Ecological Happenings
Visitors
A 1% for the planet donor was given a tour of the island today by Chris Blondeau. There were a total of 5 visitors.
No marine vessels today
Pigeon Guillemot in winter plumage
Ecological Happenings
Marine Vessels and Aircrafts
Maintenance
No visitors today.
Ecological Happenings
Marine Vessels
Maintenance
No visitors today.
I received this e-mail and images this afternoon from our viewer in England, Pam Birley. She took them using the remote camera 5 and writes: “I watched this bird for about an hour today !!! I think it may be a juvenile Pacific Coast Peregrine Falcon. According to Sibley they are darker feathered with mustache merging on head to form a dark helmet.
See Peregrine Falcons in the Race Rocks Taxonomy
See all the posts on Peregrine falcons observed at Race Rocks
Ecological Happenings
Marine Vessels
Four tour boats, no fishing/pleasure vessels seen today.
Maintenance
No visitors today
Weather
Light fog early morning, building to thicker fog throughout the day with poor visibility (the fog horn sounded for a few hours). Winds were generally <5kts. The barometer was at 101.6 for most of the day dropping to 101.5. The marine forecast shows winds picking up to 10-15kts and rain for Monday.
Boat activity
Ecological happenings
Maintenance
Dunlin and Black Turnstone
Weather
Light cloud cover this morning and mostly sunny in the afternoon. Wind was variable – light in the early morning picking up towards the afternoon to as high as 16kts @ 17:00. Barometer was up a little to ~1012hPA. Forecast is for winds steadying between 10-15kts, and a chance of showers this evening and Sunday.
Boats in the reserve
15 Pleasure vessels, one of which was fishing in the reserve. After failed attempts to make contact on VHF16, DFO will be notified. There were also 3 tour boats and trawler activity around the reserve.
Ecological happenings
No visitors today.
Ann Stewart, Race Rocks Ecoguardian, took these pictures of the American goldfinch ( Spinus tristis) in its winter plumage and posted them in her log of today’s date. This is the first record for this species on Race Rocks The brown nape and bright colours suggest that it is a male. This is at the extreme northern range for these birds at this time of year. Race Rocks serves as a valuable stopover for the migration of many birds, so we assume it was on its way across the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Fringillidae
Genus: Spinus
Species: S. tristis
Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758)
Other Members of the Class Aves at Race Rocks.
 Return to the Race Rocks Taxonomyand Image File |
 The 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. |
This morning dawn came with a mostly overcast sky and fog distant. It cleared by late morning and stayed sunny, only clouding over in the early evening. The wind was light, less than 10 knots and easterly all day. The barometer was up to 2022 earlier and is falling now. The forecast includes a strong wind warning for tonight. Thursday is expected to be sunny with a few clouds.
Four whale watching vessels were observed working in the protected area today. Several sport fishers passed through. The salmon gillnet fleet and packers passed through Race Passage heading east. There was a big swell during the morning and early afternoon.
Second Nature brought one of the Pearson College student dive teams today and the students who got into the water had a fantastic dive. Not only were they able to observe and film the incredible richness of this biodiversity hotspot, they were also visited underwater by curious sea lions.
Several new sea lion brands were noted today including Californians U20, U503, U363 and U844. One of the California Sea Lions made it right up to camera #5 today. By the time I got outside with the blog camera, he was already descending.
I noted the other day that I hadn’t noticed cookie Cutter Shark scars on the Steller’s Sea Lions. Well since I made that remark I am seeing theme everywhere, so take that back.
On the bird front, we had a little female American Goldfinch visit today. It landed on the thistles right in front of me over by the tower. Also on the bird front a suspected Brandt’s Cormorant with two leg tags was spotted today; yellow on the left leg and white on the right leg. There was also a strange bird amongst the Brandt’s Cormorants that I was hoping would be the Brown Booby that has been floating around out here.
Chores were routine and in preparation for the new eco-guardian crew coming out tomorrow. There were nine people on board Second Nature.
Thanksgiving Monday was a wet day dominated by light north-northeast winds in the morning and a moderate westerly in the afternoon. Wind speed was 10 or less knots until it turned to west. By early evening it had risen to 15 – 20 knots. The barometer fell early and has been climbing since late morning boding better weather tomorrow. The wind is forecast to drop after midnight and switch to light easterlies for Tuesday. Forecasters expect a mix of sun and cloud with fog patches dissipating in the morning. A brighter day expected.
Seven whale watching vessels visited in the morning and none in the afternoon and the three pleasure craft that passed through were also in the morning.
On wet days, it seems as if the sea lions spend more time in the water although there are pockets of Californians (on the cairns, for example) that stayed put, hauled out all day. The rock-climbers also stayed where they were (up by the heli-pad), some for a couple of days. I did see one “new” (to me) brand today, California Sea Lion ‘U755’ from the Columbia River area. There was also a “necklaced Stellers Sea Lion on the rocks by the energy building today. That rock is quite popular with Stellers which surprising due to its proximity to the activity.
Six young Northern Elephant Seals were ‘hanging out’, tussling in the water by the jetty all day today.
Salmon continue to pass through, as observed in sea lion kills throughout the area. The Glaucous-winged Gulls and Thayers Gulls continue to scavenge at the surface during the kills and in the mixed species feeding flocks where diving birds force forage fish balls up to the surface. Humpback Whales continue to forage adjacent to the protected area. The Humpback out by Rosedale Reef today is an extremely large one (probably a female). It spends very little time at the surface with dive times averaging greater than 10 minutes
California Sea Lion with brand U755. The U is also a C and indicates the animal was branded as a weaner near the Columbia River.
and sometimes only one or two blows. They are tremendously high, straight blows.
More and more Double Crested Cormorants arrive daily raising the total number of cormorants using the protected area to forage and roost. The adult Bald Eagle returns each morning and worries the gulls and cormorants.
Chores are routine and it is really great to have company.