Census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-15 NW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Calm for the most part

Boats/Visitors

  • A few ecotours going by today

Maintenance

  • Let the batteries too low today, lost power around 16:00 and started the generator

Ecological

  • I’m getting concerned about the other female, they usually give birth within a few days of hauling out but she hasn’t which leads me to believe either she isn’t pregnant even though she really looks like it or maybe something wrong, I’m not sure
  • the pup is doing well though, getting a bit bigger every day, the beta males have stayed away and the alpha always stays close by

Census

  • California Sea Lions – 112
  • Steller Sea Lions – 124
  • Harbour Seal – 59
  • Elephant Seal – 3 male, 4 female plus 1 pup who I suspect is female
  • Cormorants – 32
  • Gulls – 89
  • Canada Geese – 18
  • Black Turnstones – 38
  • Eagle – 2
  • Oyster Catchers – 4
  • Harlequin Ducks – 12

One Orca

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 2-38 SW
  • Sky: Cloudy
  • Water: Waves were 0-2 metres today

Boats/Visitors

  • There was on ecotour this morning when the wind wasn’t too bad but none this afternoon when the wind picked up

Maintenance

  • Moving the dry wood from the porch stairs to the basement, when the wind calms down again I’ll be moving the wood that Alex cut from the pile to under the stairs to dry out
  • Didn’t have to run the generator during the day but started it after sunset

Ecological

  • I forgot to mention I saw one killer whale swimming west in front of Peddar Bay on Monday
  • Still no second pup, this female has been hauled out for at least six days, starting to think she’s just a bit pudgy, but hopefully, she’ll have a pup soon

Still just one pup

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 10-20 SW
  • Sky: Sunny
  • Water: A bit choppy out there today, waves didn’t look more than a metre high

Boats/Visitors

  • Guy, Christine, and Alex came by today, and I have a visitor staying with me for a bit
  • They brought the whaler which is now working well and took the zodiac back to the college
  • Guy hauled out some junk that was piling up in the generator room and Alex checked the batteries after they had been charged for a few hours

Maintenance

  • Checking the batteries, also making sure the desalinator is running as well as it can be at the moment

Ecological

  • The pup belonging to pink tag T562 is doing very well still
  • The untagged female is looking very large, but still no pup from her, maybe tomorrow
  • looked to be another female swimming around the jetty today but she didn’t haul out, she looked too young to be reproducing just yet

Pup is doing well

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 10-25 SW
  • Sky: Cloudy
  • Water: A bit choppy out there today, waves didn’t look more than a metre high

Boats/Visitors

  • A few ecotours going by today, as well as a couple dive boats

Maintenance

  • Ran the generator for a bit longer today, was going to run the desalinator to top off the water tank but was having some problems with it, will try again tomorrow

Ecological

  • The pup belonging to pink tag T562 is doing very well, I took a closer look at it today and suspect its female but still not completely sure
  • Still just the one pup, sometimes it takes a few days for the females to give birth after they’ve hauled out
  • The alpha male is very friendly, gentle and protective with the pup so that’s great news, it’s keeping the beta males away

First pup of the year

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 10-25 NW
  • Sky: Mostly Sunny, some clouds
  • Water: A bit choppy out there today, waves didn’t look more than a metre high

Boats/Visitors

  • A few ecotours going by today, not many other vessels around

Maintenance

  • Just getting used to being more energy efficient and also using the woodstove more rather than the furnace

Ecological

  • The tagged female that showed up the had a pup at around 16:45 today, too early to tell the gender but I will get better photos tomorrow. I expect one more pup to be born soon, as the other large female on the island is looking quite large.
  • The tag on this female is pink and the numbers have rubbed off
  • The big guy who I think is chunk (need to get a closer look at the scars on his back) seems to be reacting well. He hasn’t shown aggression so far towards the pup.

Second pregnant female arrives

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Weather: Dark and rainy, N wind under 15 knots.

Ecological: A second large pregnant female hauled out onto the main island this afternoon. She is even larger than PinkT562.  The larger male seemed much more interested this time,  went down to meet her by the boat house and kept another male away. Both pregnant females are resting on either side of the path to the main house which is an ideal location for pups and for observing from the house.

Vessels: 3 tour boats

Maintenance:

-Shift change tomorrow, Laas will be back, so working on cleaning and packing up

-work on month end report

-cut one last jig full of driftwood into firewood

-transferred 160 Litres of diesel to engine building

T 562 pink tag, pregnant

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Weather: Overcast, light wind. Showers in the afternoon.

Ecological:

-Around noon a large, pregnant looking female elephant seal hauled up the boat ramp and onto the island.  She is the first pregnant female to show up on the main island this season and is possibly the first flipper tagged pregnant female to come here.  She has a pink flipper tag (T562) which indicates that she was born at Point Reyes or the Farallones Islands near San Francisco. One of the male elephant seals took immediate interest and rushed over to her, there was some physical contact, some biting (him) and lots of wailing and wriggling (her). She did not seem interested at first but eventually they were lying side by side and seemed calm.  The larger male seemed only semi-interested and let them be.

-The Polar Adventurer, a crude oil tanker, passed by on its way from Anacortes to Valdez.  It is in the photos below with a male elephant seal in the foreground. The Alaskan Legend, also crude oil tanker,  passed by on its way from Valdez to Cherry Point.

Vessels: 2 tour boats

Maintenance:

-cut wood

-work on month end report, records and write up

-send in December sea water sample data

 

 

Pigeon Guillemots, winter plumage

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Weather: mostly clear sky and light wind from the West.

Ecological: 

-A flock of Pigeon Guillemots with winter plumage (photos) were in the foreshore by the jetty, these were the first PGs I have seen on this shift.

-The Snow Bunting was out and about (photo)

Vessels: 2 tour boats and 1 private/sports fishing boat

Maintenance:

-cut firewood

-moved fuel barrels

-stocked up firewood in basement

-continued to look in to energy system issues.

Sooke Christmas Bird Count

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Weather:  Continued west wind up to 30 knots in the morning and some lingering swell, sunshine for a change.

Ecological:

Guy brought Kim and Jim out in the morning for the annual “Sooke Christmas Bird Count”.  They surveyed the island and surrounding waters from the top of the tower and walked around the island. Guy took them around the reserve in the boat on the way back to get a better view of the pelagic zone.  Apparently the Snow Bunting they saw here was one of the highlights of the Sooke count this year.

12 Canada Goose
10 Harlequin Duck
4 Surf Scoter
3 White-winged Scoter
2 Red-breasted Merganser
24 Black Oystercatcher
38 Black Turnstone
3500 Common Murre
90 Ancient Murrelet
4 Rhinoceros Auklet
800 Mew Gull
150 Iceland Gull (Thayer’s)
250 Glaucous-winged Gull
1 Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid) — 95% Western
1 Red-throated Loon
40 Pacific Loon
1 Common Loon
50 Brandt’s Cormorant
75 Pelagic Cormorant
20 Double-crested Cormorant
10 Bald Eagle
2 Common Raven
1 Snow Bunting — Photos taken
1 Song Sparrow

Number of Taxa: 24

See this index of past years Bird Counts. https://www.racerocks.ca/race-rocks-animals-plants/bird-observations-at-race-rocks-3/christmas-bird-counts-starting-in-1997/

-4 tankers passed by today: The STI Battery, and oil/chemical tanker on its way to Quintero, Chile; The Florida, an oil/chemical tanker heading to Anacortes from Nikiski (USA); The Unique Developer, and oil products tanker coming from Topolobampo (Mex) en route to Port Angeles; and the Valrossa, from Cherry Point to Manzanillo (Mex)

Vessels:

-Second Nature

-one private/sports fishing

-3 tour boats

-1 little red zodiac going over the requested speed limit.

Maintenance:

-fixed firewood cutting jig

-sharpened chainsaw

-cut firewood

-Tidying in tank room

Puddle seal

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Weather: visibility dropped in the morning as a wet west wind picked up with driving rain.  Wind reached up to 40 knots and pushed in large swells.

Ecologcial:

-As the rain accumulated and low spots started to fill with standing water, the female  e-seal (C887) didnt seem bothered about being in a puddle.

-One of the larger male e-seals move up under one of the house decks where i could get an easy photo of the scar pattern on his back.  There are so many (4) large males now that it is hard to keep them sorted.

-The Valrossa, an oil/chemical tanker, passed by on its way from Guaymas, Mexico to Cherry Point, USA

Maintenance: Finished energy assessment report.