Author Archives: Kendra Luckow

Wild Weather

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Today felt like fall. I woke up to pouring rain and otherwise quiet morning. It seems as though the sea lions would rather be in the ocean than lay in the rain because about half of them were gone this morning.

The most vibrant rainbow I’ve ever seen!

The fence required minimal repairs which meant I could spend longer inside with my coffee. I did find one intruder – a California sea lion on the wrong side of the fence who thankfully meandered back over with a little encouragement. The contractors arrived by 8:30 to continue work on the student building, lucky for them most of their work was inside today.

The rain stopped briefly so I was able to tackle my to do list before it started up again. By mid afternoon the sun was out but the wind picked up rather fiercely.

The weather didn’t stop the humpbacks from breaching just outside the reserve, as usual there seemed to be one in every direction. I spent my evening watching them from the kitchen window as I did some baking and started a fire – truly the perfect evening!

The whales in question

The baking in question

Facility Work:

  • Took specific gravity readings and topped up batteries
  • Fence repair
  • Topped up generator
  • Solar panels (the rain really helped with this one)

Vessels:

  • Ecotourism: 9

Weather:

  • Sky: Cloudy/Rainy, turned to blue sky in the afternoon
  • Wind: Low of 8 knots, High of 15 knots
  • Sea: Calm morning, whitecaps in afternoon
  • Temperature: Low 9•C, High 15•C

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Whale Palooza!

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I don’t think I could’ve looked in any direction today and NOT seen a whale, and thats saying a lot considering I have a 360 degree view of the ocean on this island.

As soon as the sun came up there were humpbacks on the horizon, some just passing by, others lunge feeding.

Around mid day multiple families of transient killer whales passed by the reserve, stopping just outside to hunt a sea lion. These families included 2 whales I have always wanted to see – T019B Galiano and T019C Spouter! They were breaching and tail slapping, putting on a great show for myself and the visiting Pearson students.

The day continued with more and more whales and no matter how many I see, it will never get old.

Facility Work:

  • Repair electric fence
  • Topped up diesel in the generator
  • Ran EQ charge on batteries 

Visitors:

  • 14 Pearson students + 1 teacher 
  • 4 contractors

Vessels:

  • Private: 2
  • Ecotourism: 14

Golden Hour

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Today was jam packed!

My morning started the same way it will start every day for the next month – fixing the fence. I also moved the sea lions off the boat launch so its clear yet I swear the SECOND I turn my back they just pile right back up. 

Not a bad view to start the day!

The windows on the student building are being replaced so the contractors were out bright and early to get started. Throughout the day we had 2 groups of Pearson students come out which is always fun because I love to show off this little island. They also never seem to mind when I talk about marine mammals which is more than I can for most people in my life who have to listen to my yap about them!

There were humpbacks in every direction, big blows in the distance, pectoral fins in the air, and splashy breaches on the outskirts of the reserve. I felt even luckier when a massive killer whale passed by!

Humpback at sunset

A second female elephant showed up today, she had some trouble getting past the sea lions but finally made it to the grass outside the house. The Calis don’t seem to mind her but the Stellers don’t like her at all.

I don’t think she likes the Stellers either

I finished the day off outside watching the sun set as the sea lions basked in the final rays.

Facility Work:

  • Topped up battery electrolytes for those that were low
  • Repaired electric fence (about 50 times over)

DND:

3 blasts today all with varying reactions, only the initial blast caused some sea lions to flush into the water.

Home Sweet Home!

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Well, it’s been a few months…but I’m back!

I arrived early this afternoon, ready to tuck into another month of living it up on the rocks. The autumn shift from 25ish sea lions to over 1000 is overwhelming, as is the smell. That being said, I love it and I honestly wish there was 1000 more (ask me if I feel the same way at the end of the month).

Sea lions galore!

Another animal that has increased in number since I left is the humpbacks. I cannot look out to the horizon and not at least 10 of them, it is breathtaking.

As I reacclimatized and walked around the island I watched as large California sea lion barrelled his way through the electric fence, stripping the wood right off the post. He then became stuck on the inside of the fence looking very confused about his situation before he tumbled back over. Thus began my first task of this trip and what I anticipate to be a task I re do multiple times a day – repairing the fence.

In other animals news, I came across 2 entangled sea lions. They are both already known to DFO and the Marine Mammal Rescue teams. I believe the Cali is actually scarring from an old entanglement whereas the Steller is still very much active. I’ll be updating the teams to let them know he is still hanging around the area.

Steller sea lion with an active entanglement

California sea lion with entanglement scarring

I also came across a gull looking a little worse for wear with a fishing lure stuck in his beak. It was still very active so not an easy one to try and help. Poor guy!

Ouch!

Well, thats about it for me today, plenty more tomorrow I’m sure!

Farewell! (For Now)

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Well, just like that it’s been 6 weeks and it’s time for me to return to the mainland. The wind is gusting 65km/hour right now, giving me one final storm before my departure. The animals are all hidden away, protecting themselves from the weather. All except the male elephant seal who is still harassing the gulls.

I thought I’d wrap up my final blog post with my favourite photos and moments from this trip. I hope you enjoy as much as I did!

Pinnipeds:

Cetaceans:

Ollie the Sea Otter: 

Birds:

Northern Lights:

Sunsets:

That’s all from me for now, but I’ll be back! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

Gulls Gone Wild

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The gulls are showing no mercy. Not to the elephant seal, not to the eagles, and certainly not to me. I will say that they haven’t been as bad as what I was expecting but it does amaze me that nothing seems to scare them, even animals much larger than them.

Through no fault of his own, the elephant seal has been romping through the grass and squashing nests as he goes. The gulls, as you might imagine, absolutely despise him. He seems rather confused as to why they are dive bombing his head and I was impressed as he nearly bit one out of the air. Last night he managed to lay on top of a nest all night without cracking the eggs and I’m still trying to figure out how. He moved onto a different nest this morning and the nest of 3 eggs is now down to 2. Currently he is back on the original nest except this time he is fully on top of it and I would be shocked if any remain unbroken when he leaves.

I ended my evening by watching a humpback breach in the distance, causing big splashes with its tail slaps. Unfortunately it was too far away for any decent photographs!

Vessels:

  • Ecotourism: 30 vessels – most so far this season!
  • Private: 8 vessels, lots of boats on the water this morning

Weather:

  • Sky: Mix of sun and cloud
  • Wind: Low of 1 knots, High of 18 knots – picked up in the afternoon
  • Sea: Glassy, small whitecaps late afternoon
  • Temperature: Low 13•C, High 24•C

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

Porpoises, Killer Whales, and Humpbacks, Oh My!

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Another gorgeous day on this rock! The gulls are laying eggs faster than I can count them and they seem to range from 1-3 per nest. Lots of nests still without eggs though and lots still being built. I got to see both humpbacks and killer whales not too far out of the reserve today and yet I think I was most excited about the porpoises. I see harbour porpoises nearly every time I go to the beach when I’m home yet I rarely seem to see them here. The water today was so glassy they were impossible to miss!

Facility work:

  • Topped up battery electrolytes
  • Cleaned solar panels

Vessels:

  • Ecotourism: 24 vessels
  • Private: 1 vessel

DND Blasting:

  • 10:30am – Birds fled, pinnipeds aware but remained hauled out
  • 10:32am – Birds still hadn’t returned from first blast, sea lions sat up, harbour seals went in the water
  • 10:45am – Was in the midst of battery maintenance, did not note disturbance
  • 12:50pm – Birds fled
  • 12:52pm – Birds still gone from previous blast 
  • 1:10pm – Birds fled but quick to return

Weather:

  • Sky: Blue sky and sun
  • Wind: Low of 4 knots, High of 9 knots
  • Sea: Glassy
  • Temperature: Low 10•C, High 24•C

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

New Fence!

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I can’t believe I only have a few days left here on Race Rocks. The time has absolutely flown by. Today was warm and almost completely windless. The male elephant seal is on the grass and behaving himself, and I saw one of the small females in the water near the jetty so I imagine she’s been hauling out on one of the nearby rocks to avoid the big guy.

I officially got swooped at by my first gull, we both let out an interesting sounding shriek. Thankfully that was the only one so far, and while the rest clearly don’t enjoy my presence they haven’t acted on it yet.

Greg and Cedric came by this afternoon to start work on the new electric fence for the jetty which I’m happy to report was very successful and is currently up and running. They also brought a new unit out for salinity and temperature testing so I no longer need to use the old testing method!

Humpbacks now seem to be visible on the horizon almost every day which is exciting, and I got to watch about 3-4 transient orca pass by this afternoon. I’m crossing my fingers for one more close encounter before I leave !

Facility work:

  • Started building new electric fence around jetty

Vessels:

  • Ecotourism: 25 vessels – the most I’ve had yet!
  • Private: 3 vessels

Weather:

  • Sky: Blue sky and sun
  • Wind: Low of 2 knots, High of 9 knots
  • Sea: Calm
  • Temperature: Low 8•C, High 20•C

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

June 5th Census

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Happy census day! See below for this week’s creatures.

Mammals:

California sea lions: 30
Elephant seals: 1 (male)
Harbour seals: 143
Sea otter: 1 (Ollie)
Steller sea lions: 8

Birds:

Bald eagle (adult): 2
Bald eagle (juvenile): 4
Barn swallows: 1
Canadian geese: 4
Cormorants: 62
Gulls: 358
Oyster catchers: 8
Pigeon guillemots: 103

Facility work:

  • Chopped wood
  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Cleaned windows of both houses
  • Finished weed whacking pathways

Vessels:

  • Ecotourism: 10 vessels
  • Private: 1 vessel

Weather:

  • Sky: Blue sky and sun
  • Wind: Low of 2 knots, High of 10 knots
  • Sea: Calm
  • Temperature: Low 7•C, High 16•C

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

Adventures of an Elephant Seal

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This morning the male elephant seal woke up and decided he would cause chaos. Maybe it’s because he’s lonely now that the females have left, or maybe it’s because he gets a kick out of hearing me yell at him from the window.

He started by galumphing straight over a gull nest then stopping to snooze on top of it, which resulted in 2 very upset gulls.

Unimpressed

He then made his way over to the fresh water shed where he proceeded to break into it by knocking down the sawhorse. If it were any other animal my first instinct would be to run outside and chase him off. Since he is a large male elephant seal…I opted for shouting from the kitchen window which did the trick! I could also tell that he was more interested in the sawhorse than anything else so I wasn’t too concerned about any immediate damage to the water tank. 

From the shed he made his way along the side of the house and started to boop his nose towards the propane tanks. Usually I always leave the elephant seals to do as they please, letting nature be nature, but I swear it’s like this seal wants to take down all of the supplies that keep me alive over here! Thankfully he moved on, but stopped shortly after to chew on a pipe that sticks out of the ground. This time I yelled at him from the balcony, as if I was scolding my dog and it worked surprisingly well. He made his way up to the lighthouse and fell asleep next to the stairs where he has remained for the rest of the day.

I hope tomorrow he behaves himself, or goes into the ocean like a normal seal would. Today I felt as though I was babysitting a toddler on a sugar high.

Trouble with a capital T!!!

Vessels:

  • Ecotourism: 3

Weather:

  • Sky: Sun and clouds
  • Wind: Low of 5 knots, High of 21 knots
  • Sea: Whitecaps
  • Temperature: Low 9•C, High 15•C

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **