Category Archives: Ecoguardians Log

A Canada Goose Curiosity

Posted on by

Weather Today: 

  • Visibility 10-15 NM
  • Sky overcast
  • Wind 20-30 knots NE
  • Large swells and some whitecaps

Visitors and traffic: 

  •  There has not been many boats coming through, probably due to the poor conditions.

Notes: 

  • The weather since our last post was very rough, we had winds of over 50 knots (about 100km/h) and some very rough surface conditions.
  • We have been having some equipment issues but we are back and have some great photos to share!
  • On Saturday we spotted an oddity – a Canada Goose with a mostly white neck. It really stood out from the rest of its feathered friends and it was a rush to the camera for us. We think it may be leucistic. Leucism is not one specific condition, and this ‘depigmentation’ probably has an underlying genetic cause.
  • We have seen a variety of eagle but most exciting was the bird about 20 feet in front of the house, perched on top of a freshly caught seagull!
  • On Sunday a seagull with a badly injured and nearly missing wing was around, perhaps the result of a predator attack gone badly for both parties. It was completely alert and walking around with the other seagulls but we haven’t seen it since and presumably it succumbed to its injuries or predation.
  • Canadian Coast Guard Ship John Cabot, an offshore fisheries science vessel, paid the area a visit. The vessel hung around for about an hour and looked to be doing something with a lifeboat, maybe training? CCGS John Cabot was just recently constructed at Seaspan Shipyards and was launched in July, champagne bottle and all, by provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.
  • Visibility has been erratic – we will have a census posted when first possible.

Seagull Stones and Census

Posted on by

Weather Today: 

  • Visibility 10 NM
  • Sky overcast
  • Wind 10-15 knots SW
  • Calm seas earlier in the day, rougher later on – swells 1-2m high

Visitors and traffic: 

  • Some old equipment is being moved to land, so there have been a couple of runs back and forth to the college.
  • The usual 5 or so whale watching vessels daily, very few pleasure craft as the weather gets worse.

Ecological Notes: 

  • We have been seeing whales every day, both humpbacks and orcas!
  • We thought the sea lions were beginning to move along for good but they came back – it has been interesting to observe how suddenly it can go from a couple hundred hauled out to perhaps only 50. They must leave in the night as we have yet to notice it as it happens.
  • Unfortunately we have another sea lion hanging around that has plastic around its neck.
  • While doing some work on the jetty today I (Kai) noticed an interesting pile of small stones piled up in a corner of the railing. We often see seagulls, especially the ones that look younger, playing with rocks of the same size. They are usually together in a group of 2-4 and they’ll take turns moving a rock around, holding it in their beak, and trying to take it away from each other. It seems plausible that the seagulls placed the rocks there, we haven’t seen other animals interacting with each other and objects this way.

Some photos from the last couple of days:

Census:

65 Harbour Seals

457 California Sea Lions

737 Cormorants

4 Eagles

17 Geese

4 Oyster Catchers

13 Black Turnstone

3 Humpback Whales

221 Seagulls

184 Stellar Sea Lions

Whales, Harlequin Ducks, and Eagles!

Posted on by

Weather Today: 

  • Visibility 1-5 NM
  • Sky overcast, moderate fog cover
  • Wind 10-25 knots W
  • Waves up to 0.5m

Visitors and traffic: 

  • On Sunday we had a burst of whale watching activity, some around North Rock but primarily south of the reserve near the Rosedale Reef marker.
  • We have had some supplies (water, etc.) delivered over the last couple of days.

Ecological/Weather Notes: 

  • We woke up in a fog bank on Monday and the fog has stuck around, although with periods of clarity. It sounds like Vancouver Island is going to continue getting wet weather over this week.
  • As mentioned above, on Monday there were 2 minke whales (?) in the general area of North Rock and some time later 2 or 3 humpbacks south of us. A good handful of of whale watching/eco tourism vessels came by to get close to the action.
  • Over the last couple of days we’ve been seeing whales daily, usually out about a kilometre in the strait but once or twice they’ve come in closer to Rosedale Rock.
  • Mara spotted some brightly coloured Harlequin sea ducks in the water just off the shore south-east of us.
  • This afternoon two large bald eagles visited. Going off of the stray seagull leg and patch of feathers near the house, they were resting after a snack.
  • As the census shows below the sea lion numbers reflect the colder weather moving in and them moving out!
  • Yesterday on the jetty, we spotted a pile of what we think are regurgitated squid quills and eyeballs.
  • Garry Fletcher kindly gave us a tip about the ‘mystery berries’ from the last log post. He suspects them to be from a Strawberry Tree (Arbutus Unedo) and was even able to share pictures of a tree and its fruit. Thank you, Garry!

Census:

412 California Gulls

68 Glaucus Gulls

9 Stellar Sea Lions

76 California Sea Lions

65 Cormorants

14 Black Oyster Catchers

10 Harbour Seals

7 Canada Geese

15 Black Turnstones

Halloween Mystery Berries

Posted on by

Weather Today: 

  • Visibility 15+ NM
  • Sky clear with lots of sun in the later afternoon
  • Wind 0-5 knots N
  • Calm seas

Visitors and traffic: 

  • No visitors over the last couple of days.
  • A handful (3-6) of whale watching boats come through daily as well as a couple of private vessels.

Ecological Notes: 

  • Mara spotted and photographed a small amount of orange/red berries on the ground near the jetty. It would appear a bird regurgitated them – we aren’t exactly sure what they are and haven’t seen anything like this before.
  • The amount of sea lions seems to have stabilized. There are many hauled out, but thankfully this seems to be it! They are very determined to rest near and right up to the south side of our house and all around the lighthouse down to the desalinator building. The worst they do is dislodge some of the rocks that form unused raised beds and low walls around those areas.
  • We have been spotting whales frequently over the last week or two, and saw another humpback today.
  • Last night and the night before it rained heavily and the puddles that remain are being enjoyed by the seagulls and geese.

Some photos from the last couple of days:

Additional Notes: 

    • We have begun clearing out the firewood that was stored under the front deck/stairs. With the work on the guest house stairs nearing completion, the stairs on the main residence could be up next.
    • While moving the firewood we took a closer look at the remainders of a very old looking wrought iron bench (stored with the firewood). This looks like an interesting artifact! The company Innova it still around and selling similar goods.

 

Seawater Data: Salinity and Temperature, October, 2020

Posted on by

Also available from DFO here, along with data from other sites on the West Coast.

October -2020:

DATE time Degrees-C Salinity-ppt
 1 13:30 10.5 31.8
2 14:20 10.6 31.7
3 15:00 10.6 31.8
4 15:15 10.5 31.6
5 15:30 10.9 31.1
6 16:15 10.6 31.5
7 16:50 11 30.9
8 –
9 7:00 10.6 30.8
10 7:30 10.4 30.9
11 8:15 10.2 31.2
12 9:45 10.3 31.4
13 10:30 10.2 31.3
14 11:45 10.3 31.5
15 12:00 10.2 31.7
16 12:30 10.1 31.9
17 14:00 9.9 32
18 14:30 10.6 32.3
19 15:00 9.7 32.1
20 16:00 9.8 32
21 16:30 10 31.7
22 –
23 7:30 9.9 31.6
24 9:00 9.7 31.5
25 10:00 9.6 31.2
26 10:30 9.4 31.5
27 11:00 9.7 31.3
28 12:00 9.7 31.4
29 12:40 9.8 31.2
30 13:00 9.8 31.6
31 13:30 9.7 31.9

Beautiful Fall Sunset, Minke Whales!

Posted on by

Weather Today: 

  • Visibility 15+ NM
  • Sky overcast, some sunshine in the afternoon
  • Wind 0-5 knots NE
  • Sea state calm, some interesting wave patterns due to currents in the mid day

Visitors: 

  • Greg visited with a contractor yesterday along with some island supplies
  • Not too many visitors in the reserve this time of year. A steady trickle of eco-tourism boats on the less windy days, maybe 5-10.
  • Yesterday we watched the HMCS Brandon leave from its home port, Esquimalt. An impressive vessel in capabilities and design, you can learn more about it Here if you are interested!

Ecological Notes: 

  • On Tuesday we were lucky to be present for a spectacular display of orcas in the strait, roughly 2 NM to the S of Great Race Rock. The pod seemed to be hunting something, perhaps a sea lion. It was an incredible sight to observe, with the whales flying out of the water and slapping the surface with their tales.
  • We continue to see humpback whales daily, surrounding the rocks here and a bit further into the strait. Most of the time we first notice the cloud of water that forms when they surface, exhale, inhale, and dive.
  • Today we were joined by a small group of whales, smaller than humpbacks and not orcas (small dorsal fins). We are thinking that these could have been minke whales since they seemed larger than porpoises.
  • Yesterday evening we found an adult glaucous-winged gull sitting in the intertidal near our jetty. It wasn’t moving and seemed to be positioned in an uncharacteristic way, with wings splayed. We weren’t able to identify any physical injuries, although noted that it wasn’t able to make any normal seagull noises, and seemed to be attempting to regurgitate something. We were hopeful that we might be able to transport it to the nearby wild arc rescue center nearby, but unfortunately it was deceased by this morning. We are wondering if it could have swallowed a piece of human trash that may have become lodged, although we were not able to see anything when we examined it.
  • The sea lions are noisier than ever but seem to have found their places among the rocky intertidal. It is amazing to watch them fish in the early mornings, often surfacing with large salmon with a flock of seagulls close behind! I (Mara) noticed two young tagged sea lions this week that seem to be staying close to each other throughout their time here. It’s hard to say if this happens more often since it’s tough to identify individual animals among the over 1000 currently here!

Additional Notes: 

  • There has been quite a bit of blasting on the DND land over the past week to two weeks. Most of the time it is not unreasonably disruptive, but when there is a particularly large blast all of the animals on the island rush in the opposite direction.

Saturday Census

Posted on by

Weather Today: 

  • Visibility 10-15 NM
  • Sky partly cloudy, some blue sky and sun
  • Wind 25-30 Knots NE
  • Sea state: swells breaking up to 4-5 ft

Census:

  • 1 Bald eagle
  • 6 Black turnstones
  • 1 Savannah sparrow
  • 3 Harlequin ducks
  • 345 Brandt’s cormorants
  • 800 California seagulls (approximate)
  • 65 Harbour seals
  • 13 Canada geese
  • 1117 California sea lions
  • 234 Stellar sea lions
  • 1 Sea otter (Ollie!)

Blustery Fall Winds

Posted on by

Today’s Weather: 

  • Sky overcast, rainy
  • Visibility less than 5 NM
  • Wind 25-30 knots NE
  • Sea state: Swells up to 3-4 ft, fast moving

Visitors: 

  • Greg and contractors have visited a few times this week to complete work on the island.
  • Not many eco-tourism boats at this point in the season. One or two per day on average travelling through the reserve. Yesterday a sizeable group of kayaks passed through, as well as a handful of pleasure crafts.

Ecological Notes: 

  • This week we have been seeing an incredible number of humpback whales in the strait; Yesterday we counted at least six visible at once! We have seen them most often breaching and fishing west/south west of the reserve, although we were surprised by one very close to our jetty just this week. We have observed whale watching boats approaching the whales, and when this occurs their behavior seems to change. Instead of surfacing frequently and in a more leisurely fashion, they dive for long periods of time and cover larger distances during their dives, surfacing further from the boats each time. Consistently observed, if the vessels follow the whales they seem to dive longer and swim further away still.
  • The sea lion population is stable now, with a steady 1000-1200 present in the reserve. They seem to have settled in for the season, each having their favorite spot to rest. We have noticed that the sea lions that we are able to distinguish individually indeed do return to the same spot to rest for typically at least a few consecutive days. Although sea lions ingest upwards of 5% of their mass in fish each day on average, we have noticed that often they do not leave their resting spots for days at a time if they are not disturbed.
  • The bald eagle presence in the reserve has also suddenly jumped over the past week to two weeks, presumably due to spawning salmon returning to estuary’s at this time of year. A few days ago we spotted 8 in the reserve as the sun rose over the horizon. Early mornings are the most active part of the day for wildlife fishing: no human/vessel activity disruptions, but it also seems to be part of their natural routine. As the sun rises each day, the air is filled with the sound of eagles, sea lions, seals, and seagulls all looking for breakfast!
  • No elephant seals in the reserve this week. We hope that we might be joined by more juveniles through this fall season- they are a highlight of our daily routine when they are here.

Sunday Census

Posted on by

Weather Today: 

  • Sky overcast with rain earlier in the afternoon
  • Visibility 10nm
  • 25-30 knots NW
  • Swells up to 0.75 m, 1 foot chop

Visitors: Over the weekend we had roughly 5 ecotour vessels per day with a couple of pleasure craft daily. Today, a private vessel spent the late afternoon in the reserve supporting divers in the water near the jetty.

Ecological: 

  • Yesterday we were surprised by a humpback whale just off of the NE side of the rock. We spotted the whale, as well as two ecotour vessels just on the edge of the reserve, shortly after heading outside. It was huge!

Humpback Whale

  • Erica/GE103 seems to have moved along, we haven’t seen her in a few days now.
  • More sea lions seem to be hauling out, or maybe it’s just that they’re getting more comfortable! They’ve been very persistent about coming up onto the middle of the island but we’ve been able to keep them away from the burial cairns. It seems as though they are unable to read the no trespassing signs…

Census: 

  • 192 cormorants
  • 96 harbour seals
  • 1 humpback whale
  • 1 bald eagle
  • 950 california gulls
  • 75 glaucus gulls
  • 229 stellar sea lions
  • 1116 california sea lions
  • 3 canada geese
  • 26 turnstones
  • 1 sea otter

Heavy Wind and Rain

Posted on by

Weather Today: 

  • Sky partially overcast
  • Heavy rain intermittently
  • Wind 30-53 knots NW
  • Visibility 5-10 nm
  • Swells up to 4-5m

Visitors/Traffic: Very few vessels on the water today with the conditions. We spotted a fishing boat passing by near Bentinck island and took a picture of waves breaking over its bow.

Fishing vessel breaking through waves.

Ecological: 

  • The animals seem to be taking shelter from the weather and moving around a little less than usual. The sea lions are staying hauled out in big ‘cuddle puddles’, the geese and seagulls have been looking for places to sit out of the wind.
  • The younger seagulls especially have been looking a little tired, it seems like something about their feathers means they don’t repel water as well as the mature birds – they look waterlogged!