in the weather and went off island to get supplies for repairing the siding on the South wall of the Tank Room and for making a compost container. Students are coming for project week tomorrow and will be doing some service projects during their stay.
Over the past week Squall has made her way around the S side of the light tower and back to the W side of the main house. Yesterday, while crossing over the cistern, she came across a puddle and had, what I believe was, her first experience with standing water. She was quite interested in the water and spent a while probing it with her flippers and snout, inhaling it a few time in the process.
Camera 5 working
The remote camera on the N side of the Great Race is working now, you can access it here: www.racerocks.com/racerock/video5.htm
Note: there are 20 presets which cover all major points in a 300 degree view.
Squall has been staying around the SE side of the tower. Misery comes and goes, the pup usually keeps out of his reach.
Yesterday there were 2 eco-tour vessels in the reserve.
Facility work: replaced toilet vent fan, replacing basement basin drain plumbing, planning composting containers.
Bird count today: 6 Harlequin ducks, 150 Cormorants, and 90 gulls.
Wind 20- 30 knots from the west all day, rainy.
Visitors to the Reserve
Yesterday the Coast Guard helicopter crew stopped in on their way back from the Carmanah lighthouse station to complete some maintenance work that they were unable to do the day before.
During the night, Squall had climbed up to the base of the lighthouse to get away from Misery. When the chopper landed it was only about 20 ft away but she didn’t seem too bothered.
Squall is elongating well and visibly moulting around her face.
This morning Chris came out in Second Nature with two architects who are working with the college, a member of the College’s Board of Trustees with his wife and 3 kids.
Also Maxim ( IT) worked on installing the new camera 5. We should have Cam 5 running sometime next week.
Coast Guard Visit
Around noon today a Coast Guard helicopter landed on the West side of the light tower. The pilot and two technicians stayed for about an hour to do a maintenance check on the fog signal and signal light.
Squall has been around the flagpole, she got more attention today than usual but didn’t seem bothered by the commotion. Misery was on the island in the morning and went into the water in the afternoon.
Sunny and warm this afternoon.
Female
It has a been determined: Squall, the
elephant seal pup, is a female.
This afternoon she was lying on her back sleeping (and snoring) near the flagpole. She is now a month old and has been without her mother for 6 days. She had been staying around the North side of the main house and hiding from Misery under he North staircase. This morning she ventured out towards the flagpole. Misery went after her a couple times, at one point had her pinned down with his mouth and snout around her neck. Eventually he left her alone, left the island and was later hauled out on Middle Rock.
There were 2 eco tour vessels in the reserve today.
The DND let off three blasts this morning with about 30 mins intervals between them.
Switched to smaller images on the log to try to improve page loading time.
No wind today, warm and the sunny in the afternoon.