Author Archives: Riley Strother

Sea Lions, Boats, & Other Stuff

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles (Mt. Baker visible)
  • Wind: 5-10 knots West
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: rippled

Ecological

  • Census day!
  • Two California sea lions with neck rings. Poor guys.
  • Two sea lions with brands.
  • California: X168
  • Steller: 678
  • Saw a few California sea lions with head injuries, as well as one Steller.
  1. California Sea Lions: 678
  2. Northern (Steller) Sea Lions: 533
  3. Harbour Seals: 37
  4. Elephant Seals: 5 on Great Race
  5. Seagulls unspecified: 449
  6. Thayer’s Gulls: 235
  7. Glaucous-winged Gulls: 20
  8. Cormorants unspecified: 357
  9. Brandt’s Cormorants: 10
  10. Pelagic Cormorants: 6
  11. Double Crested Cormorants: 4
  12. Black Turnstones: 20
  13. Canada Geese: 5
  14. Dunlin: 1
  15. Savannah Sparrow: 1
  16. Bald Eagle: 1 adult

Maintenance

  • Ran the saltwater pump into the cistern for 5 and a quarter hours.

Boats

  • A handful of eco-tours came by today. At least 5.
  • One of the boats caused a minor sea lion stampede on the east part of Great Race.
  • My photos only show the tail end of the stampede.
  • Much more happened between the “pre stampede” photo and my end shots.

Foggy Day

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Weather

  • Visibility: 0-5 miles
  • Wind: 10-15 knots W, then around to NE
  • Sky: fog!
  • Water: calm
  • The foghorn was beeping off and on much of the morning and afternoon.

Ecological

  • 3 elephant seals on Great Race.

Maintenance

  • Ran the desalinator.

Boats

  • No boats that I’m aware of.

Military Blasting

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 0-10 knots NW
  • Sky: mix of blue and clouds
  • Water: calm

evening-appoaches-11

Ecological

  • A gaggle of 19 Canada Geese arrived on Great Race today.
  • The birds and sea lions weren’t too pleased with all the DND blasting.

Maintenance

  • The usual chores.
  • Took some ash out of the wood stove.

Boats

  • Kyle came by in Second Nature to pick up Natasha.
  • A couple of eco-tours came by.

Visitors

  • Natasha left today.

tasha-says-goodbye-8-11

Other

  • Lots of DND blasting today.
  • Small, medium, and large blasts.
  • 10:59, 11:16, 11:18, 12:01, 12:04, 12:51, 1:07.

boom-8-11

Fun Elephant Seal Day

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Weather
Visibility: 15 miles
Wind: 10-20 knots North
Sky: overcast
Water: calm

Ecological
It was fun to watch the 5 elephant seals today, 3 of which were rather active.
Look at the action photos in order and it’s like a comic book!

Maintenance
All the usual chores.
Log post tool bar disappeared again.

Boats
A couple of eco-tours came by today.

eco-tour-7-11

Various Boats

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 NE
  • Sky: clear
  • Water: calm
  • The fog horn went off from at least 4am-7am.

Ecological

  • Saw a great blue heron fly over the reserve around 11.
  • Was unable to get a photograph though.
  • 6 elephant seals on Great Race.

Maintenance

  • Added most of a diesel barrel to the tidy tank.
  • Ran the desalinator in the evening.
  • The usual chores.

Boats

  • Several eco-tours came by today.
  • A sailboat glided peacefully through middle channel.
  • One pleasure craft was observed travelling at a speed which was likely over the limit.
  • A rather peculiar looking craft spent much of the daylight hours near North Rock.

Mystery Ship

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Weather

  • Visibility: 5-15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots SE, at times up to 18
  • Sky: foggy much of the day
  • Water: calm

Ecological

  • The elephant seals were down in the water near the jetty
  • Saw 5 cormorants going on an adventure on a floating log.

Maintenance

  • The usual chores

Boats

  • I spied a rather official looking ship south of Race Rocks, but it wasn’t marked on the AIS marine vessel tracking website.
  • It looked to me like a Canadian Coast Guard ship, though it was not the Sir Wilfred Laurier.
  • A few eco-tours came by today.
  • The Ogden Point Dive Boat was over near Middle Rock around noon.

A Visitor

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles (Mt. Baker visible)
  • Wind: 5-10 knots NE
  • Sky: gently overcast
  • Water: calm

Ecological

  • 5 elephant seals on Great Race.
  • 19 Canada Geese on the island.

Maintenance

  • Regular chores.
  • Kyle brought me some items for future application.
  • A thermometer and a 1″ H valve.

Boats

  • A few eco-tours came by today.
  • Kyle brought Natasha out for a visit.

eco-tour-4-11

A Very Nice Day

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles (Mt. Baker visible)
  • Wind: 5-10 knots North
  • Sky: clear and sunny
  • Water: calm
  • A very beautiful day, with a nice sunset
  • A good night for stargazing!

Ecological

  • Conducted the weekly animal census.
  • Saw several branded sea lions today.
  • California sea lions: U690, U105, and 8427 (I think I got those correct)
  • Steller sea lions: 420Y and 347Y (those are definitely correct)
  • Also saw one sea lion with a neck ring, presumable from plastic.
  • No harlequin ducks today.
  • One of the male elephant seals was trying to mate with the female.
  • This seems like an odd time of year for that?
  1. California Sea Lions: 728
  2. Northern (Steller) Sea Lions: 493
  3. Harbour Seals: 48
  4. Elephant Seals: 5 Great Race (4 males, 1 that I think is a female)
  5. Seagulls unspecified: 672
  6. Thayer’s Gulls: 247
  7. Glaucous-winged Gulls: 30
  8. Cormorants unspecified: 329
  9. Double Crested Cormorants: 24
  10. Pelagic Cormorants: 11
  11. Brandt’s Cormorants: 2
  12. Black Turnstones: 19
  13. Canada Geese: 6
  14. Black Oystercatchers: 6
  15. Dunlins: 2
  16. Savannah Sparrows: 2

Maintenance

  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • Tidied up a few odds and ends.
  • The usual chores.

Boats

  • A few eco-tours today.
  • One rental boat came through the middle of the reserve.

Visitors

  • No visitors today.
  • Quite a nice, relaxing day today.
  • The kind of day that makes one appreciate being alone.

Re-engaged

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After Monday’s difficulties with the log, yesterday was even worse as I was unable to log on to the website. The problem seems to have been only temporary though, because I am now able to log on using both my computer and the main house computer.

Here is a summary of yesterday and today, along with photos from Monday.

Monday 31 October 2016-Photos

Tuesday 1 November 2016-Report & Chore Day

  • Weather
  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 0-5 knots E
  • Sky: rain
  • Water: calm
  • 5 elephant seals on Great Race today.
  • Had to push the dead sea lion out past the jetty where it finally floated away.
  • An inquisitive seagull floated up to the corpse and gave it a peck.
  • Spotty the harbour seal was back on his rock near the jetty.
  • Couldn’t log on to the Race Rocks website.
  • Finished gathering data for the month end report.
  • Completed October month end report for Kyle.
  • Entered and sent off October seawater report.
  • Ran the desalinator.

Wednesday 2 November 2015

  • Weather
  • Visibility: 5 miles
  • Wind: 15-20 knots NE
  • Sky: overcast with showers
  • Water: 2′ chop
  • Fierce waves crashing against the jetty today.
  • Expected to be windy overnight, with things calming down by noon tomorrow.
  • Lots of Canada Geese on the island today.

big-waves-2-11

Sea Lion Corpse Removal

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Well well well, the tool bar on this blog post creator has disappeared. No more bullet points or photos. Maybe it’s just a Hallowe’en prank?

The weather this morning was overcast, with calm seas, a gentle breeze of 5-10 knots East, and a visibility of more than 15 miles. Later on the day was marked with periodic showers and winds gusting up to 30 knots West.

The sea lions continue to do their thing, clambering all over the rocky edges of the island, and generally making a nuisance of themselves around the jetty. They keep ramming into the finicky sliding door to the boathouse. There were five elephant seals on Great Race today.

Kyle and Guy came out in the afternoon to drop off some food supplies and help with the removal of the dead California sea lion. What an appropriate task for Hallowe’en. We hooked him up to a rope on the end of the derrick, and hauled him out to sea. Maybe I should have kept the skull for decoration tonight.

Only a couple of eco-tours today.

Well it’s fully dark outside now. I expect I’ll have my first trick or treaters any moment now. I hope they don’t mind bird poop instead of candy; it’s all I have in abundance out here!