Census

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Birds

  • Bald eagle adult 2
  • Bald eagle juvenile 2
  • Gulls, Glaucous and Western 180
  • Cormorants 22
  • Pigeon Guillemots 74
  • Oyster catcher 14
  • Turnstones 4
  • Canadian goose 17
  • Canadian goose, goslings 7 , (3 families, various sizes based on family)

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion 24
  • Harbour seal 68
  • California sea lion 47
  • Elephant seal juvenile male 1
  • Elephant seal female 4
  • Elephant seal pup 1 male
  • Sea otter 1
  • Animal Tracking and Injuries: 1 younger Steller Sea Lion .. rather rough and raw ring around back of neck, but healed and smooth under neck. It was suggested to me, it may have been a previous rescue that is healing, but I didn’t get a good view to check for a rear flipper tag.

Elephant Seal “Pup”

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Ecological Notes:

  • 6 Elephant Seals in the main grass area and at the boat ramp
  • The female “pup” was found in the bay at the east side of the island. This was where the last departing female spent a few days before departing the area. There’s a deep area there with less current, and probably a good place to feed up before departing. She did have a few scrapes and cuts that I could see, but I didn’t want to get too close and inspect any further, as it is a rock area and a lot of work if I disturbed her and she decided to move.
  • One very large Steller Sea Lion on the rock by the pier, really showing his size and dominance!

Steller Sea Lions can be 2 to 3 times the weight of California Sea Lions! (up to just over 1000 kilos or 2400 lbs.)

Being an “Eared” Seal, he can use his rotatable rear hips, to scratch the aforementioned external ear.

 

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 2 Ecotourism boats and 2 private boats, all with good behavior and departures.

Weather Events:

  • 15 – 20 knot westerly winds all day, increasing to 30 – 35 knots in the evening. Some haze with sunny skies. Slight swell and chop, again, increasing in the evening.

 

** All 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?

Pigeon Guillemots

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Ecological Notes:

  • Still 7 Elephant Seals on land, including the 2 pups. As mentioned in previous blog, they are all getting thin.

Should head off to feed once the molt is complete

  • Although it looks a bit chaotic when in larger flocks, Closer attention reveals that the Pigeon Guillemots are pairing up more now. Lots of courting displays, and ducking in and out of the rock crevasses and gaps in the boulders. A species of bird in the auk family (Alcidae) , they normally lay 1 or 2 eggs in a clutch.

 

Facility Work:

  • As always, lots of cleaning!

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 3 Ecotourism boats, all with good behavior. 2 private vessels, sightseeing with good behavior, and departed the reserve at proper speed!

Feature Event:

  • Part of working as an Ecoguardian here at Race Rocks, is making time to just take in the view. The steps inside the tower are each carved from sandstone blocks, and include 99 steps from floor to floor.

Weather Events:

  • Slight haze most of the day, visibility of about 10 nautical miles. Westerly winds at 15 – 20 knots until mid afternoon, rising to 35 – 40 knots by evening. High winds, combined with tide action created 1.5- 2 meter  swells, topped with up to 1 meter foot chop. Not a great place to be in a smaller boat.

 

** All 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?

Oyster Catcher Nest Sites

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Ecological Notes:

  • 7 Elephant seals between the grass and the boat ramp. It appears another female may have left the reserve. Still 2 “pups” here. (included in the 7 total)
  • The pups are definitely using up their baby fat, and showing lots of wrinkles. The male is still molting though.

    When he finishes molting, he can head off to feed.

  • Have now verified 4 Black Oyster Catcher nests (able to view the nest from good vantage points in the distance). Quite confident in at least 2 more from the bird behavior, but no good distant vantage point to confirm, and don’t want to disturb the birds.

Visitors:

  • EagleWing Tours provided  Pearson College Students with 1 hour tour of the reserve and surrounding area (water based only). Total of 34 Students.
  • Between student tours, 2 employees of EagleWing Tours were brought to the main island by the waterfront coordinator for a visit.
  • The Waterfront Coordinator also delivered groceries, drinking water and electric fence supplies

 Facility Work:

  • Repairs and alterations to the electric fence on the main pier. This is important not only for the safety of the facility and the heritage sites, but also for the safety of the Sealions themselves. If they come up the top of the pier and are startled from their sleep (by land, or boats in the water), they run the risk of jumping over the side from a high height, into shallow water. Generally, on a natural rock face, steeper slopes continue into deeper water.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  •  2 Ecotourism vessels, 1 commercial Dive Tour operator. All with proper viewing and usage procedures.

Good behavior in the reserve! (some compression from the distance and my lens, NOT as close to the rock as it may appear!

  • 3 Private vessels, all with good approach and viewing.

 Noted Infractions:

  • The most common error, generally speaking, is that private vessels tend to power up too early on departure from the reserve.

Again, some compression effect from my lens, but this private boat had come up to speed even earlier than this, well within the reserve.

Weather Events:

  • Mostly clear with westerly winds at 15 knots most of the day. Westerly winds increased to 25 – 30 knots in the evening, bringing in some haze and clouds.

 

** All 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?

Census

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Although the Census is normally posted without additional comments, there is an extreme variation in this one. Even after a 1 day delay, there are dramatically less animals in the reserve today. An anecdotal possibility is that Sunday night had a 50+ knot storm, lining up with a high tide and lots of big ocean swells, making the reserve a very nasty place to be! Tuesday morning also had many large DND detonations that also scattered wildlife as it was returning.

Birds

  • Bald eagle adult 1
  • Bald eagle juvenile 2
  • Gulls, Glaucous and Western 58
  • Cormorants 3
  • Pigeon Guillemots 22
  • Oyster catcher 10
  • Canadian goose 8
  • Canadian goose, goslings 2

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion 3
  • Harbour seal 53
  • California sea lion 13
  • Elephant seal juvenile male 1
  • Elephant seal female 5
  • Elephant seal pup 2 – 1 male, 1 female
  • Sea otter 1
  • Animal Tracking and Injuries: 0

Cleaning and Maintenance

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Ecological Notes:

  • 7 Elephant Seals, including 2 “pups” still using the grass areas
  • Monday saw a dramatic reduction of animals and birds in the reserve (almost no guillemots or Sealions, and about half the number of gulls) but they are gradually returning.
  • An anecdotal possibility is that Sunday night had a 50+ knot storm, lining up with a high tide and lots of big ocean swells, making the reserve a very nasty place to be!
  • Noticing more Black Oyster Catcher nests. These are more just an indentation in the gravel, and the birds rely a lot on the camouflage of the eggs. Due to high egg loss rates (here, primarily gulls snatching them), Oyster catchers can lay up to 3 or 4 replacement clutches in a season.

Very distant photo

Visitors:

  • Guests left Sunday
  • 4 Pearson College students on Monday, for an informal visit, with some discussions on marine mammal adaptations life in the ocean.
  • Was also nice to re-instate the visitor log in the newly painted and repaired Visitor Welcome Box

Facility Work:

  • Trouble shooting power interruptions originating from the Student Building
  • Cleaning and minor repair to the housing on the Camera 5 unit.
  • There’s an old prairie saying “Make hay while the sun shines” …… out here, the addendum could be “Clean stuff while the rain falls!” Rain makes it much easier to clean paths and windows, and through the rain collection, provides water for the pressure cleaner.

DND events:

  • 6 or 7 loud blasts today, all sealions left the rocks again

 

Weather Events:

  • Westerly winds, 15-20 knots brought rain showers in the morning. Mostly sunny with cloudy periods in the afternoon. Calm seas. Clear skies and 20 knot westerly winds in the evening

 

** All 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?

Student Exams

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Ecological Notes:

  • 7 Elephant Seals between the grass area and in the water by the ramp throughout the day.
  • Second, (and possibly third) Black Oyster Catcher nest located

Visitors:

  • 2 boats brought 20 Students and 1 Instructor to do part of the Marine Biology Exam today. Lots of activity in the various areas of the inter-tidal zones

    Rock Landing

    Orientation

  • Garry Fletcher and associate spending the night working on a media project.
  • Shorefront Coordinator brought groceries and new printer

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 2 EcoTour Boats demonstrating correct behavior at all times
  • Several private vessels, also viewing wildlife. Some had slightly close initial approach, but all observed backing off at the slightest notice from the wildlife

    Respectful Viewing (some compression effect from my lens, they ARE at an appropriate distance)

 Noted Infractions:

  • Unfortunately, most private vessels came up to speed too soon while in the reserve during departure, (some even still in between the various rocks on the north side) but no animal disturbance noticed …. still, there were collision risks and wake though.
  • Photos taken after I noticed the behaviors. Behaviors started well before the photos

Weather Events:

  • 10 – 15 knot westerly winds all day, sunny with fog patches, quite dense at times. Winds increasing to 25 knots in the evening, still westerly

 

** All 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?

Sea Otter Viewing

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Ecological Notes:

  • 7 Elephant Seals on the grass, including 2 “pups” from this season
  • Spotting from the rear deck of the house, I noted the single Sea Otter in the Kelp bed off the East end of the island . Took a quick picture from the deck, and then headed to the north shore, to follow along the rock edge to get a better vantage point …… took the long way around to avoid the Oyster Catcher nest posted yesterday

From the back deck 600mm

From the shoreline

  • Did you know? California Sea Lions get gray fur on the top of their head, as well as their chin when they grow old? Eventually, their backs too!

Old Gentleman

Enjoying the sun

 

Facility Work:

  • Window cleaning, wood stacking, setting up science building for guests

Weather Events:

  • Westerly winds all day at 10 – 15 knots, fog in morning and evening, sunny during the day

 

** All 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?

Oyster Catcher nest

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Ecological Notes:

  • 7 Elephant seal on the grass, including 2 pups. 4 have moved the furthest away from the ramp as I have seen them (towards the southern side of the island, but still up in the grass)

By the solar building

  • Knowing the extra importance of staying off the rocky/gravel areas this time of year, I did my normal perimeter check from the grass, and solid rock areas. I noticed a Black Oyster Catcher doing more of a distraction behavior rather then their normal “go away” squeals.
  • I immediately left the area and searched from a distance with the spotting scope. It took a while, but sure enough I found the nest!!!! (my first ever sighting)
  • Although always true, I CAN’T STRESS THIS ENOUGH – photos shot from as far away as possible, with a 600mm equivalent, then cropped to show better detail! (please read the captions)

Facility Work:

  • More waste wood stacking ……. Due to the obvious fire ban in the reserve, and to the unknown paint content, all waste wood has to be removed from the island and processed properly. Making it easier and safer for the recovery team just makes sense.

DND events:

  • 6 detonations during the day

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • none (DND vessels kept area clear)

Weather Events:

  • Westerly winds during the day at 10 – 15 knots, increasing to 25 knots early evening.
  • Fog in the morning, followed by mainly clear skies, then fog returning in the evening. Low fog throughout the day to the west and south.

All day distant fog

Evening fog, can’t see the mid channel rocks

** All 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?

Visitor Sign In Station

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Ecological Notes:

  • 7  Elephant Seals still using the grass area and ramps. 4 Adult females, 1 Juvenile male ….. 1 male, and 1 female “pup”

Guess I’m not checking the Water Tank today!

Visitors:

  • Jeff brought out 7 Pearson College students for a quick tour and discussions on pinnipeds, and cultural significance of the main island.

Facility Work:

  • more painting, and sorting random wood piles

DND events:

  • 5 major blasts, noted animal disturbance, All Steller sea lions moved off the island

 Feature:

  •  expanding on a tool made from found items by a previous ecoguardian, we obtained proper pyrex tubes, to use as a pipette to accurately measure the electrolyte levels in the storage batteries

Weather Events:

  • Early morning fog, giving way to mainly sunny day, returning to fog later in the evening. Low lying fog belt on the south side of the strait all day. Wind westerly 10 – 15 knots, rising to 25 knots in the evening.

 

** All 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?