Tag Archives: cormorant

An Exciting Few Days- Orcas!

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Weather today: 

  • Blue skies with a few small clouds blowing by
  • Visibility 10-15 NM
  • Wind 10-25 knots SW
  • Sea state 0.5 m chop

Visitors: 

  • No visitors today, but over the last few days we have have been joined by Greg and a technician to service equipment and deliver supplies to the island. Environment Canada personnel came to update weather equipment on the lighthouse with new sensors and other hardware!
  • A handful (5-10) eco-tourism vessels have been though the reserve daily as well as the same for pleasure crafts.

Ecological Observations: 

  • Over the last few days it has been very interesting to note the development of the seagulls chicks during our two week absence. The majority of them can now fly, although many appear to spend time in their respective nesting areas. While the young ones spend time on the water and practice bobbing their heads under, they still beg for food from their parent(s).
  • There have been 2-5 explosions daily, except for today, at the Esquimalt Canadian Forces Base. They seem to be varying in intensity – sometimes only a sharp ‘thump’, while other times the whole house shakes! The animals in the reserve certainly notice the latter. We sometimes see the majority of the landed birds and hauled out pinnipeds in the area flee to the water or air on these occasions.
  • On Tuesday we observed a larger pod (5-6) of orca whales move through the reserve and the surrounding waters. We first spotted them to the inside of north rock and over roughly 20-30 minutes they moved around great rock to opposite side. It looked as though they may have been hunting (moving towards shore in a line formation) but we were not able to see their prey.

Weekly Census

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Wind: yesterday 8-33 knots S to W, today 2-24 knots W to NE
Sea State: rippled
Visibility: 10-15 NM
Sky: both days mixture of sun and clouds
Temperature: yesterday 3 to 8 °C, today 2 to 4 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 412.63 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

The snow is melting quickly, bringing puddles and mud.

The one day old elephant seal pup appears to be doing well and nursing a lot. It’s moving around and wiggling more than the other two did in their first couple days. The alpha male has been mating numerous times with the mother of the oldest pup.

In the early afternoon, I wandered around the island and peered out from the top of the tower to count the mammals and birds. There were some notable omissions in this fourth week of conducting the census. I didn’t see any geese today. The only sign of the honking birds was a lot of poop and tracks in the snow. I also did not see any black oystercatchers. It is possible the birds were scared off by the loud explosions. The Armed Forces were blasting yesterday and today at the Department of National Defence land-based demolition range on Bentinck Island, the closest land to Race Rocks. Directly after each blast, I witnessed sea lions stampeding into the water and birds taking flight. According to a 2017 article On the firing line with the navy, in the Victoria newspaper Times Colonist, the detonation range is used for training members of the Canadian Navy on how to use explosives. The navy has apparently made efforts to lessen the effects on marine life.

Results of the weekly megafauna and bird census:
10 elephant seals (4 females, 4 males, 2 pups)
200 steller sea lions
242 california sea lions
107 harbour seals
8 bald eagles (7 adult, 1 juvenile)
56 brandt’s cormorants
124 pelagic cormorants
43 double-crested cormorants
178 Thayer’s gulls
12 harlequin ducks
9 black turnstones
1 snow bunting

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

Pup adoption and census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-15 NE
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Small waves

Boats/Visitors

  • No visitors today, have been hearing the coast guard cruise by at night and do flare training

Maintenance

  • The desal was finally running last night although it was a slow process I got some fresh water out of it

Ecological

  • The male pups mother left the other night, it was nice to see the pups interacting yesterday but today they are more separated because the male pup has started nursing off the mother who lost her pup
  • One of the elephant seals managed to totally knock down the little green shed by the generator room, which is too heavy for me to put back together alone
  • definitely less sea lions now, but there is a lot of cormorants

Census

  • California Sea Lions – 114
  • Steller Sea Lions – 42
  • Harbour Seal – 21
  • Elephant Seal – 3 male, 1 female plus 2 pups, 1 female, 1 male
  • Cormorants – 528
  • Gulls – 130
  • Black Turnstones – 34
  • Eagle – 16
  • Oyster Catchers – 8
  • Harlequin Ducks – 10
  • Geese – 21

Storming

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 35-45 SW
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Waves at least a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • I have been very busy with courses and training which is why there has been a lack of posts lately but I am finally caught up and will be posting regularly, will walk around and count the animals once it is not storming anymore

Maintenance

  • I have been trying to keep up with the desalinating, the desalinator itself is running very slowly so it has to be run regularly, so I hope it lasts a little longer
  • running the generator to full charge has also been difficult because it takes so long and I run it after sunset but I haven’t lost power lately so that’s good

Ecological

  • The first pups mother is not around anymore, she left a few days ago but the second pups mother is still here, I imagine she won’t be around for much longer either, the second pup is getting quite large
  • It’s nice when the moms are gone because the pups will start interacting with each other
  • As for the mom who lost her pup, she is still around and I have no idea how long she plans on being around for, she hasn’t really given any attention to the other pups but she is cuddly with the other mom, oddly the mom who killed her pup
  • still looks like there is quite a few sea lions around and a lot of cormorants

48 eagles

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-15 SW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Calm for the most part

Boats/Visitors

  • A few ecotours going by today, some divers went by yesterday

Maintenance

  • Plan on stacking firewood today, and top up the water tank, I’m hoping to start pressure washing soon

Ecological

  • The third pup, is covered in bite marks and I really don’t know how long it’ll last but at the moment its still alive but one of the other mothers keeps attacking it
  • Chunk is here but hasn’t really come up past the jetty, which is good I think he is scared of Bernard

Census

  • California Sea Lions – 232
  • Steller Sea Lions – 106
  • Harbour Seal – 21
  • Elephant Seal – 2 male, 3 female plus 3 pups, 1 female, 1 male, and the third gender is undetermined
  • Cormorants – 417
  • Gulls – 507
  • Black Turnstones – 44
  • Eagle – 48
  • Oyster Catchers – 28
  • Harlequin Ducks – 8
  • Ravens – 2

Census, eagles, storms and elephants

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Final exams are over so I will be posting more until I am out for winter break December 20th to January 3rd

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: From 0 – 40 SE over the last few days
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: from calm to huge waves during that last storm

Boats/Visitors

  • Not a lot of visitors lately
  • There were a couple of sailboats yesterday and a few ecotours, but not many

Maintenance

  • Running the generator more lately as is there is less sunlight
  • Still haven’t been able to pressure wash but the parts should be in when I get back from break and I can try to make the buildings white again

Ecological

  • Fewer sea lions than last week
  • Chunk is still the alpha but there are 3 other males on the island of varying sizes smaller than Chunk
  • There is currently 1 female elephant seal
  • a few green wing teal ducks took shelter here when it was storming
  • have spotted a neck banded sea lion, but no way to tell if he will still be here by the time I can people out here to help him

Census

  • California Sea Lions – 213
  • Steller Sea Lions – 192
  • Harbour Seal – 35
  • Elephant Seal – 4 male, 1 female
  • Cormorants – 207
  • Gulls – 233
  • Fox Sparrows – 12
  • Canada Geese – 21
  • Black Turnstones – 38
  • Eagle – 8
  • Raven – 1
  • Snow Bunting – 1
  • Oyster Catchers – 12
  • Harlequin Ducks – 10
  • Green Wing Teal – 6

A little busy lately

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 15-25 NE
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Choppy under a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • Not a lot of visitors lately, the ecotours are still going by but not as frequently
  • I did have to leave for a few nights so that is why the posts have been lacking a bit lately, I had to go into town to do my final exams

Maintenance

  • Running the generator more lately as is there is less sunlight

Ecological

  • Fewer sea lions than last week
  • Chunk, as he was identified by the scars on his back, is the current alpha and there is one more male who is much smaller
  • No female elephant seals yet
  • 34 Geese, I have never seen that many here before
  • in one of the photos, you will see a pretty young steller too
  • haven’t seen any neckbanded sea lions lately, too bad we weren’t able to help them before they left

Census

  • California Sea Lions – 273
  • Steller Sea Lions – 291
  • Harbour Seal – 25
  • Elephant Seal – 2 male
  • Cormorants – 140
  • Gulls – 233
  • Fox Sparrows – 12
  • Canada Geese – 34
  • Black Turnstones – 41
  • Eagle – 6
  • Raven – 1
  • Snow Bunting – 1
  • Oyster Catchers – 12
  • Harlequin Ducks – 10

Census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 10-20 NW
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Choppy under a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • Not a lot of visitors lately, the ecotours are still going by but not as frequently

Maintenance

  • Running the generator more lately as is there is less sunlight

Ecological

  • Slightly less sea lions than last week
  • 1 large male elephant seal, I’m hoping its the same one as last year because that one was very protective over the pups, and 1 much smaller male, no females that I can see but there have been a couple small ones coming and going
  • The large male does seem to have a gash in his back and many scars as well
  • haven’t really seen any neck banded sea lions lately, they might have left by now but I’m still keeping an eye out for them

Census

  • California Sea Lions – 431
  • Stellar Sea Lions – 356
  • Harbour Seal – 38
  • Elephant Seal – 2 male
  • Cormorants – 140
  • Gulls – 360
  • Fox Sparrows – 12
  • Canada Geese – 18
  • Black Turnstones – 33
  • Eagle – 4
  • Raven – 1
  • Snow Bunting – 1
  • Oyster Catchers – 12
  • Harlequin Ducks – 8

Census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 10-20 NW
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Choppy under a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • Not a lot of visitors lately, the ecotours are still going by but not as frequently

Maintenance

  • Still working on pressure washing the buildings and walkways, takes a lot of water to get the buildings white again so I’m waiting on the desalinator fixes

Ecological

  • Slightly less sea lions than last week
  • one small female elephant seal and I think there is a big guy on one of the outer rocks

Census

  • California Sea Lions – 582
  • Stellar Sea Lions – 501
  • Harbour Seal – 56
  • Elephant Seal – 1 female and 1 male
  • Cormorants – 364
  • Gulls – 313
  • Fox Sparrows – 14
  • Canada Geese – 19
  • Black Turnstones – 22
  • Eagle – 2
  • Oyster Catchers – 8
  • Raven – 1

Got to the top of the tower before I realized no sd card in the camera, so I just counted them up there, so no photos this post

Also there is a chance DFO is coming by soon to help untangle the neck banded sea lions