| 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 |
Orcas, Penis, Helicopter
Ecological
- Elephant seals: Chunk has appeared to be trying to mate since before the pups were born but today it was the first time I have observed successful copulation with the mother of first pup. In the photos he seemed keen to go again but she didn’t seem very interested.
- Orcas: what appeared to be a family of 4 orcas passed through race passage in the morning heading East. A “Whale Research” vessel can be seen in the photo following them.
- Fishing: several sports fishing boats with buoys were around the reserve today, a sure sign that the halibut fishery has reopened for the season.
Other:
- took measurements for camera mounting housing and hardware
- Coast Guard Helicopter pilot Captain David Ferguson paid a visit to Race Rocks with 2 crew to do routine maintenance on the light and fog signal. They came in one of the Coast Guard’s new, shiny Bell 429 machines, which apparently cost about 8.3 Million dollars apiece.
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battery maintenance
Ecological:
- wind south 10-15 becoming south west 15-20
- Chuckles came back onto the main island overnight, Chunk keeps him away from the females and pups.
Vessels: 4 eco tour. One appeared to be getting too close to sealions on the South rocks and harbour seals on West rock. We went off island for a couple hours and returned in the afternoon.
Maintenance:
- topped up deionized water in battery bank, cleaned batteries and started applying anti-oxidation compound.
- ongoing training of new guardian on island systems and procedures.
Third elephant seal born on Middle Rocks
Alex noted in his last log that he had heard another pup out on middle island and was able to see it from the tower. Today we have a clear shot at it from camera 1 . The pup seems quite lively. The unfortunate thing is that every year there has been a pup born out there, the next big storm washes it off, so as far as we know there has never in the past 8 years been a surviving pup from the middle island. Here’s hoping for no storms for the next few weeks??? not likely..
westerly
Ecological
- Wind 25-30 knots East shifting to West gusting over 50 knots after noon with periods of heavy rain.
- elephant seals and pups huddled together in the weather, doing fine.
Vessels: I went off island mid afternoon to pick up visitor.
Other: training new guardian, Riley, over weekend.
3 e-seal pups
Ecological:
- Wind west 20-25 knots, periods of rain.
- I returned to Race Rocks this afternoon to a new e-seal pup on the lawn by the path. I could also hear the distinct sound of a third pup and mother on Middle Rock, confirmed with spotting scope from tower. Chuckles was out on Middle Rock as well close to the mother and pup.
Vessels: I returned early afternoon +1 ecotour.
Other:
- very heavy blasting at Christopher Point throughout the day with a west wind to carry the impact this way. On my way back the ecotour operator said he had seen one blast cause a sealion stampede.
- Received call from Coast Guard re someone open channeling on their vhf radio on channel 83 Alpha for the past 5 days in this vicinity. Checked all VHF radios on station.
Second Elephant Seal Pup born at Race Rocks
This morning the large female that had been on the lawn near the other mother and pup for several weeks gave birth to a new pup sometime last night. View on the lawn on the North side of the tower on Camera 1.
Second Elephant seal pup. It was born on January 27, 2016. Cam1 photo.
Nucella lamellosa: Frilled Dogwinkle–The Race Rocks Taxonomy
We have somehow missed getting a photo of this Dogwinkle.. stay tuned!
Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Mollusca
Class Gastropoda
Order Neogastropoda
Family Thaididae
Genus Nucella
Species lamellosa (Gmelin,1791)
Common Name: Frilled Dogwinkle
Other Members of the Phylum Mollusca at Race Rocks.
| Return to the Race Rocks Taxonomy and Image File |
 The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams. |
River otter and e-seals
I received this photo today of a river otter who likes curling up and going to sleep just down the slope from the remote control camera 5 from Pam Birley. Odd behaviour considering that they are usually very secretive out there on the island.
I am just doing up my final notes for my oral presentation to the NEB Kinder Morgan TMX hearings in Burnaby on Thursday, and have noted that river and sea otters have not been recognized by the consultants of the oil company as being significant marine mammals in the Strait of Juan de Fuca . Only the Humpback and Southern Resident Orcas and the Northern Sealion are considered as representative of the marine mammals in the path of tanker traffic. So we are supposed to believe that the Northern Sealion is a proxy for all the other marine mammals in terms of impact.
We had pointed out in past submissions that the elephant seal birthing colony is rather unique also, but no separate recognition has been forthcoming for harbour and elephant seal birthing colonies.
Today I had a look at the E-seals on the lawn using Camera 1 with the following pics.
G. Fletcher
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- One male, two females and the pup at Race Rocks
-
- Mother elephant seal and 10 day old pup
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- Is she pregnant or not?
census jan 23
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.