Author Archives: Neha acharya-patel

As buck would have it!

Posted on by

Today we tackled the pile of logs just waiting to be bucked into some grade A firewood. The rock is equipped with a beauty Husqvarna 450 rancher chainsaw that just purrs…those logs didn’t stand a chance. In the words of Buckin’ Billy Ray, ‘She cuts eh!” I think swinging an axe might have legs as the next fitness trend! We also made some minor improvements to the fence and touched up some of the auxiliary buildings.

We reported yesterday’s entanglement and unfortunately saw another one today.

Whale Watching Vessels: 20

Private Vessels: 6

Weather: Clear and Sunny all day. Winds out the SE then switching to West later in the aft. 6-12kts

The Fence is up!

Posted on by

There is now a perimeter around all the facilities! Now, Scott and I just need to make sure that they keep standing…

We also did the census this morning at low tide. There has been a dramatic increase in sea lions since last week!

Birds:

  • Gulls: 1454
  • Cormorants: 42
  • Oystercatchers: 3
  • Canada Goose: 15

Mammals:

  • Stellar Sea Lion: 360
  • California Sea Lion: 933
  • Harbour Seal: 127

Animal Tracking and Injuries: Noted one California sea lion with Salmon Flasher. Will report to DFO Tomorrow.

 

Whale Watching Vessels: 15

Private Vessels: 5

Weather: Clear and Sunny all day. Winds W 10knts

Back on Fence Duty

Posted on by

Saturday, September 14, 2024

We made some improvements to our last stretch and started on a new section that has been totally wrecked by the sealions. We are again converting from the old-style block anchors to metal stanchions that are bolted into the rock. We chose a course that provided good anchor locations and uses the natural geography to work with the sealions preferred nap spots. We also cleaned the windows of the various buildings because with 715 gulls…well you get the idea.

While having our morning coffee we saw our first Orcas. 5-6 with a baby was a treat for sure. Another notable siting was three ocean canoes coming through middle channel around 2pm, pretty rowdy if you ask me.

Whale Watching Vessels: 15

Private Vessels: 5

Weather: Calm and overcast in the morning. Cleared in the afternoon with winds reaching 14-16kts.

Fog Horn not repaired..

Posted on by

Friday September 13

So… the fog horn went all night… when it was not foggy….

We let Coast Guard know and they told us  how to disable it. So they will be back here in the next couple weeks to try again to get it fixed.

Today, did some organisation/cleaning of the main house.

We also saw the injured sea lion James and Christine noted in August, when we were doing our water sample. He isn’t putting weight on it at all.. but the wound itself looks a little better. Reported to DFO.

  • Ran Generator
  • Ran Desalinator
  • Chopped Wood
  • Water Sample

Whale Watching Vessels: 10

Private Vessels: 2

Weather: Clear Day (Visibility about 12 NM), Winds SW ~5Knts all day, Overcast, Rain in the afternoon

 

 

 

Fog Horn Repair?

Posted on by

Thursday September 12

Today Coast Guard came back to fix the Fog Horn. It is very loud.

Scott chopped a lot of wood that will be stacked up in the basement for use in the winter. We also received materials from Greg to build the electric fence around the North side of the island. That will be the weekend project.

The sunset today was beautiful, and there were so many humpback whales feeding in the distance!

  • Ran Generator
  • Ran Desalinator
  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Chopped Wood
  • Water Sample

Whale Watching Vessels: 17

Private Vessels: 3

Weather: Foggy Morning, dissipated in the afternoon. Winds W Built to 23 knts, 12 C

Upkeep Day

Posted on by

Wednesday September 11

Similar day to yesterday! Did some weeding, weed whacking of the student house, made water and ran the generator.

  • Ran Generator
  • Ran Desalinator
  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Patched electric fence

Whale Watching Vessels: 10

Private Vessels: 1

Weather:  Mix of sun/cloud. Wind 8-12kts.

Invasive Plant Removal

Posted on by

Tues, Sept 10, 2024

Today we removed a lot of the invasive Plumeless thistle in the grassy area at the foot of the lighthouse.

There also is work being done on the student house this week to replace the windows.

  • Ran Generator
  • Ran Desalinator
  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Patched electric fence

Whale Watching Vessels: 10

Private Vessels: 1

Weather:  Mix of sun/cloud. W/SW winds building to 20knts

Foggy in the morning, dissipated throughout the day. Fog Horn Still out.

 

 

Firing up the DeSal

Posted on by

Mon, Sept 9, 2024

Today we spent some time with Greg going over the finer points of running the desalinator machine. It pulls ocean water from a 10,000L cistern and converts it to fresh water for use on the island. We also patched up some of the weaker points of the electric fence along the SE border. The sealions will be with us in large numbers until the beginning of December and the fence is important to protect the infrastructure and other habitats on the island. The weather has begun to turn as the wind kicked up and the temperature dropped compared to our first few days here.

Unfortunately, we also spotted this guy with an injury on his back. Reported to the DFO Marine Mammals Unit.

  • Ran generator
  • Ran desalinator
  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Patched electric fence
  • Water sample

Whale Watching Vessels: 17

Private Vessels: 3

Weather:  Mix of sun/cloud. Wind 8-12kts

 

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