Category Archives: Bird Notes

diesel delivery

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Ecological

  • Wind N 10-15 knots.
  • the second female elephant seal made her way towards the mother and pup and settled across the path from them.
  • Geese are starting to be more regular in the area, a flock of 20 visited the island today.
  • Falcon on the East side of the island, looked larger than a peregrine but couldn’t get a good look.falcon

Vessels

  • Second Nature, diesel delivery
  • 2 eco tour boats

Maintenance

  • Chris brought 4 diesel drums filled at Victoria harbour to island after noon.  Offloaded with derrick and transported across island to engine building.
  • Sent shorefront pressure washer and used engine oil from derrick off island.

bald eagles

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Ecological

  • N 10-15 N becoming E 25, partly clear sky
  • Pigeon Guillemots made a return to the waters around the island, this is the first time i have seen/heard them since starting my shift
  • 21 bald eagles counted in the reserve.  the broke-beak eagle was perched on a solar panel on the engine building in the morning.
  • Second large female e-seal was by boat house throughout day.  Chuckles down by compost bin.  Mother and pup doing fine.  Chunk has been going off island at night and returning in the morning, staying close to females and keeping Chuckles away.
  • One neck-ringed California sealion seen on west side of main island

Vessels

  • 1 ecotour

Maintenance

  • Contacted tidy tanks re dip chart
  • Contacted re wood stove parts delivery
  • Cut and chopped fire wood
  • Cleared ramp

Second large female e-seal

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Ecological:

  • Wind SE 25-30 knots becoming light in the evening.
  • 16 Green Winged Teals were in the mud flats NE of main house.
  • An unusual bald eagle with a damaged beak was on and around the island throughout the day, quite close to the main house at first.
  • Before dusk a second large, pregnant looking female elephant seal was near the jetty and had hauled out up beside boat house just after dark.

Vessels

  • 3 ecotour

Maintenance

  • Cleared ramp
  • Sharpened chainsaw, cut and chopped firewood.

West wind

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Ecological

  • Wind finally shifted to west, 25-30 knots becoming 15-20 after noon.
  • 9 Canada Geese on Great Race in the morning
  • Saw the large female elephant seal and Chunk on Middle rock in the morning and throughout the day
  • One of the heavy blasts in the morning disturbed about 100 cormorants on the NE side of Great Race.

Vessels

  • I went off island before noon and returned before dusk

Maintenance

  • Rebooted UPS in tower to restore communications in the morning
  • Brought 2 empty diesel drums to campus and three old and worn gas cans for disposal
  • Picked up plumbing parts to finish repairing rain water tank and picked up food supplies.

Other

  • DND blasting continued, less frequent but a couple very heavy blasts this morning

big female e-seal

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Ecological

  • Wind NE 10-15 shifting to East
  • After shutting down generator around 10 pm I noticed a large, likely pregnant, female elephant seal freshly hauled out of the water coming up the path from the boat ramp.  I couldnt make out any clear identification marks, she does not appear to be Bertha.
  • Census:
    • Black Oyster Catchers: 50
    • Harlequins: 11
    • Crows: 2
    • Raven: 1
    • Bald Eagles: 10
    • Cormorants: 453
    • Surf Scoter: 7
    • Gulls: 6
    • Dunlin: 2
    • Surfbird: 8
    • Rock Sandpiper: 1
    • Black Turnstone: 27
    • Sparrow: 1
    • Elephant Seals: 2m 1f
    • Northern sealions: 133
    • California sealions: 97
    • Harbour Seals: 21

Vessels

  • 1 ecotour

Maintenance

  • Cleared ramp
  • Cleaned camera 5 dome
  • Started pressure washing derrick deck and boardwalk
  • Ran desalinator in evening

Kildeer

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Ecological

  • wind NE 15-20 knots
  • saw a Kildeer during the day, usually only see and hear them at night.
  • Both male elephant seals had been off great race over night, Chuckles was back on great race with some fresh wounds on his back this morning, I think he had been on Middle rock when Chunk got him. Chuckles spent Monday night near bedroom window vocalizing unreservedly.

Vessels

  • 1 eco tour

Maintenance

  • worked on month end report
  • pressure washed North side of main residence
  • stocked up on firewood in main house
  • ran desalinator 6 hrs.

 

Storms and calms Dec 21-27

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Ecological

  • Dec 21. Wind SE up 35-40 knots in the morning.  This combined with a higher than normal high tide. Barometer dipped below 990.
  • Dec 21. Nursing Northern sea lion seen on west side of Great Race, first time I have seen this here and apparently only the second time we have gotten photographs of this here.  Solo humpback west of race rocks. Barometer dipped below 990.
  • Dec 22. Wind shifted to West and increased overnight, by morning it was 5-10 knots W but there were still heavy swells coming in from the straight. Barometer dipped below 990 again today. At high tide the large sets of waves were breaking over the jetty and spray from waves was reaching above the helicopter pad.  Sealions were surfing reef break off South side of Great Race.  2 branded sealions: 409Y and 315Y (photo) observed.
  • Dec 23. Strong westerly overnight again and high tides. Wind picked up to 30 knots SW in the evening.
  • Dec 23.  A second female elephant seal came onto the island bringing total to 4 on Great Race, she is smaller than the other one and going through catastrophic molt.
  • Dec 24. Relatively calm day, partly clear, wind NE 5-10 knots. Atmospheric pressure on the rise.
  • Dec 25. Relatively calm day, partly clear, easterly picked up later in the day.  Over past few days there have been more sea-lions on Great Race than I can recall from previous years at this time.
  • Dec 26. wind NE 10-15 knots increasing to 25 N in the evening.  Atmospheric pressure reached 1030 early in the day before starting to descend.  Chuckles (smaller male e-seal, name short for Chunk-Holes in reference to the many tooth marks across his back caused by Chunk) sustained more wounds overnight from Chunk, he was hiding up at the base of the tower in the morning.
  • Dec 27. N wind over 20 knots and rain, pressure falling.  River otter around derrick deck.  Had to cancel transport for Christmas bird count  at RR due to weather. Chuckles still at base of tower, I dont think he has gone off island for about a week, at least its raining now so he will get a rinse.

Marine Vessels

  • Dec 22. 2 Eco tour
  • Dec 24. I went off island in the morning and returned just after noon.  2 ecotour vessels in afternoon.
  • Dec 25. I went off island mid morning and returned mid afternoon.  1 ecotour in afternoon.
  • Dec 26. 1 eco tour.

Maintenance

  • Dec 21. Got prices on stove parts.  Lots of wood to clean up on boat ramp.
  • Dec 22. Stormy most of the day.  Checked water levels in batteries. Cut and chopped fire wood.
  • Dec 23. Stormy day. Lots of wood to clear of ramp. Sent stove parts price list to Chris for approval.  Sent photos of chimney in student house attic to Jeff.  Made parts list for town run.
  • Dec 24. Picked up plumbing parts (at Andrew Sherret) for rainwater tank and leaky water line in basement and bar oil for chainsaw (Slegg). Picked up pressure washer from shorefront. Pressure washed rain water tank and put tank back in place.  Brought in jerry cans for gas but marina was closed in the afternoon.
  • Dec 25. Lots of wood to clear off ramp.  Cut logs and ran derrick to haul a couple.
  • Dec 26. Lots of wood to clear off ramp. Transferred one barrel of diesel to tidy tank and filled day tank. Filled jerry can for derrick.  Topped up derrick engine fuel and oil (low and needs a change). Derrick battery was too low to turn over engine so plugged in trickle charger for 2 hours after which it started up.  Pulled several logs onto deck.  Got electric chainsaw sharpener running off a spare boat battery, sharpened chainsaw.  Cut firewood. Re-stocked firewood in main house in advance of cold and wet weather coming. Missing cap for downspout clean-out to rain water tank.
  • Dec 27. Cleared, cut and chopped wood.

Christmas Bird Count at Race Rocks Dec 27, 2015

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cormorantsDec27-2015

Cormorant grouping on the south west corner of Great Race Rock.

This year on Dec 27, the North East swell was too significant to allow the Ecoguardian to launch the station boat to pick us up for the Christmas Bird Count, so Alex Fletcher completed it on his own. Due to the high winds, there were very few birds remaining on the island but he did get a good count of those there by walking around the island. From remote camera 1 I was able to see the two concentration of gulls and the one group of Cormorants on the main island.

cu1corms

This picture is included to help in identification.

Alex got some good pictures of the gulls and it seems that most if not all are Thayer’s Gulls.

Christmasbirdcount-gulls

Thayer’s gulls on the north-east corner of the island

Christmasbirdcount-gulls2

Thayer’s Gulls photo by Alex Fletcher

See the Christmas Bird Counts at Race Rocks back to 2001:
Christmas Bird Count 2015

bald eagle: 3 A, 2 J
Cormorants: 174
black oyster catchers: 40
Thayer’s gulls 192
Buffleheads 2 (1 pair)
Black turnstones: 29
Dunlin: 2
Harlequin Duck 1

Marine mammals:
Northern sea lion: 76
Cali sea lion: 40

Dec 19th and 20th

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Ecological

  • Wind has continued to shift between predominantly West and South East reaching a peak of over 30 knots Sunday afternoon
  • Both male elephant seals have remained mainly on Great Race. Saturday morning there were signs of fresh wounds on the smaller male’s back.
  • Pelagic cormorants, with iridescent green and purple tinted black plumage,  were clearly distinguishable in the sunlight Saturday morning
  • A california sealion with brand number 8240 was seen Sunday afternoon

Marine Vessels

  • Saturday afternoon two ecotour vessels were seen in the reserve. They entered from around West Rock and proceeded up middle channel against a ~4 knot ebb while there were sealions hauled out on the West side of the Great Race.
    Traveling against the current as well as within 100 meters of marine mammals are both careless and unprofessional.
  • Sunday afternoon a group of sailing yachts circumnavigated race rocks passing inside the reserve occasionally.  They were out when windspeed was peaking at 30 knots.

Maintenance

  • Assessed wood stove and contacted supplier to get prices on replacement parts, two baffle tubes are burnt out, bottom brick liner is broken into several pieces and baffle is a bit worn.
  • Worked on generator fuel transfer, had some problems with transfer pump over loading filling pipe and backing up with fuel.  Spoke with Jeff about it and locating fuel gauge on day tank (its on the South side, against the wall).  Transferred one barrel of diesel to tidy tank then filled up day tank.
  • Sunday battery voltage was bellow 48V at 2 pm so started generator early and ran desalinator for 8 hours.
  • Oil level on desalinator high pressure pump was above fill line so drained some out before starting up.

Other

  • Went off island Sunday morning for some supplies and returned around noon.  Picked up a plug in watt meter to measure energy loads of appliances and re-stocked on newspaper for fire starting.

Rissa tridactyla: Black legged kittiwake

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PB-Black-legged -Kittiwake2

Black-legged -Kittiwake, Rissa tridactyla In the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve


We received an e-mail today from Pam Birley of Leicester England with the photos of this Kittiwake she had taken using the remote controlled camera 5. This is a new photo record for Race Rocks Ecological Reserve.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Laridae
Genus: Rissa (Stephens, 1826)
Species: tridactyla
Rissa tridactyla
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.