Tag Archives: Black Oystercatcher

it’s a cheerful sound but wonder what they are up to in the dark?

Posted on by
Monday, June 24, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 14.3 C  Min. 9.7C  Reset 12.1 C
THE DAY: Cloudy  Vis. 12 – 15 Miles  Wind West 13 – 19 Knots Sea 1 – 2 Foot Chop
MARINE LIFE: Again today only one bald eagle which flew over just after 9 a.m., no birds were taken.The Eagle was gone by 9:30 so the resident bird population was fairly quiet until The Oyster Catchers did their evening flight, dipping and diving along the shoreline calling out with their distinctive high pitched cheeps.Often hear them at night especially when the moon is bright, it’s a cheerful sound but wonder what they are up to in the dark.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 1 pleasure craft through the reserve today,also station boat to Pedder Bay and back.
posted by at 7:08 PM

Good Morning

WEATHER: Sky Cloudy  Vis. 15 Miles  Wind West 17 Knots Sea 1 Foot Chop
posted by at 5:22 AM

It takes a lot of energy to feed three chicks with both adults taking turns.

Posted on by
Friday, June 21, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 18.0 C Min. 9.9 C  Reset 13.3 C
THE DAY: Clear Vis. 15 Miles  Wind North West Light 15:35 West 27 Knots Sea Rippled 16:00 2′ to 3 foot Chop
MARINE LIFE: Another good weather day! although the wind did pick up in the late afternoon. The Oyster Catchers are busy gathering food for the chicks some of which are as big as the adults but not very nimble just yet and do a lot more falling off rocks than hopping from one to another. The oldest chicks from the nest in the east bay area are starting to pick at snails etc. at the low tides but most of their success is mostly good luck – problem with attention span and anyway the mainstay of their diet is still being provided by the parents.Chicks beaks are still dark coloured at the tips and much paler orange on the rest so are easily distinguished from the adults.It takes a lot of energy to feed three chicks with both adults taking turns.When the tide is low the food is relatively close by but as the tide rises the adults have to fly farther to find chitons, mussels, snails and the like.Watched for 1 hour after the tide had covered the accessible food areas near the chicks and the adult was foraging several hundred metres away on the southeast rocks -in that hour the adult made 13 return trips –sometimes it took only 30-40 seconds to find food and return but often it took over a minute to come up with the appropriate food item.That’s a lot of trips a day one limpet, snail,mussel, etc. at a time and also a lot of energy prying the aforesaid creatures off the rocks!
HUMAN INTERACTION: Second Nature out with group for tour and dropped Ryan off to relieve while we did some errands in town.Ryan reported that a group in a rental boat breached the guildlines by landing 2 people on middle rock and they were harassing the elephant seals that were hauled out. There is a policy of no landing on the islands except by obtaining a permit from B.C. Parks – fortunately most people would not think of disturbing the marine animals like this but there is always 1( in this case 2) in every crowd!!
posted by at 7:42 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Clear Vis. 15 Miles  Wind North West 4 Knots Sea Rippled
posted by at 5:19 AM

they are so nervous from the eagles and in the wind the eggs can cool very quickly

Posted on by
Wednesday, June 19, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 13.0 C  Min. 9.1 C Reset 11.7
THE DAY: Part Cloudy Vis 12 @ 6:30 15 Miles Wind West 15 Gust 21 Knots  Sea 2 to 3 Foot Chop All Day
MARINE LIFE: One mature Bald Eagle spent most of the day on North Rocks and made two tries to hunt over Gr. Race but was driven off each time.The gulls and oyster catchers are on the alert at all times especially the past week or so.Most gulls have nests now and soon we should see eggs hatching from the early nesters. Don’t like to disturb them as they are so nervous from the eagles and in the wind the eggs can cool very quickly.There are still 4 Northern Sealions on the southeast rocks, one was swimming in the east bay area with about 30 harbour seals which had been hauled out on the rocks until the rising tide washed them off.
HUMAN INTERACTION: Chris and Ryan in with Second Nature – 5 trips with diesel fuel. 2 pleasure craft through the reserve.
posted by at 6:05 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Part Cloudy  Vis. 12 Miles  Wind 21 Knots  Sea 2 to 3 Foot Chop
posted by at 5:33 AM

Sean Leroy doing Masters Thesis on MPA Advisory Process

Posted on by
Thursday, June 13, 2002
TEMPERATURE Max 20.8C  Min 11.1C  Reset 19.2C
MARINE LIFE: The harbour seals are becoming very nervous of human presence, several times today they swept into the water at the sight of people on the pathways. The 4 pairs of Oystercatchers all have chicks now, a good sign that perhaps the river Otter has left the island. Two octopus were sighted in the low intertidal over near the surge channel this morning.

Sean Leroy at Race Rocks

HUMAN IMPACT: Five eco-tourism vessels through the reserve and five fishing vessels on the reserve’s perimeter.

Garry and Hyaku docked with two visitors this morning, Sean LeRoy, Graduate Researcher, Georgia Basin Futures Project
Sustainable Development Research Institute, University of British Columbia and Dr.James Tansey also of UBC. They came to participate in the webcast with Garry and Ryan on Marine Protected Areas this morning with Tim Langois, Leigh Marine Laboratory University of Auckland, and Anne Saloman, University of Washington, Zoology Department .

langoisgroupAfter a tour of the Island and a great discussion about MPA’s in Canada and New Zealand they all left in the afternoon.
posted by at 10:49 PM

Good Morning:
WEATHER: Sky Clear  Vis. 8 miles  Wind 0-5 Knots from West  Sea 1-2 Foot Chop
posted by Garry Fletcher at 5:03 AM

Webcasting Crew at Race Rocks for the Johan Ashvud RR’02 Project

Posted on by

MEET THE CREW:

kiptower

Michael Kiprop Kenya (PC-2003)

joe

Joe Downham UK (PC-2003)

ben

Ben Dougall Australia (PC-2003)

ryan

Ryan Murphy Newfoundland & Labrador (PC-2001)

 —

“We had a great time webcasting live from Race Rocks on Camera 4 during the first two weeks of June for the Johan Ashuvud Race Rocks02 Project”
Three current first year students from Pearson College and Ryan Murphy, who graduated last year stayed at the Marine Science Centre. Ryan is returning to Race Rocks this month to do research for Mt.Allison Univ. on the macroalgal community.

See one video on Pterygophora which was one part of his project here: They conducted daily live and prerecorded webcasts with Garry Fletcher from the intertidal and from underwater using camera 4.

Garry

Garry Fletcher Biology/Diving faculty

For one of the webcasts we were joined by Sean LeRoy, Graduate Researcher, Georgia Basin Futures Project Sustainable Development Research Institute, University of British Columbia and Dr.James Tansey also of UBC. They came to participate in the webcast with Garry and Ryan on Marine Protected Areas in new Zealand and Canada with Tim Langlois, Leigh Marine Laboratory University of Auckland, and Anne Saloman, University of Washington, Zoology Department.

On three days we hosted small groups of students from local elementary schools who served as proxies in webcasts done for their classmates.

Support for the Race Rocks 02 Project came from the Johan Ashuvud Race Rocks Memorial Fund
Below are some of the Videos produced by the crew during the week.

benframes kids octopuss
Ben’s movie put together during the week. June 2002 field trip: for a live webcast with the crew, of the grade six students from West-Mont school . One morning we found the body of an octopus washed up in the intertidal zone. An impromptu dissection led to this video.

Crows are harassing the Gulls

Posted on by
Friday, May 31, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 13.0 C  Min. 8.1 C  Reset 10.0
MARINE LIFE: Another beautiful day here, with quite a lot of marine activity. The Glaucous Winged Gulls are actively mating and nesting, being very defensive of their nests. Crows are harassing the Gulls, Oystercatchers and and Pigeon Guillemots, in search of an unattended nest and egg. One of the pairs of Canadian Geese on the Island are nursing their five young Goslings, despite the Goslings rapidly increasing size the Geese continue to be very protective of their youngsters. Divers spotted some large Ling Cod around the docks, along with a healthy stock of smaller fish.
HUMAN INTERACTION: A lot of fishing activity around the reserve today, around 10 to 12 vessels on the reserve border actively fishing. Problems with both vessels motoring too quickly through the reserve and fishermen disregarding the reserve limitations and fishing around West Race Rocks. Four eco-tourism vessels moved through the park today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:33 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Part Cloudy  Vis. 15 Miles  Wind West 9 Knots Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:51 AM

Black Oystercatcher eggs not all hatched

Posted on by
Sunday, May 26, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 12.9 C  Min. 8.8 C  Reset 12.1 C  Rain 2.0 mm
MARINE LIFE: 1 juvenile and 1 mature bald Eagles. The gulls are still busy nest building, mating and keeping the eagles at bay. Most of the Pigeon Guillemots have paired off, mated and are now among the rocks were they lay their eggs as deep in a rock crevice as they can.The Oyster Catcher chicks are still in the nesting area as of this morning since not all eggs are hatched.Once the last egg is hatched the chicks will all be moved down the shore closer to the food source but above the high tide line.The low tides during the day will afford the chicks a steady diet of limpets, mussels,chitons and the like.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 17 pleasure craft and 14 ecotour boats today. Although the Swiftsure was less than ‘dramatic’ we did enjoy watching a mini race about 17:00 as three returning boats ‘caught’ the brief westerly all be it only 15-17 knts. The one boat that was second of the three ‘stood’ off the shore and had just that extra wind to move ahead. An audience small, granted -just the two of us- but it was exciting none the less. By 18:30 the wind was back down to 5-6 knts and the 25 or so remaining boats took a long time to pass by, a nice show of the colourful spinnakers against the grey-black rolls of fog to the west.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:27 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Overcast �� Vis. 12 Miles �� Light Rain �� Wind West 5 Knots �� Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:47 AM

Black Oystercatchers hatch

Posted on by
Friday, May 24, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 13.9 C  Min. 7.0 C Reset 11.0 C
MARINE LIFE: 1 mature Bald Eagle today which spent most of the time on North Rocks but did manage to circle over-head just before dark,the gulls and oyster catchers took flight as usual and drove the big bird out to sea. The eagle continued towards Bentinck island the ‘triumphant’ gulls returned to the usual noisy reception of the other birds.I can’t say things really quieted down as like the past few nights the birds are quite active. At times it sounds like we have neighbours living in the attic,noisy neighbours with heavy boots! Such small birds but they can make quite a racket especially when a bunch of them land at one time when all else is quiet! We have Oyster Catcher chicks! I saw one but know there are others. As I walked around to check out the nests the adult birds went into a frenzy of warning ‘chirps’ so I knew it wasn’t just eggs they were protecting. Did a boat tour this afternoon,counted 14 California Sealions, 6 Northern Sealions and 5 Elephant Seals hauled out on Middle Rock, also 5 California Sealions hauled out on the south slope of the SE rocks. A couple of Elephant seals are off the north shore of Gr. Race tonight, can hear them snorting so must be just off the dock.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 5 Ecotour boats, 2 pleasure craft. Station boat to Pedder Bay and back-had to get the flat tire on the truck repaired-was a great day to be on the water. Hope the wind picks up a little for the Swiftsure tomorrow -can’t believe I said that after all the complaining I’ve done over the last while about the wind! But really what is a sailing race without wind!
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:19 PM

 

Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Clear  Vis 15 Miles  Wind West 8 Knots  Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:51 AM

enviro-systems field lab exam.

Posted on by
Monday, May 13, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 15.1 C  Min. 7.9 C  Reset 7.9 C  Rain 1.0 mm
MARINE LIFE: 2 mature Bald Eagles -they moved from North Rocks to the Southeast Rocks ever ‘escorted’ by a group of gulls and often a couple of Black Oyster Catchers.There are still no hatched Oyster Catchers, maybe tomorrow. The 3 geese continue to graze the island often the the pair lets the loner within a couple of metres.A group of about 30 harbour seals are spending the day in the east bay area- they like diving into the swells.We see quite a few seals with scrapes that they get moving around on the rocks at low tide.The rocks are covered with thousands of barnacles, these flesh ‘gashing’ animals have very sharp shells – can’t imagine how the seals can get ‘comfortable’ stretched out on top of them but they do!
HUMAN INTERACTION:The Second Nature in ‘bright and early’. Unfortunately the weather was quite nasty this morning -not the greatest of conditions for the students to do their enviro-systems field lab exam.Usually this time of year the exam is a pleasant change from the classroom exams – even some time to relax in the sunshine and eat lunch,even a little socializing but not today strictly ‘business’ ! Late afternoon 3 ecotour boats- not a great day for boating!
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:09 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy Vis 12 Miles  Wind West 27 Gusting 37 Sea 4 Foot Moderate — With Low South West Swell
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:49 AM

BC Parks out

Posted on by
Friday, May 10, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 11.9 C Min. 6.1 C Reset 10.5 C
MARINE LIFE: 2 mature Bald Eagles -kept away from Gr. Race by the ever vigilant gulls and Oyster Catchers.Have found 6 Oyster Catcher nests with eggs. This morning there was a lone female Mallard in the garden but did not stay long -flew over towards Bentinck Island.Garry reports that there are 10 or more Elephant Seals on Middle Rock, mostly females.About 10:40 a small group of Transient Orca came into the reserve from the west. Looked like 5 plus 1 calf.They are very stealthy and did not spend much time on the surface so cannot be positive in indentification.The whales did not seem to be hunting or in any hurry and spent about 45 minutes in the small bay area off the east side of Gr. Race.There was only one boat in the area but as the whales moved east, there were quite a number of tour boats reporting the whales and even a kill of a porpoise.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 2 ectour boats,1 pleasure craft. The Second Nature in with Garry and Don from Parks B.C. –
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:39 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Clear  Vis. 15 Miles  Wind West 9 Knots  Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:55 AM