Author Archives: Ryan Murphy

Gulls arrived

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The gulls have  arrived this week. The once silent days are now a cacophony of caws and screams and will continue so until the fall. The gulls are taking up nesting territories and perches around the island, however all had abandoned Great Race last night as the barometer dipped.) have arrived this week. The once silent days are now a cacophony of caws and screams and will continue so until the fall. The gulls are taking up nesting territories and perches around the island, however all had abandoned Great Race last night as the barometer dipped.

Harlequin Ducks put off by DND Blasting

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14 Harlequin Ducks have arrived at Race Rocks and are making good use of the fine weather this past week. Unfortunately, these shy birds have been scared away today by bomb blasts on Bentinck Island. Blasting by CFAD Rocky Point has been continuous today with the exception of a lunch break at noon. It is very disappointing that the 5-minute interval designed to minimize DND impact on the ecological reserve has not been observed. Most blasts come in clusters with ~2-minute intervals. The blasting occurring around the time of this report ~13:54 had ~1-minute intervals.

Misery likes snow

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Misery has been going back and forth between Great Race and Middle Rocks as of late. It was easy to see his return here yesterday and track his progress through the snow! His movement around the island left a long, winding, 139cm-wide icy path. The low friction of the snow aided his progress and he seemed to delight burrowing his trunk in the snow banks and cover him back with snow scooped up by his front flippers.

Bertha moves on

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Both Bertha and Misery entered the water overnight. Misery returned to the island in the morning and was very vocal as he moved around. Bertha came to the rocks in the S gut (less than 10m from she had spent the last month) before hauling out on Middle Rocks. Misery eventually left Great Race again to haul out on Middle Rocks by which time Bertha had already left the reserve.
Elephant Seal : 2

Seawater Temperature and Salinity February, 2010

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 Submission on daily seawater temperature and salinity as it is provided to IOS from the daily sampling by the Ecoguardians at Race Rocks.

See the PDF file: Dec2010 February

6 Daily Seawater Temperature and Density Record Shore Station
8
Time Zone P.S.T
9
10 Observer: Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific MONTH: February YEAR: 2010
11
12 Date Time Sea Jar Hydro- meter No. Observer Density (1.02–) Reduced *Corrected *Salinity
Temp. Temp.
°C °C
13 1 14:54 8.5 8.2 10,802 1.0239 1.0228 1
14 2 16:01 8.5 8.5 10,802 1.0237 1.0227 1
15 3 17:10 8.5 8.3 10,802 1.0241 1.023 1
16 4 6:03 8.5 8.2 10,802 1.024 1.0229 1
17 5 6:00 8.5 8.2 10,802 1.0239 1.0228 1
18 6 6:28 8.5 8.4 10,802 1.0241 1.023 1
19 7 6:40 8.5 8.5 10,802 1.0238 1.0228 1
20 8 6:45 8.5 8.2 10,802 1.0239 1.0228 1
21 9 7:30 8.5 8.1 10,802 1.0236 1.0225 1
22 10 8:08 8.5 8.2 10,802 1.0238 1.0227 1
23 11 10:15 8.5 8.3 10,802 1.0238 1.0227 1
24 12 10:00 8.5 8.3 10,802 1.0237 1.0226 1
25 13 12:09 8.5 8.4 10,802 1.0238 1.0227 1
26 14 13:01 8.5 8.6 10,802 1.0238 1.0228 1
27 15 14:04 8.5 8.5 10,802 1.0237 1.0227 1
28 16 15:01 8.5 8.6 10,802 1.0238 1.0228 1
29 17 15:47 9 8.6 10,802 1.0238 1.0228 1
30 18 16:31 9 8.7 10,802 1.0239 1.0229 1
31 19 5:00 8.5 8.6 10,802 1.0237 1.0227 1
32 20 5:02 9 8.7 10,802 1.0238 1.0228 1
33 21 5:12 9.5 8.1 10,802 1.0238 1.0227 1
34 22 5:25 8.1 8 10,802 1.0239 1.0228 1
35 23 6:06 8.5 8 10,802 1.024 1.0229 1
36 24 6:15 8.6 8.2 10,802 1.0236 1.0226 1
37 25 8:00 9 8.5 10,802 1.0238 1.0227 1
38 26 9:20 9 8.6 10,802 1.0237 1.0226 1
39 27 11:30 9 8.9 10,802 1.0238 1.0227 1
40 28 13:00 10 9.4 10,802 1.0238 1.0228 1
41
44 Mean* * 8.7 8.4 1.0238 1.0228 1.0 * *
45
46 * These calculations will be done later at D.F.O. office.
Recorded by Race Rocks Marine Protected Area Guardian Ryan Murphy
Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific

Elephant seal numbers

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-2009-12-30 ‘Elephant Seal’, 4, ‘A more or less constant number of elephant seals in the reserve this past week. Both our adult and sub-adult males -Slash and Misery) have been spending most of their time on Great Race Island. Misery has been napping near the lighthouse for most of the week while Slash has been moving around Great Race Island and going back and forth between here and Middle Rocks where two or three females are hauled out.’, ‘Ryan’, ’08:23:02