Author Archives: Kendra Luckow

Two New Sea Otters!

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What an unbelievable day. I woke up to one of the most beautiful sunrises I’ve ever seen. As I do first thing each morning, I locate the lone male elephant seal, so I’m not caught off guard at any point. This morning he was asleep on the boat launch just out of reach of the incoming waves. I did my usual perimeter walk before sitting on the rocks overlooking the South Island with my coffee and camera. For the first time since I arrived here 11 days ago, I finally spotted Ollie the sea otter…or so I thought. I was ecstatic to see him so close and as I was snapping a few shots something else caught my eye. A second sea otter! About 200m apart I watched 2 individual sea otters crack open urchins and crab on their bellies, dive, and groom in the current. After spending nearly 3 hours watching and photographing them, I finally went inside to go through my photos. One of the otters appeared larger with a much darker head and narrow face, the second was smaller with blonde cheeks and in my opinion appeared to be a juvenile. Could it possibly be two otters that aren’t Ollie??? The blonde one was also lacking the nose scar that Ollie is known for, and he has been reported hanging around the North Rocks lately, so my hunch is these are two new animals. Will keep you posted!

 

Our elephant seal friend soon also found himself cruising by the South Island and just as I was wondering where the otters went…guess whose big head popped up in the current!? Poor guy scares off every animal he approaches. I look forward to tomorrow to see if the otters return or were perhaps just passing through.

 

Just need another elephant seal or 2 to keep him company!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Elephant Seal!

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I’ve officially been on the rocks for 10 whole days and every single one of them have been incredible. I can’t walk by a single window in this house without staring out of it in awe.

I have learned so much in such a brief period and although I’ve always been a rather solitary person, this is a whole new level of living alone. While slightly overwhelming at first, I think I’ve found my groove and there is always something to do.

Elephant seal

He’s always watching!

Each morning I awake to the sound of my new alarm clock – the singular male elephant seal on the island who is bellowing for what I assume is a female (or maybe he does it solely to wake me up). The gulls enjoy chiming in which usually sets the geese off too, by then the 3 California sea lions by the jetty are annoyed and they begin to holler along with the whole choir. Honestly, I wouldn’t want to be woken up any other way!

Looking back through previous logs and animal census it is obvious that this is a slow time of year for animals, the census I did this week is far outshined by most of the others. I look forward to more animals arriving.

The weather the last few days has been warmer than when I first arrived and despite some strong winds last night, the wind seems to have calmed down as well. The evenings are still chilly, but the fire warms the house perfectly.

I haven’t spotted any cetaceans in the last few days but I’m hoping I will soon. The same 2-3 ecotourism vessels pass by each day and the passengers always give me an excited wave. I feel as though I’m the star attraction when they do that – or maybe it’s more like I’m one of the animals to spot? There haven’t been a whole lot of pinnipeds around either, but from what I’ve experienced so far, all the operators are very respectful when showing their guests the reserve.

It’s daylight savings today which means we get a whole extra hour of daylight and a whole extra hour of solar power, woohoo!

 

Here are some additional notes from the past few days:

Ecological Notes:

–          Still just the one male elephant seal. There was a brief appearance by a female on March 7th but she was quick to return to the water when the sole male came barrelling towards her (a full speed galumph if I’ve ever seen one!!)

Visitors:

–          Greg, Cedric, and furnace repairman

Facility Work:

  • Gardening
  • Station refuel
  • Furnace maintenance
  • Wood bucking and splitting (extra thanks to Cedric!)
  • Washed house windows inside and out
  • Topped up batteries with water

Noted Vessel Traffic:

–          Ecotourism vessels
–          Group of 6 kayakers

 Weather Events:

  • Thursday, March 07:
    • Sky: Overcast with the sun coming out later in the day
    • Wind: High of NNE 15knots, low of NNE 5knots
    • Sea: Calm
    • Temperature: Low 1oC, High 6oC
  • Friday, March 08:
    • Sky: Overcast, on and off drizzle
    • Wind: High of N 21 knots, low of ENE 9 knots
    • Sea:  Calm, strong current coming through in the evening
    • Temperature: Low 6oC, High 10oC
  • Saturday, March 09:
    • Sky: Dark skies, brief period of sun with a big rainbow!
    • Wind: High of ESE 31knots, low of WSW 4 knots
    • Sea: Relatively calm with swell picking up
    • Temperature: Low 7oC, High 9oC
  • Sunday, March 10:
    • Sky: Mix of overcast and sun throughout the afternoon
    • Wind: High of E33 knots, low of N5 knots
    • Sea: Strong current in the reserve today but calm outside
    • Temperature: Low 7oC, High 10oC

 

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

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Kendra – New Ecoguardian!

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Hello blog readers! My name is Kendra, and I am the new Ecoguardian here on Race Rocks, so I thought I’d introduce myself.

I grew up in Tsawwassen, BC and have been in love with the ocean and all its creatures for as long as I can remember.

My background is in veterinary medicine, and I’ve been a Registered Veterinary Technician for 8 years now. Much of the work I’ve done in the veterinary field has been marine related. It all started back in 2017 when I worked in sea turtle rescue and rehabilitation in Australia and got my advanced diving license. Shortly after that I returned home to Vancouver where I worked in marine mammal rescue with the Vancouver Aquarium for 4 years, and absolutely fell in love with harbour seals – who remain my favourite animal!

For the past 1.5 years I’ve worked for Fisheries and Oceans Canada supporting Southern Resident killer whale recovery before moving into a marine mammal rescue and response role which brought me all over the BC coast.

Marine mammals are my passion and I’m so lucky to be living here on Race Rocks, fully surrounded by them. I must admit that I am not as familiar with birds, but I am quickly learning as each day goes by here and I’m enjoying watching all of the different behaviours and mating rituals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 6th Animal Census:

Birds

  • Bald eagle adult: 3
  • Bald eagle juvenile: 7
  • Turnstones: 2
  • Gulls, Glaucous and Western: 74
  • Cormorants: 46
  • Pigeon Guillemots: 53
  • Oyster catcher: 20
  • Canadian goose: 4
  • Surf Birds: 3

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion: 20
  • Harbour seal: 44
  • California sea lion: 26
  • Elephant seal male: 1
  • Sea otter: 0
  • Animal Tracking and Injuries: none

Ecological Notes:

  • 1 lone male elephant seal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visitors:

  • 1 alumni for a visit
  • 2 guests for tour

Facility Work:

  • Gardening
  • Pressure washed the final bit of the jetty
  • Split lots of wood for fires

DND events:

  • 2 blasts March 4th at 14:30, no noted impact to animals but quite loud
  • 5 blasts March 5th at various times throughout the day, startled nearby birds but they quickly returned

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Ecotourism vessels, the same 2-3 seem to pass by each day

 Feature Event:

  • Transient orca passed by along the outside of the reserve but didn’t come through to hunt!

Weather Events:

  • Monday, March 04:
    • Sky: Sunny morning clear, 15:00 dark cloud and hailstorm!
    • Wind: High WNW 21 knots, low of 0 knots in afternoon
    • Sea: swells in the morning, chop picked up later in the day
    • Temperature: Low 0oC, High 5oC
  • Tuesday, March 05:
    • Sky: Bright blue sky morning and full sun all day
    • Wind: High of W 21 knots, low of SE 2 knots
    • Sea: Flat calm all day long
    • Temperature: Low 3oC, High 4oC
  • Wednesday, March 06:
    • Sky: Overcast, brief snow/hail at 10:30am
    • Wind: High of N 23 knots, low of E 2 knots
    • Sea: Calm, slight ripple
    • Temperature: Low 2oC, High 5oC

 

 

 

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

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?