Category Archives: Ecoguardians Log

Meeting with Peter Chandler : Exchange of instrument for Seawater sampling datas

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Weather

Wind: At 5H00 coming from West 5 knots. Will be 15 to 25 knots late afternoon                  Sky: Cloudy; Visibility :!0 miles;Sea:calm and flat. After a pretty good day the sky clouded over and rains lashed against the windows

Ecological

For the first time this year the eagles were steady around the Rocks today .We saw them 3 times and 2 at the same time once.So the gulls were pretty excited and maybe also because of the stormy and heavy weather. Yesterday for the census there were not so many pigeons-guillemots but today I could count at least 50 of them.Same thing for gulls Guy counted 120 gulls on North Rock in the evening

So we went to meet Peter Chandler from UVIC for an exchange of the instrument. We got exactly the same instrument but they need to be recalibrate once a year. Lately Peter found that the salinity record that we took were too high ( Probably because of the instrument).

He explained us that an important factor is if there is not enough wind for a season the water become saltier and the salt concentration stays on the surface.

Also actually the weather cycles are still there but we can’t predict them like we used to do it 40 years ago.

We spoke also about the amount of fish in an area :he explained that the phytoplankton grows better in the colder water so the fish follow .We could think because of the warming of the ocean that salmons have disappeared like in 1974 in the South of Vancouver Island but in fact they mainly have changed their migration path to get food and all the species  that get fed on them did too.

Race Rocks station is very important because of its unique situation not in a bay but in the open ocean with a lot of currents all the time . The datas we got (and have been for so many years) are really useful. They give informations that don’t concern a specific area only.

 

The sick or old Elephant Seal

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The same animal 2 days later(on the left picture). She finally managed to go back to the water for a short swim and came back on the jetty and doesn’t move. We will see what happens in the coming days

An Elephant Seal in a bad shape

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Weather

Wind:Very windy day ! From 7:00 AM It was around 25 knots from West ,got to 35.4 knots around 11:00 AM and stayed strong to 13:00.. later it  dropped to 25 knots and stayed like that to 10:00 PM. Atmospheric pressure:1012 HPA and Temperature:13.3 Celsius. Rain in the evening but not enough to get the solar panels cleaned.

Ecological

We saw the jet of a whale but it was very far…

We worry a lot for a female elephant Seal that looks in very bad shape. We found her in the railway trying to get the water but not moving,panting and shivering.. and her skin was full of pink scares..impressive .Gulls and Oystercatchers are now incubating and most of the nest have 3 eggs .Some pigeons-guillemots are still mating. A lot of biological activity around the rock.The big male elephant seals are not finished their moult. it will take a while.

Boats 

2US ships were going to the ocean. Usual traffic but not so many Eco-tour boats :too much wind I guess

Busy Week -end for the gulls

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Weather

Saturday:Wind:20 knots Westerly breezes stayed almost the whole day,Visibility : over10  miles;Forecast:30 knots in the afternoon,Sky clear to cloudy;Sea state :choppy.

Sunday:Wind : between 17th and 25 knots for the most part of the day and a gust around 30 knots in the evening at 9:00PM. Sky : clear

Ecological

Gull incubation is happening right now. You can see laying female almost everywhere with their protecting mate . I guess more gulls are coming because it looks to me that it was more crowded last year. Only 2 geese this WE: the couple with the incubating female .. More pigeon- guillemots (some mating) and a few Steeler Seals (5)on the rocks closed to the jetty. 10 Elephants Seals at night …the 2 large males and even the bad looking one always in the same spot closed to the solar panels building. Her skin is not so pinkish so her condition has maybe improved.

 

Boats

Saturday:A few whale watching boats today . The usual  cruising boats going out in the sunset.

Sunday:Early in the morning a tug hauling a big barge with a mechanical pele on, going towards Sooke ,Vancouver Island side. Many many whale watching vessels:5 at a time around noon and even one of them came back 5 times in the same day.

Maintenance

Chainsaw:filling up and sharpening. Some wood shopping for the reserve.Cleaning of the jetty (with the sea water pump and hose :a lot of fun !)soiled by the Sea lions living there almost all the time . They even get so much used to us that it’s difficult to make them dive when we have to get fresh water for the sampling . Solar Panels

Other

Plane heard maybe not above the Rocks but not far .

 

Quiet day

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Weather: 

Wind:12.4 knots southwest ;Sea:flat;Visibility at 5:00: to 10 miles;sky: clear. Very sunny day.

Boats 

Like usual especially when it’s flat and calm many eco-tour vessels going back and forth even in the evening at sunset.

Maintenance

This week the water sampling has to be done very late around 9 PM

 

Other: We went to Victoria for some errands and especially to buy some fabric:We would like to put some curtains on the windows ; First in the eco-guardians house and later in the student house.

 

 

Census day

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Weather

g 5:00 17 knots West wind;Visibility:10m;Sky:cloudy,Sea:Wavelets,white caps.In the evening 8:00 PM. A gust of South wind ,very local ,not expected brought an heavy rain that clean our windows and the solar panels!

Boats

Intense traffic the whole day in the strait and around the Rocks …eco-tour boats more than 30 for sure! We got call from Amatuana coming back from its trip . We had a look on it.

Ecological

7 elephants seals back from fishing at 7:00AM.(9 on the main Rock at night) Census done during the whole day. We were lucky to see for a second like in a dream a humpback whale, tail outside the water. The flowers are almost done this year ..so early if we compare with last year…I found a dead gull .

Visitors

Kyle brought some stuff,took back some barrels,went to check the whaler engine with Guy. A tool was needed to do the job so we will go to the college tomorrow.

Maintenance

Guy emptied completely the diesel barrels in the tank of the main house.. He looked at the yellow cistern:old pipes ,hoses and lines need to be removed pretty soon. With Kyle they looked at the best way to put the new ladder on the jetty.We weeps the alley and did the solar panels. Guy modified the outside pipes for the eco-mar toilets :he put an elbow shape pipe to let the air in but not the rain…Eco-mar toilets are working perfectly well.Heavy duty oven cleaning done …

Census 

Harbour seals: 103

Seagulls :around 350

Canada guess:5

Californian lion seals :20

Stellers :0

Black oystercatchers:10 birds and 3 nests found

Elephant seals:9 and none on the other Rocks

Humpback whale : 1 (one today and another one this week at the green boyd) on the south side

Orcas : a few this week

Harlequin ducks: 1

 

Other

What do you think about this I found today (Yogi tea bag): “You are the sky the rest is just the weather”..Made my day!

 

Efficient solar panels

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Weather

At 5:00 Wind:30 knots West wind;Visibility :5miles;Sky:cloudy;Sea:Wavelets and white caps.At 7:00:30knots, 8:30:34k, 9:30:40.6k,1o:30:30.6 and rain.In the afternoon it became sunny giving a intense blue to the ocean..gorgeous with the white heads everywhere and the currents…The water temperature was 9.8 and the salinity 33.5.

Ecological

The elephants Seal at least 8 of them spent the day sleeping on the grass but the young one were pretty nervous ..May be the wind?

Maintenance

House cleaning

Trimming of the rusty iron bolts where  the old ladder was attached the jetty.

Filling up of the water tank.It’s full. The pump has been running for 11 hours. This needs to be done every 8/9 days. We have been here for a week and we never used the generator even if the pump worked for so long. Thanks to the solar panels. They are working really well but it’s really important to keep them cleaned all the time. It works and it’s free.

Guy finished to empty the house tanks barrels

Solar panels

Boats

No one to 10:30,one big fishing boat heading against the wind,one whale watcher around noon by a 35 knots wind and later another long and fast one by 36 knots wind! A Canadian coast guard boat going towards Sooke very slow in the Sunset.

Other

DND activity: 3 blasts (2 strong ones)

 

Gale Warning

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Weather

At 5:00AM Wind:17 knots from West ,Visibility:8 to 10 miles,Sea:choppy. At 6:30 no wind and foggy :Horn on.Wind getting Southwest and raising later.Gale warning in effect for the night.Air temperature at 5:00:12.5 degrees celsius.and 9.5 at dew point.From 6:30 to 1:00 the horn has been honking despite the 18 knots wind.All the sudan it was pretty foggy on one West/North side but totally clear on the South side of the rocks and just the time to spot a humpback whale fishing around the green boyd:beautiful scenery.a little too far for good pictures.In the beginning of the afternoon we could observe some large patches of fog but later the wind picked up to 30 knots and no fog anymore for the day.

Ecological

When we had finished with the solar panel cleaning I went around looking for the nest Riley was speaking about,the one we couldn’t find with James the other day .Finally I found it with 2 eggs in it an by the way I discovered a  hatching goose and the male close by.She was amazingly hidden and protected by 2 rocks and hard to see…so that means that we have 5 geese instead of 3 and maybe more pretty soon. Guy saw on South Rocks 5 huge Steeler sea lions and one had the word ROB on its left side.No time to get pictures ,they jumped hastily.

Did you have a look on the oystercatcher nest? beautiful especially by night !

I realized that I have seen no pelagic cormorants this year.  12 elephant seals in the morning on main ;none on the other Rocks.We will do the census as soon as the weather will be good enough.

Boats

7 to 10 eco-tour boats and the first one not before 11AM. Around 18:00 a big US coast guard vessel at the border line.

Maintenance 

We restart the new camera connection.

Guy finished to repaired the starboard corner of the whaler :water infiltrations in the hule in that spot.

I brought to date the freezer. Windows need attention as soon as possible !

 

 

 

 

Oystercatcher Cam – Race Rocks Ecological Reserve

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Recently James and Max from the It Department at Lester Pearson College have set up a live camera to follow the development of one of the Black Oystercatcher nests with two eggs in the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve. The camera had infrared night vision, so this samople of night behaviour was captured, see the video below taken at 11:30 PM June 6 2016
Other references and images of Black Oystercatchers at Race Rocks can be found at these links:

2bloy BLOY headshot
The Black Oystercatcher with more videos and pictures in the Gallery of the Race Rocks Taxonomy All entries on this website tagged with Black Oystercatcher: