Arctonoe pulchra

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rmscaleworm011-11-18 at 5.00.26 PM

Photo by ryan Murphy

 

rmscaleworm2012-03-26 at 11.39.25 AM

Ryan Murphy took these images of this scale worm in a commensal relationship with sea star.

This set of images taken by Ryan Murphy shows one of the more delicate of the Polynoidae, or scale worms. Divers  often find scale worms on the underside of Sea stars and sea cucumbers at Race Rocks. This has not been positively identified but it could be one of the two of three species in the Genus Hololepida. 

The following classification is based on that of the Animal Diversity Web:

Kingdom Animalia
 Phylum Annelida
Class Polychaeta
Order Aciculata
Family  Polynoidae
Genus Hololepida
There are two possible species :
Species: australis
or Species : veleronis
Return to the Race Rocks Taxonomy Index
The Taxonomy files are the result of collaboration between students, faculty, staff and Volunteers of Lester Pearson College— Garry Fletcher,

Phalaropus fulicarius:red phalarope–The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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This is the first image taken of this species at Race Rocks  March 2012

 

 

I was on the docks at Race Rocks when I saw this small phalarope which I thought was the red-necked version. A viewer pointed out that it had a grey back and a thick bill. Therefore it is the “Red” phalarope, Phalaropus fulicarius. It turns out that all the others we have seen in that same area by the docks in the past have been the red phalarope,  Phalaropus lobatus  which have a brown marked back  This is their winter non-breeding plumage so none of the colourful plumage of the breeding season shows up.  (Garry Fletcher)

Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Class Aves
Order Charadriiformes
Family Scolopacidae
Genus Phalaropus
Species fulicarius Linnaeus 1758
Common Name: Red Phalarope
Garry Fletcher

Stormy, Misery gone, Surfbirds

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Early Monday morning there were strong winds SE and again this morning, over 40 knots. Yesterday there was periods of snowfall blowing in from the West.  Pressure falling, more wind expected tonight.

Misery left the main island on Friday evening, I have not seen or heard any sign of him since.  I suspect he might be gone for the season.

Surfbirds

Since the stormy weather Monday I have not seen either of the moulting female elephant seals.  Since Misery left Squall has been more active.  She has been moving around the island more and doing tail biting exercises.   She is attracted to puddles and has gone down to the crane deck a few times and seems curious about the ocean.  I have still not seen her approach the water though.

On Sunday there was a large flock (+150) of Surfbirds (Aphriza virgata) and maybe a few Black Turnstones (Arenaria melanocephala) in the East bay.

On Tuesday one eco tour vessel entered the reserve.

Have been working on a new compost containing system lately, have poured 6 concrete footings/anchors over the past few days.  On Monday did maintenance on the fire pump.

Green tags 5086/4665

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For the past few days there have been 2 female elephant seals moulting around Great Race.  The first picture was taken on Thursday in the channel between the main island and South Seal Rocks.  At the time I was only able to see her one green tag # 5086.  I have also noticed one of them hauling out in the East Bay.

This morning when I went to launch the whaler she was on the boat ramp and was pretty stubborn about moving out of the way.

I was able to get a closer look at her tail and see a second green tag # 4665.

Visible in these last two photos, one of the tags has become a substrate for gooseneck barnacles.  I appreciate that someone is working to tag and track these animals but I have a hard time believing that these tags aren’t a nuisance to the animals and that over the long distances they travel and hunt these wouldn’t create a noticeable amount of drag and encumbrance.

On Friday afternoon Erik and Laura came out to Race Rocks in second nature with a group of student divers as well as 6 visitors who toured around the island.  Erik cleaned and moved the underwater camera, Pam got a good image capture. There was a dive boat in the reserve this morning.

Artist on the Rock

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On Wednesday I picked up Martin Machacek and his wife Dana of Martycultural Art at Pearson College and brought them to Race Rocks for an overnight stay. Since 1993 Marty has focussed his artistic talent on architecture and has developed a unique style that is part of an  “architectural etherealism movement”.  He has been commissioned to do a second painting of Race Rocks, a print of his first Race Rocks painting is pictured here.  Marty and Dana spent a lot of their time here outside taking photographs and appreciating the island’s very dynamic quality of light. You can find Marty and Dana in the inner harbour of Victoria throughout the “harbour season” and can order prints and cards online.  It was a pleasure to host them, looking forward to seeing the new painting!

Moulting elephant seal

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On Monday a young moulting female elephant seal showed up near the boat ramp. She spent a couple days on the jetty until a NE wind picked up. Squall is still on the S side of the house, she seems to be mostly finished moulting now.  This morning she was making her way N towards boat ramp but Misery perked up and growled, she turned back and stayed on the cistern.

On Monday around dusk a pod of about 7 orca whales passed by the S side of the reserve near the Rosedale Reef buoy.

It has been quite calm and clear the past few days but a 20 knot NE wind this morning.

Project Week-part 3 (final)

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Yesterday was the last day of project week, in the morning I brought students back to campus in two trips on the whaler.  It has been great group to have out here for the past week, they have helped out with several projects and tasks, endured some stormy weather, survived without a shower, cooked their own food (and shared a few good meals with me), and experienced the isolation and richness of the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve.  During their stay they were very conscious of the time and resources required for importing fuel and generating energy and fresh water and did a great job minimizing consumption and waste.

In the final days of the week students helped out with transferring diesel to the furnace tanks and cleaning cupboards in the science centre kitchen.  Throughout the week the group maintained a daily count of animals in the reserve, the count is included below.

 

Feb 27 Feb 28 Feb 29 Mar 1 Mar 2 Mar 3
Harbor seals 45 50 10 22 20 16
Elephant seals 2 2 2 2 2 2
Sea lions 2 5 5 5 6 6
Gulls 57 23 33 43 31 26
Cormorants 60 27 29 40 56 32
Oyster Catchers 3 5 3 6 7
Bald Eagles 1 1 1
Brown Sandpiper 4 12 8 6
White Sandpiper 5 3 4
Pigeon Guillemots 22 150
Common Mergansers 2
Harlequin Ducks 12 7 6

Thanks to the group for their contributions and good company.

 

Project Week- part 2

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Squall decided to position herself right next to the tank room on Wednesday so we had to put a hold on the siding work.  We moved over the the South side of the main house to work on deconstructing an old cache and started work on footings to build a new compost container.

 

On Thursday Squall made her way around the NE side of the main house and came to rest  right in the middle of our new work site.  Thanks Squall, now that project is on hold.  Fortunately the students did a good job of removing all the nails from the scrap wood, Squall was pretty interested in the 2×4’s.

 

 

So, it was back to the siding work yesterday. The students really took the lead on this project: removing the remaining panels, cleaning out rusted nails, replacing the panels that were lost, and putting the siding back up with stainless steel screws. Job well done!

 

 

 

We also put together a third goose exclosure yesterday on the lawn between the science centre and the energy building.  Misery (in the background) has been relaxing near the science centre yesterday and today, keeping the students company.

 

Project Week-part 1

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On Sunday, I brought 7 students to Race Rocks in two trips in the whaler.  This week is project week at the college so all students are off campus on adventures, being creative, and doing service projects.

 

 

At Race Rocks students are helping with daily tasks of measuring ocean temperature and salinity and monitoring wildlife as well as working on a few projects including erecting exclosures to monitor the grazing and erosion impact of geese and doing repairs to the siding of the tank room that was damaged in a storm in January.

On Monday I brought two students back to campus, the other 5 will stay for the duration of the week. Unfortunately, on the way back out to Race Rocks I hit a piece of drift wood and bent a blade on the propeller.

 

On Sunday there were 3 eco-tour vessels in the reserve.

On Monday Misery gave Squall a chase and caught her on the N side of the main house.  He held her down and was biting her, at one point he picked her up about 3 feet in the air and tossed her.  Eventually she made it in-between some rocks where he could not reach her.  Pam got some good shots of the escape from the web cam: http://www.flickr.com/photos/66339356@N00/6938289865/in/photostream

Yesterday afternoon a SE wind picked up in the afternoon increasing to over 50 knots before dark and pushing some big swells into the island.

Squall discovers water

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The wind picked up to around 50 knots W after midnight last night and has been blowing 30 to 40 knots all day.

On Thursday I got a break in the weather and went off island to get supplies for repairing the siding on the South wall of the Tank Room and for making a compost container.  Students are coming for project week tomorrow and will be doing some service projects during their stay.

Over the past week Squall has made her way around the S side of the light tower and back to the W side of the main house.  Yesterday, while crossing over the cistern, she came across a puddle and had, what I believe was, her first experience with standing water.  She was quite interested in the water and spent a while probing it with her flippers and snout, inhaling it a few time in the process.