Tag Archives: crocus

Spring is trying!

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Ecological Notes:

  • 2 Female Elephant Seals nursing their pups
  • 3 Elephant Seal pups. Pup #1 on his own again
  • Still no big Male Elephant Seals present
  • Although it looks chubby, a very small harbour seal pup(?) hauled out on the boat ramp next to the pier. This is only the second time I’ve ever seen any harbour seal in that location.

  • Signs of an early spring ….. the Geese, and the Black Oyster Catchers are pairing off and defending locations …… and the Early Crocus are sprouting

Visitors:

  • Cedric from Seafront Support kayaked out for a social visit.

Facility Work:

  • Cutting firewood
  • Started re-establishing the electric fencing on the pier, but had the high  winds bring a log over and took it back out
  • Made, and installed a replacement part for the toilet in the Student and science building

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • A large sailboat motored through the reserve in front of the pier, but maintained proper distance and speed while enjoying the sights.

Weather Events:

  • Friday, February 03:
    • Sky: Cloudy with occasional sun peaking through, low haze to the south, visibility to about 10 miles
    • Wind:Morning winds E 10 – 20 kts, backing to NE 20 – 35 kts by noon
    • Sea: waves up to 1 meter
    • Temperature Low 6oC, High 9oC
  • Saturday, February 04:
    • Sky: High overcast, scattered low clouds to the south
    • Wind: N winds, veering to ENE,  12-18 kts
    • Sea:  light chop
    • Temperature Low  7oC, High  9oC
  • Sunday, February 05:
    • Sky: High overcast, scattered low clouds to the south
    • Wind:E winds, veering to W in the morning,  gradually rising from 2 kts to 30 kts by evening
    • Sea:  light chop
    • Temperature Low  7oC, High  9oC
  • Monday, February 6:
    • Sky: High overcast, occasional very light showers
    • Wind: S winds, backing to ESE,  5-15 kts
    • Sea:  light chop
    • Temperature Low 6oC, High 8oC

 

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Groundhog Day

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Wind: yesterday 0-52 knots from S to W, today 0-18 knots from W to NE
Sea State: yesterday rippled with waves up to 1 m in afternoon and evening, today rippled
Visibility: yesterday 5-10 NM, today 15 NM
Sky: yesterday rain then patches of sun, today clear
Temperature: yesterday 5-12 °C, today 3-5 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 414.49 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

This morning at sunrise, the elephant seals saw their shadows. As the lore goes for their fellow mammal the groundhog, that means six more weeks of winter. Hard to believe with the crocuses blooming and daffodils buds almost ready to burst. Although, there is snow in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow as the temperature drops to 0 °C.

There were no visitors to the island. Two eco tour boats were seen in the reserve this afternoon.

Here are the results for the weekly census, conducted in the afternoon of Sunday, February 2:
10 elephant seals (3 female adults, 4 male adults, 1 female pup, 1 male pup and 1 unknown gendered pup)
147 steller sea lions
288 california sea lions
104 harbour seals
10 bald eagles (5 adults, 5 juveniles)
1 raven
109 brandt’s cormorants
182 pelagic cormorants
49 double-crested cormorants
24 canada geese
931 gulls (most are thayer’s gulls)
18 black oystercatchers
1 whimbrel
1 surf scoter
8 harlequin ducks
16 black turnstones
1 snow bunting
1 fox sparrow

Fourth Elephant Seal Pup

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Wind: yesterday 1-21 knots varying directions mostly N, today 0-24 knots swinging around N to N
Sea State: yesterday rippled, today up to 2 m swell
Visibility: 10-15 NM
Sky: both days mixture of sun, clouds and rain
Temperature: yesterday 7 to 9 °C, today 8 to 9 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 413.25 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

The elephant seal harem has a new addition. In the early afternoon yesterday, another pup was born. Since December 29, there have been four births, which is a record for an elephant seal pupping season on Race Rocks. Unfortunately, only about half of pups tend to survive, due to aggression from other elephant seals, learning to nurse, weaning and predation.

There were three visitors yesterday to do some maintenance on the desalinator: Greg, Warren and Cole. Warren and Cole got a once in lifetime opportunity to see the elephant seal birth. They were walking from the desalinator building to the main house, when Warren noticed the pregnant seal had more flippers than usual. Within less than a minute, the female slid up a grassy incline and out popped the pup. It seems like she used gravity to her advantage. All the humans went into the house, so as not to disturb the seals. The new mother vocalized with the pup and the pup wriggled around. The pup appeared larger than the other three at birth. Perhaps it is a male, as male pups tend to be larger than female pups.

What followed next was difficult to watch. Just ten minutes after the pup was born, it was attacked by another mother. The elephant seal mother that gave birth to the third pup, tossed around and bit the new pup, drawing blood between the eyes and on the head. After a few attacks and several minutes passing, the new mother appeared to intervene and put itself between the aggressive seal and her pup. The mother that gave birth to the second pup also appeared to intervene, by approaching and also putting itself in the middle. Out of the five adults in the harem, the third mother was the only one that showed aggression towards the new pup.

Today, Alex and Greg visited for a couple hours in the middle of the day to problem solve a power issue that presented itself yesterday. It’s great to have a lot of people on land supporting the various off grid systems on Race Rocks.

Here are a few photos from the past two days of the flora and fauna on Race Rocks:

March 3 – Elephant Seals and DND Blasting

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Sunny
Wind 18 knots from the North in the morning, switching direction to SE and diminishing throughout the day to calm in the evening
Air temperature: high 10C, low 5C
Ocean temperature 8.8C

There is never a dull moment at Race Rocks. At 8:30 in the morning, Chunk (the large male elephant seal) and the female elephant seal that has been on the island for a couple weeks were on the grass to the north of the Ecoguardian’s House. From the window by the front porch, I watched as the female roared and kicked up grass with her flippers as she and Chunk were either fighting or mating. It’s hard to tell the difference. He approached her and bit into her back, adding to the many wounds and scars. The female fled to the other side of the house and Chunk followed. They spent the rest of the day at least 10 metres apart from each other on the west side of the house.

At 10:30, I was sitting in the house reading the SOP manual when I heard and felt a huge blast. There was a large puff of smoke rising from the Canadian Forces Ammunition Base Rocky Point, 2km to the NW. There were red flags to warn passing boaters. After the initial blast, a group of people appeared from a bunker to inspect the area where the munitions were detonated. There were a few more blasts in the next two hours.

There are lots of flowers springing up around the island: daffodil, crocus, grape hyacinth, and calendula. Like several other plants that are not native to the island, they were planted by lighthouse keepers.

I spent the day reacquainting myself with the systems and species of the island.

The fog horn went off sporadically throughout the night, starting at 20:15. There didn’t appear to be any fog or clouds. The almost full moon lit up the night. It was so bright, I didn’t need to use a flashlight when I went to turn off the generator.