Animal Census

West winds around 10 knots for most of the day. Fog this morning and this evening. Barometric pressure has steadily decreased all day. Strong wind warning in effect for tonight and fog is forecasted to persist until late tomorrow morning.

No whale watching boats today. 2 recreational halibut fishing boats along the SE and SW borders of the reserve.

Animal Census
Elephant Seal: 3
Harbour Seal: 191
Bald Eagle: 1
Gull: 323
Pigeon Guillemot: 83
Black Oystercatcher: 10
Double-crested cormorant: 4
Stellar sea lion: 5
Harlequin duck: 4

Two of the large elephant seals were sparring in the shallow water by the jetty this morning around 1100h. I noticed a younger pup that has been here for the past week has small, fresh wounds on its backside that I think are from two days ago when I saw the second largest male attack the pup near the launch pad. Also, a lone stellar sea lion has been resting on the a small rock off the south islands for two days now. He has flesh wounds but they do not look recent as far as I can tell.

-Secured deck boards on winch loading pad.                                                                       -Chopped fire wood.

Six visitors from the college came today from 1200h-1500h.

 

 

Visit to island- eco-reserve warden update

Julien and I went out to the island to go over the various mechanical and recording systems on the island with Alex for the purpose of possibly  developing  an improved electronic data-logging system.
Many large blasts were noted throughout the morning  from the DND ordinance disposal pit on Rocky Point. Gulls on South west corner were dispersed on one of the blasts.
Material to be sent back for recycling was loaded by winch on the boat and Erik and Jake brought us back to the college. They picked us up in the afternoon bringing back the station whaler having undergone repairs over the last few weeks. Erik drove Julien and I in a rather rough return ride in the rigid hull inflatable which has been the substitute boat at the island.
Jake stayed out with Alex to work on the refitting of angle brackets on the solar panels on the roof of the energy building over the next few days. These are intended to increase efficiency by giving more of an angled tilt to the south.
Camera 1 panorama picture was redone to give better ability to click on the panorama image for control of camera.
I noted that a dozen or more of the introduced (non-migratory) strain of Canada geese still persist on the island. Their grazing in the area of the first nations burial cairns remains to be a problem as soil erosion is obvious. I have suggested that we might put up several netted enclosures to document the impact of their grazing.
5 dead immature glaucous -winged gulls were noted on various parts of the island, A full count is pending. This is probably from normal; fall mortality of new birds. On top of the south rocks today, 100 cormorants, probably double  crested lined the ridge.

Garry Fletcher- ecological reserve warden

Phalacrocorax auritus: Double crested cormorant

Double Crested Cormorants are winter residents at Race Rocks. They nest on other islands off Victoria.

Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Sub-Phylum Vertebrata
Class Aves
Order Pelicaniformes
Family Phalacrocoracidae
Genus Phalacrocorax
Species
auritus
Common Name: Double Crested cormorant

Other Members of the Class Aves at Race Rocks.
taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams.