Entanglement

Posted on by

Wildlife notes:

A Stellar sea lion entangled in fishing gear has been sighted several times since Aug 10 in the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve on Middle Rock and Great Race Rock. For a middle age female, which will grow very little after the age of 6, the outcome of entanglement may not be as bleak as for a young male which will continue to grow until the age of 11 (Kimberly et al 2009).  Rescues are extremely challenging and costly. Successful rescues have been carried out at Race Rocks in 2020, 2019, 2017 and 2009. Hopefully this sea lion stays here in a place where it can be accessed and helped.

To learn more and watch a disentanglement operation see

  • Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Society video
  • SeaDoc Society, a program of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine video

 

Facility work:

  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Operation walkway – work in progress
  • Ran generator and desalinator

Vessels:

  • 20 Ecotourism, 3 private

Weather:

  • Overcast all day. Winds SW varying from gentle, moderate to fresh breeze. Daytime temperatures: low 12, high 17.

Back to the earth

Posted on by

Wildlife notes:

The gull chick found dead on July 24th near “Intersection” gull is disappearing quickly. In just over 2 weeks it is hardly recognizable among the grass, sea lion hair and the bones and hard bits of other birds, fish and chiton.

The male elephant seal is still absent and the female has been sleeping in some odd places these days. Today she was lying against the woodpile.

A sea lion entangled in fishing gear and struggling to breath has been reported by the naturalists on the ecotourism boats. It was last seen in an area that I can’t access without causing terror and unnecessary gull chick attacks. I will search for it tomorrow morning.

 

Facility work:

  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Operation walkway – work in progress
  • Ran generator, desalinator and washed bedding and towels for next Ecoguardian

Vessels:

  • 27 Ecotourism

Weather:

  • Overcast in the morning, cloudy most of the afternoon, clear skies by sunset. Moderate SW breeze until early afternoon, fresh W breeze afternoon and evening. Daytime temperatures: low 12, high 17.

 

Sea lions are returning

Posted on by

Wildlife notes:

I returned after 10 days away to find two notable differences. The male elephant seal is not here and there is an explosion in the sea lion population. It seems every time I look there are more and they are coming closer to the electric fence. I thought the gulls had a lot to say to each other!  It will be interesting watching them. The weather is the same as when I left and I am back to wearing long underwear, sweaters and a toque.

Unlike the elephant seal, this California sea lion is using its hind flippers for scratching.

 

Facility work:

  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Topped up battery fluid

Vessels:

  • 25 Ecotourism

Weather:

  • Fog with visibility less than 1/4 mile in the morning, lifting by 12:00 and clear skies by 14:00. Strong westerly breeze most of the day. Near gale westerlies in the late evening. Daytime temperatures: low 11, high 18.

August 3 – Station Boat

Posted on by

The Race Rocks 14′ Boston Whaler boat has not been used in a while. After the elephant seals cleared the ramp for their post swim afternoon nap, I lowered the boat to the water with the electric winch. Once I made sure the motor was running properly, I took the boat out for a quick 20 minute ride, including idling to take photos and look in the binoculars. I had back up by VHF radio and cellphone in case anything went awry. Pearson’s boat Second Nature was in the area, taking alumni on tours around the Ecological Reserve. The station boat is running well. I look forward to more around the rocks tours over the coming weeks. I do need to troubleshoot the GPS/SONAR unit before I go out next. Oddly, it was working fine in the boathouse. Race Rocks would be boring if everything worked all the time.

The sea lion population continues to climb with 60 on Middle Rock and 13 on Great Race by the jetty. That is a big difference to yesterday afternoon when there were no barks or belches coming from the main island, just the occasional elephant seal bellow or sleep apnea snort.

Facility work:

  • Launch boat and take it out for a spin
  • Tidy boat house
  • Clean windows on ecoguardian’s house

Vessels:

  •  Ecotourism: 27
  •  Private: 5

Weather:

  • Sea: up to 2′ chop
  • Sky: Partly cloudy, fog (and foghorn) from 20:26 onwards
  • Wind: W 16-30 knots
  • Air temperature: low 11°C, high 13°C
  • Seawater temperature at max flood: 10.1°C

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

August 2

Posted on by

I will contact NOAA and DFO to report the resighting of the California sea lion with the tag 13-2. The orange tags mean the sea lion was rehabilitated. The tag on the left flipper means the sea lion is a male. I will update the log when I hear back about his history. The rest of the California and Steller sea lions are currently hauled out on Middle Rocks. Perhaps this guy needs a break from the frat party.

Facility work:

  • Clean solar panels
  • Check guest house for supplies and cleanliness

Vessels:

  •  Ecotourism: 12
  •  Private: 3

Weather:

  • Sea: rippled in morning, up to 3′ chop in afternoon/evening
  • Sky: Partly cloudy
  • Wind: variable light winds overnight; from 07:00-12:00 westerlies 8-20 knots; afternoon/evening westerlies 20-31 knots
  • Air temperature: low 12°C, high 21°C
  • Seawater temperature at max flood: 11.0°C

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

August 1 Census

Posted on by

Census Results:

Mammals:

  • Elephant seal: 2 (female and male)
  • Steller sea lion: 34
  • California sea lion: 11
  • Sea otter: 1
  • Harbour seal: 78

Birds:

  • Bald eagle: 1
  • Canada goose: 3
  • Cormorant: 33
  • Gull: 584
  • Black oystercatcher: 20
  • Pigeon guillemot: 131
  • Whimbrel: 1
  • Surfbird: 28
  • Black turnstone: 137
  • Song sparrow: 2
  • Least sandpiper: 1

Facility work:

  • Reacquaint myself with the standard operating procedures and various systems on the island
  • Check boat electronics, safety equipment, and winch
  • Clean solar panels
  • Sample seawater

Vessels:

  •  Ecotourism: 23
  •  Private: 5

Weather:

  • Sea: Rippled
  • Sky: Clear in morning, then partly cloudy
  • Wind: Variable light winds overnight until sunrise ~06:00, when wind switched to easterlies varying from 3-14 knots throughout the rest of the day
  • Daytime air temperature: low 13 C, high 24 C
  • Seawater temperature at max flood: 10.6 C

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

A Wonderful Welcome to The Rock!

Posted on by

It has been a year and seven days since I was last here at Race Rocks. This evening, Greg drove me out from Pearson’s maintenance dock at 17:00. Christine greeted us on the dock. After, we quickly switched food bins and bags in the boat before hauling my stuff up the ramp to the house. We did a short walk around and chat to catch me up on the happenings on the island.

Forty minutes later, Greg and Christine set off towards Pearson, but not before having a round the ecological reserve tour.

I have big shoes to fill from the ecoguardians over the past year who have kept this place running smoothly day to day. Every ecoguardian does different tasks as called upon by the season’s elements, needs of the infrastructure, neighbouring species, and projects they take on to better the place. Some ecoguardians are even excellent landscapers, TikTokers, tinkerers, photographers, and so many other things.

Over the next few weeks, I plan to continue fighting the good fight to keep entropy at bay on Race Rocks :) I am going to frequently exercise the winch and station boat, continue to document the other than human (and some human too) species who visit the ecological reserve, do a little scrubbing of windows and solar panels, as well as whatever other tasks might come up.

 

Facility work:

  • Christine left the house and everywhere else very tidy. She also left me notes of today’s vessel traffic and weather before I arrived.
  • There was plenty of sunshine for the solar panels to run the island and top up the batteries. Between 13:00 and 15:00, the average solar input was 5 kWh out of the maximum of 7 kWh.

Vessels:

  • 32 Ecotourism
  • 5 private

Weather:

  • Sky: fog bank in the morning, clearing at noon to be partly cloudy. Clear skies after 14:00.
  • Wind: west 11-19 knots
  • Daytime air temperature: low 14°C, high 17°C
  • Seawater temperature at max flood: 10.7°C

July 2024 Seawater Data

Posted on by
DAILY SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE AND SALINITY OBSERVATIONS
Institute of Ocean Sciences, North Saanich, B.C., V8L 4B2
 YSI 15
Station: RACE ROCKS
Observer: Christine Chourmouzis Jul-24
YSI ID: 15 Year: 2024
YSI YSI
Temp Sal
Day Time ºC ppt
1 10:51 10.1 31.8
2
3 13:38 12.0 30.5
4 14:08 10.2 31.3
5 14:43 10.4 31.1
6 15:33 10.8 30.9
7 16:07 10.7 31.2
8 17:07 10.8 31.0
9 17:50 10.9 31.3
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17 11:35 12.8 29.5
18 12:25 12.8 29.7
19 13:01 11.8 30.4
20 14:00 10.8 31.5
21 14:19 10.1 31.9
22 15:07 10.1 31.8
23 16:03 9.8 31.8
24 17:05 10.6 31.9
25 18:00 10.6 31.9
26 19:01 10.4 32.6
27 19:39 10.5 31.8
28
29 9:36 10.3 32.3
30 10:54 10.6 32.2
31 12:17 10.7 31.8

Last night on the rock

Posted on by

This is my last post and tonight is my last sleep here. There is so much I will miss…the ever changing sea, current, winds and fog, the 360 degree view, seeing the curvature of the earth, the tower, sleeping with three blankets, my toque, the smell of the ocean air infused with gull and seal aroma, the sounds of the rushing tide and waves on the shore, and yes, I will miss the constant gull calls and chatter, the barking and growling of the sea lions, the high pitched calls of the pigeon guillemots, the alarms of the oyster catcher, the excitement of seeing a new bird, and of course, the two elephant seals. In a way I am glad I am leaving before the elephant seals do as there will be an emptiness here when they go. Unfortunately, I won’t get to see the chicks learning to fly, the pigeon guillemots leave their nests, the influx of new bird species as migrations begins and the onslaught of the sealions. I will need to follow the logs of the next Ecoguardians to learn of those things.

I leave you with two photos: Virabhadrasana 3 and Yinyang.

Virabhadrasana 3 (Warrior 3)

Yinyang. It is comical to watch her slap him in the face as she stretches or moves her rear flipper.

Facility work:

  • Tidying up, finishing small jobs
  • Cleaning keeper’s house, fridge, stove, floors, bathroom etc. for the next Ecoguardian
  • Ran the generator and the desalinator together on account of the fog and overcast conditions.

Vessels:

  • 27 Ecotourism, 3 private

Weather:

  • Fog in the morning. Overcast most of the afternoon. Winds light and variable throughout the day. Daytime temperatures: low 14, high 18.

Banded Gulls

Posted on by

The glaucous-winged gulls that breed and nest on Race Rocks are present year-round in the Salish Sea. They are being studied as indicators of ecosystem health by Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Salish Sea Marine Bird Monitoring and Conservation Program. Individual birds are identified by their colour bands. This allows researchers to track their movements over time, their location preferences (site fidelity) and survival. They also collect blood and feathers samples for genetic, physiological and contaminant analyses. Some of the birds get GPS tags so their precise movements can be followed. The project has been running since 2020. The researchers visited over 200 sites and banded over 800 gulls.

Details of the three banded gulls sighted on Race Rocks in June and July 2024. I’d love to search for more of them, but right now it causes too much mayhem with the chicks walking around to visit the shores where the non-breeding gulls hang out.

Like the three banded gulls I reported in June and July, the majority of the glaucous-winged gulls stay close to home. They did find two glaucous-winged gulls with a penchant for travel. One travelled up to Cordova Alaska to breed and another to spend the winter in San Francisco California.

They have one more year to go in the study. Next year they will be able to report on gull habitat use, diet (via stable isotope analysis they can tell if the gulls feed in marine versus inland areas), physiological health, age, and contaminant levels. From the genomics data they will be able to determine provenance (the location they came from), population structure, and the extent of hybridization.

To learn more about this project, and both glaucous-winged and the California gulls, see their 2023 and 2022 Annual Reports.

How to report a banded gull?  Illustration from the ECCC poster

To contribute to this project and report a banded gull, take a photo showing the bands, record date and location and send to:

 

 

 

Wildlife notes:

Three Canada geese visited the island today. Despite their size, they were pushed around by the gull parents. There were at least 40 cormorants on the island today – more than double the amount reported in the last two weekly censuses. The rain and fog today didn’t seem to affect anyone’s behaviour. The gull chicks who are not yet fully feathered appeared wetter than their parents but they still stood out in the elements.

Facility work:

  • Cleaned Keeper’s house and Student House windows
  • Edged along walkways
  • Ran the generator on account of the fog and overcast conditions. The desalinator was running for 4 hours and produced 330 L of potable water.

DND activity:

Blasts heard today, no disturbance noted in the wildlife.

Vessels:

  • 16 Ecotourism, 3 private

Weather:

  • Fog and NE light air to light breeze until 14:00. Overcast conditions and SW gentle to moderate breeze the rest of the day. Daytime temperatures: low 12, high 15.