Author Archives: Mara & Kai

Saturday Census

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Weather Today: 

  • Visibility 10-15 NM
  • Sky partly cloudy, some blue sky and sun
  • Wind 25-30 Knots NE
  • Sea state: swells breaking up to 4-5 ft

Census:

  • 1 Bald eagle
  • 6 Black turnstones
  • 1 Savannah sparrow
  • 3 Harlequin ducks
  • 345 Brandt’s cormorants
  • 800 California seagulls (approximate)
  • 65 Harbour seals
  • 13 Canada geese
  • 1117 California sea lions
  • 234 Stellar sea lions
  • 1 Sea otter (Ollie!)

Blustery Fall Winds

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Today’s Weather: 

  • Sky overcast, rainy
  • Visibility less than 5 NM
  • Wind 25-30 knots NE
  • Sea state: Swells up to 3-4 ft, fast moving

Visitors: 

  • Greg and contractors have visited a few times this week to complete work on the island.
  • Not many eco-tourism boats at this point in the season. One or two per day on average travelling through the reserve. Yesterday a sizeable group of kayaks passed through, as well as a handful of pleasure crafts.

Ecological Notes: 

  • This week we have been seeing an incredible number of humpback whales in the strait; Yesterday we counted at least six visible at once! We have seen them most often breaching and fishing west/south west of the reserve, although we were surprised by one very close to our jetty just this week. We have observed whale watching boats approaching the whales, and when this occurs their behavior seems to change. Instead of surfacing frequently and in a more leisurely fashion, they dive for long periods of time and cover larger distances during their dives, surfacing further from the boats each time. Consistently observed, if the vessels follow the whales they seem to dive longer and swim further away still.
  • The sea lion population is stable now, with a steady 1000-1200 present in the reserve. They seem to have settled in for the season, each having their favorite spot to rest. We have noticed that the sea lions that we are able to distinguish individually indeed do return to the same spot to rest for typically at least a few consecutive days. Although sea lions ingest upwards of 5% of their mass in fish each day on average, we have noticed that often they do not leave their resting spots for days at a time if they are not disturbed.
  • The bald eagle presence in the reserve has also suddenly jumped over the past week to two weeks, presumably due to spawning salmon returning to estuary’s at this time of year. A few days ago we spotted 8 in the reserve as the sun rose over the horizon. Early mornings are the most active part of the day for wildlife fishing: no human/vessel activity disruptions, but it also seems to be part of their natural routine. As the sun rises each day, the air is filled with the sound of eagles, sea lions, seals, and seagulls all looking for breakfast!
  • No elephant seals in the reserve this week. We hope that we might be joined by more juveniles through this fall season- they are a highlight of our daily routine when they are here.

Sunday Census

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Weather Today: 

  • Sky overcast with rain earlier in the afternoon
  • Visibility 10nm
  • 25-30 knots NW
  • Swells up to 0.75 m, 1 foot chop

Visitors: Over the weekend we had roughly 5 ecotour vessels per day with a couple of pleasure craft daily. Today, a private vessel spent the late afternoon in the reserve supporting divers in the water near the jetty.

Ecological: 

  • Yesterday we were surprised by a humpback whale just off of the NE side of the rock. We spotted the whale, as well as two ecotour vessels just on the edge of the reserve, shortly after heading outside. It was huge!

Humpback Whale

  • Erica/GE103 seems to have moved along, we haven’t seen her in a few days now.
  • More sea lions seem to be hauling out, or maybe it’s just that they’re getting more comfortable! They’ve been very persistent about coming up onto the middle of the island but we’ve been able to keep them away from the burial cairns. It seems as though they are unable to read the no trespassing signs…

Census: 

  • 192 cormorants
  • 96 harbour seals
  • 1 humpback whale
  • 1 bald eagle
  • 950 california gulls
  • 75 glaucus gulls
  • 229 stellar sea lions
  • 1116 california sea lions
  • 3 canada geese
  • 26 turnstones
  • 1 sea otter

Heavy Wind and Rain

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Weather Today: 

  • Sky partially overcast
  • Heavy rain intermittently
  • Wind 30-53 knots NW
  • Visibility 5-10 nm
  • Swells up to 4-5m

Visitors/Traffic: Very few vessels on the water today with the conditions. We spotted a fishing boat passing by near Bentinck island and took a picture of waves breaking over its bow.

Fishing vessel breaking through waves.

Ecological: 

  • The animals seem to be taking shelter from the weather and moving around a little less than usual. The sea lions are staying hauled out in big ‘cuddle puddles’, the geese and seagulls have been looking for places to sit out of the wind.
  • The younger seagulls especially have been looking a little tired, it seems like something about their feathers means they don’t repel water as well as the mature birds – they look waterlogged!

Storms on the Way

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Weather Today: 

  • Sky partly cloudy, intermittent rain
  • Visibility
  • 20-35 knots W- SW throughout the day
  • Sea state: Swells up to 1.5 m, 1-2 foot chop

Visitors: Few boats through the reserve today as the seas have been a bit rough. A few eco-tourism boats in late afternoon watching a humpback whale just outside of the reserve.

Ecological: 

  • Not many unusual bird sightings this week as it has been incredibly windy. Quite a few more cormorants this week!
  • Erica, or GE103 has been enjoying napping around race rocks still this week. Her favorite spot is the jetty, although if there are too many sea lions she will venture higher onto the middle part of the island for some proper rest.

Census: 

  • 69 Harbour seals
  • 23 Glaucous-winged gulls
  • 163 California gulls
  • 43 Brandt’s cormorants
  • 263 Stellar sea lions
  • 695 California sea lions
  • 2 Bald eagles
  • 1 Elephant seall
  • 1 Sea otter
  • 1 Humpback whale (just outside of the reserve)
  • 10 Black turnstones
  • 5 Savannah sparrows

Sunny Fall Days

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Weather Today: 

  • Sky clear blue, intermittent thick fog
  • Visibility .5 NM – 15+ NM
  • Wind 5-10 knots W
  • Sea state: calm

Visitors: Jeff and two college contractors visited today. A small handful of eco-tourism boats passed through as well.

Ecological: 

  • The fall weather is setting in and today we saw the first bald eagle that we have spotted in quite a while (since late spring). The sound of the gulls on the island lifting into the air is distinctive enough that we noticed right away!
  • The sea lions have been enjoying lounging in the grassy areas around the low parts of island. They bicker constantly with each other but are just as quick to lay together in large groups when they are in need of a nap.

Saturday Census, Storm Brewing

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Weather Today: 

  • Sky intermittently foggy, clear (dark clouds blowing in from W)
  • Visibility 10-15 NM
  • Wind 25-35 Knots NW
  • Sea state: white caps, 2-3 foot chop

No visitors today. A few eco-tourism boats , 1 pleasure craft, and a large group of kayakers in the mid afternoon passed through the reserve.

Yesterday we glanced a humpback whale outside the reserve in the early morning. We have seen far fewer whales inside of the reserve as compared to last year’s fall (none!).

Census: 

  • 1 Elephant seal (GE103)
  • 16 Canada geese
  • 127 Glaucous-winged gulls
  • 633 California gulls
  • 3 Savannah sparrows
  • 2 Black turnstones
  • 1 Black oystercatcher (spotted amongst a group of gulls!)
  • 49 Brandt’s cormorants
  • 1 Sea otter
  • 19 Harbour seals
  • 511 California sea lions
  • 128 Stellar Sea lions

A Busy Week: Entanglements, Fall Weather

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Weather:

  • Sky overcast
  • Visibility 1-10 NM – intermittent fog with a consistent layer of wildfire smoke
  • Wind 5-15 knots W
  • Calm water, rippled surface

Visitors/Traffic: 

  • One contractor visited the island yesterday, along with Greg and Lawrence the day previous.
  • Minimal tourism and pleasure craft activity (5-10 boats coming through daily)
  • Today Marine Mammal Rescue and DFO visited the reserve by water to look for entangled sea lions that had been reported to DFO. Unfortunately we were not able to spot the animals reported. Despite multiple vessels, the view from the lighthouse, and even a drone!

Ecological Observations: 

  • The increase in sea lions seems to be slowing and tapering off. Wherever there is available space, they haul out and fight for the best place to rest.
  • The elephant seal ‘Erica’ GE103 is still sticking around, and spends most of her time resting near the base of the jetty.
  • We noticed a robin hopping around on the grass yesterday but unfortunately didn’t get a picture.
  • We did see one sea lion with an entanglement injury on Sunday evening. It was the same one reported to DFO by a visitor in the reserve (boating past). We were not able to spot him again, and today we found the flasher which had been hanging from his mouth on the ground.

Sea Lions and Saturday Census

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Weather: 

  • Sky partly cloudy, some intermittent rain
  • Visibility 15+ NM
  • Wind 0-10 knots W-SW
  • Sea state: calm, fast moving currents this week

Ecological: 

  • We were excited to see not one but two brown pelicans during our census today!
  • A pod of orcas passed by near Bentick I. in late afternoon.
  • The sea lion population has exploded over this week. We counted a total 1050 today, compared to only 480 one week ago.

Census: 

  • 46 Brandt’s cormorants
  • 3 Double crested cormorants
  • 32 Black oyster catchers
  • 19 Surfbirds
  • 40 Black turnstones
  • 2 Savannah sparrows
  • 5-10 Song sparrows
  • 277 Stellar sea lions
  • 773 California sea lions
  • 21 Canada geese
  • 2 Brown pelicans
  • 4 orcas (just outside of the reserve)
  • 1 Elephants seal (E103)
  • 71 Harbour seals
  • 230 Misc. Seagulls
  • 1 Sea otter (Ollie)

Stormy Seas

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Weather:

  • Sky partly cloudy, sun/blue sky
  • Visibility 15 NM
  • Wind 26-30 knots W
  • Sea state: swells up to 5 m (high enough to cover the south islands!)

Visitors: 

  • Greg visited briefly yesterday to top up supplies before the stormy weather
  • Yesterday morning a coastguard team arrived by helicopter to do some work on the lighthouse

Ecological Observations: 

  • The sea lions and other animals have come further onto land than usual, presumably because of the stormy seas. Interestingly, the seagulls species have been mixing and not fighting at all as they need to remain closer together in the tough weather.
  • There have been quite a few more geese over the past few days. They have been enjoying the puddles created by the rain and grazing the greener areas now that the gull nesting season is over.