Category Archives: Facility work

Tank Prep

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Ecological Notes:

  • 8 Elephant seals, not much action today
  • Many sealions have moved to the southern most rocks (due to blasting?)
  • Another Canada Goose nest has eggs hatching, 2 goslings so far

Sat a long time, at distance with a zoom lens, to wait for this shot! (and cropped even more)

  • Nature in action! Gulls steal eggs from nests (in this case, the egg was not viable)

Gulls gotta eat too

Visitors:

  • 2, Greg (Waterfront Coordinator), delivering new tools, repair parts, drinking water, and groceries
  •  Allan Forster, contractor with V.I. Tank Services, to survey water tank and prep for cleaning

Facility Work:

  • Prepping electric fence for set up on the pier
  • Water tank survey, to prep for clean after desalinator servicing

DND events:

  • 4 large Detonations today, (6 yesterday), sealions and birds very reactive

Weather Events:

  • Mid day sun, moderate winds, storm blew in later in the afternoon, bringing some rain and westerly winds of 40-45 knots, gusting up to 50 knots by 1700hrs
  • Brought the flag down early though!

 

** All 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?

Baby Geese

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Ecological Notes:

  • 8 Elephant seals still on land
  • Sealions quite scattered, many just in the water today (maybe all the blasting?)
  • Gull “nests” being set up all over the place, no eggs yet that I could observe

Gull nesting spot

  • First Canada Goose hatchlings seen

“Follow Mom!”

Enjoying the sun

Facility Work:

  • Not all work has to by major – moved and sorted left over lumber, window cleaning, and fastened down the under deck

DND events:

  • 5 Detonations today, all animals on edge

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Outside the reserve, but the Atlantic Raven transited at 12 knots, 2nm south of the Race Rocks Lighthouse.

The Atlantic Raven

Weather Events:

  • Clear skies with slight haze, winds westerly 15-20 knots all day

 

** All 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?

New Decks!

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Ecological Notes:

  • Most Elephant Seals nearing the end of their molt, still moving to and from the water, but not venturing too far from the pier, the larger ones seem to be tolerating the pups getting closer to them now. I thought one was missing, but found it on my evening walk about, behind the water tank building.

“All good, nothing to see here”

  • New visitor today ( at least since I got here) ….  a Greater White Fronted Goose!

Greater White Fronted Goose

 

Facility Work:

  • An overdue shout out to the last Ecoguardian, Rod King, and his friend, Colin Baird for the incredible new main house stairs and decks completed last month! Colin came out as a volunteer to help complete this project.

     

DND events:

  • 5 Detonations throughout the day, starting at noon, some animal disturbance noted

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • small private vessel went through the channel rather fast, but stayed centered, no visible animal disturbance, but collision potential

Weather Events:

  • Light winds from the southeast earlier, switching to northerlies later in the day. calm and overcast, with only a hint of rain the never really materialized.

** All 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?

Antenna Re-mount

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Ecological Notes:

  • 5 female Elephant Seals, 1 juvenile male (about female size)
  • Elephant Seal pups: 2, 1 is a young male
  • Many big old California Sealions tried to take over the pier today
  • Can see several paired up Black Oyster Catchers, but no “nests” visible from the angles I could view from a distance. Also didn’t note any defensive behavior.

Facility Work:

  • Moving beach wood, cut some to stock up firewood
  • Remounted VHF antenna, ONLY because the deck builders ran out of time. First I tried the hard ways, then just dismantled it on the bench and cut the wood away from the mount.

 

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 1 Sailboat, doing it the right way! Motor on, sail in centered position and loose, straight down the center of the channel slowly, without disturbing the wildlife.

 

Feature Event:

  • Learning to use the chainsaw, but having to pause when an elephant seal wanted to pass.

 

Weather Events:

  • Medium Winds from the west, rising in the evening. Clear skies all day, good for Solar Power generation. Light cloud moving in the evening after sunset.

 

** All 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?

Elephant Seal ID adjustment

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Ecological Notes:

  • 6 Elephant Seals – turns out to be at least 1 juvenile male! So,currently 5 females and 1 male (no new animals, just new id’s)
  • Elephant Seal pups: 2, but also, 1 of the pups appears to be a male as well!

Enjoying the sun

 

  • No real changes in Sea Lion or Harbour seal numbers
  • Have been seeing the Sea Otter at lower tides in the uncovered kelp forests

Facility Work:

  • Piling firewood, more sorting old materials

Feature Event:

 

Weather Events:

  • Sunny, with medium to high westerly winds all day
  • Last night was very high winds! Kept the flag down last night and today.

** All 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?

Traffic Jamb

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Ecological Notes:

  • 6 female Elephant Seals, 2 “pups”
  • Lots of time in the water, then spread out over all the pathways to warm up in the sun.

Grumpy traffic jamb on the walkway …

**** VERY ZOOMED IN video! ****

 

Facility Work:

  • Sorting waste wood from old deck
  • Last night’s rain gave 2 tank loads of water for the pressure washer

Weather Events:

  • Light cloud and light easterly winds in the morning gave way to a sunny afternoon with moderate winds, rising as the wind changed to westerlies.
  • Evening wind rose to 30 – 35 (gusting to 40) knots westerly.

** All 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?

Pressure Cleaning

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Ecological Notes:

  • 6 female Elephant Seals, 2 “pups”
  • Lots of time in the water, staying close to the ramp
  • 2 Canada Goose nests lost all their eggs to other birds, they are extra aggressive now!

Just Chillin’

Visitors:

  •  Shorefront Manager, food and de-ionized water delivery

Facility Work:

  • Fine Tuning Deck work
  • Pressure washing until rain water storage was dry

Never ending

Fresher look

Then, you run out of rain water for the pressure washer!

DND events:

  • 4 Detonations YESTERDAY (Wednesday April 28) …… noted animal anxious startled, especially those in the water

Weather Events:

  • Mostly sunny, some light overcast. Light westerly winds

 

Weather – Current:

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

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Student Morning

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Ecological Notes:

  • 6 female Elephant Seals, molting well underway, some are completed
  • Elephant Seal pups: 2 pups on land, moving around lots
  • Even more Gulls preparing nests

Visitors:

  •  Pearson College: 11 students in the morning doing marine biology class

Facility Work:

  • Power maintenance, more building cleaning

DND events:

  • 6 Detonations today, very little animal disturbance noted

Feature Event:

  • Although a very regular event, today was a great day to clean the Solar Panels, and do the battery maintenance. Overcast, so the panels don’t dry too fast as you’re cleaning, and not too much wind, making it safer to be on the roof!

    Soft Brush and Squeegee

    Gulls “left-behinds”

    Nice and Clean!

    Safety first for battery maintenance.

 

Weather Events:

  • Overcast and medium winds, mostly from the south until this afternoon when it switched to west. Calm seas.

 

Weather – Current:

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

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Boat run to college for more construction wood

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Ecological Notes: 7 female elephant seals.
Elephant seal pups: 3 pups and down the boat ramp.  One moving closer to the females.
Visitors: 2
Facility Work:  Stair construction moving ahead very well. Did a boat run to college for more wood.  Early morning.
Vessel Traffic:  3 pleasure boat.
Weather Events:Sun and flat water.
Weather– Current: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72
Weather–Past:  http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

New Back stairs

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Facility work: The new stairs for Eco-guardians house are under construction this week. Wood and supplies have been delivered to the island and the work is moving ahead successfully. My good friend Colin Baird has joined me to tear down and rebuild the front and back deck and stairs.

 

Elephant seal females:  We now have 8 females on the island and the highest numbers to date. All have molted, molting or starting to molt.

 

Elephant seal pups: The 4 pups remain on the island, swimming daily.

..

Vessel Traffic: 1 PC boat.

 

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

Weather–Past:  http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?id=72