Category Archives: Animal census

Census day

Posted on by

Weather

The weather has been gorgeous and calm ,excellent visibility to 22km ,west wind around 15 knots.barometric pressure :101.9,sunrise at 5:52 and sunset at 20:45 ,humidity:88%

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Ecological

A beautiful and healthy female Elephant seal returned on Main Rock.First chickens swimming.More Sea lions everyday around. 2 more dead birds (one by a river otter and one resulting from a territorial fight).DSC_0050 eggs are hatched : the 2 youngest I think.

Maintenance 

Student house cleaning and other daily chores

Visitor

Kyle came and bring some needed stuff.

Other

Plane above

Census

Harbour seals :around 200

Gulls :between 535 and 550

Eagle:1

turnstones:130 to 150DSC_0755

Harlequin Duck:1 female

River otters:1

Oystercatchers: 4 couples seen

Pigeon-Guillemots:around 60

Seashore Sea lions :131 (on Middle and South) DSC_0392DSC_0587DSC_0017

Elephant Seals:1

 

Census Day and fishing activity in the ecological reserve

Posted on by

Weather

Calm Summer day

Ecological

Where are gone so many gulls and why?

Boats

6 kayakers between Vancouver Island shore and Race Rocks (half distance )with a  rescue Zodiac in case.4 First nations big canoes 2 under sails and one with oars between East Sooke and the States with  some rescue power boats. 1st watching vessels at 9:30AM .In the afternoon around 3:30PM ,3 people in a small power boat were fishing in the ecological reserve.From south rocks to the middle passage ,with the engine in  neutral position,they went through  the passage 2 times .The guy was fishing with a short rod and we saw one of the women with a mackerel size fish in her hand . It took them 15min to go through  . Because of the aggressive gulls all around we couldn’t go but we took all the references and phoned to Fisheries and Oceans Canada.They left in the Victoria direction and pretty soon to Pedder Bay at full speed.

DND activity

Extensive activity for the DND Today; 14 blasts and the 4 last one were huge .

Census

Elephant seals :2

Gulls: 390 mainly adults glaucous winged gulls, a few Heermann’s gulls only

Harbour seal:s 70 + many swimming newborns ones

Harlequin ducks:1

Oystercatchers:5

Pigeons-guillemot:35

Cormorants :0

River otters:0

Gull chicks:50 to 60 from the front window.

geese :0

Seashore birds : 4

Orcas: around 10 (seen close enough)

 

 

 

 

 

Census

Posted on by

Harbour seals:196

Elephant seals :4

Eagles :4

Gulls:1200

Pigeons-Guillemot :70

Cormorants:0

Geese:0

Oystercatchers: 3 or 4 couples +babies (not seen today)

Seashore birds :Black Turnstones :30

Sandpipers:10

+a few very small ones

Crows :1

River otter:1

Sea Lions :0

 

 

Census day

Posted on by

Weather

The wind has been blowing  strongly since 10:00AM ;before that it was around 19 knots At 5:00 it was calm with 10 miles of visibility. At Noon we had 26 knots ,38 at 4:00PM and down to 30 around 7:00. When we went in the light to do the census the effect of the wind and the tide was amazing and gave the feeling to be on a speed boat especially on South side. Going from the house to the tower for the census was like an adventure between the gulls above , the flying helmet, the binoculars and the wind climbing  the outside stairs but…beautiful up to the tower. By the way we have been steady on the rock for 8 days without going back to shore ! Not bad  really..now we just need more groceries…

Ecological and Census

Glaucous winged Gulls (mainly): around 870(mainly outside the main Rock)

Sea otter :1

Elephant Seals :4

Pigeons -Guillemot: 25.

Oystercatchers:2 couples seen today and 5 babies in the week (I will try to spot the other couple )

Harbour Seals : 65 +babies

Seashore birds: 10

Cormorants : 0

Sea lion:1

Geese : 2 (but not seen Today)

Eagles : 3

Seashore birds : a few ( I will try to see  on the beach( If the wind is not too strong )before  the sunset)

Maintenance 

Food inventory (emergency stock),some stuff discarded .

Generator ran 4 hours and half

Guy measured the door that needs to be changed (Derrick house)

Other

1 helicopter above and 2 commercial fishing boats , No watchers

 

 

Census Day

Posted on by

Gulls:475

Elephant Seals: 5 ( on main )

Sea lions :0

Harbour Seals:104(same number than last week!)

Pigeons-Guillemot:50

Oystercatchers:3 couples +1 baby :7 ( maybe more )

Harlequin ducks:0

Eagles:1 (5 seen in the week)

Canada geese:0

Whales:0

Cormorants:0 (3 seen above this week)

Seashore birds:  -11 Western sandpipers or surfbirds

-1 Whimbrel

– Another specie :not very small black ones :2

On Sunday .The weather has been magnificent and hot with a light west wind. The seawater temperature got warmer than Yesterday.We got a few hours of fog last night with the horn on.

The rocks are not so busy those days …(no luck for the watchers).The kelp is growing like crazy. I found a fresh small herring on a solar panel! The eagle are pretty active in the morning.I saw for the first time this year some seashore birds and going for the water sampling from the jetty I quickly had a glimpse on one little oystercatcher,the one from “the”nest. It looks to me that we have only one baby.

Other: 2  planes above and a  kayak with 2 people went around the rocks at the end of the slag (beginning of the ebb tide :current :4 knots). No problem…

Maintenance : Another curtain for bedroom number 3 in the eco – guardians house, grass cut, solar panels done,water sample house cleaned.

Census day

Posted on by

Harbour Seal:104

Californian Sea lions:8

Steeler:1

Elephant Seals :8 on main and 1 on middle

Glaucous winged gulls:667

Oystercatchers:10

Harlequin ducks:1

Pigeons -Guillemots:30

Canadian Geese:2

Eagle:0 but 3 seen around this week

 

Weather

Light Southwest wind,sea :flat;Sky:cloudy;Visibility:+10 miles.

Ecological

More gulls everyday and some are mating so new nests coming.The census from the tower confirmed what we thought.It was interesting to discovered a new Elephant seal on middle rocks :a very long and golden specimen. We never saw her before on main. Those last day we have between 6 and 8 elephants on main at night.About gulls : it hard to believe that those grayish birds with a black beak will become those white and light gray ones with a yellow beak..beautiful and short mutation

Maintenance

The generator has been working for 4 hours (last time :12 days ago) and the desalinisator  for11 hours (last time 8 days ago).

Guy reemplaced the water cistern hatches that were worn out with some good marine plywood ones and put a few coats of paints .The second coat was a bright yellow ! for a few second it was a shock for me ! at the end a discreet gray…ouf!

The grass around the eco guardians house has been cut

Inside work: kitchen cabinets

Boats

No so busy in the strait . For whale watching vessels ,it’s the same traffic every day. A huge cruising boat going to Victoria and a beautiful and big fishing boat going to the West coast in the early morning

Other

One and only one” BOUM”! from DND at 10h30…

Some visitors in the evening : Chris family :6 people

DSC_0292

 

 

 

 

Census day

Posted on by

Weather

g 5:00 17 knots West wind;Visibility:10m;Sky:cloudy,Sea:Wavelets,white caps.In the evening 8:00 PM. A gust of South wind ,very local ,not expected brought an heavy rain that clean our windows and the solar panels!

Boats

Intense traffic the whole day in the strait and around the Rocks …eco-tour boats more than 30 for sure! We got call from Amatuana coming back from its trip . We had a look on it.

Ecological

7 elephants seals back from fishing at 7:00AM.(9 on the main Rock at night) Census done during the whole day. We were lucky to see for a second like in a dream a humpback whale, tail outside the water. The flowers are almost done this year ..so early if we compare with last year…I found a dead gull .

Visitors

Kyle brought some stuff,took back some barrels,went to check the whaler engine with Guy. A tool was needed to do the job so we will go to the college tomorrow.

Maintenance

Guy emptied completely the diesel barrels in the tank of the main house.. He looked at the yellow cistern:old pipes ,hoses and lines need to be removed pretty soon. With Kyle they looked at the best way to put the new ladder on the jetty.We weeps the alley and did the solar panels. Guy modified the outside pipes for the eco-mar toilets :he put an elbow shape pipe to let the air in but not the rain…Eco-mar toilets are working perfectly well.Heavy duty oven cleaning done …

Census 

Harbour seals: 103

Seagulls :around 350

Canada guess:5

Californian lion seals :20

Stellers :0

Black oystercatchers:10 birds and 3 nests found

Elephant seals:9 and none on the other Rocks

Humpback whale : 1 (one today and another one this week at the green boyd) on the south side

Orcas : a few this week

Harlequin ducks: 1

 

Other

What do you think about this I found today (Yogi tea bag): “You are the sky the rest is just the weather”..Made my day!

 

A Windy Census

Posted on by

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 20-25 knots West in the morning, picking up to 30-35 by noon.
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: 3′ chop

DSC_6368

Ecological

  • I oversaw an enthusiastic day long census with Maya, Tazi, and Ali.
  • Discovered a new Black Oystercatcher nest with 3 eggs!
  • Maya and Tazi discovered a new Canada Goose nest.
  • I begin to suspect that our new elephant seal male is actually Chuckles.
  • If he did nothing but eat for 3 months straight, that would explain his girth.
  • Saw a Steller Sea Lion branded 9628.
  • We found a blood star, and Maya showed us various chitons.
  • Maya and Tazi did a transect.
  1. Harbour Seals: 190
  2. California Sea Lions: 42
  3. Steller/Northern Sea Lions: 39
  4. Elephant Seals: 15 (13 on Great Race, 2 in the Southern waters)
  5. Seagulls: 225 (Glaucous-winged)
  6. Pigeon Guillemots: 82
  7. Canada Geese: 36 (14 on Great Race, 22 flyovers)
  8. Black Oystercatchers: 8 (plus 2 nests with a total 5 eggs)
  9. Harlequin Ducks: 3 (2 male, 1 female)
  10. Cormorants: 3
  11. Barn Swallows: 2

Maintenance

  • We cleaned the solar panels.
  • Finished cleaning the boathouse floor with T.S.P.
  • Repainted some rusty propane tanks.
  • Sanded the westward facing bench by the Students’ house.

Boats

  • Several eco-tours came by in the morning, but as wind picked up they disappeared.

Black Oystercatcher Nest!

Posted on by

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 25-30 knots West in the morning
  • The rest of the day 15 knots West.
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: 2′ chop

Ecological

  • Finally discovered a Black Oystercatcher nest!
  • 2 eggs are inside the “nest”.
  • Their nests are made of rocks and shells.
  • Census day.
  • I don’t seem to see any Black Turnstones or Surfbirds anymore.
  • Also less Bald Eagles.
  • And the Otter has been gone for a while.
  1. Harbour Seals: 117
  2. Northern Sea Lions: 32
  3. California Sea Lions: 22 (one branded U 687)
  4. Elephant Seals: 20 (17 on Great Race, 3 on Middle Rock)
  5. Seagulls: 327
  6. Pigeon Guillemots: 114
  7. Canada Geese: 21 (14 resident geese, 7 stopovers)
  8. Black Oystercatchers: 10 (plus 2 eggs!)
  9. Harlequin Ducks: 8 (6 males, 2 females)
  10. Cormorants: 4
  11. Barn Swallows: 2
  12. Bald Eagle: 1 immature
  13. Savannah Sparrow: 1

Maintenance

  • Rust painting.
  • More thistle weed whacking.
  • You can cut them down like you’re the Queen of Hearts, but they grow back.
  • Cleaned the solar panels.

Boats

  • Four or so eco-tours came by today.