Category Archives: weather notes

Cloudy day on the rocks

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Another whale sighting this morning! There’s been so much activity in the area lately. It was hard to tell from the distance, but I’m pretty sure it was the humpbacks again.

Facility Notes

  • Cleaned panels
  • Repaired fence
  • Tidied up main house
  • Pantry inventory

Last night’s winds did a number on the perimeter fence- I was using the old materials and patching them with wire for most of the repairs to conserve the new strands for the September reconfigurations. One or two less carefully secured patches gave out, and there were some sections that just needed replacing altogether. Time to retire some of the older wire and put in new strands for the season.

 Weather

Intermittent clouds, West-by-Southwesterly winds between 11 and 21 knots. Temperature from 13 to 16 degrees.

Vessels Observed

Ecotourism: 21

Private: 2

Sea Lion Disentanglement

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The long-awaited window of fair weather and coordinated schedules finally arrived late this morning, allowing the Marine Mammal Rescue Society (VAMMR) team to carry out an operation for the sea lion caught in plastic line near the jetty. It’s been a few weeks since he was first spotted, and luckily he hung around long enough for this incredible group to come and bring some relief!


Dense morning fog initially cloaked the shoreline and outer rocks, lending the islands a soft, sunlit glow while complicating the search.
Because of all the activity around the jetty, the entangled sea lion had moved away from his usual resting spot. The team started by surveying the perimeter by water before launching a drone search once conditions calmed.

Finally! He was spotted playing in the shallows near the southwest corner by the energy building. Just a few metres away from another sea lion sporting a clean scar from a prior, successfully healed entanglement. Let’s hope our friend has a good recovery and long life as well.

Rather than attempting a risky water intervention, the shore crew monitored the lion from a distance while the support boat stood by in the bay.

He looked to be thinking about hauling out several times, but there was no chance to safely tranquilize him before he headed back out!
Luckily, he swam back around the rocks and hauled out in his usual spot on the concrete jetty, where access was significantly safer and more manageable.

The crew moved in swiftly to carry out the procedure. Marty must have been taking lessons from the seagull chicks, as from my vantage point in the lighthouse (and through the fog) he did a pretty bang-on job of blending in.

After administering a tranquilizer to safely restrain him, they cut away the constricting plastic line from his neck, collected a small blood sample for analysis, and applied a new identification tag so we can monitor him in future sightings. Once the reversal was administered, he woke up a bit groggy but was visibly relieved to be rid of the plastic before it caused further injury. The entire intervention drew a curious audience both in and on the water.

To cap off a demanding day of careful planning and execution, the crew were sent off with the breathtaking sight of a transient orca pod hunting and breaching in the rips just off the rocks. It’s inspiring to see all of the hard work and dedication to our wild neighbours here on the coast- this would not have been possible without the incredible caring people with VAMMR and the DFO.

Facility notes
-Cleaned panels
-Continued repair of fence

Weather
Rolling fog banks throughout the day, sunny otherwise. Winds mainly from the west, from 15 to 25 knots. Temperatures 11 to 12 degrees.
Vessels
Ecotourism: 5
Private: 2

Ramping up

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Wildlife
There’s a seagull chick I’ve named “Phelps” due to its tendency to escape into the water next to the jetty every time someone approaches from the path- I have watched this little one sprint to the water and hop right in at least once a day. It’s down has slowly given way to progressively more feathers, and Phelps is noticeably bigger since my arrival, but still far from big enough to take on a whole lineup of California Sea Lions!
This is becoming an issue. Now my path down to the end of the jetty involves a sort of sideways sneak-around, to avoid scaring Phelps off the side of the jetty into the busy waters below. This is complicated by the crowd gathered on either side of the raised concrete pathway, which set the nesting parents and chick itself much more on edge than before. I hope this little one survives the increasing popularity of its shoreline nesting site.

Facility notes
– Cleaned panels
– Cleaned main+ student house windows
– Finished student house kitchen inventory/ food storage
– Topped up batteries

Visitors
Greg and Richard came by to troubleshoot and fix up the jetty fence; we’re operating at pretty much full power now. A friend from the College came with, taking the opportunity to spend an hour or so away from the hustle and bustle of the UWC reunions and pre-term prep. Little did she know just how much hustle and bustle there is here with all the seagull chicks!

Weather
Sunny, dry, clouds. Strong Westerlies from 19 to 29 knots. Daytime temperatures from 12 to 18 degrees.

Vessels
Ecotourism: 12
Private: 1

Whale, Whale, Whale

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Wildlife
This morning’s climb to the panels was punctuated by the joy of catching a humpback’s tail flip out of the corner of my eye. Later in the afternoon, a pod of 40 or so resident orcas passed by the west side of the rocks!
A flock of whale watching and eco-tourism vessels came to share in the wonder. It’s tricky to balance my feelings about this industry; knowing on one hand that the tangible experience of the coast’s wild beauty is becoming accessible to greater numbers, while acknowledging the risks to its inhabitants posed by the constant traffic like collisions and harmful noise levels.

Our California sea lion is still hanging out. Spotted the banded gull who typically hangs out by the energy building, closely supervising the cleaning of the panels.

Facility notes
– Cleaned panels
– Cleaned windows
– Lifted up section of electric fence across walkway

Weather
Sunny, but hazy. A massive bank of wildfire smoke rolled in later in the evening, giving the sunset an otherworldly tint.
Winds mostly westerly, from 11 to 33 knots. Temperature from 10 to 12.5 degrees.

Vessels
Ecotourism: 21
Private: 6
Visitors: Grocery delivery! No one disembarked, but there was a small group of UWC Pearson alumni from about a decade ago aboard.

A bit of rain, a lot of Wind

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Weather: New weather system moved in over night, giving rise, for the first time since arriving two weeks ago to rain. Gale force winds from the west began in the early morning, with gusts over 45 knots. The day cleared and with an ebbing tide whitecaps formed, again for the first time since arriving.

Wildlife: Observed the highest concentration of California and Steller sea lions on the north shore of Great race since arriving.

Facility Work: Fence work, especially on jetty. California sea lions have developed an affinity for the wharf area, and the fence is the worst for wear because of it. Inventory of fuels and water on island.

Vessels: 10 whale watching vessels in the morning. Very few in the afternoon with high winds.

Panorama view from the lighthouse looking east.

 

High tides and winds

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Ecological Notes:

  • As noted previously, there was a drop in all animals and birds during/after the storm surge, but they are starting to return
  • No elephant seals have returned yet …. checking past blogs, this is not uncommon, but was still hoping there would be some here before I leave!

Facility Work:

  • In addition to weekly battery electrolyte top ups, cleaned the tops of the batteries and did an extra mop up of the floor
  • Due to heavy winds and rain from the north, and the old door still in place, the battery room flooded and needed a full mop out
  • After an initial clean out, debris is starting to fill the boat ramp area again. Many logs rolled right over the jetty!
  • Did a full strip down of the jetty electric fence for now

  • Sticking as close to the proper times as possible, daily salinity and temperature readings adjusted to get safely out onto the jetty

DND events:

  • One blast Monday morning

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • High winds kept boats out of the area

 

 Feature Event:

  •  As there are ongoing concerns about the battery readings, I’ve gone to a hybrid running pattern……. leaving the system on “Auto” to avoid shutoffs from sudden low voltage readings, but shutting off and switching to “Manual” when the batteries reach 100% to avoid extending float charges (sometimes as long as 4-5 hours extra.)
  • Consulting with  technicians on further adjustments and battery corrections

Weather Events:

  • Monday, December 16:
    • Sky:Bright overcast with small clear spots
    • Wind: N 20-25kts, dropping in the afternoon
    • Sea: rippled, wind against tide chop north of reserve
    • Temperature Low 4oC, High 8oC
  • Tuesday, December 17:
    • Sky: Foggy until mid-afternoon, clear and sunny to overcast, mix of cloud and sun by afternoon
    • Wind:NE 5kts veering E to 35kts mid day, back to NE 10kts  by evening
    • Sea:  3 ft swells mid day, large swells rolling into the jetty area
    • Temperature Low 4oC, High 9oC
  • Wednesday, December 18:
    • Sky:Clear overhead, some low cloud and mist in the distance,
    • Wind: W gusts to 50kts early morning,dropping over the day to 10kts
    • Sea:  2 ft chop, dropping to smooth by late afternoon
    • Temperature Low 8oC, High 12oC

 

 

** Any wildlife 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 to the Rock

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Today is my first day as the Ecoguardian at the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve. I was dropped off at 8:30 am with my personal gear, bags of groceries and a reminder to monitor the solar panels, batteries and the electric fence – there are more duties and responsibilities but a source of power is one of the essentials.

Power

I unpacked, put groceries away and set off to tackle my first chore – clean the panels. The solar panels are mounted on the roof and on the side of the Energy Building which houses the diesel generator.  At this time of year, with the long sunny days and daily cleaning, it is possible to power the house systems just on solar power.  Why the daily cleaning? There are hundreds of gulls nesting here and what do we will all do at least once a day? Poop!

Panels on the Energy Building roof

After hauling the cleaning supplies up to the roof and turning on the water, I thought a methodical approach would serve me best. I climbed back down and noted my “starting point” of 3.1 kW of energy being produced by the panels.  After cleaning four panels, I climbed down to check the display.  It was up to 3.4 kW.  Cleaning is one of those tasks that provide instant gratification and now, doubly so.  With all the roof panels cleaned they were producing 4.2 kW and with lower side panels it was up to 4.8 kW!  I tell myself “what a worthwhile task and job well done Christine”

Well, later in the day I have some time to sit down and familiarize myself with OPTICSRE, the software package that lets you visualize your energy system production (solar or generator), storage (battery bank) and consumption levels. It turns out that in the long time it took me to figure out the best way to clean the panels and finally get the job done (between 10 am and noon), the sun was moving, as it does every day, and with the clear skies, was naturally approaching its peak midday production levels (see graph below). Silly me, it wasn’t all my doing!  Shame there is no easy way to determine the added benefits of cleaning the panels.

OPTICSRE graph of energy levels produced by the solar panels (green bar), stored in the batteries (dark blue bar), taken from the battery by the house systems (light blue bar) for each hour on June 11.

The software also displays live time power use. I consult this throughout the day and find it memorizing.  The image below shows the current situation at night as I write this. Very little energy is going from the panels to battery, the batteries are at near full capacity and we are operating in the red, drawing power from the battery bank.  The house (appliances, computer, lights etc) generally draw 1.3 kW of power. If I turn on all the lights in the house and the bathroom fan, it jumps to 1.5 kW. I think if we had such a monitor in our homes, we would be more aware of our consumption and our footprint.

OPTICSRE live display of the energy system

 

Heads to the wind

The other thing I discovered today was all the gulls were facing the same way because of the wind!  We went from light winds at 8:00 am to 41 knots with gust of 46 by early afternoon. Like me, if standing, they took a wider stance, arching and bracing for the gusts. I watched one trying to move travelling side-to-the-wind and being blown off a rock; most scuttle side-ways like crabs.

Bracing and ruffled in a gust of wind

A very interesting first day.

It is a privilege to be here.

 

 

Early Spring Cleaning

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Ecological Notes:

  • Still waiting to see if any Elephant Seals show up for the moult season
  • Sea Lion numbers are down a bit and not fluctuating as they have been
  • Transient Orca have been in the reserve 3 times at least over the last few days. they hunted right off the end of the pier, and in the channel just south of the light

Visitors:

  • Shore Front coordinator delivering supplies and fuel

Facility Work:

  • There was water in the basement of the Student and Science Center, and I first I couldn’t find the source. I checked all the plumbing on that side of the room, and mopped up the water. Checked a couple hours later and there was as much water there again. Realize it must be a new leak, and that it was still going. Took longer than it should have to find the leak, as it was working around the lowest points and looked like it was coming from the other direction. Isolated the problem, and repairs will be done tomorrow

  • With warmer weather and less rain, time to start spring cleaning of sidewalks. The algae cleaner needs the temperature, and rain free days to work.
  • Catching back up on fuel deliveries allows the replenishing of the Gerry Cans in reserve.

  • Noticed the fog horn wasn’t working on Sunday during the heavy fog. Coastguard notified so they could put out a notice to mariners. they have scheduled a visit for Thursday to repair it. With current availability of GPS and Radar on vessels, glad I didn’t have to use the manual back up!

  • Checking smoke detectors and first aid supplies that may expired

  • Awaiting new materials for the pier fence, cleaned up old wiring, saving longer pieces for repairs and making gates

DND events:

  • Detonations during the last week, under the guidence supplied by the Marin Mammal Observers on the water.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Still a few Eco-Tourism vessels coming through.
  • 3 or 4 private vessels as well, all appropriate behavior

Weather Events:

  • Wednesday January 31:
    • Sky: High overcast with occasional sunny breaks
    • Wind: ESE to 30kts early, rotating through to NE 10-15kts during the day
    • Sea: rippled, some standing waves due to wind/tide combinations
    • Temperature Low 10oC, High 13.5oC
  • Tuesday January 30:High overcast, occasional brief rain

    • Wind: NE dropping to 0kts at sunrise, raising through the day to NE 25kts, then dropping again in the evening
    • Sea:  light chop
    • Temperature Low 10oC, High 14oC
  • Monday January 29:
    • Sky: Dense fog all day
    • Wind:N to NE rising from 5kts to 20kts through the day
    • Sea:  light chop
    • Temperature Low 9oC, High 11oC

 

 

** All wildlife 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?

Winter Storms and High Tides

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Ecological Notes:

  • 1 small  Elephant Seal out on Helicopter rock (reported to me by an ecotourism vessel)
  • 1 Female Elephant Seal (looked like it was in season to pup), only made it to the boat ramp. When the sea lions above her were startled and stampeded down, she was very vocal and left.
  • Up to 20 eagles here each morning, preying on gulls for the most part
  • Over 300 Steller Sea Lions here….. quite a few very small one, only found 2 actually nursing pups (last year was the first time I had ever personally seen pups nursing here, and have been observing from the water for 20 years)
  • Turnstones and other small birds nave returned now that the Barred Owl has left

Visitors:

  • contractors
  • Cedric brought a few faculty staff out for a quick visit

Facility Work:

  • Continued work by contractors in the main house, some window trim and painting
  • Started cleaning the gutters on the student house, a job that should only be done when there is someone here to hold the ladder!
  • More storm logs are now starting to come in, collecting them when able
  • Now able to start bucking up for firewood
  • Other note: exchanges the ocean temp/salinity device, and obtaining more reasonable numbers now

DND events:

  • Ongoing blasting ….. My opinion! … is the Steller sea lions are far more reactive to the blasts, and after heavy blasts, they seem to move to the southern rocks

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Ecotourism vessel, and an educational vessel
  • Some private vessels, no noted infractions or fishing

Weather Events:

    • A full mix of typical fall weather. more and more days of N and NE winds
    • 2 full on storms, accentuating the seasonal high tides

 

 

** All wildlife 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?

A Quick Week on the Rocks

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A week goes by quickly out here!  First, an update:

The branded Steller’s sea lion I reported in my last post has a history that includes a previous trip to Race Rocks. 746R was branded at Rogue Reef (Southern Oregon) on July 12, 2009.  He has been all over Carroll Isl WA, Graves Rock SE AK, Castle Rock CA, Barkley Sound BC, Race Rocks in 2016, Sucia Island WA, Ewing Isl WA and Cape Arago OR as recently as July 7 this year. This and other marked sea lions are being studied by Susan Riemer of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. If you see marked sea lions, she really appreciates hearing about your sightings.

The last few days have had all of the weather possibilities for this time of year except hot. Foggy much of the time, windy most of the rest, and sometimes foggy and windy just to change things up. No rain, but humidity in the high 90s.  I’m always struck by how different the temperatures can be just a couple of kilometres away. The wind yesterday actually broke the electric fencing tape on the jetty, which I fixed this morning.

Despite the wind, it’s been a good week for shorebirds.  Another new one for me here (but not for Race Rocks) was a Sanderling. Normally seen chasing and being chased by incoming waves on a sandy beach, they do spend some time in more rocky environments.

The thick stubby bill and “spangled” back pattern are characteristics of Sanderling

The red colouring on the neck had me hoping it might be a MEGA rarity, but it was not.

The predominant gull at Race Rocks this time of year is the Glaucous-winged Gull. They are the regular breeders in this area.  But gulls don’t necessarily stick to their own kind. When they hybridize with Western Gulls, the offspring are known as Olympic gulls.  When they hybridize with Herring Gulls, the offspring are known as Cook Inlet Gulls. There is a gull that I’ve been watching that I think may be one of the latter.

Note the white “window” in the outer primary feather

The orbital ring is orange-yellow like both the Western and Herring gulls. The iris is darker than a Herring gull and lighter than most Glaucous-winged Gulls.

I’ll be passing these and other photos on to someone more “gullible” than I am!

The Second Nature from Pearson College has been making the rounds with alumni and friends of the school. Some of them had to look hard to find us through the fog!

Thanks to Greg Dickinson and Pearson College for providing this opportunity to me again.

Visitors:

  • No visitors ashore, but several from Pearson College on boat tours around the rocks
  • Ecotourism traffic has been picking up, despite the fog.

Facility Work: 

  • Cleaned windows and solar panels daily
  • Cleaned outbuilding windows inside and out
  • Swabbed the decks at the Ecoguardian residence
  • Fixed a shock-inducing break of the electric fence on the jetty
  • Visually checked the entire run of the fence and reconnected tape blown out by high winds

More photos: