Tag Archives: black oyster catcher

A Very Soggy Sunday

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Today was a very soggy, rainy day. The birds all appeared drenched and disheveled, the elephant seals spent the day in the water, and Ollie was nowhere to be found.

One lone humpback passed by just on the outskirts of the reserve, sending a big spray into the air each time it surfaced. The ocean was calm all day which is the very best for spotting whales. On a much smaller scale I ended up with some small jellyfish in my water bucket when I was taking today’s salinity/temperature sample. There must have been hundreds in the water around the jetty!

The sun finally peaked out around 6pm, just in time for me to watch a gull harass a juvenile bald eagle. It blows my mind how savage and fearless these gulls can be.

Vessels:

  • Ecotourism: 8 vessels

Weather:

  • Sky: Cloudy/Rainy
  • Wind: Low of 1 knot, High of 11 knots
  • Sea: Calm
  • Temperature: Low 11•C, High 13•C

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

July 11, 12, 13, and Weekly Census

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Weather for July 11:
Wind: W 11 to 27 knots
Visibility: 15 NM
Sky: Partly Cloudy
Sea: rippled in morning, up to 2′ chop in afternoon
Air temperature: 12-14 C

Weather for July 12:
Wind: W 18 to 35 knots
Visibility: 10 to 15 NM
Sky: Cloudy in morning, partly cloudy in afternoon
Sea: 1’ chop in morning, up to 4′ chop in afternoon
Air temperature: 11-15 C

Weather for July 13:
Wind: W 16 to 33 knots
Visibility: 15 NM
Sky: Partly Cloudy
Sea: rippled in morning, up to 2′ chop in afternoon
Air temperature: 11-15 C

DND Blasting:
There was one DND blast at 14:05 on July 12 at nearby Rocky Point.

Visitors:
Greg and Bruce visited this afternoon to deliver 1,400 L of freshwater and a new first aid kit.

Maintenance:
I did the routine tasks of cleaning the solar panels and house windows, topping up the water in the 24 deep cycle batteries, fixing the electric fence, tidying, and maintaining the freshwater system.

Ecological notes:
There have been a lot of humpback whale activity over the past few days to the west, south, and east of Race Rocks. The whale watching boats have been active in the area. From what I hear on the VHF radio, they have been very pleased with the humpback viewing. I have not seen any whales swim through the ecological reserve.

I heard back about the tagged elephant seal, from the researcher at Año Nuevo Natural Reserve, in California. The juvenile seal, tagged H999 and K646, is a male who was born in January 2022. He was previously observed here and reported to the researchers on April 1, 2023. He has been moulting here for at least the past several weeks. He appears to be almost complete the moulting process, so he might be moving on soon to feed in the deep waters.

Weekly Census observed on July 13:
elephant seal: 1 juvenile (tagged H999, K646)
Steller sea lion: 3
harbour seal: 79
bald eagle: 2 adults, 1 juvenile
raven: 1
cormorant: 7
black oystercatcher: 6 adults, 1 chick (that I could spot today)
pigeon guillemot: 148
glaucous-winged gull: 387 adults, 120 chicks
surfbird: 12
killdeer: 4
western sandpiper: 3
barn swallow: 3

Photo highlights from the past three days:

Groundhog Day

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Wind: yesterday 0-52 knots from S to W, today 0-18 knots from W to NE
Sea State: yesterday rippled with waves up to 1 m in afternoon and evening, today rippled
Visibility: yesterday 5-10 NM, today 15 NM
Sky: yesterday rain then patches of sun, today clear
Temperature: yesterday 5-12 °C, today 3-5 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 414.49 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

This morning at sunrise, the elephant seals saw their shadows. As the lore goes for their fellow mammal the groundhog, that means six more weeks of winter. Hard to believe with the crocuses blooming and daffodils buds almost ready to burst. Although, there is snow in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow as the temperature drops to 0 °C.

There were no visitors to the island. Two eco tour boats were seen in the reserve this afternoon.

Here are the results for the weekly census, conducted in the afternoon of Sunday, February 2:
10 elephant seals (3 female adults, 4 male adults, 1 female pup, 1 male pup and 1 unknown gendered pup)
147 steller sea lions
288 california sea lions
104 harbour seals
10 bald eagles (5 adults, 5 juveniles)
1 raven
109 brandt’s cormorants
182 pelagic cormorants
49 double-crested cormorants
24 canada geese
931 gulls (most are thayer’s gulls)
18 black oystercatchers
1 whimbrel
1 surf scoter
8 harlequin ducks
16 black turnstones
1 snow bunting
1 fox sparrow

Bird List and Census by D.Donnecke

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Daniel Donnecke has contributed his images and counts from a visit to race Rocks on October 30 to ebird.org

https://ebird.org/checklist/S61055064

 

A Foggy Day

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Weather:

  • Wind: 5-15 knots NE
  • Sky: Foggy, some showers
  • Water: Rippled
  • Visibility: Up to one mile

Visitors/Boats:

  • We haven’t seen very many boats today as it has been very foggy. We spotted three whale watching vessels, and one unmarked zodiac.
  • Yesterday was a busy day for whale watching, with boats heading in many directions through the main passage. There has been a young elephant seal resting on the jetty for the past two days, and it appears very agitated when the boats come close (within 25 m).

Ecological: 

  • We have noticed that there are a handful of sandpipers on the island this week
  • There is a small elephant seal with a few minor flesh wounds on its abdomen resting on the jetty. It appears to be part way through the moulting process.
  • We spotted two deceased oyster catcher chicks on the paths this week. They were very small, so its possible that they were unhatched. They didn’t appear to be injured. The other chicks are thriving and growing incredibly quickly.
  • Another male stellar sea lion hauled out onto middle rock a couple of days ago.

Maintenance:

  • On Monday a plumber came to fix a leaky faucet part in the main residence.

A foggy view of the jetty and north rock.

They Grow Up So Fast!

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Weather: 

  • Wind: 20-25 knots westerly
  • Sky: Some early morning fog, partially cloudy
  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Water: Rippled

Boats/Visitors: 

We haven’t had any visitors to the island over the past few days, but the whale watching traffic continues to be steady throughout the day. The concentration of traffic typically lies between 12pm and 8pm.

Ecological: 

  • The seagull eggs are hatching at full force! There are now too  many chicks to keep track. They like to nestle in the taller grasses or nearby rocks to keep out of the wind.
  • The large elephant seals are still moulting, and continue to scoot between the centre of the island and the jetty to cool off and relieve their cracking skin.
  • The oyster catcher chicks are doing well but they are much more elusive than the other birds.

 

Census, more stellers and fog continues

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10 miles
  • Wind: 20-25 knts W
  • Sky: Clear
  • Water: Ripply
  • Heavy fog in the morning and evening

Mammal Notes

  • More and more stellers have started arriving on the surrounding rocks. I saw stellers on the southeastern rocks for the first time today.
  • No sign of the malnourished/injured california sea lion for the last 2 days, which leads me to believe that he may have finally passed away
  • Spotted both the seal pups today, and looks like they’re getting pretty big. They’re about half the size of the adults now.

Bird Notes

  • Geese continue to remain on the island after their return from their long absence. Counted 6 today.

Census

Species counts may not be fully accurate – the fog hindered visibility significantly.

  • Elephant Seals
    • Male = 2
    • Female = 1
  • Sea Lions
    • California = 6
    • Steller = 41
  • Seagulls = 382 adults + 150 juvenile
  • Pigeon Guillemot = 88
  • Eagles = 2
  • Oystercatchers = 6 adults
  • Harbour Seals = 18 adults, 2 (maybe more) babies
  • Geese = 6
  • Black turnstone = 81

Christmas Bird Count at Race Rocks- Dec 28, 2017

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This year is our 20th year in assisting the local birders with the Rocky Point Bird Observatory in doing a count at Race Rocks. Given the time of year this has to occur, it is often thwarted by bad weather, but in the past counts, some very interesting species and population numbers have shown up.  See this index of past years Bird Counts. https://www.racerocks.ca/race-rocks-animals-plants/bird-observations-at-race-rocks-3/christmas-bird-counts-starting-in-1997/

Kim Beardmore same along to record the birds for the 2017 Christmas bird count. Here Kim on the left and the Ecoguardian Mikey Muscat check on one of the 5 male elephant seals.

Although we went to count birds, I found that the most impressive thing was that there were 5 large male elephant seals on the island and two juvenile females. When compared with other years this was quite unusual, and it could be interesting when the females come back in January to have pups. I predict there will be a lot of male aggression going on in mid-January.

These four species other than several gull species and bald eagles were part of the count  which we will add below .

Other observations around the island:

Romanzoffia tracyi

I took advantage of the few hours there to check on other aspects of the island from the ecological reserve warden point of view.  Especially noticeable this year were the massive fields of mud over most parts of the island where the california sea lions hauled out over the past few months. I was concerned about the erosion and rock disturbance that this has caused.   Most of the plants in many parts of the island have been obliterated. I did however find this one healthy patch of Romanzoffia tracyi behind the boathouse. Protected because of its location among  the rocks. I checked some of the other known locations of this rare plant but didn’t see any.

Black oystercatcher midden

 

One feature that was very evident with the lack of vegetation was the extensive beds of chiton shells which are evidence of black oystercatcher middens from last season.

 

 

 

Two immature or juvenile female elephant seals were on the island, one tagged ..green C887

The five males:

I have been watching the vegetation cover made up of the introduced species of Sedum or stonecrop which was on the top of the reservoir.. In my September photo the bed was quite dried and cracked. Now it  has partially recovered.. This is one place the sealions seem to avoid.

 

Because Pearson College could not provide boat transportation this year, and because I was determined to continue the 20 year tradition of this valuable baseline collection of bird population data, we rented a boat from Pedder Bay marina for the trip to Race Rocks.  A list of the birds observed by Kim Beardmore is  attached here.

 

Race Rocks,
Dec 28, 2017 9:05 AM – 11:37 AM
Protocol: Traveling
7.5 kilometer(s)
Comments:     CBC, Race Rocks
16 species (+1 other taxa)Harlequin Duck  10  (North and west Race Rocks)
Surf Scoter  55  (outer pedder bay)
Red-breasted Merganser  18 (mostly outer Pedder bay)
Common Loon  2
Horned Grebe  1
Brandt’s Cormorant  14
Pelagic Cormorant  18
Double-crested Cormorant  10
Bald Eagle  4
Black Oystercatcher  42
Black Turnstone  59
Common Murre  1  ( in outer Pedder bay)
Pigeon Guillemot  10
Mew Gull  14
Iceland Gull (Thayer’s)  8
Glaucous-winged Gull  69
Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid)  2

Snow in the Distance

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Weather

  • Visibility: 5 miles in the morning but cleared up throughout the day
  • Wind: Quite windy throughout the day with gusts reaching upwards of 32 knots, calmed down by evening.
  • Sky: Mostly cloudy with some sun
  • Water: rough throughout the day, large swells

Boats/Visitors

  • Boat traffic was pretty minimum today with the rough waters
  • No visitors today

Ecological

  • Saw a group of about 16 Cormorants and 8 Oyster Catchers amongst around 100 seagulls on the SW corner of the island
  • Canada geese are still around in small groups
  • Lots of Black Turnstones out on the grass the past few days

Other

  • Didn’t get any snow on the island but could see lots of it on shore. Also had power and internet all day without interruptions.