Category Archives: Bird Notes

Mixed Weather

Posted on by

Ecological Notes:

  • Female Elephant Seal has left the ramp area…… back to sea for now it appears.
  • Sunday night high winds brought down the pier fencing, and the Sea lions sure took advantage of that fast!

  • Very young, tagged,  Elephant Seal visited the ramp area briefly. I saw him coming up fast, so I left the area. When I returned a couple hours later, there were sea lions on the ramp and the Elephant Seal was gone. This was at the same  time the adult female left.
  • A known California Sea Lion, that was freed of an entanglement last year is around the north side. Although the wound still looks rough, the last Ecoguardian (Kendra) assured me this is a good improvement.
  • In addition to the expected numbers, there have been a couple very large flocks of both Black Oyster Catchers, and Black Turnstones. Groups were seen briefly, before flying off.
  • Nearly double the normal number of Canada Geese here still. 

  • There are still many Humpback Whales viewable from the park, and Transient Orca have passed by nearly every other day.

Visitors:

  • Work crew still working on the windows on the Student and Science centre, as well as finishing the inside of the last window on the main house.
  • A small group of donors, and a couple college staff visited for a tour of the facility.

Facility Work:

  • Ongoing repairs and upgrades to the electrical fencing. Awaiting new connectors to replace a couple sections and add a new section.
  • Fuel transfers and an extra check on battery electrolyte levels.
  • Although not overly high, wind direction has blown some doors off, including the boat shed …. minor items, but they add up!

  • Taking advantage of the rain periods to clean the sidewalks (mostly goose poop), as well as cleaning the salt off the windows.

  • Cleaned the windows on the tower, inside and out.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Still a few Ecotourism vessels
  • 2 Jet skis have visited the reserve a couple days in a row.

 Noted Infractions:

  • The first time the jet skis were scene, they were doing doughnuts and high speed passes in the main channel, disturbing birds and sea lions. My camera was charging, but i signalled to them with the blowhorn siren and waved them off.

  • The next day, they stayed out of the reserve, playing in one of the standing current waves a little further out. They did a wide sweep around the area on their way back (hopefully realizing they were being watched).

Weather Events:

  • Monday, November 11:
    • Sky: overcast with frequent sunny breaks
    • Wind: Morning Westerly winds to 25kts, veering to west at 5-10 kts in the afternoon
    • Sea: 1 meter swell, calming to slight chop by afternoon
    • Temperature Low 12oC, High 18oC
  • Tuesday, November 12:
    • Sky: Overcast, with sunny breaks
    • Wind: mixed N-NE 5-10 kts
    • Sea:  slight chop, but a swell wrapping around into the pier area by afternoon
    • Temperature Low 10oC, High 112oC
  • Wednesday, November 13:
    • Sky: Overcast with light rain later in the day
    • Wind: Variable direction Northerly winds, 5-10 kts, shifting to WSW later in the afternoon
    • Sea:  light chop, some tidal swell in the reserve
    • Temperature Low 9oC, High 13oC

 

 

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Our Last Census Day!

Posted on by

Sunday, September 29, 2024

Today was our last census!!!

We took our coffees up to the tower for the 7am Low tide.

Animal Census:

Birds:

  • Gulls: 1580
  • Cormorants: 22
  • Canada Goose: 22
  • Turnstones:
  • Shorebird: 1

Would love help on the ID of this.. email us if you know!

Mammals:

  • Stellar Sea Lion: 306
  • California Sea Lion: 834
  • Harbour Seal: 81
  • Elephant Seal female: 2

Animal Tracking and Injuries:

Spotted a Stellar Sea lion with fishing line wrapped around his neck ☹

Reported to DFO.

Since we are leaving on Tuesday, we spent the day cleaning the house, and washing the windows.

As well as our daily fence repair. It’s a particularly nauseating feeling to wake up each morning, look out at the beautiful view, and survey the extent of fence damage that has happened overnight…. This is a task I definitely will not miss.

Weather: Sunny all day, Very windy all night (35+ Knts, dropping all day to around 20knts W/SW)

Whale Watching Vessels: 10

Private Vessels: 2

**Loads of Humpbacks hanging about 😊

Yippee we made it

Posted on by

Jump for joy

Wildlife notes:

The chicks near the house that hatched on June 28 made it past their 4 week birthday. Seeing what goes on around here, that is an accomplishment! At three weeks old their wing feathers were just starting to grow.

Four week old chicks

The other exciting news is two whimbrel visited the east beach briefly.

Whimbrel

 

Facility work:

  • cleaned solar panels
  • topped up battery fluid
  • weeding around desalinator building

Vessels:

13 ecotourism

Weather:

Fog lifting by noon, sunny afternoon. Moderate westerly breeze most of the day, building to near gale in the evening. Daytime temperature range: low 10, high 15.

Tiny fishes

Posted on by

Wildlife notes:

The gulls are feeding their chicks the tiniest of fishes. The gulls are large compared to the pigeon guillemots. Seems incongruous when you compare the size of their catch to what the pigeon guillemots brings back.

The male elephant seal is travelling further afield. He used to hang out in the water near the jetty and bellow but today I heard him call at the east beach and then at the west shore.  Nobody answers him. I wonder if he will leave soon.

Facility work:

  • cleaned solar panels
  • cleaned windows on Student Building and Keeper’s house
  • removed vegetation at the Keeper’s house door

Vessels:

9 ecotourism, 1 private

Weather:

Sunny and westerlies. Fresh breeze most of the day, except gale force in the evening. Daytime temperatures: low 12, high 13 degrees.

Red in tooth and claw

Posted on by

Wildlife notes:

These two chicks were found this morning on the walkway down to the Tank Shed. The nest was inches away from the walkway. There seems to be two likely suspects, the gulls on the rock wall a few feet above them or the ones across the walkway. The dead chick’s parents were still there, even 8 hours later, continuing to defend their tiny chick less area.

Wildlife notes:

Three short-billed dowitchers visited the east beach.

Short-billed dowitcher

Facility work:

  • cleaned solar panels
  • finished weeding around Energy building
  • house cleaning

Vessels:

21 ecotourism, 6 private

Hundreds of vessels have transited the area since mid June. Generally the vessels are very compliant and only a few of the larger vessels appear to travel a bit faster that what is required to maintain bare steerage in the tidal current. Today was the first incident of excessive speed and possibly also a fishing violation (I do not have a rangefinder to be sure).

Weather:

Sunny day. Light westerlies in the morning, fresh breeze by late afternoon. Day time temperature range: low 12, high 18.

Progne subus: Purple martin – The Race Rocks Taxonomy

Posted on by

On June 20, 2045 , Race Rocks Ecoguardian Christine Chourmouzis found a purple martin in her house

she writes in her log: Two purple martins were spotted on top of the tower and on roof of the Keepers’s house around noon.  At 3 pm I discovered a purple martin had made its way down the chimney pipe into the wood stove. I am so glad the ashes were cold and I was able to get it back outside! 

 

  • Purple martins suffered a severe population crash in the 20th century widely linked to the release and spread of European starlings in North America. European starlings and house sparrows compete with martins for nest cavities. Where purple martins once gathered in the thousands, by the 1980s they had all but disappeared. (Wikipedia)

They have excellent aerodynamic  maneuvering control as they fly quickly over open areas catching insects with a wide opening mouth. They are valued for their voracious appetite for mosquitoes and flies. With their food being flying insects, the island certainly provides an abundant supply of the kelp fly Coelopa vanduzeei

Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Sub-phylum: Vertebrata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Hirundinidae
Genus:Progne 
Species: subis. (Linnaeus, 1758)
Common Name: Purple martin

Physical Description:

 It is the largest swallow in North America. 
With an average length of 20 cm (7.9 in) and a wingspan of up to 38 cm (15 in), the purple martin is the largest amongst the 90 odd species in the family Hirundinidae.[9]
Purple martins are sexually dimorphic. Adult males are entirely black with a glossy steel blue sheen, the only swallow in North America with such coloration. Adult females are dark on top with some steel blue sheen, and lighter underparts. Adults have a slightly forked tail.

Relationship with humans:

Continual maintenance and protection is required, as European starlings and house sparrows compete with martins as cavity-nesters, and will fight with martins over nest sites. Thus, unmonitored purple martin houses are often overtaken by more aggressive, non-native species.[3] Purple martin proponents are motivated by the concern that the purple martin would likely vanish from eastern North America were it not for this assistance.[24]( Wikipedia)

Other Members of the Class Aves at Race Rocks 
taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams.

June 20 2024 Christine Chourmouzis – Ecoguardian

Race Rocks Ecological Reserve Warden’s Report June 14 2024

Posted on by

Garry Fletcher, ER Warden for Race Rocks visited the reserve on June 14, 2024

Greg Dickinson from Pearson College provided transport in Second Nature for the following group: 

  • Lisette and Mads – Mads is a  former student and both are volunteering at Pearson College
  • Garry Fletcher – Park Warden
  • James Tuohy – future Ecoguardian
  • Ann Nightingale and Andrew Jacobs – Rocky Point Bird Observatory

Upon docking I was struck by the number of Pigeon Guillemots on the rocks . Although I haven’t checked back in our records, there certainly seems to have been an increase in numbers 

We were greeted by the new ecoguardian  Christine  Chourmouzis .  In addition to having a general survey of the reserve, I was able to direct Christine and James through the process of entering them as editors on racerocks.ca and creating a log and posting it on the Race Rocks website. 

Supplies for the Ecoguardian are off-loaded

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pigeon Guillemots also nest on the island

 

When I was teaching at Pearson College, we often monitored a set of tidepools out on the island’s West side. I checked out those pools again and took photos which show the state of algae growth. Some observations in the tidepool files provide a baseline for comparative studies in the future.  These files are on the tidepools

Today’s observations are in the set of photos below

I checked pool #4 which has a white quartz intrusion through it to see if the white periwinkle snails were still there. 

 

A review of some of the installations on the Island

 

Due to recent notices on social media about the problems that pet owners are having when their dogs get exposed to foxtail , I was concerned about whether there was a similar problem with marine mammals. This guy certainly seems to be enjoying the location however. 

I tried to find the small patch of the rare plant  seaside  plant Romanzoffia on the rocks on the East side of the house.  Unfortunately the area was covered with knotweed now. We will have to check again in the winter. 

The Turkish marsh gladiolus is now in bloom. This is a good example of a garden escape, planted by lighthouse keepers probably as much as 80 years ago, they still come up every summer .

 

 

Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink

Posted on by

Water delivery:

A desalinator is used to produce fresh water at the Rocks. It hasn’t been working for several weeks, and while waiting for parts, we needed to boat in fresh water. Today Greg and Cedrick ran two fresh water delivery trips to the island. The water is pumped from a tank on the boat to the fresh water tank near the house using fire hoses.  Over the past week since I arrived, the water reservoir went from 1600 L to 1500 L. This an average use of 15L a day for the mandatory solar panel and window cleaning and for house use but with careful conservation (e.g. no daily dish washing, few and quick showers). An interesting water note: with the 10m run from the hot water on demand system to the shower, about 8 L of water will run from the faucet before hot water reaches the shower. In our city homes we let this amount of water run down the drain all the time – here I catch it in a bucket.  With today’s delivery of 1400L water today, our supply is up to 2900 L.  After tomorrows delivery, the tank should be full and I can consider doing a load of laundry at a cost of 150L of water!

Facility work:

  • cleaned solar panels
  • water delivery
  • thistles
  • “weed whacking” – cutting grass from the walkway

Wildlife notes:

Eagles visiting again, the four Canada geese remain, and the elephant seal flattened at least one more nest. The gulls who had the interaction with the seal in yesterdays post, lost their last egg today – cause unknown.

Last to leave South Seal Rocks on the flooding tide

Eagle leaving the SW shore with what appears to be a sea creature not a gull.

Vessels:

> 5 Ecotourism boats

Weather:

Sunny day winds westerlies 10 – 20 knots

All in the day of a gull

Posted on by

The elephant seal typically spends his mornings sleeping the grass near the east-west walkway leading from the Jetty to the Energy house. In the afternoon he moves to the east side of the house perhaps seeking the shade. He often moves in quick short bursts and with no regard to the gull nests in his path.  Today I watched him place himself on top of a nest near the house.

The gulls go to have a look for their nest which is mostly beneath him.

His first warning

The gulls try to persuade him to move

and try

and try

 

 

The seal reaches but can’t manage to grab the gull out of the air.

 

Eventually the seal moves a bit and the gull can take a look

One broken egg, one undamaged

They remove the shell pieces…..

and they eat the rest!  A few minutes later, she back on the nest as though nothing happened.

Facility work:

  • cleaned solar panels: from 12-1 pm generated 7.1kW !
  • thistles
  • chopped kindling

Wildlife notes:

Several eagles visited throughout the day causing great commotion. The oyster catchers seem to be the first to raise the alarm.  The California sea lions were notable absent from their regular spot near the Jetty. The four Canada geese are still here.

Vessels:

7 Ecotourism boats

Weather:

Another sunny day, winds WNW 10 in the morning building to W 30 midday.

Thistles

Posted on by

Thistles:

During yesterdays visit, Garry Fletcher remarked on the expanding thistle population around the tower base and suggested they be pulled. Today I started to tackle this job.  The thistles have a tap root that connects to a horizontal root which can spread many feet.  The thistles are growing in patches where many of the plants could be connected to the same horizontal root.  When a larger plant is pulled, the tap root breaks at this junction and reveals the depth of the horizontal root.  The longest root so far is almost 10″ long suggesting there is in places 10″ of soil on Great Race Rock! Only the smallest of plants, which may have germinated from seed, can pulled with the entire root intact. Today I cleared 2 square meters – a bucket of small ones and bundle of larger plants.  I plan to do this amount each day (more would be too hard on the back). I may not finish before I leave but with the horizontal roots still in the soil, this may be a yearly task.

Developing thistle flowers and the longest root of the day.

Facility work:

  • cleaned solar panels
  • thistles
  • split rounds of firewood

Wildlife notes:

No new wildlife sightings to report. The gulls continue the mate and fight, and the Elephant seal spent his day sleeping in the grass.

Battle wounds

Vessels:

7 Ecotourism boats and 1 private boat

Weather:

Steady westerlies all day 18 – 23 knots