Category Archives: Ecoguardians Log

Adventures of an Elephant Seal

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This morning the male elephant seal woke up and decided he would cause chaos. Maybe it’s because he’s lonely now that the females have left, or maybe it’s because he gets a kick out of hearing me yell at him from the window.

He started by galumphing straight over a gull nest then stopping to snooze on top of it, which resulted in 2 very upset gulls.

Unimpressed

He then made his way over to the fresh water shed where he proceeded to break into it by knocking down the sawhorse. If it were any other animal my first instinct would be to run outside and chase him off. Since he is a large male elephant seal…I opted for shouting from the kitchen window which did the trick! I could also tell that he was more interested in the sawhorse than anything else so I wasn’t too concerned about any immediate damage to the water tank. 

From the shed he made his way along the side of the house and started to boop his nose towards the propane tanks. Usually I always leave the elephant seals to do as they please, letting nature be nature, but I swear it’s like this seal wants to take down all of the supplies that keep me alive over here! Thankfully he moved on, but stopped shortly after to chew on a pipe that sticks out of the ground. This time I yelled at him from the balcony, as if I was scolding my dog and it worked surprisingly well. He made his way up to the lighthouse and fell asleep next to the stairs where he has remained for the rest of the day.

I hope tomorrow he behaves himself, or goes into the ocean like a normal seal would. Today I felt as though I was babysitting a toddler on a sugar high.

Trouble with a capital T!!!

Vessels:

  • Ecotourism: 3

Weather:

  • Sky: Sun and clouds
  • Wind: Low of 5 knots, High of 21 knots
  • Sea: Whitecaps
  • Temperature: Low 9•C, High 15•C

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

Gulls, Gulls, and More Gulls

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If you told me 6 months ago that I would one day be interested birds I would have called you crazy. Yet here I am, going cross eyed as I flip through every bird book on the shelf trying to decipher which gull is which and how to identify their various life stages. 

It started this morning when I saw a brownish/grey bird I’d never seen before fly by. It had a stumpy looking neck/head and its wings seemed almost stiff as it flew (if that makes sense). I only managed to get one terrible photo of it through the window and I have spent the majority of the day consulting colleagues and books trying to figure out what it was. I’ve got it narrowed down to a few options and will post a photo of it once I am confident in its ID.

From there I sat on the rocks with my camera hoping it would show up again and in the meantime snapping photos of the gulls – who by the way are still not acting aggressive in any way when I pass their nests. I took a photo which I’ll post a below in which there seems to be multiple different gulls but I really started going down the rabbit hole when I was trying to determine if they were different species or just the same species at different ages. Thankfully one of my relatives is a bird expert and photographer and was able to help me with a few!

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

A Very Soggy Sunday

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Today was a very soggy, rainy day. The birds all appeared drenched and disheveled, the elephant seals spent the day in the water, and Ollie was nowhere to be found.

One lone humpback passed by just on the outskirts of the reserve, sending a big spray into the air each time it surfaced. The ocean was calm all day which is the very best for spotting whales. On a much smaller scale I ended up with some small jellyfish in my water bucket when I was taking today’s salinity/temperature sample. There must have been hundreds in the water around the jetty!

The sun finally peaked out around 6pm, just in time for me to watch a gull harass a juvenile bald eagle. It blows my mind how savage and fearless these gulls can be.

Vessels:

  • Ecotourism: 8 vessels

Weather:

  • Sky: Cloudy/Rainy
  • Wind: Low of 1 knot, High of 11 knots
  • Sea: Calm
  • Temperature: Low 11•C, High 13•C

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

Saturday Update

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Nothing too wild to report today! I find myself tripping over more and more gull nests as each day passes but thankfully none have shown any aggression so far.

Our YSI unit that measures the salinity and temperature for sea water data has decided to stop working so today I learned how to use the old sampling method. I ended up with the same numbers as I’ve been getting all month so I think I managed to do it somewhat successfully! While I was collecting the water sample at the end of the jetty I had a curious little helper who was very intrigued by my bucket. She gave it an inspection and a boop with her nose before disappearing under the water and leaving me to my work.

No other creatures paid me a visit today but I did come across the unfortunate demise of a gumboot chiton that a gull dropped on the jetty. Very neat to see up close!

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

Facility Work Friday

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Happy Friday! I can’t believe today is already the last day of May, I feel like I just got back out here and now I only have a few days left!

Greg came over this morning with the Ocean Network Canada team who is working on the CODAR unit here. While they got to work, Greg, myself, and the new eco guardian (who will be starting after me) also got to work.

We managed to get quite a lot done (see list below) before the tide started dropping the everyone had to head out. This includes the highlight of my day which was Greg putting together my brand new herding board! Well…brand new to Race Rocks at least and hand made from repurposed materials!

Herding boards are typically used on farms to move pigs and other small animals from one area to another but I’ve used them for years when working in marine mammal rescue and they’re very effective with pinnipeds. It’s essentially an intimidating barrier between the person and the animal which makes moving them safer and in my experience more efficient.  I’ve been eyeing a piece of plywood in the basement of the student house for a while and today Greg found the perfect handles. The next few days are supposed to be rainy so if I’m feeling creative I may have to paint it too.

I got to test it out when one of the female elephant seals was blocking the path today which became a hazard for all our guests on site. It worked like a charm and she found the board very offensive so quickly moved off the path and went down to take a swim.

The male elephant seal is still here and massive as ever – he is not an animal I would use a herding board with or ever attempt to move. He moves about as he pleases around here and if he is blocking a path then I find a different one.

I think this is what people refer to as “a face only a mother could love”

Facility Work:

  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Repaired electric fence
  • Topped up battery electrolytes
  • Worked on desalinator
  • Fuel transfer up to generator building
  • Replaced main house propane tanks

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

May 30th Animal Census

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Today is animal census day! I swear all of the sea lions hide when it comes time to count them, but our big male elephant seal is still here. Upon a closer inspection (him lying directly out my front door) I actually think this is a different animal than the one that was here in March. At first I thought he had just gained weight back post moult but I think it’s just an older/larger male. It’s great to have him here either way!

May 30th Animal Census:

Mammals:

California sea lions: 20
Elephant seals: 3 (1 male, 2 females)
Harbour seals: 108
Sea otter: 1 (Ollie)
Steller sea lions: 6

Birds:

Bald eagle (adult): 3
Bald eagle (juvenile): 2
Barn swallows: 2
Canadian geese: 10
Cormorants: 23
Gulls: 336
Harlequin ducks: 10
Oyster catchers: 9
Pigeon guillemots: 75
Ravens: 1

Looks like the gull count will be going up soon!

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

He’s Back!!

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Today was a very low key day as I have been a bit under the weather the past few days. The weather backed me up on this, pouring rain and wind made for the perfect inside day.  Not too many boats on the water today but still a few ecotourism vessels around. 

Anddddd in true Race Rocks fashion, just as I was about to press “publish” on my boring little post above, I heard an elephant seal commotion outside. This isn’t unusual, the two remaining females here often vocalize but I peeked out the window anyway and I’m glad I did. The male elephant seal who I haven’t seen since March has returned and it was like seeing an old friend! Well for me at least… I don’t think he could care less. After chasing the larger of the two females around the grass for a while he has now settled in the grass and pineapple weed outside my front door, the same spot he would lay in March.

He has gained a fair bit of weight, and he towers over the large female who now looks tiny in comparison. His vocalizations are throaty and a much lower pitch than the females. It’s so cool to have him back, I hope he sticks around!

Vessels:

  • Ecotourism: 8 vessels

Weather:

  • Sky: Cloudy/Rainy, turned to blue sky in the afternoon
  • Wind: Low of 10 knots, High of 17 knots
  • Sea: Whitecaps
  • Temperature: Low 8•C, High 14•C

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

Gull Eggs and Eagle Snacks

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Good news! The foghorn is officially working! Bad news for me was that I made this very startling discovery at 3am.

Nothing major to report today, I found more gull nests and eggs today but thankfully still no aggressive behaviour (yet). I did get to watch a bald eagle devour a pigeon guillemot on a near by rock which was very cool to witness so close. I’ve also seen online and through colleagues that the Southern Resident Killer Whales are around so fingers crossed I can cross K and L pods off my sighting bucket list soon!

Visitors:

– Cedric and 2 future eco guardians

Vessels:

  • Greg and the Pearson boat circumnavigated the reserve with 3 different groups
  • Ecotourism: 15 vessels

Weather:

  • Sky: Cloudy
  • Wind: Low of 1 knot, High of 8 knots
  • Sea: Calm
  • Temperature: Low 7•C, High 16•C

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

Sunday Update

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There were about 50 sea lions on the rocks out front when I went to sleep last night, and I think all 50 of them decided to be particularly chatty from 4am onward. Needless to say, today ended up being an early morning start for me be but I’m glad it was! I opened my bedroom curtains to find about 15 brown pelicans resting on the rocks outside my window. I crept outside with my camera being careful not to disturb them and then sat on the back porch in the mist and watched them preen and dry their wings. I think I could stare at pelicans forever, they’re such funny looking creatures.

 

The Swiftsure International Yacht Race continued throughout the day with all boats on their way back to Victoria. Unfortunately the wind was at 0 knots and the ebb was strong so some of them appeared to be going backwards. Slowly I watched boat by boat as they admitted defeat, bringing their sails down and starting their engines. A few persevered but the same boat I saw at 7am was still bobbing outside the reserve at 1pm, trying its best to get past the currents.

Back to the animals —we are down to two elephant seals now, just one big and one small female. The gulls have officially started laying eggs which I know because one was dropped outside my front door this morning. They haven’t shown any aggressive behaviour towards me yet but I imagine I’ll be ducking for cover any day now. Ollie is still doing his best to blend in with the harbour seals, his bed of kelp and seaweed looking especially cozy today.

The weather today stayed windless with dark clouds and on/off rain. Quite a few ecotourism vessels passed by today, this time they did not bring the whales with them. Also noted a couple private vessels and one kayaker, all respecting the rules.

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

Swiftsure International Yacht Race 2024

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This weekend is the Swiftsure International Yacht Race which is a long distance sailing race that starts and end in Victoria. There are a few different courses that go up the Strait of Juan de Fuca towards Swiftsure Bank, meaning all of these boats go directly past/around Race Rocks.

The wind and current was rough this morning and I don’t know much about sailing but it definitely didn’t look like a fun way to start a race! Before too long there were close to 100 (if not more) sailboats passing by and it was so neat to watch. Due to the race (I assume) the ferry MV Coho that travels between Victoria and Port Angeles had to detour and ended up closer to Race Rocks than I’d ever seen. Right as it was passing by, one of the racing boats ended up cutting in front of it. I’m not sure if that was purposeful or accidental, but it seemed far too close for comfort from where I was standing! That being said, everyone on both boats appeared to be calm, cool, and collected so its very possible that my perspective and a very zoomed in photo makes the 2 vessels look closer than they actually were. I’ll post them below and let you be the judge!

After from the race excitement died down and most boats passed by, I spotted another interesting vessel on the horizon…a submarine! I did some digging and I believe that this is an American nuclear sub that is based in Bremerton, Washington and if it’s not, then they sure look alike!