Category Archives: Bird Notes

Two Seals and a Killdeer

Posted on by

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 15-20 knots West, later 5-10 South
  • Sky: mostly clear, a few drops of rain
  • Water: 1′ chop

Ecological

  • The same two elephant seals on Great Race today.
  • The weaner spent the whole day snoozing beside the house.
  • The bigger fellah hardly moved all day, except the one time he tried to climb up the rock wall, and couldn’t!
  • Saw a killdeer again.

Maintenance

  • Transferred diesel from the Student House basement tank, into a barrel, and then into the tidy tank.
  • Ran the desalinator.

The Weaner Returns

Posted on by

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 10-15 knots North, later NW
  • Sky: mostly clear
  • Water: 1′ chop

Ecological

  • The weaner was back on Great Race today, over by the base of the tower.
  • The other male is still here too.
  • I saw some rock sandpipers today. Perhaps I failed to pick them out from the surfbirds yesterday.

Maintenance

  • Hand pumped more diesel into the day tank.

Boats

  • A few eco-tours.

Other

  • Lots of DND blasting today.
  • Big blasts at the following times:
  • 9:48, 9:50, 10:06, 10:22, 12:00, and 12:02.
  • Bigger bangs at the following times:
  • 14:09 and 14:12.

 

A No Weaner Census

Posted on by

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots North
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: rippled

Ecological

  • Census day!
  • The weaner was gone this morning. Hopefully he is ok.
  • Normally I only ever see killdeer at night, but today I saw a pair off and on all day!
  1. California Sea Lions: 85
  2. Harbour Seals: 44
  3. Steller (Northern) Sea Lions: 39
  4. Elephant Seals: 1 male
  5. Seagulls unspecified: 269 (same total two weeks in a row!)
  6. Pigeon Guillemots: 241
  7. Cormorants unspecified: 57
  8. Surfbirds: 49
  9. Harlequin Ducks: 32 (16 males and 16 females)
  10. Black Turnstones: 22
  11. Canada Geese: 13
  12. Black Oystercatchers: 9
  13. Bald Eagles: 6 (2 adults, 4 immature)
  14. Killdeer: 2

Boats

  • Kyle stopped by for 1 minute to exchange the extra security camera for a new Wifi access point.
  • There were several fishing boats literally yards outside the Rockfish Conservation Area.
  • A few eco-tours came by.

Maintenance

  • Installed the new Wifi access point in the Students’ House.

Other

  • Lots of DND blasting today.
  • Small blasts at the following times:
  • 10:25, 10:27, 10:45, and 12:34.
  • Larger blasts at the following times:
  • 12:32, 12:53, 14:52, 14:54, and 15:11.

Film Crew Island Visit

Posted on by

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots West in the morning
  • Around 15:30 the wind picked up to 25+ knots West. 18:00 peak at 42 knots.
  • Sky: overcast, then some blue sky, then some rain
  • Water: no visible wave crests, but lots of surge

Ecological

  • One of the larger male e-seals returned in the morning.
  • The weaner is still around.
  • Lots of bald eagles in the reserve.

Maintenance

  • Kyle and I took a look at the diesel hand pump and the desalinator.

Boats

  • Kyle came out in Second Nature with the 2 person film crew to take some footage.
  • Several eco-tours came by later on.
  • A few boats out fishing halibut just beyond the reserve.

Visitors

  • Kyle and the film crew were on the island for about 2 hours.

Other

  • Lots of DND blasting today.
  • There were blasts at the following times:
  • 10:00~, 12:50, 12:52, 13:12, 13:20, 13:23.

 

Film Crew Boat Tour

Posted on by

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 20-25 knots N/NE in the morning, down to zero in the evening
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: 1′ chop

Ecological

  • The weaner did more wandering around today.
  • I observed/listened to a pair of bald eagles talking to each other.

Maintenance

  • Checked and topped up over 1/4 of the battery bank.

Boats

  • Kyle brought out a small film crew in Second Nature to film the Steller sea lions.
  • However it was too choppy at the jetty to land, so they simply did a boat tour instead.
  • A couple of eco-tours came by later on.

A Vibe Like No Other

Posted on by

Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles, Mt. Baker clearly visible
  • Wind: 20-25 knots NE in the morning and evening, down to near zero in the middle
  • Sky: mix of sun and clouds
  • Water: 1′ chop

Ecological

  • The weaner went on a few adventures around the house. He even wiggled his way into the doorway, temporarily blocking me from entering the house.
  • Quite a few Canada Geese on the island.
  • Also some eagle action.
  • I saw one eagle flying around with a fish, but I couldn’t get a good photo.

Maintenance

  • Started checking the water levels in the battery room.
  • Tried to manually pump diesel into the day tank without much success.

Boats

  • Several eco-tours came by today.
  • A tug pulling a barge that had a couple of boats on it passed to the north of the reserve.
  • A bit redundant, transporting a boat over water, isn’t it?

Other

  • It was my birthday today.
  • Funny how it seems just like any other day when you are alone with no one to remind you.
  • A unique birthday vibe.

Whale Sighting!

Posted on by

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 10-15 knots West, later 5 knots South, then 5-10 West
  • Sky: clear and sunny!
  • Water: rippled

Ecological

  • Census day!
  • Shortly before 15:30 as I was counting shorebirds, I heard a loud noise to my right. Glancing over, I was thrilled to see a whale surfacing in the South Channel. I managed to get some photos as it resurfaced farther south-west.
  1. California Sea Lions: 79
  2. Harbour Seals: 69
  3. Steller (Northern) Sea Lions: 33
  4. Elephant Seals: 3, all on Great Race, 2 young males, 1 weaner
  5. Whale: 1 (I think it was an Orca)
  6. Seagulls unspecified: 269
  7. Pigeon Guillemots: 45
  8. Cormorants unspecified: 30
  9. Double Crested Cormorants: 9
  10. Surfbirds: 37
  11. Harlequin Ducks: 27 (15 males and 12 females)
  12. Canada Geese: 24
  13. Black Turnstones: 20
  14. Bald Eagles: 20 (4 adults, 16 immature)
  15. Black Oystercatchers: 6
  16. Rock Sandpipers: 4
  17. Crows: 3

Boats

  • A few eco-tours passed by today.
  • Second Nature came out with food supplies for me.
  • A large navy sailboat passed by north of the reserve.

Visitors

  • Kyle and Jeff came out in Second Nature.

Other

  • One helicopter flew just south of the reserve in the morning.

Turkey Vulture

Posted on by

Weather

  • The 8am weather report.
  • Visibility: 10 miles, 15+ later on
  • Wind: 10-15 knots North, continuous 25-30 knots W noon onwards
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: 1′ chop
  • Last night the foghorn sounded off between 23:00 and midnight.
  • This morning there was a pleasant rainbow over the reserve.

Ecological

  • At around 13:45 a Turkey Vulture appeared over Great Race.
  • It flew around the island for about 15 minutes, engaging in many aerial battles with the seagulls.
  • Apparently their appearance in the reserve at this time of year is uncommon.
  • There remained the same 3 elephant seals on Great Race today.
  • In the late afternoon a harbour seal was planked on a rock near the jetty.

Boats

  • 3 eco-tours came by in the afternoon.

 

Change of the time and Elephant pup gone

Posted on by

Weather

Very calm day ,overcast but some sun in the afternoon ,some rain too. A true Spring weather.  South East wind ,3 knots at 8:00 (we have to understand 7:00 of Yesterday usual nightmare for a few days ),Visibility over 13 miles,Atmospheric pressure:102.2KPA.

Vessels

Busier on Sunday :at least 5 boats around :recreational and eco tours vessels.We tried the air pump horn for the too closed one and it was efficient. they left…Made Guy happy!

Overflight

3 times the same helicopter

Ecological

This is really the news of the week : the little elephant seal pup is gone.!We couldn’t believe it and went 3 times around the rocks …We realised at the same time that more geese than the day before were around ! We counted 17  so that means 8 couples and a lonely one  and  for sure many eggs  next month!. The gulls too are everywhere… the nesting season is on. If the solar panels were still clean ,the rocks,roofs and alleys had already some white spots and it has been a lot noisier that even a week ago. The Sea lions with the clear sky Yesterday night were  very loud… Boss was back and 1 juvenile Elephant Seal

Maintenance

We have been busy with the general cleaning of the place . It is our last day.We have to leave this wonderful rock but welcome to Riley !

Census and gale again in the evening

Posted on by

Weather

At 8:00:10 North East wind ,calm and overcast .Rain in the morning and no wind at all around 10AM .The usual calm weather before a storm and  around 6:00PM to 11:00, The wind from West raised steadily from 20 to 40 knots . We noticed that the darkness is coming only after 6H30

Vessel and aeroplans

The morning was really calm so it was easy for me to notice that something was wrong…like a chainsaw running somewhere and looking by the window all around the rock you could see a small grey zodiac, full speed creating a panic all around!!! Finally It headed to Pedder Bay…End of the story. I Coast guard’s helicopter

Census

Eagles :2 but 5 on Sunday

Gulls:320

Steller Sea Lions :22

Californian Sea Lion:60

Elephant Seals:2 juvenile males and 1 pup

Harlequin Duck:21

Cormorants:90

Geese :8 on Saturday and 17 on Sunday!

Pigeons- Guillemots :around 35

Crow:2

Black turnstones:10

Harbour Seals:50

Oystercatchers:8 on Saturday but 18 on Sunday

It is interesting to notice that on Saturday with the coming storm the Island was not as busy as on Sunday where we could see more animals especially birds around.