ring billed gull? or is eye too dark?

Weather : mixed! a westerly blew this morning up to 20 knots and it was mostly sunny. Then a south, becoming southeast brought a bit of rain and cloud but the westerly prevailed and it is now 16 knots, 178′ and a beautiful sunset.

Visitors to the reserve: by 10 a.m. 3 ecotourism boats had come by. Must be visitors from the cruise ship which came in yesterday. I think the heavy winds must have discouraged any others.

Work: I continue splitting this old gnarly wood and stacking it in the basement. Cleaned the lower solar panels this a.m. and the house windows.

Energy: I have been here 5 days and because the sun has been out, I have only used the generator for 2 hours. I have been able to heat with wood and the nice thing about that is it heats water too so I have kept the “hot water on demand” off. As well I haven’t needed to use the furnace. One, of the many, privileges of being an ecoguardian is getting familiar with alternative energy sources.

Observations: The male elephant seal pup has been gone for 2 days. The six female continue moulting. None of them went to the water today. The highlight of my day was a purple martin flew in. I was outside and it was a  strong westerly, a flash of orange flew by me as it banked and swerved around me. It circled the grassy area a couple of times then flew off.

After reviewing glaucous-winged gulls, western gulls and California gulls and their distinguishing characteristics I went looking to figure out what is happening on Race Rocks. My conclusion is they are all either glaucous-wing or western or a mix, the “Olympic” gull. The mature gulls ALL have pink legs and no black on their beaks (except the one yesterday, which I thought was a ring billed gull but need to review the photos). So, when do the California gulls get here in numbers? I will keep looking.

This photo I took yesterday and believed it was a ring billed gull may be a California gull with it’s dark eye. Ring billed gulls have yellow eyes.

Weather: wind westerly currently 10 knots SUN!

Visitors: 2 groups of students from Pearson College came for quick trips. I took 2 groups from each trip up the lighthouse. 2 ecotourism boats through the reserve. One fisher boat passed through. All respectful.

Facility maintenance :

cleaned the solar panels and checked the fencing.

wood splitting. house maintenance.

This afternoon our battery was charged 100% by the sun and it was only 3 o’clock so to use energy I vacuumed the basement.

Observations: Last night the birds I have been chasing came right next to the house. Definitely Dunlins, one in summer plumage and two immature. This morning I saw a flock of about 100 pigeon guillemots. While cleaning the solar panels on the roof looking at the rocks to the north there were several oyster catchers, then about 25 PG, then 8 Harlequin ducks all in their groups. The gulls seem to be doing a good job keeping the geese under control. They were eating 2 more eggs today.

Currently 7 elephant seals, several went into the ocean this afternoon but they have returned.

Spectacular low tide in front of the student house. Saw a starfish still alive with only four legs and a freshly dead starfish. Looking for Mist Maiden but didn’t find any more patches.

Starfish

not only the elephant seals are moulting

I arrived on Tuesday April 19. I had the good fortune to arrive with Garry Fletcher and get a quick tour of the island. We found the Romanzoffia (Mist Maiden) in bloom. Derek had done a great job getting the house ready for transfer.

My first full day here the winds were E/NE up to 40 knots. Therefore it was quiet in terms of ecotourism. I wandered around familiarizing myself with the (currently) 7 elephant seals, the Canada geese nests and the sea lions all sharing the island with me.

Today (April 21) the weather has changed. Wind currently west. Sea calm.

Visitors: The Pearson College second year marine biology class are celebrating their last class today and visited the island for 2 hours. Greg was kind enough to trouble shoot a few things with me and we also had time (and bravery) to addle 3 eggs in a goose nest next to the gasoline shed. I made a map of nests so we can keep track of which eggs we have disturbed.

Four ecotourism boats have moved through the reserve today. It is such a wonderful thing to observe how respectful they are.  The presence of guardians seems to have made a big difference.

Observations

Yesterday during the storm there were 2 Dunlins (I believe). I will include a very poor picture. I saw them several times close to and moving with the turnstones on the grass.

Today was a fantastic low tide. Last year I was here after the “heat dome” and the intertidal was burnt. Today it was so lush. Beautiful abundant seaweed, I will try and edit this post with the new names, Hedophyllum, Alaria, Costaria, Iridea ,Halosaccion beautifully shiny and underneath pink coralline algae, bright orange Cucumaria, tunicates and sea anemones. Abundant goose neck barnacles.  Even a gumboot chiton (Cryptochiton stelleri).  Oyster Catchers, Turnstones, Harlequin ducks all making their presence known as I entered their dining room. 3 eagles busy eating the remains of a dead sea lion.

The elephant seals continue their moulting. Coming and going down the jetty. The pup seems to be alone and away from the others.

The gulls are working very hard impressing each other with their nest building skills, head bobbing, vocalizations and also copulating. They are much friendlier than when they have nests.

Mist Maiden

Work

The electric fence came down in the wind. A few sealions breached the jetty! Once chased off the fence is working again.

I have been splitting wood and managed to bring 2 wheel barrows to the house. Old hemlock is not easy to split!

very poor picture of a Dunlin. Can you see it?

Gumboot Chiton

Ecological Notes:

• 8 Elephant Seals in various stages of molt
  
• 1 of the above is the surviving male pup from this season
  
• 5 Canada Goose nests now
• Gulls are still pairing up and courting, but no nests yet
• Seals and sealions use the sensitive whiskers, and hair above their eyes to detect vibrations from fish when in the dark depths  of the ocean.

Visitors:

• 2 separate sets of students from Westcoast Adventure College, each group with chaperone for a total of 9 students and 2 chaperones
  
• Each group stayed for 3 days and 3 nights, for 2 days of classes, and 1 day of learning about and helping  with the procedures of the Ecoguardian
• Class was An Introduction to Marine Mammals of the Salish Sea …… A program the Ecoguardian has been teaching for 17 years to the students of WAC, and this was the first time it could be taught amongst actual marine mammals here at the reserve!

Facility Work:

• All sidewalks and the generator building have been pressure washed.
• Even more waste building materials have been gathered and stacked ready for pick up
• Many logs were salvaged from the rocky shoreline while there were extra people here.
• An extra thorough cleaning of the Student house.
• New electric fencing was set up to protect the lower solar panels from the sealions, as they had managed to get under the panels and damaged the wiring in the past.
• As normal, lots of fence repairs during the windy times. Although there is not much sealion traffic right now, it is much easier to keep it all up than redo it all later.
• Still working with the old tank on the fuel delivery vessel, so lots of fuel transfers from boat tank, to barrels, to portable tidytank, to generator tank.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

• Daily visits from Ecotourism Vessels, and some private vessels paused to look at the sealions.
  
• In addition to kayakers, a pair of paddlers ventured out and around the reserve in a canoe
• As the current Ecoguardian is an experienced kayak and canoe guide, all were observed closely to ensure they were equipped properly and had the skill sets to be out here in the currents. Happy to report, all was good!
• 2 sailboats passed through the main channel east to west before looping around past the southern side of the main island. 1 had a little trouble in the currents on the west side and stalled out, but they recovered before they were any actual danger …. but they looked quite tense through the binoculars!

 Feature Event:

•  The updated Solar power system has continued to function at the high level it was hoped it would provide. With only average sunlight, the system still uses much less generator time, and we have only been running the generator 2 out of 3 days.
  

Weather Events:

• Many high wind days, giving way to medium winds and clear skies. Rinse and repeat.
  

** All 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?