Wildlife Census

Posted on Wednesday,April 2, 2025 by Tristan Blaine

Woa, last week on Race Rocks. 3 months has FLOWN by, marked with very few intense winter storms and no resident Elephant Seals over the breeding season. We had a big female come ashore and do a bunch of feeding over the last month, and then a new (smaller) seal showed up on March 31st. She looks like a survivor of ‘scabby moult’ and she’s tagged! It’s a green tag (L334) meaning she was tagged in Año Nuevo, and probably 3-4 years old. We were so excited to have more than 1 Elephant Seal around we were very suprised to wake up this monring to another small Elephant Seal female! Could this be the begining of the moutling season for Race Rocks? Stay tuned to find out!

We figured if it’s the end of our time here, better try and leave the place better off than we found it. We installed Greg’s new electric fence concept on the jetty, and re-habed the N fence perimeter. Cleaned up a bunch of the scrap materials from previous infrastructure projects, and put the ladders away. We’re very fancy like that.

The Canada Geese have begun the laying season, which means a marked increase in their aggression as they start to defend their nests. It’s a battle between the Geese and the gulls (who are also getting ready to start laying), and we often wake up to a freshly cracked egg on the main walkway.

Mammals:

Stellar Sea lions: 12
California Sea lion: 14
Harbour Seal: 30
Northern Elephant Seal: 3

Birds

Gulls: 122
Cormorants: 68
Eagle: 8 Adult, 6 Juvenile
Turnstones: 20
Canada Geese: 7 – 3 breeding pairs
Oystercatcher: 18

It has been a LOVELY time on Race Rocks, and we’re always so grateful to get to spend time here. It’s such a beautiful spot with so much history, and it has Elephant Seals some of the time! We look forward to seeing a new Beachmaster take charge of the island, and for the opportunity to return.

Tristan & Courtney

Elephant Seals LOVE the smell of sawdust.

Wildlife Census

Posted on Wednesday,March 5, 2025 by Tristan Blaine

We’ve been hearing Elephant Seal vocalizations at night, but haven’t seen anyone lurking around on the boat ramp. After taking the Race Rocks boat ‘Neighbor’ for a rip we spotted this cutie hiding at the summit of Middle Rock. Courtney used the ‘socketed’ pectoral flipper to differentiate the elephant seal from the surrounding sea lions. After that she started making visits to the boat ramp first thing in the morning. Not pregnant, didn’t give birth, just hanging around.

Female Elephant Seal wallowing at the jetty.

Female Elephant Seal complaining about the noise at Middle Rocks to the NW.

We also got a California Sea Lion hanging out next to the crane with a red flipper tag on his right flipper. We haven’t been able to figure out what this tag identifies yet.

California Sea Lion with a red tag in his ‘flipper-pit’.

No number or identification, just a red clip.

The coveted ‘end of the jetty’ position is all about leverage, and not letting anyone new join the party.

Mammals:

Stellar Sea lions: 126
California Sea lion: 153
Harbour Seal: 48
Northern Elephant Seal: 1

Birds

Gulls: 45
Cormorants: 38
Eagle: 1 Adult, 2 Juvenile
Turnstones: 14
Canada Geese: 5 – 2 breeding pairs
Oystercatcher: 22
Pigeon Guillemots: 26

Boats

Recreation Salmon Fishing: 18
Tourism: 4
Sailboats: 4

Weather must be improving as we’re seeing more sailboats cruising around the Juan de Fuca.

The Stellers diminished this week and started using the fringes after the sea lion pileup from last week.

I try to remember to include the Bald Eagles, they’ve been pretty lazy these days.

Kayaking the rapids at Race Rocks looks pretty fun.

A log kept bumping into her butt and making her angry. Hard life of an Elephant Seal.

Wildlife Census

Posted on Tuesday,February 25, 2025 by Tristan Blaine

BOOM! With the nice weather improving, a huge cohort of Steller Sea Lions showed up, and took over South Islands. This is a change from the typical South Seal Rocks haul-out next to the generator shed. I’ve attached a Reserve Map for those interested.

South Islands got COVERED in Steller Sea Lions this week.

Race Rocks Reserve Map

Bull Stellers had to figure out the pecking order for the summit.

Mammals:

Stellar Sea lions: 250
California Sea lion: 150
Harbour Seal: 22
Sea Otter: 1 (Ollie?)

Birds

Gulls: 50
Cormorants: 55
Eagle: 4 Adult, 6 Juvenile
Turnstones: 30
Canada Geese: 7 – 3 breeding pairs
Oystercatcher: 44
Pigeon Guillemots: 73
Harlequin Ducks: 4

Pigeon Guillemots taking over the NW bluffs of Race Rocks.

Harlequin Ducks on South Seal Rocks

Double-crested Cormorant

Harbour Seals love that low-low tide.

I was recently reminded that Trans-Mountain is now operational, and we’re seeing an increase in tanker traffic in the Juan-de Fuca Straight.

PIGU!!! On a good day the Pigeon Guillemots can almost drown out the sea lion barking.

Black Oystercatchers are used as an indicator of good coastal ecosystem health.

Probably Ollie, lurking on the edge of South Islands for a few days.

I was trying to decide if Ollie was carrying around an old River Otter again. Your guess is as good as mine here.

Black Turnstone love foraging around the edges of the footpath and outcropping rocks.

Census + Spring has sprung!

Posted on Tuesday,February 18, 2025 by Tristan Blaine

Pearson Students coming out to see the wildlife!

This week Second Nature made a trip out with some students to see the Sea Lions! It’s always great to see just how excited students are to see Race Rocks!

California Sea Lion loving that cozy sunshine.

Canada Geese can eat up to up to 2kg of grass a day. It noticable.

Weather has been fantastic, with new Pigeon Guillemots and Oystercatchers showing up.

Mammals:

Stellar Sea lions: 64
California Sea lion: 87
Harbour Seal: 14

Birds

Gulls: 55
Cormorants: 25
Eagle: 2 Adult, 2 Juvenile
Turnstones: 14
Canada Geese: 5 – 2 breeding pairs
Oystercatcher: 15
Pigeon Guillemots: 52

Ocean swell coming up the Juan de Fuca onto the jetty.

Animal Census

Posted on Tuesday,February 11, 2025 by Tristan Blaine

I guess that counts as winter storms…

Looking south from the Lighthouse.

We got some spicy winds and the temperature dropped out from January 30 – February 5th. With the storms came the California Sea Lions en masse: going from 58 the previous count to 168. The Jetty must be much nicer than wherever their feeding grounds are.

Temperature trends for the week.

Wind data in Km/hour. A little spicy.

I am pretty impressed with the tourism operators that visit Race Rocks: I would have assumed anything over 35 knots would make for a bad day to visit, but we maxed out with 6 tourism vessels visiting the Sea Lions and Birds of Race Rocks, even during the worse day of winds we got this week. We also got a visit by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, doing a patrol of the Ecological Preserve and ensuring the tourism vessels didn’t disturb the Sea Lions.

Wind and current working against each other can make for some lumpy wildlife viewing.

First time I’ve ever seen Sombrio Point visit Race Rocks.

Time to hide from the wind and waves.

As for Race Rocks proper things have been pretty chill. There isn’t much of a stockpile of firewood, so we’ve been scavenging any bits of wood on the island to keep warm when the winds blowing. Hopefully warm weather is coming, or we’d take some evil North wind to deliver us some new fire wood.

Scrounging for any wood to keep things from freezing.

Mammals:

Stellar Sea lions: 70
California Sea lion: 168
Harbour Seal: 22
Sea Otter: 1 (Ollie?)

Birds

Gulls: 55
Cormorants: 30
Eagle: 4 Adult, 5 Juvenile
Turnstones: 14
Canada Geese: 8 – 4 breeding pairs trying to hunker down
Oystercatcher: 25
Pigeon Guillemots: 45

Boats

Tourism: 6
Private: 0
Government: 1

August 1 Census

Posted on Thursday,August 1, 2024 by Nick Townley

Census Results:

Mammals:

Elephant seal: 2 (female and male)
Steller sea lion: 34
California sea lion: 11
Sea otter: 1
Harbour seal: 78

Birds:

Bald eagle: 1
Canada goose: 3
Cormorant: 33
Gull: 584
Black oystercatcher: 20
Pigeon guillemot: 131
Whimbrel: 1
Surfbird: 28
Black turnstone: 137
Song sparrow: 2
Least sandpiper: 1

: Female elephant seal in the jetty bay

: Male elephant seal on the left and female on the right

: Female elephant seal blowing bubbles in the jetty bay

: Elephant seals beside the jetty while I was collecting the seawater sample

: A bazaar of pigeon guillemots

: Least sandpiper

: Gull chicks panting on a hot 23°C afternoon

: Canada geese mowing the grass

: Harbour seals on South Seal Rocks

: A pair of nursing harbour seal mothers and pups on south seal rocks

: Three young gull chicks on a very empty corner of the helicopter pad

: Steller and California sea lions on Middle Rocks

: Black turnstones, surfbirds, and one whimbrel gathering during the evening in the East Bay

: Sea otter in the kelp bed near the South Islands

: Bald eagle landing on South Island after flying over Great Race Rocks and freaking out the rest of the bird population

: Four black oystercatchers on South Seal Rocks

Facility work:

Reacquaint myself with the standard operating procedures and various systems on the island
Check boat electronics, safety equipment, and winch
Clean solar panels
Sample seawater

Vessels:

Ecotourism: 23
Private: 5

Weather:

Sea: Rippled
Sky: Clear in morning, then partly cloudy
Wind: Variable light winds overnight until sunrise ~06:00, when wind switched to easterlies varying from 3-14 knots throughout the rest of the day
Daytime air temperature: low 13 C, high 24 C
Seawater temperature at max flood: 10.6 C

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

Another Windy Day

Posted on Monday,May 6, 2024 by Kendra Luckow

Today was another blustery day and the weather couldn’t seem to make up its mind. The wind remained around 30knots throughout the day but the rest was a mix of blue sky and sun to dark clouds and pouring rain, and everything in between.

The sea lions don’t seem to mind the wind and looked as cozy as ever on their rocks. The gulls hunkered down with their heads tucked under their wings, the rest of the birds seemed to continue as normal. That includes the one goose that hangs out near the crane and stalks me whenever I walk in that general vicinity despite not having a visible nest (or mate) nearby. I also watched the same goose chase an elephant seal this morning but she seemed rather unbothered by it. I am still learning about birds and their behaviours but this particular goose seems to be holding a grudge!!

I didn’t expect to see Ollie today. With the wind and current being as strong as it is, I assumed he’d be tucked somewhere sheltered or asleep in a bed of mussels. Nope! I spotted him in the most exposed area possible, snoozing in a kelp bed – dead centre in the middle of the channel. I could barely see him between waves but he was completely unbothered by the weather.

Despite the poor weather I did count 4 ecotourism vessels within the reserve today.

Nothing else to note today!

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

Foggy day for an Animal Census

Posted on Wednesday,May 17, 2023 by Jillian Brown

The first foggy day in a couple weeks today!

With 6 new solar panels installed along with replacements to wiring that had corroded with the salty air this week, it seems the fog is barely affected our power supply which is amazing!

A couple DND blasts at Noon through the fog made even fewer animals around the reserve today.

Birds

Harlequin duck 5
Bald eagle adult 2
Glaucous winged Gulls 527
Cormorants 31
Pigeon Guillemots 176
Oyster catcher 10
- Oyster catcher eggs 7 (3 in two nests and 1 in a third)
Savannah Sparrow 1
Canada Goose 14
Barn Swallow 1
Crow 3

Mammals

Steller sea lion 10
Harbour seal 63
California sea lion 17
Elephant seal sub adult male 2
Elephant seal adult female 2
Elephant seal pups 3

: Three elephant seals snuggled up

: Glaucous winged gulls on the tank shed

: Canada goose washing at sunrise

: Oyster catcher at sunrise in the fog

: Harbour Seals in the fog

: Glaucous winged gulls

: California sea lions on the rocks by the jetty.

: A couple playing elephant seals

: Yawning elephant seal

: Glaucous winged gull

: Small vessel going by in the fog

: Pigeon Guillemots

: A pair of Oyster Catchers by their nest on the Northern point.

: Stellar sea lions out on middle rock before the DND blasting.

: 2 of the 3 crows that landed on the helicopter pad.

: 2 female and a male California sea lion.

: Canada Goose.

: Playing California sea lions

: Swimming steller sea lion

: The two largest of the steller sea lions having a territory dispute.

: Oyster catcher

: Spill response vessel going by to the north in the fog.

: young Elephant seal

: sub adult elephant seal

: Sunrise through the fog.

: Elephant Seals playing

: Female california sea lion

: Elephant seals playing

: sleepy oyster catcher

: Elephant seals in the front yard

: Oyster Catcher eggs.

: Fog rainbow and gulls.

: Harbor seal and a canada goose

: Female

Visitors:

Race Rocks Challenge participants
3 contractors installing and maintaining solar panels
44 Marine Science students visited to write their exam
4 Pearson College Second year students came for a visit before the school year ends.

Facility Work:

Fixed Compost
Taped off Oyster Catcher nests and made map
Cleaned house
Filled water in batteries
Emptied and cleaned composting toilet
Cleaned windows and solar panels
Mopped basement
Organized and cleaned tool drawers
Fixed and rebuilt sections of Electric fence
Cleaned lighthouse

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

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Animal Census with a couple quick Terns

Posted on Wednesday,May 10, 2023 by Jillian Brown

Birds

Harlequin duck 5
Bald eagle adult 2
Bald eagle juvenile 1
Ruddy Turnstone 1
Glaucous winged Gulls 685
Cormorants 72
Pigeon Guillemots 327
Oyster catcher 10
Savannah Sparrow 6
Canada Goose 14
Raven 2
Caspian Tern 2
Barn Swallow 2

Mammals

Steller sea lion 16
Harbour seal 79
California sea lion 32
Elephant seal sub adult male 2
Elephant seal adult female 3
Elephant seal pups 3

: 2 Caspian Terns

: Sub – adult elephant seals

: Sub- adult elephant seals

: young elephant seal in the water next to jeetty.

: Mix of california sea lions and steller sea lions in the morning light.

: Juvenile bald ealge

: oyster catcher

: savannah sparrow

: barn swallow

: barn swallow

: Canada Goose

: California sea lion

: Glaucous winged gull in front of the moon

: one of the many large flocks of Pigeon guillemots

: more pigeon guillemots

: Ruddy turnstone

: Harbor seals in the bull kelp

: Another of the large flocks of pigeon guillemots

: pigeon guillemots

: 2 adult bald eagles on the south rocks

: female harlequin duck

: male harlequin duck

: Glaucous winged gulls

: young elephant seal conversing

Visitors:

Mollie – future Ecoguardian

Facility Work:

Chopped and stacked remaining fire wood
Deep Cleaning of Kitchen and sorting through house hold items
3 coats Stained Kitchen table
Sharpened Axe
Mounted 2 large Elephant Seal winter coat sheds for future visitors and students to touch and see.
Set up Hose system from Science house up to solar panels so we no longer have to haul a 5 gallon bucket up a ladder
Cleaned solar panels
Addled Canada Goose Eggs and mapped out nests
Cleaned windows

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

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Peregrine Falcon During Animal Census

Posted on Thursday,May 4, 2023 by Jillian Brown

It was a very quick moment but a peregrine falcon flew by, low along the rocks of the east shore and swooped across the north by the crane and jetty. I lost sight of it quick and was unable to snap a photo, but I was a beautiful moment to witness.

Adult Bald Eagles were catching fish today and fighting over them in the sky.