Great Guy at Great Race (Covering May 13 & 14)

Wednesday and Thursday were both westerly days, wet in the mornings, clearing in the afternoons, with winds increasing through the day. Wednesday winds reached 25 -30 in the evening and it was much quieter on Thursday with an evening breeze of 10 – 15. on Fog reduced visibility to about a mile this morning but quickly burned off. The barometer stayed fairly steady around 1010 hPa both days and there is a strong wind warning (20 – 30 knots) in effect for Friday afternoon.

Wednesday, two whale watching vessels were observed in the Ecological Reserve and none on Thursday. Several sport fishers passed through at a respectful speed both days. There was military blasting on Wednesday with no apparent effect on the wildlife other than Steller’s Sealions neck craning.

A large male Northern Elephant Seal arrived at Great Race yesterday along with a record (for me) number of seals 17 ashore here for the moult. More length measurements were made on new arrivals and the big guy who were calling Floyd in honour of large portions, measured 3.22 meters from the tip of nose to tip of tail. He seems a mellow fellow but very large and I suspect, still growing.

Floyd resting up in preparation for the herculean effort of hauling himself up the path.

All paths leading up from the jetty had heavy traffic today.

Floyd

Floyd resting up in preparation for the herculean effort of hauling himself up the path.

A new (to me) female who is just starting her moult arrived today. She is tagged and her very worn number is 5086.

This female is larger than the other tagged animals I have seen. You can see the first few roles of skin and fur as her moult starts on her hind flippers.

This female is larger than the other tagged animals I have seen. You can see the first few roles of skin and fur as her moult starts on her hind flippers.

Thursday is census day and here are the results

Northern Elephant Seals 35 (including 18 on Great Race & 17 on Middle)

Harbour Seals 101

California Sea lions 27

Northern Sea lions 24

Canada Geese 24 (+18 goslings)

Harlequin Ducks 3

Pelagic Cormorants 18

Double Crested Cormorants 19

Bald Eagle 1 adults, 2 sub-adults

Black Oystercatchers 12

Whimbrels 8

Pigeon Guillemots 227

Glaucous-winged Gulls total ( adults in nesting areas; adults in roosting/resting area; sub-adults in roosting/resting area)

Common Raven 1

Barn Swallows 2

Savannah Sparrow 2

American Pipets 3

Wednesday Courtney brought Guy and Christine out on Wednesday for eco-guardian training and to trouble-shoot electrical generation issues. While she was here she and Guy cleaned the battery tops of water and attempted to fix the Lister’s over-speed issue. With load (boat winch), it went to over-speed, which shut it down and the power to the main house. Running the de-salination unit did not affect the generator. Christine trained on seawater sampling, faunal observations and had an introduction to the house and island.

 

Crankypants Has a Number.

By mid-morning, the light southwesterly winds left over from yesterday’s blow had wandered over to south and they stayed southerly until early evening when they turned back to west. The barometer continued the slow ascent begun early yesterday, throughout the day. Although there was a mix of sun and clouds today, light levels were high and reached over 1000 W/m2 at the peak. Forecasters are calling for strong westerly winds again, with a chance of showers Thursday.

Four Whale Watching vessels were noted in the Ecological Reserve today, visiting on return from the west, heading towards Victoria. No sports fishing vessels were noted in the ER.

The Canadian Coast Guard Helicopter (Fisheries and Oceans) dropped by today to service the light, which went dark the night before last. Dave (pilot) and Derek (technician) were a welcome sight in their lovely little Messerschmidt, which was carefully put down at the base of the light tower stairs.

 

Dave and Derek preparing for take off.

Dave and Derek preparing for take off.

Messerschmidt tower heli flag

 

Ten Whimbrels stopped for a rest and a feed today. These amazing migrators are on their way to the arctic tundra from South America and it was a treat to see them here.

Whimbrels stopped for a rest and a feed in the inter-tidal today.

Whimbrels stopped for a rest and a feed in the inter-tidal today.

Whimbrel M

I kept an eye on the Bald Eagles today and yes, they are fishing.

It was a right "hand" catch, transferred to both feet and then tucked up under to the tail to hide it from sight.

It was a right “hand” catch, transferred to both feet and then tucked up under  the tail to hide it from sight.

Baea fish hooked Baea catch

Ten of the elephant seals managed to go through the measuring device today while I was sitting, waiting for them with the camera. I also spotted tags on the young female Northern Elephant Seal with serious skin issues. I may have mentioned her in a previous blog, I called her psoriasis sister last fall and Courtney named her crankypants in spring 2014. She is very vocal and easily disturbed by the other seals. She is usually off by herself but today she was caught in a traffic jam for daily ablutions, which really seemed to upset her. I have observed her many times last fall and this spring but never noticed the tags before. She moves as if in pain, complains loudly and leaves a trail of blood. She has many open wounds that look like holes and cracks. The right tag is number A114 and although it is difficult to read the left side, it is perhaps A476. She has all four tags still.

 

Crankypants has a tag number now A114.

Crankypants has right  tag number  A114.

MianA114R_A476?left?

A branded Steller’s Sealion # 411R was noted today. She looks big for a female but that is what the record says, branded as a pup in July, 2005 at Rogue Reef, which is in the very southern end of Oregon. I will check with Pat Gearin on this identification.

Euju#411RApr29_15

There were no visitors other than the Coast Guard crew and maintenance chores were all routine.

Population Explosion

During the early morning there were light winds from the north but it soon switched to west and blew 25 to 30 knots mid-morning. The wind dropped down to a lazy 5 to 10 from the west and swung through south to east and back again, during the rest of the afternoon. The barometer rose steadily all day and even though there were showers early on, the day ended in glorious sunshine with a 10 knot wind from the west, southwest. The forecast is for the wind to turn to east and bring more showers.

Five whale watching vessels were observed within the Ecological Reserve and they were all very respectful of the speed regulations although several were as close as 20-30 meters from the shoreline of Great Race. Two kayakers were noted in the Ecological Reserve in the late afternoon. Several halibut sports fishermen fished just outside the conservation area closed to fishing, respecting the boundary of the closed fishing area.

Casual, ecological observations were made in the inter-tidal at 0.9m and above today in the shelfing area just east of the derrick on the north side of Great Race. A widespread settlement event has occurred recently and juvenile barnacles (<1mm) carpet the mid- to upper inter-tidal area including any unoccupied rock and even occupied shells of sessile organisms like big, old California Mussels.

This population explosion will provide food for many whelks and opportunists and emphasizes incredible competition for space here in the intertidal. The more ephemeral algae of the high inter-tidal are starting to bleach out including some of the higher Porphyra spp or Pyropia spp (nori) and a small red that may be Rhodymenia sp. The following community of intertidal organisms in addition to those list above, were noted (in no particular order) in the area examined.

Enteroctopus dofleini Giant Pacific Octopus

Katherina tunicate Black Leather Chiton

Semibalanus cariosus Thatched Barnacle

Balanus glandula Acorn Barnacle

Pollicipes polymerus Gooseneck Barnacle

Mytilus californianus California Mussel

Gnorimosphaeroma sp. Sex changing Isopod

Lirabuccinum dirum Dire Whelk

Prasiola sp. Small green algae indicative of high nitrogen location

Ulva spp. Sea lettuce

Nucella spp. Whelk

Alaria marginata Winged Kelp

Anthopleura elegantissima Aggregating Anemone

Epiactus prolifera Brooding Sea Anemone

There were also at least four limpet species, several species of periwinkles, coralline algae, red algal turf and red crust.

Today there were 30 visitors. Catrin brought her first year biology students for a field trip and they were divided up into three working groups of eight students each. Erich from Victoria came with the group. Two volunteers from the College accompanied the group and Courtney drove them all out and back in Second Nature (six trips in total). Earlier I picked up Alex in the Race Rocks Whaler who is staying on. he was very helpful with all the landings, loadings and embarkations.

Other than working with all three groups of students which was a real treat, other chores were routine today. Some students, especially biology and marine science students really benefit from exposure to such a biodiverse and productive site as Race Rocks. Most students enjoyed the visit, many observed species they had never seen before and some even collected extensive data for next years individual investigations.

Bumpers come aboard as the last group of students head back to Pedder Bay aboard Second Nature.

Bumpers come aboard as the last group of students head back to Pedder Bay aboard Second Nature.

Bald Eagle versus Canada Goose

Today’s weather was a mixed bag. Early on there was thick fog, which thinned by dawn and cleared in the early morning. Then for a short time it was glorious and fairly calm with winds westerly up to 15 knots. The westerly wind doubled in the early afternoon and by 4:00 PM it was gusting well over 35 knots in the tower. On radio watch for the afternoon’s activities, I kept a weather eye on Pearson College sailing vessel Amatuana as she was blown across to Victoria in no time flat. Nicely done.

Only one whale watching boat was noted in the Ecological Reserve today and when I finally spotted them, they were pounding out through wind and tide towards Race Passage. Their sound alerted me to their presence.

The Northern Elephant Seals are starting to moult and data collection on basic biological parameters began today including non-invasive, length measurements using the marine railway as a big meter stick.

 

If only this female were lying next to a big ruler, we would have a complete data set on her for April 17, 2015.

If only this female were lying next to a big ruler, we would have a complete data set on her for April 17, 2015.

There were 14 visitors first thing this morning. Courtney, driving Second Nature, brought out one of Laura’s first year, marine science classes. It was an early start for these  students but they had breakfast en route and were very efficient on shore. They did a quantitative, community ecology activity on the low tide. They were trying to determine if and how the diversity, abundance and distribution of intertidal macro-biota changed with vertical height. They used water levels to measure vertical height, (an ancient Egyptian leveling technique based on the fact that water will always find its’ own level), transect lines to position sampling and quadrats to focus sampling efforts. These photos of the students, were all taken by Laura Verhegge.

First year marine science students from around the world learn science experientially at Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific.

First year marine science students from around the world learn science experientially at Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific.

Catriona and Claudia demonstrate skill and teamwork using the waterlevel to measure vertical height ti the next sample.

Catriona and Claudia demonstrate skill and teamwork using the water-level to measure vertical height to the next sample.

 

tella, Connor and Tamara discover the intricacies of inter-tidal life.

Stella, Connor and Tamara discover the intricacies of inter-tidal life.

Courtney is a big fan of elephant seals and so she was keen to help with the first elephant seal measurements this morning and assisted in working out a way for one person to measure the elephant seals without disturbing them. As of this afternoon the marine railway is the new ruler and first measurements made of a young male were very close to those made earlier with a laser, measuring device. The laser technique required two people, two long boards, a right angle check and eye safety protocols. The laser technique had potential to bother the animal (if it was awake). The new technique is passive, non-invasive and non-threatening.

 

Male elephant seal entering the "measuring device".

Male elephant seal entering the “measuring device”.

I saw a juvenile Bald Eagle attack a goose sitting on her nest today. I had suspected this was going on but good to verify. The eagle might have been successful with back-up, but the gander flew in and together with the goose, drove the eagle off. You can guess who I was cheering for. I know it is not science but there is no hockey out here and I am Canadian, eh.

 

April 10

 

Light airs from the southwest and a light overcast sky, dominated the first part of the day. At about 16:00, an abrupt directional switch to west by northwest saw winds rise to 20 to 30 knots within a few minutes. Those winds were accompanied by moderate rain and a darkened, overcast sky. The wind direction remained the same but velocity dropped to 5 – 10 knots after the storm passed through leaving sunshine and outrageous double rainbows in its wake. The barometer continued to fall slowly today and the forecast calls for west winds and a 40% chance of showers.

There were five whale-watching boats observed in the Ecological Reserve today all during the downpour. One sports fisher was observed speeding in the go-slow area.

A sea otter was spotted in the Ecological Reserve again today, after being either absent or well hidden for almost a month. Thanks go out to the operator of the Prince of Whales vessel in the area, for radioing the location and description to me.

On land, there are many flowers blooming on Great Race right now. Many of the flowers are heritage plants, part of the legacy left by light keepers from 155 years ago and on.

 

Flowers lined the original route to the tower and keeper's house.

Flowers lined the original route to the tower and keeper’s house.

More heritage flowers.

More heritage flowers.

An exception to the imported non-native plants, are the Mist Maidens blooming right now. There are several patches but the most vigorous one is in the scree above the Pigeon Guillemot nesting area, just uphill from the boat-house. Mist Maidens or Romanzoffia tracyi are considered to be a rare plant and I will take some photos to share with you tomorrow if the light is better.

A group of visitors were here today using the science house and Great Race for a retreat. Courtney brought them out on Second Nature and stayed to help trouble-shoot a few issues with the generator and aggressive geese. Alex left with Courtney in the afternoon.

 

 

Branded Sea Lion Back

Today the weather was like a sandwich, with winter as the bread and spring in the middle. The wind did not relent all day, blowing north by northwest in the morning, with more of a southwest spin, peaking in the afternoon. Now as the sun sets, the wind is easing a little and dramatic rain showers sweep out of the bottom of clouds to the west. The barometer bottomed out late morning and is tentatively climbing now. Tons of new snow on the Olympic Mountains, gives them a magnificent look and brings a chill to the air here only 15 kilometres across the Strait.

I only noted one whale watching boat today but may have missed some while working out of view. Most of the tour boats stop by on the south side to see sea lions hauled out and sleeping in the water there. The photo below was taken a few days ago when the weather was kinder and the animals in the water had just awoken with a start. There were no sports fishers observed in the Ecological Reserve today.

"Whale watchers" and sea lions that just woke up.

“Whale watchers” and sea lions that just woke up.

The first thing I noticed this morning was that there were a lot more sea lions hauled out than yesterday (census day). I scanned them with binoculars and noticed right away there was a branded Steller’s or Northern Sea Lion. Even before coffee, which is something for me, I was outside taking photographs. Although the image quality isn’t great due to the distance, it is good enough to match to an individual that was here on September 10, 2014 during my first shift.

 

A branded sea lion interacting with haul-out mates on South Seal Islands.

A branded sea lion interacting with haul-out mates on South Seal Islands.

 

This male 533R was branded as a pup in July, 2007 on Rogue Reef. His daytime activity here is practically nil. He lifts his head once and a while to interact with his closely packed neighbours, otherwise he sleeps all day. I wonder if he is full of herring? I also wonder if they forage at night right now?

Sealions hauled out on the south islet. 533R is in the middle of the back row.

Sealions hauled out on the south islet. 533R is in the middle of the back row.

Glaucous-winged Gulls seem to sit tight during the day now too. I guess they are establishing nesting territories and resting up for parental duties. They all lift off when a Bald Eagle passes over or a Peregrine Falcon swoops around the island but soon settle back in place waiting patiently.

There are many more Pigeon Guillemots in the Ecological Reserve now than can nest here and they seem to like to forage in fairly large groups, right in the rips and standing waves of the big currents. I would like to see one underwater, using their little alcid wings to fly through the water while steering with their wildly red feet.

Eleven visitors graced the island with their presence today and it was good to interact with people again. Michael who is on the Pearson College board and his family came out with Chris and Alex for a tour. Alex, a student at Pearson College was deckhand and tour guide and did an excellent job of both. Chris solved my water woes by simply turning on a valve that I hadn’t managed to get open.

Chores today included unsuccessful trouble-shooting on cameras #2 and #5, disassembling a bunk bed (probably much easier with two people), and moving the bed frame to the foreshore for pick-up. Seawater sampling, fresh water production and electrical generation, balanced out with more wood clean-up and walkway sweeping. The best thing, was putting up a fresh, new Canadian flag to replace the winter worn one that was fraying badly in the wind.

March 18 – Divers Clean the Underwater Camera

Sunny
Wind: SW 5-14 knots in the morning, NE 5-9 knots in the late morning to afternoon, calm in the evening
Air Temperature: Low 7.8°C, High 10.7°C
Ocean Temperature: 8.8°C

Nine students came this afternoon with Courtney, Laura and Nazim to dive from the jetty. The seven divers were in groups of two and three for 30 minute dives. The others provided support from above.

Bader and Sean dove together and followed the cable out to the underwater camera, which lies at a depth of 12m of water out from the end of the jetty. They cleaned the plastic dome, which had become dirty with diatoms. See the photos below.

The divers mentioned seeing lots of vivid colours and amazing species including: urchin, anemone, rockfish, greenling, rose star and bull kelp.

Up on land, there was lots of vitamin D to soak up today while doing outdoor tasks: chopping firewood, stacking firewood, sweeping and tending to compost.

There was one fishing boat seen passing through the reserve today.

March 12 – Sunny Census Thursday

Sunny
Wind: 0-13 knots SW in the morning, NE from mid morning to afternoon and SW in the evening
Air Temperature: Low 9.9°C, High 13.2°C
Ocean Temperature: 9.0°C

Three Pearson students came to Race Rocks this morning. Karen, Sunny and Hanne joined Martin, who has been here since Monday.

The students did some work this afternoon: sweeping all 99 steps of the lighthouse and continuing the process of stowing the chopped wood in all the nooks and crannies of the buildings, to be used next winter to heat the main house.

There was DND blasting happening in the morning and early afternoon on Bentinck Island, less than 1km away from the ecological reserve.

Today’s high temperature of 13.2°C, as measured at the ground weather station, was the highest recorded since 2006, when the weather station was installed. A high of 14°C was recorded by the instruments at the top of the lighthouse.

Three eco tour boats visited the reserve. One boat came very close to a group of sea lions swimming and others hauled out on the South Islands.

The low tide of 1.1m at 13:52, exposed lots of species from the low tide zone into the air. The shore and tidal pools were full of life: mussels, barnacles, limpets and lots of other flora and fauna of the sea. The oystercatchers and shore birds were having a feast.

There were no small birds perching birds seen today. There are usually a few fox, sparrows, savannah sparrows and occasionally juncos and robins zipping around the island.

Here are the results from today’s Megafauna Census:
Elephant Seal: 1
Steller Sea Lion: 54
California Sea Lion: 43
Harbour Seal: 52
Bald Eagle: 9
Great Blue Heron: 1
Crow: 1
Oystercatcher: 4
Double Crested Cormorant: 12
Brandt’s Cormorant: 21
Gull: 247
Canada Goose: 14
Pigeon Guillemot: 9
Harlequin Duck: 13
Surfbird: 3
Black Turnstone: 10
Rock Sandpiper: 2

Feb 26, derrick, Yellow tag 5086

Wind E 10 increasing to 20 N. Cloudy, rain in evening. DND blasting continued.

Courtney came out in the morning and brought Kim.  We worked most of the day on setting up the rest of the scaffolding, fixing the derrick cable, and taking down the scaffolding.  Had the new wire rope installed and working by afternoon.  Worked on fire wood and replaced (new) leaky pvc valve in desal with a brass one.

I was finally able to get a clear view of the female elephant seals yellow flipper tag, # 5086. Yellow tags indicate that this elephant seal comes from San Miguel Island or Santa Rosa Island.  We have had several previous sightings of an eseal with a 5086 tag, including this sighting by Julie https://www.racerocks.ca/2012/07/07/new-and-old-faces/ but they were always green tags and this one is clearly yellow.  At some point the pup’s body got flipped over and it is now possible to determine that it is male.

 

Feb 24-25

Feb 24: Sunny in morning, cloud in afternoon, Wind west 15-20 knots increasing to 30 knots in the afternoon. Blasting again today.  2 whale watching boats in the reserve.  Went off island afternoon to return guest and pick up a plumbing part.  Installed new compass on the whaler, measured wire rope for derrick and made a few calls to find a source for new wire rope.

Chunk came on the island during the night and was pursuing the female elephant seal in the morning.  Eventually she returned to the be next to the pup’s body.

Feb 25: Wind variable, light increasing to 10 knots.  DND blasting again today.  Courtney came out in the afternoon with Tristan, Jake, Chris W, Garry and a guest.  They brought out scaffolding for the derrick and new wire rope to replace the broken one.  Chris W worked on cam 5 utility box connections.  The monitor for the computer weather station is not working.  Tristan, Jake and Courtney started setting up scaffolding under the derrick winch.  I was able to detach the old wire rope and attach the new one into the drum.