Category Archives: Island Visitors

Rare Iceland Gull recorded in Christmas Bird Count, 2001

Posted on by

See the Index of the Christmas Bird Count. Thanks to Angus Matthews and the Pearson College boat, Andrew Harcombe, Ron Satterfield and I were able to get to Race Rocks this morning to count birds. Forty-knot northerlies prevented us from getting out there yesterday for the Sooke Christmas Bird Count. We had 9 ROSA and 6 SURF this morning but the highlight bird was an adult Iceland gull among a group of 1,200 gulls (mostly GWGU and THGU) at the west side of the main island. Here are the totals observed from Pearson College’s boat dock to Race Rocks and the Rocky Point headlands. The vast majority of these birds were at Race Rocks and vicinity.  —Alan McLeod 

Pacific loon 14 common loon 1 horned grebe 1 double-crested cormorant 80 Brandt’s cormorant 60 pelagic cormorant 12 harlequin duck 2 surf scoter 30 bufflehead 60 hooded merganser 3 bald eagle 4 ad, 2 im black oystercatcher 16 black turnstone 6 surfbird 6 rock sandpiper 9 mew gull 15 herring gull 8 Thayer’s gull 530 Iceland gull 1 western gull 1 glaucous-winged gull 720 common murre 40 pigeon guillemot 8 marbled murrelet 6 belted kingfisher 1 common flicker 1 Eurasian starling 8

icegull2-1

The rare Iceland gull Larus glaucoides (centre)

See the Index of the Christmas Bird Count.

Christmas Bird Count

Posted on by
Monday, December 24, 2001
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max 8.0C — Min 4.9C — Reset 6.7C — Rain 0.0
Merry Christmas To One And All!!!
MARINE LIFE: Yesterday Angus Matthews took Alan MacLeod, Andrew Harcombe, and Ron Satterfield out in the Pearson College boat, 2nd Nature for the annual Sooke Christmas bird count. The trip was postponed from the 22nd because of the 40 knt. north winds. Following is a list of the birds seen between the Pearson College dock and Race Rocks- most of the sightings were in the area around Race Rocks. The highlight was the lone Iceland Gull, a very rare bird in this area! The first sighting of this bird for the trio of bird counters!
Pacific Loon 14
Common Loon 1
Horned Greb 1
Double Crested Cormorant 80
Brandt’s Cormorant 60
Pelagic Cormorant 12
Harlequin Duck 2
Surf Scoter 30
Bufflehead 60
Hooded Merganser 5
Bald Eagle 4 adult,2 immature
Black Oyster Catcher 16
Black Turnstone 6
Surfbird 6
Rock Sandpiper 9
Mew Gull 15
Herring Gull 8
Thayers Gull 530
Western Gull 1
Glaucous Winged Gull 720
Common Murre 40
Pigeon Guillemot 8
Marbled Murrelet 6
Belted Kingfisher 1
Eurasian Starling 8
Common Flicker 1
You may check out the file on the Christmas Count with pictures at:https://www.racerocks.ca/2001/12/24/9651/
Thank you Angus, Alan, Ron and Andrew, maybe it wasn’t blowing 40knots from the north but it was still a cold bumpy trip with 20 knots from the north east!
HUMAN INTERACTION:11:30 am 1 Whale Watcher Boat
12:15 1 Rib with 2 divers (burrrr)
14:30 Discovery Launch (2 passengers)
Thank You Jane and Chris for holding the ‘fort’ so we could visit with family and restock the pantry.posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:11 PM

Rafting sea lions

Posted on by
Saturday, November 17, 2001
Good evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 9.0ºC — Min 4.7ºC — Reset 7.5ºC — Rain 0.2 mm
MARINE LIFE:Today half the Sea Lion population spent most of the afternoon ‘rafting’ about in the kelp bed on the East side of Gr. Race.What at first glance looks like driftwood and tangles of kelp floating by are actually groups of from three to eight or nine Sea Lions floating just below the surface with their flippers sticking up like little sails.This behavior is evidently associated with heat transfer from their hairless flippers.
HUMAN INTERACTION:1 Dive charter boat with 6 divers -West Race -10:00–14:30
3 Tour boats approx. 39 passengers
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:11 PM
Good morning
WEATHER: Sky clear — Vis. 15 miles — Wind north east 7 knots — Sea rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:28 AM

Project week for PC students

Posted on by

 

Monday, November 05, 2001
 Good Evening,
PC STUDENTS: Project week students –Well we are just finishing our second day here at Racerocks. Today Sarah and I seeded some grass in the fissures of the newly restored rock. Along with Salla we ventured to the top of the lighthouse. The view is spectacular! The high light of our day was a poignant video captured by Kiprop of a sea lion sneezing. We vacuumed the tank, and we all learned to syphon, valuable skill. It was a fantastic day out today, which culminated in a great pizza.
We will attept to rise for 7:30am in order to do the morning recordings. We have decided today to make a video, entitled “How to survive on racerocks, for dummies.” We will start production tomorrow.
Goodnight!
posted by HANNAH McKinnon at 7:21 PM
 PC STUDENTS: Project Week students-On Sunday, five students from Lester Pearson College, Salla from Finland, Sarah from Saskatchewan, Hannah from Manitoba, Muyad from Palestine and Kiprop from Kenya moved out to stay at Race Rocks in the Marine Science Centre for the week. They have a number of projects they are doing while there so they will be commenting on what is happening on this log over the next few days.
posted by Garry Fletcher at 1:50 PM
 Good morning
WEATHER:Sky cloudy — Vis 15 miles — Light rain shower — Wind north west 6 knots — Sea rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:19 AM

Elephant seal fighting with a Northern sea lion

Posted on by
When I was at the MPA today at 14:40 I observed one of the elephant seals fighting with a Northern sea lion for a position on the centre rocks. I had not seen a cross species conflict like that before. They were very aggressive, it was unclear who had the upper flipper and the outcome was inconclusive. I took two visitors from CBC Radio Canada french service out.
posted by Angus Matthews at 9:50 PM

Dr. Joe MacInnis Dives with Pearson College Students at Race Rocks

Posted on by

In September 2001, Dr. Joe MacInnnis visited Lester Pearson College. Joe, a member of the Board of Pearson College,  gave a presentation on his ventures of diving on the wreck of the Bredalbane in the Arctic. In the afternoon he went with some of the Diving service students to Race Rocks for a dive.

joe macinnis and dive group

Dr. Joe MacInnis Diving at Race Rocks Ecological Reserve with Pearson College Diving students.

joemtank

Dr. Joe MacInnis prepares for a dive at Race Rocks. photos by Garry Fletcher

 

Pearson College Orientation week 2001

Posted on by

When the Lester Pearson College students arrive at the college for the fall term, the first week is an Orientation Week. This year part of their schedule was a boat trip to Race Rocks and a guided tour by second year student Damien from Ireland.

Apple Representatives visit Race Rocks

Posted on by
threeandtower

Keith Mitchell of the Apple Learning Interchange and Jeff , a rep from Apple visit Race Rocks

Keith Mitchell on the right in the picture above was instrumental in arranging for Akamai to carry our live streaming video for the first few years of the operation of racerocks.com. He had seen a presentation we did at an Apple Conference in New York where we had webcast live from underwater at Race Rocks.

We stayed overnight at Race Rocks  and did some 360 degree images the next day.

keithandjeff

Keith and Jeff viewing the wildlife  on the boat trip out.

gulls feeding

The guls were in a feeding frenzy near the island.

damionjandm

PC students Damien and Jean and Ecoguardian Mike Slater had met us on arrival.

 

islandeaglemed

On our way out, Keith took this picture of an eagle on North Rocks.

 

RACE ROCKS MPA FEATURED ON the CBC IDEAS PROGRAM

Posted on by

 

paulonOn Saturday May 26, 2001, we hosted at Race Rocks Paul Kennedy, the host of the CBC program “Ideas” (9:00 PM nightly Mon-Fri. ) .

Paul was on the West Coast that week preparing a special series on Canada’s oceans and marine issues. See Paul’s OCEAN JOURNAL entry for May 26 for an account of his trip to Race Rocks.

OCEANS EXPLORATIONS: LEARNING FROM OUR OCEANS is a project which will result in eight hours of programming on IDEAS in December 2001. Paul will spend much of the next seven months on each of Canada’s three ocean coasts. He’ll be on board fishing dorys, Haida canoes, off-shore oil rigs, and snowmobiles crossing Arctic ice. By talking with Canadians who live and work on the sea, he’ll begin to learn about many of the things that the oceans can teach us.threeandrr

Paul was accompanied by Garry Fletcher and Angus Matthews of Lester B. Pearson College, and Mark Pakenham, of Ocean’s and Fisheries It was a great day to be on Race Rocks as we were in there in the middle of the Swift Sure Sailboat Race, so the vessels kept making close passes through the islands of Race Rocks MPA . Photos by Angus Matthews.

Paul returned in the Fall of 2001 to do a webcast with the students.

gfpaul-1

Interview by CBC reporter Loreen Pindera (PC year3)

Posted on by

In this interview for the CBC program “The World This Weekend” by CBC reporter Loreen Pindera (Pearson College student, year 3) with Garry Fletcher, faculty member at Lester Pearson College. they discuss how a fragile ecosystem can be loved to death by too many people wanting to visit it, The solution for the Race Rocks Ecological reserve was to use the technology of the internet to bring this island ecosystem in the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the world while conserving this fragile ecosystem -Sept 16/2000.