Category Archives: Webcam Visitor Observations

Pam Birley’s Images of Race Rocks 2004-2013

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newportOn this page are links to the monthly photo diaries taken on the remote cameras at Race Rocks from 2004 to 2013  by the late Pam Birley of Leicestershire England These albums were due to her almost daily commitment for a decade.  She produced a valuable record of events with her unique screen captures from Camera 5 , Camera 1 and the underwater Camera 2.

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September, 2010 October, 2010 November,2010 December 2010
May, 2010 June 2010 July 2010 August 2010
January, 2010 February, 2010 March 2010 April 2010
September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 December, 2009
May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009
January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009
December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008
August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008
January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008
January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007
May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007
September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 Dec. 2007
The full collection of previous monthly Race Rocks albums done by Pam Birley November 2004 to October 07 is now at: http://tinyurl.com/2adrsp

One of Pams first submissions to us was in this set of images of eagle predation in 2004

 

 

Bald Eagles in the Rain

 

 

 

 

Bad Hair Day for the Eagles

 

 

 

 

Pams images of  Snowy Owls were a first for Race Rocks

 

 

Feature Article on Pam Birley: From:  TheThunderbird.ca News, analysis and commentary by UBC Journalism students Former Pearson College student Marc-Fawcett-Atkinson and Annie Rueter have published the following article in  about our most consistent contributor to the website, Pam Birley of Leicester England. B.C. wildlife 

 

Live Wildlife for your Living Room
ref: Anderson, Charlie,
The Province, Vancouver, B.C. ( Sunday, Nov.21, 2004
“Long Distance Monitoring, the effective Citizen Science of Pam Birley” has been has been published on page 10 of the December 2010 Issue of the Friends of Ecological Reserves log.

Pam and Dennis  Birley vist Race Rocks in 2008

 

 

This link brings up all the posts involving Pam Birley

Photos from the Remote Cameras

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I was just looking at the recent postings on the Flickr site of Pam Birley of the UK. Pam does an excellent job of recording the events at Race Rocks on almost a daily basis using our remote controlled cameras.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/66339356@N00/sets/72157632533500094/page3/

We now have photographic records of hers dating back to November of 2007

A continuous record such as this of the seasonal changes in wildlife over several years on an Ecological Reserve is a rare and valued asset. Thanks  Pam!

 

Anas platyrhynchos: Mallard Duck–The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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pbdec15mallards

Pam Birley from England took this first set of images of mallard ducks at Race Rocks with the remote camera today. Over on Vancouver Island it is a very common duck but has never been recorded out here before.

This is the first image taken of this species at Race Rocks. Pam said in her e-mail “Not too exciting but never seen them before at RR.  A group of 6 Mallards in a rock pool along the NE shore.  Seemed to be one breeding male and I believe the others were all female.  Light very poor but have enhanced the pics as best I could.”.

 

 

 

Domain: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Aves
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Genus: Anas
Species platyrhynchos
Common Name: Mallard Duck

Return to the Race Rocks Taxonomy

This file is provided as part of a collaborative effort by the students, faculty, staff and volunteers of Lester B. Pearson College and website viewers on our remote cameras on the internet. 15 Dec. 2012–Pam Birley

Project Week-part 1

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On Sunday, I brought 7 students to Race Rocks in two trips in the whaler.  This week is project week at the college so all students are off campus on adventures, being creative, and doing service projects.

 

 

At Race Rocks students are helping with daily tasks of measuring ocean temperature and salinity and monitoring wildlife as well as working on a few projects including erecting exclosures to monitor the grazing and erosion impact of geese and doing repairs to the siding of the tank room that was damaged in a storm in January.

On Monday I brought two students back to campus, the other 5 will stay for the duration of the week. Unfortunately, on the way back out to Race Rocks I hit a piece of drift wood and bent a blade on the propeller.

 

On Sunday there were 3 eco-tour vessels in the reserve.

On Monday Misery gave Squall a chase and caught her on the N side of the main house.  He held her down and was biting her, at one point he picked her up about 3 feet in the air and tossed her.  Eventually she made it in-between some rocks where he could not reach her.  Pam got some good shots of the escape from the web cam: http://www.flickr.com/photos/66339356@N00/6938289865/in/photostream

Yesterday afternoon a SE wind picked up in the afternoon increasing to over 50 knots before dark and pushing some big swells into the island.

Elephant Seals

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This morning Misery and the small female elephant seal were back on Great Race.  The female was up in the grass near the base of the tower with a fresh looking injury to her left eye.

Pam reported an incident between Misery and another individual on Middle Rock  on the 18th where she could see Misery grab something in his jaws.  Maybe it was this elephant seal that she had witnessed getting a beating.  Misery has a history of aggressive, violent behaviour.  Pam has several image captures and a description of the incident on her flickr site:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/66339356@N00/6537477915/in/photostream/

The number of elephant seals on Middle Rock has been increasing, Pam has recently counted up to 8 elephant seals on Middle Rock.

Race Rocks Daily Log

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Welcome to the Daily Log of the Race Rocks Ecological  Reserve/Marine Protected Area.  This Log is maintained by the Ecoguardians Alex Fletcher(winter) , Mike Robinson( spring and fall) , and a summer student in July and August , With contributions from other observers. If you have particularly interesting captures form the webcams send them along  with details of data and time and we will link to them here.