Category Archives: Bird Notes

Seawatch Part 2

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Since the fog was staying away, Daniel Donnecke and I decided to have another go at a seawatch today, Daniel at Beechey Head and me at Race Rocks.  From my perspective, this one worked out much better, but we still were not seeing many of the same birds.  The exception, though, was a large group of (mostly) California Gulls that lifted off shortly after our start time of 6:30.  Like  yesterday, there were hundreds of gulls feeding just off Race Rocks. Although there was still krill in the area, there were also small fish that you could occasionally see glinting in their bills.  I was also watching a large barge of logs being towed towards Puget Sound.

It wasn’t clear what put them up, or whether there was just a signal that it was time to go.  Some headed to a bait ball to the east while several hundred headed east towards Beechy Head where Daniel saw them coming in.

Ecological Notes:

1 Elephant Seal

80 Harbour Seal

California Sea Lion

Steller’s Sea Lion

Several bird firsts for me for the week.

11 Canada Goose

7 Black Oystercatcher (including one juvenile)

Baby Black Oystercatcher

Still under its parent’s watchful eye

1 Killdeer

45 Black Turnstone

55 Common Murre

80 Pigeon Guillemot – many carrying gunnels

2 Marbled Murrelet

1 Cassin’s Auklet

14 Rhinoceros Auklet

500 California Gull (probably a gross underestimation)

400 Glaucous-winged Gull (not an increase, but a more accurate count today)

1 Herring Gull

4 Heerman’s Gull

1000 more unidentified gull feeding on krill and small fish.

1 Bald Eagle – perched on middle islands. First raptor of the week for me

1 Song Sparrow

1 Brown-headed Cowbird – First passerine I saw during my stay.

Facility Work: cleaned windows and solar panels.

Vessel Traffic: lots of traffic in the shipping lanes including large barge of logs

Barge of logs

Steady stream of ecotourism vehicles starting mid-morning, but fewer than yesterday. 10+

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

Weather – Past: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Another Changing of the Guardian

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I have had the privilege of visiting Race Rocks several times over the years, and have boated near the ecological reserve many times while birding with friends. I have to admit that I was very jealous of those who actually spent days, weeks or months here. Thanks to a series of unrelated events, I now find myself here as a relief eco-guardian for a week. It’s a dream come true!

The reports of calm seas this morning turned to more active weather just around the time that Greg Dickinson, Garry Fletcher and I headed out from the Pearson College dock. Pleasure craft were all heading the other way, into the shelter of Pedder Bay.

Approaching Race Rocks, my home for the next week.

As the wind continued to pick up, I was given a whirlwind tour of the facilities, a book of standard operating procedures, and specific instructions on how to operate certain important equipment. Then, before things got too rough, the previous week’s relief eco-guardian and company, Greg, and Garry were headed back to Pearson, leaving me with the gulls and guillemots!

Bye for now!

Ecological Notes:

1 Male Elephant Seal (continuing)

Still molting. Apparently has lost several hundred pounds.

3 Californian Sea Lions on the main island, many more on middle island

Small group of California Sea Lions checking out the island

10+ Steller’s (Northern) Sea Lions on the middle island

This is what attracts the eco-tourism vessels

10 Harbour Seals close in, many more on surrounding islands

Three species of gulls noted today:
Many Glaucous-winged Gulls, including young of various ages. Some were testing their wings in the heavy wind.

Glaucous-winged Gull chicks looking for lunch

The youngest Glaucous-winged Gull I saw today

3 California Gull

California Gulls

2 Heermann’s Gull

Heermann’s Gull

80 Pigeon Guillemot spread over much of the rocky shoreline of the island. Frequent forays into the surrounding waters.

Pigeon Guillemots were still in breeding plumage

4 Black Oystercatcher (although I suspect more out of sight) including the youngster that hatched about a week ago

Black Oystercatcher amongst other shorebirds

74 Black Turnstone

Many nestled in the rocks

Black Turnstones

11 Surfbird

Surfbirds

2 Western Sandpiper

Western Sandpipers foraging in the grass

No raptors or songbirds (passerines)

Vessel Traffic: 4 ecotourism vessels between 1500 and 1600 today.  Most fishing and pleasure craft had retreated as wind and seas increased.

Weather Events:  Wind picked up from the west shortly after noon and continued 30+ km/hour into the night.  Seemed to drop off after 2200, but still gusty.

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

Weather – Past: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

July 25 Gale

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I wonder, does the fog horn go all night?

Wind  westerly

At sunrise (530 am) between 30 and 35 knots, dropped to 20 knots midday for about an hour and then quickly came back up at 1800 hours between 35 and 40

clear most of the day but fog rolling in now

water whitecaps huge swells

Boats

About 6 whale watching boats, all respectful of speed and distance from marine mammals (sea lions on middle rocks)

Facility

Could not work outside today cleaning windows or solar panels due to wind but did manage to clean camera 5 as requested

Wildlife

.3m tide at 10:38 this morning. Great place to get away from the nesting birds. I wanted to see if there was damage from the very hot weather 3 weeks ago. Marine life on many coastal areas of BC suffered greatly. The California mussels and most barnacles looked healthy. I think the tidepools suffered the most but hard to tell as I have nothing to compare. in many tidepools the Coralina algae had gone white and there were many dead chitons. Below are some invertebrate pictures, gumboot chitons, Katerina chiton, lined chiton, abalone!, nudibranchs…

I had time to practice counting birds from the lighthouse lamp room. The middle island at midtide had about 500 gulls. Below the light on the east side of Race rocks there were about 50 Turnstones and Surfbirds. They are well camouflaged. Cormorants (pelagic?) numbered about 12 on the north west. Pigeon guillemots are numerous and 2 groups perching on the rocks above me while I walked numbered 34. Oyster catchers I did not count. Below is a picture of the nest by the boat ramp.

Many of the gull chicks are practicing flying. Jump jump jumping while spreading their wings. I saw a couple get good lift.

 

 

 

Turnstones, Surfbirds, and Pipers

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Ecological Notes:

  • 1 Big Male Elephant Seal up by the student house, juvenile Female Elephant Seal down by the Jetty
  • Seeing more Harbour Seal pups every day.
  • 1 River Otter cruising around the shoreline, most likely looking for gull chicks.
  • 2 groups of migratory birds seen the last couple days, including Ruddy Turnstones, Black Turnstones, Surfbirds and Western Sandpipers.

Facility Work:

  • Working on the next section of electric fence, as the Sealions are slowly starting to show up.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 4 Ecotourism vessels and 6 private vessels sightseeing in the reserve today.

Weather Events:

  • Winds Westerly 20- 25 knots most of the day, rising to 30 knots in the evening. Clear skies with slight haze to the south. Some chop when the wind was against tide.

 

** 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?

Protective Gulls

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Ecological Notes:

  • 1 Male Elephant seal, and 1 young Female Elephant seal on the island
  • Single young Steller Sealion near the pier.
  • The more the Gull chicks stretch their legs and explore, the more protective the adult gulls get. It’s hard to work outside without a heavy hat to protect from hits, not to mention, easy to wash outerwear!

Facility Work:

  • Applying preservative to wooden stairs at the student house. Tough work with a brush, going to try a small sprayer for the next decks.

***Even though the product is listed as non-toxic, I sat until it soaked in well to prevent birds from landing on it while still wet.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 9 Ecotourism vessels, 3 private vessels in the reserve sightseeing. All correct procedures followed

 Noted Infractions:

  • Only one private vessel fishing just inside the park boundary, moved outside as soon as I radioed them.

Weather Events:

  • Westerly winds all day, dropping from 25 knots to 20 knots gradually. Winds rose to 30 knots in the evening. Fog in the morning, giving way to clear skies in the afternoon. Seas relatively calm during the day, rising to  less than 1 meter chop in the evening.

 

** 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?

Beautiful Gull Eyes

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Ecological Notes:

  • 1 Male Elephant Seal, and 1 young Female elephant Seal on the island.
  • A very young Male Steller Sealion has been making a regular stop to haul out to the area next to the pier. Although it has no distinguishing marks, I think this is the small one that was here earlier in the spring with the rest of the males. Sometimes, the younger (and oldest) ones are the last to leave and the first to return, suggesting they might not actually do the full migration to the breeding areas.
  • When I took this photograph (long lens and then a tight crop), I wasn’t sure if this bird was ok. A little online research showed me this is how they look when the molt around the eyes. A close examination shows some of the bumps are showing the emergence of pin feathers. Many Gulls molt around the time of nesting, most likely as this is a good food abundance time for them.

    The “eyes” have it……

Facility Work:

  • Although Solar panels are cleaned on a regular basis, these lower ones get particularly dirty! The rocks just off from these is a major roosting area for gulls not on nests. Every time an eagle flies by, they get all flustered, and “dump” on takeoff …. just upwind of the panels.
  • Prepping the first set of stairs for preservative treatment. Cleaner, brush scrub, and then pressure wash

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • A few Ecotour vessels, and a couple private vessels checking out the reserve today. Good behavior all round!

Weather Events:

  • Westerly winds, 15 – 20 knots all day, raising in the early evening to 30 knots. mostly calm seas, until the wind rose and brought with it 1 meter chop. On and off fog in the morning, gave way to mostly clear skies, with only a slight haze in the distance.

 

** 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?

Nature Continues On

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Ecological Notes:

  • 1 Male Elephant Seal, and 1 young Female elephant Seal on the island.
  • When they meet on the boat ramp, one of two things normally happen. If the female is above, she holds her ground and makes the male go around. But if the male comes from above, the female will rush down to the water to get out of the way. She barely goes above the 2 lowest buildings (the tank room and the boathouse), even though she was more comfortable up in the grass area when she was here before.

Picture angle is deceiving, the female is much smaller than the male. I would guess 350 Kilos compared to maybe 1600 kilos.

  • After the heatwave that did unfortunately cost some chicks lives, it’s nice to be reminded that life goes on. Fresh eggs hatching, and “families” out going about their business.

Newly hatching

Family stretching their legs

 

Visitors:

  • Waterfront Coordinator delivered groceries, fresh water for the tank, and a new fire pump yesterday.

Facility Work:

  • Fire pump allowed filling the salt water cistern so we could start up the desalinator. It appear to run well and produce nice clean water, but one of the gauges was running very high. We decided to wait and have it checked by the contractor Monday, as we couldn’t solve it over the phone.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Many Eco Tourism boats and private boat touring the reserve. No fishing in the reserve like was prevalent last weekend.

Weather Events:

  • Fog off and on most of the day, leaving light haze in the evening. Westerly winds all day near to 15 knots, calm seas.

 

** 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?

Pigeon Guillemot

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Ecological Notes:

  • Large Male Elephant Seal is still spending most of his time in the water by the ramp
  • The young Female Elephant Seal pup that left the reserve last week of April had returned for daily haulouts in the ramp area. She is very plump, indicating she has been feeding well, but has lots of little sores and scars. She was very ragged when she left in April as well, but you can see healed scars from them, with new ones around them. Also look like maybe an out of regular season molt.

  • Have noticed many more Pigeon Guillemots return to shore and entering dens with fish!

Gunnel for dinner

  • Nature being what it is, I did find a few Gull chicks that did not make it with the extreme heat.

Visitors:

  • Pearson College instructors and family left Sunday evening.

Facility Work:

  • Hot weather limited outside work to early morning and late evening. Mostly stuck with basics – cleaning windows, cleaning solar panels, check battery fluid levels and such.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Several Ecotourism vessels and private vessels sightseeing.

 Noted Infractions:

  • Private Vessel fishing in the reserve. They did not respond to my hails on the VHF. I mentioned checking regulations on Rockfish Conservation Areas. Another private vessel went over to them and mentioned it to them ( I think). as they altered course to leave in a straight line outbound.

Weather Events:

  • Hot and clear most of the day, slight haze in the evening. Winds from East/Southeast during the day, 10-15 Knots.

 

** 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?

Gulls not deterred

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Ecological Notes:

  • 2 Elephant Seals, 1 Female, 1 Juvenile Male
  • No Oyster Catcher or Gull hatchlings noted yet
  • Heard lots of extended ruckus over by the helipad last night, found the feathery remains of a gull there this morning.

Facility Work:

  • Firewood cutting
  • Redid mount for Camera 5, cleaned and fixed mount, new screws
  • Repairs to the gas powered pressure washer

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 1 EcoTourism vessel
  • 1 coastguard type Zodiac, appeared to be sightseeing
  • Both followed proper viewing procedures and speeds
  • 1 private vessel did not

 Noted Infractions:

  • Small private vessel(set up for fishing), raced through the main passage, close to the pier

 Feature Event:

  •  A couple of days ago, I scrubbed and cleaned the east deck on the house. It’s normally out of the wind, and a nice place to sit for sunrises as well. I mounted a couple plastic Owls there, hoping to discourage the gulls.

  • Interestingly, 3 or 4 Eagles flew by quite close to check the “owls” out.
  • ………….Today, when I went to the deck, there were 2 Gulls, sitting between the owls.

Weather Events:

  • Westerly winds, 5 – 10 knots all day. Calm seas with good visibility, some haze across the strait towards Port Angeles  Sunny skies in the morning, giving way to overcast and clouds late afternoon. Then back to mostly clear skies in the evening.

 

Weather – Current:

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

 

Weather – Past:

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

Gull Activity

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Ecological Notes:

  • Only 2 Elephant Seals left. The largest of the Females, and the Juvenile Male, who is slightly large than the female. Glad(?) to see the last male pup move to the ocean, as he was getting very thin, and looked to be loosing energy. Hopefully He’s off to regain weight and start growing again!

Not too hungry yet, we like it here!

  • The Gulls have nests everywhere, and for the most part are pretty mellow, until an eagle or tern flies over. Every now and then they fly up behind me, but drop quietly if I turn and face them.

Gull Display

Visitors:

  • Shorefront coordinator delivered groceries and supplies yesterday.

Facility Work:

  • Oil and filter changes on the Generator. Service of batteries.

Generator, used only for short periods when there hasn’t been enough Solar power to keep the batteries up.

 

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 3 private vessels, short sightseeing visits.

Weather Events:

  • Westerly winds all day, 20 – 30 knots, rising to 35 – 30 knots late afternoon. Light fog in the morning, sunny and clear all day. Heavy haze in the evening, not quite dense enough to be called fog. Swells up to 2 meters, with 1 meter chop on top of that.

 

** All 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?