Aziz Sonawalla made this video in 2006
Category Archives: PC Students at Race Rocks
Census and Students
Weather
- Visibility: 15 miles
- Wind: 0-5 knots South.
- From 17:00 onwards, 15-20 knots West.
- Sky: clear and sunny most of the day.
- From 17:00 onwards, some clouds and rain.
- Water: calm
Ecological
- Census day!
- One sea lion was branded U958.
- Colour wise it looks like a Steller, but if you look at the head I think it was a California.
- Laura and her class found a sculpin (type of fish) head.
- Four of what I suspect to be Short-billed Dowitchers today. Fun to watch!
- Didn’t see the killdeer today, which is unusual.
- Steller (Northern) Sea Lions: 66
- Harbour Seals: 60
- California Sea Lions: 57
- Elephant Seals: 13 (4 on Great Race, 9 on Middle Rock)
- Pigeon Guillemots: 269
- Seagulls unspecified: 154
- Surfbirds: 57
- Canada Geese: 17
- Black Turnstones: 17
- Cormorants unspecified: 14
- Harlequin Ducks: 9 (5 males and 4 females)
- Black Oystercatchers: 6
- Savannah Sparrows: 6
- Short-billed Dowitchers: 4..https://www.racerocks.ca/short-billed-dowitcher/
- Bald Eagles: 2 (2 adults, 0 immature)
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- Short billed Dowitchers
Boats
- A couple of eco-tours came by.
- Second Nature came out multiple times, delivering 4 groups of students.
- On her second last return, she had overheating issues, so Kyle had to come out in Haiku for the last trip.
Visitors
- Kyle, James, Laura, and 26 students came out to Race Rocks today.
- The students were doing a walk about with Laura, discussing marine biology for their upcoming final exam.
- James did some work on the Davis Weather station and got most of it working again.
Other
- Four DND blasts today.
- 10:05, 10:07, 11:24, and 11:26.
Last day for the student
Weather
On Saturday:West wind 6 knots at 8:00 was light the whole week end,overcast to sunny, visibility over 15 miles,pretty cold days :3degree celsius.sea calm.On Sunday:15 to 25 knots,North East wind,Sea:calm,Visibility over 13 miles,Air temperature:2 degrees celsius and water temperature around 6.5.Cold week end.
Ecological
For the first time the Elephant Seal pup went closed to the water and spend part of the Saturday at the top of the railway and the 2 other males were around ;the young one very closed and the adult one in the water at the jetty…
Vessels
We had a boat very closed to the rocks which was evidently.fishing .We saw him coming so he didn’t stay long . He saw the big camera and heard the Air horn! It left quickly towards Esquimalt…The other picture shows a watching boat way too closed!Many recreational fishing boats around east Sooke and on Sunday a RCMP boats spend half an hour doing exercises of navigation closed on south side
Students on the Island
Weather
Windy day above 20 knots from West on Wednesday and Friday but the rest of the time light wind and calm sea, overcast to rainy mainly grey days
Ecological
The geese at least 3 couples and the oyster catchers (3 couples too) are already going by 2.Chunk is not back and the 3 elephant Seals:Boss,the younger male and the last pup are around.The pigeons guillemots (around 30 )have been seen again but not even one when we did the census…The population situation is very different from one day to the other
Work with students
The plan was to make them paint the desalinisaton house but there was too much moisture and we have to let it dry before any painting job . So they helped us with the wood : stalking and splitting and cleaning around the jetty. Guy explained them all the systems involved on Race Rocks( electricity stockage,desalinisation…) and I did the census 2 times in 2 groups. We can tell that during their stay we didn’t use so much water Thanks to them ;they really understood the challenge of the place! One of them had a look at our emergency supply.
Maintenance
End of the month reports. Jetty cleaning with the high pressure washer
Vessels and flights
2,3 watching boats at the most, a Canadian Frigate coming back towards Esquilmalt, a big fishing boat heading to the ocean and an helicopter closed
Census day
Weather
Calm day with a west wind 5 knots,overcast,cold:2.1 degrees Celsius. The wind picked up in the evening and reached 40 knots around midnight.
Ecological
We put back to the sea the dead pup. Guy used the crane . One student help,ready to cut the line ( It was not necessary)and the others watched
It is amazing to see how big in only one month this elephant seal pup became!
Census
The census was done with the students
Gulls:134
Harbour seals:37
Steller’s Sea lions : 21
Californian Sea lions:92
Cormorants: 64
geese:5
Elephant seals:3 – 1 adult male , 1 pup , another one on Middle island but which one ?
Oystercatchers :6
Harlequin Ducks :24
Black Turnstones:10
Pigeons -Guillemot:0
Eagles :4
Maintenance
200 liters of oil transferred in the eco guardians house
Vessels
2 Canadian navy boats no 706 and 710 making their way slowly towards Esquimalt at 6:00PM
Other
Guy made a tour with some students and explain all the process for the stockage of energy and desalination of the water.
Beecher Bay Chief’s visit and Students on the rocks for Spring break
Weather
North East light wind,10 knots at 8:00 AM.calm and overcast. In the afternoon we got some flurries and a some light snow…and fog came from vancouver Island but became dispersed quickly …just enough to have the fog horn on.
Visitors
Kyle brought the chief of our local First Nation People. He had a meeting with some College Directors and earlier in the morning 5 Students with a volunteer came to stay on the rock for a week: So now 8 countries ( We have 2 nationalities) are represented in our little world :Canada,China,Finland,France,Israel,Italy,Germany,Japan.
Pearson Students and Brands
Weather
- Visibility: 15 miles
- Wind: 0-5 knots NE, later West
- Sky: clear
- Water: calm
Ecological
- Saw two branded California sea lions.
- U400 and U714.
- Discovered a couple of recently deceased juvenile sea gulls.
- Cause of death unknown.
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- U 400
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- U 714
Maintenance
- The usual chores.
Boats
- Lots of ecotours today.
- One appeared to be going over the speed limit within the edge of the reserve.
- Several times there were at least 3 in the Middle Channel.
- Kyle brought two loads of students out in Second Nature.
- One small boat was observed fishing illegally within the Rockfish Conservation area.
- They were reported to the DFO.
Visitors
- Kyle, Laura, 14 Pearson students, and 3 filmmakers came out.
- The students were supposed to be doing wind and wave measurements, but Race Rocks was providing very little in that department today.
Other
- Six pair of small DND blastings today.
- They took place early in the hour, every hour, from the 10th until the 15th.
Visitors : 1st year students came for the first time
Weather
On this beginning of the week we had a calm weather,light wind and clear days with a pretty good visibility.most of the time. Air and water temperature are going down to 15 degrees on Thursday and the barometric pressure is moving down a little ,now around 101.5 .We got some very welcome rain.
Ecological
Rain cleaned the rocks a little and the marigold came back nicely. It’s still a smelling place but a better one.We count now 23 dead birds and the last found ones from territorial fights.
Visitors
This is the highlight of the week.The students came from all around the world . What a pleasure for us to introduce them to this magical world…and guess what: happened the non expected :When a group of them was here, some Orcas, 3 of them came around and inside the passage. They jumped like never before and even the whale watchers vessels had to stay outside (they did) . Our students were the only one present for a true show. Just amazing! We managed to get some pictures but they were already far from the rock.
Maintenance
Wood all organized for Winter. Water sampling house deeply cleaned and new carpet put in. Bathroom window locker changed.Electrical line repaired.
Boats
Many whale watchers around even before the sunset and the night.Plane over 2 times.
Busy Weekend for the watching boats
Weather
On Friday the morning was calm ,the wind coming from West picked up only late in the afternoon at 25 knots at the most.The visibility was over 15 miles and air felt like 16 degrees celsius at 5:00 AM.Te water temperature was 12 degrees and the barometric pressure 101.4 KPA.Sunrise at 5.44 and sunset at 20:54. On Saturday it has been really calm especially around noon where it was 0.26 knots and the flag looked like dead. On Sunday very calm in the morning and very windy in the afternoon to midnight around 35 knots;a North East wind becoming West later. July has been a pretty windy month !
Maintenance and other
On Friday, Aziz recorded more videos :by example the whaler in action and we brought him back to Pearson College before noon. We came back just in time around 5:00 because at 7:00 the wind was around 28 knots and reached 30 knots at 10:00PM. We had a plane above like usual at the end of the week. On Saturday Guy disassembled the derrick shed door that need to be changed.The seawater pump was on for a few hours . On Saturday I sent the end of the month report and the Seawater datas
Boats
We had a parade of watching boats without interruption the whole day on Saturday!!! and some divers spent a long time on South Rocks ! they could stand up! I wished we had an horn!
A special visitor: Aziz Sonawalla came for a video on Race Rocks
Weather
At 5:00: Light west wind , air temperature :12 degrees,a little bit foggy to 7:20.AM .It has been a calm day ,25 knots at the most around 9:30 PM.
Ecological
We found a 2nd chick always at the same spot with the guts over( back stairs /Eco -guardian’s house). more sea lions mainly on Middle rocks.later in the day another dead body . this time injury on the neck on a pretty big chick.
Boats
Many watching vessels, a huge barge with some equipment on it
Other
A plane above
Visitors
Aziz Sonawalla
Kyle and Tyron came for a quick tour and Aziz was with them ready for a non stop recording of everything on the Island. Aziz was a second year student at Pearson college and is working this Summer in the Communication department.he followed us all day long from early morning to late in the evening. and stayed over night. He tried to catch all the wildlife and the Beauty around . The purpose of this video is to show and explain the reserve to all the concerned people .
