Geese—were in no real hurry.

Aside

Sunday, April 07, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 9.0 ºC »» Min. 5.0 ºC »» Reset 8.8 ºC »» Rain 7.2 mm
MARINE LIFE:1 mature Bald eagle, 1 pair of geese! The geese met us at the dock when we returned, yet another trip re computer. It took us a while to bring the boat in as they just didn’t want to move out of the way. When I turned the boat winch motor on they decided it was time to move onto the sidewalk but they were in no real hurry.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 2 ecotour boats, 3 pleasure craft and station boat through the MPA today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:38 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy »» Vis. 15 Miles »» Wind West 17 Knots »» Sea 2 – 3 Foot Modeate »» Occasional Rain Shower
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:40 AM

pair of geese continue to roam

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Saturday, April 06, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 10.1 ºC »» Min. 5.9 ºC »» Reset 7.2 ºC »» Rain 0.5 mm
MARINE LIFE: 2 Bald Eagles, 1 mature. The pair of geese continue to roam the Island, they have a great time in the pond-need some rain soon as they have splashed most of the water out! There are still 10 or so Sealions, 4 large Northern Sealions are hauled out on the south side of the southeast rocks.Without the elephant seals it is very quiet except when the gulls are stirred up by the eagles flying over the island.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 4 pleasure craft through the MPA ( on their way to the halibut grounds -derby this weekend) Station boat to Pedder Bay and back (computer died –to town to get new bits and bytes) 2nd Nature out with guests for a visit.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:22 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy »» Vis. 10 Miles »» Wind West 19 Knots »» Sea 2 Foot Chop
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:09 AM

 

increasing bird activity

Posted on by
Thursday, April 04, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 12.1 ºC »» Min. 4.7 ºC »» Reset 10.0 ºC
MARINE LIFE: 2 BaldEaglies, 1 Mature, 1 Pair of Geese You can hear on Cameras # 1 & 3, the increasing bird activity especially the Gulls & Oyster Catchers particularly early morning and late evening.
HUMAN INTERACACTION: 09:30 Goast Guard chopper in with worker to inspect inside of tower to see how Starlings are getting inside. Chopper back at 11:30 to pick up worker for return to Victoria base. 4 Ecotour boats, 5 pleasure craft through M.P.A. Collage bout ( Chris ) to Race Rocks with supplies.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:10 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Clear »» Vis 15 Miles »» Wind Calm »» Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:48 AM

elephant seals have both left the boat ramp

Posted on by
Wednesday, April 03, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 11.9 ºC »» Min. 3.3 ºC »» Reset 9.3 ºC
MARINE LIFE: 2 mature Bald Eagles today, 1 arrived first light, the other after noon. The elephant seals have both left the boat ramp- very good timing as we needed to use the boat today. If today was an example of the weather for the rest of spring the cold and snow of a couple weeks ago was not so bad.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 2 ecotour boats and 3 pleasure craft. The 2nd Nature was in with 2 loads of fuel this morning; station boat made a return trip to Pedder Bay -mail and supplies- Garry was out this afternoon with some students(college boat)
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:14 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Clear »» Vis. 15 Miles »» Wind North East 8 Knots »» Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:19 AM

Start of the Canada Geese

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-2002-04-02′, ’16:13:49′, ‘Good Evening TEMPERATURE: Max. 10.1 1?4C ?? Min. 4.0 1?4C ?? Reset 7.7 1 4C

MARINE LIFE: Not much activity this morning, the north wind was really cold but the afternoon sun was very therapeutic.While I was out picking a few greens the geese waddled over to see what I was up to, they are quite tame and a bit like puppies. As I worked my way along the garden they they kept up about a foot behind me.They enjoyed the carrots I threw on the grass and they spent an hour or so after I went inside, up in the garden scratching about for more. The small pond was popular this afternoon with the gulls and crows. The geese tried to join the gulls in the pond but the gulls squawked and took off , the geese happily shared with the crows and starlings About 14:00 a Blue Heron flew over from Pedder Bay and sat majestically on the east ridge of Gr. Race and is still there as the sun sets. HUMAN INTERACTION: 2 Ecotour boats and 2 College boats this afternoon with students for a dive with Chris and filming with Garry.

Mike and Carol

Blue Heron flew over from Pedder Bay

Posted on by
Tuesday, April 02, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 10.1 ºC »» Min. 4.0 ºC »» Reset 7.7 ºC
MARINE LIFE: Not much activity this morning, the north wind was really cold but the afternoon sun was very therapeutic.While I was out picking a few greens the geese waddled over to see what I was up to, they are quite tame and a bit like puppies. As I worked my way along the garden they they kept up about a foot behind me.They enjoyed the carrots I threw on the grass and they spent an hour or so after I went inside, up in the garden scratching about for more. The small pond was popular this afternoon with the gulls and crows. The geese tried to join the gulls in the pond but the gulls squawked and took off , the geese happily shared with the crows and starlings About 14:00 a Blue Heron flew over from Pedder Bay and sat majestically on the east ridge of Gr. Race and is still there as the sun sets.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 2 Ecotour boats and 2 College boats this afternoon with students for a dive with Chris and filming with Garry.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:14 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Part Cloudy »» Vis. 15 Miles »» Wind North East 20 Knots »» Sea 3 Foot Moderate
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:23 AM

Tidepool Lab on a Windy Day at Race Rocks

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In April of each year we begin to get tides that are low enough for intertidal research. This video starts with students measuring temperature and salinity in tidepool #4 , then collecting “harpacticoids ” in tidepool #10, then doing further measurements in the new artificial pool #13. The wind was blowing at West 25 kn., but it didn’t deter our class!

engaging in the preliminaries of early courtship

Posted on by
Monday, April 01, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 10.0 ºC »» Min. 5.9 ºC »» Reset 7.5 ºC
MARINE LIFE: 1 mature bald Eagle today. The geese are still here but I expect any day now they will move on in search of better nesting sites. The two elephant seals have inched their way up the ramp to within 8 inches of the boat house door and show no signs of leaving. Many of the gulls are spending all day in nesting areas and some are engaging in the preliminaries of early courtship-very entertaining to watch- much neck stretching and head bobbing.It can get quite noisy what with the gulls, Oyster Catchers and 7 crows all vocalizing at once when the eagle flies over head, even the geese get in the act.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 2 Ecotour boats and 5 Pleasure Craft through the MPA today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:53 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy »» Vis. 15 Miles »» Wind West 17 Knots »» Sea 3 Foot Moderate
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:07 AM

Starlings

Posted on by

 

Saturday, March 30, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 9.0 C  Min. 6.3 C  Reset 7.7 C
MARINE LIFE: only 1 mature Bald Eagle today. Still the pair of geese-will miss them when they leave.This morning they spent several hours by the garden area along the walkway watching the starlings flying nesting material into the air vent hole in the dessaliation plant building. The starlings raised 2 ‘clutches’ last year and it looks like we will again be able to enjoy the antics of the young learning to fly and then hunt for food. The Marine mammals are interesting and certainly impressive by their size but I find bird behavior fascinating.Here we are lucky to observe the full range of activity – courtship, nest building ,egg laying etc. and watching the way they will band together to drive away an eagle or other danger. Individual birds have personalities, some are very aggressive and always on the alert, then others much slower to take action.There are a few gulls already making attempts at getting a nest together but for most of them nest building is a few weeks off yet. The small elephant seal is still on the boat ramp – doesn’t look like we will be using the boat for a while!
HUMAN INTERACTION: 3 ecotour boats, 1 Pleasure craft, 1 College boat- brought some students over to spend the night(filming project)
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:02 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy  Vis. 15 Miles Wind West 17 Knots  Sea 1 Foot Chop
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:07 AM

Eagle harassment

Posted on by
Sunday, March 31, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 10.1 C  Min. 6.5 C Reset 8.5 C
TOTAL PRECIPITATION: Rain 92.5 mm Snow 20.2 cm Total 112.7 mm For the Month.
MARINE LIFE: 1 mature Bald Eagle today, it spent most of the day atop the ridge on the southeast rocks then late in the afternoon, much to the consternation of the gulls and Oyster Catchers, landed on a high point along the east of Gr. Race. There was a lot of noise as the gulls and Oyster Catchers tried to drive the eagle away, at times diving within inches of the eagle’s head.Finally after about 5 minutes the big bird flew off towards Whirl Bay and everything was quiet again.The Juvenile elephant seal has company now, about 17:00 another juvenile elephant seal, just a little larger, hauled out alongside on the ramp.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 2 Ecotour boats through the M.P.A. The college boat picked up the students about 14:30 to return to campus( hope they did not get too wet in the flying spray from the 30+ knt westerly)
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:03 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy �� Vis. 15 Miles �� Wind West 21 Knots �� Sea 3 Foot Moderate
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:50 AM