Author Archives: Julie Bowser

Animal Census

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Northwest winds dipping down to 10 knots midday and back up to 15 knots in the afternoon. Barometric pressure climbing since late Thursday. Forecasted fog for tomorrow and winds from 10 to 25 knots in the afternoon.

Animal Census:
272 Gulls
32 Guillemots
4 Elephant seals
381 Sea lions (Steller and California)
3 River otters
2 Double-crested cormorants
273 Harbour seals
13 Black oystercatchers

The otters appeared in the early evening again, taking at least two gull chicks. The sea lions, both Steller and California, have started making their way onto the main island. The electric fence is set up to deter them from the jetty, the winch pad (and hydraulic pipes) and the main residence.

We’ve had issues with one of the inverters in the generator room this week which have meant limited power, internet and phone access.

 

 

Orcas

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Northwest winds increasing from midday to 35 knots this evening. Barometric pressure in a downward trend since Wednesday at noon. Some fog this morning. 20-25 knot winds forecasted for tomorrow with some fog.

37 whale watching boats

11 recreational fishing boats

3 recreational boats (including a dive boat)

A pod of orcas passed through the reserve on the north side of Middle and Turbine Rocks. There were at least 7-8 of them in front heading east through the channel with a few more trailing a few hundred metres behind. Four elephant seals on cite at the moment. No eagle visits today but a number of California sea lions have started arriving.

Topped up the batteries and did the monthly report.

Juvenile Bald Eagle visit

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Northwest winds dipping to 10 knots around midday. Barometric pressure decreasing since mid-morning. Intermittent fog until noon. Forecast calls for fog until noon tomorrow and gale wind warning in effect.

6 whale watching boats

7 recreational fishing boats passed through

Business as usual on the reserve today. A juvenile eagle visited the island this afternoon. Yesterday I was off the island from 0900h to 1700h to pick up two visitors and get groceries in town and the crew was out again to finish with replacing windows. Cleaned off the cable that we pulled out from the water that goes to video cam 2.

4 DND blasts

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Fog on and off today. West winds picking up this afternoon to 35 knots. Clear skies most of the day. Barometric pressure peaking at midday for the last three days. Winds supposed to reach 30 knots tomorrow.

9 whale watching boats (although maybe more I couldn’t see through the fog)

4 blasts from DND in the first half of the day.

There are 5 elephant seals here now. They like to spend lots of time on the ramp and sleep on top of each other. The seal with the bloody mouth seems to be doing much better. The blood looked like it was coming from the gum.

We had a crew come out today and replace a number of windows in the keeper’s residence and the science centre. Chris and I went diving to retrieve the underwater video camera for its annual maintenance.

Animal Census

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Fog on and off since yesterday. West winds rising since the morning from 10 knots to over forty. More fog forecasted for tomorrow and 20-25 knot winds.

4 whale watching boats this morning

Animal Census:

710 Gulls*
15 Pigeon guillemots
4 Elephant seals
142 Steller sea lions
421 Harbour seals
8 Black oystercatchers
6 Canada geese
There are a large number of gulls because of the California gulls which make a large majority (~550). There seems to be a much lower number of Glaucous-winged gulls this year from last. I notice there are a lot more dead chicks, be it the evening visits from the otters or the bald eagles that visit several times daily. There has been no sight of Chunk since Sunday night. Currently there are two young males, a female, a stubborn seal that refuses to lie on its back. This stubborn seal was bleeding from its mouth pretty badly leaving a small pool of blood on the ramp yesterday evening. This morning there was still blood on its face though it seemed to be a bit better. Because the bleeding was perpetual I assume it is more than a simple abrasion but I cannot see the wound well enough to be sure.
Several blasts have gone off on DND land this morning and yesterday.
Some sea lions have started using the jetty as a resting spot so I started putting up the electric fence.

 

California gull

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Northwest winds dropping from over 30 knots this morning to 3 knots and them picking back up to 20 knots by early evening. Barometric pressure dropping since mid-morning. Strong wind warning in effect and fog expected for tomorrow.

7 whale watching boats

6 recreational boats

1 personal watercraft (aka Jet ski, Sea-Doo)

Another elephant made its way onto the island yesterday, bringing the total number to 6. In the past week, I have noticed a number of California Gulls (Larus californicus) on the south side of the main island. They are distinguishable from the Glaucous-winged gulls by their black plumage and yellow feet. (Click here to view a photo from the Race Rocks taxonomy page:

https://racerocks.ca/racerock/taxalab2/2010/laruscal/laruscal.htm.) A bald eagle visited today and yesterday. It plucked out a gull chick yesterday but I did not see it make a catch today.

 

Orcas

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Fog all morning. North westerlies 20-30 knots all day. Clear skies in the afternoon. Barometric pressure hovering 1019.0 hPa.

31 whale watching boats

2 recreational fishing boats (one actively fishing)

There was a 12 ft zodiac off the South Islands of the reserve today. Unfortunately the boat was not a boat license number so I could not report it to the DFO.

A big pod of orcas went right through the north channel of the reserve this evening. There were 2-3 a couple hundred metres in front of another group of 10-12. No breaching but lots of dorsal fin and you could easily make out the white markings. A Prince of Whales zodiac followed the pod for a long time staying within 20 metres of them with the motor running.

Finished cleaning the boathouse today and started on the tank shed.

 

High number of whale watchers

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West winds below 20 knots all day. Clear skies. Barometric pressure dropping since yesterday. Fifteen to 20 knot winds expected for tomorrow afternoon.

34 whale watching boats in the reserve… no whales, sadly.

1 recreational boat

About 5 blasts went off this morning from DND. Normally during blasting periods there are red flags but there haven’t been any today or yesterday.

Was off the island in the evening and dropped off a visitor.

Humpbacks

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Overcast this morning with some rain, clearing up in the afternoon. Strong winds from 0800h onwards. Barometric pressure on the rise since Wednesday morning. Fifteen to 25 knot winds are predicted for tomorrow.

19 whale watching boats

There were two humpbacks on the southern border of the reserve this afternoon heading west. Several whale watchers surrounded them. Eagle Winged Tours was particularly persistent in chasing them. We now have 5 elephant seals on the reserve. Chunk, the big male, and the other four about half of his size or smaller. Chunk is looking very slim.

Two bombs sounded this morning off of Bentinck Island around 1015h.

Went into campus today from 1330h to 1530h to pick up a visitor for the night. Took a load of garbage/junk with me off the island.

Overcast

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Overcast all day with some light showers. Low winds in the morning peaking at 30 knots in the afternoon. Winds supposed to reach 30 again tomorrow.

12 whale watching boats today

3 recreational fishing boats

Business as usual on the reserve. Got a tutorial on Lightroom from Jonathan today. Inventoried first aid materials in the house.