Author Archives: Alex Fletcher

elephant seal scuffle

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Weather: North wind, 20 knots, mostly clear sky.

Ecological:  The two male elephant seals have been back and forth between West Rock and Great Race over recent days.  Chunk has always appeared to be the dominant male, the other male stays around the periphery of the island and seems to avoid him.  Today though for the first time I saw Chunk being chased by the other male.  They had fought, both males had tooth mark cuts on them from their interaction.

Maintenance:  Moved firewood to basement, stacked.

good weather

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I went off station in the morning and returned around 1600hrs.

Weather: continued variable, light wind and calm seas

Boats: 1 ecotour in the reserve when i returned

Maintenance:

  • installed replacement rollers on dolly
  • re-spooled boat winch wire rope
  • phone went offline overnight

boston whaler

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I went off station in the morning and returned around 1500 hrs.

Weather: Light wind, calm sea.

Ecological: 

  • I noticed Pigeon Guillemots for the first time this month.  Surf Scoters also present, second sighting of them here this month (see photo).

    Maintenance:

  • picked up supplies from shorefront: shovel, replacement boat dolly rollers, and HP pump oil.
  • picked up whaler from mechanic at Pedder Bay Marina, new steering cable/helm installed and fuel filter replaced. New steering cable is a great improvement, especially for getting in and out of the jetty.
  • drained muddy, stagnant, nasty pool of water that had formed near assist house, suspecting it might be related to backed up drainage problem.

Strong wind, lightning

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Weather: A strong West wind over 50 knots picked up in the morning before dawn. There was also 2 lightning strikes in close proximity to the island that shook the house. The wind continued upwards of 40 knots throughout the day.  The weather caused some damage to the exterior of the main house and broke off a few more shingles from the old roofs.

Maintenance:

  • Picked up wind blown off pieces of vinyl fascia and soffit from NW corner of main house
  • continued work on assist house drainage problem

Census

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Weather: 10 knot N wind

Ecological:

  • Due to cold temperature and frozen ground/puddles birds that scavenge in the mud (turnstones) and depend on fresh water (geese) have been absent lately.  Today temperature is above freezing and ground is mostly thawed.
  •  Census:
    • Peregrine Falcon: 1
    • Harlequin ducks: 8
    • Bald Eagles: 7
    • Cormorants: 82 (see photos, poor lighting for distinguishing pelagic vs double crested)
    • California sea lion: 84
    • Northern sea lion: 33
    • Black Turnstone: 1
    • Sparrow: 1
    • Elephant Seals: 2 females and 1 male (Chunk) on West Rock, 1 male on Great Race
    • Gulls: see photos (Gulls NE and Gulls West Rock)
    • harbour seals: 25

Boats:

  • 1 dive boat
  • 2 sailboats passed by the outside of the reserve

Maintenance:

  • replaced in line water filter in basement of keepers house
  • continued clean up in basement, built firewood storage rack for better circulation.

Zodiac

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I returned to the station around 1500 hrs.

Weather: NE 15 knot wind in the morning

Maintenance:

  • left whaler at the college for service on steering cable/helm.  Returned to station in the zodiac
  • Picked up replacement wood stove gasket and cement from shorefront, replaced woodstove door gasket.

 

Off station

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Weather: NE 10-15 knots.  Temperature has remained near or below freezing throughout the week.

Maintenance: talked with Kyle about stiff steering cable on the whaler, it seems to be worse in cold weather.  Kyle contacted mechanic about getting it replaced next week.

Other: I left the station in the morning and stayed off station overnight in order to attend the Pearson College Christmas employee dinner.