Author Archives: Kendra Luckow

Lonely Little Steller Pup

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The red-footed booby was here bright and early his morning, seems to be going back and forth between the western rocks and the southeast side. It also seems to have quite the fan club of boats coming out to check it out.

Came across another sea lion with an entanglement scar, bringing the total to 5, plus the one that still has an active entanglement.

Active entanglement, unsure what the material is.

Another wildlife note – there is a small Steller sea lion pup that I have yet to see with a mom in the 3 days I’ve been here. He is underweight but not terribly so and is still bright and alert. He spends his time chasing the male California sea lions and today decided to try and eat a small rock. Will see if he sticks around, and hopefully mom comes back for him!

Facility work:

  • Ran generator
  • Topped up battery electrolytes
  • Cleaned main house windows

Vessels:

  • Paddleboard: 2
  • Private: 4
  • Eco: 12

A Red-Footed Booby!? Here?!

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Beautiful day today, cloudy but flat calm seas. Only a few minor repairs for the fence today, the new system is pretty sleek!

As per usual most of my notes are wildlife related. I found 4 sea lions with entanglement scars today, two are untagged so were likely able to free themselves. Two were tagged, one was the CSL the team at VAMMR disentangled in August about a month ago, and the other one took me a bit longer to track down the story.

Entanglement scar, no tag.

Entanglement scar and tagged, this one was rescued in August thanks to Eva’s great tracking and reporting.

As it turns out, he was disentangled by a NOAA team in 2021 on San Miguel Island when he was only a couple of years old. It’s wild that he’s come so far, but he looks great!

Later in the day I got a call over the radio from one of the eco-tourism boats in the area to let me now a few transients were coming by. They passed quickly but were awesome to see, and for the first time in my LIFE I actually stopped photographing killer whales to photograph…a bird!!!

But not just any bird, it was a red-footed booby! It was first sighted around Race Rocks a few weeks ago and was apparently hanging around but I really didn’t think I’d get to see it. My photos aren’t great so hopefully he’ll stick around for some better ones!

 

 

Facility work:

  • Fence repairs
  • Ran the generator

Vessels:

  • Paddleboard: 1
  • Private: 2
  • Eco tourism: 15

I’m Back!

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Home sweet home! If I’m counting correctly, this is my 8th time coming out to work at Race Rocks, and fingers crossed there are many more in my future!

Christine left the house and site in excellent condition and set me up for a great month ahead. No huge changes since last October, will mostly be just getting back into my usual routine.

Tons of sea lions out here, but not as many as I’ve seen previously, but I suppose it’s not even October yet and I’m sure it’ll fill up fast! I saw a few pelicans this afternoon, including one with a different plumage I haven’t seen here before. Lots of humpbacks around the reserve this afternoon and even a few breaches.

Great start already!

Vessels:

  • Eco: 6
  • Private: 1
  • Paddle: 1

Facility work:

  • Just unloading and settling in!

    Tiny Steller Sea lion pup! Only a few months old.

    Adult Steller, much bigger, and still not fully grown!

    Adult pelican, I have never seen this plumage before!

Thanksgiving Update

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So much to be thankful for out here! 

With Greg’s help we managed to get the algae off the student building, still needs a bit more to do but looking great! We also filled the water tank with 5 loads of water which is always a great feeling. 

The weather has been great, a bit windy and rainy yesterday but supposed to be gorgeous all week long so will get lots done on my last few days here! 

The female elephant seal is still hanging around, and I finally saw a sea otter today! It was quite far away but doesn’t appear to have a pink nose like Ollie and he was apparently seen elsewhere today so not sure who this is! 

I’ve also sadly found an entangled sea lion so working with all the right people to hopefully get that sorted for him. 

Lastly, here is the census from Oct 11 – it was a rainy day so numbers are low. 

Mammals:

  • California sea lion: 487
  • Steller sea lion: 221
  • Harbour seal: 15

Birds:

  • Gulls: 288
  • Cormorants: 770
  • Bald eagles: 3
  • Canadian geese: 10
  • Turnstones: 6 

And if you made it to the bottom, here is a photo of my surprise doorstep visitor a couple nights ago! He kindly made his way back to his side of the fence when I asked nicely. 

 

Busy Day on the Rock!

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Got lots done today! The next few days are supposed to rain so spent most of the day outside. 

Scrubbed and sprayed the algae on the main house, tank shed, and wooden walk ways (at least where I could reach). They aren’t perfect and will need a good pressure wash when the desalinator is back up and running, but they are better than they were! 

Richard dropped off 3 loads of water which is about 2,100L which is awesome. The hardest part of that task is keeping the sea lions off the hose! 

I ran the generator during the day today so I could do an equalization charge on them which is good to do once a month to keep the batteries healthy. 

DND did some blasting today, 5 in total. The sea lions flushed into the water on the first one but after that were just on high alert/sitting up when the rest would go off. 

The little elephant seal L334 was hanging out on the jetty today, I hope she’ll come up onto the grass but the sea lions are currently blocking her path!! 

Tuesday Update!

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It’s been a great couple days here as always, and the best weather I could ask for! 

A bit of wind just picked up now as I write this and its the first I’ve had in the week I’ve been here. 

I had two groups of students visit day from Pearson which is always great, tons of humpbacks for them to see! I also spent a good portion of the day working on getting the algae off the buildings so stay tuned for before and after photos! 

Additionally I topped up the battery electrolytes, fixed the fence (multiple times), and transferred some diesel up to the gen room.

Was a great day! 

Beautiful Sunday

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Today was gorgeous! 

No wind, warm, and glassy ocean with whales galore. After getting a few things done I spent the majority of the day outside taking advantage of the weather. 

The elephant seal was hanging out around the jetty this morning but no fur seal today! I did have a few humpbacks pass by right off the jetty though, definitely the closest I’ve seen them! 

Vessels:
Ecotourism: 14
Private: 9
1 paddle boarder 

Saturday Update & Census

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It’s been a busy couple of days out here!

The humpbacks have been breaching, tail lobbing, lunge feeding, and lounging in and around the reserve. You really can’t look out any window here and NOT see one.

Yesterday we had a diesel drop off, the battery room door is now new and functional, and we have a new YSI that turns on!

An oil change was also done on the generator so we are good to go!

This morning the fence didn’t need any repairs (a true miracle), and thanks to a text from my cousin who happened to be on a nearby ecotourism boat, I saw a fur seal!

A northern fur seal doing what we call “jug handling”

The Pearson students arrived this afternoon and will be staying until tomorrow morning, it’s always nice to have visitors!

Facility Work:
Topped up battery electrolytes
Diesel delivery
Topped up diesel in generator
Oil chance generator

Vessels:
Private: 5
Ecotourism: 16

Census:

Mammals:

  • Steller sea lion: 455
  • California sea lion: 902
  • Harbour seal: 105
  • Elephant seal: 1
  • Northern fur seal: 1
  • Humpbacks: 20+

Sleepy elephant seal

 

Harbour seal defending its rock!

Ouch

Birds:

  • Gulls: 520
  • Cormorants: 832
  • Canadian geese: 10
  • Oyster catcher: 1
  • Sparrows/Swallows: so many but I can’t ID them without a photo and they were flitting around too fast for me to get any!

Home Sweet Home

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I’m back for two weeks and so grateful that its during my favourite month to be at Race Rocks!

The weather today started off a little stormy and then the sun came out and never left. The water was glassy and I lost count of how many humpbacks I saw. They were in and out of the reserve all day long, it was incredible!

Tons of sea lions, and even one lone elephant seal hanging down on the rocks. She is tagged L334 and this is the third time I’ve seen her here which is super fun! It’s like I get to watch them grow up.

Not too many repairs needed on the fence today but did have a few spots were a couple California sea lions managed to sneak through.

I’m keeping a close eye out for the little sea lion we disentangled last October and hoping he shows up again!

No island visitors today but it sounds like the next week or so will be busy and fun!

Vessels:
Ecotourism: 15
Private: 1

May 15th Census (and Farewell for Now)

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I can’t believe it’s my last day! Where did the time go?! I’m already looking forward to coming back. 

As always, it’s been an honour to be out here and spend time on this little rock. 

May 15th Census:

Mammals:

  • Steller sea lion: 21
  • California sea lion: 24
  • Harbour seal: 66
  • Elephant seal: 3 female 
  • Cetaceans: 1 grey whale, reports of many harbour porpoises in the area

Birds:

  • Gulls: 391 (these have increased a LOT in number this week) 
  • Pigeon guillemot: 78
  • Cormorants: 29
  • Canadian geese: 10
  • Bald eagles: 10
  • Harlequin duck: 2
  • Oyster catcher: 6 

That’s all for now!