Category Archives: Ecoguardians Log

Coralline Algae Discoveries, Impossible Invasive Plants

Posted on by

Weather:

  • Visibility 15+ NM
  • Sky clear
  • Wind 5-10 knots SE
  • Sea state: calm

Visitors/Marine Traffic: 

  • One medium sized catamaran passed through race passage this morning drifting on the current
  • This afternoon we were joined by Guy and Christine, who brought us some generator hardware and spent a bit of time enjoying the beautiful weather.
  • Quite a bit of commercial traffic outside the reserve today including barges of logs and shipping containers.

Ecological: 

  • There are quite a few beginnings of seagull nests now. They have become more aggressive, and now fight each other over space. We have seen some pairs mating.
  • We have been finding coral-like white fragments in the intertidal since last year, but until now have not been able to identify what they could be. Today we found some that were not white, but red! This insight has led us to believe that this is coralline algae. Amazingly, this article states that these unassuming structures can continue to grow forever (!) if left undisturbed and have growth rings that be counted, just like trees!
  • As Gary Fletcher mentions in this post, prostrate knot weed is one of the invasive species here on Race Rocks. We noticed that it is particularly efficient at growing in places where no other plants are able, therefore it’s beginning to spread in rocky areas. It has notably spread to the rocky areas on the SW side of the island where no other flora nor fauna has managed to establish itself.

 

Lovely Weather + Plenty To Observe

Posted on by

Weather:

  • Visibility
  • Sky clear, a few fluffy clouds
  • Wind 5-10 knots SW
  • Sea state: calm

Marine Traffic/Visitors:

  • Yesterday we saw the HMCS Calgary and HMCS Regina (both Halifax-Class frigate vessels). They passed by in the early evening.
  • One or two fishing vessels hanging around the border of the reserve

Ecological: 

  • Today we found three newly established goose nests. So far they each have 2-3 eggs.
  • The young seal pup has officially flown the coop! We haven’t seen her in a few days.
  • There are quite a few seagull nests beginning to take form. They are becoming more defensive of their established areas and make quite a ruckus when we walk through.

Sun, Census, Sea Lions!

Posted on by

Weather: 

  • Visibility 15+ NM
  • Sky partly cloudy
  • Wind 5-10 knots N (yesterday was very windy, 35+ knots)
  • Sea state: calm

Marine Traffic/Visitors:

  • This morning we observed 3 kayakers in the reserve when we heard the hullaballoo of  sea lions rushing into the water. They stayed for roughly 20 minutes before crossing back towards Pedder Bay.
  • A few fishing vessels outside of the reserve
  • One large commercial fishing vessel from Vancouver passed by quite close to the reserve yesterday evening
  • Today we saw the large “Cable Innovator” crossing towards Port Angeles. This article state that it’s the largest of its kind (2017)!

Ecological:

  • Yesterday we spotted the beginnings of the first seagull nest of the season. They have begun to hover overhead when we leave the house and have become much less afraid of us.
  • The sea lions have started to venture further onto the island. They wiggle under the fence on the jetty now to make space for more. The stinky days are on the horizon.
  • The last remaining pup is not present in the reserve today. We are wondering if she has finally left her birthplace to explore!
  • We spotted two wandering tattlers today. We suspect this is what we saw earlier in the week, and not a willet.

Census: 

  • 2 Adult Bald Eagles
  • 120 Seagulls
  • 63 Harbour Seals
  • 23 Sea Lions
  • 16 Canadian Geese
  • 8 Adult Oystercatchers
  • 9 Elephant Seals
  • 2 Wandering Tattlers

 

Gentle Winds and Plentiful Wildlife

Posted on by

Weather:

  • Visibility 15+ NM
  • Sky partly cloudy
  • Wind 5-10 knots N
  • Sea state: Calm

Visitors/Boats:

  • Yesterday Laura and Greg came at low tide to deliver fuel and for Laura to teach her online class.
  • Greg came this morning to deliver a load of fresh water which we pumped into our storage tank with the fire pump and hoses.
  • Today we saw a dive vessel in the reserve but no divers. They were fairly close to the wildlife but the sea lions did not seem particularly bothered.
  • One small pleasure craft hovered just outside of the reserve for the majority of the day. They were too far away to see what they were doing, but usually boats like this are fishing.

Ecological:

  • The small seal pup is still here, but she has become more adventurous over the past week. We have seen her napping on the east side of the island, and beside the decommissioned diesel tank on the west side.
  • The sea lion population continues to grow, and so does the smell! We will need to set up more fencing soon before they begin to take over the island completely.
  • The pair of crows that we have been seeing returned today and spent most of their day at Race Rocks.
  • We have continued to observe bald eagles in the reserve. We enjoy watching them swoop overhead and cause a stir amongst the seagulls.
  • One of the seals that we have been joined by over the past weeks was also spotted here in December (juvenile female V173). We are still waiting to hear from the researchers who tagged her to see if there is anything interesting to learn.
  • The elephant seals activity has been uneventful as they continue to moult. They spend their days napping and lounging on our “lawn” or wiggling down to the jetty to soak in the shallow water (and perhaps relieve the itchiness of all that peeling fur!).
  • At low tide yesterday we spotted many neat creatures in the exposed pool on the east side of Great Race Rock: urchins, anemones, crabs, fishes, chitons, barnacles, and tubeworms!

 

Sunny Day + Census

Posted on by

Weather:

  • Visibility 15 NM
  • Sky partly cloudy
  • Wind 0-5 knots N
  • Sea state calm

Boats/Visitors: None

Ecological:

  • Yesterday we saw a humpback whale pass through the straight roughly 1 NM away. Notably, this is only the second time that we have spotted a whale from Race Rocks without tourism vessels following close behind.
  • Not seen today in our census, there have been many black turnstones in the reserve this week (at least 10 at once).
  • Early this week we spotted what looked like a non-breeding adult willet. It seems as if it would be unusual to see one here so we are unsure if this is the correct ID. Without a photo it’s hard to be sure!

Census:

  • 9 elephant seals
  • 180 seagulls
  • 134 harbor seals
  • 112 sea lions
  • 11 cormorants
  • 6 oyster catchers
  • 2 adult bald eagles
  • The last pup left has been moving around the island, here it rests near the generator building.
  • Sea lions resting on an outcropping rock
  • We’ve been seeing these eagles around nearly every day.
  • The goose count rises, and so does the time we spend cleaning up after them!
  • Geese aggressively protecting their nest area
  • The invasion begins, slowly at first…

Windy Weekend

Posted on by

Weather:

  • Visibility 10 NM
  • Sky mostly clear, some clouds in late afternoon
  • Wind 15-25 knots N
  • Sea state: white caps, waves breaking at 1 m

Boats/Visitors: None

Ecological:

  • Things have remained uneventful over the weekend. The elephant seals have been settling in for windy weather and bickering quite a bit.
  • There have been two crows visiting off and on this week. They don’t usually stay very long and the other animals don’t seem to mind.
  • The youngest goose nest has two eggs today.
  • This nest has two eggs- the geese cover them when they leave the nest
  • Periwinkles in the intertidal
  • Remaining pup in her favorite spot
  • Stormy clouds moving in from the west
  • Today’s intertidal find: Abalone!

Business As Usual

Posted on by

Weather:

  • Visibility 15 NM
  • Sky partly cloudy
  • Wind 30-40 knots N
  • Sea state: white caps, fast moving water, waves and swells up to 1 m

Visitors/Boats:

  • There have been no visitors to the island and no boats within the reserve

Ecological:

  • There is a new goose nest with one egg so far established in the middle of the island where the footpaths intersect
  • The young pup has seemed particularly inactive recently, and we have not seen her in the water for some time. Nick mentioned to us when he visited that she seems to have gained weight so we are not overly concerned. She spends most of her time near the jetty behind her favorite fence post.
  • The goose with an injured leg continues to limp around the island, but seems to be making do and there are no signs of deteriorating condition.
  • The eagle activity has been steady, aside from today with these strong winds
  • The seagulls are beginning to pull the grass and collect other debris for nesting, but no established nests so far.

Maintenance:

  • The generator is still out of commission, but we have been taking in a substantial amount of solar energy. Combined with the smaller generator contributing, our batteries have remained healthy. We are conserving water heavily until the new part arrives, as the desalination process requires a sizable amount of electricity.
  • Felted sea lion fur
  • Goose down clinging to rocks
  • Abandoned goose nest behind fuel shed
  • E103, “Erica” enjoying the sprinkle from a punctured fire hose
  • Keeping the solar panels clean

Bustling Wildlife

Posted on by

Weather:

  • Visibility 10 NM this morning, 15+ NM this afternoon
  • Sky overcast in morning but clear this afternoon
  • Wind 20-30 knots NW-NE
  • Sea state: white caps (.25m), fast moving ripples

Visitors/Boats:

  • Greg and Nick on Monday
  • Greg and Nick on Tuesday
  • Greg and a technician for generator maintenance on Wednesday
  • Greg and Nick this afternoon (Thursday) 

Aside from this there have been very few vessels aside from commercial/shipping traffic. Today a couple of sailboats passed by despite the astounding wind gusts (all a fair distance away).

Ecological:

  • There have been 4 eagles in the reserve daily on average, both juvenile and adult. They typically perch on Rosedale Rock to our SE, but we have been spotting them on the webcam tower, crane, and diesel tank near the power building. The juvenile eagles seem to be more interested in Great Race Rock, while the adults tend to stick to the outcroppings. Occasionally they swoop over the reserve, prompting the seagulls to rise into the air to avoid becoming lunch!
  • The geese continue to protect their nests but no new eggs have been observed.
  • The elephant seals have settled to complete their moult, all in various stages. The remaining pup is still here, and spends most of its time on the jetty away from the others.
  • There is a sea lion with a significant head/neck wound that we have been seeing daily. It looks like it has been tagged by the Vancouver Aquarium, so we are wondering if it has been disentangled and tagged at the same time.
  • Yesterday we spotted a killdeer, a type of plover. We’ve never seen one here before!

Repairs/Maintenance:

  • We filled the underground cistern with sea water to be desalinated (pumped using the fire pump and fire hoses).
  • To maximize our solar intake we have been keeping the solar panels as clean as possible (when they are covered in bird waste they create much less power). 
  • Juvenile eagle on diesel tank
  • Juvenile eagle on power building
  • The gang
  • Moulting elephant seal skin and fur
  • The gulls continue to arrive for nesting…
  • … and defend their territory fiercely!
  • a breeding pair of geese resting
  • This one has a sore leg from a fight!
  • The youngest nest
  • Tag of the latest arrived elephant seal
  • Pigeon Guillemot
  • Sea lion with healing entanglement wound
  • Killdeer (adorable!)
  • Juvenile bald eagle perched on the crane

Sunny Days, Census

Posted on by

Weather:

  • Visibility 10+ NM
  • Sky Clear, partly cloudy throughout the day
  • Wind 15-20 knots NW
  • Sea State white caps, waves up to .5 m

Visitors/Boats:

  • No visitors to the island
  • Two kayakers in the reserve yesterday- very respectful of the wildlife, well done folks!
  • One pleasure craft yesterday that drifted around the reserve for quite a while (at least an hour)
  • A few “drifting through” pleasure crafts/off shift whale watching boats sprinkled over the past two days
  • We spotted the HMCS Regina heading into Pedder Bay

Ecological:

  • We found another goose nest yesterday underneath the back steps of the main residence containing 8 eggs. We noticed that the nest near the desalination structure has been looted by seagulls and abandoned.
  • The seagulls continue to arrive and establish their nesting spots. There are roughly 50% more gulls this week.
  • Two juvenile gulls spent yesterday in the reserve. We didn’t observe them catching or eating anything.

Census:

  • 92 Harbour Seals
  • 87 Sea lions
  • 11 elephant seals
  • 8 pelagic cormorants
  • 1 double crested cormorant
  • 1 bald eagle (adult)
  • 14 Canada geese
  • 140 seagulls
  • 3 black turnstones
  • 2 black oystercatchers
  • 1 black brant goose
  • The HMCS Regina
  • A cormorant taking flight
  • A young seal waits for mom to return (1/6)
  • 2/6
  • 3/6
  • 4/6
  • 5/6
  • 6/6
  • An oyster catcher searching for snacks at low tide
  • A branded sea lion
  • The elephant seals have been soaking up the sunshine
  • A young eagle
  • Two kayakers making their way through race passage from Pedder Bay
  • Seals resting on a sunny day

First Days Back

Posted on by

We are happy to be back on Race Rocks surrounded by the animals again. A big thanks to Nick for leaving things in excellent shape!

Weather:

  • Visibility: 10+ NM (Victoria Clear)
  • Wind: 10-15 knots NW
  • Water calm
  • Sky overcast

Visitors/Boats:

  • No visitors to the island since we arrived on Wednesday
  • One whale watching vessel yesterday with three people on board
  • Three jet skis passed through on Thursday evening

Ecological:

  • There are 10 elephant seals resting outside of the house this morning
  • One is the last remaining pup, as pointed out by Nick
  • The map of Goose nests that Nick left for us remains accurate, but there are many new eggs.
  • The seagulls are beginning to arrive and fight over nesting spots. We have observed them beginning to pull up tufts of grass and lay them down for nesting.
  • Yesterday evening we noticed an entangled sea lion from the jetty. It appears to have a plastic packing strap wrapped around its neck, similar to the one that we saw last year.
  • There are two mature eagles that have been periodically swooping over the reserve, causing quite a stir.
  • There are at least two pairs of oyster catchers preparing to nest. Yesterday we saw the pair which nested near the guest house last year defending the same rocky area.