Mammals:

• harbour seal: 110
• elephant seal: 1 mature female

Birds:

• gulls: 673
• cormorant: 28
• black oystercatcher: 14 (plus 3 chicks)
• pigeon guillemot: 15
• Canada goose: 2
• bald eagle: 1
• purple martin: 1
• great blue heron: 1

Wildlife seen this week inside the reserve but not observed today include: California sealion, Stellar sealion, Caspian tern, killdeer, harlequin duck, barn swallow. Again the pigeon guillemots, who were out all day, are greatly under represented (by a factor of 10).

Banana seals. Seems like a lot of effort to stay warm and dry and prolong the inevitable, if just for another 20 minutes.

Today there was some enticing food around and almost all the gulls not on a nest were out feeding along the shorelines and in small bays.  For this count I separated the gulls into those sitting on a nest (328), not on nest on but on Race Rocks (143) and on South Islands and Seal Rocks (202). I am sure I missed more than a few nests that were obscured by rocks.

I spent 3 hours in the lighthouse today. Marvelous day.  I didn’t understand why there was a paper towel roll on the stairs of the lighthouse until I found a frantic purple martin throwing itself against the windows. I opened the small door to the outer deck. It flew away in a hurry straight toward Sooke.  I also longingly watched a long debris chain drift west through Race Passage. Last night with the pike pole I pulled a small log to shore and put a line on it. It was hard to watch so much wood just pass up by.

Debris drifting past

Facility work

• cleaned solar panels
• weeding along walkway
• topped up battery fluids

Vessels

• Ecotourism: 12
• Private: 4

Weather

Clear skies. Light and variable winds during the day, westerlies 23 knots in the evening.  Daytime temperatures 11 to 19 degrees.

A beautiful center-cockpit yacht (maybe a Hallberg-Rassy) motoring past.

Mammals:

• Steller sea lion:  0
• California sea lion: 8
• harbour seal: 71
• elephant seal: 1 mature female

Birds:

• gulls:  732
• cormorant: 38
• black oystercatcher: 14 (plus 2 chicks)
• pigeon guillemot: 43
• Canada goose: 2
• harlequin duck: 7
• barn swallow: 2
• brown pelican: 1
• bald eagle: 1

Wildlife seen this week inside the reserve but not observed today include: two Caspian terns and one additional female elephant seal. The one year-old hasn’t been seen all week which is a bit surprising as she was not far ahead of the large female in her molt and they spend extra time on shore after they have shed their skin and fur. The 3 year old (L334) goes for a couple days, comes back for a day, then leaves again. She has not been seen for two day. The pigeon guillemots are greatly underestimated – there are likely more than 200.

The mature female elephant seal is losing her last patches of skin and fur quickly.

June 12 2026

June 13 2026

Two harbour seals in a crevice, deciding to sleep underwater instead of on land.

Incredibly clear water today. Photo from the top of the tower during census.

Facility work

• cleaned solar panels
• started weed trimming the walkways

Vessels

The light winds and warm weather may be responsible for the very high number of private vessels today.  Two were speeding in the reserve very close to shore.  I wonder if the electronic charts indicate the speed limits in the reserve? There was even a speed boater pulling his children around on a inflatable air mattress!

• Ecotourism: 8
• Private: 10

Weather

Spectacular weather. Clear skies with warm light winds from the SE (2 to 13 knots). Daytime temperature 12 to 22 degrees. Warmest day of the summer so far.

Mammals:

• Steller sea lion:  6
• California sea lion: 14
• harbour seal: 67
• elephant seal: 2 females

Birds:

• gulls:  331
• cormorant: 29
• bald eagle:  1
• black oystercatcher: 14
• pigeon guillemot: 63
• Canada goose: 4
• harlequin duck: 8
• barn swallow: 2
• great blue heron: 2
• brown pelican: 3

Wildlife seen this week inside the reserve but not observed today include: two additional female elephant seals. It is not common for Great Race Rocks to be free of sea lions. The few Stellar and California sea lions observed today were on Middle Rocks, and most of the harbour seals on Turbine Rocks.

Brown pelicans

Wildlife notes

There have have been seven elephant seals on Race Rocks this year, all of them females.  A pregnant female gave birth to a female pup in January. For the spring molt, as many as five females were here at one time. The four year-old left last week, the two and three year-old (L334) left this week. The one year-old and the large mature female remain. The one year old is a bit further ahead in her molt. The mature female is mid molt, still very well fleshed and will likely be here for another two weeks.

The mature and one year-old female elephant seals on the boat ramp for their daily wetting.

The mature female elephant seal in the grass. Ennui? I would assume the molting process is not pleasant and very boring for these active hunters.

Facility work

• cleaned solar panels
• ran desalinator
• started weeding

Vessels

• Ecotourism: 14
• Private: 1
• Paddle craft: outrigger canoe (OC1)

Weather

Sunny morning with light variable winds. Afternoon partly cloudy, winds westerlies building to 21 by evening.  Daytime temperatures 10 to 11 degrees.

Mammals:

• Steller sea lion: 3
• California sea lion:  35
• harbour seal: 86
• elephant seal: 4 females

Birds:

• gulls:  234
• cormorant:  38
• bald eagle:  1
• black oystercatcher: 14
• Canada goose: 6
• harlequin duck: 13
• barn swallow: 2

Wildlife seen this week inside the reserve but not observed today include: one additional female elephant seal.

Wildlife notes

The four year-old post molt female was last seen on May 28th and has returned to the sea. Of the four remaining elephant seals, the two-year old has lost the most weight and will likely be the next to leave, followed by L334.

The 3 year-old (L334 on the left) and two year-old elephant seals. L334 had just come up from a wetting on the boat ramp and took a rest beside the two year-old.

The cranky two year-old unimpressed by the closeness.

The youngest and oldest females spent the past two days by the energy building. Judging by the poo smear on the tower walkway, one of them even spent some time at the tower base, which isn’t an easy uphill trip for an elephant seal.

The mature female and the one year-old on the pathway to the energy building.

Facility work

• cleaned solar panels
• general cleaning

Vessels

• Ecotourism: 3
• Private: 2 kayakers

Weather

Clear skies. Westerlies 21 to 30 knots. Daytime temperatures 9 to 12 degrees.

Census was done on Friday May 22 because Saturday May 23 is my last day at Race Rocks. It was foggy in the morning and evening which added too the challenge.

Mammals:

• Steller sea lion: 2
• California sea lion:17
• Harbor seal: 12
• Elephant seal: 5

Birds:

• Gulls: 238
• Cormorants: 14
• Canada goose: 8
• Pigeon guillemot: 140
• Black oyster catcher: 6
• Harlequin ducks: 10
• Bald Eagle (Adult): 1

Other animals I’ve been seeing recently but didn’t see on the day of the census : Brown pelican, Barn swallows, Killdeer

Mammals:

⋄ Steller sea lion: 7 (morning) / 9 (evening)
⋄ California sea lion: 24 (morning) / 36 (evening)
⋄ Harbor seal: 74 (morning) / 12 (evening)
⋄ Elephant seal: 5

Birds:

⋄ Brown pelican: 1 (very exciting!)
⋄ Barn swallow: 4 (flying by)
⋄ Whimbrel: 3 (evening, very cute)
⋄ Gulls: 62 (morning) / 170 (evening)
⋄ Cormorants: 56 (morning) / 200 (evening)
⋄ Canada goose: 8
⋄ Pigeon guillemot: 50
⋄ Black oyster catcher: 3
⋄ Harlequin duck: 8 (evening)
⋄ Savannah sparrow: 2

Note: the animal census was done at 10 am (morning) and 6 pm (evening) on May 3rd, 2026.

Mammals:

• Steller sea lion:  71 (54 Jan 25, 168 Jan 15)
• California sea lion:  34 (105 Jan 25, 69 Jan 15)
• Harbour seal: 39 (43 Jan 25, 20 Jan 15)
• Elephant seal: 2

Birds:

• Gulls:  132 (202 Jan 25, 399 Jan 15)
• Cormorant: 104 (452 Jan 25, 271 Jan 15)
• Bald eagle:  2 mature,  4 immature
• Black oystercatcher: 10
• Canada goose: 2
• Harlequin duck: 5
• Black turnstone: 42
• Dunlin: 4
• Sanderling: 1
• Raven: 2
• Song bird: 1

Wildlife seen this week inside the reserve but not observed today include: surfbird and killdeer.

Dunlin

Dunlins and a sanderling high up on the western rocky shore.

It is day 12 for the elephant seal pup. The pup is growing quickly and the weight loss in the nursing mother is becoming obvious.

Mother elephant seal and pup on Day 12

Facility work

It was calmer at the Jetty today with less waves and logs smashing around.

• moved logs around
• month end report
• entered and sent seawater data to DFO
• cleaning

Vessels

• Ecotourism: 1
• Private: 0

Weather

Overcast. Periods of rain. Gentle northeasterly breeze. Daytime temperatures 9 to 10 degrees.