Another first for my stay here at Race Rocks.
This evening a trio of Pelagic cormorants flew along the N side of Great Race. The first is that the third was miniature version of what I assume to be its parents. I have never seen a juvenile pelagic cormorant before!….(Mike Robinson)
Transient & Resident orcas as well as Humpback whales brought eco-tour vessels from all over the Salish Sea to Race Rocks today. 41 vessels were counted as of 15:00. A maximum of 12 vessels were in the reserve at any one time. The manoeuvring and repositioning of 20+ vessels in Race Passage and surrounding the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve was enough at times to drown out the sea gulls and sea lions on Great Race.
The Vancouver-based Vancouver Whale Watching had two boats transit the reserve in pursuit of both orcas and humpbacks. A spokesperson for Vancouver Whale Watching indicated that their vessels do not pursue or chase the whales, they are there to watch them. The Explorathor Express and Explorathor II both entered the reserve from the W (watching whales from behind) as the orcas and humpbacks transited W to E through the N and S ends of the reserve.
The Peregrine, a Washington-based ecotour vessel followed the pattern of the previous two boats.
I am happy to report that local eco-tours showed respect for the Ecological Reserve and did not enter the waters surrounding Race Rocks when the whales were present.
The FastCat vessel however did not wait until it was 400 yards away from Great Race before exceeding 7 knots as it exited the reserve to watch whales as they moved East. There were 41 visitors to the island today.
With the heavy rain last night, most of the sea lions here at Race Rocks had already taken to the water by sunrise, so counts of hauled out animals during the day were ~50% of those hauled out at night.
California Sea Lion: 102
A lone osprey visited the reserve today and was photographed from the lighthouse flying SE across Great Race.
While counting marine mammals from the lighthouse I noticed the sea gulls take flight similar to a bald eagle response. I then saw this osprey flying SE over Great Race about level with the top of the tower. The next day I observed a pair of ospreys hunting in the shallows W of Pedder Bay Marina.
A distinctly different type of person on the water today. As of 13:30 there have been 4 Bayliner-type vessels speed through the reserve. A recreational fishing vessel serial 14K36817 has been illegally fishing the RCA for over an hour now. When hailed on VHF68 an anonymous station twice responded with profanities after which radio communications were obstructed by loud music playing over an open mic. Earlier today a call was put into Pedder Bay Marina to stop their vessels fishing and pulling kelp.
There were 200 visitors to the island today. ( Posted by Ryan)
Divers attached buoys to the 4 anchor blocks this morning as the tidal turbine removal gears up. There were 8 visitors to the island today.
Sea lion populations have stabilized in terms of numbers. With just ~250 California’s and ~150 Steller’s. Ever since the earthquake on 09/09/11 (which was not felt by me here), the sea lions have moved up from “the arena” and East bay on Great Race to surround three sides of the Keeper’s residence. They have blocked 2 of 3 entrances! They can be shooed away, but return during the night. The cool winds and overcast days permit them to sleep comfortably during the day only to be particularly raucous during the night. The transition between Glaucous winged gulls and their winter replacements the Thayer’s gulls has begun. Some Heermann’s gulls are present now as well. It appears at least one oystercatcher clutch was successful as an adult pair and their two fledged chicks are still present on Great Race.
An immature brown pelican landed on Great Race today at sunset. It flew in from the East.
I counted 65 boats in the reserve today, just under half were visits by eco-tours. Recreational boaters did not cause any disturbances and all but 5 kept to the 7 knot speed limit for the reserve. One recreational fisher poached in the reserve off North Race before leaving to fish in Pedder Bay.
California Sea Lion: 164(front lawn @ dawn)
Northern Sea Lion: 27(front lawn @ dawn)
The weekend was not as busy as I had expected, however there were hundreds of people here from sunrise to sunset. The general public has shown increased knowledge or respect for the reserve guidelines and the majority of the traffic was sight-seers. I am pleased to report there were 0 marine mammal disturbances yesterday. However, rental boats with weekend-warrior fishermen continue to threaten the Race Rocks ecosystem. Pedder Bay Marina continues to respond to reports from the Eco-Guardian concerning illegal fishing by their customers. There were 6 boats poaching in the reserve yesterday, half belonging to Pedder Bay Marina. There were 0 visitors to the island today.
The vessel Sondrah-Leah passed at high speed E to W through the Reserve.