Gale Warning

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Weather

At 5:00AM Wind:17 knots from West ,Visibility:8 to 10 miles,Sea:choppy. At 6:30 no wind and foggy :Horn on.Wind getting Southwest and raising later.Gale warning in effect for the night.Air temperature at 5:00:12.5 degrees celsius.and 9.5 at dew point.From 6:30 to 1:00 the horn has been honking despite the 18 knots wind.All the sudan it was pretty foggy on one West/North side but totally clear on the South side of the rocks and just the time to spot a humpback whale fishing around the green boyd:beautiful scenery.a little too far for good pictures.In the beginning of the afternoon we could observe some large patches of fog but later the wind picked up to 30 knots and no fog anymore for the day.

Ecological

When we had finished with the solar panel cleaning I went around looking for the nest Riley was speaking about,the one we couldn’t find with James the other day .Finally I found it with 2 eggs in it an by the way I discovered a  hatching goose and the male close by.She was amazingly hidden and protected by 2 rocks and hard to see…so that means that we have 5 geese instead of 3 and maybe more pretty soon. Guy saw on South Rocks 5 huge Steeler sea lions and one had the word ROB on its left side.No time to get pictures ,they jumped hastily.

Did you have a look on the oystercatcher nest? beautiful especially by night !

I realized that I have seen no pelagic cormorants this year.  12 elephant seals in the morning on main ;none on the other Rocks.We will do the census as soon as the weather will be good enough.

Boats

7 to 10 eco-tour boats and the first one not before 11AM. Around 18:00 a big US coast guard vessel at the border line.

Maintenance 

We restart the new camera connection.

Guy finished to repaired the starboard corner of the whaler :water infiltrations in the hule in that spot.

I brought to date the freezer. Windows need attention as soon as possible !

 

 

 

 

Oystercatcher Cam – Race Rocks Ecological Reserve

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Recently James and Max from the It Department at Lester Pearson College have set up a live camera to follow the development of one of the Black Oystercatcher nests with two eggs in the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve. The camera had infrared night vision, so this samople of night behaviour was captured, see the video below taken at 11:30 PM June 6 2016
Other references and images of Black Oystercatchers at Race Rocks can be found at these links:

2bloy BLOY headshot
The Black Oystercatcher with more videos and pictures in the Gallery of the Race Rocks Taxonomy All entries on this website tagged with Black Oystercatcher:

48 knots gust of wind!

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Weather

At 5:30AM 25 knots west wind;Sea :wavelets and white cups,Visibility :+10 miles,Gale warning for Noon.Fog on the american coast 1st time in a week. No real change to 2:00 in the afternoon. At 1:40 fog is coming towards us…rushing for my earplugs (the best wax kind ). At 2:00 the wind pick up at 29 knots and the fog got pretty thick and was at 150 meters from Great .First 3 notes of the season at 2:48 !!!

The wind forced up regularly from #5 knots at 3:45 to 39 at 4:30 to reach a pick of 47.8 at 7:50. We were (I mean  the house) shaking!!! At 9:00 the wind was down around 30 knots

At 7:27 A Mae West at the radio VHF on the 16 ,Problems around Jericho Beach.

Boats

A big eco – tour boat at 8:30 PM with a 40 knots wind.

We saw a big fishing boat heading up towards Sooke against the wind in the afternoon.

Maintenance

House cleaning  jobs

Yellow tank ( generator) filled up to full.

Starboard corner being rebuilt in fiberglass (Water infiltrations )

Solar panels.

Other

Finally I managed not perfectly but…to put some “not so good pictures “on the log. I will get used to this beautiful but very heavy camera.

Water sampling: Because of the wind we did it a little bit later but the tide was still rising to midnight. the water was colder than the days before and the salinity a little bit higher.

 

 

Calm and beautiful week-end

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Weather

Saturday at 5H30
Wind: East wind,4 knots to 0.4 later
Sky :clear
Visibility:+10 miles
Sea like a mirror

Ecological

The same 3 geese on the main lawn.
The old or sick elephant seal finally went to the water. at 10:00 .It took her a long time but she managed…

Gulls are getting more aggressive ; Proof:one tried to poop on me ! The whole day was hot and the elephants spent the day in the water…The old /sick one came back to her favorite spot.In the evening we had 13elephant seals on Great Race Rocks.

Vessels

No eco – tour boats to 1:00PM because of the tide I guess…3 cruising ships in a row   going out slowly from Victoria in the sunset…That means that around 5000 people could have looked at The Rocks at the same time…scary!

Maintenance 

Guy took out the boat for a checking . We did a short trip to the college . Everything OK but the spark plugs need to be changed so a kit has been ordered.
Sunday
Weather
At 5:30: Wind :North 6 knots,Sky :clear ,Visibility:over 10 miles,Sea like a mirror. Around 7PM the wind got stronger to 30 knots at 9:30 PM.It was expected.The direction changed to Southwest/West.

Boats
Many  recreational fishing boats at the entrance of Pedder Bay and between East Sooke and the First Nations territories.Again cruising boats closed to the american coast leaving.

Other
Small plane above at 9:45 AM.

 

1st week of June 2016 ‘s pictures

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IT Visitors

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Weather
Sea:calm
Wind :8 knots
Sky:Cloudy to clear
Later very hot day with a mirror sea

Ecological
Seawater is getting warmer
Long bathing time for the 2 big males and 2  young elephant seals at the jetty.
The tide was very low and I found 2 huge mussels as big as my hand ! Impressed!
One elephant seal never moved for 2 days . She looks old or sick ,maybe both?
Found a gull and a harbour seal dead (not recent).

Maintenance

Max changed the routers in the houses
Max and James installed a camera on a oystercatcher nest with 2 eggs in it. The nest is closest to the boat shed at the top of the rocks, actually just under the camera 5. The new 24/24 camera will be on youtube pretty soon .
Aziz ,a 2nd year student, working at the college this Summer, took pictures and came with me to the top of the lighthouse.
Kyle and Guy pulled the diesel hoses through the island and empty them (around 10 litres) and put them back in their shed
Seawater house: heavy cleaning ,floor and bank inside and outside (old shingles from the roof)
Solar panels and alleys swept.

Vessels

Busy day . More than 30 eco tours vessels and around 4:30 ,8 at the same time …

Other 

Summer is here Quiet and beautiful evening on the rock especially
White everywhere ..More gulls. Can’t wait for the census next week!

 

1st full day on the rocks

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Weather

Wind : NW wind ,26 knots at 5:30 ,up to 30  at 7:30 and back to 3 :00 in the afternoon

Sky: Rainy first and cloudy later.

Visibility: 5 miles at 5:30 getting better later

Sea: Wavelets,white caps to calm later in the day.

Ecological

All the elephant seals went fishing this night,came back one after the other this morning.

13 geese pay a visit in the evening and left one hour later.

In the evening an eagle flew over 2 times and post itself on the crane ! the gulls got mad.

Sea water :Temperature 11.1 and salinity:32.1

We found a dry tailbone

Boats

Huge traffic the whole day . All kinds of boats: around 10 Whale Watchers,a few fishing boats,a Canadian sailboat,2 cruising boats,a logging boat with its tugboats,tankers and containers ,an American ship,The Port – Angeles ferryboat,Later I made a quick research on one big square gray one : it was a vehicules carrier coming from Bahamas going to San Diego,Draught:9.1 meter,Speed:20 knots,Gross tonnage :58.767 tonnes . Her name Genius Highway (From Marine Traffic Website).

DND Activity

A few blasts at 9:40,9:44,10:42 ,10:44,and 5:30 in the evening.

Maintenance

Student house tank filled up

Student main house tank filled up

Run the generator for 2 hours and half

Main house :Inside tidying up.

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Coming back and setting down day

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Weather
Sky: Overcast to rainy;Wind: 10-15 knots West wind;Sea:Calm

Ecological
14 elephant seals and among them 2 big ones :On Great Race my friend Chunk and a new one for me , named Chuckles. The grassy field looks like a schoolyard with the playing young ones.
Surprise to see Gulls already so busy building nest and some on it. Pretty soon we saw our first egg …10 Californian Sea lions on Great Race Rocks
Seawater sampling around noon today: Salinity :32:01 and temperature :10:9 C
Maintenance
Checking around for priorities: A small leak from the gazoil filter needs attention.
Whaler battery put in charge.
Whaler diesel fuel tank filled up.
Different controls done
Boats
One whale watcher boat at 20:30 PM This is unusual ,looks like they were waiting for the lighthouse to light up..it was not for a nice sunset!
Other
We admire the beautiful bricks under the wheels .Thanks to Riley!
Intense activity at the DND: 4 strong blasts between 10:45 and 2:00 PM and a very surprising one at 10:30 PM  This one made the house shake ! WE were  kept in alert before by a flashing blue light ( a DND zodiac protecting the area).
We looked for a sailboat photo required by the boat owner and taken on Race Rocks . We found it and sent it to the college.

It’s good to be on Race Rocks ! Happy Eco – Guardians!

 

Seawater Data, May 2016

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Station Race Rocks Lightstation
Month: MAY Year: 2016
Observer Lester B. Pearson College   of the Pacific
Date Time Sea Jar Hydro-   meter   No. Observed Density YSI Salinity YSI Temp °C
Temp. Temp.
°C °C
1 6:53 31.3 9.8
2 9:23 31.3 10.4
3 12:10 31.1 10.7
4 15:00 31.2 10.4
5 16:00 31.5 10.5
6 20:10 31.7 10.3
7 16:24 32.2 10.1
8 19:33 32.4 9.8
9 20:33 32.2 9.8
10 21:20 32.0 9.9
11 21:05 32.2 10.1
12 21:05 32.0 10.1
13 21:05 31.7 10.6
14 21:05 31.9 10.3
15 21:05 10.4 10,802 1.0232 31.9 10.1
16 21:05 31.8 10.2
17 21:05 31.7 10.3
18 15:30 32.0 10.4
19 16:35 31.9 10.5
20 19:00 31.9 10.6
21 19:55 32.0 10.5
22 19:55 32.1 10.4
23 20:40 31.8 10.4
24 20:50 32.1 10.2
25 21:25 10.1 10.4 10,802 1.0234 YSI didn’t turn on
26 21:50 32.7 9.6
27 22:05 32.4 9.7
28 22:10 32.4 10.1
29 22:07 32.4 10.0
30 7:17 32.2 10.1
31 10:18 32.1 10.5
Submitted monthly to: Inst. Ocean Science, P.O. Box 6000, Sidney, B.C. V8L 4B2
Recorded by Race Rocks Ecological Reserve Guardian for Lester B. Pearson College

Chunk vs. Chuckles

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 0 knots most of the day, until the evening when it hit 40 knots West
  • Sky: clear and sunny
  • Water: calm

Ecological

  • 14 elephant seals on Great Race; 2 on Middle Rock.
  • Chunk and Chuckles engaged in friendly water battles for over an hour.
  • The tagged female elephant seal from California is still around.
  • The single odd looking seagull egg from May 29th has turned into 2 normal gull eggs.

Maintenance

  • Topped up the tidy tank with diesel.
  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • General cleaning up.
  • Wrote the month end report.
  • Sent off the May seawater data.

Boats

  • At 12:30 there were 5 large eco-tours in the reserve at once. This might be too many at once?
  • What is quite probably the largest eco-tour I have ever seen came through Middle Channel today.

Other

  • At least 7 DND blasts today.
  • They came at 9:46, 9:47, 9:48, 10:29, 10:29, 10:30, and at 11:03.
  • The first 6 were medium blasts; the last one was huge.
  • Usually we are notified ahead of time of blasting, but the most recent email only indicated blasting from June 1-3.
  • Today is the last full day of my shift. Guy and Christine will be taking over tomorrow.

DSC_6505