Tag Archives: Canada goose

See Otter

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Last night the westerly rose to 40 knots with stronger gusts, after dark. In the morning, it settled to a steady 25 to 30 knots and maintained that early evening when it rose again. The west wind and sunshine dominated the weather here today. The barometer stayed high between 1017 and 1019 hPa until early evening when it started to fall. There is a strong wind warning in effect and westerlies of 20 to 30 knots are expected to diminish to west 5 to 15 late overnight then become light near noon Sunday. The UV index climbed over 4 (moderate) today and should drop with cloud cover and showers predicted for tomorrow.

There were no whale watching or sports fishing vessels observed in the protected area today. The blustery winds and choppy, rough seas were a deterrent and there were whales elsewhere. A tug called Service X, about 35 – 40 feet long, was observed travelling west through Race Passage. It was plunging and taking waves over the wheelhouse as it made headway towards the west coast. One float plane flying fairly low at ~250 to  300′ passed over the island from west to east.

In the Ecological Reserve many of the animals were seeking shelter from the winds. A lone male, Sea Otter came close enough to be photographed and he appears to be in fine form. It may the same individual who was here for the last couple of years. He was seen once in the early morning about a week ago and then yesterday during the census, I spotted him drifting near the few, old Bull Kelp that survived the winter near Turbine Rock.

The eagles continue to chase the gulls and keep them flighty. I didn’t get a good count, but estimated early in the day that there were at least, twice the numbers of gulls counted in yesterday’s census. I will try to get a high count at some point during the week. Two of the juvenile eagles were also observed battling several times today, knocking each other out of the air and tussling on the ground. Chasing off geese is starting to be a losing effort. There are at least two nests now.

Chores were focussed on cleaning and the ever constant battle of the fly today. There were no visitors.

 

 

 

Eagles Use Foghorn Daily

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The morning started with either low cloud or high cloud. The sun shone under the fog on the Victoria side and on the Sooke side it thickened and the ceiling lowered to become more fog-like. Port Angeles was obscured early. The fog lifted from east to west and resulted in a beautiful clear day with a west wind of 20 – 25 knots, constant throughout the day. Barometric pressure held fairly steady as well, at 1016 -1017 hPa. The marine forecast for the central Strait has a strong wind warning in effect, calling for west winds of 20 to 30 knots and there are showers in forecast.

No whale watching vessels were observed today. One ‘sports’ fishing vessel was observed inside the boundary today but no fishing activity was observed in the protected area.

Second Nature visited briefly with Kyle at the helm and a second person that was supposed to be measuring things.

Today was census day and the results are below. It should be noted that the Bald Eagles were hunting gulls all day on Great Race Island. Although no takes were seen, the gull population thinned significantly during the day and the gull numbers today may not reflect a representative sample of the true numbers seen this week.

Animal Census

2016 01-Apr
River Otter 1
Northern Elephant Seal 8
Harbour Seal 176
Northern Sea Lion (Steller’s) 28
California Sea Lion 103
Canada Goose 5
Brandt (flying through) 75
Harlequin Duck 11
Surf Scoter 0
Common Merganser 2
Brandt’s Cormorant 2
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Pelagic Cormorant 3
Cormorant (not ID’d to species) 0
Bald Eagle (juvenile) 4
Bald Eagle (adult) 2
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Killdeer 4
Black Oystercatcher 12
Black Turnstone 70
Surfbird 0
Rock Sandpiper 0
Dunlin 2
Mew Gull 0
Glaucous-winged Gull (+ Xs in nesting area) 210
Glaucous-winged Gull (+ Xs outside of nesting area) 98
Thayers Gulls 0
Calfiornia Gulls 3
Western Gull 1
Common Murres 12
Rhinoceros Auklets 2
Pigeon Guillemot 40
Common Raven 2
Northwestern Crow 2
Fox Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 1

 

 

 

Eco-Guardian Outreach

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Weather Information

It was a beautiful day, calm with lots of sunshine until the fog and fog wind came in from the west in the late afternoon. The westerly rose quickly to 30 knots, gusting to 35 knots as the light faded. There is a gale warning in effect and although it is supposed to come down to 10 – 15 overnight the westerly is expected to rise again late Friday afternoon. The forecast calls for sunny skies with some fog patches. Today the UV Index was just over 4 (moderate) and tomorrow it is expected go higher, to 5 (moderate). Today the barometric pressure went up, from 1016 to 1018 HPa, then back down to 1016 HPa.

Vessel Observations

I picked up Riley this morning in the whaler and then spent most of the day ashore returning in the late afternoon with Alex just before the fog and wind. I was not here most of the day to observe vessels. Second Nature made a visit and delivered 4 barrels of fuel in the morning. On return in the late afternoon, there was one ‘sportsfishing’ vessel trolling in the area closed to fishing. It was enveloped in fog soon after our return.

During the time ashore today, I worked with a group of grade 7 students from the Victoria school district. These students are taking a year-long marine studies program and were very lucky to be able to spend most of today’s school day, studying plankton, marine invertebrates, algae, birds, physical oceanography and marine ecology in the lab and on the foreshore at Pearson College. Thanks to Project Wild, Kelly Nordin and Kathryn Cook, Monterey Middle School parents and Laura Verhegge for making this great learning experience happen.

Ecological Observations

There are still Northern Elephant Seals on Middle Rock and it will be interesting to see how many during tomorrow’s animal census. The Steller’s Sea Lions were sound asleep on South Rock as the fog rolled in late afternoon.

The eagles and gulls continued their deadly game of chase. One goose nest was found with three freshly laid eggs, in front of the student house. This nest is the first of the season.

Solar energy was high and contributed significantly to the island’s power needs, today.

 

One50Canada Photo Shoot

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 0-10 knots N
  • Sky: sunny
  • Water: calm

The Sunset

Ecological

  • Seagulls woke me up at 6:00, something that never happened in February.
  • Had an easier time shooing away the Canada Geese today.
  • The river otter was out exploring and rolling around. It delighted the visitors.

A pair of seagulls

Maintenance

  • I helped Chris and Kyle install the new wifi “distributor” at the top of the tower.
  • Later I tidied up the extra cord, searched for outdoor rated Cat5 (unsuccessfully) and measured out the distance required for the future permanent cord. Twenty-five feet if you’re interested!
  • Cleaned the solar panels.

Boats

  • Two eco-tours came by at around 11:00.
  • Second Nature docked on the jetty at 11:00 and departed at 13:00.

Visitors

  • Chris came by in Second Nature with Kyle (a new dock hand) and a group of three from the One50Canada project.
  • Their names are Martin Gregus, Martin Gregus Jr. and Elena Gregusova.
  • The two Martin’s are trying to make the largest documented collection of photos and information about what Canada is like in the years around 2017, her 150th year of independence. The final project will include a massive coffee table book.
  • They were interested in all aspects of the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve.
  • They took photographs of and asked questions about the mammals, birds, lighthouse, other buildings, vintage Coast Guard equipment, First Nations rock formations, etc.
  • If you are interested in learning more about the One50Canada Society, check out their website at: http://www.one50canada.ca/index.html

The One50Canada family

Sunny Day Back on the Rock

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Log Entry by Riley Strother

Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Sky: sunny
  • The mercury hit 11C today (which is over 50F!) so you know it was a warm day.

Ecological

  • Spent 30 minutes in the morning chasing the Canada Geese off the island. I did so by walking around the perimeter of the island, and every time I completed a loop the original pair would have returned, necessitating a further loop to invariably chase away some other returned pair.
  • Eventually I only had to walk about once per hour to scare off any geese that had returned. By the evening there only remained one persistent pair near the Students’ House.
  • As Anne has noted, there are lots of gulls and they take to the sky at the slightest swoop of an eagle.
  • It looked to me as though there were 4 elephant seals hauled out on Middle Rock.
  • Several times today the sea lions seemed agitated by the boats that perhaps got a bit too close. They generally chose to bark rather than stampede though.
  • I saw the river otter in the afternoon, my favourite Race Rocks character. It’s good to be back. Thornton W. Burgess should write a book about him/her.
Agitated Sea Lions

Oft’ agitated Sea Lions

Maintenance

  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • Settled back in to the house for my short stay.

Boats

  • As befits a beautiful statutory holiday, there were many boats about today.
  • Anne dropped me off in the Whaler in the morning.
  • Five eco-tours came through the reserve to look at the sea lions.
  • The Prince of Whales came by two times. The first time they appeared to be speeding through the SW part of the reserve to join up with the catamaran.
  • The large Eagle Wings catamaran came by twice.
  • An unidentified black eco-tour came by in the late afternoon.
  • One pleasure craft with a family on board passed through the South Channel, which is definitely too close to the sea lions.
  • Two fishing boats came by. The first one seemed too close to the sea lions. The second one appeared to be going too fast.
  • The Pacific Scout pilot vessel passed to the north of the reserve.
  • The Sir Wilfred Laurier patrol vessel passed to the south of the reserve.

Other

  • Got a phone call from a wrong number; someone asking for Mike. That seems rather unusual.

Classic Spring Day

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Weather Observations

Today was quintessentially spring. It was already getting light at 05:30 and although there were a few clouds around during the day, it was sunny all day. The UV Index reached almost four, which is rated as moderate. Accumulated solar energy for the day in Langleys was the highest day this week at over 450. (One Langley = 11.62 watt hours per meter2.) Winds were 5 – 20 knots from the west until evening, when they switched to light easterly breezes. There was a significant ocean swell late in the day. The barometer was steady most of the day at ~ 1020 hPA. The marine forecast is calling for light winds becoming easterly 10 to 15 knots early Saturday morning.

Vessel Observations

There were seven visits by whale-watching vessels into the Ecological Reserve. Except for getting too close to the rocks and wildlife, most operators followed the regulations and were careful. The same company that is problematic almost daily has a new larger vessel that sped in the Reserve twice today. The company was notified. Not all vessel operators in this company’s fleet behave badly however the reputation of the company will suffer with a hothead at the helm and so will animals involved in collisions. One speedboat broke down between Great Race and South Rock. The engine cover was off and they were drifting (slowly). I asked them if they were okay and they said they were fine. Soon after, the two-stroke sprung to life in a cloud of fumes and they motored off towards Pedder Bay. An Oak Bay Marine Group vessel followed one of the whale watchers in behind South Rock today and then sped out of the Protected Area. Pedder Bay Marina was advised although they are able to track their boats so can tell where the vessel is and how fast it is going.

Today was animal census day and the results follow.

2016 25-Mar
River Otter 1
Northern Elephant Seal 2
Harbour Seal 72
Northern Sea Lion (Steller’s) 78
California Sea Lion 176
Canada Goose 2
Harlequin Duck 12
Surf Scoter 0
Common Merganser 1
Brandt’s Cormorant 42
Double-crested Cormorant 71
Pelagic Cormorant 43
Cormorant (not ID’d to species) 75
Bald Eagle (juvenile) 7
Bald Eagle (adult) 2
Killdeer 4
Black Oystercatcher 12
Black Turnstone 30
Surfbird 6
Rock Sandpiper 1
Dunlin 2
Mew Gull 0
Glaucous-winged Gull (+ Xs in nesting area) 558
Glaucous-winged Gull (+ Xs outside of nesting area) 529
Thayers Gulls 0
Calfiornia Gulls 11
Western Gull 1
Common Murres 0
Pigeon Guillemot 93
Northwestern Crow 2
Fox Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Red-winged Blackbird 1

Maintenance

Chores were routine, plus tank shed reorganization and basement clean-up. Month-end report started.

Sunlight levels excellent for making water, doing laundry and charging batteries.

 

 

Beulah Rolls Over

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Winds were light and variable today under cloudy skies with occasional showers. Tomorrow has a similar forecast, partly cloudy, 40% chance of showers with the strong west wind warning continued. The barometric pressure reached 1020 hPa in the early hours of the morning and then dropped to 1012 by dusk. The wind materialized with rain after dark, gusting over 30 from the west.

Only two whale-watching vessels were seen today and neither was in the reserve. To the northeast of Victoria, J-pod (Resident Killer Whales), a Minke Whale and Transients (Bigg’s Killer Whales) were a draw for the whale watching fleet.  Two sports fishing vessels cruised through slowly.

Nothing to much report ecologically today other than spring is progressing rapidly. The female Northern Elephant Seal (Beulah) made the huge effort of rolling over today. That was it for activity there. Bald Eagles continue to fish and hunt birds in the reserve. The River Otter showed himself again today, near the derrick and within a meter of a small gaggle of geese. The River Otter was busy rubbing his scent gIands all over the grass there and then went into the sea and swam off in the direction of North Rock. From the scat, it looks like a fish diet, lots of scales and medium sized fish bones. I continue efforts to persuade the geese to nest on Vancouver Island. Seals, sea lions and cormorants rest, roost and dry out on the rocks. Glaucous-winged gulls, Black Oystercatchers and Pigeon Guillemots all make preparations for parenthood.

Pearson College divers, under the supervision of Laura Verhegge, visited this afternoon in Second Nature. They did a dive with three groups of divers, during the flood, in the back eddy by the jetty. Some of the students were ‘over the moon’ about their experience and really enjoyed the colours and rich sea life. They wanted to continue exploring even when it was time to go. Others were in ‘a little over their head’ and glad to be back on board. Great leadership and teamwork brought out the best in everyone. A very small sea lion appeared to enjoy having students to investigate and some of the students noticed.

No photos today, sorry, technical problems with camera.

 

Big Beulah Back

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Today’s winds were light, southwest in the morning and west with showers in the  afternoon. Peak force was during the sombre sunset at 22 knots from the west. The UV index was less than 2.5 even during the greatest period of sunshine mid-day. The barometric pressure rose steadily all day and had levelled off at 1017 hPa as dusk settled down.

Four whale watching vessels were observed operating in the Protected Area today. Three out four travelled slowly and respected the regulations; the fourth sped leaving the Reserve by traversing half of its length at top speed. I am curious if it is the same person every day. It is the same company but they have multiple zodiacs that look the same from a distance. I don’t want to think it is an engrained part of the culture in that company to operate in an irresponsible way. It is certainly not sustainable.

A large, female Northern Elephant Seal came ashore. She was dry at dawn and there was no wet trail on the path leading to her napping spot, so I assumed she came ashore early last night. She is the first back since Chunk, (the pup killer) left a few weeks ago. She seems to be in fine form with no wounds, only old scars. Her girth is magnificent and she has an organically hydrodynamic shape. What an amazing creature of the deep.

The gulls on the island are taking advantage of big boils of forage fish coming up with the turbulent currents. This morning as I was cleaning the solar panels on the energy building roof, most of the  500+ gulls gave the call for food, vacated the island and high-tailed it directly to a mixed species, feeding flock frenzy. This evening, fish bone remains can be seen around the island in fresh bolus balls left by the gulls.

The Bald Eagles continue to fish during the day and make the gulls nervous at dawn and dusk. I wish they had that effect on Canada Geese.

The River Otter showed itself today, waddling up past the derrick and heading in under the old platform which is where I am sure they have a den.

Sunlight levels were higher than they have been for the last few days. Insolation peaked at over 650 W/m2, enough sunshine to run the de-salinator for three hours, using only solar power.

Chores were routine and there were no visitors.

 

 

Green with Shades of Blue

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March 17 was a windy day on Race Rocks. The early morning east northeast wind  kept intensifying and it was blowing 25 – 30 knots northeast by noon. It kept up for the rest of the day. The barometric pressure started to drop from a high of 1026 hPa, in the afternoon. The forecast includes a gale warning, with the easterlies continuing under sunny skies for at least tomorrow.

One whale-watching vessel was observed working in the Protected Area today and several others were seen transiting the area. Sports-fishing boats were all outside the reserve.

The Nanoose Yarder, a tug, headed west through Race Passage with the fishing vessel, Arctic Fox II in tow. The Arctic Fox II was damaged by fire in Cowichan Bay last winter and looks like she will need some serious TLC before heading out again to troll for tuna, offshore. DND blasting continued.

The impression that the gull population was rising daily, returning en masse was not wrong. Nest site locations from last year are almost fully occupied. Pairs are standing close, pulling vegetation and starting to jockey for position with neighbours. No actual nest building has been observed yet. Canada Geese have been discouraged.

The idea that more California Sea Lions were showing up was backed up by more brands observed today and of course by the counts themselves.  Today was animal census day and results are posted below.

2016 17-Mar
River Otter 0
Northern Elephant Seal 0
Harbour Seal 131
Northern Sea Lion (Steller’s) 41
California Sea Lion 123
Canada Goose 0
Harlequin Duck 15
Surf Scoter 0
Common Merganser 0
Brandt’s Cormorant 40
Double-crested Cormorant ~100
Pelagic Cormorant 28
Cormorant ~50
Bald Eagle (juvenile) 9
Bald Eagle (adult) 3
Killdeer 2
Black Oystercatcher 26
Black Turnstone 42
Surfbird 2
Rock Sandpiper 0
Dunlin 0
Mew Gull 0
Glaucous-winged Gull (+ Xs in nesting area) 486
Glaucous-winged Gull (+ Xs outside of nesting area) 229
Thayers Gulls 10
Calfiornia Gulls 6
Western Gull 1
Common Murres 1
Pigeon Guillemot 76
Northwestern Crow 2
Fox Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 0

 

Today was a catch-up day inside and chores were routine.

Arctic Fox Nanoose Yarder 2

 

 

 

 

 

A Quiet Day (Except for the Explosions)

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As predicted, winds were light today, starting in the southwest, then switching to west, 5 – 15 knots. Although it was sunny, there was a real nip in the air first thing. The barometric pressure continued its slow rise today, reaching 1025.5 before steadying. Tomorrow’s forecast calls for more sunshine and a low of 2o C, while and winds to switch to east, 20 – 25 knots.

Several whale watching boats visited the Ecological Reserve today, stopping by South Rocks to see the sea lions and eagles. It was a beautiful day to be out on the water. A few sports fishing boats passed close by and fished outside the Protected Area. There were more explosions from across Race Passage today and it was unusual that they continued after dark.

Images of sea lions sleeping on South Rock before and after an explosion can be seen below. Three branded sea lions were photographed today; two California Sea Lions #U68 (brand on posterior) and #8240 (brand on left side) and one Steller’s Sea Lion #42DY.I remember #8240 from last fall but had not noticed him until today during this shift. There appear to be more sea lions daily.Tomorrow is census day. At dawn this morning, Alex noticed a small seal, possibly a Northern Elephant Seal and a Sea Otter on the ramp.

Forage fish were active at the surface again today; guessing that they are herring are on their way back out to offshore habitat after spawning. The fish attract the fishers and by late morning there were three adults and 12 juvenile Bald Eagles in the Protected Area. They favour sitting in large groups on South and West Rocks but they also use Great Race in a more solitary way. The Canada Geese seem to be staying away and the large number of eagles may be deterring them from feeling comfortable on Great Race.

Harlequins continue to astound and inspire with their gorgeous plumage and amazing diving abilities. All three species of cormorant Pelagic, Brandt’s and Double Crested were busy in the Ecological Reserve today. It appears that they like to forage where there are convergences and upwelling. They dry their feathers, roosting in the wind and sun on the west end of Great Race, Turbine and Middle Rocks.

Chores were routine today.