Gull with bands

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Weather: the storm blew itself out and today the sun shone and the wind was 1 to 3 knots from the west

Visitors: at least 10 ecotourism boats through Race Passage today and probably more that I didn’t see as I am packing to leave. All were respectful. One I asked to slow down as the boat entered and he did. (In the time I wrote this 3 more boats have come by!)

Observations: with the wind calm and the ocean calm I was able to observe the sea otter hanging out with the seals. Also there were 12 Harlequin ducks and a return of the surf birds. Still no turnstones. I photographed a western gull with leg bands and reported it to the right place (with Ann Nightingale’s help) so we should hear about it’s history soon.

tagged gull

The intertidal was glorious today. I saw more starfish. None of them looking healthy. By that I mean they all looked limp. One obviously dead.

Greg is on his way to pick me up so I will wheelbarrow my belongings to the dock. What an amazing adventure every trip to Race Rocks is! I think of all the work that has gone into protecting these rocks and I am so grateful for it! Thank you Garry Fletcher and Pearson College. And thanks to Greg who goes above and beyond to make each Ecoguardian feel comfortable (and we are a strange bunch). I also read notes from previous ecoguardians and saw how knowledgeable many of them are. If you have time read Anne Stewart’s notes. A marine biologist, naturalist extraordinaire and wonderful teacher. I realize now that she is also a writer.

This was a quick trip to fill in unexpectedly because of an emergency. I did luck out with mid day low tides, a gale and a beautiful summer day.

 

Census, elephant seal D018 returns

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Weather: wind mostly westerly averaging 30 to 40 k/hr sunny most of the day

Visitors: no boats braved Race Rocks today, after the storm yesterday the swell was still big, the wind strong all day and the tidal variation caused fast currents

Addendum: at around 8 pm a ecotourism boat came through for a beautiful sunset run. Cold and windy but clear.

Census,

 

Although not the ideal day for the census as the winds were still very strong and I think the lack of small birds may be due to that, no sparrows, no turnstones and no shorebirds, but Greg is taking over from me and he will have his hands full doing island maintenance so I thought I would help out in this way.

Elephant seals 6

A large male (compared to the 3 young ones on the island) showed up today. His tag reads D018 and he has been here several times. The last record I can find of him is 2020. But he did come in 2019 and 2018. I have contacted Patrick Robinson and look forward to hearing more of his history. A small female also arrived. Her skin is in bad shape. I believe it is more than moulting but we can see how she fares the next few days if she stays around.

D018

Newly arrived small female with skin condition

Gulls  421

Seals 66

California sealions 17

Stellar 10

Canada Geese 14, currently 3 active nests

Pigeon guillemots 136

Cormorants 34

Harlequin ducks 6

Oyster catchers 6

River otter 1 on the grass by the crane

It was a mid day low tide of .4 metres. The westerly was strong and there was some swell. The tidepools and spring seaweed growth were phenomenal. Here are a few pictures.

Codium and isopod

Henricia

WIND!! Gusts up to 93 km/hour

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Morning rainbows

Today was all about the weather. At 6:30 a.m. the wind speed was 0. I was surprised as the reports warned of high winds. It had rained in the night so I decided to wash the solar panels. By the time I finished the wind had arrived. It didn’t let up all day. North east to Northwest to Westerly probably averaged 30 km/hour but gusts constantly above 60 km. I read on the news that Race Rocks recorded the highest winds on southern Vancouver Island at 93 km/hour. The sky was mostly clear. Constant rainbows for 2 hours in the morning.

Visitors: none

Maintenance: solar panels cleaned, too windy for outdoor work

Energy: enough sun to charge batteries

Observations: I was hoping for this wind to blow a new bird to Race Rocks  but not yet. I did see a couple of swallow like birds. They were moving too quickly to identify.

Before the wind

More Spring Activities

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Ecological Notes:

  • 6  Elephant Seals, including this years pup

  • Although they have been courting for a while, starting to see the first of the gulls actually making nests

  • I thought the Canada Geese were done with nests for the season, but found this hidden nest after moving a propane tank

  • The Oyster Catchers are starting to protect there chosen nest areas, and are really vocal and aggressive to anything coming near.

  • A lifetime on the ocean for me, and the first time I saw one of these ….. A Lancet fish. He was looking physically good, but having trouble swimming and kept coming in to the shore … I got in the water and walked him out and did a fisherman’s revive for about 15 minutes, then he finally swam away …. Not sure if he’ll make it, but still worth the effort!

Facility Work:

  • Attempted to replace the pressure pump for the desalinator, but something is not right and we decided to bring in the pump professional.

DND events:

  • 3 separate days of detonations

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • More private, and commercial ecotourism vessels visiting.

 Noted Infractions:

  • One large Ecotourism Vessel entered the reserve a little fast, but this was a vessel that is normally exemplary in their behavior, so probably a temporary oversight. Discussed it informally with a manager from the company.

Weather Events:

  • Again, quite the mix of spring weather

 

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

A Quick Return

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After finishing my term at Race Rocks on April 19, there was an unexpected schedule change and I was asked to return on April 30. It took a little quick re-arranging, but I was able to help  out!

Always a relaxing view

 

Ecological Notes:

  • 5 Elephant Seals on land, 4 in the process of molting.
  • This year’s only surviving pup is still around with occasional 1 or 2 day ventures out and back

  • Although the adult  Canada Geese are still around, there is only one pair still sitting on a nest. No other chicks around.
  • There are a few sealions returning to the ramp area, but none are hauling out on the actual rocks they normally do … and they all seem very nervous. Just speculation(!), but they all left the main island rock the day the Orca hunted one just of the island.

Visitors:

  • One of the previous Ecoguardian’s friend came out for a quick visit when we were doing the exchange.

Facility Work:

  • More path cleaning, fence repairs and general maintenance.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Gradual increase in the volume of Eco-Tourism vessels coming to the reserve, depending on wind direction.
  • A few  kayaks and even some sailboats making their way around the island.

 Feature Event:

  •  When I was here last time, I designed and prototyped some simple electric fence connectors. The ideas was for something fast and simple to use when the weather was bad, or to quickly secure the fence, followed by the ability to return later and re-enforce it with a wired secure.
  • The ones installed 3 months ago were all in place, so I have made some more. They are made with plant-based resin, and most likely, they will always be replaced before they fail completely.

  • Also making some gifts for co-workers, and teaching props while I have a printer here with me.

Weather Events:

  • The full range of late spring weather and temperatures. Wind days up to 50 knots,a and some shorts and t-shirt days mixed in.

 

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

wind and mood change

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weather : wind from the northeast today, calm this morning but at 12 to 15 km/hr now. skies mostly clear.

visitors: a couple of eco-tourism boats went by. otherwise very quiet.

energy: solar all day.

Observations: mostly I observed my mood today. This is my  last night here and as I shift my focus to “real life” I am slightly melancholy. And so seeing from that point of view I watched the young eagle hunt over Great Race several times unsuccessfully and wondered if it would be easier to catch fish. I have seen very few fish caught this past week. The island is covered with chiton shells and even goose neck barnacle shells. Then I saw these two gulls, one missing a foot and beside it a gull not able to weight bear. They were both at the periphery of the breeding colony with the immature gulls. I also saw the first Thayer’s gull and I see that in previous years many have nested on the island.

One without a foot, the other cannot weight bear

Thayer’s Gull?

Thayer’s?

Work: cleaning and getting ready for next ecoguardian. chopping wood. sweeping the lighthouse stairs. doing month end tallies. cleaned the student house windows and lower solar panels.

Addendum:I went to sit on the back porch as Mount Baker is quite clear and a new bird ( this week) appeared.

whimbrels

whimbrels, 8 in all

Census and censured

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Weather; beautifully calm most of the day. Sunny with the occasional cloud. Wind mostly southwest

Visitors to reserve: 1 kayaker at slack tide. Went around seal rocks. Caused a landslide of Stellar sea lions.

No eco-tourism boats. Maybe the whales were in a different area?

Work: finished cleaning the lamp room and started sweeping the lighthouse stairs. chopped wood. what kept me VERY busy was the energy system which was drawing 2 kW instead of 1.2 kW (our usual load). I spent several hours trying to find something using that much draw. I had to start the generator at about 6 a.m. as the battery voltage was very low (large draw continued all night). Then I thought running the desalinator might solve the problem but neither seemingly did. It continued drawing between 1.6 and 2.1 until 3 pm and then it went down to 1.2. Greg believes charging up the battery from the generator may have reset things?

Observations:

Census

Elephant seals 7 (the male juvenile was away for several days this week but is back on Great Race)

Stellar sea lions 51 on south islands, none on Great Race today but over the last week there have been one or two here

California sea lions 8 on Great Race

Seals 60 on middle rocks

Gulls (western, glaucous-winged ) 236 counted from the lamp room on the island this morning

Pigeon guillemot   210, a large raft of them off seal rocks

Eagles 2 adult 2 immature

Cormorants 16

cormorants, double crested and pelagic

Oyster Catchers estimate 20

Harlequin ducks saw 5

Turnstones 32 very rough estimate, there are 8 on the grassy area around the house

Savannah sparrows I only ever see 4 at once but I see them constantly, that’s why I guess 20

Surf birds so well camouflaged but I would guess 20?

The following were seen this past week but not today,

Marbled godwit

Brown headed cowbird

brown headed cowbird

Sea otter

sea otter!

Orcas, transient or Biggs

one female and young, one  or two males, one to three other adults

Birds I did not get a picture off but were here this week:

Northern Crow (today and yesterday, aggressively chased away!!)

Semipalmated plover x 1

purple martin x 1

 

CENSURED

it appears to me that the 6 moulting females may NOT be female. the 3 large adults appear female but the at least 2 of the 3 small may be male. Am I right?

Doesn’t this “female” appear male???

Here’s a female.

laughing?

Transient Orcas get a sea lion, marbled godwit and power surges all in one day

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Weather: calm and westerly most of the day

today was a very eventful day.

To start off Great Race had a visitor.

marbled godwit

Then at about 8:15 a.m. I went up to the lamp room to do a census but the tide was too high so I decided to clean the room (I had brought up supplies). At about 830 I saw a splash and watched it until I saw whales surface. Initially I was not sure if they were Dall’s porpoises or Orcas I watched and took photos for about 20 minutes. Then I saw a sea lion flipper. I thought maybe all were fishing together (very influenced by Robin Kimmerer and looking for reciprocity not competition). Every time the sea lion surfaced the largest Orca would come crashing over it. This happened often. Soon I realized I could depend on a good Orca photo if I waited until I saw the sea lion. It did not come up face first very often, almost always just a fin. Over the next hour I knew I was watching transient Orcas hunt a stellar sea lion. Soon they had moved close to outer seal rocks (I imagine the sea lion was desperately trying to get to shore) and the sea lions on the rocks became active. They moved into the water! After about another 30 minutes the whales and surrounded sea lion were moving again off shore. One last surface from the sea lion flipper and it was not seen again. In about 20 more minutes the whales were surrounded by gulls diving and picking debris off the water. Even an eagle got involved. I watched this drama for 2 1/2 hours and at that time the whale watching boats arrived, 5 of them. But the whales kept surfacing and the gulls flocking. Unfortunately the camera was full within the first 20 minutes and  I was so frustrated BUT my iphone was able to capture great video footage of the whales at seal rocks and the sea lions!

I am sorry I cannot download the videos!

Visitors: 5 whale watching boats made their way to the whales but not until after the sky was full of seagulls and I suppose they were eating their prey. Afterwards all the boats went through the reserve. An spill response boat also went through.

Energy: For some reason the draw is very high today. At about1 o’clock I noticed our usage was over 2 kW and usually it is about 1.2. I spoke to ONC to see if their equipment was faulty but everything at their end was normal.

it was an exciting day at Race Rocks.

Don’t trust the weather report

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Morning visitors

Weather: SUN! westerly wind 16 knots. Sparkling water.

Visitors: Several whale watching boats. All came close to the seal lions on the jetty but they didn’t disturb them. Fishers outside reserve area.

Work: cleaned solar panels. chopped wood. cleaned windows (on the inside) in lamp room.

 

Energy: Every morning it is a bit of guess work to see  if I can hold off using the generator. Particularly today when it called for clouds and rain. I was happy the first hour of potential solar energy boosted the batteries to over 50 volts. Then I had some breathing room. I tend to look at the numbers often and try to see how I can avoid the generator or use it as little as possible. Not listening to the forecast can be useful!

Observations: Gulls are beautiful. They are so easy to take for granted but now that I am looking closely at them I see how exquisitely white they are. It is amazing to get to watch them go through their courtship. I don’t envy the few immature gulls on the island. If they try to land anywhere near the centre of the island they are quickly reminded that this is a breeding colony and they are not welcome.

Several sea lions have taken to lying on the steps of the jetty. The new electric fence keeps them from coming right up. I feel somewhat sad about this, thinking that for years they have returned and sandwiched themselves on that cement surface. We had to move them off every day to take water samples so it wasn’t an absolutely ideal life. I just wonder how often they need to get zapped to stay away and if there is anywhere nearly as comfortable.

It fascinates me that I can’t get near the nesting Canada geese. I make big detours to avoid the nest and therefore avoid getting attacked and yet the several hundred pound mammals prove no obstacle. They will readily move when I need to take a water sample.

The 6 female elephant seals have split into 2 groups (by size it seems) and life is peaceful for them. Only a few days ago there was lots of conflict. They haven’t left the island today and the male pup has not returned. They have mostly moulted it seems and are waiting for their new fur to grow.

After I wrote this I saw the sea otter! He was around seal rocks for a couple of hours.

 

sea otter!

Curiosity

the three large female elephant seals

the 3 smaller elephant seals

Not this year.

Confusing Gulls

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ring billed gull? or is eye too dark?

Weather : mixed! a westerly blew this morning up to 20 knots and it was mostly sunny. Then a south, becoming southeast brought a bit of rain and cloud but the westerly prevailed and it is now 16 knots, 178′ and a beautiful sunset.

Visitors to the reserve: by 10 a.m. 3 ecotourism boats had come by. Must be visitors from the cruise ship which came in yesterday. I think the heavy winds must have discouraged any others.

Work: I continue splitting this old gnarly wood and stacking it in the basement. Cleaned the lower solar panels this a.m. and the house windows.

Energy: I have been here 5 days and because the sun has been out, I have only used the generator for 2 hours. I have been able to heat with wood and the nice thing about that is it heats water too so I have kept the “hot water on demand” off. As well I haven’t needed to use the furnace. One, of the many, privileges of being an ecoguardian is getting familiar with alternative energy sources.

Observations: The male elephant seal pup has been gone for 2 days. The six female continue moulting. None of them went to the water today. The highlight of my day was a purple martin flew in. I was outside and it was a  strong westerly, a flash of orange flew by me as it banked and swerved around me. It circled the grassy area a couple of times then flew off.

After reviewing glaucous-winged gulls, western gulls and California gulls and their distinguishing characteristics I went looking to figure out what is happening on Race Rocks. My conclusion is they are all either glaucous-wing or western or a mix, the “Olympic” gull. The mature gulls ALL have pink legs and no black on their beaks (except the one yesterday, which I thought was a ring billed gull but need to review the photos). So, when do the California gulls get here in numbers? I will keep looking.

This photo I took yesterday and believed it was a ring billed gull may be a California gull with it’s dark eye. Ring billed gulls have yellow eyes.