Wildlife notes

The elephant seal is still here, napping and going for her daily swims.  The only new visitors spotted today were the purple martins inspecting the fog horn tubes as a possible nesting site and a group of Heermann’s gulls on East Beach.

Immature and mature Heermann’s gulls on the rocks by East Beach

Facility work

Greg and Richard came this afternoon. The foot valve (allows water flow in only one direction and prevents backflow) on the line in the cistern was replaced and Richard put a fire house coupling on the line so the valve can be more easily retrieved.  Greg changed many of the filters on the desalinator. This greatly improved post pressure and we are back at 30 psi. We still have a problem with the pre pressure so on Monday we will check the pressure tank. They also brought a load tester and it is confirmed we need a new starter battery for the generator, which they will bring on Monday so I will need to watch the system closely and attach the battery charger if an automatic generator start is expected in the middle of the night.

• cleaned solar panels
• weeding
• cleaning floors
• new foot valve in cistern
• new pre and post filters on the desalinator

Vessels

• Ecotourism: 6
• Private: 1

Weather

Clear skies.  Winds variable 2 to 14 knots. Daytime temperatures= 12 to 15 degrees.

Wildlife notes

There have been very low (negative) tides here over the past few days. The real biodiversity here is below water. In my next life I’d like to be a diver as well as a musician. I was going to say I’d like to be a harbour seal until I discovered they were colour blind! I won’t even try to name all the creatures in the low tide photos below.

Facility work

The high winds kept me off the roof today so the solar panels did not get cleaned. I spent the day in the Energy Building vacuuming and cleaning decades of oil and grease associated with Old Lister from the floors. It will be another two before that room is done.

Vessels

• Ecotourism: 1
• Private: 0

Weather

Clear skies and lively seas.  Steady WNW gale force winds up to 44 knots. Daytime temperatures 12 to 14 degrees.

Sporty conditions – tide and wind waves over South Seal Rocks.

I am not properly equipped for good tide pool photos.

Wildlife notes

Four purple martins toured the island yesterday. It was so pleasant to hear their chatter all day. They even inspected the nesting box mounted on the back porch. I hope the gull goon who often sits on top of these doesn’t deter them. I haven’t seen much of them today.  Please stay! It would make Garry Fletcher very happy. He delivered the nesting boxes to Race Rocks especially for you!

The goose beats the gull for the best built nest.

Facility work

The weather has delayed the repairs to the cistern check valve and filter replacement on the desalinator, both of which are contributing to pump and pressure issues.  There was a failed auto start on the generator last night at 9:30pm. I put the battery charger on it and manually started the generator.. .a whole room full of batteries, a generator full of fuel and could it be one little starter battery holding up the whole show?  Tomorrow is another windy day again but Greg and Richard should be out on Wednesday with parts and a load tester.

• cleaned solar panels
• weed whacked section of the walkway to the Tank Shed
• started cleaning and vacuuming the Generator Room

Vessels

• Ecotourism: 5
• Private: 1

Weather

Partly cloudy. Fresh westerly breeze in the morning. Gale force northwest in the afternoon. Daytime temperature 12 to 20 degrees.

Wildlife notes

I discovered two new black oystercatcher nests this year: one in the rocks on a very high (a long walk down to the shore for a little oystercatcher) part of the island to the north of the helicopter pad and one on the east side of the jetty close to shore. There was a pair on the east side of the jetty last year but they did not exhibit any nesting or feeding behaviour.

The two new oystercatcher nests found this year are shown below. One high on the bluffs behind the Heli Pad and one close to shore on the east side of the Jetty.

I can’t say whether oystercatcher pairs return to the exact same spot each year or if they have to establish their territory anew each year, but in most cases except for the Coast Guard pair, this year’s nests are in the exact same location or only two feet away from last years nests.  What is very different this year is the timing of egg hatch.  The Keepers House pair were the first to hatch, more than two weeks earlier than last year.  In contrast the West Jetty pair had already hatched their two chicks by this time last year. Now they are starting to visit their nest but are still mating and haven’t yet laid an egg.

The oystercatcher nest map is below (click on it to expand). Note, I left the island last year before getting a visual on the Energy Building chicks to confirm number hatched.

Facility work

• cleaned solar panels
• checked batteries
• weeded around Bunker and Water Shed

Vessels

• Ecotourism: 8
• Private: 2

Weather

HOT! Clear skies and sun. Winds light and variable until evening, then westerlies 10 to 23 knots. Daytime temperatures 19 to 24 degrees. I did not need to light a fire today.

Wildlife notes

Two banded gulls were observed late yesterday afternoon and reported to the Salish Sea Gull Project.  The researchers with Environment and Climate Change Canada are studying gull movements over time, their location preferences or site fidelity, and survival.  The gulls I reported in 2024 and 2025 didn’t stray too far from home but this year we have a long distance traveler on Race Rocks who came all the way from Haida Gwaii. He was banded as a adult in 2024 so is now at least 6 years old.  We also have a banded gull nesting on Race Rocks! This male is 7 years old and is probably in his 2nd or 3rd mating season.  I found him on a nest with two eggs.  This area will need to be checked again next season as they generally return to the same nesting site. To learn more about this project and how to report a banded gull see this post from June 2025.  Below is a summary of the gulls reported in 2024, 2025, and 2026.

The location of the banded gull’s nest on the east side of the island just beyond the mudflat. This location should be checked next summer.

Also the blue egg laying gull has returned to the exact same spot beside the CODAR installation and like last year, has laid two pointy plain blue eggs.

The CODAR gull’s nest

Facility notes

Regular tasks were completed in the morning (solar panels, a short attempt at water making which was aborted, water sample, etc).  The afternoon was much more varied. Richard came with his bucket of tools and a number of jobs were tackled: bunker door repaired, new propane tank hold fast added, blinds and a smoke/CO2 alarms hung, measured distance of run from cistern to the Jetty for replacing the fire hose system with a permanent hard piped system, made plans to replace the fraying flag halyard, drained oil from the last remaining piece of Old Lister, moved the used oil drum to the Tank Shed and moved another enormous pile of old wires and broken equipment from the island. We spent some time trouble shooting the pump issues and on Monday he and Greg will return with a coupler for the cistern draw pipe to simplify accessing and replacing the check valve.  Hopefully that will fix the issues with pump cycling on and off and I can get back to filling our fresh water tank.

Vessels

• Ecotourism: 7
• Private: 0

Weather

Clear skies. Westerlies 7 to 18 knots. Daytime temperatures 9 to 16 degrees.

Wildlife notes

There was so much was going on today I hardly had time to look around until 4pm when I had a quick look at the oystercatchers nests for the nest survey (coming shortly) and observed some banded gulls (report coming shortly).

Facility work

The generator was running in the morning on manual start in a effort to produce as much fresh water as possible before Monday when the cistern pump will be taken apart and check valves examined.  When I arrived here there was wasn’t that much fresh water and I have been playing catchup. The desalinator ran for 9 hours today on a combination of generator and solar power producing 530L of water, with another 1000L to go before the tank is full. I moved equipment around and cleaned the solar panels before the gang arrived.

Ten people spilled out of the boat.  Three technicians were on a site visit to quote on a solar and battery storage system overhaul (a larger solar array and lithium batteries).  I was busy running around explaining our systems and duties to a future Ecoguardian and six other people (staff and helpers) went to work lugging more stuff (mostly metal) off the island.  I was so occupied I only managed to snap a photo of the loaded boat before it left.  There were so many people and different activities in the works today that they forgot my groceries on shore!

The boat with a large metal fuel tank, many old motors and pumps, even a sink, and the remaining pieces of Old Lister. The metal tank was once use in MV Second Nature to transfer diesel fuel to the island. The Derek (red crane in the background) would lift it from the boat onto shore.

Normally it is really quiet here. I plan and generally have one thing to focus on at a time. Small things, like finding a new nest or a big cardboard box is exciting. The box contained 2 more roller blinds – a new addition to the Keeper’s and Student House. We no longer need to live as university students with bed sheets as curtains. The bedroom windows have proper light blocking curtains and a roller blind. Just two more to go and the Keeper’s house will be fully outfitted. The new window coverings are great but I was also excited about the box. The carboard makes excellent fire starter so I was real happy to cut it up!

Vessels

• Ecotourism: 11
• Private: 3

Weather

Clear skies and sunny. Gently to moderate westerly breeze during the day. Winds SW 18 to 29 in the evening. Daytime temperatures 10 to 12 degrees.

Wildlife notes

The egg thief is back. The killing field is strewn with eggs shells. It is hard to keep count as the wind carries some of the evidence away but yesterday midday there were remnants of 5 gull eggs and one goose egg when I first watched the thief slurping at an egg. I studied him all afternoon and evening yesterday and was able to determine it is a coupled male with a nest 5m away. He actively defends his stash of shells, chasing away any curious neighbours. The devious bird waits for the oystercatcher “eagle” alarm and takes to the air together with the rest of the gulls but he is always the first to return. He flies out low over the Jetty, quickly circles back and selects his target nest.  He didn’t even have to land but was able to take an egg undamaged in a hover and carry it to his killing field. He ate two more eggs last night that I witnessed. This afternoon he ate at least one more egg.  A survey of the nests around yielded 8 nests with 0 eggs, 5 with 1, 2 with 2 and 2 with 3. Granted the gulls haven’t all laid eggs but there are a lot of less than full nests in the vicinity. Curiously, his nest was one of the two full nests. If gull chicks ate the vegetation on the island (competition for a local resource), this behaviour might make sense but they are fed food from the sea, foraged by their parents. This criminal deserves some serious jail time.

Thief in the killing field approaching his egg after I disturbed him. His partner sits on three eggs in the circled area. The arrow points to the rock where he often sits planning his next heist.

Facility work

• cleaned the solar panels
• ran the desalinator for three hours (cistern pump issues still exist but it runs)
• ran the fire pump for two hours and topped up the cistern with seawater

DND Activity

One house shaking blast was heard at 15:05.

Vessels

• Ecotourism: 9
• Private: 0

Weather

Skies mostly clear. Westerlies 15 to 24 knots until late afternoon, switching to SW 15. Daytime temperatures 10 to 12 degrees.

Mature female elephant seal on the boat ramp. The fur and skin on the back is usually the last to shed.

Wildlife notes

The dead California sealion on East Beach is a foul smelling bag of bones. After four months the bone are clean of flesh but the skin remains intact (more photos). It is no wonder people tan animal hides and sea skins. The gulls and black oystercatchers pay it no attention but I can hardly stand the smell. Some animal odors just seem to linger forever, like the patches of shed skin and fur from the elephant seal which retains its putrid odor for years, even when properly dried.

The collapsed carcass of a dead California sealion. The skin around its head was peeled back by the birds months ago. The skull has now been detached, a few spine bone exposed but the bulk of its skeleton remains trapped in the sack of skin.

Facility work

The generator ran again this morning. With the excess power the desalinator was put to work and I spend 3 hour with the shop vacuum in the basement of the Keepers House (floors, walls, window sills, shelves etc). The rain last night and high winds today kept me off the Energy Building Roof but the solar panels will need a cleaning tomorrow. The cistern pump was acting up and cycling on and off. Hopefully there isn’t a leak in the underground pipe running from the cistern into the Bunker.  I’ll try it again tomorrow when the solar production is high enough to run the pump.

The basement storage room carpet. Can’t get the stains out but at least it is cleaner and smells better in the room.

Vessels

• Ecotourism: 0
• Private: 0

Weather

The flag spent the day lowered and bound. Skies ranging from clear to partly cloudy with scattered showers. Strong westerlies 23 to 37 knots.  Daytime temperatures 10 to 12 degrees.