Though the day started out quite wet, It cleared up nicely for the census.
Census:
Facilities
After yesterdays rain, today was super beautiful with some dramatic clouds and even a rainbow! But it was still super windy with waves breaking on the Jetty most of the morning.
Windy day at the Jetty
You can see a hint of the rainbow in the background …
In other news, the Entangled CSL is still around, and also during todays census I spotted a Stellar who has a bad gash… prop strike maybe?
Facilities Work (Yesterday and Today)
Biological Census
Today was a very PNW day… a slow steady rain all day.
I know it gets old quick, but I really love a nice, cozy, rainy day at Race Rocks!
But also because of the rain, most of the sea lions spent the day in the water, making the census counts low.
Of note today, Greg came out to the island, and we fired up the Desalinator after more than an entire year of issue after issue. Greg was jubilant to say the least :).
Facilities Work
Weather
Census:
Luckily for me it was a clear morning for the day of my first animal census. With coffee and binos in hand I headed up to the top of the lighthouse tower and began the count of every seal, sea lion, whale, and bird in sight… needless to say it took me much longer than expected! The sun was quickly heating up the tower and by the time I was finished counting the hundreds of sea lions, beads of sweat were dripping down my brow. Despite the heat, it was plenty worth the effort as I spotted some interesting animals – most notably, a Northern Fur seal! This little fellow was hiding in amongst the Cali’s and Stellers on the East corner of the island, not making many friends as it was crawling overtop the sea lion’s bodies and getting consistently yelled and snapped at.
Animal Census Report:
* Note the animal census was time limited to the morning only. Due to bright sun & shadows, cormorants were not distinguished by species.
Mammals:
Birds:
Facility work:
It was a busy day trying to fit in all my tasks on top of the animal census, as I was leaving the island for the weekend. Thankfully Richard was patient with me trying to get packed to go last minute.
Weather:
I was sad to be leaving for any time at all, given the excitement of the animal census. Thankfully, Bella and the students were incoming to keep an eye on the place in my absence. I’ll be back to it Monday morning!
Wildlife: Conducted wildlife census, counted from the lighthouse last week, counting from viewpoints on the ground and photos from the tower for cross check.
Amazing day for whales. Observed eight blows in less than two minutes south of Bentinck island.
Entangled Steller sea lion seen again on Middle Island.
Facility work: Fueled generator, cleaned solar panels, fence maintenance, temp and salinity measurements
First things first! Time to check out the solar panels, while at the same time, keeping track of what animals and birds are being seen. Census is usually conducted on Friday, but since I didn’t arrive until mid-afternoon, I opted to do it today.
The solar panels were in better shape than I expected given the look of the Science Building windows. I remembered all of the valves that needed to be opened to provide water on the generator building roof, so a single trip up the ladder was all that was needed. Once those were taken care of, it was off to tackle the Science Building. There are some great new tools available for reaching the second story windows, but they are quite unwieldy, especially for someone who is just a little over 5 feet tall! As I feared, the gull artwork was baked on, so although there was improvement, the windows were not fully clean when I was done.
Next, a trip up the tower to count marine mammals and gulls. I found a key outside the door as I entered. The fob looked somewhat familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it. I thought one of the guests might have dropped it yesterday, so left it at the bottom of the stairs. A hundred steps up, I remembered why it looked familiar–it was the key to the hatch to the outside of the light. Down 100 steps and back up 100 steps. A double workout for today!
While at the top, I called my friends at Rocky Point Bird Observatory just the other side of Bentinck Island and arranged a neighbourly wave. There is a gap in Bentinck that provides a great view of Race Rocks from the other side.
Census complete, I headed back to ground level. Hmmm..Where are my glasses? You got it–back up at the light! Another trip to the top! Although I had done a count of gulls from the top, I decided to count the young birds again. They are difficult to see from the light. At ground level, I found about three times as many as I had counted from the birds’ eye view.
The sea lions had dumped most of the posts and their concrete blocks off the jetty again. I managed to get them back up before the tide rolled in and repaired the fence–again. I have to say, I felt that I’d put in a full-day’s labour before noon!
Weekly Census
Observed today because of arrival too late on Friday for a fair census
Mammals:
Birds:
Facility work:
Weather:
Photos from today:
Entangled Sea Lion still being seen near the jetty.
Mom and pup Harbour Seal exuding cuteness
Jetty stripped almost clean of all the fencing posts
Young Glaucous-winged Gull in the early morning sunlight
One of several private vessels seen near the rocks today.
Looks familiar!
Weekly Census:
Mammals:
Birds:
Facility work:
Vessels:
Weather:
Photos from today:
*All wildlife photos are taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail.
I postponed my census from yesterday until today due to weather. I think yesterday’s wind must have blown away all the animals, not a single sea lion out front!Â
Today was much nicer for counting and way more animals, although this may be the longest I’ve gone without seeing a whale here. Not a single one yet and its been a week!Â
Mammals:
Birds:
Gulls are starting to build their nests!
I will note that 2 brown pelicans have been hanging around the last few days, and Ollie the sea otter as well but I did not see any of them today.Â
Vessels:
Mammals
Mammals