Category Archives: Ecoguardians Log

Welcome to the Rock!

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My First Sunset on Race Rocks!

I have been counting down the days to this moment and I couldn’t be more excited and honoured!

I was fortunate enough to arrive at Race Rocks a day early and spend an afternoon and night learning from Cedric! What a huge benefit! We walked through the routine and technical operations with the Generator and Desalinater. Happy to answer my many questions and repeat the processes. He was super knowledgeable on history, ecology and one heck of a handy man!

The following morning (which is today) we walked through everything once more before Greg arrived with a tank full of Diesel for the generator and we all teamed up on a few tasks. Around 1600hr I had my final wave and am now alone… well… that is to say, without another human. I’m not sure I’ve actually lived within such a large population in many years now.

Let me introduce myself. I’m Jillian Brown, the new Eco-Guardian! For the past 2 years I have been CEO and Lead Guide for a Not-Profit camp that takes First Responders, Veterans, and at risk youth affected by PTSD out into the wild, and share tools to move that trapped energy in a safe and natural environment. Sharing how to find comfort within the uncomfortable. Accompanied by this, I am an adventure/expedition photographer, writer, public speaker and mental health/ptsd educator and advocate. I have had the pleasure to explore many corners of North America through paddling, hiking and pushing limits. Achieving both a world first (paddling a tandem sea kayak down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon) and a Canadian First (Paddling a new route across America). Connecting to nature, people, cultures, myself and so much more along the way! This has opened up amazing opportunities for speaking, from Cadet and military members, to high schools, CBC Documentaries, Conventions, and universities! @jillianabrownphotography

All Leading me here to this moment to connect to Race Rocks!

AND WHAT A BEAUTY OF A SUNSET TO SET THE STAGE FOR MY STAY HERE!

 

Facility Work:

Repaired broken siding

Transferred Diesel

Filled Generator

Filled Battery Banks

Repaired Electric Fences

 

 

 

Knowledgeable Visitor

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My solitude has been broken,
Yesterday Garry Fletcher,a former Pearson College teacher and current ecological reserve  warden, came to the island to spend the night.  He was taking advantage of the last weekday low tide for the next 8 days to get some pictures of the intertidal life.  I sure am glad that he did!

Facility Work:
His stay started with an oil change of the diesel generator that is on the island.  This has to be done every 200 hours.

Greg giving me a quick rundown before he has to head back to the college

Cleaning of solar panels (daily)
Cleaning of windows (as needed)
Cleaning interior of secondary residence

The next morning we attacked the reason for his visit first thing in the morning while the tide was still dropping

Here I am paying out the tape  on peg 15 to then take pictures of the intertidal life at low tide.   Garry was collecting this data to compare with baseline photo transects taken many years ago.

Ecological Notes:
Several Orcas were sighted in Race Passage.

Garry also took this video of a sea otter passing us when we were working in the intertidal area.off the North East corner of Great Race Island.

noted Western X Glaucous-winged Gull  hybrid by helicopter pad

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

Weather – Past: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Environment Canada forecast:

https://weather.gc.ca/marine/region_e.html?mapID=02

Brown pelicans

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Hello!

Ecological notes:
This week I have been fortunate enough to have uncommon visitors stop by the reserve… Brown Pelicans!
A group of a dozen pelicans have flown by 2-3 times this week and stopped for an afternoon break on an occasion as well!

 

Weather:

My morning routine consists of listening to the radio marine forecast accompanied by my cup of joe.  This morning they shared that there is a ridge (High pressure system) along the west coast once again.  This is good for the solar panels :) but will most likely indicate stronger westerlies (which had finally calmed down) coming into the straight once again.

 

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

Weather – Past: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Environment Canada forecast:https://weather.gc.ca/marine/region_e.html?mapID=02

Or call 2503636880 to hear the radio forecast (for the region around Race Rocks) on your phone :)

Once you have chosen a region if you can also click on the “synopsis” tab it will show the marine synopsis.  This is the part of the forecast were they talk about the systems (high and low pressure) positions.

 

Animal Count

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Hello! Happy Friday:)

This week I took on the task of counting all the animals on the reserve,

Armed with a clicker, binoculars and my camera I got to work:

I counted:

23 California Sea lions
115 Stellar sea lions
133 Harbour seals
4 Orcas (Transients)
1 Humpback Whale
7 Oystercatchers
2 Cormorants
6 Pigeon Guillemots
20 Black Turnstones
3 Ruddy Turnstones
1 Short Billed Dowitcher (I believe)

That day I felt that there were fewer common birds in the area than usual, except for the seagulls! They were everywhere!

I counted 3885 seagulls

This, to me, seemed like an absurd number. I recounted the pictures multiple times as I was convinced I had made a mistake, but would be proven wrong (Although I am not dismissing the very big possibility of my human error)

Here are some pictures of the waters surrounding the main island

(Feel free to expand the pictures to appreciate the sheer volume of white specs that are on the images)

Here are a couple pictures of the Short Billed Dowitcher (Thanks Halle), I had not yet had the chance to see this bird, it was hanging around the Turnstones for the better part of the afternoon.

I was also very lucky with Orca seeing, yet again, the pod of transient orcas around the island.

I was also lucky enough to see a humpback surface a couple of times, but it was too far away for me to capture it.

Weather events:

It has been quite uneventful, the intense westerlies have subsided for the most part and I am getting a break in the clouds mostly in the afternoons.

I did see more cirrus clouds on Tuesday that were very similar to the ones we had previously seen in height, texture and size.  Those also brought me a few minutes of sprinkling the next day.

 

Facility work:

Washing solar panels (Daily)
Washing windows (as needed)
Sweeping second residence
Maintenance/Repairs on power washer
Water levels in the battery
Optimizing electric fence (Jetty)

Unfortunate sighting

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Infractions:

As I was sitting on top of the engine room next to the solar panels as I had spotted orcas in the distance.
All of a sudden I see a motor boat that approaches the reserve and slows down as it should.  Nothing unusual here… Until an adult an a couple kids carefully make their way to the bow (front) of the boat and sit down.

I then see the power boat get closer and closer to one of the outer rocks in the reserve… passing over the kelp bed and getting exceptionally close to the sea lions.
I then try and contact the vessel on both channel 68 and 16 with no response.
The vessel kept approaching the animals, without much surprise this boater makes the entirety of the island stampede and escape into the water, causing big disruption to the animals.

Unluckily for this Sunday boater I had a 400mm telephoto lens with and a pair of binoculars sitting on my lap…

What an example to set for the kids sitting on the bow :(.
I always wonder if these people are aware of the ecological impact of their actions or if they simply don’t care.

Facility Work:
Improvement of Electric fence system
Cleaning of solar panels (daily)
Cleaning of windows (almost daily)
Clearing remainder of scrap wood.

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

Weather – Past: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Environment Canada forecast:
https://weather.gc.ca/marine/region_e.html?mapID=02

Groceries and Orcas

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One thing about being in the wild that I find exciting is how your “planned out” day can turn around in an instant. Yesterday I had one of those moments.

Greg had scheduled to stop by the island to get some work done and drop off groceries, although the work part of his mission out to the rock fell through he still came out to drop off some food…  And I’m glad he did!

Ecological Notes: As he was approaching the dock he gets word on the radio that a group of orcas are nearby.  After I bolt inside to drop off the groceries and grab the camera, we head out to fight the current and take a look.

Fair enough the orcas, T018’s (from what I have been told, thanks Sean!) were floating about, they were quite calm and stayed put for the time we were out on the water but managed to snap a few shots to share with you :)

Meteorology:

The last few days have been overcast, but the cloud cover cleared up this afternoon.

There is a semi-stationary ridge (fancy word for high pressure system that isn’t moving very much) off the west coast of Vancouver Island.  This explains the constant and somewhat strong westerlies we’ve been having.

High pressure also usually means little to no clouds.  Now that the clouds have cleared I am hopeful that this might be the beginning of a clear sky break!!  I do my best to try and limit my power consumption on the island.  Days I can rely solely on solar power are quite rewarding, we’ll have to wait and see.

 

Tasks:

Washed solar panels (Daily)

Washed windows

Continuation of Moving old building materials

Continuation of cleaning the outside of secondary residence

First Entry

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Hello!

My name is Cedric,

I have been settling into this seagull run oasis known as Race Rocks over the last couple of days. I am enjoying figuring out the inner workings of the infrastructure and discovering the ever present ecosystem that makes this place important

I have had the opportunity to witness the beauty of the Salish sea marine life from a variety of floating mechanisms (kayaks, sailboats, powerboats, etc.) but never quite like this 😊. That being said, I have been away from the West coast of Canada for a while now and am greatly looking forward to diving back into the Salish’s magic!

I will be doing my best to share with you, every few days, my meteorological and ecological findings, some upkeep tasks, day-to-day life and whatever else I can come up with!

Ecology:

Today after talking a quick walk around the island I spotted a few common birds. Although they are not particularly uncommon to spot, I enjoy seeing these animals living their day to day routine in numbers and tranquility.

A walk to the jetty presented me with a few old friends, Pigeon Guillemots neatly lined up for a picture, one of which being quite vocal.

 

Meteorology:

This morning, as did yesterday, started with a dense fog that did not lift until very late into the morning.  Today the fog made a comeback and appeared for a second time around noon/early afternoon.  I found that quite interesting and wish I had been more attentive as to what caused it but was busy making myself lunch amongst other things.

This afternoon around 1600 I noticed a Cirrus and Strato-Cirrus cloud, these two were not alarming (as they were not particularly “whisky”) but could mean some overcast and minor chances of showers for me tomorrow. Possibly the end of the sunny clear skies I have had since I arrived.

(Pictures are not quite as clear as I would’ve liked because of the unfortunate sun positioning)

Although I do have a feeling that it will take me a little while longer to get a better pulse on what information the clouds are giving me in this microclimate.  We will have to wait and see how my predictions hold.

**Update**

The next day (and the day after) did have overcast but showers were limited to 30 seconds of sprinkling in the early afternoon.  Mostly right but not quite there

 

 

Westerlies have been blowing since I have arrived, today it has bounced around 12-20kn whereas the last two evenings it reached 30kn, will have to see if the trend continues.

 

Maintenance activities since I have arrived:

Solar panels (daily)

Washed windows (almost daily)

Topped up battery water

Cleaned interior (started exterior) of secondary residence

Moved old building material to better location

 

 

Leaving Race Rocks on a High Note

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It’s hard to believe a week has flown by!  The boat took me back to the “big island” shortly after 2 pm, but there was still plenty of time before they arrived to have an exciting moment. Daniel Donnecke from Rocky Point Bird Observatory persuaded me to do one last seawatch this morning, once again apparently showing that the birds that fly past Beechey Head do not come close by Race Rocks on their voyage east. It’s likely that they move across the strait over to the American side. It may be wind dependent, but we had no correlation at all the three days we did seawatches at the same time.

Seawatch is a fancy term for trying to identify little specks at the limit of your visual range. This is a Common Murre.

I cleaned the solar panels for the last time this week.  The gulls had been pretty reasonable the last couple of days except for that one section where it was bad every day.

Sparkling clean!

There were several other things to get done to prepare for my departure and Greg’s arrival, but I had plenty of time.  That is I had plenty of time until I turned the corner towards the house and saw a songbird on the ground.  There had only been a Song Sparrow and one or more Brown-headed Cowbirds on the island all week as far as passerines went, so this was good. And it got better when I realized the bird was a Yellow-headed Blackbird, an uncommon bird for Victoria. Normally, my camera is on my shoulder, but since I had been cleaning the solar panels, it was back at the generator building. I did have my phone with me, though, so I snapped a quick couple of documentation shots.  They were really bad, but showed some of the diagnostic features for the species. By the time I got back with the camera, the bird was gone. That just seemed weird, as normally a bird that lands on offshore islands does so because it needs to refuel.  I looked all around, but no luck. So I climbed the tower and searched the whole island from up there. Still no luck, so I came down and continued with my tasks. About two hours later, I looked out the window, and there it was!

Nice of him to stretch out a wing so you can see the white edges on the primary coverts.

Yellow-headed Blackbirds are common in the BC Interior. It’s possible that the smoke may have moved him to the coast.

I probably took 400 shots to make sure I got a few good ones. The time I took following him around, though, cut my packing and cleaning time down. I was just barely finished when the marine radio call came from the Second Nature that Greg and Jeff were only a few minutes away.

Greg’s stuff was unloaded and mine loaded, and before you knew it, we were headed back to Pearson College, leaving Greg on the dock-an unusual situation for him!

It’s been an amazing week, and I’m grateful to the folks at Pearson College for allowing me to serve as the relief Eco-guardian this week. I hope that I will get the chance to do this again!

Ecological Notes:

Mammals

1 Humpback Whale

2 Harbour Porpoise

Steller’s Sea Lion

California Sea Lion

Successful fishing!

Harbour Seal

Birds

5 Black Oystercatcher

10 Black Turnstone

41 Common Murre

65 Pigeon Guillemot

When in breeding plumage, the linings of the their mouths are as red as their feet.

6 Rhinoceros Auklet

1 Heermann’s Gull

60 California Gull

700 Glaucous-winged Gull

3 Pelagic Cormorant

15 cormorant sp.

1 Song Sparrow

1 Yellow-headed Blackbird

Facility Work: Cleaned all the solar panels and the dirty windows

Vessel Traffic: Shipping lanes were busy again today.  Several whale-watching boats ad 2 private fishing boats came by for the sea lions (which they saw) and the elephant seal (which they didn’t).

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

Weather – Past: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

A Wild Gull Chase

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Today (Thursday) is my last full day as a relief Eco-guardian at Race Rocks, so it seemed fitting that there be a few interesting events. The first was waking up to a sky full of wildfire smoke. We’ve been so lucky with the westerly winds that kept all of the smoke away, but with the latest heat wave and drop in wind, it was on us before dawn today.

Smoke on the water

It was also eerily quiet.  The hundreds of California Gulls that have been somewhere around here each morning were missing.  What was present were tankers and bulk carriers. I’m sure they’ve been plying the waters of the shipping channel all week, but today was the first day I noticed them in such numbers.  There were 6 in quick succession in the first hour I was watching.

One of many vessels that passed by Race Rocks today.

It’s amazing how much traffic there is in the Juan de Fuca Strait. It’s possible to watch and get details on the ships in real time here.

I started the day by washing the solar panels–a necessary task given the amount of bird droppings on them.  They’ve been outfitted with bird spikes, but on my last panel today, I found this:

Yes, a gull demonstrating how clever he (or she) is in defeating the mechanisms we put in place to stop them. Just step on the flat side, not the pointy end!

A closer look revealed something else.  This bird is banded!!!  For bird banders, there’s little more exciting than finding out what has happened to birds you banded. That happens when others observe or find the bands, determine the band number, and report that information to reportband.gov  . Of course, I didn’t have my camera with me, and the bird also wasn’t going to stick around. In fact, it flew. The good news is that most of the gulls on the island are at least somewhat predictable as they are on territories right now. I saw him fly around the lighthouse but not come out the other side.  It was possible he was very close by.  When I finished the panel cleaning, I grabbed my camera from the generator room, and went off in search of a gull among 700. It didn’t take me too long to find him, but not in a very convenient spot.

Each bird band has a unique set of nine numbers.  You need them all to positively identify the bird.  This means you have to get a decent photo of all sides of the band, and that can take a bit of patience.  Fortunately, I have that! My presence riled the gulls enough that they were all yelling at me and the banded gull came in to help chase me off. That was good enough to get me a partial set of numbers.  Now I had to get him from the other side. I moved closer to the house and waited. After about 4 times of him coming to the ground and flying off, I finally had all the numbers!

If you ever find or photograph a bird band, you should report it to reportband.gov. There are a series of questions to answer, but in the end, you will learn about the banding of the bird and receive a certificate of appreciation.

Ecological Notes:

Mammals

1 male Elephant Seal – departed today after molt. After he spent the night at the dock last night, I suspected this might happen.  He was in the water most of the day, and when I looked for him around suppertime, he was nowhere to be seen.

Steller’s Sea Lions – Good numbers now on Great Race Island

California Sea Lions – Numbers increasing dramatically on Great Race and surrounding islands

 

Harbour Seals – Many throughout the area

Birds

7 Black Oystercatcher, including young bird near the dock

18 Black Turnstone

5 Least Sandpiper

1 Western Sandpiper

Western Sandpiper in the lead, followed by Least Sandpiper

11 Common Murre

136 Pigeon Guillemot counted by clicker at around 8 am. There could be more, but no fewer.  Many catching gunnels or blennies (see last bird on right).

3 Heermann’s Gull

400 California Gull, mostly feeding on krill today

700 Glaucous-winged Gull, including 1 banded

Tussles like this are going on all the time

6 Pelagic Cormorant

1 Bald Eagle on Turbine Island at dawn

22 Purple Martin – biggest bird surprise of the day! Flock circled the lighthouse at 8:35 pm and continued south. Only flyovers I have seen this week.

1 Song Sparrow, rummaging in the compost

 

Facility Work: Cleaned solar panels. Not one window had gull droppings today, thanks to the calm winds.

Vessel Traffic: Many vessels in the shipping lanes today. Smaller than usual number of eco-tourism vessels, likely due to Biggs Orcas in other areas around the region. Several private fishing vessels came by the dock because of the sea lions.

Infractions: Private vessel coming through the reserve at too high a speed. Warned them to slow down, which they did.

Weather Events:  First day of noticeable smoke from fires on the mainland. Reduced visibility. Low winds from the south and east.

Wildfire smoke was present all day.

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

Weather – Past: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

A Whale of a Day

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The sunsets here at Race Rocks are amazing, but the sunrises are pretty spectacular as well. This morning the roving mass of California Gulls were hanging out among the kelp on the southeast side of the island. Hundreds of gulls all looking for breakfast!  The krill is still around, at least early in the day, but you can tell that it’s moving around because the flock of birds will be here one minute and gone the next.

Sunrise at Race Rocks with Mt Baker in the background

While I’m not seeing a lot of bird diversity during my stay here, I have been given the chance to study the behaviours of the gulls. With all the krill in the area, there is no shortage of food, and the young Glaucous-winged Gulls know that.  Depending on their age and whether or not there are siblings, the adults may regurgitate directly into the chick’s mouth, or onto the ground so the young can fight over it.

Single chick gets special delivery of food

Triplets fighting for the goodies the adult brought from the sea.

One of the most interesting behaviours I’ve seen has been that of a young gull that has figured out that even though it can’t fly, it can swim!  For three days now, I’ve seen this single chick in the channel to the east of the island. I suspect that it accidentally ended up in the water one day and survived to tell the tale. It certainly is more mobile than the other youngsters on the island.

Meandering along like this is normal

Completely able to come ashore when it wants to

And speaking of flying, it’s incredibly amusing to watch the antics of the youngsters trying to make their wings work.

Today I saw the first Orcas of my visit here. The marine radio is a constant companion, and while most of the chatter is about where the best fishing is, tonight a call came in about Orcas just off Bentinck Island. A pod of 5 put on an incredible show for the whale-watching boats and private vessels.  They moved from Bentinck to the mouth of Pedder Bay and continued the action for more than half an hour.

Surprise! The pod surrounded this small boat.

Earlier in the day, Daniel Donnecke was at Rocky Point and spotted Humpback Whales to the east of Race Rocks. I managed to get on them thanks to his sighting. Two whale species day!

Ecological Notes:

Mammals

2 Humpback Whale

5 Orca

2 Harbour Porpoise

1 male Elephant Seal (went to the water early today–around 10 am–and spent the whole day there. Still on the ramp at dark)

California Sea Lion

Steller’s Sea Lion

Good contrast between male Steller’s in the rear and male California in front of him

Harbour Seal

Mom and nursing pup

Birds

5 Canada Geese

1 Killdeer

8 Black Oystercatcher

14 Black Turnstone

This Black Turnstone hasn’t yet moulted all of its breeding plumage. Note the white speckles on the chest and pale eyebrow.

This one is a little closer to the birds we typically see here in the winter.

3 Surfbird

6 Common Murre

60 Pigeon Guillemot

3 Heermann’s Gull

700 California Gull

Little white specks of a massive flock of (mostly) California Gulls

600 Glaucous-winged Gull

3 Pelagic Cormorant

5 Double-crested Cormorant

Double-crested Cormorants with Pelagic Cormorant and Pigeon Guillemots

1 Brown-headed Cowbird

Facility Work: Cleaned solar panels and continued fly-busting in the houses

Vessel Traffic: Late start for the eco-tourism vessels. Saw very few before 11, then they were steady the rest of the day until dusk. Very large container vessel heading west.

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

Weather – Past: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?