Tag Archives: california gull

August 31 – Weekly Census and Shift Change

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Wind: W 2-15 knots
Sea State: calm
Visibility: 5-15 NM
Sky: partly cloudy in early morning, then clear
Temperature: 11-17 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 411.90 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

Census results recorded this morning at low tide for the mammals and throughout the day for the birds:
26 steller sea lions
110 california sea lions
1 sea otter
290 harbour seals
1 Canada goose
7 pelagic cormorants
1,232 california gulls
251 glaucous-winged gulls
98 gull chicks
2 black oystercatchers
7 black turnstones
1 song sparrow

There were a lot of eco tourism boats passing through the ecological reserve today. An outrigger canoeist paddled through the main channel in the mid morning and again in the early afternoon.

Tomorrow is my last day as the Ecoguardian. Mara and Kai are returning for a few months. I have enjoyed being back on this wonderful island for the past 17 days, learning on the edge where the land meets the sea meets sky. Race Rocks is a unique place that couldn’t exist without the work of Pearson students, staff, faculty, alumni and volunteers.

Here are some sights from around the island today:

 

 

 

 

August 24 – Weekly Census

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Wind: W 4-19 knots
Sea State: calm in morning, rippled in afternoon
Visibility: 10-15 NM
Sky: overcast, then clear from mid morning onwards
Temperature: 13-15 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 412.21 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

Here are the numbers from today’s census:
30 steller sea lions
121 california sea lions
1 sea otter
167 harbour seals
1 bald eagle
2 pelagic cormorants
742 california gulls
518 glaucous-winged gulls
169 gull chicks
4 black oystercatchers
14 pigeon guillemots
1 black turnstone
2 killdeer

I was excited to see the fluffy head of the sea otter this afternoon. This morning when doing the census count from the top of the tower, I scanned the kelp but couldn’t see the otter.

This afternoon, I gave TLC to the boat house, boat and boat dolly.

There was a steady stream of about two or three eco tour or pleasure boats per hour passing through the ecological reserve.

Here are some sights from around Race Rocks today:

August 17 – Weekly Census

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Wind: W 19 to 33 knots
Sea State: up to 1m chop
Visibility: 10-15 NM
Sky: clear
Temperature: 15-21 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 412.54 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

Last night after the sunset, a lightning show began. There was at least one flash visible per minute when I was watching from about 21:00 to 22:00.  According to CBC News, there were 1,600 lightning strikes overnight across BC’s South Coast: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/august-lightning-weather-bc-south-coast-1.5689195

Weekly census results observed today:
33 steller sea lions
45 california sea lions
1 sea otter
313 harbour seals
1 adult bald eagle
1 Canada goose
3 pelagic cormorants
1256 gulls (approximately 2/3 glaucous-winged gulls and 1/3 california gulls)
4 black oystercatchers
53 pigeon guillemots
42 black turnstones
1 american pipit

There were many ecotour boats passing through the Ecological Reserve today and only a few fishing boats visible in the distance.

 

Larus californicus: California Gull

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In March 2010 Pam Birley captured this gull with the remote camera. She wrote “I saw a California gull recently and attach pics.  You don’t seem to have any in the taxonomy pages.   It’s not a rare gull but this maybe the first I have seen at RR.” Indeed it is one of those gulls which has fallen through the cracks so this is a rather late addition to our taxonomy.

This adult plumage is reached after 4 years. Note the black tip on the bill and the yellow legs which distinguish it from the Western Gull.
Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Sub-Phylum Vertebrata
Class Aves
Order Charadriiformes
Family Laridae
Genus Larus
Species californicus
Common Name: California Gull

Other Members of the Class Aves at Race Rocks.
taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The 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. March 10 2010- Pam Birley

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

 

Sumo-sized Sea Lions

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It was a copycat kind of day, weather wise, the same as yesterday and the day before. Calm, very light winds and clears skies. The barometer continued the drop started on Sunday and is now below 1012 hPa again. The forecast is calling for a switch to light winds west 10 -1 5 and a mix of sun and cloud until Friday when showers are expected..

Whale watching traffic in the Ecological Reserve was fairly light with only eight observed visits. All the operators did really well today. They slowed on entry, went with the current, drove in a responsible way that respected the protected area and saved speeding up until they were clear of the reserve. This is the sort of cooperative behavior that is the norm for sustainable operations in reserve. Observations were made of “sports” fishers hauling in lingcod and rockfish in the Race Rocks Rockfish Conservation area.

Although there may have been more elsewhere, there was no lack of whale action around Race Rocks today. Three Biggs Killer Whales were spotted travelling from east to west through Race Passage in the morning and a Humpback Whale went the other way, in the afternoon, spending some time feeding close to North Rocks. There large multi-species feeding flocks in the same area. Perhaps there are balls of forage fish there.

I saw a large kelp raft, first of the season, sweeping out to sea with the ebbing tide today. This annual kelp becomes more and more prevalent in the tidelines as autumn progresses and the winter storms will remove most of it before spring. It is a great carbon sink that fixes large amounts of carbon, which will eventually become entombed on the bottom. Not all of it goes out to sea and sinks though. Kelp that lands on shore is a key part of near shore food webs relying on this large volume of rotting biomass to fuel new generations of shore spawners and out going young salmon.

Chores were routine again and the sunshine is allowing for recovery of freshwater lost earlier in the month. The level is almost back up to where it was on September 5th. There were no visitors.

 

Count Day

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The sky was partially overcast early but cleared a bit in late morning. Then it clouded over and finally started to rain as it socked in just before dark. The wind started out east-northeast then turned to west late morning before backing all the way around to southwest. The barometric pressure is rising as I write this log and the forecast calls for clearing in the morning and sunshine. Winds will turn to westerly 10 – 15 knots Friday afternoon.

Commercial whale watching vessels made fifteen observed visits to the Ecological Reserve today. One vessel regularly comes in fast and not slowing until well inside the go slow boundary and then consistently speeds up early. The same vessel can be seen hop-scotching ahead of endangered southern resident killer whales as the pass by and in the reserve, sitting almost on top of the sea otter. It is a large, noisy vessel that reliably pushes the limits of respectful whale watching and will end up by hitting an animal or worse. Most of the operators realize that this sort of behaviour is not sustainable.

Biggs Killer Whales were already being followed by the whale-watching fleet before they came into the Ecological Reserve from the east and milled in and around South Seal Rocks and the breaking rock just off the energy building. There were many sea lions in the water, some craning their necks to see better and others just trying to maintain as much time as possible in the air, by repeatedly leaping airborne. I am not sure if the killer whales made a kill or not but sense that they did. There was some fancy criss-cross swimming by the first three whales, then a little one accompanied by a bigger one arrived on scene. This was followed by a few minutes with all the whales underwater and gull action above, which made me think food leftovers. After that they left, heading south and then southeast, dogged by the fleet. Two vessels came into the reserve while the whales were already inside. It is possible that they were not aware on entering but they did not leave once they were aware of the whales’ presence.

Ecologically, the transition from summer into fall continues. Salmon migration is still strong and birds, pinnipeds and cetaceans abundant. The size of the multi-species feeding flocks on the water, is increasing daily with some aggregations (outside the protected area) appearing to have thousands of gulls.

Thursday is animal census day so here are the numbers for charismatic mega-fauna.

Steller Sea Lion 303

California Sea Lion 578

Harbour Seal 187

Northern Elephant Seal 11

Sea Otter 1

Southern Resident Killer Whale (2 in ER during count week, additional 18 in Race Passage during count week)

Biggs Killer Whale (Transients) 6 today (3 more during count week)

Humpback Whale (3 during count week)

Canada Goose 0 full time (flock of ~25 chased off almost daily)

Harlequin Duck 0

Double-crested Cormorant 25

Brandt’s Cormorants 22

Pelagic Cormorant 6

Unidentified cormorants 17

Black Oystercatcher 5

Black Turnstone 11

Kildeer 3

Glaucous-winged Gull total 453 (325 – adults; 128 – juveniles)

California Gull 847

Thayer’s Gull 180

Mew Gull 24

Herring Gull 0

Ring-billed Gull 2

Western Gull 2

Heerman’s Gull 36

Adult Gull spp (Unidentified) 242

Juvenile Gull spp (Unidentified) 223

Savannah Sparrow 9

Fox Sparrow 1

Unidentified Sparrow 1

Junco 3

Horned Lark (2 in count week)

Pacific Wren 1

Routine chores continue. There were six visitors today. Two very self contained Environment Canada technical service officers came out to do annual maintenance on their weather station up on the tower. If you were looking on camera # 1 you may have had a close-up view of them at work, calibrating, replacing and maintaining their instruments in full climbing gear. Thanks go out to them as well for the help they gave us before leaving the island. Two national geographic photographers came out to get a sense of the diversity of wildlife and of course take photos. Two young people who may potentially become eco-guardians also visited. Thanks go out to Don for helping move fuel, a heavy job. Well done. Courtney drove Second Nature to get them all out here and back safely and she was accompanied by Jasper, volunteer extraordinaire.

 

 

End of Summer?

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The day started with partially overcast skies and a south wind of 5 – 10 knots. Late morning, the wind picked up from the northeast and brought fog. There was a bit of sunshine mid afternoon and then clouds gradually filled. By evening the wind was from the west 5 knots. Barometric pressure ended up a little higher than yesterday, but not by much and it was dropping again as evening progressed. The forecast is calling for showers and light to variable east to northeast winds.

There were was whale watching activity to the south today and 12 whale watching vessel visits were observed in the Ecological Reserve. They were mostly well behaved but a couple operators need to mind their speed in reserve and everyone gets very close to the sea otters, although the sea otters do not seem disturbed. Three sports fishing vessels were noted in reserve. They all slowed and proceeded carefully, using Middle Channel.

As the weather changes and summer draws to a close, more migratory birds are noted at Race Rocks. Some are just passing through on their way south, maybe some of the same ones I saw going in the other direction last spring such as Barn Swallows, Fox Sparrow and American Pipets. Other birds are arriving back from their breeding grounds to spend the fall winter and spring, like the Harlequin Ducks. Harlequin Ducks were seen this morning around Turbine Rock. Others are at the northern end of their post-breeding migration like the Heerman’s Gulls and California Gulls and will head south again before long. Pelagic Cormorants are spotted roosting near Camera 5 daily. This is a species that used to nest here and it would be nice to see them nesting here again.

On the Pinniped front there were nine Northern Elephant Seals holding their ground on the top of Middle Rock today. As I know from personal experience they are good at that.

Chores were routine today and there were no visitors.

Thanksgiving Edition (No Turkeys Here.)

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The day started with a hazy, overcast sky and an ocean swell rolling in from the open Pacific. Although visibility was 10 to 15 nautical miles, the marine air gave everything a soft, muted look and both Port Angeles and Victoria looked further away than they actually are. In the morning, winds were light to gentle breezes starting in the southwest and swinging over to southeast. In the afternoon it shifted to north-northeast and became noticeably colder and wetter.
The ocean swell became dramatic by mid-afternoon, exploding over north rock and making a rolling break into the jetty bay, surging right over the jetty. Although the barometer was higher today than it has been all week, it is now slowly dropping and Monday ‘s forecast is for more clouds, wind and rain. Hmmm sounds like October.

Whale watching activity was fairly brisk today with seven boats in the Ecological Reserve. Everyone was fairly well behaved. Seaking Adventures was certainly giving a lot of throttle in the Reserve, crossing from Great Race over to North Rock but that may have been because he was bucking the tide. There were also a couple of sports-fishing boats passing through the Reserve in a hurry, Foghorn Charters was one of those two.

Some operators may not know that the speed limit is only 7 knots within the Reserve.

Some operators may not know that the speed limit is only 7 knots within the Reserve.

A large Humpback Whale passed through the Reserve westbound, late afternoon, there were no whale watching boats around.

A lot more gulls arrived with the cool wet weather and are roosting just about everywhere on Great Race now. I am curious what the numbers will be for this week’s census on Wednesday.
CaGu California Gulls resting and preening on Great Race.[/caption]

Western Gulls are a little north of their usual range here and hard to distinguish from Glaucous-winged X Western Gull hybrids.

Western Gulls are a little north of their usual range here and hard to distinguish from Glaucous-winged X Western Gull hybrids.

With the influx of California Gulls it is going to be tricky distinguishing and counting all the large gulls. A gull that is easy to distinguish and also a favorite of mine, is the Heerman’s Gull.

Heerman's Gulls are our most exotic looking gulls.

Heerman’s Gulls are our most exotic looking gulls.

Another avian visitor spotted today was the small to medium sized sandpiper pictured below, I think it is a Western Sandpiper but would like confirmation.
WeSa
There were two young Elephant Seals on Great Race today and one of them was “tagged as a weiner in 2012” at Ano Nuevo Island in California “and hasn’t been seen since, so this is an important data point” according to Dr. Patrick Robinson, Año Nuevo Island Reserve Director.
Mian 6967
The second Elephant Seal was sleeping on the marine railway in the morning.
mian jetty

Race Rocks has become Canada’s main Elephant Seal colony. It is important as a fall haul-out location for sub-adults, as well as a winter birthing and mating site and spring moulting site.
Race Rocks is an ecological treasure located at a key location next to busy shipping lanes and popular sport-fishing grounds. I am thankful to those who had the vision to protect this amazing area and thankful to be able to experience it.
roro close to RR
roro & maersk

Cut and Recycle Plastic Straps

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Beautiful weather continues and today’s lack of fog and strong winds made it a really perfect summer day. The barometer rose steadily all day and the outlook is for more of the same.

Thirty-five whale-watching boats were noted in the reserve today and some may have been missed as I made a mad dash to “civilization” during the late afternoon slack tide. It is quite a process getting the boat launched and then back up into the boat shed but the good coffee I picked up made it all worthwhile. Back on the rock now with 600 sea lions and one Elephant Seal.

Killer Whales were within sight today, out in Juan de Fuca Strait, but not in the reserve and that was why there was high traffic by the boats, stopping by to see the sea lions.

I spent an hour this morning in the tower, photographing the tagged/branded animals that I have been recording. It is really nice to have a birds’ eye view of the rookery. Speaking of rooks, there were two ravens this morning. Until today I have only seen solo ravens. The evening bird continues to be a mystery to me, I can only describe the call as being high pitched and saying something like chee bedee be dee be dee. From the few glimpses I have had of it in the dark (not very good glimpses) I would say that it flew like a shorebird. (turned out to be a killdeer)

Common Murres and Rhinoceros Auklets are feeding in deeper water around the reserve now and today saw an influx of California Gulls into the reserve. The Heerman’s Gulls continue to join mixed-species, feeding flocks and forage on their own but I have not seen any landing on Great Race. There are more and more Canada Geese landing every day and they are eating every new little green thing that is not a thistle. Can they be classified as pest-like?

Another reason to both cut and recycle plastic straps. Three ring-necks observed today.

Another reason to both cut and recycle plastic straps. Three ring-necks observed today.

I photo-documented more entangled sea lions today to follow up on work being done by Wendy Szaniszlo, the Vancouver Aquarium and others. I observed two California Sea Lions ring necked, one is doing very poorly with an open wound and liquid coming out of it. It looks like a white plastic strap. The other may have already been treated as it looks and acts healthy. As I was coming into to land at the jetty in the tidal race, I noticed a Steller’s Sea Lion that was ring-necked. I did not get a chance to photograph it as landing here is already exciting enough by myself. I will look for it after chores in the morning.

Chores were basic today, cleaning and organizing, sharpening tools and almost completing the new fence.