Category Archives: Island Visitors

Animal Census

Posted on by

Low winds today picking up in the afternoon/evening. Clear skies for most of the day. Forecasted winds of 15 knots for tomorrow morning rising to 30 in the afternoon.

DSC_0501

 

 

 

 

 

Animal Census (by Anne):

Steller Sea Lions 229
California Sea Lions 388
Harbour Seals 81
Glaucous-winged Gulls 301 (including 29 chicks)
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Pelagic Cormorant 1
Canada Goose 11
Black Oyster Catcher 11
Black Turnstone 1
Greater Yellow legs 1
Very large mixed species feeding groups to the west southwest of reserve including 100s of Rhinoceros auklets, Common Murres, Heerman’s Gulls and California Gulls.

37 whale watching boats

5 recreational boats

3-4 trips from Second Nature

Baleen whale this morning spotted feeding in the same place as yesterday evening, to the SW end of the reserve.

Anne continued with training today. James from Hybrid Plumbing came out to fix the water heater this morning. Changed cartridge filters on desalinator. Prepared for shift change.

 

 

Baleen at sunset

Posted on by

Fog in the morning that burned off around 1030h. Winds reached 35 knots mid-afternoon. Light winds forecasted for tomorrow morning and increasing in the afternoon. Barometric pressure still dropping.

2 whale watching boats

1 recreational fishing boat

Last of the gull chicks are learning to fly. Another elephant seal arrived on the boat ramp today, bringing the number to four. Spotted a baleen whale off the SW side of the reserve at 2030h this evening as the sun set.

Courtney came out in Second Nature with a tour group this morning of alumni and then made another trip to do maintenance on the desalinator (which is now in working order). Cistern was very low so Anne and I ran the pump for most of the day. Continued with Anne’s training.

Animal Census

Posted on by

Fog all day. Northwest winds 5-15 knots all day. Barometric pressure from peaking at 1810.0 midday but only dropping to 1610.0 hPa. 15-20 knot winds predicted for tomorrow with fog.

Animal Census:
161 Gulls
47 Guillemots
3 Elephant seals
537 Sea lions (Steller and California)
3 River otters
4 Double-crested cormorants
120 Harbour seals
15 Black oystercatchers

13 whale watching boats

5 recreational boats

Second Nature also came out for two visits today with some alumni that are here for the ten year reunion, although they did not dock. Still having hot water and desalinator issues. Prepped for shift change.

More sea lions

Posted on by

Winds between 5-15 knots for most of the day. Barometric pressure peaking midday. A few showers forecasted for tomorrow and risk of thunderstorms tonight.

18 whale watching boats

3 recreational fishing boats

A float plane did laps around the island this morning around 0900h taking counts on some marine mammals. Another one passed through the reserve this afternoon.

More than two hundred sea lions on the main island now and more on Middle Rock. I noticed today that although the population on the main island is mixed Stellar and California, there is a higher density of Californias on the main island and a higher density of Stellars on Middle Rock. A tagged elephant seal arrived today but I could not get close enough to its tags without frightening it.

The PSYL coordinators arrived around 1900h this evening and will be here two nights.

Juvenile Bald Eagle visit

Posted on by

Northwest winds dipping to 10 knots around midday. Barometric pressure decreasing since mid-morning. Intermittent fog until noon. Forecast calls for fog until noon tomorrow and gale wind warning in effect.

6 whale watching boats

7 recreational fishing boats passed through

Business as usual on the reserve today. A juvenile eagle visited the island this afternoon. Yesterday I was off the island from 0900h to 1700h to pick up two visitors and get groceries in town and the crew was out again to finish with replacing windows. Cleaned off the cable that we pulled out from the water that goes to video cam 2.

4 DND blasts

Posted on by

Fog on and off today. West winds picking up this afternoon to 35 knots. Clear skies most of the day. Barometric pressure peaking at midday for the last three days. Winds supposed to reach 30 knots tomorrow.

9 whale watching boats (although maybe more I couldn’t see through the fog)

4 blasts from DND in the first half of the day.

There are 5 elephant seals here now. They like to spend lots of time on the ramp and sleep on top of each other. The seal with the bloody mouth seems to be doing much better. The blood looked like it was coming from the gum.

We had a crew come out today and replace a number of windows in the keeper’s residence and the science centre. Chris and I went diving to retrieve the underwater video camera for its annual maintenance.

Animal Census and more…

Posted on by

Winds have been on a downward trend since Monday but since noon today have picked up to 35-40 knots. Barometric power dipped to a low of 1010 hPa Wednesday evening. We’ve had heavy fog until yesterday and today.

Few boats in the reserve this week (I suspect due to fog).

Two whale watchers today and 2 recreational fishing boats passed through the reserve today.

Animal Census (for Wednesday, 16 July):

256 Gulls
9 Pigeon guillemots*
2 Elephant seals
13 Steller sea lions
1 Double-breasted cormorant
9 Black oystercatchers
6 Canada geese
38 Black turnstones (Arenaria melanocephala)
2 Ruddy turnstones (Arenaria interpres)

*I only saw nine guillemots on Wednesday, 5 of which were flying away from the island. I don’t know the reason for the low number but Thursday I counted over 80 again.

I have not seen Cheeky since Tuesday, however, a new (very plump) female elephant seal arrived Wednesday afternoon. After female was on the jetty at ~1800h but seems to have swam away again. Chunk is still here. The river otters made another appearance tonight. Running in the same direction the adult led the two young otters with a gull chick in its mouth. Before going under the diesel holding tank the two juveniles started away at the chick. the Canada geese arrived Monday afternoon. Until today, there was a group of 5 that moved around together and an additional single goose that was seemed on its own. Today I counted seven and they were all together.

Monday morning I lost ethernet connection in the main residence. Jonathan came out Tuesday to have a look and he returned with two electricians on Thursday to fix the issue. Filled the batteries yesterday while they were here and got a tutorial on the Nikon camera.

July 8 Visitors

Posted on by

Lots of fog all morning. Winds have picked up this afternoon reaching nearly 50 knots.

2 whale watchers today

Yesterday Garry and Helen brought the Whalen family to Race Rocks for a tour of the island. I took the boston-whaler in in the afternoon to drop off my parents who have been visiting. (I’m going to miss the extra help. Thank you!)

Washed down the batteries and scrubbed off the grease. Checked the water level in the cistern.

 

Visitors to Race Rocks

Posted on by

Today we were able to make a special trip to Race Rocks Ecological reserve with Tensie Whelan with her father Sidney, and Patsy Whelan.

DSCN5706

Patsy, Sidney and Tensie Whelan at the top of the Race Rocks tower

 

The Whelan’s live in New York and Connecticut and had made a trip to British Columbia to be able to see the place which meant so much to Tensie’s late husband, Johan Ashuvud. Johan had been a student at Race Rocks who in 1979-1980, had worked as a marine science student and a diver leading a group who ended up creating the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve.

Thanks to Chris Blondeau for driving Helen and I and the Whelans out to the reserve.

July 5

Posted on by

Northwest winds peaked at 15 knots around noon. Overcast skies with some rain near noon.

There were a dozen recreational fishing boats on the east edge of the reserve this morning but a total of five actually passed through today. 6 whale watching boats were in the reserve.

The two male elephant seals have barely moved at all today. While taking the seawater sample this evening, a young harbour seal pup was murmuring lightly while finding its way through the kelp bed off the end of the jetty. The oystercatcher eggs near the jetty have yet to hatch.

A group of 4 kayakers from Port Angeles stopped at the island today for a quick rest before continuing on their way to Victoria.

Installed the VHF antenna today in the guest residence.

DSC_0243