Tag Archives: Canada goose

storm warning in effect!

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Light SE wind in the morning. 3ft East swell.
Midday it switched to 25 kts West.
Late afternoon it was blowing 45 kts West. With a 5ft+ West swell.

Bird Count
26 Canada Geese spent the day sheltering from the storm on Greater Race Rock
670 Adult Gulls + 96 Juvenile Gulls = 766 Gulls total
20 Oyster Catchers
136 Cormorants
I don’t know where the Turnstones and Sparrows hide during bad weather

Screenshot 2013-11-03 09.43.35

How I counted Birds: The nice thing about bad weather is that it forces all the birds to come to Greater Race Rock because of the waves surging over the outer islands. They also tend to sit in organized groups when it’s really windy. So I took photos of all the groups of birds and using a ‘cell counter’ macro in a great free program called ImageJ I counted all the birds and tallied the results.

 

[Daily Marine Conservation Link]
Sea stars up and down both coasts of North America are experience a mass die-off event now called Sea Star Wasting Syndrome. In recent years the populations of sea stars has been extremely high in the Salish Sea, and in September 2013 reports of mortality events started coming in from divers. A collaborative research effort is now underway and the Vancouver Aquarium is hoping that divers start to participate in some Citizen Science.
The Howe Sound Research and Conservation team is tracking this event by mapping observations of healthy and sick sea stars  but they need data! So if you see any sea stars while diving report it to this website

 

 

 

birds

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Morning fog. Moderate East wind. Sunny the rest of the day.
Tour boats: 4

It seems that, as the sea lions are leaving, more gulls and birds are moving onto Greater Race Rock. There have also been a lot of dense groups of gulls and diving birds on the water in and around the reserve.

The juvenile elephant seal with scabby molt (aka ‘Cranky Pants’) has returned to the boat ramp. Her skin has healed up a bit since she was last here a few weeks ago.

Kayakers next to South Rock

Kayakers next to South Rock-This kind of approach regularly scares birds and the seals and sea lions form the rocks.

-took the boston whaler in, traded it for a zodiac
-loaded the boat dolly onto Second Nature with Erik
-ran desalinator
-cleaned and scraped the zodiac
-tidied basement

month end

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Calm this morning, with mixed weather all day. Started out SE, backed to Westerly. Periods of torrential rain. DND blasting: 1200, 1205. Both big, loud single bangs.

Tour boats: 9

22 Canada Geese
Keeping my eye out for Sooty Shearwaters, no sign yet

Mammal Count from tower at 1130
9 elephant seals behind boat shed and on jetty 47 harbour seals (mostly Middle Rocks)
129 Stellar sea lions (mostly along the North shore of the main island)
200 California sea lions (mostly along the South shore in front of the student house)
Seems like this bad weather compelled a lot of the sea lions to leave. Maybe they’re just out in the water waiting for the swell and surge to ease up.

I spotted the Stellar sea lion with the line around his neck again today and got a few pictures.

-entered and sent water sampling data to IOS
-compiled month end report
-photographed branded sea lions
-fixed electric fence after storm damage
-tidied keepers house

end of calm weather

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No recreational fishing effort count this morning due to fog
Fog cleared mid-day, and is now blowing back in with the help of 30 kt winds
High tides in the evening mean that nearly all the reserve sealions are camped outside the main house and near the jetty
There are now 8 Canada geese on the island making a mess of things.

Maintenance:

  • Ran desalinator and fixed leak on high pressure dial
  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Cleared debris and tidied up around buildings
  • Wrote an SOP for water sampling

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Off island yesterday from 1200 to 1700 for Pearson College paperwork and orientation. Returned in time for evening water sampling. 3 marine mammal tour boats were watching sealions on the jetty when I returned. Perfect, glassy water all day.

 

Bertha is Back

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And more beautiful than ever!

Bertha and gang avoiding the strong Westerlies

Bertha and gang avoiding the strong Westerlies

Bertha's Scar

Bertha’s Scar

This morning 5 elephant seals were on the island, probably seeking some degree of shelter from the 35 knot Westerly wind that has been blowing all day. 4 are juveniles, but in the middle of the pile lies Bertha looking sleek and glossy-brown. She is easily identified by the large scar on her chest and her clouded left eye. Last year she arrived on Great Race on April 15th. I think she has been in the reserve for a little while now but I had not been able to identify her while she rested on Middle Rocks.

 

 

 

Biding their time...

Biding their time…

 

We appear to have about 300 Glaucous-winged Gulls on the island this spring. My estimate is that there are about 25% fewer individuals than last spring, when I counted about 200 breeding pairs. Other animals noted in the past few days have been several Dunlins, a small flock of Barn Swallows, a Whimbrel and what resembled a Solitary Sandpiper. I also saw for the first time a Mink (Mustela Vison) on Great Race; quite a swim for the little athlete!

Erik and I did an oil and filter change on the generator. Hopefully it will be the last one and we will soon be able to afford to install a wind generator to provide the last 20% of energy we require. We run the generator about 2.5 hours a day this time of year.

We had 3 groups of student this month, 2 roofers, 3 techs from Environment Canada, and several college staff. Tour boats and fisherfolk are being seen more regularly in the reserve as the nicer weather begins. We had to ask one group of fishers to pull their lines and leave the Reserve. Infractions are almost always due to ignorance and I am lobbying the government to post a few signs which, unattractive as they may be, could go a long way towards ameliorating those infractions.

Birdyfull Sunset

Birdyfull Sunset

Bertha is back!

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Bertha is back after giving birth to Squall in January

Two nights ago on my way out to the jetty I was met by an elephant seal. I had originally thought it to be male but when it was on its back the following day I saw a scar that determined it was our beloved Bertha, the female who gave birth to Squall this past winter. She left early February after nursing her pup for a few of weeks and has finally made her way back to the reserve. She has gained a lot of weight since her last visit.

Another Elephant seal

Another elephant seal that has been camped near the generator room for the past number of days has remarkably made his way up past the lighthouse and towards the cistern. He has been fairly vocal today and I noticed a splash of blood on his mouth. He now sits closer to the house.

 

Dead Canada Goose

The Canadian geese have taken to grazing near the east side of the main house. This morning I found a dead juvenile which puts the total number of geese in the reserve (including adults) to 18.

 

 

 

Bird Notes

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Bald Eagle on Gosling Carcass

The nesting gulls continue their vigil over their eggs. Oystercatcher couples furtively watch over their scrapes located just above the high-tide line, while Pigeon Guillemots incubate their eggs within the cracks and fissures of the rocks. Ironically the blasted rock, remnant of Coast Guard efforts to create more level terrain has provided habitat for them! Caspian Terns remain in the area but have not been noticed to land on the island. Cormorant are seen in the local waters but none appear to be nesting on the island this year.

Canada Geese

This season 4 pairs of Canada Geese hatched 20 goslings; a concern for us as this species that is not native to the West Coast can be quite destructive to some habitats. So far though they have had little effect on the grass (most of which is also introduced), and to date 10 of the goslings have been predated by eagles and ravens.
The West wind has stopped for a couple of days; a big relief and an opportunity to do some work that requires still air. Climbing ladders and cleaning the tower camera for example. I think we managed to solve the problem of intermittent outages of Camera 5 as well.

Animal Census First Sea Otter at Race Rocks

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Sea Otter in race ROcks Kelp Beds, photo by Adam Bird

Sea Otter in Race Rocks Kelp Beds, photo by Adam Bird on June 10/2012

Things have been fairly quite lately regarding birds and mammals here, though one of the eco-tour boats reported seeing a Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris) in a kelp bed on Monday! The percussive blasts from Rocky Point military testing range scared off most of the Sea Lions last Thursday and only a few have returned in the last couple days. A large pod of orca passed through and near the reserve on Tuesday. Thanks to Suna, Doris and Ishmael for the census.

Elephant Seals: about 10
Steller Sea Lions: 2
California Sea Lions: 2
Harbour Seals: 204
Glaucous-winged Gull: 246
Surfbirds: 18
Pigeon Guillemots: 108
Canada Goose: 13
Bald Eagle: 3
Black Oystercatcher: 12
Northwestern Crow: 1
Raven: 1
Sparrow: 4
Sea Otter: 1
Caspian Terns: 6
Herring Gulls: 20

New year for the Humans, just another day for the seals…

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An enjoyable end to 2011 starting with the gale on Friday. Winds hit 50knots. I have noticed that cormorants are the last birds flying when the wind picks up. Today the islands of the reserve hold about 30 Stellars Sea Lions, 30 Harbour Seals, 2 elephants seals, 100 cormorants, 200 herring gulls, 15 oystercatchers, 20 turnstones, 10 Canada geese, a couple of sandpipers and sparrows, and one Homo sapiens sapiens. How is it that they can find food where they live but I am required to import it from the 4 corners of theglobe?

I am renaming the bull Elephant Seal Mistery rather than Misery as he was previously nicknamed. Misery doesn’t do this magnificent animal justice, plus I like him a lot; he brings me joy!