Author Archives: Alex Fletcher

battery maintenance

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Ecological:

  • wind south 10-15 becoming south west 15-20
  • Chuckles came back onto the main island overnight, Chunk keeps him away from the females and pups.

Vessels: 4 eco tour. One appeared to be getting too close to sealions on the South rocks and harbour seals on West rock.  We went off island for a couple hours and returned in the afternoon.

Maintenance:

  • topped up deionized water in battery bank, cleaned batteries and started applying anti-oxidation compound.
  • ongoing training of new guardian on island systems and procedures.

westerly

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Ecological

  • Wind 25-30 knots East shifting to West gusting over 50 knots after noon with periods of heavy rain.
  • elephant seals and pups huddled together in the weather, doing fine.

Vessels: I went off island mid afternoon to pick up visitor.

Other: training new guardian, Riley, over weekend.

 

 

3 e-seal pups

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Ecological:

  • Wind west 20-25 knots, periods of rain.
  • I returned to Race Rocks this afternoon to a new e-seal pup on the lawn by the path. I could also hear the distinct sound of a third pup and mother on Middle Rock, confirmed with spotting scope from tower.  Chuckles was out on Middle Rock as well close to the mother and pup.

Vessels: I returned early afternoon +1 ecotour.

Other:

  • very heavy blasting at Christopher Point throughout the day with a west wind to carry the impact this way.  On my way back the ecotour operator said he had seen one blast cause a sealion stampede.
  • Received call from Coast Guard re someone open channeling on their vhf radio on channel 83 Alpha for the past 5 days in this vicinity. Checked all VHF radios on station.

census jan 23

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Ecological:

  • Wind 10 knots East becoming 30 knots West in the evening
  • Census:
    Norther sealion-105
    California sealion-146
    Harbour seal-88
    Elephant Seal-3m (incl 1 pup), 3f
    River Otter-1
    Cormorants-540
    Seagulls-185
    Harlequin ducks-5
    Bald Eagles-3
    Dunlin-1
    Black Turnstone-2
    Black Oyster Catcher-4

Vessels: 1 sailboat and 4 ecotour boats in reserve, I went off island in the morning and returned around noon.

west wind and rain

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Ecological

  • Jan 21- visibility low due to rain and mist, wind N 15 knots
  • Jan 22- rain in the morning becoming clear, wind W 15-20 increasing to 30 before noon and becoming light in the evening.
  • elephant seals: mother, pup, other female and Chunk have stayed around the West side of the house all week.  It has been a week since pup birth, the pup is growing quickly and the mother is getting visibly thinner.

Maintenance

  • ran derrick to move logs
  • wood stove repairs- removed old fire bricks, baffle tubes and baffle boards, cleaned fire box. Installed new baffle board and tubes, new fire bricks and blower.
  • built a mesh cover for the second compost container.
  • transferred one more drum of diesel to tidy tank, both tanks now full
  • cut firewood
  • sent inventory list of fluorescent tube fixtures to Chris for upgrading to LEDs.
  • precipitation this week has done well to fill cistern

Other

  • occasional DND blasting at Christopher point throughout the week.

wood stove parts

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Ecological 

  • wind NE 10-15 knots becoming E 30-40 knots in the evening
  • Two female elephant seals visible on Middle Rock, total 4 females in reserve

Vessels

  • I went off island in the morning and returned early afternoon
  • 1 ecotour

Maintenance

  • picked up woodstove parts on campus and pvc cement in Langford
  • made a breather tube for diesel tank intake
  • pumped 1 drum of diesel to tidy tank and filled day tank

 

diesel delivery

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Ecological

  • Wind N 10-15 knots.
  • the second female elephant seal made her way towards the mother and pup and settled across the path from them.
  • Geese are starting to be more regular in the area, a flock of 20 visited the island today.
  • Falcon on the East side of the island, looked larger than a peregrine but couldn’t get a good look.falcon

Vessels

  • Second Nature, diesel delivery
  • 2 eco tour boats

Maintenance

  • Chris brought 4 diesel drums filled at Victoria harbour to island after noon.  Offloaded with derrick and transported across island to engine building.
  • Sent shorefront pressure washer and used engine oil from derrick off island.

bald eagles

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Ecological

  • N 10-15 N becoming E 25, partly clear sky
  • Pigeon Guillemots made a return to the waters around the island, this is the first time i have seen/heard them since starting my shift
  • 21 bald eagles counted in the reserve.  the broke-beak eagle was perched on a solar panel on the engine building in the morning.
  • Second large female e-seal was by boat house throughout day.  Chuckles down by compost bin.  Mother and pup doing fine.  Chunk has been going off island at night and returning in the morning, staying close to females and keeping Chuckles away.
  • One neck-ringed California sealion seen on west side of main island

Vessels

  • 1 ecotour

Maintenance

  • Contacted tidy tanks re dip chart
  • Contacted re wood stove parts delivery
  • Cut and chopped fire wood
  • Cleared ramp

Second large female e-seal

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Ecological:

  • Wind SE 25-30 knots becoming light in the evening.
  • 16 Green Winged Teals were in the mud flats NE of main house.
  • An unusual bald eagle with a damaged beak was on and around the island throughout the day, quite close to the main house at first.
  • Before dusk a second large, pregnant looking female elephant seal was near the jetty and had hauled out up beside boat house just after dark.

Vessels

  • 3 ecotour

Maintenance

  • Cleared ramp
  • Sharpened chainsaw, cut and chopped firewood.

e-seal pup a male

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Ecological

  • Wind NE 5-10 knots increasing to 15-20 in the morning then becoming light in the afternoon.
  • The e-seal pup was figuring out how to roll on it’s back today which gave a view of its underside where the penis hole was visible behind his umbilical cord. A few seagulls were quite interested in the umbilical cord. They would sneak up while mother and pup were asleep to grab it and try to pull a piece away.  By the end of the day there was only a stub left, the birds have done a good job of post-birth cleanup in the area. The mother is very protective of the pup and growls and chases off anything that gets too close.

Maintenance: 

  • Had let derrick engine oil drain out overnight.  Put new 15 W 40 oil in.
  • Cleared ramp and ran the derrick to clear larger logs