Category Archives: Webcam Visitor Observations

6-spot the Harbour seal Observed at RR since 2008

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6-spot the harbour seal observed by Pam Birley on the rock by the jetty October 9, 2015

A record for long term observation has occurred with Pam Birley of Lesteshiire England observing over a period of 7 years a certain harbour seal she named 6-spot because of the distinctive markings. Oddly enough she often gets an image of it from the remote camera 5 in the fall as it lies on the same flat rock near the Jetty.  You can see some of her other observations of it at https://www.racerocks.ca/pam-birley-photo-records/

Pam sent the picture with the note: “Hi Garry,  YES….it is 6-spot !!!!    I got a good clear view this morning as it lay basking below Cam 5.  Here is a picture. First seen 2008 I believe, that makes it seven years !!!    I love it !!!!    Pam

 

 

 

July 4th Camera 5 cleaned

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We had 2 guests in the Island for the Weekend. Guyonne and Lindsay. Guyonne was
born in Brittany and her Dad on the famous‘’ile de ouessant ‘’, 2 of her great uncles have been light keepers. So she really deserved to spend time here.

It has been a day with almost no wind in the morning and a maximum of 20 knots around 7:00 PM decreasing rapidly later.

For the first time we saw Floyd and Chunk fishing very closed to South seals Rocks. Almost everyday a bald eagle tries to land but the closest he succeeds is on North Rocks. The gulls are more than ever ready to fight.

Our friends have been big fans of the Rocks since the beginning of our shift and they spend a lot of time on camera 5 enough to convince Lindsay to clean it and he bravely did it. It was something to watch him progressing slowly surrounded by shouting birds! Big thanks to him! Next time it will be be after the nesting period.

How do you manage to do your training on the small place like this one? Easy enough with a lighthouse right there. After a week of no exercise I had to do something so I climb 3 times and promise myself to be steady!

In the evening we enjoyed in the distance the fireworks all along the US coast celebrating

July 1st to 3rd : Summer time

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July 1ST to 3rd: Summer time is here

If on the last day of June the wind was blowing up to 38.9 around 7:00 the 1st of July and the following days we had some light westerly wind increasing to 25 knots at the most in late afternoon. Water temperature has been steady above 12 Celsius and in Race Rocks no heavy hot days just the best …a light breeze above the houses.

The first of the month (Our Canada flag prouder than ever) has been a very busy day around Race Rocks. Fishing boats and whales watchers were attracted by a pod of orcas heading from ocean to Victoria and we could see them a mere half mile away from the rock on the South West side. All the boats were around and quickly disappeared following the whales.

At 5h00 in the morning, one after the other Floyd and Chunk, the 2 belching and dripping water Elephants Seals, came back from sea ready for a long sleepy day…but we were surprised, in the middle afternoon they gave us a real show. The 3 of them spent more than an hour playing like crazy in the shallow waters by the the jetty for the pleasure of a big whale watchers boat a little too close …but it was such a nice show! Some friends of us at the camera took pictures of the whole thing!

Divers came too and this time very closed to the shore maybe 15 meters! Some were snorkeling and 2 had bottles. They stayed not for long I would say 30mn.

Chicks are now everywhere to be seen…and the island get very noisy .
It ‘s just amazing to see how well protected those new ones are by the whole community. Even the eagles fly away.

Today for the first time in a week the generator has been on for a few hours

Guy had to look at the quantity of oil on the island, that is to say in the 2 houses (175 and 154 liters) the 3 drums (208 liters each), the 2 tanks –the big one (1120 liters) and the new smaller one (200 liters).

Yesterday, July 3rd. It was time for some groceries to buy. We have been surprised to see how hot it was in town and even at the college only a few miles away…We were really happy to come back a few hours later. We had a calm weather condition for the whole day, west winds from 0.11 knots to 23 knots in the end afternoon, very good visibility 10 miles at least.

March 18 – Divers Clean the Underwater Camera

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Sunny
Wind: SW 5-14 knots in the morning, NE 5-9 knots in the late morning to afternoon, calm in the evening
Air Temperature: Low 7.8°C, High 10.7°C
Ocean Temperature: 8.8°C

Nine students came this afternoon with Courtney, Laura and Nazim to dive from the jetty. The seven divers were in groups of two and three for 30 minute dives. The others provided support from above.

Bader and Sean dove together and followed the cable out to the underwater camera, which lies at a depth of 12m of water out from the end of the jetty. They cleaned the plastic dome, which had become dirty with diatoms. See the photos below.

The divers mentioned seeing lots of vivid colours and amazing species including: urchin, anemone, rockfish, greenling, rose star and bull kelp.

Up on land, there was lots of vitamin D to soak up today while doing outdoor tasks: chopping firewood, stacking firewood, sweeping and tending to compost.

There was one fishing boat seen passing through the reserve today.

Jan 20-21

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Sir Wilfred Laurier alongside Rosedale Reef buoy, Port Angeles and Olympic mountains in background

Jan 20: Wind North around 15 knots, partly clear sky.  The Coast Guard vessel Sir Wilfred Laurier came by to do a buoy tender on the Rosedale reef marker.  1 pleasure craft and 1 ecotour.  I called the eco tour company to let them know they were too close to mammals and that there had been some disturbance.

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It looked like they took the buoy out and replaced it, I think the old buoy is on the deck of the Laurier, a zodiac with a few people stayed behind to finish work on the new one.

Jan 21: Wind N around 15 knots, periods of rain.  Younger male elephant seal has been on the main island most days lately. Towards dusk I heard the vocalizations of a elephant seal pup and mother again on West rock.  I think this is probably a second birth for this season. There have been 4 regular female elephant seals on the small island and there hasn’t been a sign of the other pup since the first week..  Worked on fire wood cutting and storage, cleaned sensors on YSI salinity instrument that had been giving faulty reading.

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Pam Birley took this picture from Camera 1 of the second pup born in 2015

 

Underwater Cam2 sealions .

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Today Pam Birley from the UK sent these images she captured from Camera 2 at Race Rocks . This shpws what rewards one can get by having patience ! Click for full size.

 See other pictures taken remotely by Pam Birley

Underwater camera and California sea lion

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Pam Birley from England just sent this great image which she took this afternoon on underwater camera 2.

 

 

 

Link to other observations by visitors on the webcam by clicking on the Webcam Visitor observations link in the line below.

Branded sea lion 183R shows up at Race Rocks

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Our viewer from England, Pam Birley,  sent us this image image of a branded Northern Sea lion (Steller’s) that she had taken with the remote control camera 5  today. She noted that this is the first time this particular one has shown up in her records which she has been keeping for several years now.

For other posts on branded sea-lions, see this link: https://www.racerocks.ca/tag/branded/

For our taxonomy file and gallery of images on this sealion see our archived file: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/eco/taxalab/nufar.htm

Also for an explanation of why the tagging program goes on see this link also on our website: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/marmam/sealion/tracking/tracking.ht

Branded Northen sea lion # 183R

Branded Northern sealion # 183R

 

 

Another Year of Remote Cam Photo Records by Pam Birley

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We are very fortunate to have our friend from England, Pam Birley continuing to provide a detailed watch from her home in Leicester on the happenings at Race Rocks via the two remote controlled cameras, 1 and 5  and the underwater camera 2. There are many stories revealed by her photo gallery on Flickr.  A sample of her work is presented below: Her  complete 2013 gallery is at https://www.flickr.com/photos/66339356@N00/albums

We can follow the patterns of marine mammal use of the islands for haulout and births, and individual accounts such as her “6-spot”, a harbour seal which she has observed on the same rock by the jetty since every year since 2007.  She tracks our breeding elephant seals and she is one of the few to catch the river otter scenes on the island as well.

Pam also has made some interesting captures on the Underwater Camera 2 . There are several species of fish and invertebrates shown and  a few unidentified ones show up as well .

Her accounts of the birds of Race Rocks are also invaluable. The  roosting patterns of many species, the nesting behaviour of black oystercatchers and glaucous-winged gulls, migratory shorebird stopovers as well as predation and scavenging are detailed in her gallery.

So thanks again to Pam Birley for her commitment to having continued her watch in 2013. Her contribution to “Citizen Science ” is appreciated. The 2013 gallery is here  

Posts tagged with Pam Birley can be seen here: 

 posts tagged with Webcam Visitor Observations can be seen here:

Links to the complete set of Pam’s Race Rocks images  is available here:

 

Branded Sea lion with a story

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Pam Birley sent this capture of a ” numbered Northern, Steller sealion  75Y.  it was on the SW rocks.  I have seen this one previously and reported it to Pat Gearin,  here is his reply from my previous sightings:”
“Hello Pam, I’m pretty certain this is 75Y, a 7-year old male from St. George Reef, CA.
He has 11 previous re-sights, including 2 from Washington and 9 from BC.
I think you reported him at Race Rocks previously on 22 April 2008.  He was also sighted numerous times along the SW coast of Vancouver Island, as recently as Sept. 2008.  Thanks for forwarding his observation.  Regards, Pat Gearin.
See this page for other branding sightings:
pbbranded12122013