Author Archives: Kendra Luckow

Killer Whales Everywhere!

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What a killer day!

I think the rainy days might be my favourite so far. This morning it poured with rain as I drank my coffee, the mist hung low around the reserve and I could see the steamy breath of the sea lions as they yelled and yawned.

The ocean surface was glassy, and Ollie casually floated in the water around South Seal Rocks. Sometimes I think that otter has spent so little time around other otters and so much time around pinnipeds that he thinks he is a seal. The seals are completely unbothered by him, just giving him the occasional side eye.

I completed most of my to do list in the rain, which makes the cleaning tasks far easier. Around noon I headed inside to eat and just as I was about to sit down I noticed a few slow moving ecotourism boats in the distance. I ended up eating my lunch with one hand and holding the binoculars in the other to try and figure out what was coming my way. After a few minutes I saw at least 5-6 transients heading towards me so I ran out with my camera. As per usual they stuck to the outside of the reserve, although this time they passed by slightly closer. No hunting today, they were on the move with an adorable baby in tow. Each time it came up for a breath it basically flung it’s entire body out of the water. As I watched them I looked up and a flock of 19 brown pelicans flew over my head, I think the rainy days might be the best for spotting animals!

After that amazing experience, I went back inside to try and sit down yet again. I had barely taken off my shoes when I saw 2 more boats heading my way from the same direction as the previous ones. I pulled the binoculars back out only to find ANOTHER family of 5-6 transients following the same route as the others. These ones came closer and actually cut into the reserve, but not too close, sticking a couple hundred meters behind the South Islands. This family had an even smaller baby with them which was exciting to see. No hunting for these guys either, another quick pass by but I was grateful that it was the closest I’ve seen yet!

At this point I gave up on taking a break for the day. I continued on with my to do list and just as I went down to the jetty to take the salinity and temperature readings, 2 large killer whales popped up 100m in front of me. Of course I didn’t have my camera with me but I’ve never seen orca so close from land before, it was incredible. By the time I sprinted back inside to get my camera they were almost at the outskirts of the reserve. The current was strong so they came up that one time in front of me and by the time they surfaced again they were already out near Turbine Rock where they took another dive and I wasn’t able to spot them again.

Today was unbelievable, I am truly living the dream out here!

Facility Work:

  • Topped up battery electrolytes
  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Cleaned outside windows of both houses
  • Chopped wood and kindling
  • Scrubbed algae off of outer lighthouse stairs
  • Swept/cleaned deasal bunker floor

Vessels:

  • Ecotourism: 15
  • Private: 1

Weather:

  • Sky: Clouds and rain
  • Wind: Low of 1 knot, High of 7 knots
  • Sea: Flat
  • Temperature: Low 8•C, High 13•C

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

So Many Sea Lions!

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I swear the sea lions have doubled in number since yesterday’s census! Or maybe they just ALL decided to hangout around the jetty today. Between the Stellers and the California’s I counted 40 sea lions out front this afternoon! Okay, so maybe they haven’t quite doubled…but there is about 10 more today and that seems significant.

One of the California sea lions had an orange flipper tag with the numbers 14-1 on it. While the Vancouver  Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Society uses these tags, this is not the numbering system they use so I’m still on the hunt to find out where he came from. I’ve reached out to a few of my contacts in Washington and California to see if its an American tag but no luck so far. I’ll be sure to update the blog when I find out!

I also noticed a different California sea lion with a large wounded front flipper. The wound was clean and pink with no noted necrosis or signs of infection and he seemed otherwise fat and healthy. All good signs, especially when there is a wound of that size! Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) keeps track of all incidents, disturbances, deaths, injuries, etc when it comes to marine mammals so although this animal doesn’t require intervention I did report it to them so they can add it to their yearly totals. I hope this guy sticks around over the next few weeks so I can observe his healing progress!

Aside from staring at sea lions, I did do some actual work today. While I love how lush and green the site is right now, the plants have overgrown so much that they’ve made some of the paths nearly non existent. I decided to fix that today with a weed whacker which I had way too much fun with. I got a few done and  I still have a few paths to work through, trying my best to only clear the edges and not take away anything that isn’t necessary. We’ve just had so many guests and students this month that I want to ensure everyone actually has a nice path to walk on!

I also found a few new patches of these pretty pink flowers around the house today. It amazes me how many different flowers and plants grow here and I wonder how they got here. Some of them pop up in the most random places so I wonder if they were intentionally planted at one point and have now spread. I enjoy it either way!

Facility Work:

  • Rolled fire hoses
  • Big clean of main house
  • Weed whacked along the paths
  • Cleared out garbage from student house basement

Visitors:

  • Cedric + 2 contractors

Vessels:

– Ecotourism: 7

Weather:

  • Sky: Blue sky, some clouds
  • Wind: Low of 7 knots, High of 17 knots
  • Sea: Relatively calm
  • Temperature: Low 8•C, High 18•C

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

Wednesday’s Animal Census

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It’s Wednesday which means it’s time to count the animals in the reserve! I find when I do this each week that I get competitive with myself and always want to spot more species than the week prior. Today was a win because I think it’s the most variety I’ve seen in one day so far!

Mammals:

California sea lions: 24
Elephant seals: 3 (females)
Harbour seals: 96
Sea otter: 1 (Ollie)
Steller sea lion: 7
Not quite in the reserve, but honourable mentions: 1 killer whale and 3 humpbacks

Birds:

Bald eagle (adult): 3
Bald eagle (juvenile): 3
Barn swallows: 3
Canadian geese: 10
Cormorants: 102
Gulls: 369
Harlequin ducks: 8
Oyster catchers: 8
Pigeon guillemots: 64
Ravens: 2
Whimbrel: 1 

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

Rainy Tuesday

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It rained all day long today, and I actually really enjoyed it. There was no wind and the ocean was glassy and calm. The cloud cover was low down so everything was misty and quiet. I took advantage of the rain and scrubbed the solar panels and pathways to clear them of bird poop. Cedric popped by with supplies and some guests for a tour which is always fun! Nothing of note for the animals today, but the elephant seals are always keeping an eye on me as I work!

Facility Work:

  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Cleaned paths
  • Work done on desalinator to repair leak
  • Additional 500L of fresh water added to main tank

Visitors:

  • Cedric and 6 guests
  • Cedric again with supplies

Vessels:

Ecotourism: 11

Weather:

  • Sky: Cloudy and raining
  • Wind: Low of 3 knots, High of 21 knots
  • Sea: Calm
  • Temperature: Low 9•C, High 14•C

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

Monday Update

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Nothing too exciting to report today! There seem to be more sea lions around the jetty and the rocks lately, I’ll have to compare this week’s census to the past few and see if its true.

I did find one new creature today that I haven’t seen here yet – a sea roach! Despite living in the marine environment, sea roaches are terrestrial isopods and will not survive if fully submerged. This particular little guy was on the wall next to the generator building door, no where near the water!

Ligia Pallasi

A Whale of a Day

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Happy Sunday! The sun is shining, the air is calm (finally!!!!) and I spotted my first baleen whale of the season!

My favourite days here are ones like this – I can get a lot of work done but also pause between tasks to soak up the warm weather and experience the wildlife. Today’s wildlife involved a humpback whale and I couldn’t be happier about it. The humpbacks have been making their way back into the Salish Sea for a while now so I’ve been not so patiently waiting for one to come by. With the wind being so strong this past week its been nearly impossible to spot the spout of a cetacean, but today was perfect for it and I even got a little fluke shot.

Hopefully more days like this to come!

Facility Work:

  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Cleaned main house windows
  • Repaired breaks in electric fence
  • Started bucking/chopping remaining wood in the outside pile

Vessels:

  • Ecotourism: 5
  • Private: 4
  • Dive boat: 1

Infractions:

  • No infractions, I did remind one private vessel to keep their distance from sea lion haulouts but no animals were disturbed. Tons of fishing vessels near/around the reserve but none came in.

Weather:

  • Sky: Blue sky and sun
  • Wind: Low of 4 knots, High of 16 knots
  • Sea: Calm, small whitecaps in afternoon when wind picked up
  • Temperature: Low 7•C, High 16•C

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

A Steller Saturday

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Today was a relatively calm Saturday (aside from the wind). The website that we use to check solar/batteries has been offline since yesterday so I’ve been working on trying to fix that. Thankfully the panel in the generator building has been working as it should so I can still check on things, I’m sure getting my steps in with lots of trips over there!

One of the tiniest Steller sea lions thats been hanging around the island decided to haul out on the end of the jetty today. I managed to get a couple photos of him before he took off. I find that the Stellers are very skiddish, which is often helpful when I need to remove them from the jetty.

I’ve included a few photos below to show the size difference in the young Steller versus a full grown male Steller.

Facility Work:

  • Inside house cleaning
  • Chopped wood

Ecotourism Boats: 4

Weather:

  • Sky: Cloudy, sun and clouds in afternoon
  • Wind: Low of 13 knots, High of 19 knots
  • Sea: Small whitecaps
  • Temperature: Low 7•C, High  13•C

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

Happy Friday!

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We have been down to just 3 elephant seals the last few days! The two small females and one larger one are still enjoying the grass, however the largest female has not been around in a few days. The last I saw of her was 2 days ago when she was bobbing around in the water behind the student house, so I wonder if she’s just chosen to haul out on one of the surrounding rocks.

Ollie spent his day in the water near Middle Rocks, just floating and looking extra fluffy.

The Stellers were no where to be found today but the California sea lions have spent the week tucked in to the left of the jetty. They must be smarter than they let on because that area is definitely the most protected from the wind. They still require the occasional reminder to stay off the jetty throughout the day but otherwise behave themselves.

California sea lion proudly displaying his snaggle tooth

Lastly on the mammal side of things, the harbour seal numbers seem to have grown since I was here in March and with pupping season just a few weeks away I hope to see that number grow before I leave in June!

There are tons of pigeon guillemots around lately, I love to watch them on the rocks and I think my favourite thing about them is that their feet perfectly match the inside of their mouth. 

Hopefully this wind dies down in the next few days and I can get back to taking more photos!

Facility work:

  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Topped up battery electrolytes

Weather:

  • Sky: Cloudy, sun and clouds in afternoon
  • Wind: Low of 14 knots, High of 19 knots, gusts up to 30 knots
  • Sea: Small whitecaps
  • Temperature: Low 7•C, High  15•C

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

Thursday Update

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I think I experienced every possible type of weather today! From a beautiful rainbow at sunrise to dark clouds and sideways rain, to enough sun to charge the batteries to 100%, to now window rattling wind as I type this. I guess that’s technically not EVERY type of weather, but at this point I wouldn’t be shocked by a snow storm before dark.

Weather aside, today was still very productive which is my favourite kind of day. No boats in the reserve today which wasn’t surprising.

Facility work:

Cleaned outer windows of both houses

Finished work on desalinator; it has been leaking so Cedric did some work on it yesterday and I finished putting it back together this morning but unfortunately it still leaks so more work to come!

Lots of cleaning and organizing inside the house, the wind is too strong for much else right now. My favourite thing to do when the weather is bad is to bake so I quickly whipped up some banana muffins during the rain. I always do my best to not waste any food and make the most of all my supplies here so this was the perfect opportunity to make use of my very brown bananas. 

DND:

– 6 blasts throughout the day; minimal animal disturbance noticed (although I nearly jump out of my skin every time!)

Unphased

Weather:

  • Sky: Cloudy, sun and clouds in afternoon
  • Wind: Low of 17 knots, High of 20 knots, gusts up to 31 knots
  • Sea: Rough, whitecaps
  • Temperature: Low 9•C, High  15•C

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

May 15th Animal Census

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Another great day in paradise! See below for today’s animal census.

Mammals:
California sea lions: 18
Steller sea lions: 16
Harbour seals: 87
Elephant seals: 3 (all female)
Sea otter: 1 (Ollie)

Birds:
Gulls: 231
Geese: 6
Bald eagles: 1 adult, 2 young
Pigeon guillemots: 208
Oyster catchers: 5
Cormorants: 42

Bonus – 16 brown pelicans yesterday!

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