Back again!

Posted on Saturday,April 5, 2025 by Derek Sterling

Happy to be back at my home away from home!

Ecological Notes:

3 female Elephant Seals, 1 Full Adult and 2 juveniles

: The juvenile females prefer this grassy are

: The Adult female moves around more based on sun,shade. and breeze

The Gulls are slowly pairing off, no full courtship displays or nest building noted yet

A few squabbles here and there

So far, I’ve only found 2 of the 3 previously noted active Canada Goose nests…. I think the one by the composting are has been abandoned

The gulls are quite quick to take advantage of spoiled eggs

The harbour seals on the southern rocks seem to be very skittish …… wondering if there have been undocumented orca hunts in the reserve, maybe at night(?)

Visitors:

Just the waterfront coordinator during the Eco-Guardian exchange/transfer

Facility Work:

fuel transfers
Monthly report levels checks
general quick facilities check on arrival, moving to scheduled routine checks

DND events:

Heavy Blasting one one day

Noted Vessel Traffic:

Some eco-tourism vessels, all following good practices and procedures
1 private vessel exploring the reserve

Noted Infractions:

Private vessel approached the haul out area by the crane/jetty area a little close and head on orientation, startling the sea lions, all moving and several entering the water…. I feel the nervousness of the sea lions was increased by the previous days blasting though

Weather Events:

Thursday, April 03:
- Sky: sunny and clear, very occasion cloud patches
- Wind: Mostly W, 5-10 kts in the morning, dropping to very light in the afternoon, rising to near 20kts over the afternoon/evening
- Sea: calm seas
- Temperature Low 8.5^oC, High 10^oC
Friday, April 04:
- Sky: Mostly clear, with some high overcast at times
- Wind: NE shifting to E 5-15 kts
- Sea: calm seas
- Temperature Low 7^oC, High 11^oC
Saturday, April 05:
- Sky: Bright, high overcast
- Wind: W/WSW 16-37 kts
- Sea: calm seas
- Temperature Low 8^oC, High 10^oC

** Any 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?

Wildlife Census

Posted on Wednesday,April 2, 2025 by Tristan Blaine

Woa, last week on Race Rocks. 3 months has FLOWN by, marked with very few intense winter storms and no resident Elephant Seals over the breeding season. We had a big female come ashore and do a bunch of feeding over the last month, and then a new (smaller) seal showed up on March 31st. She looks like a survivor of ‘scabby moult’ and she’s tagged! It’s a green tag (L334) meaning she was tagged in Año Nuevo, and probably 3-4 years old. We were so excited to have more than 1 Elephant Seal around we were very suprised to wake up this monring to another small Elephant Seal female! Could this be the begining of the moutling season for Race Rocks? Stay tuned to find out!

We figured if it’s the end of our time here, better try and leave the place better off than we found it. We installed Greg’s new electric fence concept on the jetty, and re-habed the N fence perimeter. Cleaned up a bunch of the scrap materials from previous infrastructure projects, and put the ladders away. We’re very fancy like that.

The Canada Geese have begun the laying season, which means a marked increase in their aggression as they start to defend their nests. It’s a battle between the Geese and the gulls (who are also getting ready to start laying), and we often wake up to a freshly cracked egg on the main walkway.

Mammals:

Stellar Sea lions: 12
California Sea lion: 14
Harbour Seal: 30
Northern Elephant Seal: 3

Birds

Gulls: 122
Cormorants: 68
Eagle: 8 Adult, 6 Juvenile
Turnstones: 20
Canada Geese: 7 – 3 breeding pairs
Oystercatcher: 18

It has been a LOVELY time on Race Rocks, and we’re always so grateful to get to spend time here. It’s such a beautiful spot with so much history, and it has Elephant Seals some of the time! We look forward to seeing a new Beachmaster take charge of the island, and for the opportunity to return.

Tristan & Courtney

Elephant Seals LOVE the smell of sawdust.

Wildlife Census

Posted on Thursday,March 27, 2025 by Tristan Blaine

This week the highlight was definitely the lightning storm! This is the only time we’ve seen lightning on Race Rocks, and it was very cool to see it. Over there. Not hitting the lighthouse.

We still have a resident female Elephant Seal! She goes to sea most nights and returns in the morning. We like the idea of her munchin’ on animals all night long, and that would align with the crazy amount of pooping she’s been doing. Typically Elephant Seals have very few excretions while on land, but this lady has been painting the town orange.

Very few Whale Watching boats this week, and the California Sea Lions decided to spend the week elsewhere, maybe munching on all those spawning herring up island?

Mammals:

Stellar Sea lions: 27
California Sea lion: 10
Harbour Seal: 16
Northern Elephant Seal: 1

Birds

Gulls: 64
Cormorants: 157
Eagle: 4 Adult, 4 Juvenile
Turnstones: 55
Canada Geese: 7 – 3 breeding pairs
Oystercatcher: 16

Wildlife Census

Posted on Tuesday,March 11, 2025 by Tristan Blaine

It’s been a BEAUTIFUL spring!

We had a Pearson Graduate come out to visit Race Rocks and hear all about the shenanigans the students got up to 20 years ago. That was GREAT! Thank you so much for visiting Professor J!

We had the female Elephant Seal from ‘Middle Rocks’ move over to Race Rocks to take up residency in the front yard, bellowing up a storm. She sat on the boat ramp at night and bellowed all night long, and we were greeted with a second female Elephant Seal in the morning! Pretty interesting to think they might call each other into safe haul-outs.

A new female joined for a few days of intense napping.

Our resident female loves snugglin’ flowers.

We also got that Transient pod of Orca visiting again (likely T041) hunting around South Seal Rocks and Middle Rocks, followed by some playing in the rapids of Middle Channel. While we didn’t see exactly what they caught, there was a bunch of blood to looks like they were successful.

Cruising close to the rocks looking for a tasty sea lion.

I do find it funny the Sea Lions get in the water when the Orca approach. Clearly they are more agile than I give them credit.

Spring is sprung, the gulls are getting ready to nest and the geese are in the heat of battle for the ultimate nesting areas.

Mammals:

Stellar Sea lions: 25
California Sea lion: 75
Harbour Seal: 10
Northern Elephant Seal: 2
Transient Orca: 5 T041

Birds

Gulls: 165
Cormorants: 157
Eagle: 2 Adult, 2 Juvenile
Turnstones: 16
Canada Geese: 5 – 2 breeding pairs
Oystercatcher: 10
Pigeon Guillemots: 44

Wildlife Census

Posted on Wednesday,March 5, 2025 by Tristan Blaine

We’ve been hearing Elephant Seal vocalizations at night, but haven’t seen anyone lurking around on the boat ramp. After taking the Race Rocks boat ‘Neighbor’ for a rip we spotted this cutie hiding at the summit of Middle Rock. Courtney used the ‘socketed’ pectoral flipper to differentiate the elephant seal from the surrounding sea lions. After that she started making visits to the boat ramp first thing in the morning. Not pregnant, didn’t give birth, just hanging around.

Female Elephant Seal wallowing at the jetty.

Female Elephant Seal complaining about the noise at Middle Rocks to the NW.

We also got a California Sea Lion hanging out next to the crane with a red flipper tag on his right flipper. We haven’t been able to figure out what this tag identifies yet.

California Sea Lion with a red tag in his ‘flipper-pit’.

No number or identification, just a red clip.

The coveted ‘end of the jetty’ position is all about leverage, and not letting anyone new join the party.

Mammals:

Stellar Sea lions: 126
California Sea lion: 153
Harbour Seal: 48
Northern Elephant Seal: 1

Birds

Gulls: 45
Cormorants: 38
Eagle: 1 Adult, 2 Juvenile
Turnstones: 14
Canada Geese: 5 – 2 breeding pairs
Oystercatcher: 22
Pigeon Guillemots: 26

Boats

Recreation Salmon Fishing: 18
Tourism: 4
Sailboats: 4

Weather must be improving as we’re seeing more sailboats cruising around the Juan de Fuca.

The Stellers diminished this week and started using the fringes after the sea lion pileup from last week.

I try to remember to include the Bald Eagles, they’ve been pretty lazy these days.

Kayaking the rapids at Race Rocks looks pretty fun.

A log kept bumping into her butt and making her angry. Hard life of an Elephant Seal.

Wildlife Census

Posted on Tuesday,February 25, 2025 by Tristan Blaine

BOOM! With the nice weather improving, a huge cohort of Steller Sea Lions showed up, and took over South Islands. This is a change from the typical South Seal Rocks haul-out next to the generator shed. I’ve attached a Reserve Map for those interested.

South Islands got COVERED in Steller Sea Lions this week.

Race Rocks Reserve Map

Bull Stellers had to figure out the pecking order for the summit.

Mammals:

Stellar Sea lions: 250
California Sea lion: 150
Harbour Seal: 22
Sea Otter: 1 (Ollie?)

Birds

Gulls: 50
Cormorants: 55
Eagle: 4 Adult, 6 Juvenile
Turnstones: 30
Canada Geese: 7 – 3 breeding pairs
Oystercatcher: 44
Pigeon Guillemots: 73
Harlequin Ducks: 4

Pigeon Guillemots taking over the NW bluffs of Race Rocks.

Harlequin Ducks on South Seal Rocks

Double-crested Cormorant

Harbour Seals love that low-low tide.

I was recently reminded that Trans-Mountain is now operational, and we’re seeing an increase in tanker traffic in the Juan-de Fuca Straight.

PIGU!!! On a good day the Pigeon Guillemots can almost drown out the sea lion barking.

Black Oystercatchers are used as an indicator of good coastal ecosystem health.

Probably Ollie, lurking on the edge of South Islands for a few days.

I was trying to decide if Ollie was carrying around an old River Otter again. Your guess is as good as mine here.

Black Turnstone love foraging around the edges of the footpath and outcropping rocks.

Census + Spring has sprung!

Posted on Tuesday,February 18, 2025 by Tristan Blaine

Pearson Students coming out to see the wildlife!

This week Second Nature made a trip out with some students to see the Sea Lions! It’s always great to see just how excited students are to see Race Rocks!

California Sea Lion loving that cozy sunshine.

Canada Geese can eat up to up to 2kg of grass a day. It noticable.

Weather has been fantastic, with new Pigeon Guillemots and Oystercatchers showing up.

Mammals:

Stellar Sea lions: 64
California Sea lion: 87
Harbour Seal: 14

Birds

Gulls: 55
Cormorants: 25
Eagle: 2 Adult, 2 Juvenile
Turnstones: 14
Canada Geese: 5 – 2 breeding pairs
Oystercatcher: 15
Pigeon Guillemots: 52

Ocean swell coming up the Juan de Fuca onto the jetty.

Animal Census

Posted on Tuesday,February 11, 2025 by Tristan Blaine

I guess that counts as winter storms…

Looking south from the Lighthouse.

We got some spicy winds and the temperature dropped out from January 30 – February 5th. With the storms came the California Sea Lions en masse: going from 58 the previous count to 168. The Jetty must be much nicer than wherever their feeding grounds are.

Temperature trends for the week.

Wind data in Km/hour. A little spicy.

I am pretty impressed with the tourism operators that visit Race Rocks: I would have assumed anything over 35 knots would make for a bad day to visit, but we maxed out with 6 tourism vessels visiting the Sea Lions and Birds of Race Rocks, even during the worse day of winds we got this week. We also got a visit by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, doing a patrol of the Ecological Preserve and ensuring the tourism vessels didn’t disturb the Sea Lions.

Wind and current working against each other can make for some lumpy wildlife viewing.

First time I’ve ever seen Sombrio Point visit Race Rocks.

Time to hide from the wind and waves.

As for Race Rocks proper things have been pretty chill. There isn’t much of a stockpile of firewood, so we’ve been scavenging any bits of wood on the island to keep warm when the winds blowing. Hopefully warm weather is coming, or we’d take some evil North wind to deliver us some new fire wood.

Scrounging for any wood to keep things from freezing.

Mammals:

Stellar Sea lions: 70
California Sea lion: 168
Harbour Seal: 22
Sea Otter: 1 (Ollie?)

Birds

Gulls: 55
Cormorants: 30
Eagle: 4 Adult, 5 Juvenile
Turnstones: 14
Canada Geese: 8 – 4 breeding pairs trying to hunker down
Oystercatcher: 25
Pigeon Guillemots: 45

Boats

Tourism: 6
Private: 0
Government: 1

Animal Census

Posted on Wednesday,January 29, 2025 by Tristan Blaine

Cheeky California Sea Lion showing me he doesn’t care the generator is running.

The calm before winter storms hit.

While everyone on South Vancouver Island talks about impending snow, we’re basking in the beautiful weather and enjoying a rare moment of quiet. It looks like the California Sea Lions haul-out here for the bad weather, but when it gets really nice for an extended period of time the California Sea Lions seem to go for a wander.

We’ve had a couple Humpback Whales feeding just off of Race Rocks, and lots of Whale Watching Boats coming by. Counting the Harbour Seals can be tricky, but when the tide drops the Rock Sausages find a comfy place to have a nap until the water comes back up.

Orca Spirit Adventures getting some up-close portraits of the Steller Sea Lions.

Harbour Seals hanging out for a quick nap at low tide.

We’ve had a female Elephant Seal coming ashore off-and on throughout the week. She seems to come ashore at night, and travel around the island calling for other seals, then retreating back into the ocean in the late morning. At first I was really excited thinking she might be pregnant, but it seems she is not here to stay, just looking for the other seals.