2001-12-24′, ’16:00:20′, ‘Yesterday Angus Matthews took Alan MacLeod, Andrew Harcombe, and Ron Satterfield out in the Pearson College boat, 2nd Nature for the annual Sooke Christmas bird count. The trip was postponed from the 22nd because of the 40knt. north winds. Following is a list of the birds seen between the Pearson College dock and Race Rocks- most of the sightings were in the area around Race Rocks. The highlight was the lone Iceland Gull, a very rare bird in this area! The first sighting of this bird for the trio of bird counters! Pacific Loon 14 Common Loon 1 Horned Grebe 1 Double Crested Cormorant 80 Brandt”s Cormorant 60 Pelagic Cormorant 12 Harlequin Duck 2 Surf Scoter 30 Bufflehead 60 Hooded Merganser 5 Bald Eagle 4 adult,2 immature Black Oyster Catcher 16 Black Turnstone 6 Surfbird 6 Rock Sandpiper 9 Mew Gull 15 Herring Gull 8 Thayers Gull 530 Western Gull 1 Glaucous Winged Gull 720 Common Murre 40 Pigeon Guillemot 8 Marbled Murrelet 6 Belted Kingfisher 1 Eurasian Starling 8 Common Flicker 1 You may check out the file on the Christmas Count with pictures at: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/seabirds/xmascount/xmascount2001.htm Thank you Angus,Alan,Ron and Andrew, maybe it wasn”t blowing 40knots from the north but it was still a cold bumpy trip with 20 knots from the north east!’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’16:00:54 ,
Tag Archives: cormorant
Orca Feeding
Thursday, December 20, 2001
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 5.7C — Min. 3.9C — Reset 4.2C — Rain 0.4 mm
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:05 PM
TEMPERATURE: Max. 5.7C — Min. 3.9C — Reset 4.2C — Rain 0.4 mm
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:05 PM
MARINE LIFE: With the relatively calm sea today the hauled out Sea Lions slept the time away.The most action came from a few Northern Sealions on Southeast Rks. that went into the water to investigate the Orcas that came in from the West at 1:20pm.There was one bull,3 that could be females or juveniles and one fairly small one.It was really hard to get a good look as they didn’t stay on the surface very long.The whales made their way along the south shore of Gr. Race then veered out towards the Rosedale light buoy where they spent until 3:40 swimming back and forth with frequent tail slapping,breaching and slapping of flippers. 200+ gulls and 30 or so Cormorants stayed with whales I would guess feeding on any scraps floating about on the surface.Since the Orcas stayed well off shore,were quite ‘noisy’ and did not seem interested in the seals and sealions my guess is that they were residents. The last we saw of them they were headed SW.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 4:58
posted by Carol or Mike S at 4:58
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Overcast — Vis. 15 Miles — Wind North North East 21 Knots — Sea 3′ Moderate — Low North East Swell — Occasional light Rain showers
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:33 AM
WEATHER: Sky Overcast — Vis. 15 Miles — Wind North North East 21 Knots — Sea 3′ Moderate — Low North East Swell — Occasional light Rain showers
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:33 AM
Seabird feeding frenzy
Thursday, November 01, 2001
WEATHER: We had calm seas for most of the day although the wind has increased to over 24knts in the past 1/2 hour.
MARINE LIFE: Fishing was good for the birds and sea lions today! Just after 10a.m. the sky was filled with hundreds and hundreds of sea birds,gulls,cormorants and common murres streaming across the islands southward to a tideline about 1/2 km. away.Looking with the telescope I estimated 3500-4000 sea birds feeding—-by 13:30 most had dispersed. In a space of three hours we saw 5 Steller(northern)sea lions catch salmon (-that looked to be 5-8lbs) in the kelp bed between North Rocks and Gr. Race. The birds,especially gulls rush over to get any bits of fish that break away as the sea lion thrashes the fish back and forth at the surface.The two juvenile elephant seals that were hauled out in the little bay with a group of about 20 harbour seals, swam out into the large kelp bed along the east side of Gr. Race just before 14:00 and had not returned before dark.Have not seen the large bull elephant seal that spends a good portion of the year stretched out atop West Rock.Did a boat tour around all the islands today and counted 97 California and 27 Steller sea lions. Also counted over 800 Cormorants.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 10:03 PM
MARINE LIFE: Fishing was good for the birds and sea lions today! Just after 10a.m. the sky was filled with hundreds and hundreds of sea birds,gulls,cormorants and common murres streaming across the islands southward to a tideline about 1/2 km. away.Looking with the telescope I estimated 3500-4000 sea birds feeding—-by 13:30 most had dispersed. In a space of three hours we saw 5 Steller(northern)sea lions catch salmon (-that looked to be 5-8lbs) in the kelp bed between North Rocks and Gr. Race. The birds,especially gulls rush over to get any bits of fish that break away as the sea lion thrashes the fish back and forth at the surface.The two juvenile elephant seals that were hauled out in the little bay with a group of about 20 harbour seals, swam out into the large kelp bed along the east side of Gr. Race just before 14:00 and had not returned before dark.Have not seen the large bull elephant seal that spends a good portion of the year stretched out atop West Rock.Did a boat tour around all the islands today and counted 97 California and 27 Steller sea lions. Also counted over 800 Cormorants.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 10:03 PM
Herring Balls in Race Passage.
Thursday, September 27, 2001
We enjoyed a fairly typical fall day weather-wise here at Race Rocks today.
Temperatures max 12.0 C — min 9.1 C — reset 11.3 C — Total rain fall for the day 0.4 mm.
Returning from a noon meeting on campus we did a boat tour around all the islets – we counted
280 Northern or Steller sea lions – 295 Californian sea lions and 220 Harbour seals hauled out on the rocks. We also counted approx. 80 Cormorants. Earlier in the day we saw 2 ‘ fish balls’ with several hundred sea birds feeding just east of Great Race.
House shuddering.
11 :00 hrs: winds Southeast 36.6 kn , 6 foot moderate swell. 600 gulls and 250 cormorants on South West shore of Great Race . the house was shuddering and spray going across the island.
tide line feeding
Chris out with Second Nature and seven divers. Students tested second nature emergency motor. Approximately 2500 gulls and cormorants were feeding in the tide lines. 21bald eagles including nine immature, in reserve. The bald eagles were also feeding in tide lines. One elephant seal was hauled out on the South side of great race. Approximately 250 goals are wintering on the East Ridge. These birds stay very close together and are very quiet.
Temperature rise
temperature rise today is reflected in the return of the seagulls and 150 cormorants +60 starlings, 25 black Turnstons, 15 black oyster catchers, 16 crows, 21 bald eagles [10 mature
5 sealions hauled out on North rock. 120 sealions on West race. 22 on great race .
143/32 second nature was out with BCTEL learning Channel promo visit. Angus, Garry, and Chris with them.