Category Archives: weather notes

Animal Census and Gale conditions

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Weather

  • In the morning:
  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 NE
  • Water: 1′ chop
  • Sky: overcast
  • From 10 A.M. onwards:
  • Wind: 25-45 W
  • Sky: showers

Ecological

  • Chuckles spent all day on Great Race.
  • In the morning Chunk went into the water; he returned a couple of hours later. “Watch” him climb over a log in the photo slideshow!
  • Conducted a census. Unfortunately the gale force winds started up just before I climbed the tower to do the largest portion of the census, so by the time I began, many animals had fled seeking shelter.
  1. California Sea Lions: 44
  2. Northern Sea Lions: 13 (1 branded with ?6Y)
  3. Elephant Seals: 2
  4. Seagulls: 106 (there were more before I did my count)
  5. Pigeon Guillemots: 80 (these I counted before the gale)
  6. Cormorants: 57 (there were more before I did my count)
  7. Black Turnstones: 22
  8. Bald Eagles: 20 (13 immature, 7 adults)
  9. Surfbirds: 11
  10. Canada Geese: 10

New Weaner on Great Race

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 10-15 knots E, later up to 48.6 knots W
  • 48 knots falls into the “storm” category. Only “violent storm” and “hurricane” are higher on the scale. The house is shuddering.
  • Water: 2′ chop, later at least 5′
  • Sky: overcast and some rain

Large waves 1

Ecological

  • The mother elephant seal on Great Race was gone this morning, making the fourth pup a weaner. He is much smaller than the previous weaner was, and over on Middle Rock the mother is still with her pup, who was born approximately 8 days before, and is quite larger. All this makes me think the mother has left prematurely?
  • In the morning Chunk spent some time chasing the weaner, but he was too slow to catch him and he gave up, later heading over to Middle Rock.
  • Chuckles showed up on Great Race afterwards and has been watching the weaner.
  • At one point I found the weaner chewing on a wire cord underneath the big old yellow diesel tank by the Energy Building.
  • Today was the first day that I saw a great blue heron at Race Rocks! Not a first in general though, or for Race Rocks.
  • Pam Birley also noticed the heron and she took some photos with the webcam.

Maintenance

  • Stacked some firewood.

Other

  • Heard one small DND blast at 10:30.

Highest recorded temperature, Fuel inventory, and Supplies

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Weather

  • Visibility: 5 miles, later 15
  • Wind: 5-10 knots, later 25, West
  • Water: rippled
  • Sky: rain and/or sun throughout the day
  • According to the Davis Weather Station, today had the highest recorded temperature at Race Rocks for any February 12th since the station was set up in 2006. Today’s high was 11.6 C, beating last years record of 9.8 C.

Ecological

  • In the morning Chuckles went over to Weaner’s corpse and looked at him, rolled him around, and sat on him. Then he left the island.
  • Chunk came back and rejoined the two females and pup.
  • Middle Rock mum and pup still there.
  • I decided to start calling the new female Lady.

Maintenance

  • Conducted a fuel inventory list for Jeff of Maintenance. Good news: there is more than enough fuel to last until after I leave.
  • Scraped rust off of the two empty 55 gallon diesel barrels and spray painted them to extend their useable life.

Boats

  • Jeff and an assistant came by at about 14:00 to drop off food supplies, a ramp for the diesel tanks, and to have a look at the Davis Weather Station wind reader. Unlike the other day though, the wind reader seemed to be working just fine.
  • One eco-tour boat came by at about 15:00. It seemed to be closer to the sea lions than the guidelines allow.

Too close?

Male Elephant Seals: Island Swap

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 0-10 knots, at various times from the N, W, S, and E.
  • Water: calm
  • Sky: overcast, then rain, then sunny.

Ecological

  • Chuckles spent the day lying on the grass on the SE corner of Great Race.
  • Chunk attempted to mate with the grieving mother in the morning.
  • After mating, Chunk chased the new female and seemed to wound her slightly, before giving up the chase and going into the water.
  • Chunk spent the rest of the day on Middle Rock with the mother and pup.
  • The newest (fourth) pup is still doing well.

Maintenance

  • Finished stacking firewood under the stairs of the Students’ House.
  • Hauled away many small chunks of wood from near the ramp.
  • Noticed that the wind direction meter seems to be malfunctioning at the Davis Weather Station. Looking into what can be done.

Boats

  • One eco-tour boat passed by at 14:00 heading West, before returning at 15:30. At times it seemed to be closer to the rocks than is permitted.
Closer than the mammal watching guidelines?

Closer than the mammal watching guidelines?

January Seawater

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Date Time Sea Jar Hydro- meter     No. Observed Density YSI Salinity YSI Temp °C
Temp. Temp.
°C °C
1 8:50         32.2 8.3
2 9:30         32.2 8.2
3 9:26         32.1 8.2
4 9:47         31.9 8.1
5 10:06         31.9 8.0
6 9:05         32.0 8.2
7 9:30         32.0 8.2
8 10:06         32.2 8.3
9 11:45         32.1 8.4
10 13:10         32.4 8.4
11 13:00         32.4 8.3
12 13:30         32.5 8.6
13 14:30         32.5 8.5
14 15:40         32.7 8.5
15 7:25 8.6 8 10,802 248 32.9 8.5
16 8:00         32.7 8.5
17 8:30         32.6 8.6
18 9:15         32.5 8.5
19 10:10         32.4 8.5
20 9:24         32.3 8.4
21 11:15         32.1 8.6
22 11:30         32.3 8.7
23 13:00         32.3 8.6
24 13:00         32.4 8.6
25 13:15         32.4 8.6
26 14:25         32.4 8.6
27 15:00         32.3 8.5
28 16:00         32.2 8.7
29 8:00         32.2 8.7
30 9:10 8.6 8.5   237 32.4 8.5
31 9:00         32.1 8.5

census jan 23

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Ecological:

  • Wind 10 knots East becoming 30 knots West in the evening
  • Census:
    Norther sealion-105
    California sealion-146
    Harbour seal-88
    Elephant Seal-3m (incl 1 pup), 3f
    River Otter-1
    Cormorants-540
    Seagulls-185
    Harlequin ducks-5
    Bald Eagles-3
    Dunlin-1
    Black Turnstone-2
    Black Oyster Catcher-4

Vessels: 1 sailboat and 4 ecotour boats in reserve, I went off island in the morning and returned around noon.

west wind and rain

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Ecological

  • Jan 21- visibility low due to rain and mist, wind N 15 knots
  • Jan 22- rain in the morning becoming clear, wind W 15-20 increasing to 30 before noon and becoming light in the evening.
  • elephant seals: mother, pup, other female and Chunk have stayed around the West side of the house all week.  It has been a week since pup birth, the pup is growing quickly and the mother is getting visibly thinner.

Maintenance

  • ran derrick to move logs
  • wood stove repairs- removed old fire bricks, baffle tubes and baffle boards, cleaned fire box. Installed new baffle board and tubes, new fire bricks and blower.
  • built a mesh cover for the second compost container.
  • transferred one more drum of diesel to tidy tank, both tanks now full
  • cut firewood
  • sent inventory list of fluorescent tube fixtures to Chris for upgrading to LEDs.
  • precipitation this week has done well to fill cistern

Other

  • occasional DND blasting at Christopher point throughout the week.

West wind

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Ecological

  • Wind finally shifted to west, 25-30 knots becoming 15-20 after noon.
  • 9 Canada Geese on Great Race in the morning
  • Saw the large female elephant seal and Chunk on Middle rock in the morning and throughout the day
  • One of the heavy blasts in the morning disturbed about 100 cormorants on the NE side of Great Race.

Vessels

  • I went off island before noon and returned before dusk

Maintenance

  • Rebooted UPS in tower to restore communications in the morning
  • Brought 2 empty diesel drums to campus and three old and worn gas cans for disposal
  • Picked up plumbing parts to finish repairing rain water tank and picked up food supplies.

Other

  • DND blasting continued, less frequent but a couple very heavy blasts this morning

North East forecast to break

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Ecological

  • Wind NE 20 knots becoming 10-15 before noon then increasing to 20 again in the evening.  Atmospheric pressure has continued to trend upwards since the 5th and appears to have peaked today around mid day at just over 1020 hPA.  For the first time in 2 weeks of steady NE wind with little precipitation the forecast is calling for a shift tomorrow towards SE wind followed by Westerly along with rain.
  • The large female e-seal went into the water via boat ramp before I launched.  On my way across I passed by Middle rock to check but there were no e-seals present there.  I assume she is taking advantage of her last chances to feed and build up her reserves before giving birth.

Vessels

  • I went off island before noon and returned before dusk. One eco tour vessel was leaving from the direction of Race Rocks when I was returning.

Maintenance

  • Brought one empty diesel drum to campus. Picked up food supplies.

New Year

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Ecological

  • Wind NE 20-25 knots diminishing to 15-20, sky mostly clear. Sea water temperature 8.3 C and continuing to decline.

Vessels

  • 3 eco tour vessels.  One of them appeared to be getting much closer than the 100 meter setback requirement for viewing marine mammals.
  • 1 pleasure craft. On approach from Victoria, the vessel appeared to be traveling well above the 7 knot speed limit inside of the reserve.

Maintenance

  • Transfered 1 barrel of diesel to tidy tank
  • Cleared ramp, chopped firewood
  • Took inventory of diesel, propane, gasoline, and fresh water on island for month end report
  • Phone and internet went offline in the evening, UPS overload again, rebooted and we are back online.