Category Archives: Animal census

March 26 – Census

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Sunny
Wind: 0-17 from varying directions throughout the day
Air Temperature: Low 9.2ºC, High 11.8ºC
Ocean Temperature: 9.0ºC

Today was spent preparing for the shift change. Anne Stewart will arriving tomorrow to take over as the Eco-Guardian.

There was one eco tour boat seen in the reserve today.

Here are the results of today’s megafauna census:
Steller Sea Lion: 58
California Sea Lion: 31
Harbour Seal: 79
Bald Eagle: 3
Cormorant: 16
Canada Goose: 24
Gull: 256
Crow: 2
Oystercatcher: 4
Pigeon Guillemot: 234
Surfbird: 8
Black Turnstone: 16
Savannah Sparrow: 1

March 19 – Last Day of Winter- Census

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Raining
Wind: NE 4-14 knots
Air Temperature: Low 8.8°C, High 10.3°C
Ocean Temperature: 8.8°C

The wet conditions were helpful with cleaning some exterior walls and windows. The rain water cistern was filled up from the roof. The rain also helped wash away the algae and slime on the walls, along with some scrubbing.

The low light and rain made the census difficult. In recent days, there has been a much higher number of harbour seals hauled out on the rocks. The sea lions also spent most of the day in the water. It was not possible to distinguish between the species of cormorants on Turbine or Middle Rock.

There were no boats seen in the reserve today.

Census results:
Steller Sea Lion: 59
California Sea Lion: 62
Harbour Seal: 21
Bald Eagle: 7
Cormorant: 27
Canada Goose: 24
Gull: 352
Black Oystercatcher: 4
Harlequin Duck: 9
Pigeon Guillemot: 13
Surfbird: 4
Black Turnstone: 16
Rock Sandpiper: 6
Savannah Sparrow: 1

March 12 – Sunny Census Thursday

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Sunny
Wind: 0-13 knots SW in the morning, NE from mid morning to afternoon and SW in the evening
Air Temperature: Low 9.9°C, High 13.2°C
Ocean Temperature: 9.0°C

Three Pearson students came to Race Rocks this morning. Karen, Sunny and Hanne joined Martin, who has been here since Monday.

The students did some work this afternoon: sweeping all 99 steps of the lighthouse and continuing the process of stowing the chopped wood in all the nooks and crannies of the buildings, to be used next winter to heat the main house.

There was DND blasting happening in the morning and early afternoon on Bentinck Island, less than 1km away from the ecological reserve.

Today’s high temperature of 13.2°C, as measured at the ground weather station, was the highest recorded since 2006, when the weather station was installed. A high of 14°C was recorded by the instruments at the top of the lighthouse.

Three eco tour boats visited the reserve. One boat came very close to a group of sea lions swimming and others hauled out on the South Islands.

The low tide of 1.1m at 13:52, exposed lots of species from the low tide zone into the air. The shore and tidal pools were full of life: mussels, barnacles, limpets and lots of other flora and fauna of the sea. The oystercatchers and shore birds were having a feast.

There were no small birds perching birds seen today. There are usually a few fox, sparrows, savannah sparrows and occasionally juncos and robins zipping around the island.

Here are the results from today’s Megafauna Census:
Elephant Seal: 1
Steller Sea Lion: 54
California Sea Lion: 43
Harbour Seal: 52
Bald Eagle: 9
Great Blue Heron: 1
Crow: 1
Oystercatcher: 4
Double Crested Cormorant: 12
Brandt’s Cormorant: 21
Gull: 247
Canada Goose: 14
Pigeon Guillemot: 9
Harlequin Duck: 13
Surfbird: 3
Black Turnstone: 10
Rock Sandpiper: 2

March 5 – Census Thursday

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Sunny with occasional clouds
Wind: 0-5 knots from N and switching around to SW throughout the day
Air temperature: High 10C, Low 6C
Ocean temperature: 8.9C

A great blue heron hung out on northeast side of Great Race for the afternoon. The oystercatchers are travelling around in pairs and are quite vocal. The gulls have spread themselves out around the island as they start to find nesting sites. Chunk returned to Great Race during the night. He spent the day resting against a boulder and the rock below the helicopter pad. The female elephant seal is relaxing in the same spots as yesterday, to the west of the main house.

Today’s census results:
Elephant Seal: 2
Steller Sea Lion: 18
California Sea Lion: 28
Harbour Seal: 41
Bald Eagle: 6 (3 adult, 3 juvenile)
Raven: 2
Great Blue Heron: 1
Double Crested Cormorant: 9
Brandt’s Cormorant: 15
Black Oystercatcher: 8
Canada Goose: 17
Pigeon Guillemot: 36
Gull: 103
Harlequin Duck: 11
Surfbird: 2
Black Turnstone: 15
Savannah Sparrow: 1

One eco tour boat and one recreational boat visited the reserve today.

Jan 30-31

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Jan 30: Clear sky, no wind. 1 ecotour 1 pleasure craft. Cut and chopped wood. Worked on finishing toilet install in assist house: drain line, vent pipe.

Jan 31:  Fog horn went off throughout the night. Cloudy in the morning, wind 10-15 knots NE. Moved firewood and measured station fuel and water levels for month end report. 3 ecotour boats, 1 sailboat. The sailboat came around the South side of the main island and passed through the small channel between the South Islands, it came very close to the sealions hauled out on the closer South Island.  I called Pedder Bay Marina, gave them the boat’s serial number and asked them to talk to the operator about the 100m marine mammal setback rule.

Census:

California Sea lions: 14

Northern Sea Lions: 15

Harbour Seals: 28

Elephant Seals: 7 female, 2 male

Cormorants: 22

Canada Geese: 10

Gulls: 6

Bald Eagle: 5

Harlequin Ducks: 10

Black Turnstone: 5

Black Oyster Catcher: 7

Surfbird: 2

Sparrow: 2

Killdeer: 2 (night only)

 

 

Jan 15-19

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Jan 15: cloudy, N wind 10-15. DND blasting on Bentinck Island

Jan 16: wind light, clear sky. DND blasting on Bentinck Island. female elephant seal came into the boat ramp area but didn’t haul out for very long. Did some fire wood cutting. Went off island to pick up guest in the late afternoon.

Jan 17: cloudy with periods of rain, wind North 10-20 knots becoming West overnight. 1 dive boat, 2 eco tour.  Built a firewood cutting jig.

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dive boat getting tossed around in waves, Jan 17

Jan 18: wind 30-40 knots West overnight, gusting over 50 knots. The wind decreased in the afternoon. The younger male elephant seal came onto the main island in the afternoon. I was able to get a closer look at him, he has many small scars and marks on his back likely from Chunk bitting him. Sealion with orange data transmitter on its back off East side of island.

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California sealion with data transmitter with marking “5” visible

Jan 19: Partly clear, some rain.  Wind west, some gusts throughout day, light in the evening.  Went off island in the morning and returned in the afternoon.  Chunk and the younger male were both on the main island when I got back.

Census (Jan 17):

California Sea lions: 10

Northern Sea Lions: 2

Harbour Seals: 28

Elephant Seals: 3

Cormorants: 88

Canada Geese: 25

Gulls: 50

Bald Eagle: 1

Harlequin Ducks: 2

Black Turnstone: 5

Black Oyster Catcher: 32

 

 

Jan 8-10, census

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Wind has been fairly steadily N-NE 10-15 knots for past days with overcast sky and intermittent light rain.

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The “Orca Spirit”, large and loud.

Jan 9: 2 ecotour vessels including the very large Orca Spirit which passed through the reserve twice, I dont usually see this vessel this time of year here.  It is quite a loud boat when it puts its engine(s) in gear.

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Jan 9,leg-banded cormorant, red KJ8

Census, Jan 9: 
Continue reading →

Christmas Bird Count -Dec 28, 2014

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valandgarry1We want to thank Lester Pearson College for providing transportation to the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve for the 2014 Christmas Bird Count. Ecoguardian Alex Fletcher picked up Garry Fletcher and Val George with the Race Rocks boat from the Pearson College docks at 9:30 AM. We were able to do a Pedder Bay count as well.

The following is the spreadsheet for the 2014 Christmas Bird Count prepared by Val and Garry. Link to the Index for the past Race Rocks records for the Christmas Bird Counts

2014 Christmas Bird Count –
Summary for Race Rocks and Race Passage

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census

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morning light on the olympic peninsula, Washington.

Wind light in the morning, below 10 knots, but large swells rolling in throughout the day. At Trial and Discovery the wind was clocking at 30 knots SE, gusting over 40, which was creating the waves.  In the evening the wind changed direction and was gusting over 35 knots West.

The high tide combined with NE swell meant the jetty was practically submerged a good part of the day.  Some logs and debris were thrown up and piled at the top of the jetty walkway.  I got the boat ramp cleared but will have wood to deal with tomorrow, the big log is about 26 feet long.

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debris left from the high tide and waves

Sealions were clinging to the small amount of rocks that were left with the tide and swells. Chunk came onto the main island, I couldnt see the other elephant seals anywhere, waves were washing over the West rocks where they had been resting.

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sealions on the South rocks

 

Census today: There was a higher than usual number of Black Oyster Catchers on the south side of the island.

California Sea lions: 8

Northern Sea Lions: 133

Harbour Seals: 2

Elephant Seals: 1

Cormorants: 79

Canada Geese: 2

Gulls: 300

Bald Eagle: 5

Harlequin Ducks: 4

Black Turnstone: 18

Dunlin: 4

Sparrow: 2

Green Winged Teals: 7

Black Oyster Catchers: 116

Surfbirds: 7

 

census, banded cormorant

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Atmospheric pressure rose to a high of over 1020 h Pa today.  The NE wind has started to return, 10 to 20 knots most of the day.

One whale watching boat and one dive boat in reserve today.

Thursday the weather/visibility was pretty bad for a census and on Friday I went off island so I did a makeup census on Saturday.

Notably: there was a high count of cormorants, 520, compared to last week as well a yellow banded individual (KCO)- details documented on next post. There was a high number of bald eagles (20) in reserve, and a lone kingfisher and pelican again in the reserve.  While there have been over 40 black oyster catchers here this week there were none observed today.

Harvested driftwood including a good size fir log I tied up at high tide and bucked and chopped once the tide had fallen.  Worked on toilet install and hammer drilling for plaque install.

Census:

California Sea lions: 38
Northern Sea Lions: 222
Harbour Seals: 5
Elephant Seals: 6
Cormorants: 520
Canada Geese: 2
Gulls: 680  mostly Thayer’s)
Bald Eagle: 20
Harlequin Ducks: 5
Black Turnstone: 2
Dunlin: 3
Sparrow: 0
Kingfisher: 1

Pelican:1