Tag Archives: Canada goose

Gust, Swell and Rain

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Ecological Happenings

  • Another wild weather day as RR. Gusts throughout the morning and afternoon, with showers and just moments of sunshine. Wind/gust warnings are still in effect until midnight.
  • Humpback whale spotted feeding towards Port Angeles.
  • Fresh propeller cuts spotted on a Sea Lion.
  • Animals continue to shift around the island and surrounding rocks, adjusting to the weather and moving away from the swell.
  • Number of geese on the island increased significantly from 13 to at least 48 today.
  • A necklaced Sea Lion spotted today near the dock.

Marine Vessels

  • Three tour boats
  • Two pleasure vessels

Maintenance

  • Camera 1 & 5 remote controls via RR website are not functioning – this is currently being troubleshooted.
  • High pressure hose requires a new pump. Attempts at rebuilding it have not been successful.
  • Electric fence repair attempts continue…..

Other

  • No visitors today.

 

 

New Eco-guardians.

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Sea lions visit Pearson College Divers Photo by Jasper Rea.

Sea lions visit Pearson College Divers Photo by Jasper Rea.

It was a beautiful day at Race Rocks, with light southeast winds and a mostly clear sky. The barometer fell a little today to ~1013hPA and the forecast for tomorrow is for sunny skies. There is a strong wind warning in effect for overnight with diminishing southeast winds Friday. Rain is forecast for Saturday.

Only four whale-watching vessels were noted in the protected area today and three pleasure craft passed through going slowly. The people on one of those vessels, the Kaos were observed feeding rockfish to sea lions in the Ecological Reserve. It is illegal to feed wildlife and if it happens they will be reported.

Today was animal census day and here are the results.

Animal Census

Steller Sea Lion 321

California Sea Lion 637

Harbour Seal 77

Northern Elephant Seal 9

Sea Otter 0

Humpback Whale (1 observed within one mile of ER southeast of

Great Race)

Canada Goose 23

Harlequin Duck 5

Surf Scoters 11 (flying through to east)

Common Murre 5

Rhinoceros Auklet 4

Double-crested Cormorant 73

Brandt’s Cormorants 25

Pelagic Cormorant 9

Unidentified Cormorants 20

Bald Eagle 1 adult

Black Oystercatcher 11

Black Turnstone 7

Kildeer 2

Glaucous-winged Gull 248

California Gull 3

Thayer’s Gulls 707

Herring Gull 0

Ring-billed Gull 1

Western Gull 2

Heerman’s Gull 14

Mew Gull 0

Unidentified gulls 53

Total gull count 1028

Common Raven 2

Red-winged Blackbird 7 (during count week)

Savannah Sparrow 12

Song Sparrow 2

American Goldfinch 1

American Pipet 1

Don and Nina, the new eco-guardians in-training arrived today. They worked hard all day, after getting up very early to catch the morning slack and are progressing really well in learning some of the idiosyncrasies of Race Rocks operations.

Steaming Up the Strait?

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After an overcast and partially foggy start to the day, the sky cleared in the early afternoon. Winds were less than 10 knots all day from the west-southwest turning to east in the evening. The barometer rose slowly all day and reached ~ 2022h PA. The forecast is for light winds becoming easterly 10 to 15 knots early Wednesday morning. It is expected to clear in the morning and be nice on Thursday.

Only four whale watching vessels were observed in the protected area today. They all treated the protected area with respect and drove slowly and carefully. Several pleasure craft went through, one at high speed, right through the area where there were 50 to 100 sea lions in the water. The other sports fishers were much more careful.

A couple of miles to the south of Great Race, a Canadian sub was observed heading out to sea and then a few minutes later, literally steaming back to shore.

I had the opportunity to work with one of Catrin Brown’s first year biology students today. They have just finished studying ecology, so came well armed with vocabulary and concepts and were keen to soak up knowledge gained firsthand on this little biological hot-spot.

We saw evidence of food chains and food webs everywhere from Canada Geese grazing on the grass, to evidence of predation on gulls and predation by gulls. We observed the thick climax kelp forest that rings the islands and reefs and saw evidence of intertidal grazers like chitons and phytoplankton feeders like clams and mussels. We didn’t spot the sea otter that is usually here but had plenty of other marine mammals and evidence of their dining and moulting habits in the form of fish bones, fish otoliths and hair, fur and pelage (from the spring moult of the Northern Elephant Seals).

We talked about the trophic level of different types of Killer Whales and the need for protection of critical habitat for recovering species at risk. The southern Resident Killer whales are of course highly endangered and are really dependent on strong Chinook Salmon runs while Biggs Killer Whales feed one trophic level up and eat marine mammals like seals and sea lions that in turn eat salmon.

We talked about the timing of births, mating, nursing and parental care in different species and about different symbioses including parasitism ( nice worms present in seal poop) and mutualism. We talked about phenology and seasons being dominated by different types of fish and about migrations.

We even touched on the great detritivore and decomposition loops. The carbon sink that is mediated by the microbial pump that transfers carbon to deep sediments. It was an ecologist’s kind of an afternoon, a living show and tell, a time for discovery and questioning which will hopefully on reflection, lead to some deep learning.

Chores were routine and it is great to have company.

Twofold Foggy: Friday – Saturday

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Friday started with fog again and light southeast winds, from 5 to 10 knots. By late morning there were glimmers of clearing and by mid-day the sun was shining. The wind stayed calm and it stayed fairly clear, with clouds rolling by as the wind turned to west, in the late afternoon. By evening it was still and the sky mostly clear but that must have changed as the was fresh rainwater in the morning. The barometer bottomed out Friday morning at 1007 hPA before rising briefly. It started to drop again mid-day falling until mid-Saturday. The gale warning for Saturday, came true after another very foggy morning and light easterly winds. The turn to westerly was rapid, the fog was blown off and ominous clouds with a black line on the water to the west, foretold of what was to come. It blew up fast, reaching 40 knots and then settled back down to the up and down of 20 – 35 knots. There is gale warning is still in effect and the wind is forecast to lighten overnight, then become easterly 5 to 15 near noon Sunday. (I am collecting rainwater for laundry, bonus.)

Only two whale watching vessels were observed in the protected area Friday. Two sports fishing vessels also passed through. Saturday was a little busier with five whale watching vessels noted in reserve but there were no pleasure craft, they were probably seeking shelter. It is quite possible that I missed traffic both days due to thick fog reducing visibility.

Thursday was too foggy to do the animal census so it is cobbled together from the brief time slots when visibility permitted on Friday. It is interesting to note that the gull population plummeted after the arrival of the first Bald Eagle to be seen here, since I arrived at the end of August. Not sure if that is coincidental or not.

I only noticed the eagle because of the hundreds and hundreds of gulls moving en masse, from North Rock over to Great Race. When I peeked through the spotting scope, all the cormorants were in the water, the gulls were gone and there sat an adult Bald Eagle. Only the Harbour Seals seemed to ignore its presence.

There was no sign of the eagle today and the gull numbers are perhaps even lower. Glaucous-winged juveniles and adults continue to mill around summer territories. Some young ones are still practising picking things up, flying up and dropping them. Most of the adults are fully into their alternate plumage now. Their faces recovering from the physical aspects of feeding young.

The sea lions are spending more time in the water now that their favourite haul-out spots are worse than pig pens. Some of them have turned to rock climbing and I saw the first scouts up on the heli-pad today.

Animal Census

Steller Sea Lion 317

California Sea Lion 428

Harbour Seal             156

Northern Elephant Seal 6

Sea Otter 1

Southern Resident Killer Whale ( observed within one mile of ER during count week, (Race Passage, east, west and south of RR)

Biggs Killer Whale (Transients) ( during count week Race Passage & southwest)

Humpback Whale 2 (1 observed within ER west side during count week)

Minke Whale 1 ( observed within one mile of ER during count week just east of North Rock)

Canada Goose 4

Harlequin Duck 7

Surf Scoters 73 (flying through to east)

Double-crested Cormorant 35

Brandt’s Cormorants 29

Pelagic Cormorant 9

Bald Eagle 1 adult

Black Oystercatcher 23

Black Turnstone 6

Kildeer 2

Glaucous-winged Gull 258

California Gull 41

Thayer’s Gulls 874

Herring Gull 0

Ring-billed Gull 0

Western Gull 2

Heerman’s Gull 20

Mew Gull 18

Unidentified gulls 361

Total gull count 1574

Common Raven 2

Savannah Sparrow 19

Fox Sparrow 1

Junco 1

Golden-crown Kinglet 1

American Pipet 1

 

Starting the countdown on my last week on the rock for this shift. I may be back for a bit at the end of October, if extra training is needed for the new folks.

Hotel California

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It was a glorious October day with sunshine and light southeast winds. The barometer slid down to almost 1015 hPA but the forecast looks good with more light winds and sunshine.

Only two whale watching tour boats were observed visiting the Ecological Reserve today. Several ‘pleasure’ craft came through and only one speeder was observed, two young men in a rental boat.

There are more and more California Sea Lions and they are damaging the burial cairns and the area above the boat shed where the rare plants used to live. Where ever they haul-out for more than a few days becomes quickly burnt looking and devoid of vegetation. Today they knocked down a big boulder from above the boat house onto the walkway. The Canada Geese have returned as well and are stubborn about staying so it feels like an invasion. The Stellers Sea Lion numbers are staying steady and individually they seem much wiser and wilder than the California party lions. The Northern Elephant Seals sleep amongst the Californians and are much less reactive than either of the two sea lion species.

Chores were all about fighting entropy today. The sunshine was a bonus for power generation and making fresh water. There were no visitors.

Gathering of the Gulls

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Today started fairly clear, then clouded over. In the afternoon it was sunny for a few hours and eventually the sky darkened and at dusk the rain started. The barometer rose to almost 1019 hPA mid-day and then fell. The forecast is for clearing and light east winds with sunshine on the horizon.

Twelve commercial whale-watching vessels were observed working in the Ecological Reserve. They were in the area watching a Humpback feeding very close to the western reserve boundary, transient orcas to the southwest and southern resident killer whales to the northeast.

Today was census day due to thick fog yesterday.

Animal Census

Steller Sea Lion 338

California Sea Lion 908

Harbour Seal             178

Northern Elephant Seal 5

Sea Otter 1

Southern Resident Killer Whale (26 observed within one mile of ER during count week, (Race Passage, east, west and south of RR)

Biggs Killer Whale (Transients) (9 during count week Race Passage & southwest)

Humpback Whale (3 observed within one mile of ER during count week)

Minke Whale (1 observed within one mile of ER during count week just east of North Rock)

Canada Goose 20 attempting to be full time

Harlequin Duck 5

Surf Scoters 30 (flying through to east)

Double-crested Cormorant 12

Brandt’s Cormorants 27

Pelagic Cormorant 5

Black Oystercatcher 5

Black Turnstone 7

Surfbirds 13

Kildeer 2

Total gull count 2469

Estimated numbers

Glaucous-winged Gull 350

California Gull 50

Thayer’s Gulls 1500

Herring Gull 1

Ring-billed Gull 1

Western Gull 1

Heerman’s Gull 15

Mew Gull 20

~531 unidentified gulls

Common Raven 2

Savannah Sparrow 10

Fox Sparrow 2

Song Sparrow 2

Junco 3

Pacific Wren 1

 

Other chores were routine. There were no visitors.

 

In the Fog.

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The sky was mostly clear in the morning but fog moved in and dominated the rest of the day. The wind switched from east northeast around to west in advance of the fog and then blew fairly steadily west at 20 – 25 knots. The barometer held its own today at and around 1014 hPA. There is a strong wind warning in effect expecting west 20 – 30 this evening and again late afternoon, evening on Friday. There is a chance of showers on Friday and then it is supposed to clear again.

In spite of the thick fog in the afternoon, eight whale watching vessels were observed working in the Ecological Reserve today. Two “pleasure” craft were also observed, and one almost ended up on Middle Rock. The ebb tide was sweeping swept out to sea as they tracked across from North Rocks and they were pushed into the kelp bed just before Middle Rock before they adjusted course and powered out. They were lucky to not have been stalled by kelp in the wheel.

Ecological observations were limited by visibility today. I could hear the whale watchers talking about a Humpback Whale in the vicinity but did not observe it. The animal census will have to wait until there is visibility. The Canada Geese are arriving after dark now and taking up other stealth tactics to stay on Great Race.

Fog remained thick at the end of the day. Chores were largely Sisyphean in nature as keeping the California Sea Lions away from the houses and buildings becomes a more and more Herculean task given the resources. 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.

 

 

After the Autumnal Equinox.

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The day started clear with clouds distant, to the east. A steady north by northeast wind of between 5 and 10 knots seemed to gradually bring the clouds around but Race Rocks remained in the donut hole as it often does, with sun dominating until late afternoon. The barometer is holding steady, if averaged over the last two days at ~ 1014 hPA, but the tendency now, is falling again, at the end of the day. There was no colour for sunset as the clouds built and the forecast calls for showers for the next few days, with easterly winds turning to westerly and fog patches dissipating near noon tomorrow.

It was a quiet day on the whale-watching front with only four visits to Race Rocks Ecological Reserve by commercial operators. There was an equal number of “pleasure” craft but they were not all as well behaved, with one of the Pedder Bay Marina rentals fishing in reserve. The marina is now able to track their rentals using GPS. They are really good about contacting their renters, when called and persuading them to move out of the Rockfish Conservation Area which is closed to sports fishing, for finfish in the Ecological Reserve.

There were repeated explosions across the way. A good ending for explosives I suppose, if you consider the alternatives. It seems to make the sea lions jittery and by that I mean more likely to stampede and go into the water. The Stellers seem more sensitive to disturbance in general.

Ecologically, the sea lion moult continues, elephant seals are trying to get up onto Great Race but there are a lot of sea lions in the way. Northern Elephant Seal # 5850 was back again this morning but didn’t make it up the ramp due to sea lion congestion. Later I saw him doing the ‘wave’ up the rocks in front of the Science House. Another individual seal joined the sea lion mosh pit east of the Eco-guardian’s House and others still hold their own on the top of Middle Rocks completely surrounded and outnumbered by Stellers Sea Lions but not bothered. The Sea Otter has been absent for a couple of days.

Bull kelp stipes are becoming more and more covered with epiphytes and their blades are loaded with spore patches increasing chances of a good settlement for the next generation. Cross jellies and barnacle moults continue to dominate the large zooplankton visible to the naked eye and the phytoplankton bloom has cleared which probably means either a crash or more likely lots of grazers like copepods and euphausids (aka krill). What ever cleared the phytoplankton certainly improved visibility into the water considerably. It is pretty cool to watch the big Steller’s Sea Lions ghosting through the kelp forest.

Black Oystercatchers are back, congregating on Great Race after an absence. More gulls and cormorants arrive in the area daily. There continues to be large, mixed-species feeding flocks including gulls and divers and multi-species gull feeding flocks associated with sea lion salmon kills. Salmon and halibut continue to swim past and around Race Rocks as evidence by the predators in the area, including human fishers talking about their catches on the radio. The Canada Geese are attempting a come back and it is difficult to keep them off as they just sit on the water waiting for the coast to clear. Every night the Killdeer return to Great Race as night falls.

Sea Lion brand and entanglement photography continues as do the daily chores to keep this place running sustainably. There were no visitors today.

 

 

 

Killer Whales Late for Class

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It was a clear day from glorious sunrise to subdued sunset. The wind was 5 to 15 knots in the west – southwest quadrant and solar radiation was high, though not quite as high as yesterday; 400 Langleys today and just over that on Monday. As I write the  Log blog, clouds are creeping in and blanketing the mountains on the American side and the barometer is falling again. Forecasts call for a switch to southeast winds, which usually brings wet weather. Wednesday is supposed to be increasingly cloudy and rain is supposed to follow.

Only eight commercial whale watching vessels were noted in the Ecological Reserve boundaries today and five of those were in the afternoon associated with Biggs (Transient) Killer Whales on the other side of Race Passage. The Killer Whales were on the Vancouver Island side of the passage and spent several hours in and around Bentick Island and Emdyck Passage and William Head. Several pleasure craft passed through the reserve today, all without speeding or fishing in reserve. There was one overflight during the first class field trip: a small fixed-wing aircraft that passed over west to east and then returned passing over a second time. Although one red flag was up all day at the military site there were no obvious explosions.

Pearson College students spent part of the day here today. Two of Laura Vehegge’s classes of marine science students came for their first field trip of the year to Great Race Island. I was hoping they would have a chance to see the Sea Otter, at least one pod of Killer Whales and maybe a couple of Humpback Whales, but no. After all they have just started a species list that they will be adding to for the next two years, so they will have other opportunities.

Today the students were also working on journal entries about their marine animal observations. They were lucky enough to see California and Stellers Sea Lions, Northern Elephant and Harbour Seals and lots of Glaucous-winged Gulls. There were also Mew Gulls, California Gulls and if they were sharp-eyed, Heerman’s Gulls. Those were the ubiquitous species, but for me, the more interesting and unusual species were two new, avian visitors that showed up today; a male and female Horned Lark. I send a shout out to Victoria Natural History Society on Twitter for helping with the identification. A flock of 24 Canada Geese landed and were on the island for a very short visit.

Laura’s classes witnessed the down-side of plastic in the ocean today. Is there an up-side? They had the ‘opportunity’ to observe three neck-laced sea lions. Those two California Sea Lions and one Steller Sea Lion with plastic straps around their necks will likely not survive long unless they get the specialized attention of Vancouver Aquarium veterinarian, Dr. Martin Haulena. Dr. Haulena has worked extensively with sea lions and is one of the few people able to do this sort of animal welfare work. This is another good reminder for all of us to avoid plastic if possible, recycle it and just in case it “gets away” cut all possible entanglers before disposing of it. There are a lot of really good efforts towards reducing plastic in our seas and there is a real need.

The Killer Whales mentioned above showed up late in the afternoon and missed both classes.

It was good to see Courtney with Year 20 volunteer Jasper, as a deck-hand on Second Nature. He had quickly graduated to skipper in training by the third run to Race Rocks.