Tag Archives: census

Less Sea Lions

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Weather: 

  • Sky: Overcast
  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 5-15 knots NE
  • Water: flat

Boats/Visitors: 

  • Not as many boats out lately
  • some visitors to work on projects around the island having to do with energy, infrastructure, desalination

Ecological

  • Over a period of a few days the sea lions left in big numbers
  • Census
    • Sea Lions – 370 (200 Steller and 170 California)
    • Harbour Seals – 24
    • Gulls – 360
    • Cormorants – 150
    • Fox Sparrows – 10ish, harder to count these guys
    • Canada Geese – 22
    • Black Turnstones – 30
    • Eagles – 6
    • Haven’t seen any humpbacks in a little while, I would expect most of them to be well on their way south by now
    • At least 2 male elephant seals around as well
    • some of the stellers look pretty young

Bird List and Census by D.Donnecke

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Daniel Donnecke has contributed his images and counts from a visit to race Rocks on October 30 to ebird.org

https://ebird.org/checklist/S61055064

 

Census update

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Weather: 

  • Sky: partly cloudy
  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 0-10 knots NE
  • Water: flat

Boats/Visitors: 

    • still a few tour boats cruising around along with some fishing and sailing boats
    • had visitors recently, the marine mammal rescue team came and I will post more on that later

Ecological

  • So many sea lions, here is an updated census
  • Census
    • Sea Lions – 1085 (365 Steller and 720 California)
    • Harbour Seals – 37
    • Gulls – 400
    • Cormorants – 210
    • Fox Sparrows – 10ish, harder to count these guys
    • Canada Geese – 22
    • Black Turnstones – 30
    • Eagles – 6
    • Raven – 1
    • possibly 1 sea otter, bit hard to see from this distance
    • still seeing a humpback here and there but less frequent than last week

census

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visibility greater then 15 kms.

sky clear

wind 6 knots from the northeast

sea calm

 

Sea Lions 1072 (including the islets)

Gulls 1660

Cormorants 180

Canada Geese 21

Seals 36

Eagles 2

black turnstones difficult to count because they are so camouflaged (see picture below) but more then 50

Many humpback whales

?dolphin

4 distinct groups of whales this morning. Because they were so entertaining I watched them both from the lighthouse and the back porch for several hours. I also saw what I believe was a dolphin, it just broke the surface and it’s spout was much smaller then the whales. It’s spout was straight. I saw it blow several times about 5 minutes apart but I didn’t see it’s body.  it was only about 100 mtres from the lighthouse nowhere near the whales.

harlequin ducks were seen yesterday 2 males and one female

Sandpipers

one group of about 200 sandpipers flying south today

I saw 5 groups on October 25 during gale force winds but none were as large as this group.Those were  between 10 and 100 individuals.

 

 

 

 

 

CAS Week

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Weather: 

  • Sky: Weather is all over the place, blowing and raining one minute, sunny the next
  • Visibility: 10-15+ miles
  • Wind: 5-20 knots NE
  • Water: some chop coming and going

Boats/Visitors: 

    • despite it being wet and cold there were still a few tour boats cruising around
    • Guy dropped off Laura and her marine scientists for CAS week so they will be staying in the student house

Ecological

  • So many sea lions, here is an updated census
  • Census
    • Sea Lions – 827 (247 Steller and 580 California)
    • Harbour Seals – 22
    • Gulls – 385
    • Cormorants – 140
    • Fox Sparrows – 10ish, harder to count these guys
    • Canada Geese – 22
    • Black Turnstones – 50
    • Eagles – 2
    • Great Blue Heron – 1
    • possibly 1 sea otter, bit hard to see from this distance
  • Also, still spotting 1 or two humpbacks each day

Student Visit

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Weather: 

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Sky: overcast
  • Wind: 15-20 kn NW
  • Water: Little choppy under 1 foot

Visitors/Boats: 

  • The past few days we have seen more pleasure crafts than tour boats and these pleasure crafts get way too close and I can never find them on the radio because it is very hard to know which channel they are on
  • A group students stayed Saturday night to film around the island looking at ecological impacts which around here are mostly due to sea lions trampling all the green and turning it into mud

Ecological

  • The little steller is still around, haven’t noticed any new injuries on any of the sea lions
  • the sea lion that was by the jetty before that seemed lethargic and didn’t really respond to people left for 2 maybe 3 days and is now back in the same spot and it is much more energetic and responsive than before
  • the number of sea lions seems to have gone up from the last census by about 100, will post more numbers below
  • I have been consistently seeing about two humpback whales per day

Maintenance

  • The fence now only needs typically one minor repair per day, the sea lions are getting used to staying away from it
  • I still need to stay on top of clearing them away from certain areas, they seem to not crowd the entrance to the generator room anymore or the burial cairns as much, but they have taken a strong liking to the grass around the lighthouse

Census

  • Sea Lions – 600, most of them are californias
  • Harbour Seals – 30
  • Gulls – 40
  • Canada Geese – 24
  • Fox Sparrow – 3
  • Turnstones – 30
  • Cormorants – 50
  • Sea Otter – 1
  • Humpback Whales – about 2 per day

A Busy Day On The Water

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Weather: 

  • Blue skies, some clouds
  • Visibility 20+ miles
  • Wind 5-10 knots W
  • Water rippled

Boats/Visitors: 

  • Many whale watching vessels today. With the increasing number of sea lions hauling out on great race rock, these eco tourism boats contrast sharply (in relatively close quarters) against the wildlife looking to rest on the rocks.
  • The high traffic in conjunction with the sea lions provides a great opportunity to display the proximity of these vessels from the wildlife. See the videos and photos below:

 

Ecological: 

  • An increasing number of sea lions hauling out on all rocks.
  • Young seagulls can be seen strengthening their wings, flapping and hopping 3 feet in the air. They play games with sticks and other debris, aggressively keeping the objects from their siblings looks to be practice for protecting precious food in the future.
  • Mentioned in a previous post, I was able to get a picture of the sea lion with the identifying gash in its side.

Sea lion with a cut (centre of photo)

Census:

  • 350 – 400 seagulls
  • 24 harbour seals
  • 68 sea lions
  • A handful of oystercatchers and cormorants (roughly 5-10 of each)

Census

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  • Weather: 
  • Sky blue, partly cloudy
  • Visibility 15+ miles
  • Wind 30-40 knots W (wind warning in effect)
  • Water white caps, waves to 1 m

 

  • Census Today:
  • 19 sea lions
  • 106 harbour seals (2 pups)
  • 3 elephant seals (moulting males)
  • 300 adult seagulls, many chicks
  • 8 known adult oyster catchers and  5-10 chicks
  • 5-10 pigeon guillemots
  • 1 ruddy turnstone
  • Throughout the week:
  • 5 western sandpipers
  • 1 short billed dowitcher
  • 2 bald eagles

Another Sticky Situation

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Weather: 

  • Sky: partially overcast
  • Wind: 10-20 knots
  • Water: lightly rippled
  • Visibility: 15+ miles

Boats/Visitors:

  • Yesterday a small boat came through the reserve and had mechanical problems. Its engine would not start, and it drifted onto the rocks a few times. We were able to throw them a rope and secure them at the jetty where they were able to restart their motor. They decided to immediately depart, and once they got into the current their motor died again. After being pushed back into the rocks, a passing fishing boat was able to tow them back to Pedder Bay.
  • We have been seeing the the usual volume of eco-tourism boats, 20-25 per day. They consistently come within 100m of marine mammals.

Ecological:

  • We noticed one seagull attacking another’s chick today, as well as another deceased chick nearby.

Census:

  • 10 sea lions
  • 5 elephant seals
  • 52 harbour seals
  • 300 seagulls, many seagull chicks
  • 8 oyster catchers
  • 2 families of geese, another adult pair

Whales! (and census)

Gallery

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This gallery contains 4 photos.

Weather:  Visibility: Very clear, 15 miles Wind: 15-25 knots Sky: Mostly clear, some clouds Water: Choppy, white caps Boats/Visitors:  Today a contractor visited to fix our internet/ phone cable in the main residence. At the same time Corey, two BC … Continue reading →