One of the advantages of having a resident Ecoguardian in the Ecological Reserve is the opportunity to submit sightings like this.
tagged gull
Congratulations Joan for your report in the log https://racerocks.ca/gull-with-tags/
–and for this recognition from USGS
I am here for another brief stint, just 4 days. After arriving in relatively calm weather within an hour boat a gale started. For about 30 hours the wind didn’t let up. Which means the electric fences came down and anything not tied down went flying or crashing (like the doors to the water tank shed).And seagull poop travels horizontally in a gale. That meant the amazing calm weather today came with some tasks, which are welcome when it is so easy to be outside. The 2 barn swallows are the only ones flying with gusto. Those two are everywhere and the wind did not seem to deter them. The gulls are sticking close to their eggs and I have only seen one eagle pass overhead. The oyster catcher eggs have hatched and it is easy to witness the chicks being fed from the lighthouse or our back porch. I saw another chick above the heli pad from the light house as well. I don’t dare go in the intertidal and scare any parent away from the nest so I didn’t record any activity in other O.C. nests.
Greg and Second Nature did a rescue today. An aluminium craft called for help as their boat engines had quit right in Race Passage. They reported “imminent danger” and Greg came and towed them back to safety! There apparently was a “very pregnant” woman on board as well so she was probably happy to get back to dry land.
Visitors
No visitors on the island
Few ecotourism boats, during the gale there were 2 or 3 and although it is flat calm today there have only been 3
Work
vacuumed and mopped the basement floor using the water that is leaking from the pipes
cleaned the science house windows and (as high as I could reach) the light house windows
cleaned the solar panels
fences, moved a bit of wood, cleaning and preparing for new resident will be done tomorrow
Census
Mammals
California sea lions 5
Stellar sea lions 1
Elephant seals 1 female
Seals 94
Birds
Pigeon guillemots 56
Swifts 2
Canada geese 2
Gulls 460 (and many nests with eggs)
cormorants 7
barn swallows 2
Insects
thousands of flies!
Second Nature to the rescue
3 chicks
feeding
This morning the wind was less than 10 knots and it was a beautiful time to be outside compared with the howling winds the last couple of days. It is from the west and increasing as the day goes on.
Often people ask me why I come to Race Rocks and this morning was a great reminder. As I cleaned the solar panels there was a soft west wind, the sun was in and out of the clouds as it rose in the east. Two California sealions were catching fish and shaking them as they surfaced. An eagle flew over and picked up a fish only to be chased ashore by two glaucous wing gulls. There are moments here when one is called to be present. There are many moments of frustration ( the electric fence is down again) and occasional fear (the wind, the geese) and boredom but then there are moments when one just doesn’t want to be anywhere else. And how often that does that happen in one’s life?
Visitors:
Observations:
Work:
This female may be recognizable if this new puncture wound, upper right abdomen, leaves a scar
I am here for four days to give Jillian Brown a chance to attend to her family. It is a special time for me because it is my birthday and the fourth time that I have been here on April 30 but only my second time in the capacity of eco-guardian. This is my third day here and I have updated the SOP to include the up to date log sign in details (Thank you Garry).
The weather is currently 15 knots west but over the past day has been as high as 30 knots, SW and NW. The sky was clear for 2 days and there was enough energy provided from the solar panels to take care of electrical needs.
Below is a picture of a tagged glaucous wing gull that I saw the May 22,2022 (see log entry that date) in the exact same place. Although this may not surprise you it made me feel like the animals here are familiar. It does seem like the geese nesting by the fuel shed are the same aggressive geese as last year and the ones under the keeper’s house stairs the same mellower geese but I just never had proof. This gave me a feeling of community.
There are 6 elephant seals here, females and immatures, including the tagged yearling. I haven’t seen this year’s pup for 24 hours so perhaps all the newborns are now gone.
Visitors
Yesterday (April 29) I was surprised when 6 kayaks pulled up the jetty. They were from Pearson College and had been given permission to land. Of course the sea lions stampeded on their arrival. Luckily not many kayakers do come this way as the sea lions usually get right in the water even though motor boats come much closer without scaring them. Perhaps they should turn some music on LOUD as they approach?
There were only 2 or 3 ecotourism boats over Friday and Saturday but today there have been 8 in every size, perhaps tied to the massive cruise ship recently docked in Victoria?
Maintenance:
Weather: the storm blew itself out and today the sun shone and the wind was 1 to 3 knots from the west
Visitors: at least 10 ecotourism boats through Race Passage today and probably more that I didn’t see as I am packing to leave. All were respectful. One I asked to slow down as the boat entered and he did. (In the time I wrote this 3 more boats have come by!)
Observations: with the wind calm and the ocean calm I was able to observe the sea otter hanging out with the seals. Also there were 12 Harlequin ducks and a return of the surf birds. Still no turnstones. I photographed a western gull with leg bands and reported it to the right place (with Ann Nightingale’s help) so we should hear about it’s history soon.
tagged gull
The intertidal was glorious today. I saw more starfish. None of them looking healthy. By that I mean they all looked limp. One obviously dead.
Greg is on his way to pick me up so I will wheelbarrow my belongings to the dock. What an amazing adventure every trip to Race Rocks is! I think of all the work that has gone into protecting these rocks and I am so grateful for it! Thank you Garry Fletcher and Pearson College. And thanks to Greg who goes above and beyond to make each Ecoguardian feel comfortable (and we are a strange bunch). I also read notes from previous ecoguardians and saw how knowledgeable many of them are. If you have time read Anne Stewart’s notes. A marine biologist, naturalist extraordinaire and wonderful teacher. I realize now that she is also a writer.
This was a quick trip to fill in unexpectedly because of an emergency. I did luck out with mid day low tides, a gale and a beautiful summer day.
Weather: wind mostly westerly averaging 30 to 40 k/hr sunny most of the day
Visitors: no boats braved Race Rocks today, after the storm yesterday the swell was still big, the wind strong all day and the tidal variation caused fast currents
Addendum: at around 8 pm a ecotourism boat came through for a beautiful sunset run. Cold and windy but clear.
Census,
Although not the ideal day for the census as the winds were still very strong and I think the lack of small birds may be due to that, no sparrows, no turnstones and no shorebirds, but Greg is taking over from me and he will have his hands full doing island maintenance so I thought I would help out in this way.
Elephant seals 6
A large male (compared to the 3 young ones on the island) showed up today. His tag reads D018 and he has been here several times. The last record I can find of him is 2020. But he did come in 2019 and 2018. I have contacted Patrick Robinson and look forward to hearing more of his history. A small female also arrived. Her skin is in bad shape. I believe it is more than moulting but we can see how she fares the next few days if she stays around.
D018
Newly arrived small female with skin condition
Gulls 421
Seals 66
California sealions 17
Stellar 10
Canada Geese 14, currently 3 active nests
Pigeon guillemots 136
Cormorants 34
Harlequin ducks 6
Oyster catchers 6
River otter 1 on the grass by the crane
It was a mid day low tide of .4 metres. The westerly was strong and there was some swell. The tidepools and spring seaweed growth were phenomenal. Here are a few pictures.
Codium and isopod
Henricia
Morning rainbows
Today was all about the weather. At 6:30 a.m. the wind speed was 0. I was surprised as the reports warned of high winds. It had rained in the night so I decided to wash the solar panels. By the time I finished the wind had arrived. It didn’t let up all day. North east to Northwest to Westerly probably averaged 30 km/hour but gusts constantly above 60 km. I read on the news that Race Rocks recorded the highest winds on southern Vancouver Island at 93 km/hour. The sky was mostly clear. Constant rainbows for 2 hours in the morning.
Visitors: none
Maintenance: solar panels cleaned, too windy for outdoor work
Energy: enough sun to charge batteries
Observations: I was hoping for this wind to blow a new bird to Race Rocks but not yet. I did see a couple of swallow like birds. They were moving too quickly to identify.
Before the wind
weather : wind from the northeast today, calm this morning but at 12 to 15 km/hr now. skies mostly clear.
visitors: a couple of eco-tourism boats went by. otherwise very quiet.
energy: solar all day.
Observations: mostly I observed my mood today. This is my last night here and as I shift my focus to “real life” I am slightly melancholy. And so seeing from that point of view I watched the young eagle hunt over Great Race several times unsuccessfully and wondered if it would be easier to catch fish. I have seen very few fish caught this past week. The island is covered with chiton shells and even goose neck barnacle shells. Then I saw these two gulls, one missing a foot and beside it a gull not able to weight bear. They were both at the periphery of the breeding colony with the immature gulls. I also saw the first Thayer’s gull and I see that in previous years many have nested on the island.
One without a foot, the other cannot weight bear
Thayer’s Gull?
Thayer’s?
Work: cleaning and getting ready for next ecoguardian. chopping wood. sweeping the lighthouse stairs. doing month end tallies. cleaned the student house windows and lower solar panels.
Addendum:I went to sit on the back porch as Mount Baker is quite clear and a new bird ( this week) appeared.
whimbrels
whimbrels, 8 in all
Weather; beautifully calm most of the day. Sunny with the occasional cloud. Wind mostly southwest
Visitors to reserve: 1 kayaker at slack tide. Went around seal rocks. Caused a landslide of Stellar sea lions. 
No eco-tourism boats. Maybe the whales were in a different area?
Work: finished cleaning the lamp room and started sweeping the lighthouse stairs. chopped wood. what kept me VERY busy was the energy system which was drawing 2 kW instead of 1.2 kW (our usual load). I spent several hours trying to find something using that much draw. I had to start the generator at about 6 a.m. as the battery voltage was very low (large draw continued all night). Then I thought running the desalinator might solve the problem but neither seemingly did. It continued drawing between 1.6 and 2.1 until 3 pm and then it went down to 1.2. Greg believes charging up the battery from the generator may have reset things?
Observations:
Census
Elephant seals 7 (the male juvenile was away for several days this week but is back on Great Race)
Stellar sea lions 51 on south islands, none on Great Race today but over the last week there have been one or two here
California sea lions 8 on Great Race
Seals 60 on middle rocks
Gulls (western, glaucous-winged ) 236 counted from the lamp room on the island this morning
Pigeon guillemot 210, a large raft of them off seal rocks
Eagles 2 adult 2 immature
Cormorants 16
cormorants, double crested and pelagic
Oyster Catchers estimate 20
Harlequin ducks saw 5
Turnstones 32 very rough estimate, there are 8 on the grassy area around the house
Savannah sparrows I only ever see 4 at once but I see them constantly, that’s why I guess 20
Surf birds so well camouflaged but I would guess 20?
The following were seen this past week but not today,
Marbled godwit
Brown headed cowbird
brown headed cowbird
Sea otter
sea otter!
Orcas, transient or Biggs
one female and young, one or two males, one to three other adults
Birds I did not get a picture off but were here this week:
Northern Crow (today and yesterday, aggressively chased away!!)
Semipalmated plover x 1
purple martin x 1
CENSURED
it appears to me that the 6 moulting females may NOT be female. the 3 large adults appear female but the at least 2 of the 3 small may be male. Am I right?
Doesn’t this “female” appear male???
Here’s a female.
laughing?
Weather: calm and westerly most of the day
today was a very eventful day.
To start off Great Race had a visitor.
marbled godwit
Then at about 8:15 a.m. I went up to the lamp room to do a census but the tide was too high so I decided to clean the room (I had brought up supplies). At about 830 I saw a splash and watched it until I saw whales surface. Initially I was not sure if they were Dall’s porpoises or Orcas I watched and took photos for about 20 minutes. Then I saw a sea lion flipper. I thought maybe all were fishing together (very influenced by Robin Kimmerer and looking for reciprocity not competition). Every time the sea lion surfaced the largest Orca would come crashing over it. This happened often. Soon I realized I could depend on a good Orca photo if I waited until I saw the sea lion. It did not come up face first very often, almost always just a fin. Over the next hour I knew I was watching transient Orcas hunt a stellar sea lion. Soon they had moved close to outer seal rocks (I imagine the sea lion was desperately trying to get to shore) and the sea lions on the rocks became active. They moved into the water! After about another 30 minutes the whales and surrounded sea lion were moving again off shore. One last surface from the sea lion flipper and it was not seen again. In about 20 more minutes the whales were surrounded by gulls diving and picking debris off the water. Even an eagle got involved. I watched this drama for 2 1/2 hours and at that time the whale watching boats arrived, 5 of them. But the whales kept surfacing and the gulls flocking. Unfortunately the camera was full within the first 20 minutes and I was so frustrated BUT my iphone was able to capture great video footage of the whales at seal rocks and the sea lions!
I am sorry I cannot download the videos!
Visitors: 5 whale watching boats made their way to the whales but not until after the sky was full of seagulls and I suppose they were eating their prey. Afterwards all the boats went through the reserve. An spill response boat also went through.
Energy: For some reason the draw is very high today. At about1 o’clock I noticed our usage was over 2 kW and usually it is about 1.2. I spoke to ONC to see if their equipment was faulty but everything at their end was normal.
it was an exciting day at Race Rocks.
