Clear skies. Light West winds
5 tour boats
6 halibut boats on the edge of the reserve
The Pearson College students left today. And they did a great job cleaning the Science house, which is much appreciated.
I found a Black Oyster Catcher nest today. It is East of the Keeper’s House, down towards the rocky beach. Two eggs.
Moderate West wind, easing in the afternoon. Low West swell. Patchy clouds.
A group of sea scouts came out for a tour today. They left out of Victoria Harbour on a schooner called Passing Cloud (Operated by Outer Shores Expeditions). They spent a couple hours on the island. Learning about the animals, the history of Race Rocks, and taking a look at the world from the top of the lighthouse.
The wind dropped and sky cleared up today. I counted 15 bald eagles on West rock and Middle rocks in the morning
Angus Mathews, Executive Director of the Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre and long time champion of the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve, visited Race Rocks with some staff members from the Shaw Centre as well as Bruce Obee, freelance author and photographer, Todd Golumbia, Ecologist formerly with the Gulf Islands National Park and Garry Fletcher, Race Rocks Ecological Reserve warden. They came out on a Eagle Wing Tours boat with Brett Soberg, co-owner of Eagle Wing and long time tour guide, who carefully manoevered the sleek fiberglass boat, with three 250 hp outboards, alongside the unforgiving concrete jetty.
All images below were taken by Bruce Obee:
Angus and Garry both have a long history with Race Rocks so we had a good tour and heard some good stories. Todd noticed that one of the black oyster catchers on the south side of the island was banded, likely a banding he had done in the gulf islands. We weren’t able to get a reading on the ID number so I will try to follow up with this information.
The Shaw Centre has initiated the Salish Sea Institute. To learn more about this important project check out this article by Bruce: http://bruceobee.com/readers-picks-2/ and this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SNhwzhk-oA&feature=youtu.be
One private sports fishing boat toured around in reserve today.
-9 visitors to the island today
-did some preparations for visitors including installing bumpers on jetty
-toured island with visitors
-cut, chopped, stacked firewood
-did some tinkering with boat house door. It has new hardware installed and is working better than before but is still derailing sometimes. Maybe installing some roller brackets at the bottom could help keep it aligned.
-observed nice sunset
Clear skies. Strong NE winds. Cold
Despite the winter weather, it is still a busy place out here in the reserve. The female elephant seals are hauled out on Middle Rock. The male Elephant seal is next to the Science House. There were lot’s of Oyster catchers, and way more Cormorants then I was expecting. There are also still quite a few Sea lions (~470) in the reserve; mostly on the South side of Great Race and South Rocks. I finally got a decent picture of a Savannah Sparrow today; and the Sandpiper stopped long enough to get a good photo so I could finally ID it.
Light SE wind in the morning. 3ft East swell.
Midday it switched to 25 kts West.
Late afternoon it was blowing 45 kts West. With a 5ft+ West swell.
Bird Count
26 Canada Geese spent the day sheltering from the storm on Greater Race Rock
670 Adult Gulls + 96 Juvenile Gulls = 766 Gulls total
20 Oyster Catchers
136 Cormorants
I don’t know where the Turnstones and Sparrows hide during bad weather
How I counted Birds: The nice thing about bad weather is that it forces all the birds to come to Greater Race Rock because of the waves surging over the outer islands. They also tend to sit in organized groups when it’s really windy. So I took photos of all the groups of birds and using a ‘cell counter’ macro in a great free program called ImageJ I counted all the birds and tallied the results.
[Daily Marine Conservation Link]
Sea stars up and down both coasts of North America are experience a mass die-off event now called Sea Star Wasting Syndrome. In recent years the populations of sea stars has been extremely high in the Salish Sea, and in September 2013 reports of mortality events started coming in from divers. A collaborative research effort is now underway and the Vancouver Aquarium is hoping that divers start to participate in some Citizen Science.
The Howe Sound Research and Conservation team is tracking this event by mapping observations of healthy and sick sea stars but they need data! So if you see any sea stars while diving report it to this website
A single, juvenile Greater White Fronted goose (Anser albifrons) arrived a few days ago and has been rustling around the middle of Greater Race Rock. This species was also documented at Race Rocks on May 2012, May 2007 and September 2007. Thanks Ann for verifying the species.
At the end of September a juvenile elephant seal was on the jetty for roughly a week. It had the classic signs of a scabby molt. Scabby molt is a skin disease that attacks elephant seals between the ages of eight months and two years old. Two-year-old elephant seals often suffer from a skin disease known as the northern elephant seal skin disease or NESSD for short. This form of dermatitis is also often referred to as scabby molt. This ulcerative skin disease can either infect a small portion of the fur and underlying skin or spread to cover up to 60% or more of this outer protective layer. Although, in most cases, the elephant seals heal up without any further problems, sometimes, secondary bacterial infections and/or sepsis can lead to death.
Check out this link to a paper by Beckamn et al, 1997 that describes this disease.
-Ran desalinator
-Washed solar panels
-Washed exterior windows on Student house
-Tidied Student house basement and bathroom
-Hung pictures in student house
-Fixed underwater camera issue with help from Jonathan
Glaucous-winged gull chicks, newly hatched
The glaucous-winged gulls have started hatching all over the island. Stressed parent gulls are VERY protective, dive-bombing any passersby. And for good reason because the juvenile bald eagle has paid a few visits in search of lunch.
There are generally 3 eggs to a nest although many only have two.
Oystercatcher chicks
The oystercatchers on the south side of the island hatched on Sunday mid-morning. Notice the similarly coloured eggshells. Even though the two chicks have different nesting environments, a similar pattern camouflages them in their surroundings. The oystercatcher shells are also considerably smaller in size.
Although we’ve had less whale-watchers these past few days, a number of dive boats have visited the underside of the island. Don’t be fooled–the weather might look nice, but the water’s still only 10 degrees celsius!
Dive boat in the currents between the Race Rocks and North Race
30 knot winds at North Race
The wind since Sunday evening has been very strong and even reached over 50 knots on Monday just before midnight. The photo shows North Race during a 30 knot wind. As the wind carries the water in the photo, it also sprayed the house windows which now are in sorely need of a clean.
During the winds, the Coast Guard paid a vist.
Coast Guard helicopter passing by a quick visit to the island, hovering over the helicopter pad for several seconds without landing and then taking off again. It looked like it was having trouble with its stability in the wind.
Another noise-maker for the past two weeks have been the blasts on DND. There have been as many as 5 or 6 per day on severals days since my arrival June 24.
Juvenile female elephant seal
A new female visitor came to the island Wednesday night. I noticed a juvenile elephant seal
Tuesday evening resting near the fire hose box. She was gone the following day but returned at around 22:30 when I ran into her with Chunk and Misery in the shallow water near the jetty while taking a water sample. Something that has been interesting upon her arrival is that Chunk and Misery have both changed their regular resting spots. Possibly just a coincidence, Misery has always been the one closest to the female.
Parent oystercatcher with chick
On a bird note, the new oystercatchers have left the nest. The two have been exploring the jetty and surrounding area accompanied by two adults who become very vocal when any danger is in sight. The eggs on the opposite side of the island have yet to hatch.
Mike left last week and I will be taking over for the next two months. My last shift was a year ago and it’s great to see how well Mike and Alex have taken care of the place.
Over the past number of days, Misery and Chunk have been pretty subdued with the exception of Thursday when both headed into the water and had a 6-hour long feud. There are no females on the island so my assumption is that Chunk is testing Misery’s role as alpha-male (which he’s proven to be in check).
The two contenders: Misery and Chunk
Sea lion near the jetty during sunset
The first sea lion of the summer has been hanging around on the main island and the southern rock.
Oystercatcher with 3 chicks
Another first of the season are the newly hatched oystercatchers, pictured right. This nest is on the north side of the island and there is another on the south side that still has its 3 eggs intact.
For boat traffic, there averages 10-20 vessels per day in the reserve (weather depending). In the photo below, the gathered whale-watching boats to the west of Race Rocks implies a whale-sighting although it was too far for any good views from the island itself.
Whale watching vessels to the west of the island
Another note on boat traffic, this morning four curious boaters from Pedder Bay Marina wanted to explore the island unaware it’s not for public use. I explained the rules of the reserve and sent the apologetic boaters on their way. Pam Birley took some snapshots on Camera 1.
June is half over and I have about 10 days before Julie comes out to take over for the summer. I am trying to get some painting done in the dry and relatively windless spells, but one of the issues I am facing is trying not to disturb the oystercatchers nesting near the top of the ramp by the majority of railings. They immediately leave the nest when I get anywhere near, and won’t return til I am well clear. I worry about the eggs cooling too much, so I scrape the rails for 10 minutes then depart for an hour… Fortunately I have lots of time on my hands! Meanwhile only a couple juvenile e-seals remain and just as well because Misery’s curiosity is quite terrifying to them. Here one scrambles up the rocks to escape.
Best keep a safe distance…
Sunset on Olympics
The Pigeon Guillemots are nesting in the larger cracks in the rocks; another reason to keep a low profile and limit my wandering around the island. They are adorable little birds!
Pigeon Guillemot
Pigeon Guillemots and Oystercatcher
Pigeon Guillemots on the Jetty
Branded California Sea Lion 1032
Branded California Sea Lion 1032 en flagrante
Sunset Flock of Glaucous-winged Gulls
