Author Archives: Riley Strother

Black Oystercatcher Nest!

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 25-30 knots West in the morning
  • The rest of the day 15 knots West.
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: 2′ chop

Ecological

  • Finally discovered a Black Oystercatcher nest!
  • 2 eggs are inside the “nest”.
  • Their nests are made of rocks and shells.
  • Census day.
  • I don’t seem to see any Black Turnstones or Surfbirds anymore.
  • Also less Bald Eagles.
  • And the Otter has been gone for a while.
  1. Harbour Seals: 117
  2. Northern Sea Lions: 32
  3. California Sea Lions: 22 (one branded U 687)
  4. Elephant Seals: 20 (17 on Great Race, 3 on Middle Rock)
  5. Seagulls: 327
  6. Pigeon Guillemots: 114
  7. Canada Geese: 21 (14 resident geese, 7 stopovers)
  8. Black Oystercatchers: 10 (plus 2 eggs!)
  9. Harlequin Ducks: 8 (6 males, 2 females)
  10. Cormorants: 4
  11. Barn Swallows: 2
  12. Bald Eagle: 1 immature
  13. Savannah Sparrow: 1

Maintenance

  • Rust painting.
  • More thistle weed whacking.
  • You can cut them down like you’re the Queen of Hearts, but they grow back.
  • Cleaned the solar panels.

Boats

  • Four or so eco-tours came by today.

More Wind, More Seal

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 20-25 knots West, later 35-40!
  • Sky: mix of sun and cloud
  • Water: 2′ chop
  • Gale warning for tonight.
  • Should be less windy tomorrow.

Ecological

  • 17 elephant seals on Great Race. One more than yesterday.
  • I spied a few interesting chiton remains on the island today.
  • It looks like the birds were eating some gumboot and leather chitons.

E-seal with pink scrapes

Boats

  • Only one eco-tour today.

 

Milder Wind

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 15-20 knots West, later 30
  • Sky: mix of sun and cloud
  • Water: calm, later 2′ chop

Ecological

  • 16 elephant seals on Great Race.
  • Lots of empty seagull nests scattered about the rocks now.

Maintenance

  • Did some weed whacking.

Boats

  • At least 8 eco-tours today.
  • Fairer weather=more boats.
  • A few small pleasure craft as well.

More of the Same

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: a relentless 20-30 knots West
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: 1′ chop
  • Looks like more of the same weather for the start of the week

Ecological

  • There are now 18 elephant seals on Great Race!
  • Only saw 3 on Middle Rock, although it was hard to be sure.

Maintenance

  • Didn’t do any chores apart from the daily essentials, as I felt a little under the weather.

Boats

  • No boats that I know of in the reserve today.
  • The odd fishing boat or sail boat out farther.

A Boat

Windy Grey Day

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles, later on 10
  • Wind: a relentless 30-40 knots West
  • Sky: overcast, occasional showers
  • Water: 3′ chop

Ecological

  • 17 elephant seals on Great Race
  • Most of them spent the day huddled in a big pile; warmth is good!
Flowers saved from the weed eater

Marigolds saved from the weed eater

Maintenance

  • Did some weed whacking.
  • Too windy to paint.

Boats

  • 3 eco-tours came by today.

Eco-tour in choppy water

Flipper Tag 5086

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots West, later 0-5 South
  • Sky: clear and sunny
  • Water: calm
  • Temperature: Just a match under 16C (60F)

Ecological

  • Got a better view of the tagged elephant seal today. The tag reads: 5086.
  • Apparently she was born at Año Nuevo in 2011, the daughter of G2234, an 8 year old born at Año Nuevo in 2003.
  • She was last documented at Race Rocks on April 22 2012.

E-seal tag 5086 Lone cormorant and seagulls

Maintenance

  • Took out all the remaining Canada Thistle with the weed-eater.
  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • Began painting.

Boats

  • A couple of small pleasure craft came by today.
  • One boat appeared to be only a few yards from the sea lions on South Rock.

Boat and sea lionsToo close to the sea lions

A Visitor From Afar

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10-15 miles today. At times quite hazy.
  • Wind: 15-25 knots West
  • Sky: clear and sunny
  • Water: 1′ chop

Ecological

  • Conducted a census today.
  • Found a tiny dead harbour seal on the rocks.
  • A flock of geese arrived in the late afternoon.
  1. Harbour Seals: 91
  2. Northern Sea Lions: 35
  3. Elephant Seals: 22 (17 on Great Race, 5 on Middle Rock)
  4. California Sea Lions: 20
  5. Seagulls: 275
  6. Pigeon Guillemots: 130
  7. Canada Geese: 20! (although for much of the day only 10)
  8. Black Oystercatchers: 8
  9. Harlequin Ducks: 3 (2 females, 1 male)
  10. Cormorants: 2
  11. Bald Eagle: 1
  12. Rock Sandpiper: 1
  13. Unidentified large bird on Middle Rock; Owl?: 1

Maintenance

  • Removed lots of algae from the boat house.
  • (Re)discovered that the pressure washer does not work.

Boats

  • About 4 eco-tours came by today.
  • Chris dropped off and picked up my friend Greg O’.

Visitors

  • Greg O’, the tree scientist of Vernon, came by in the afternoon for a 3 hour visit!

Greg O come for a visit!

Other

  • A couple of big DND blasts in the afternoon.

Thick Foggy Day

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10 miles at 5:30, down to 1/4 mile from 8:00-early afternoon. Back up to 10 in the evening.
  • Wind: 10-15 knots West in the morning, up to 25 in the evening.
  • Sky: fog everywhere! Fog horn went off continuously from 5:30-2:30.
  • Water: rippled, 2′ chop in the evening.

Ecological

  • 17 elephant seals on Great Race today!
  • I think the 2 new ones are from Middle Rock, where only 2 remain.
  • Counted 88 harbour seals on Turbine Rock.
  • A rather subdued day for all the animals today. I suspect the fog had an impact.

Maintenance

  • Re-attached the gasket on the door of the wood stove. It had been partially pulled off by an errant log last time I made a fire.
  • Weed whacked more thistles and stuff.

Boats

  • Zero boats because fog.

Pretty Average Day

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Great view of Mt. Baker and the Olympics today.
  • There appears to be a very small fire across the water in Washington.
  • Wind: 5-10 knots West, up to 20 in the evening.
  • Sky: clear with a view clouds.
  • Water: mostly calm

Ecological

  • The usual 15 elephant seals on Great Race today.
  • I enjoyed watching them play on the ramp.
  • Some of them just lie there and occasionally splash water onto their backs with a flipper. Very handlike those flippers of theirs.

Maintenance

  • More weed whacking. Took out lots of the Canada Thistle.
  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • Investigated the pressure washer for future use.

Boats

  • At least 5 eco-tours today.

Other

  • A few DND blasts today.
  • The detonations occurred farther to the West than usual.

Smokey bang!