Category Archives: Admin

More Sea Lion Injuries Due to Fishing

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Weather: 

  • Sky partly cloudy, some periods of fog
  • Visibility 1-15 miles intermittently
  • Wind 20-30 knots W – NW
  • Water rough, whitecaps, swells around 1m

Boats/Visitors: 

  • No visitors today, but on Sunday Corey drove us back to Race Rocks with some more water as we were having troubles getting our boat to start.
  • There have not been many whale watching boats but when they are here they often get quite close to the sea lions (within 10m). We can tell when there is a boat present in the reserve by the increase in “barking” and distressed sounds that the sea lions make.

Ecological: 

  • Over the weekend a sea lion was spotted with some fishing line wrapped around its neck. We believe that it could be the same one spotted last year. As it grows it will likely die due to slow suffocation caused by the line. Unfortunately it’s virtually impossible to have someone come to tranquilize and remove the line as the sea lions move on before they can get here. However, if we see it again we will report the injury.
  • Today we found a large fishing hook which must have come loose off of a sea lion. We’ve previously observed sea lions trying to remove fishing hooks from their skin by rubbing against the jetty.
  • There are quite a few sea lions all over the island now. We have been delaying our water sample that we normally take from the jetty to avoid having to chase them off, since when they are startled they climb over each other or rush off of the side of the jetty where the water isn’t very deep. The few that have come near the house don’t seem to be moving around much, just resting and getting away from the crowds.
  • With the return of the sea lions we’ve been getting bitten by little black fleas that we also saw in late spring. They were not a problem while the sea lions were not here, so we’re wondering if the two are connected.
  • Many of the young seagulls have left or are flying very well. A few of the latest hatched are still here, but the mothers are starting to leave them to fend for themselves.
  • We have been spotting the odd young elephant seal hauling out for a few hours before continuing on.
  • We’ve been noticing eagle feathers and dead adult seagulls around the island. Oddly, we haven’t seen the eagles hunting.

Maintenance: 

  • We’ve been needing to do daily fence repairs on the electric fence at the back of the island as the sea lions have been trampling it and breaking the wire and insulators that hold the wire on the posts. Hopefully with some persistence on our part they will learn to leave it alone.
  • Today we also set up the electric fence that runs between our house and the jetty/north island to prevent them from coming up around the infrastructure. They are stinky and destructive if you let them get too close!
  • We are still picking up sharp bits of tin and shingles/tar paper/ misc. litter from around the island. Some of it is from the roofs being redone recently, but a lot of it is older and becoming exposed now that the grasses are dormant for the summer.  Today we filled two buckets in an hour or two of scavenging.

A Foggy Weekend

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Weather: 

  • Sky partly cloudy, some thick fog banks passing over us
  • Visibility 5-15 miles, intermittent fog
  • Wind 0-5 knots W
  • Water calm

Boats/Visitors: 

  • Yesterday we had a great team of volunteers come to help remove the rest of the shingles and accumulated rubbish from around the island. We still have some more to go but it’s looking great!
  • Greg showed us how to set up the electric fencing to keep the sea lions off some of the island. Yesterday we set up one at the back of the island and will need to set up the fence near the jetty soon.
  • Today Corey and his family will pop in for a visit
  •  Our friend is going home this afternoon

Ecological: 

  • We spotted the seagull chick that had been attacked (and lost an eye) yesterday and it’s doing well. It is missing an eye now but is learning to fly alongside the others.
  • We saw two orcas pass just outside of the reserve on Thursday
  • The sea lions have started to come further onto the island, and there are more and more each day

 

Wacky Warm Weather

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Weather: 

  • Sky blue with some clouds. Thick fog early this morning.
  • Visibility 15+ miles
  • Wind 20-30 knots W
  • Over the past two days we had wind blowing less than 5 knots NE, which meant very warm, still conditions.

Boats/Visitors: 

  • On the 27th Guy and Corey delivered more water
  • Not too many eco-tourism boats despite the beautiful weather
  • One of our friends is visiting for a few days. Great to see a new face out here!

Maintenance: 

  • Corey and Guy also helped haul away an entire boat full of trash/recycling/unneeded items that we had gathered for removal earlier in the season.
  • We spent a handful of hours over the past few days collecting approx. 50 lbs of smaller bits of shingles and tar paper from the roofing project as well as other trash that has been exposed now that the tall grass is dry and pressed down from the animals.
  • Yesterday we washed the windows with a big brush and squeegee to get rid of all of the seagull poop that had blown onto them- much better!
  • We noticed some bricks protecting a cable by the crane shed were missing, but upon further investigation it turned out that they were simply knocked out of place and buried in the tall grass. We were able to unearth them and get everything back in place.

More Disappointing Eco-Tourism Activity

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This afternoon we observed a vessel enter the reserve while a humpback whale was present. The whales typically maintain position in the strong currents for upwards of 30 minutes, appearing to be feeding on plankton as it’s pushed towards them.

Today a humpback whale entered the reserve to hover in the current. Within 2 minutes an eco-tourism vessel came speeding towards it from the Victoria direction. The boat entered the reserve behind the whale, and the whale turned back the way it had come to move away from it and avoid becoming trapped. The whale was deterred from remaining in the reserve as they normally would do and made swiftly towards Victoria as the boat followed it closely away from Race Rocks.

We have observed vessels conducting themselves in this way on many other occasions, but often they leave the reserve quickly when we make ourselves visible.

 

Disappointing Activity

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Ecological:

Today we saw a group of orcas (4-6) within the ecological reserve, and noted that there was a horde of whale watching/ecotourism boats that followed. Shortly after the pod entered the reserve, we observed 12-15 boats convening in the area, forming a wall of motorized vessels on the border of the reserve. A diving boat was also present in the reserve, and had approximately 5 divers in the water at the same time.

While the ecotourism boats may have maintained an “appropriate” distance, it was undeniable that their approach from one direction as a large group negatively affected the wildlife. The diving boat had divers in the water, which inevitably means it is difficult to move away.

After only a few minutes of the boats approaching the orcas departed, heading away from the approaching boats, which gave chase.

Weather:

  • Wind: 10-15kn
  • Sky: Partially overcast
  • Visibility: 10mi
  • Water: Small waves not in excess of 0.5m

Boats/Visitors:

We have had no visitors over the last while, short of Greg delivering water yesterday.

Feels Like Summer

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Weather: 

  • Clear sunny skies, a few small clouds
  • 15+ miles visibility
  • Wind 20-30 knots SW
  • White caps and waves up to .5 m

Boats/Visitors:

  • A steady stream of whale watching boats today, but not too busy (15 or so). We were pleased to note that they seemed to be keeping mostly to the centre of the channel.
  • Quite a few small pleasure crafts just outside of the reserve, but only a few entered.

Ecological:

  • The seagull chicks are getting bigger every day and are beginning to wander more adventurously. This is making it harder for us to move around the island as they are unpredictable and often stray onto the paths. The adult seagulls are more aggressive than ever and have started to dive at our heads.
  • We noticed that the lack of wind yesterday and clear sunny day was causing the seagulls to pant like dogs. Apparently this is a way for them to shed excess heat through their mouth lining.

Cannibalistic Seagulls?!

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Weather:

  • Sky: Foggy morning, clearing around 2pm
  • Wind: 15-20 knots W
  • Water: Rippled
  • Visibility: Morning fog 0 miles visibility, clearing to 15+ miles

Visitors/Boats: 

  • Only a few whale watching boats today, as the fog was extremely thick until mid afternoon. One boat came very close to the jetty and a sea lion resting on it.

Ecological: 

  • Yesterday we noticed that the gulls are continuing to attack each others young. As the chicks grow larger and more continue to hatch, it seems as if the population as a whole may be running out of food on the island. We noted that one seagull was pecking at an evergreen shrub, which we haven’t seen them interested in until now. As the gulls become more desperate for sustenance, they appear to be cannibalizing their neighbours young to provide for their own. We found an interesting article about the appearance that Climate change may be turning seagulls into cannibals, written about the observations of biologist Jim Hayward on Protection Island, also located in the Strait of Juan de Fuca (2016).

A Foggy Day

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Weather:

  • Wind: 5-15 knots NE
  • Sky: Foggy, some showers
  • Water: Rippled
  • Visibility: Up to one mile

Visitors/Boats:

  • We haven’t seen very many boats today as it has been very foggy. We spotted three whale watching vessels, and one unmarked zodiac.
  • Yesterday was a busy day for whale watching, with boats heading in many directions through the main passage. There has been a young elephant seal resting on the jetty for the past two days, and it appears very agitated when the boats come close (within 25 m).

Ecological: 

  • We have noticed that there are a handful of sandpipers on the island this week
  • There is a small elephant seal with a few minor flesh wounds on its abdomen resting on the jetty. It appears to be part way through the moulting process.
  • We spotted two deceased oyster catcher chicks on the paths this week. They were very small, so its possible that they were unhatched. They didn’t appear to be injured. The other chicks are thriving and growing incredibly quickly.
  • Another male stellar sea lion hauled out onto middle rock a couple of days ago.

Maintenance:

  • On Monday a plumber came to fix a leaky faucet part in the main residence.

A foggy view of the jetty and north rock.

Visitors of All Kinds

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Weather: 

  • Wind 5-15 knots SW
  • Sky: Mostly grey, cloudy. Some rain and fog. Periods of partial clearing.
  • Water: Rippled, fairly calm.
  • Visibility: 10-13 miles

Boats/Visitors: 

  • Guy came to pick up our weekend visitors who headed home this afternoon. It was nice to have some company out here on the rock!
  • There were only a handful of whale watching boats in the reserve today since it was quite cloudy and rainy. We were surprised to discover a vessel hovering within 50 meters of a whale within the reserve this evening.

Ecological: 

  • While taking a water temperature reading we accidentally spotted a humpback whale hovering in the main channel! It stayed for about 30 minutes, surfacing approximately every 5 minutes in the same spot, facing towards the current.
  • The seagull chicks have continued to hatch and there are too many to count. They blend in with the yellowing grasses extremely well and have grown to be twice their original size in only a week. We noticed that one chick near the fuel shed hatched but did not survive, while its two nest mates appear to be healthy.
  • There has been one male stellar sea lion on middle rock for the past few days, and appears to not be moving much at all.
  • The goslings are nearly full grown now, and have been swimming

Census

  • 230 Harbour seals
  • 350 adult seagulls and many, many chicks
  • 4 moulting male elephant seals
  • 1 male stellar sea lion
  • A handful of pigeon guillemots
  • 8 adult oyster catchers, at least 7 chicks spotted
  • 1 humpback whale
  • 2 families of geese, and one additional adult pair
  • 1 nest of barn swallows

The Big Day Has Arrived!

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Weather:

  • Wind: 10-15 knots
  • Sky: Early morning thick fog, clearing mid morning to blue sky
  • Visibility: less than .5 mile this morning due to fog. Clearing to 15 miles.
  • Water: Calm, slightly rippled.

Boats/Visitors:

Today there were many whale watching vessels, presumably since it is a long weekend. This afternoon we saw over 20 boats between 12pm and 5pm, sometimes more than 6 in the main passage at a time. We also observed a handful of pleasure craft throughout the day, who were very respectful of the reserve.

Ecological: 

  • The seagull eggs have started hatching! We have spotted 5+ hatched nests today. The chicks are hard to spot in the dry grassy areas as they are a similar colour and blend right in!
  • We have also spotted two more oyster catcher chicks, which makes a total of 5 so far.

Census: 

  • Approx. 200 seagulls, chicks beginning to hatch
  • 4 large male elephant seals moulting
  • Approx. 30 harbour seals on surrounding rocks
  • 2 families of geese, and one additional adult pair
  • 2 barn swallows nesting in our rafters
  • Approx. 8 adult oyster catchers, 5 chicks so far
  • Approx. 20 pigeon guillemots