Category Archives: Mammal Notes

Seawatch Part 2

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Since the fog was staying away, Daniel Donnecke and I decided to have another go at a seawatch today, Daniel at Beechey Head and me at Race Rocks.  From my perspective, this one worked out much better, but we still were not seeing many of the same birds.  The exception, though, was a large group of (mostly) California Gulls that lifted off shortly after our start time of 6:30.  Like  yesterday, there were hundreds of gulls feeding just off Race Rocks. Although there was still krill in the area, there were also small fish that you could occasionally see glinting in their bills.  I was also watching a large barge of logs being towed towards Puget Sound.

It wasn’t clear what put them up, or whether there was just a signal that it was time to go.  Some headed to a bait ball to the east while several hundred headed east towards Beechy Head where Daniel saw them coming in.

Ecological Notes:

1 Elephant Seal

80 Harbour Seal

California Sea Lion

Steller’s Sea Lion

Several bird firsts for me for the week.

11 Canada Goose

7 Black Oystercatcher (including one juvenile)

Baby Black Oystercatcher

Still under its parent’s watchful eye

1 Killdeer

45 Black Turnstone

55 Common Murre

80 Pigeon Guillemot – many carrying gunnels

2 Marbled Murrelet

1 Cassin’s Auklet

14 Rhinoceros Auklet

500 California Gull (probably a gross underestimation)

400 Glaucous-winged Gull (not an increase, but a more accurate count today)

1 Herring Gull

4 Heerman’s Gull

1000 more unidentified gull feeding on krill and small fish.

1 Bald Eagle – perched on middle islands. First raptor of the week for me

1 Song Sparrow

1 Brown-headed Cowbird – First passerine I saw during my stay.

Facility Work: cleaned windows and solar panels.

Vessel Traffic: lots of traffic in the shipping lanes including large barge of logs

Barge of logs

Steady stream of ecotourism vehicles starting mid-morning, but fewer than yesterday. 10+

Weather – Current: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

Weather – Past: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Another Changing of the Guardian

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I have had the privilege of visiting Race Rocks several times over the years, and have boated near the ecological reserve many times while birding with friends. I have to admit that I was very jealous of those who actually spent days, weeks or months here. Thanks to a series of unrelated events, I now find myself here as a relief eco-guardian for a week. It’s a dream come true!

The reports of calm seas this morning turned to more active weather just around the time that Greg Dickinson, Garry Fletcher and I headed out from the Pearson College dock. Pleasure craft were all heading the other way, into the shelter of Pedder Bay.

Approaching Race Rocks, my home for the next week.

As the wind continued to pick up, I was given a whirlwind tour of the facilities, a book of standard operating procedures, and specific instructions on how to operate certain important equipment. Then, before things got too rough, the previous week’s relief eco-guardian and company, Greg, and Garry were headed back to Pearson, leaving me with the gulls and guillemots!

Bye for now!

Ecological Notes:

1 Male Elephant Seal (continuing)

Still molting. Apparently has lost several hundred pounds.

3 Californian Sea Lions on the main island, many more on middle island

Small group of California Sea Lions checking out the island

10+ Steller’s (Northern) Sea Lions on the middle island

This is what attracts the eco-tourism vessels

10 Harbour Seals close in, many more on surrounding islands

Three species of gulls noted today:
Many Glaucous-winged Gulls, including young of various ages. Some were testing their wings in the heavy wind.

Glaucous-winged Gull chicks looking for lunch

The youngest Glaucous-winged Gull I saw today

3 California Gull

California Gulls

2 Heermann’s Gull

Heermann’s Gull

80 Pigeon Guillemot spread over much of the rocky shoreline of the island. Frequent forays into the surrounding waters.

Pigeon Guillemots were still in breeding plumage

4 Black Oystercatcher (although I suspect more out of sight) including the youngster that hatched about a week ago

Black Oystercatcher amongst other shorebirds

74 Black Turnstone

Many nestled in the rocks

Black Turnstones

11 Surfbird

Surfbirds

2 Western Sandpiper

Western Sandpipers foraging in the grass

No raptors or songbirds (passerines)

Vessel Traffic: 4 ecotourism vessels between 1500 and 1600 today.  Most fishing and pleasure craft had retreated as wind and seas increased.

Weather Events:  Wind picked up from the west shortly after noon and continued 30+ km/hour into the night.  Seemed to drop off after 2200, but still gusty.

 Weather – Current: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

Weather – Past: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Sunny Days

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Ecological Notes:

  • 1 Male Elephant Seal, spent most of this hot sunny day in the water around the boat ramp. I conferred with the Waterfront Coordinator, and this is not one of the two males who was here this winter, but has been out here before.

Taking it cool

Visitors:

  • The Waterfront Coordinator came out today, to deliver 2 loads of fresh water, and helped work on the water system.

Facility Work:

  • Drained, cleaned and rinsed the freshwater tank. then refilled with fresh water brought over by boat.
  • Cleaning and prepping the wooden stairs at the student house for new preservative.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Several commercial and private vessels in the reserve today, sightseeing, and diving.

 Noted Infractions:

  • 2 private vessels went through the main channel at high speed.

Weather Events:

  • Westerly winds overnight shifted to primarily southerly winds at about 10 knots for the day. Calm seas and warm sunny skies.Winds returned to westerly in the evening.

 

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Elephant Seal

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Ecological Notes:

  • A large Male Elephant Seal came to the Island today, laid by the path in the sun for a while, and then went and settled in in the shade of the student house. I gave him plenty of room!

Soaking up some sun

 

Visitors:

  • Yesterday. the Waterfront Coordinator delivered diesel fuel and repair parts.

Facility Work:

  • In preparation for the servicing of the desalinator , the large saltwater cistern was drained. As there has never been any chemicals or grey water added to the cistern, it was drained back to the ocean. Long firehose material was used to ensure no bird nests would be affected.

DND events:

  • Many inshore detonations over the last few days.

Weather Events:

  • Sunny with a few cloudy spots throughout the day, giving way to heavy fog in the evening. Westerly winds 20 – 30 knots. Slight chop all day.

 

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Viewing from the Tower

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Ecological Notes:

  • I gave it a couple days to be sure, but it does appear that the last 2 elephant seals have left the island. Checked the outer rocks from the top of the tower as well. It was time for them to head to open water and regain the weight they lost during their molt.

(Photo from a previous day!)

  • Only 11 sealions left as well, 8 California sealions and 3 Stellers. One remaining Steller is relatively young.

DND events:

  • Several loud blasts, but no boat sentinels or flags, so it looked like it was further inland.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 2 Ecotourism vessels, following all guidelines properly.

 Feature Event:

  •  Weekly Wildlife Census is an all day event. Counting occurs early morning through to late evening, as activity changes throughout the day.
  • Low tide is a good time to count Oystercatchers and surf birds foraging in the inter-tidal zone. Right now, I’m limiting walking around the island edge due to all the various bird nesting locations.
  • The view from the top of the tower gives the best overview of the seal haulouts, surrounding rocks, and bird counts on the main island.
  • Other than Oystercatchers and Pigeon Guillemots , it’s best to count birds from the tower
  • Although not in the reserve, Biggs Orca (also known as Transient Orca) were  also observed from the tower today. Identified by a friend as the T46Bs

Weather Events:

  • Other than a short early morning fluctuation, winds were consistently from the west at 10 – 15knots all day. Cloudy with a few sunny breaks and good visibility all day.

 

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Gull Activity

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Ecological Notes:

  • Only 2 Elephant Seals left. The largest of the Females, and the Juvenile Male, who is slightly large than the female. Glad(?) to see the last male pup move to the ocean, as he was getting very thin, and looked to be loosing energy. Hopefully He’s off to regain weight and start growing again!

Not too hungry yet, we like it here!

  • The Gulls have nests everywhere, and for the most part are pretty mellow, until an eagle or tern flies over. Every now and then they fly up behind me, but drop quietly if I turn and face them.

Gull Display

Visitors:

  • Shorefront coordinator delivered groceries and supplies yesterday.

Facility Work:

  • Oil and filter changes on the Generator. Service of batteries.

Generator, used only for short periods when there hasn’t been enough Solar power to keep the batteries up.

 

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 3 private vessels, short sightseeing visits.

Weather Events:

  • Westerly winds all day, 20 – 30 knots, rising to 35 – 30 knots late afternoon. Light fog in the morning, sunny and clear all day. Heavy haze in the evening, not quite dense enough to be called fog. Swells up to 2 meters, with 1 meter chop on top of that.

 

** All photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Enjoying the sun

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Ecological Notes:

  • 4 Elephant Seals still in the grassy area
  • I’ve been watching an interesting behavior of one of the female Elephant Seals but can only speculate on the reason…. She has spent 3 days in the very thick Pineapple Weed. This plant produces as very sweet smell when crushed. Every time she wakes up, she moves forward, then thrashes about and slams her head into the fresh patch. She breaths deeply for a while, and falls back asleep!

Crushed trails

nestled in for a sleep

Facility Work:

  • After confirming the need last week, and insuring the system was working properly, it was time to do some minor repairs and modifications to the pier electric fence. Sunlight, salt water, waves and animals can be hard on electricals!

Weather Events:

  • Westerly winds of 20-30 knots all day. Large swell and chop until midday when the tide turned to a flood, which smoothed thing out a lot. Sunny with  light haze at water level, but still pretty good visibility.

 

** All photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Gull Nests

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Ecological Notes:

  • 6 Elephant Seals in the main grass area and boat ramp, including a juvenile male (slightly larger than the largest female), and 1 male “pup” from this season. The tagged female”pup” that was in the east bay yesterday, appears to have left the island.
  • The Juvenile male was rather feisty today and bluff charged, even from quite a distance.
  • Glaucous Wing Gull nests are popping up all over! All but 1 that I observed had 1 egg in them, suggesting they were all laid today. Considering there are about 180 Gulls on the island, mostly in clear pairs, there should be a lot of nests soon!
  • This nest is right outside my door, and the birds barely pay attention as I walk by.

Facility Work:

  • “Out with the new, in with the old” …… Wait …….. what?
  • For various reasons, the existing composting toilet system was not performing as expected for the main house. It needed to be removed, and plans are in the works for a new system. In the mean time, a previous Natures Head compact composting toilet has been re-installed in the main house.
  • One advantage of being out here by yourself is that skipping a shower gives you water to clean your favorite viewing windows while you wait for more rain!

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 2 private vessels, viewing wildlife

 Noted Infractions:

  • none

Weather Events:

  • Westerly 5 – 10 knot morning winds, shifting to Southerly 5 knot winds mid day. Continued to shift to Northeasterly winds at 5 – 10 knots in the afternoon. Calm seas, sunny with cloudy periods all day, overcast in the evening, hinting at possible showers.

 

** All photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Elephant Seal “Pup”

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Ecological Notes:

  • 6 Elephant Seals in the main grass area and at the boat ramp
  • The female “pup” was found in the bay at the east side of the island. This was where the last departing female spent a few days before departing the area. There’s a deep area there with less current, and probably a good place to feed up before departing. She did have a few scrapes and cuts that I could see, but I didn’t want to get too close and inspect any further, as it is a rock area and a lot of work if I disturbed her and she decided to move.
  • One very large Steller Sea Lion on the rock by the pier, really showing his size and dominance!

Steller Sea Lions can be 2 to 3 times the weight of California Sea Lions! (up to just over 1000 kilos or 2400 lbs.)

Being an “Eared” Seal, he can use his rotatable rear hips, to scratch the aforementioned external ear.

 

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 2 Ecotourism boats and 2 private boats, all with good behavior and departures.

Weather Events:

  • 15 – 20 knot westerly winds all day, increasing to 30 – 35 knots in the evening. Some haze with sunny skies. Slight swell and chop, again, increasing in the evening.

 

** All photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Pigeon Guillemots

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Ecological Notes:

  • Still 7 Elephant Seals on land, including the 2 pups. As mentioned in previous blog, they are all getting thin.

Should head off to feed once the molt is complete

  • Although it looks a bit chaotic when in larger flocks, Closer attention reveals that the Pigeon Guillemots are pairing up more now. Lots of courting displays, and ducking in and out of the rock crevasses and gaps in the boulders. A species of bird in the auk family (Alcidae) , they normally lay 1 or 2 eggs in a clutch.

 

Facility Work:

  • As always, lots of cleaning!

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 3 Ecotourism boats, all with good behavior. 2 private vessels, sightseeing with good behavior, and departed the reserve at proper speed!

Feature Event:

  • Part of working as an Ecoguardian here at Race Rocks, is making time to just take in the view. The steps inside the tower are each carved from sandstone blocks, and include 99 steps from floor to floor.

Weather Events:

  • Slight haze most of the day, visibility of about 10 nautical miles. Westerly winds at 15 – 20 knots until mid afternoon, rising to 35 – 40 knots by evening. High winds, combined with tide action created 1.5- 2 meter  swells, topped with up to 1 meter foot chop. Not a great place to be in a smaller boat.

 

** All photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?