Tag Archives: Canada goose

Another Windy Day

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 15-35 knots West
  • Water: 2′ chop
  • Sky: Partly cloudy

Ecological

  • 13 elephant seals on Great Race today.
  • In the morning there was a lone California Sea Lion on Great Race fairly far from shore.

Maintenance

  • More goose work.
  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • My coat now needs to be cleaned for the same reasons as the solar panels.

Boats

  • One pleasure craft passed through Middle Channel today.
  • Spied an attractive blue and white fishing boat to the north of the reserve.

Pleasure craft near jetty

Cute fishing boat

Other

  • 6 loud DND blasts today.
  • 10:40, 10:42, 11:50, 11:52, 13:57, 13:59

Windy Day, Frisky Elephant Seals

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 15-35 knots West
  • Water: 2′ chop
  • Sky: Overcast with showers, cleared up in the late evening

Ecological

  • The broken Canada Goose eggs from last night were still on the grass.
  • 13 elephant seals on Great Race.
  • 5 on Middle Rock.
  • The elephant seals just outside the house were in a frenzy all morning.
  • Some of them play fought for hours, whilst others tried to mate.
  • Inevitably they all ended up in a big pile of flailing bodies.
  • Saw an injured California sea lion on the derrick rocks.
  • It appears as though it had part of a flipper torn off.
  • Boat motor or predator?
  • There was a tiny harbour seal on the east part of Great Race.
  • It was farther from water then I had ever seen one.

Maintenance

  • Ran the desalinator.
  • Again unfavourable conditions to run the fire pump.

Boats

  • No boats in the reserve.
  • A couple sail boats farther out.

Grey Day at Race Rocks

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 15-20 knots W, later 0-5 NE, then 20-25 NW
  • Water: 1′ chop
  • Sky: mostly cloudy, rain in the evening.

Ecological

  • 12 elephant seals on Great Race today.
  • 3 elephant seals on Middle Rock.
  • 8 sea lions on the rocks near the Derrick.
  • One of them appears to have some sort of plastic box/device attached to its back. I didn’t have the camera with me when I saw it, and when I left to grab the camera it fled into the water.
  • Several more bald eagles in the reserve than in previous days.
  • Discovered that one of the goose nests had been abandoned sometime between 20:20 and 22:00. Saw 6 shattered eggs laying strewn about the grass with no sign of the geese.

Comfy? Seagulls mating

Maintenance

  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • Cleaned the camera lens. Not perfect, but better.
  • Ventured down to the jetty to run the fire pump, but there were too many elephant seals playing in the water or on the ramp.

Boats

  • Didn’t see any in the reserve today, which is odd for a weekend, but I guess the weather was a factor.
  • A few sailboats were out and about taking advantage of the wind.

Gale-ish Weather for Earth Day

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 15-35 knots W, then NW
  • Water: 2′ chop
  • Sky: cloudy, a few drops of rain

Ecological

  • Yesterday’s lone sea lion on the rocks near the derrick was joined by 6 others today.
  • Later a sea lion briefly ended up on the end of the jetty.
  • Lots of Canada Goose infighting as newcomers jostle for territory with existing nesters.

Maintenance

  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • More goose work.
  • Got the manufacture date from the Yamaha outboard for Kyle.
  • Vacuumed up fruit flies in the basement.
  • Wanted to run the fire pump today to add some water to the cistern, but the combination of nearby sea lions, elephant seals, and high winds made this unwise.

Boats

  • A couple of fishing boats outside the reserve.
  • One eco-tour passed by the south rocks in the late afternoon.
  • It appeared to be too close to the sea lions.

Other

  • A couple of DND blasts at 10:06 & 10:08.
  • The buoys were still present at low tide in Middle Channel.

Census and an Unexpected Trip

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 15-20 knots West
  • Water: 1′ chop
  • Sky: partly cloudy

Ecological

  • Conducted a census.
  1. Harbour Seals: 126
  2. California Sea Lions: 27
  3. Northern Sea Lions: 27
  4. Elephant Seals: 17 (12 on Great Race, 5 on Middle Rock)
  5. River Otter: 1
  6. Seagulls: 563
  7. Pigeon Guillemots: 54
  8. Black Turnstones: 51
  9. Canada Geese: 21
  10. Black Oystercatchers: 14
  11. Savannah Sparrows: 6
  12. Bald Eagles: 5 (4 immature, 1 adult)
  13. Rock Sandpipers: 4
  14. Cormorant: 2
  15. Surfbird: 1

Maintenance

  • Canada Goose themed work.

Boats

  • One eco-tour came by today.
  • Had a phone call from Kyle this morning to let me know that he would be picking me up around 13:00 for a First Nations cultural sensitivity workshop at Pearson College.
  • This was a surprise to me, but nice to get off the island for a few hours.
  • Always good to be reminded and educated on past and present issues.

POW and Middle Rock E-seals

Visitors

  • When Kyle arrived to pick me up he came ashore to take a look at a few things, and then admire the elephant seals.

Other

  • Two loud DND blasts around 12:50.

Kayak Fleet Inspection

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 0-5 knots E; in the afternoon 15 knots W; early evening 28 knots W.
  • Sky: clear
  • Water: calm
  • Today’s high temperature of 17.1 c was a new observed record, beating last year’s mark of 14.7 C.

Another sunrise!

Ecological

  • Still unable to find any black oystercatcher nests. I think it’s probably too early for them to be laying any eggs though.
  • Discovered a new nesting pair of Canada Geese today.
  • 11 elephant seals on Great Race.
  • 5 on Middle Rock.
  • One elephant seal ventured out to the end of the jetty to look around.
  • Later an elephant seal went up to a Canada Goose nest and inspected the area. I think it was the same seal from the jetty.
  • Found a broken up Canada Goose egg not far from a different nest. Wonder who did that?
  • Found some cool bones on the rocks today, including a fin and some teeth.
  • A fleet of about 19 kayaks passed by the South Rocks this morning, and this spooked the sea lions who all ended up in the water.
  • While I suspect there was a stampede, I didn’t actually see it.
  • As the kayaks assembled in the SW portion of the reserve, a large group of sea lions swam towards the kayaks to investigate. Not something I have seen before!

Maintenance

  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • Performed a distilled water volume estimate: 50-55 litres.
  • More goose work.

Boats

  • Two eco-tours came by today.
  • A couple of small fishing boats passed by.
  • One of the fishing boats looked like it was going too fast.
  • A sailboat passed by. One of the occupants gave the buoys a good long look.
  • Speaking of which, the “lost buoys” from yesterday reappeared this morning around the same time. Are they perhaps anchored there, and only appear at low tide?

Other

  • While lying in bed at 22:30 I heard two loud DND blasts.

To Seek A Nest

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots SE, later up to 15 W
  • Sky: clear
  • Water: rippled

Ecological

  • Spent over an hour searching for Black Oystercatcher nests for the new webcam to focus on, yet I found nothing.
  • Found one abandoned Canada Goose nest, confirming yesterday’s suspicions.
  • The elephant seals continued their moulting, play-fighting, and ramp bathing.
  • About 9 on Great Race today, and 6 on Middle Rock.
  • Check out the e-seals in their flight squadron formation!

Elephant Seal flight squadron formation

Maintenance

  • More Canada Goose themed maintenance.
  • It is mutually unfortunate that they choose to nest so close to key areas.

Boats

  • Observed three eco-tours lined up to the north of the reserve. I suspect they had found whales?
  • Later they made their way through the reserve in customary fashion.
  • One dive boat was anchored just south of the South Rocks for a few hours.
  • Spied a funny looking barge with heavy duty vehicles on it. They looked like toys from my distance!
  • The Queen of Cumberland (BC Ferries) was out near Esquimalt, presumably doing some test runs, as she is currently undergoing a refit until April 21.

Other

  • 5 DND blasts today at Bentinck Island.
  • 2 medium blasts around 11:00.
  • 3 smaller ones between 13:30 and 14:00.

Elephant Seal Play-fighting

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots E
  • Sky: clear
  • Water: calm
  • Another spectacular sunrise!

Ecological

  • About 8 elephant seals on Great Race today. Six or so on Middle Rock.
  • A few of the younger e-seals (2 or 3 year old males?) spent much of the day play-fighting. Very entertaining to watch.
  • We seem to be down from 8 nesting pairs of Canada Geese to 7.
  • Observed a Giant Green Anemone (Anthopleura xanthogrammica) in the water. Very beautiful.

Maintenance

  • Spent several hours dealing with various Canada Goose themed activities.
  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • Checked the tidy tank. 11.5″ of fuel remaining, down from 13.5″ on March 30th.

Boats

  • A couple of pleasure craft came by today. One appeared to be anchored quite close to the sea lions on the North-West side of Great Race.
  • Only one eco-tour came by today.

Pleasure Craft Today's only eco-tour

Last Blast on Bloghorn

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Weather and Sea Conditions

North wind, 15 to 20 knots replaced the overnight southeaster and brought cool moist air and overcast skies for the morning today. In the afternoon light winds were variable and turned to light west by early evening. The barometer spent the day crawling out of the hole it was in and by 18:30 was around 1008 hPa. The sky cleared and brightened by evening. A strong wind warning is in effect. The marine forecast for central Juan de Fuca Strait calls for west wind to increase to west 20 to 30 knots early this evening and then drop to west 10 to 15 by early Friday morning. It is expected to be cloudy tomorrow with a 30 percent chance of showers or drizzle and a predicted UV index of 3, or moderate. Sea conditions were calm today once the overnight storm and morning wind chop settled down. As evening starts the wind is moving and the chop is starting again.

Vessel Observations

Three whale-watching operators were observed working in the protected area today and more passed close by through Race Passage heading out to the west and back. One sports fishing vessel was observed transiting the reserve today.

General and Ecological Observations

One Steller Sea Lion 319Y, branded on her left side, was observed hauling out on South Rocks today. She was marked as a young weaner at Rogue Reef in the very southern part of Oregon in 2013, so she is almost 3 years old.

The old male River Otter has taken to napping under the back staircase of the main house in the mornings now and one of the positive things about this new habit, is that it keeps the geese who were interested in nesting there away from the stairs.

This is the end of my shift, my last blast on the blog-horn and it is a little bittersweet to be leaving just as elephant seal show-time starts and spring develops more fully. I leave tomorrow and  want to wish the best to this wonderful Ecological Reserve, which was started by students and faculty at Pearson College. Those folks were brave enough to fight for this place, they had the fortitude and vision to found Race Rocks as a protected area. In BC, Ecological Reserve status is the highest level of protection given, by BC Parks. Fisheries and Oceans Canada protects the water area, as a Rockfish Conservation Area, so jurisdictionally that covers the sea bottom, islets (BC Parks) and the water (Fisheries and Oceans), and makes Race Rocks a de facto marine protected area (no caps).

Of course this is also a special Indigenous place with an intersection of cultures and a complex history of use and ownership by different families, groups and Nations. This is a unique, socio-ecological place to celebrate and protect. From its human history to its natural history, lets make sure that Race Rocks remains a marine protected area and is able to provide ecological education and research opportunities for future generations of British Columbians, as well as Pearson College.

Today was animal census day and the results are posted below.

2016- 14-Apr

River Otter 2

Sea Otter 1

Northern Elephant Seal 11

4Harbour Seal 170

Northern Sea Lion (Steller’s) 72

California Sea Lion 99

Canada Goose 22

Brandt (flying through) 350

Harlequin Duck 8

Surf Scoter 6

Common Merganser 1

Brandt’s Cormorant 2

Double-crested Cormorant 2

Pelagic Cormorant 14

Cormorant (not ID’d to species) 5

Bald Eagle (juvenile) 8

Bald Eagle (adult) 4

Killdeer 0

Black Oystercatcher12

Black Turnstone 54

Surfbird 5

Rock Sandpiper 2

Glaucous-winged Gull 560

Common Murres fly through 9

Rhinoceros Auklets flying 6

Pigeon Guillemot188

Northwestern Crow 2

Savannah Sparrow 2

Barn Swallows4

Chores and Visitors

Today was cleanup day in preparation for departure tomorrow. Other chores were routine and there were no visitors.

All the best goes out to Riley, Eco-guardian for the next six weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evergreen

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Weather and Sea Conditions

Light northwest winds backed and veered bringing waves of silver and leaden clouds. Showers were visible from far away, travelling with the wind and tied across the Strait with rainbows, tops of arcs obscured in cloud. In spite of being overcast and chilly, the high was 11o C, there were brief periods of intense sunshine and the UV index was very close to 4 (moderate). Accumulated solar energy was low, about half of what we have been receiving. Just before dusk there was an intense downpour accompanied by winds over the 30 knots. It was short-lived but may foretell of what the forecaster are calling for by late morning. The barometer remained fairly steady today at ~1015 hPa but is expected to drop with the passage of a low that will bring southeast winds and showers tomorrow. Sea conditions were rough at times out in the Strait today but generally there was just a light chop inshore.

Vessel Observations

No vessels were observed in the protected area today.

Ecological and General Observations

An influx of 14 more Canada Geese kept the established geese busy on their own wild goose chase today. There were many running and aerial chases and clashes. These seem to be new animals with different behaviours than the ones who have been so doggedly determined to nest here for the last six weeks.

Many flocks of 100 to 200 Brant were observed moving through the reserve from west to east and I wonder if these are still flocks that have travelled up the coastal flyway from California and Mexico.

Harlequin Ducks are rafting up in strings of birds and moving around more than they have since I arrived nearly six weeks ago. They are usually so site-fidel that you can almost predict where they will be.

Black Turnstones continue to be the most common shorebirds on Great Race. Seeing them forage everywhere on island is a good reminder that this is essentially an inter-tidal island. Their plumage is looking new and shiny, ready for their big northern migration.

The late spring elephant seal moult is definitely in full swing now and the animals are catching up on sleep and using stored blubber to see them through the moult. Sea Lions continue to haul out on South Rocks every morning. The male Californians are also well established on Great Race in the two haul-outs near the two houses.

Work was routine today and there were no human

visitors.