Category Archives: Bird Notes

6 barrels and 2 men

Posted on by

Weather

At 5:30 West light wind 6 knots,no visibility :very foggy .Actually the fog horn has been honking from 3:00 Am to 5:30. It cleared up around 6:00. Sea flat the whole day. and sky :cloudy to sunny

Ecological

The seagull are the main actors right now on the rocks :they are busy and noisy.The little ones pops out everywhere ,even the ones closed to the camera 3. They were born Today but still under the parent’s wing right now…At least every hour ,especially this morning you could see clouds of gulls and listen their shrill cries,sometimes because of the presence of an eagle but not always . All at once ,around 600 of them (at least) at the same time  were taking wing in the sky and a few minutes later  back to the ground…Now I understand the expression a flock of seagulls. Still around 5 Elephant seals . Yesterday night we counted 10 oystercatchers before sunset and some very small and adorable seashore birds.A big pod of Orcas were closed to the green boyd around Noon

Maintenance

Kyle came early because of the tide with 6 barrels of diesel and they hauled them with the crank .Now we have 1200 litres of gasoil. I never saw the solar panels dirtier than Today. It was thick and smelly .One bucket of warm water for the top panels was not enough .I had to do it twice .The young ones under the low panels were born so it’s now getting tricky to do the cleaning job! The parents are getting mad …and we have to wear an helmet.

Other

Many watching boats Today and the same helicopter above 2 times. A tanker had to honk for a watching boat too closed…

 

Errands and groceries days

Posted on by

Weather

2 very calm days,sea like a mirror and only 18 knots at 9:00 on Wednesday it rained in the morning just good  for a rock cleaning (the whole place is getting white ).

Ecological

On Tuesday I went back to the top of the tower and around the rock to double check the birds on the rocks:I discovered 2 beautiful Harlequin ducks always in the same area closed to the beach,2 oystercatchers couples,around 30 Seashore birds,3 sea lions and many harbour seals ,some with very small babies.

Other 

After 8 days on the rocks it was time for shopping and recycling. The days were perfect Tide ,currents ,visibility and …wind contributed to a quiet trip to shore.After those windy days we found many logs floating on the sea between here and Pearson College . Leaving Main, you could see two huge eagles on Middle ready for breakfast…Usual scenery in the morning or before dark.We took advantage of the trip to fill up the gasoline tanks for the boat.(95 litres) and I send (slow mail)the end of the month report for the Seawater .

Unusual eye pattern of nesting gull

Posted on by

This morning I noticed a Glaucous-winged gull on a nest up close to Camera 5 on the West side. These pictures show an unusual eye pattern??

 

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

 

 

Happy canada Day especially for the new born!

Posted on by

Weather

This first of July has been one of the only calm day of the week.17 knots at 5:00 AM and a sea calm with a good visibility over 15 miles but in the morning the visibility was only 2 miles looking to Vancouver Island but just for a while ,cool day but clear sky.

Ecological 

Busy life around: 4 to 5 elephants on main,2 geese ,1sea lion on the jetty (the first and only one in weeks ) and the birds :we discovered the 3 first gull chicks .2 were at least one or 2 days old and the other one newborn.It must be why the eagles are so active and we had 3 serious attacks.They spent a lot of time on Middle and South rocks.The oystercatchers after the gust of Tuesday came back but no chick. I keep an eye on them.

Maintenance 

Usual chores and I did the end of the month report and get the seawater datas ready for Peter Chandler. Guy had to clean the oxidized cable connected to the generator battery.  The desalinator and the generator were on for 8 hours.

Boats 

Almost no watching vessels. A few commercial one: always different and so majestic : a pleasure to watch them steady in the wind

Seagull’s nest on live

Posted on by

Weather

West wind moderately strong the whole day: 28 knots at 5:00AM to 31Knots  at 7.30 PM;sky :sunny ; sea :choppy to white caps.

Ecological

The oystercatcher’s nest being empty we put the camera 3 on a seagull’s nest closed to the boat shed and at the same time we can have a look on the railway.  A friend of mine got a flipper going to the sea…It will be very interesting in the coming days because the gulls are really active birds. From the top tower I could observe a baby oystercatcher with his mum and it’s really not so easy to follow it its color is exactly the same as rocks around and they are small..the 2 geese are still there and the usual 4 Elephants.For the first time we saw a sea otter attracted by the coming chicks

Maintenance

Guy removed the old battery box from the whaler and put a new one .he put also a new battery and installed a new belt to have the whole thing secure.The bilge pump will be changed pretty soon.

Other

No visitor and not too much traffic around

Oystercatchers chicks …seen!

Posted on by

Weather

Windy day :Already 28 knots at 5:00 .This situation stayed stable to Noon but we were expecting a gale warning for the afternoon and yes we got it . the wind increased steadily to 7:30 PM where it get 50 knots . What a beautiful scenery around the rocks .Actually with the tide rising we almost couldn’t see the adjacent ones.It kept windy part of the night but at 1:00 when I awake ,it was just silence around .What a pleasant sound!

Ecological

For the first time we found our two adults male elephant seals closed to the lighthouse in the raging wind. In the morning we finally managed to see 5 babies oystercatchers . The nest closed to the boat shed has 1 and the 2 other nests closed to the crank and closed to the horn have 2 chicks . 4 elephant seals on Main (not always the same ). The 2 geese came back.

Visitors

Chris and Kyle came around 10:30 with 4 people from New York.They left just in time before the gale.

Other

DND activity :3 strong blasts  and a Corvette (Number:338) was at Rocky Point for admonitions (I guess ). I know that some international military exercises in the Pacific  are coming soon or have just finished . Anyway the ship was helped by 2 tugboats and slowly she sailed back to Esquilmalt.

Boats

3 beautiful identical sailboats running closed to the Vancouver Island coast. Late in the day a RCMP zodiac went around the Rocks. 2 big fishing boats, always the same one ,going fishing despite the strong wind.No watching vessels.

 

Windy days

Posted on by

Weather

The weather was the main concern around here . On  Monday :A light fog at 6:30 PM only on the U.S.coast later .The wind has been around 20 knots at 5:30 AM and during the day increased to 35 in the afternoon with a gale warning for the evening and actually the wind went to 45 knots around 10:00 PM.

On Tuesday:we had 30 knots at 5:30  with a choppy sea and a good visibility .The wind diminished in the morning but increased after Noon and we had a gale warning in effect for the rest of the day at a maximum of 37 knots . Beautiful  dark blue sea and white caps everywhere.

Ecological

We had 4 elephant Seals on main Rock  (the 2 big ones and,a young male and an older female). They all managed to get protected from the wind and came closed to the boat shed. The birds are more and more protective of their nest and we got some helmets in case.

Boats and visitors

No boats around except Second Nature in the morning with Chris and 2 journalists from CTV. They spend 2 hours and tried to understand what is the life around the Rock. We brought them on the top of the lighthouse and explained the best we could.

 

 

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.

Eagles around

Posted on by

Weather

At 5:00 West wind 10 miles  Calm. Cloudy and foggy. 20 to 25 knots expected . We got 28 knots at Noon and 34 at 4PM. Very strong currents with the rising tide. Seawater temperature:10.9 (it’s colder)and 31.2 for the salinity the same than Yesterday.

Ecological

4 elephant seals on main . 4 has been the maximum number this week;usually the 2 older one and the 2 elegant young ones .Those 2 are always together . I call them ”the flippers”.No sea lions and impossible to find the  newborn oystercatchers.the 2 parents are steady so the little ones must be hidden around.The eagles are pretty aggressive :first attack at 5:30 ,a second one at 6:30 and another one at 7:00. One of the eagle has a low fly and came very closed to our window.What a scenery!. Around Camera 5 there are many eggs and  almost all of them have 3 eggs.

Visitor

3 people came with Kyle for a short visit. A second year student Malou and her parents from Greenland. Malou was disappointed because she couldn’t show a busy place : no Sea lions around! That make a big change .

Maintenance

Guy put a new belt and a new winch on the whaler trailer.I did some compost maintenance, adding some wood chips.(we are waiting for some moss peat). Solar panels cleaned like everyday .Camera 5 cleaned. ( In a week it would have been a true venture with the gulls around).

Other

Flying objects day: 2 planes above : one time at low altitude and the second time higher . Maybe the same plane coming back to Victoria. later a small watching boats came around with 2 people on board. It happened that guy was at that moment looking at the sea with the telescope and was amazed to see one of them opening a box with inside a drone for photos.After at least 30 minutes ,they finally left with their toy in the box. They wanted us to come on the jetty . Guy made politely but efficiently clear that they had to go: The camera was a very useful tool!