Category Archives: Mammal Notes

Wetter, cooler weather arrives.

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There were definite autumn overtones to the weather today in spite of the westerly winds, which shifted over to the southwest a few times. First thing this morning a heavy fog came in and soaked everything. At dark there were ominous looking rainclouds to the west but the forecast actually looks like it is improving. After a week of sliding downhill, the barometric pressure actually rose today and that is a really good indicator of an improving trend.

There were only six whale watching boats noted in the reserve today and I couldn’t see any whales (for a change). The few recreational boaters left on the water stayed out of the reserve. The Oriole sailed past through Race Passage today, flying with the wind and tide.

A series of large military explosions rocked the island mid-day.

Oriole

Two Steller’s Sea Lions with Ring-necks were photographed today as was a Steller’s with a green flasher hanging out of its mouth. One of the ring-necked Steller’s is not yet badly wounded by the plastic strap, the other (see photos) has the strap cutting into the back of its neck but not yet the front. This animal likes to sleep about ten meters from my house and would be a good candidate for disentanglement.
ring-neck Steller's

ring-neck Steller's sep18

This plastic packing strap is digging into the back of this animals neck.

This plastic packing strap is digging into the back of this animals neck.

ring-neck Steller's sept 18 3

EuJu flasher

Today was animal census day and these are the counts.
Harbour Seal 179
Elephant Seal 8
Steller’s Sea Lion 184
California Sea Lion 287
Canada Goose 4
Brown Pelican 1
Double-crested Cormorant 22
Pelagic Cormorant 3
Cormorant sp. 2
Black Turnstone 7
Black Oystercatcher 4
Glaucous-winged Gull 76
Thayer’s Gull 75
Heerman’s Gull 21
California Gull 16
Mew Gull 21
Gull sp. 152
Common Murre 1
Common Raven 2
Savannah Sparrow 6

There were no visitors today. Maintenance chores, other than making fresh water and electricity included cleaning in the boat shed, mending both houses’ fences, and keeping the weed-eater going. The weed-eater makes really good compost mulch.

Bigg’s Killer Whales Kill in Reserve.

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The barometer rose all day and so did the westerly winds, so by the time the tide started to ebb, the opposing forces made spectacular waves. Tonight is the last full moon of the summer and it is in perigee, closest to the Earth, so it appears to be a big one, marking the third of a trilogy of super-moons we have been enjoying. It also means bigger than usual tides, making things seem even more dramatic. It was clear all day, no fog, but there are low clouds sneaking in along the Olympic Mountains and the look of fog out to sea. The westerly is supposed to be a little tamer on Tuesday.

Twenty-one tour boats were noted in the reserve today as well as one dive charter boat. A couple of the whale watchers looked like they were pushing the speed limit in the reserve and pushing the marine mammal viewing regulations outside the reserve. No illegal fishing was observed.

I am adding photos to the sea lion branding/tagging observations and that will make the data much more rigorous. Another entangled, aka ring-necked California Sea Lion was photographed. This time it looked like plastic strapping cutting a deep and infected wound.

Bigg’s Killer Whales visited again today. It appeared that they chased Steller Sea Lions all the way here from at least Albert Head. It was very dramatic here as they wove in and out of the kelp and through the tidal rips and standing waves, going with the tide and at great speed. One exhausted male Steller’s hauled out just as the chase was passing and he looked as though he may have been part of it all. He collapsed in a heap and immediately went to sleep. He was the lucky one. The kill happened in the reserve, just southwest of Great Race. There appeared to be a fairly small baby in the family of whales. The group was purportedly the T-61s (not sure of the source however). I tried to take photos so will report back with verified identification information once that comes in.

I finished some more of the set up to protect the ‘Science House’ today and started to clean out the northwest entrance to the generator room. There is a lot of very satisfying cleaning here, when you sweep you really get results, today it was many, many, generations of Ligia pallasii exoskeletons. Wow it’s a moult room instead of a cloak room.

The Race Pushes out Illegal Fishers

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The day started and ended beautiful and clear, with thick fog coming and going, in between. The westerly winds were unabated and are still gusting over 25 knots as I write this at 21:30. The barometer ended up a little lower than it started with a few ups and downs. It looks like more of the same for tomorrow.

There were only three tour boats noted today and they were following Bigg’s Killer Whales to the west. With lots of Southern Resident Killer Whales, in the Gulf Islands that is probably where the main fleet was working today.

There was another Pedder Bay Marina rental boat with three male Asians fishing illegally in the Rockfish Conservation area today but by the time I tried to hail them on the radio and find the number for DFO Observe, Record, Report, the tidal flow had booted them out of the reserve. They tried again but were repulsed again by the mighty Race. Go tide. I also watched a small, skillfully sailed vessel virtually fly through with full sails and the westerly astern plus a big flood tide whipping him along.

Moving the 100 lb. propane tanks yesterday bugged my knee so I had a slow day today and learned how to use the camera (a little). Here is a photo requested by the Eco-Reserve Warden, Garry Fletcher. He asked for a photo with sea lions in the foreground and a ship in the background. Voila. (Okay, next time the horizon will be level.)

Seals and Sea Lions in the foreground, ship in the background.

Seals and Sea LIons in the foreground, ship in the background.

There are still a few technical details to figure out on how to make an electric fence to keep the big sea lions from leaning their way into the basement of the Science House. I am trying to train them to stay off the house by tapping two rocks together but they are not easily intimidated and some of them are downright ornery.

What’s your number?

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It was a day without fog at Race Rocks and as the westerlies continue, some serious clouds can be seen piling up on far horizons. The barometer rose all day, which bodes well for tomorrow but there may be a few needed showers.

It was a busy day on the water with 26 whale watching boats visiting the reserve. From the expressions on the tourists’ faces, they seemed to enjoy watching the sea lions. All the skippers were respectful except for two travelling together who did not heed the go-slow zone.

There were so many recreational fishing boats that I could only keep track of the ones who were in contravention of the DFO Rockfish Conservation Area closure which runs around the reserve at a 40m depth. Many of those fishing inside the boundary were in rental boats but some of the other speed boats were doing what they do best…speeding. The Pedder Bay Marina is really good about talking to folks who rent from them and informing them about the conservation area.

I looked for tagged and branded sea lions again today and can report another nine California Sea Lions and four Stellers’ Sea Lions bringing the total number of branded individuals sighted up to 29. Eventually we will know a bit more about their stories from those numbers they carry. There are also two Stellers with neck rings cutting into their flesh and one with a flasher hanging out of its’ mouth. There are individual Harbour Seals, as well as both species of sea lions with major wounds. Speaking of wounds, there were two new, (to me), very small Elephant Seals on the ramp today, probably young of the year, judging from the size.

A few Pigeon Guillemots are still carrying into fish into the large boulder area by the jetty. The chicks must leave for sea at night as I haven’t seen any on the water and most are probably fledged by now. Each day, there are more Pelagic and Double Crested Cormorants roosting on the southwest side of the island.

The desalinator worked for a couple of hours during the sunshine today, making fresh water thanks to the solar panels.

Month end inventory was conducted today with measurements taken of all the fuel, fresh water, and equipment run times recorded.

My other task was to try and stake out a small territory on the jetty so that I can come and go and do the sampling. The elephant seals are no problem, they just sleep as you pass, or open one eye. Keeping the more belligerent California sea lions off the jetty seems to be a losing battle and has made getting out to the end of the jetty to sample seawater, extra challenging.

Fog and sunshine

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There was a tiny bit of rain with fog early today and then it switched back to near gale westerlies with heavy fog interspersed with sunshine. It is a beautiful starlight evening and the westerly continues to drop. The barometer held fairly steady today with a slight increase this evening. Environment Canada says that a strong westerly wind warning stays in effect for Sunday with a chance of showers.

There were ten whale watching boats in the Reserve today and they were all well behaved. A dive charter boat with eleven divers aboard came through the reserve but I am not sure where they dove.

Two male kayakers , one in a green kayak and the other in a reddish-brown kayak came through the passage on the south side of Great Race in the early afternoon and caused a sea lion stampede. They then proceeded to fish right in the closed conservation area. There were also two recreational boats fishing in the marine protected area.

A few more sea lion brands were observed today including one seven year-old female Steller’s Sea Lion that was branded as a pup in 2007 at Rogue Reef , near Gold Beach in southern Oregon.

This was my first day to not see Elephant Seals and California Sea Lions have taken over the jetty and marine railway. Some of them are a bit scary looking and do not want to move so that I can do seawater data collection.

Three River Otters were out and about in daylight today. Usually you don’t see them and just guess that they are around in the evening as all the gulls lift off and call. There were two young, very healthy-looking animals with an adult. Maybe that it why there are so many Glaucous-winged gull chick mortalities here? (Just a guess.)

Alex was quite excited to see some of the old lighthouse artifacts including parts of an old Fairbanks-Morris engine. He also pointed out where the old granite light-keepers house had been removed from its attachment to the base of the light tower.

The tasks today were the basic, regular tasks of  cleaning the solar panels, running the generator, launching and bringing the boat back up in order to drop off Alex, repairing the jetty fence (twice) and taking the salinity measurement. Tomorrow is month-end report time.

 

 

Animal Census

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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.

 

 

Business as usual

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Overcast. Winds 5-10 knots most of the day. Barometric pressure rising until this evening. Winds forecasted to be 15-25 knots tomorrow.

16 whale watching boats

3 recreational boats

1 commercial fishing boat passed through

Many sea lions on the main island now. There is lots of interaction between the Californias and Stellers. In the evening, the Californias take over the northeast lawn and the Stellers tend to stay on the outer edge of the rock though many do squish their way into the lawn resting area. There are three juvenile elephant seals that have been spend their days on the ramp. They make their way into the waters in the evening.

Finished cleaning out the tank room. Backflushed the desalinator although it is having issues with the high pressure pump. Been working on cameras 1 and 5 which are down.

More sea lions

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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.

Branded sea lion 183R shows up at Race Rocks

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Our viewer from England, Pam Birley,  sent us this image image of a branded Northern Sea lion (Steller’s) that she had taken with the remote control camera 5  today. She noted that this is the first time this particular one has shown up in her records which she has been keeping for several years now.

For other posts on branded sea-lions, see this link: https://www.racerocks.ca/tag/branded/

For our taxonomy file and gallery of images on this sealion see our archived file: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/nufar.htm

Also for an explanation of why the tagging program goes on see this link also on our website: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/marmam/sealion/tracking/tracking.ht

Branded Northen sea lion # 183R

Branded Northern sealion # 183R

 

 

Sea lions are here

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Mostly clear skies. Fog late morning into early afternoon. Winds between 10-15 knots most of the day. Barometric pressure rising the first half of the day and falling in the afternoon/evening.

6 whale watching boats (hard to say with fog though)

2 recreational fishing boats (PBM rentals)

2 recreational dive boats

Down to three elephant seals on the island currently. The sea lions have crept further up the east side of the island. There are an estimated 60-70 on the island now. The fence is still deterring them from the jetty, etc. Big moon tonight (supermoon tomorrow) but still the bioluminescent phytoplankton is visible!