Category Archives: Military Activity

Animal Census

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Fog on and off since yesterday. West winds rising since the morning from 10 knots to over forty. More fog forecasted for tomorrow and 20-25 knot winds.

4 whale watching boats this morning

Animal Census:

710 Gulls*
15 Pigeon guillemots
4 Elephant seals
142 Steller sea lions
421 Harbour seals
8 Black oystercatchers
6 Canada geese
There are a large number of gulls because of the California gulls which make a large majority (~550). There seems to be a much lower number of Glaucous-winged gulls this year from last. I notice there are a lot more dead chicks, be it the evening visits from the otters or the bald eagles that visit several times daily. There has been no sight of Chunk since Sunday night. Currently there are two young males, a female, a stubborn seal that refuses to lie on its back. This stubborn seal was bleeding from its mouth pretty badly leaving a small pool of blood on the ramp yesterday evening. This morning there was still blood on its face though it seemed to be a bit better. Because the bleeding was perpetual I assume it is more than a simple abrasion but I cannot see the wound well enough to be sure.
Several blasts have gone off on DND land this morning and yesterday.
Some sea lions have started using the jetty as a resting spot so I started putting up the electric fence.

 

High number of whale watchers

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West winds below 20 knots all day. Clear skies. Barometric pressure dropping since yesterday. Fifteen to 20 knot winds expected for tomorrow afternoon.

34 whale watching boats in the reserve… no whales, sadly.

1 recreational boat

About 5 blasts went off this morning from DND. Normally during blasting periods there are red flags but there haven’t been any today or yesterday.

Was off the island in the evening and dropped off a visitor.

Humpbacks

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Overcast this morning with some rain, clearing up in the afternoon. Strong winds from 0800h onwards. Barometric pressure on the rise since Wednesday morning. Fifteen to 25 knot winds are predicted for tomorrow.

19 whale watching boats

There were two humpbacks on the southern border of the reserve this afternoon heading west. Several whale watchers surrounded them. Eagle Winged Tours was particularly persistent in chasing them. We now have 5 elephant seals on the reserve. Chunk, the big male, and the other four about half of his size or smaller. Chunk is looking very slim.

Two bombs sounded this morning off of Bentinck Island around 1015h.

Went into campus today from 1330h to 1530h to pick up a visitor for the night. Took a load of garbage/junk with me off the island.

Animal census

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Overcast today. Some rain in the afternoon. West winds starting low and increasing during the day and then dropping off again in the evening. Barometric pressure staying just under 1016 hPa all day. A few showers and 15-20 knot winds forecasted for tomorrow. Yesterday there were over a dozen whale watching boats in the reserve. Today only 3 whale watchers. Yesterday there were 4 blasts from DND in the morning around 1000 and 1100h.

Animal Census (for today)

Elephant Seal: 2                                                                                                           Harbour Seal: 220                                                                                                               Bald Eagle (immature): 2                                                                                                         Gull: 302 Glaucous-winged + 21 Heermann’s                                                               Pigeon Guillemot: 65                                                                                                       Oyster Catcher: 9                                                                                                           Double-crested cormorant: 7                                                                                         Turkey vulture: 1

Today the two elephant seal males were sparring ALL day. They started fighting in the water near the jetty at 1100h and continued back and forth into the afternoon (around 1400h). When they eventually returned to land they continued sparring, mainly the larger pursuing the younger one. Even now, they are moving around each other cautiously.

Tried to hook up the VHF radio in the guest house today but had some difficulties with the wiring and the weather. Will try again tomorrow. Some continuing internet issues last night and this morning but hopefully they stay fixed for a while this time.

Blasting on DND

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Clear skies. Strong westerlies started last night and continued all day today, hovering around 40 knots. Barometric pressure increasing all day. Gale warning for tomorrow.

No boats in the reserve today except for one whale watcher braving the winds. (Looked like the passengers were getting quite soaked!)

Four blasts went off today from 1145h to 1340h on DND (Department of National Defence) land on Bentinck Island.

The gulls are getting a lot more feisty as more eggs hatch.

Filled the batteries today and ran the desalinator.

 

River Otter visit this morning

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Clear day (despite forecast for a thunderstorm). Low winds below 15 knots today, dropping to zero midday. Strong wind warning in effect for tomorrow.

Several cargo ships passed through the strait today, a well as a few military ships.

Left the island this afternoon to pick up groceries and a visitor (which is why there are not exact numbers for passing watercraft).

This morning a river otter was running along the deck from the crane to the jetty. A juvenile bald eagle was sitting on the west side of the main island for a few hours this morning.

Submarine in the reserve

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–For June 19th–
Overcast. Northwest winds from 0-20 knots all day.
1 tour boat
1 recreational fishing boat passed through the reserve
2 trips to the reserve with Second Nature
Gales reached 45 knots in the late evening.
A military submarine passed through the strait this afternoon south of the reserve and was accompanied by several boats.
Two groups of visitors came to tour the island this morning. Courtney left mid-morning with Chris Blondeau on the way back from the first trip. On the second trip, Chris came to check the water heater installation.

 

Submarine

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Strong West winds. Clouds. Steady Force 6.
The barometer is on the rise. The forecast is for it to be light-15W tomorrow.

No tour boats today. Strange.
2 halibut boats

All of the Canada Geese have abandoned their nests now. But they are starting their annual feather moult, so they’ll be around for a while yet. Garry says they leave in June when all the fresh water puddles dry out. I found another Oyster catcher nest on the bluff between the jetty and the tank shed. Probably the most stressful place the pair could have chosen to nest, but apparently they nest there every year, so it must work for them. Still plenty of Elephant seals in the reserve. I watched them playing in the rapids this morning at low tide. A lot of them are in the water first thing in the morning and they wrestle on the seaweed covered rocks and eventually come back up the boat ramp for a busy day of laying around on Great Race. The large adult male has finally started to moult; It was hard to take him seriously before, but now with his moulty nose he looks even more ridiculous. No sign of the White Fronted Goose.

-Keeper’s house water heater kicked the bucket today :(
-Collected data for intertidal transect 5

Marine Science Exam

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Light variable North wind. Overcast to clear skies. Force 0-1
Barometer is on a slow but steady decline. The forecast is for East winds to shift to moderate West this evening as a small low pressure system moves northward.

6 tour boats

DND was blasting this morning. They sent out an email recently warning people about this scheduled munitions testing. There was about 6 blasts in total, all really loud. The Guillemots are startled by the blasts and fly away, but most of the other animals don’t seem to react.

Erik brought out Laura and Anne along with the first half of the marine science students today to do their 3 hour field exam. The weather and elephant seals cooperated nicely. The DND blasting probably didn’t help with the exam stress.

-sanded and painted drywall repair
-attached Whaler VHF speaker to console stand
-greased hardware on windows that open in the Science house
-Worked on SOPs

West Wind

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Strong West wind all day. Mixed weather, everything from clear skies to sideways rain.

4 tour boats
DND blasting: Several super loud blasts late morning.

The generator started up just fine this afternoon. Yeah!

There are now 10 Elephant seals on Great Race. There are 6 below the tower by the hose box, two in the garden West of the Keeper’s house, and two lying just up from the tank shed. Needless to say, there are a lot of detours off the paths for me to get between the buildings since they seem to like sleeping on the very edge of the paths. I found another Canada goose nest today on the very edge of the island just East of the big yellow diesel tank. There are 7 nests on the island: on the East beach behind a rough stack rock wall, one next to the compost pile on the South side of the Keeper’s house, one just East of the base of the tower, one under the tower stairs, the nest I found today just East of the diesel tank, a nest West of the Science house underneath a log, and one on the East side of the camera on the bluff. There is still one pair of geese that I am pretty sure have a nest right in the middle of the island by the Science house, but I haven’t been able to find it yet. It looks like the Snow Goose is gone, but the lone Cackling Goose is still around. The Sea lions are still camped out on West Rocks. There were 4 Bald Eagles on South Rocks this morning. The Eagles, both juveniles and adults, are regularly flying over the island and stirring up the Gulls, but I have yet to see a Gull get taken by an Eagle. The Barn swallows are still cruising around, no sign yet of any nests. The Guillemots are still spending a lot of time on the jetty. And I’ve been watching the Oyster catchers, but I haven’t seen any nesting behaviour.

-Cleaned up the generator room
-Keeper’s house chores: laundry, cleaned the stand up freezer, tidied up the basement workshop, replaced some light bulbs, cleaned the really dirty windows, turned the North entryway into the best tea/reading/guitar spot in the house.