Author Archives: Neha acharya-patel

Census Day!

Posted on by

Sunday September 8th

Today we spent a lot of time on the fence again. We painstakingly went through each section to ensure that charge was being held the whole way through. This was a very tedious process and we still don’t have the voltage up to where we want it to be…. but there have been no pinniped breaches yet, so fingers crossed!

Today, Scott and I climbed the lighthouse tower to complete our first wildlife census. As a marine ecologist, I have a lot of experience counting fish underwater. However, counting over 600 Sea lions that all look like overlapping brown logs or trying to count birds that keep on flying away or are hidden between all the sea lions was way harder. With that said, being a top the tower made everything much easier to see and to conceptualize on a greater scale.

While we were up there we also got to enjoy a couple of humpback whales engaging in tail slapping or “lobtailing” behaviour for well over 30 minutes. It is thought that the sound and force generated by the slaps frighten the bait fish into tighter schools making them easier to hunt. Based off gull activity, there were definitely a lot of bait balls around, so hopefully we will get to see more of this behaviour in the coming days!

  • Water Sample
  • Ran Generator
  • Washed Solar Panels
  • Patched and checked new electric fence
  • Island animal census

Whale Watching Vessels: 25

Private Vessels: 7

Census Results:

Birds:

  • Turnstones: 15
  • Killdeer: 1
  • Gulls: 528
  • Cormorants: 70
  • Oystercatchers: 2
  • Canada Goose: 6

Mammals:

  • Stellar Sea Lions: 115
  • California Sea Lions: 497
  • Sea Lions (Too Far for confident ID): 205
  • Harbour Seals: 63

Weather: Slightly Hazy/Overcast. Wind NW Building all day to ~ 15knts

Fortifying Fence

Posted on by

Saturday September 7 – Day 3

Our first day alone on station. We spent the morning refurbishing the fence that runs along the SW west portion of the island in front of the lighthouse down to the main residence.

It was super satisfying to have a unified barrier… until about four hours later… when some sections were promptly breached by our pinniped neighbours for the flat, comfy nesting spots they are protecting. The battle continues… Later in the evening we had to rescue our water sample bucket as an unnamed thrower let go of the rope.

  • Water Sample
  • Ran Generator
  • Washed Solar Panels
  • Repaired electric fence with anchored stanchions

Whale Watching Vessels: 20

Private Vessels: 6

Weather: Calm and Glassy, <5knts, Slightly Hazy/Overcast Wind picked up in the evening

Busy day

Posted on by

Friday September 6 – Day 2

Today was another day of Visitors. Early in the morning, Greg dropped off a couple contractors to work on the windows in the Student Housing. We did our first clean of the solar panels. SO MUCH SEAGULL POOP.

Greg came back with all the materials to fortify the fencing that is supposed to keep the Sea Lions away from the Lighthouse infrastructure. I can confidently tell you that this fortification is needed.

At least 6 Humpback Whales feeding all day off the South and South West sides of the island. Greg swears he saw a full breach.. though we didn’t, and there are no photos soooooo……

  • Water Sample
  • Washed Solar Panels
  • Intro to rock drilling

Whale Watching Vessels: 15

Private Vessels: 3

Weather: Hot and Sunny, Calm and Glassy, <5knts

** So sunny we didn’t have to run the Generator all day

September Eco-Guardians are Here

Posted on by

Neha And Scott

Thursday, September 5 – Day 1

Hey! We are Scott and Neha, the next Eco-Guardians for the month of September.

Bit of a whirlwind first day, we got paid a visit by the Canadian Coast Guard who were here to check out the foghorn that has been having some issues. They also sent an engineer to check out the lighthouse and dock crane. Had a nice cup of coffee with a couple of the guys, learning about different ways people work on our amazing coast!

We spent the rest of the day getting accustomed to the house and grounds and we are slowly introducing ourselves to the 800 + Sea Lions we are currently sharing the rock with. We ended the day watching the sunset on the top of the tower, joined by a couple of feeding humpback whales in the strait.

  • Water Sample
  • Ran Generator
  • Chopped Wood

Whale Watching Vessels: 11

Weather: Hot and Sunny, Calm and Glassy, <5knts