Category Archives: Ecoguardians Log

Christmas at the rock

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Merry Christmas

 

Ecological Notes:

  • Although there are still no Elephant Seals hauled out here, a picture of one temporarily hauled out at Trial Island looks like one of the females normally here
  • The Snow Goose is again hanging out with the Canada Geese…… they often chase it a bit, so perhaps when I though it had left, it was just away from them hiding
  • I always feel bad when I’m moving Sea Lions down the ramp and notice an injured one ….. when I am aware of one, I try to move them more slowly

Visitors:

  • A quick touch and go run by Greg for a quick grocery top up before the holidays…. He also delivered bottled water for drinking, and some for the battery top ups

Facility Work:

  • Bucked and split another load of firewood, stocking up for the cold months of January and February
  • Lots of daily fixes on the fences in the heavy winds
  • Twice a week top ups to the battery fluids
  • Transferring fuel to the generator building as often as possible
  • Topped up the cistern and put away the hoses
  • Sometime the calendar blurs a bit out here, other than set weekly chores….. but every now and then you get a reminder of the passage of time…. Printed out the tide and current tables for 2026

  • Cleaned the outside of the main  house windows ….. even with all the rain, there is salt and other debris sticking
  • Cleaned the solar panels a couple times for the same reason
  • Don’t know how the wind managed to break this with the door latched closed, but it had a previous repair, so maybe it was extra weak

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Occasional Eco-Tourism vessels
  • A couple private vessels transiting and observing in the reserve 
  • All behaved appropriately 

Weather Events:

Typical December weather, many variable wind directions and strengths. On and off rain nearly every day.

  • Wednesday, December 24:
    • Sky: Overcast, rain most of the day
    • Wind: Mostly N, 10-15kts in the morning, dropping briefly to 0 mid afternoon, then rising again
    • Sea: 2 ft waves most of the day
    • Temperature Low 5.5oC, High 8oC
  • Thursday, December 25:
    • Sky: high and low overcast, rain squalls
    • Wind: ENE shifting to NNE mid day, 10 – 15 kts
    • Sea:  medium cop all day
    • Temperature Low 5oC, High 6.5oC
  • Friday, December 26:
    • Sky: full mix of high and low overcast, rain squalls and sunny breaks
    • Wind: W rising early morning to a mid morning high of 38kts
    • Sea:  lots of chop, very messy around the reserve, but overall not to bad in the strait as wind is currently running with tide
    • Temperature Low 5oC, High 8oC  (much cooler “feels like” temperatures though)

10 minutes after a big rain squall

 

 

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

 

Weather – Current:

https://tempestwx.com/station/190757/

 

Weather – Past:

https://tempestwx.com/history/190757

Animal Census for December 20

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Birds

  • Bald eagle adult                     2
  • Bald eagle juvenile                7       
  • Turnstones                              18
  • Gulls                                       178
  • Cormorants                             223
  • Oyster catcher                       8
  • Canadian goose                     14
  • Snow goose                                1

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                         327
  • Harbour seal                               10
  • California sea lion                    289
  • Sea otter                                        1 reported to me
  • Animal Tracking and Injuries:
    • 1 older California Sea lion, that seems to have no use of his rear  area, just drags …. not extremely thin though, seems to be “healthy”

Nightly wind storms

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Ecological Notes:

  • The Snow goose apparently left
  • Smaller Sea Otter, and  Northern Fur Seal reported to me by Eco-Tourism vessels
  • Still no Elephant Seals
  • Although not uncommon to see eagles hunting gulls here, One day in particular was quite extraordinary …. up to 7 Eagles in the air at the same time chasing gulls, it was like a fighter plane dogfight!
  • Returning to the reserve after a personal time off, the boat was swarmed by Orca, about 20 feet from the jetty! I believe the sea lion they were chasing must have jetted under the boat as they would not leave. They did eventually get their lunch as proven by the gulls frenzy on the scraps.

Visitors:

  • Shorefront team for various delivers and ongoing maintenance and clean up

Facility Work:

  • Richard from Shorefront team moved fuel from various old tanks to the Student building tank.
  • Prepared one old tank for removal
  • Removed piping from the large(old)diesel tank from the structure by the the Generator building, too it apart and removed it from the island
  • Regular battery maintenance and fuel transfers
  • A couple more desalinator runs (running when the Generator runs during the day, it often runs at night)
  • Changed oil and filters on the Generator
  • Sometimes you have to follow the little beeps too!

  • Replaced the starter cord on the gusher pump (used to fill the cistern)

 

DND events:

  • some blasts spread over time

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • A couple private boats transiting
  • Occasional Eco-Tourism vessels

Weather Events:

  • Monday, December 15:
    • Sky: High overcast occasional rain
    • Wind: N 5-10kts early morning, shifting to W and rising as high as 45kts over the day, tapering to 20kts by midnight
    • Sea:  light chop turning to 3-4ft waves by afternoon
    • Temperature Low 9.3oC, High 10.5oC
  • Tuesday, December 16:
    • Sky: Overcast with a few rain showers
    • Wind: ESE winds 5-10kts during the day rising rapidly late evening to W 48kts
    • Sea:  Light chop all day
    • Temperature Low 8oC, High 10oC
  • Wednesday, December 17:
    • Sky: overcast with sunny patches
    • Wind: W gusting to 60kts over night, dropping to 25-30kts early morning, continuing to drop to 5-10kts by evening
    • Sea:  3-4 ft waves and swells 
    • Temperature Low 12oC, High 20oC

High winds find anything that’s not screwed down

Although it would have been good to get some more fire logs, at least the wind direction didn’t bring a ton of debris to the ramp.

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

 

Weather – Current:

https://tempestwx.com/station/190757/

 

Weather – Past:

https://tempestwx.com/history/190757

Animal Census for December 15

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Birds

  • Bald eagle adult                     2
  • Bald eagle juvenile                6       
  • Turnstones                              28
  • Gulls                                       223
  • Cormorants                             185
  • Oyster catcher                       17
  • Canadian goose                     14
  • unidentified Surf Birds            2

 

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                         437
  • Harbour seal                                17
  • California sea lion                    329
  • Sea otter                                        1 reported to me
  • Northern Fur Seal                           1 reported to me
  • Animal Tracking and Injuries:
    • 1 older California Sea lion, that seems to have no use of his rear  area, just drags …. 

Birthday Storm!

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Ecological Notes:

  • Still no Elephant Seals
  • Snow Goose is still here
  • Daily visits from Eagles hunting Gulls, Saturday had 11 or 12 eagles hunting, it wreaked havoc with the gulls

  • Smaller sea otter reported to me by an Eco-Tourism vessel
  • Very large clusters of Black Oyster Catchers, and Black Turnstones huddled on the lee of the island


Visitors:

  • Greg and Richard from shorefront team delivering fuel
  • A Service Rep here to measure the house windows for blinds and/or curtains
  • This weekend’s visit from students was cancelled due to winds

Facility Work:

  • Fuel transfers
  • Twice weekly battery fluid servicing
  • With the help of the shorefront team, more wood was brought up, ready for bucking
  • Replacing some of the well worn sections of electrical fencing

DND events:

  • a few blasts earlier in the week, disturbing the Sea Lions and birds

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Some Eco-Tourism and educational vessels
  • Some private vessels

Side note: this is the 5th year I have spent my Birthday out at Race Rocks!

 

Weather Events:

  • Normal selection of fall weather during the week, no extremes
  • Friday, December 05:
    • Sky: Overcast and stormy, some periods of very heavy rain
    • Wind: N 5-10 kts in the morning, switching to W by noon, rising to 35-45 kts late in the evening … ground measurement shows gusts to 63kts during the night!
    • Sea:  3-4 ft waves and sometimes higher swells
    • Temperature Low 7.9oC, High 10.7oC
  • Saturday, December 06:
    • Sky: High overcast, some rain
    • Wind: W 20-25 kts, dropping to 5 kts by evening
    • Sea:  waves and swells to 2 feet 
    • Temperature Low 9.2oC, High 10.6oC
  • Sunday, December 07:
    • Sky: Mixed clear and cloud, very occasional rain showers
    • Wind: N 5kts in the morning, shifting to west and rising to 25 kts during the day
    • Sea:  light chop 
    • Temperature Low 8.7oC, High 11oC

 

 

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

 

Weather – Current:

https://tempestwx.com/station/190757/

 

Weather – Past:

hhttps://tempestwx.com/history/190757

Animal Census for Saturday, December 06

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Birds

  • Bald eagle adult                      2
  • Bald eagle juvenile                 9        
  • Turnstones                              40-50*
  • Gulls                                       127
  • Cormorants                             264
  • Oyster catcher                       40-50*
  • Canadian goose                     14
  • Snow Goose                             1
  • unidentified Surf Birds            4
    *they were huddled together on the lee side of the island to escape the heavy winds

 

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                          367
  • Harbour seal                                23
  • California sea lion                     425
  • Elephant seal female                   1 seen swimming, not on shore
  • Sea otter                                        1 reported to me
  • Animal Tracking and Injuries:
    • There’s one old California Sea lion, that seems to have no use of his rear  area, just drags …. other than that, he appears healthy…. when I need to move him off the ramp, I take extra care to move him slowly

Animal Census for Saturday, November 29

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Birds

  • Bald eagle adult                                2
  • Bald eagle juvenile                            1
  • Turnstones                                     none seen during the day, several heard at                                                           night though
  • Gulls                                              141
  • Cormorants                                     227
  • Oyster catcher                                 4
  • Canadian goose                             14
  • Snow Goose                                     1

 

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                               314
  • Harbour seal                                   15
  • California sea lion                          354
  • Sea Otter                                           1

Getting ready for the cold

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Ecological Notes:

  • Still no Elephant Seals
  • Snow Goose is still here

  • Daily visits from Eagles hunting Gulls
  • Smaller sea otter reported to me by an Eco-Tourism vessel

Visitors:

  • Greg and Richard from shorefront team
  • Service Tech
  • Students from Pearson College each weekend

Facility Work:

  • Another clean up of dead birds…… mostly Eagle predation, but a couple of “healthy looking” birds as well
  • Service Tech came out again for the hot water system in the main house
  • Some weeding accomplished in the hollow in front of the water tank
  • Ongoing fence repairs
  • Battery fluids maintained
  • Delsalinator run when ever the generator was running during the day
  • Students from Pearson College helped with the animal census and laying out the hose to fill the cistern with salt water

  • more firewood split to stock it up for the colder weather coming! Thank you Richard for the platform for the wood splitter, up off the floor and now able to keep face away from the mechanism while using

  • Set up, flushed, and then ran the water pump to start filling the cistern, will need more as the tide ran low

DND events:

  • a few blasts earlier in the week, disturbing the Sea Lions and birds

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Some Eco-Tourism and educational vessels
  • Some private vessels, including Kayakers, and a small dinghy

  • 1 Spill Response Vessel transiting 

  • All behaved responsibly 

Weather Events:

  • Thursday, November 27:
    • Sky: Overcast, with very brief sunny periods
    • Wind: NNE 25-30kts
    • Sea: 3-5 waves, hitting the pier heavily 
    • Temperature Low 8.1oC, High 9.6oC
  • Friday, November 28:
    • Sky: Clear in the morning,gradually becoming high overcast as the day progressed, tempest system report slight rain during the night
    • Wind: NE winds, 5kts in the morning, rising to 18kts by mid afternoon 
    • Sea:  remained light chop as when the wind rose, it was tide with wind
    • Temperature Low 8.1oC, High 10.4oC
  • Saturday, November 29:
    • Sky: High overcast
    • Wind: NE 10-15 kts
    • Sea:  light chop 
    • Temperature Low 6oC, High 8.2oC
  • Sunday, November 30:
    • Sky: Clear all day
    • Wind: ENE 15kts, dropping to 5kts mid afternoon
    • Sea:  light chop 
    • Temperature Low 6oC, High 8oC

 

 

** 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?

Animal Census for Saturday, November 22

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Count aided by Pearson College students

 

Birds

  • Bald eagle adult                               1
  • Bald eagle juvenile                            3
  • Turnstones                                    12
  • Gulls                                              304 
  • Cormorants                                 468
  • Oyster catcher                                 6 +plus a large group flew overhead 40+
  • Canadian goose                             13
  • Snow Goose                                     1
  • Pigeon Guillemots                                4

 

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                               434
  • Harbour seal                                     27
  • California sea lion                          645

First week back

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Ecological Notes:

  • Difficult to count without disturbing them, but observations from the rock, and previous observations from the water show many more female sea lions, and nursing pups present
  • Elephant Seal female was seen on the outer rocks for the first couple days, not been seen since
  • Although there were 2 when I first arrived, now there is just 1 Snow Goose present

Visitors:

  • 2 Education classes from Pearson College stayed here, 1 set each weekend
  • Shorefront crew delivered me, and supplies to the reserve
  • IT tech, and 2 contractors to service the propane systems

Facility Work:

  • Students from the college helped with the animal census
  • checked battery levels, checked overall fuel levels
  • added some fuel to the main house furnace tank
  • IT person reset the switches on the starlink system to give direct internet access (it has been running through the original college system)
  • Crew serviced the propane valves and hot water systems  on both the main house and the student/science house
  • Shorefront staff helped moved fuel and cut firewood blocks
  • Used the Hydraulic woodsplitter for the first time 
  • Currently, the propane water heater in the main house is not firing up…. working with shorefront coordinator and techs to solve

DND events:

  • A few blasts Monday, scheduled for ongoing this week … noted more disturbance from the sea lions than I have noted in the past (maybe as it it earlier in the season, there are more “new” ones here)

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 3 Eco-Tourism vessels
  • 1 education program vessel with a few visits ( these are run by one of the Eco-Tourism companies, but separate from the regular tours)
  • Various private vessels, including kayaks, and a small dinghy, have visited the reserve, all behaving properly

Weather Events:

The standard mix of fall weather no extremely high winds, minimal rain over night, mostly clear with cloudy patches

  • Saturday, November 22:
    • Sky: clear with light haze, overcast later in the day
    • Wind:  W 25 kts 
    • Sea: rippled  with very little chop, becoming 1-2 ft chop later in the afternoon
    • Temperature 10oC

 

 

 

Weather – Current:

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

 

Weather – Past:

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