Category Archives: Island Visitors

Coast Guard visitors, entangled sea lion and Sam

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 20-25 knts W
  • Sky: Clear
  • Water: Ripply

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • A coast guard helicopter brought technicians this morning to work on the lighthouse electronics
  • Guy, Jeff, Travis and my friend/Pearson alum Sam Unger came to the island later in the afternoon. Travis was getting trained on docking the boat at Race Rocks, while Jeff and Guy came to have a look at the broken laundry machine. Sam came to visit me and he’ll be staying here until Monday.

Marine mammals

  • The last elephant seal left the island yesterday, leaving harbour seals and sea lions as the only mammals on the main island.
  • I received a report from Vancouver Aquarium about an entangled steller in the area. I’ve informed the various whale watching companies, and I’ll be keeping an eye out for it myself.

First rain in a while, sea lion population rapidly growing

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10 miles
  • Wind: 25-35 knts W
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Ripply
  • Light showers this morning, continuing into early afternoon

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • There were quite a few Pearson alumni who visited the island on short 20 min tours this past week, as a part of their 10 year reunion. Photo attached!

Technical

  • The washing machine is now non-functional – it suddenly stopped working earlier this week while I was doing laundry. Guy helped me drain the detergent water from it. We suspect there’s something wrong with the controller – it’s expected of a machine that’s 10+ years old.

Bird Notes

  • No new seagulls chicks have been born in the last 2 weeks, so I’m guessing that is all for this season. There remain a few unhatched eggs and I don’t expect they will hatch.
  • The geese population remains steady at 6-7 birds. They seem to be roaming around the island.

Marine mammals

  • After not seeing that injured/malnourished california sea lion for a week now, I think it most definitely has passed away.
  • There are now 12 sea lions near the jetty area, and many more on the surrounding rocks!

More fog and reunion visitors

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I would usually be doing a census count today, but the heavy fog has made it impossible to get an accurate count of the species. I’ll try again tomorrow.

Weather

  • Visibility: <1 mile
  • Wind: 20-25 knts W
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Ripply
  • Heavy fog over the last few days

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Guy brought some of the alumni who are on campus for the reunion, to the island for a very quick look around. They had leave within 20 minutes as the fog crept back in.

Bird Notes

  • The seagulls seem to be attacking each others offspring regularly now. The last of the chicks were born more than a week ago now.

Marine mammals

  • The injured female elephant seal that has been on and off the island, returned today. It’s resting on the jetty
  • More california sea lions and one steller have been hanging out around the jetty. I think this marks the start of the sea lion season. Time to start putting up the fences soon!

 

Construction site survey

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 mile
  • Wind: 15-20 knts NW
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Ripply

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Ty, Kyle and Doug visited the island to do a construction site survey. They got a good look at the current state of the infrastructure on the island, which will be helpful in determining what repairs are needed.

Technical

  • After the handle on the composting toilet in the main house broke a few days ago, I finally got it working again. In a painstakingly long procedure, I unscrewed the handle from the guest house composting toilet and screwed it on the the one in the main house. The screwing mechanism is quite finicky and involved everything from WD40 to zip ties. Finally got it functional though!

Bird Notes

  • I was surprised to see 6 geese on the island today, after not seeing any for a while. The last geese on the island left after their eggs didn’t hatch. This morning I saw 6 geese roaming the island (on foot) and hanging out near the cistern.

Marine mammals

  • The injured/sick california sea lion looks to be in really bad shape. It’s become really skinny (I can see it’s ribs through its skin) and doesn’t seem to even have the energy to lift its head up when I walk by. I saw it last near the student house yesterday in the morning. No sign of it today.
  • The injured seal that’s been on and off the island over the  last month, was back again today. We spotted it resting at the base of the science shed.

 

Visitors, injured seal, and canoes

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 15-20 knts W
  • Sky: Partly cloudy
  • Water: Ripply

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Kyle visited the island today and brought Nick along, who is a former Ecoguardian and currently works as a facilitator for Pearson’s PSYL program. They brought my my food supplies and Kyle gave Nick a tour on some of the newer systems here.
  • Lots of whale watching boats in the area today
  • Saw a bunch of canoes paddle past the island, headed south. I believe they originated from Beecher Bay. Photograph below.

Marine mammals

  • Noticing a slow rise in the steller sea lion population on the northern rocks. There’s at least one really massive sea lion. I’ll get an accurate count later this weekend.
  • The injured seal that showed up a few days ago with predator marks and molting fur, returned to the island today and seemed to be more injured. I think it is a female. I’ll keep an eye on it.
  • Possible humpbacks far south of the island – too far to see the whales, but there was a gathering of whale watching boats in the spot where the humpbacks like to hang out.

An exciting day with several updates!

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knts SW
  • Sky: Clear
  • Water: Ripply
  • Fog horn went off last night for an hour

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Kyle visited the island along with Jake from maintenance and the Communications team
    • Kyle and Jake took some of the bed fixtures out of the guest house and replaced some of the tube lighting
    • I had lunch with Brian and Nikola from the Pearson Communications team, and gave them a short tour of the island
  • Lots of ecotour boats in the area today!

Birds

  • Spotted several new shore bird species that I haven’t seen before this summer – photographed below! (I’m not sure if I’ve identified the species correctly)
  • The number of gulls on the south rocks has increased dramatically over the last few days – about 100-150 more I would guess. I’ll do a proper count on Sunday.

Marine mammals

  • Several humpback whales on the south side near the bouy! They made numerous rain-blows and attracted a lot of whale watching boats.
  • 2 californian sea lions on the island today

Technical

  • Kyle brought lots of new LED bulbs for me, and I’ve replaced all the bulbs in the Ecoguardian house with the new ones. They are significantly more power efficient and brighter too!

Southeast winds, more work on the electric grid and ollie!

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 15-20 SE in the morning, 5-10 N in the evening (quite unusual)
  • Sky: partly cloudy
  • Water: Ripply

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Kyle again brought several technicians from PTTP to do further work on the energy systems. They were able to connect the system to the internet which now allows them to remotely monitor solar input and usage. I also helped them lift the new batteries off the floor and place them on to an insulated rack.
  • Noticed an ecotour boat from the United States going around the reserve, and I’ve never seen this boat before. Maybe it was a 4th of July special?

Birds

  • Most seagull eggs have hatched, but some still remain whole. The seagulls are extremely aggressive now, and hard hats are a must for any visitors at this point.
  • A couple of juvenile bald eagles are making the rounds on the island – I initially mistook them for golden eagles, but Kyle explained they were simply juveniles.

Marine mammals

  • Kyle and I went to grab some photos of Ollie the sea otter that lives in a kelp patch near turbine rock.
  • We also spotted a humpack’s blow but by the time we got close it was gone.

Seagull Eggs have hatched!

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 25-30 knts W
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: small white caps

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Just a few ecotour boats in the area today
  • Kyle came by to drop off some food supplies for me, but because of the dropping tide he wasn’t able to stay long enough to come ashore.

Birds

  • The seagull eggs have started to hatch! I estimate about 20 babies as of this morning. It’s hard to get a count of them as the seagulls are now at their most aggressive – I got hit on the head a few times, but thankfully I had my hard hat on.
  • Spotted some more oystercatcher chicks, but again they were gone by the time I got close. They are REALLY hard to photograph.

Marine mammals

  • Yet another day of no sea lions
  • Elephant seal count remains the same – one of the adult males got all the way up to the base of the lighthouse today!

Working on the energy systems

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 25-35 knts W
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: 1-2 meter waves with white caps

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Kyle brought in a team of PTTP technicians to the island to help finish our new energy system wiring and to optimize our solar array for the greatest efficiency. Additionally, we also carried some of the older lead-acid batteries from the battery room to the tank room, from where they will be loaded on to a boat for the main island.
  • Kyle was also able to repair the Boston Whaler onsite – looks like the issue was corrosion on the contacts to the battery and the switch. He was able to sand the corrosion away and the electronics jumped to life!

Marine Mammals

  • The sea lions have completely disappeared over the last 2-3 days. Can’t see a single one around now
  • Elephant seal counts are at 2 females and 4 males – 3 of the males seemed to be all huddled up next to the student house, possibly to escape the wind.

Person in row boat

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Weather

  • Visibility: 14 Miles
  • Wind: 20-25 knts NW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: 1-2 meter waves with white caps

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • An average number of ecotour boats
  • There was a man who arrived close to the reserve in a row boat. Upon talking to him I learned that he rowed here all the way from Port Angeles and was headed to Victoria, but the tide pushed him to Race Rocks instead. After rowing around the reserve for a few minutes, he headed on to Victoria.

Bird Notes

  • Noticed a sudden rise in number of immature gulls. Photographs below.

Marine Mammals

  • The latest elephant seal count is at 5 males and 1 female.
  • There are two California Sea Lion young ones around the jetty, with an adult (presumably the mother).