James Logs from August 25th to September 3rd

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Greetings, I’m James Tuohy. I’m here at the Race Rocks Reserve as a Relief Eco-Guardian for 2 weeks with my 16 year old daughter Annie. We were also here in August 2017 for 10 days. Prior to that, I did 3 or 4 relief tours here in the mid 1990’s. I was here in the mid 1990s. I was here on April 01/97 when the light station become “automated” after 137 years of faithful manning.

Sunday Aug 25th

  • Afternoon fog – No Fog horn during fog event
  • Ran the Generator
  • Cleaned the main building
  • Did animal census late afternoon

Weather: Cloudy with Breeze, Afternoon Fog to 1/8 mile

Monday, August 26th

Foghorn was again not sounding during quite a heavy fog. It did, however; pipe up during the evening. Narrowly missed a gull in flight while walking down to the engine room in the dark.

  • Ran generator
  • Water sample
  • Cleaned solar panels in rain

Weather: Cloudy with light rain and wind. 1km of visibility.

Tuesday, August 27 

Saw a mild Aurora Borealis just after midnight. Beautiful starry night.

  • Water sample
  • Washed windows of house
  • Able to run entirely on solar
  • Big clean up day of house and battery room

Weather:  Partly cloudy, W 25

Wednesday, August 28 

Half way through our short stint! Beautiful day with calm seas. Dealing with a broken refrigerator was the event of the day. Lots of whale activity caused an increase in tourism boats

  • Ran station on solar only
  • Cleaned the lens of the NW camera
  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Water sample

Weather: Partly Cloudy, Wind SE 08, Fine Wx

Thursday, August 29

There was a bull orca in the vicinity of the island today exhibiting lots of behaviour. Breaches, spy hopping, tail slapping etc. Lots of boats the see the action. Lovely sunset over Beechy Head, perfect weather.

  • Engine room maintenance with Coordinator Greg
  • Food management after fridge incident
  • Water sample
  • Cleaned solar panels

Weather: Partly Cloudy, Wind SE 07, Fine Wx

Friday, August 30 

Perfect weather today. Two humpbacks were in the area spouting and showing tail flukes. Unfortunately, also saw a Stellar sealion that had eaten some salmon fishing gear.

  • Water sample
  • Cleaned solar panels

Weather: Partly Cloudy, Wind SE 07, Fine Wx

Saturday, August 31

New fridge arrived today. No sign of sealion that was caught up in fishing gear, hopefully they were able to spit it out.

  • Ran generator
  • Cleaned solar panels in the evening
  • Water sample

Weather: Partly Cloudy, Wind SE 07, Fine Wx

Sunday, September 1

There were three humpback whales displaying lots of activity off the South end of the island. A couple of kayakers did a lap of the reserve. Three Biggs orcas right off the jetty. Bull, cow, and calf heading west. Did some updating of the safety marking around the island. Foghorn sounded for half an hour around 6pm. Weekly census was done today. Sealion population increased by 350!

  • Water sample
  • Cleaned solar panel

Weather: Cloudy, Wind to 20 knots W

Monday, September 2 

3 Humpbacks feeding ½ mile to the south. Started to tidy house and pack for departure. Went over food inventory with upcoming guardian!

Weather: Cloudy, SE 8 AM, Swings to W 18

Tuesday, September 3

Socked in with fog in AM. No Horn, We left at 13:30 … Bye for now!

  • Washed solar panels

Weather: AM Fog, SW o7

August Seawater Data

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DAILY SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE AND SALINITY OBSERVATIONS
Institute of Ocean Sciences, North Saanich, B.C., V8L 4B2
 YSI 15 Email monthly to cynthia.bluteau@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
Station: RACE ROCKS
Observer: Christine Chourmouzis/James Tuohy Aug-24
YSI ID: 15 Year: 2024
YSI YSI
Temp Sal
Day Time ºC ppt
1 13:17 10.6 30.8
2 14:08 11.0 30.4
3 14:52 10.1 32.1
4 14:33 11.0 32.0
5 16:15 10.2 31.7
6 16:59 10.6 31.9
7 17:00 11.0 32.6
8 17:45 10.9 32.1
9 18:05 10.8 32.4
10 18:30 10.7 32.5
11 7:50 10.8 32.6
12 8:30 11.0 32.5
13 9:25 11.3 32.2
14 10:01 11.4 32.4
15 11:02 11.9 32.8
16 11:51 11.5 32.0
17 13:05 11.7 31.8
18 13:56 11.0 32.8
19 15:01 10.5 32.9
20 15:15 10.0 33.2
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It is my time to leave

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Once again, this is my last night on Race Rocks.

Wildlife notes:

The sea lions are steadily increasing each day and the sea gulls might have doubled in number in the last week. More gull chicks have fledged, leaving their parents guarding the old empty nesting areas. The female elephant seal may also have moved on as I have not seen her for a couple of days.

Facility work:

  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Ran generator and desalinator, fresh water tank is full with 4500L
  • Operation walkway – work in progress

Vessels:

  • 23 Ecotourism, 3 private

Weather:

Periods of fog until early afternoon then partial cloud. Wind direction variable, light to gentle breeze. Daytime temperatures: low 12, high 16.

 

I will miss this magical place

 

 

Drizzle

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Wildlife:

Today was a quiet, moist, calm day. I found a few more wet dead gull chicks, some quite decayed and a recently killed gull about 6 weeks old. I also discovered another wounded CA sea lion by the Jetty. He is known as Friar Tuck and was disentangled by the Marine Mammal Rescue folks in 2023.  I hope his wounds heal better than the one who hurt its flipper. This is the fourth sea lion I have seen with a past or present entanglement.

Facility work:

  • For the first time I did not clean the solar panels. The rain did it!
  • Worked on tasks to help the next Ecoguardian – started on month end report, data entry for seawater data, washed floors, tallied supplies etc.
  • Operation walkway–work in progress

Vessels:

  • 19 Ecotourism, 1 private

Weather:

Winds moderate NE in the morning, gradually veering throughout the day to light W by early evening. Periods of light rain or drizzle throughout the day. Daytime temperatures: low 13, high 15.

Whales!

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Wildlife notes:

About six killer whales cruised the eastern shoreline passing through the channel between Great Race and the South Islands. It was first time I had seen the whales so close to shore and was very surprised by the behaviour of the sea lions. They did not make a mad rush to get out of the water. Instead, they dove in, grouped up, and seemed to guard the shore and pursue the whales. They followed them through the channel around the west end of the South Islands and along the southern shores of the South Islands until the whales left the area. The ones left on shore continued to sleep or just casually gazed out. It was incredible and not at all what I expected.  Maybe they are like the gulls, drawn to a spectacle, and were just out there to watch the drama of something being attacked and killed.

Going around the west side of South Islands

In pursuit on the south side of South Islands

Whales leaving the area, heading east.

Facility work:

  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Cleaned windows Keeper’s House and Student House
  • Operation walkway – work in progress

Vessels:

  • 25 Ecotourism, 4 private

Weather:

Fog <1/4 mile visibility in the morning, dissipating by 11:00 then scattered clouds.  Winds variable, light to moderate most of the day.  Fresh NW fresh in the early evening. Daytime temperatures: low 14, high 18.

Population shift

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Wildlife notes:

On Wednesday’s Census, there were 155 sea lions on Great Race Rocks. Today there are 296. They aren’t just grouping near the Jetty but on a variety of beaches, stretches of the shore line, around the fog horn and even the helicopter pad which seems quite the hike from the shore. The turnstones and surfbirds have been forced up higher on East Beach as the sea lions move in. East Beach has been a great place to observe new bird species. I wonder if the new birds will still visit this area with the sea lions there. They are calling for rain tonight and tomorrow. I look forward to this and hope it will reduce the aroma in the air.

Sea lions starting to collect on East Beach.

Sea lions on the Helicopter Pad.

The two Birthday birds photographed yesterday are now only one. Either they are still vulnerable at this age or the one has fledged. I am hoping for the latter and wish this young bird well on its journey.

There were whales in the area about a mile to the south as evidence by the collection of ecotourism vessels.

A collection of ecotourism boats presumed to be whale watching

Facility work:

  • Clean solar panels
  • Operation walkway – work in progress

Vessels:

  • 27 Ecotourism, 1 private

Weather:

Clear skies in the morning, partial clouds early afternoon, rain clouds in early evening. Gentle SE breeze until early afternoon, fresh SW in the early evening. Daytime temperatures: low 14, high 19.

Happy Birthday

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There are likely many birthdays on the island today but the two I know about is the seven-week birthday of the chicks that hatched on the NE corner of the house on June 28th and mine. The chicks have lost their speckled down, are approaching the size of their parents and can stay in the air for 16 seconds!

I have never had so many in attendance for my birthday party. Thousands were cheering and barking all day with the island nicely covered in white icing to celebrate my >400 weeks.

7 week-old sea gull chicks

Wildlife notes:

On a less cheery note, the California sea lion that injured its flipper around the beginning of July is not doing so well. It can not weight bear on that flipper and the wound appears to be infected. It is staying on the Jetty or nearby very close to the shore.

Aug 16, 2024

July 5, 2024

July 5, 2024

Facility work:

  • Clean solar panels
  • Topped up battery fluid
  • Ran the generator and desalinator
  • The Jetty is now fully electrified – there is still a path open so the elephant seal can come up the boat ramp and access the interior of the island.

Vessels:

  • 15 Ecotourism, 3 private, 1 kayak

Weather:

Skies overcast in the morning, scattered clouds by evening. Moderate to fresh westerlies. Daytime temperatures: low 12, high 17.

Entangled California sea lion

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Wildlife notes:

A third entanglement was sighted this morning on the shore near the Energy Building. Unlike the other two, it was a California sea lion. From yesterday’s Census, 293 sea lions were counted, for an entanglement rate of 1%. Studying Stellar sea lions in Alaska and northern BC, Kimberly et al 2009 reported a 0.67% entanglement rate and in some parts of the world this percentage is much higher. Despite education campaigns like Loose the Loop, this problem doesn’t seem to be getting better, at least here. It is not just sea lions that are affected. Over 100 different species of marine wildlife get entangled in debris. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada, have been busy lately rescuing entangled whales in BC (CBC article) and the number of entangled whale is increasing (CBC article).

This graphic from the Pinniped Entanglement Group (PEG) illustrates the common causes of entanglement. Source: https://pinnipedentanglementgroup.org/sources-of-entaglement/

It is hard to see these entangled animals and know that for some, it will be a slow, painful death.

California sea lion sighted Aug 15 near the Energy Building. Since the area around the neck is dry and there is no discharge from an open wound, this is considered a non-active entanglement. It may be a scar from a previous entanglement.  Hopefully this animal stays around here so it be checked by the Marine Mammal Rescue staff.

Facility work:

  • Clean solar panels
  • Cleaned windows on Keeper’s House
  • Scrubbed side deck on Keeper’s House

Vessels:

  • 18 Ecotourism, 1 private 

Weather:

Skies partly cloudy. Fresh westerly breeze until 15:00, increasing to near gale in the evening.  Daytime temperatures: low 13, high 17.