Thanks to Rick Page, a Board Member of Friends of Ecological Reserves for forwarding these images of Brown Pelicans taken at Race Rocks today. He says ” I was in the bow of the boat and noticed the profile of the pelicans from a long way out as they stood on the peak of West Rocks.”
Black Oystercatchers (over 100–a record for RR) and gulls with westerly swells.
Green Winged Teals
The SGBs (Small Grey Birds). Not only do they all look very similar but they hide their beaks! There was a mix of Black Turnstone, Surfbirds and Rock Sandpipers in the NE bay.
On January 7 an 8th there was a W wind 30-35 knots. The Green Winged Teals returned to the island with slightly higher numbers than last time, they spent their time in the pools on the NE side and picking through the mud with their beaks. I have not seen any Pelicans in about a week and there have not been any Canada Geese here for about two weeks. Karen Benzel from International Bird Rescue contacted us recently to report that Pelican R36 that was seen here in November has been taken in for rehabilitation at Wild Arc in Metchosin.
Census January 8, 2013:
75 Cormorants
7 Harlequin ducks
4 Bald Eagles
1 Mallard
81 Black Oyster Catchers
120 Gulls
17 Green Winged Teals
20 Black Turnstone
10 Surfbirds
10 Rock Sandpipers
1 Kildeer
1 River Otter
20 Harbour Seals
100 Northern sea lions
10 Elephant Seals: 8 female, 2 male
On Dec 25th Easterly winds were gusting over 40 knots pushing swells into and over the jetty. Zeke is seen below just above the jetty near the crane pad. The Pelicans pictured below were hovering in winds around 30 knots.
Since Dec 25th atmospheric pressure has climbed steadily reaching a high point of 1030 hPa yesterday, Jan 1. For the past several days we have had sustained NE winds between 10 and 20 knots which demonstrates the potential for harnessing wind energy at Race Rocks, particularly in the winter months when there is less solar radiation to charge the batteries. Pearson College is in the process of sourcing a wind generator for the island with the goal of further reducing and eventually eliminating dependance on fossil fuel electric generation in the Ecological Reserve.
A couple of California sea lions (dark) and Northern sea lions with 3 pelicans and an elephant seal in the background on west rock Dec 13
Pelicans have been in the reserve again Dec 13 and 14th. There were up to 5 individuals, I was not able to see tags on any of them.
It is impressive to watch these birds, especially in flight. They apparently have a wingspan of 6 to 8.5 feet. They glide within what looks like a couple of feet of the water so when they flap their wings the tips will often touch the surface. 
touching the surface while flying low
Since the last post there have been several visits of Pelicans to the reserve. My first sighting of 3 of them was on Saturday afternoon just before dark.
Dec 2-Pelicans on North East side
On Sunday evening a flock of around 20 pelicans landed on the West rock, joining the elephant seals that were there. The light was really poor so I couldn’t get a very good quality image. There has recently been a sighting of a similar size group close to Victoria, likely the same ones.
Dec 2-Pelicans on West Rock
Dec 3-Brown Pelican
On Dec 3 there were 4 Pelicans sighted in the reserve as well as a Peregrine Falcon.
Misery has been on the main island up near the South side of the tower for several days. I have seen up to 8 other elephant seals on West Rock including a male that looks nearly as big as Misery.
Peregrine Falcon at Race Rocks Ecological Reserve
On Tuesday morning and again in the evening the wind picked up to 40 knots from the West.
Dec 4-West Rock elephant seals (not Misery)
Wednesday morning we switched guardians, Mike has finished a 3 month shift and I will be here for the next 4 months. It has been 8 months since i was last out here, nice to see that Mike and Julie have done a great job out here and that the place is in good shape.
I have been on the lookout for the pelicans that Mike has observed out here and was thinking they were gone. But this morning, while photographing a sealion taking down a fish I noticed a large bird in the frame. The pelican must have been on the east face of the Eastern rocks which is out of sight from the main island.
On Wednesday the winds picked up to over 25 knots. Misery hauled out on the main island that night and stayed here until yesterday. After making his way down the ramp and through the debris he stayed at least an hour amongst the logs, floating and making bubbles.
This morning Misery was out on West rock with at least 3 female elephant seals.
Not a lot of traffic in the reserve the past days. On Wednesday two whale watching boats toured around the elephant seals on West rock and today there is a dive boat off the west side.
‘Elephant Seal’, 5, ‘Fewer females are visible on Middle Rocks. The tagged female has returned to Great Race Island despite having completed her moult. The larger females on Middle Rocks are in various stages of their moults.’, ‘Ryan’, ’20:56:43 ,
-93, ‘2010-05-12’,
“Brown Pelicans are becoming a common sight at Race Rocks. See the log of May 12, 2010: Ryan Murphy
‘The diversity of bird life continues to increase with the appearance of
Dunlins, Brandts and Pacific Loons today.
Small groups of Brandts flew West throughout the day, followed by several large flocks numbering up to 100 birds in the evening.
A mature Brown pelican roosted here for the night, much to the gulls ” dissatisfaction.
There are still 2 pairs of Harlequin ducks spending their days around Great Race Island, plus
4 Whimbrels were again seen on the SW corner of the island where up to
3 Black Oystercatcher pairs have staked nesting territories. There are a total of
7 pairs of Oystercatchers with territories on the island, but only 2 confirmed nests so far, and of those only one nest with 2 eggs at the moment. Could be a bumper year as a maximum of 5 breeding Oystercatcher pairs have been recorded in the past. ‘,
‘Northern Sea Lion’, 10, ‘The numbers of Northern Sea Lions have been down the past several days, however they are still finding food in the reserve. A commotion right above the tidal turbine today attracted a number of gulls, and I could soon see a Northern sea lion was thrashing a large fish on the surface. Reviewing my photos it turns out the sea lion had captured a wolf eel! Long tasty filets on those protected fish, I can ”t say I ”m not envious!’,
‘Ryan’, ’21:10:38 ,
‘The diversity of bird life has increased greatly with the improving weather this week. Rock sandpipers, Western sandpipers, Red Knots, and Greater Yellowlegs have all been seen in the intertidal zone. Yesterday evening a juvenile brown pelican spent a number of hours on Great Race before heading towards Port Angeles just after sunset. Today around noon a peregrine falcon zipped by Great Race and scared most of the small bird species away for the day. The Black Oystercatchers are becoming very territorial with one another, and the nest above the cove on the E side of Great Race now has 2 eggs.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:42:48 ,
Mammal census:
‘Elephant Seal’, 8, ‘8 females remain on Middle Rocks, still in various stages of their moults. The tagged female X201/X202 recently left Great Race Island after completing her moult, but was photographed yesterday on Middle Rocks with the other females. This year is a pattern reversal compared to last year when it was the sub-adult male -Misery) who completed his moult on Great Race and few if any female elephant seals were seen here during this time.’, ‘Ryan’, ’17:45:02 ,
2009-12-02′ –2 Brown pelicans were spotted here yesterday. A juvenile brown pelican has been here off and on for the past week, a rarity in these parts so late in the season.’, ‘Ryan’, ’07:53:46 ,
2009-12-05– 1, A pelican came to land on the SW corner of Great Race Island around 8:00 this morning.’, ‘Ryan’, ’09:52:52 ,
2009-12-09′, 1, ‘The juvenile Brown Pelican was sighted again today.’, ‘Ryan’, ’19:47:19 ,
In late September to mid October of 1997, Brown Pelicans were sighted roosting on George Point, just North of the reserve on Bentinck Island, and at Race Rocks in the eastern entrance of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. This group was filmed one afternoon from the Pearson College dive boat. Note, they had a habit of stretching their necks up vertically. The group stayed in the Race Rocks area for several weeks that fall. This is a rare event to have these birds this far North but the records from the daily water samples taken at Race Rocks in October and November of 1997 indicate the highest water temperatures since records were first made in 1927 and the lowest salinities since the first records in 1936. Another pair of Pelicans was observed in early November of 2001 by the Race Rocks Guardians. Noting the Brown Pelican’s “graceful glide” and dextrous use of its bill – which functions both as a dip net and cooling mechanism, it has been described as one of the most interesting of the North American birds. In recent years,
the pelican numbers have increased with sightings reported sporadically at Race Rocks. Its habitat is coastal islands on the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts of North, Central and South America.
This video was made from images taken by Pam Birley on remote camera 5 on Nov 10, 2006.. selected images are shown also below:
“Other pictures and records of different dates in other years for Pelicans can be seen on Pam Birley’s Flickr site:https://www.flickr.com/search/?w=66339356@N00&q=pelican
Lonely Pelican in a sea of Larus, Photo by Ryan Murphy– November 24, 2009
CLASSIFICATION:
Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Vertebrata
Class Aves
Order Pelecanifornes
Family Pelecanidae
Genus Pelecanus
Species occidentalis
Common Name Brown Pelican
A visitor from warmer climes. See the post of Nov 9, 2012 https://www.racerocks.ca/2012/11/09/…
On Nov 19 2014,Rick Page took some great shots of Pelicans at Race Rocks.
Other Members of the Class Aves at Race Rocks.
Ecoguardian Alex Fletcher took this shot of a large group of pelicans for his post of
Dec 5 2012. Also Dec15 2012
An interesting pelican story resulted from this image taken while a Pelican was in flight which shows the band number R36
 Return to the Race Rocks Taxonomyand Image File |
 The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams. This taxonomy page was originally started as a biology class assignment in Dec. 2003 by Pearson College student Anil D’Souza PC year 27G. Fletcher |