Tag Archives: elephant seal

Sea Otters at Sunrise

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An early morning alarm clock to watch the sunrise paid off when one of our new sea otters popped up just off the rocks beside me. No colourful urchins to munch on today, just some sleepy floating and grooming. The weather was warm in the morning and cooled off later in the day with the wind. Despite cooling down, the sun was strong and I was able to run the desalinator off pure solar all afternoon!

 

A moment of appreciation for our lone boy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Facility Work:

  • Topped up battery electrolytes
  • Topped up generator’s diesel
  • Cleaned inside keeper’s house and prepped rooms for next Ecoguardian

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Ecotourism vessels

Weather Events:

  • Sunday, March 17:
    • Sky: Clear, not a cloud in the sky
    • Wind: High of W 24 knots, Low of NE 2 knots
    • Sea: Glassy morning, whitecaps in the afternoon
    • Temperature: Low 8oC, High 11oC

** 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?

Animal Census and Blog

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Time is flying by here! Nothing too wild to report today, the weather is definitely getting warmer and the solar panels are working hard. See below for more details!

March 13th Census:

Birds

  • Harlequin duck: 13
  • Bald eagle adult: 5
  • Bald eagle juvenile: 1
  • Turnstones: 16
  • Gulls, Glaucous and Western: 130
  • Cormorants: 27
  • Pigeon Guillemots: 86
  • Oyster catcher: 21
  • Canadian goose: 11
  • Surf Birds: 8

 

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion: 23
  • Harbour seal: 40
  • California sea lion: 27
  • Elephant seal male: 1
  • Sea otter: 1 (+ additional sighted March 11th)
  • Animal Tracking and Injuries: 
    • Injuries: Steller sea lion with head wound (see photo) 
    • Tracking: California sea lion with small red flipper tag, no numbers or markings on tag

 

Ecological Notes:

–          Two sea otters observed near the South Island on the morning of March 11th. One was larger with a dark face, the second appeared to be young with blonde cheeks and lacking the nose scar that Ollie is known for. Watched them both for 3-4 hours, they were eating urchins, crab, grooming, and exhibiting other common sea otter behaviours.

–          Still just one male elephant seal on the rocks. Female was reported on Middle Rock by an ecotourism vessel.

Visitors:

  • Greg to drop off supplies

Facility Work:

  • Gardening/weeding
  • Repaired some gaps in the electric fence
  • Full clean inside keeper’s house (on bad weather day)

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Ecotourism vessels, the same 2-3 seem to pass by each day
  • Wednesday, March 13:
    • Sky: Blue sky with some clouds 
    • Wind: Low of WNW 4 knots with high of WSW 18 knots
    • Sea: Relatively calm today 
    • Temperature: Low 6oC, High 9oC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

** 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?

Two New Sea Otters!

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What an unbelievable day. I woke up to one of the most beautiful sunrises I’ve ever seen. As I do first thing each morning, I locate the lone male elephant seal, so I’m not caught off guard at any point. This morning he was asleep on the boat launch just out of reach of the incoming waves. I did my usual perimeter walk before sitting on the rocks overlooking the South Island with my coffee and camera. For the first time since I arrived here 11 days ago, I finally spotted Ollie the sea otter…or so I thought. I was ecstatic to see him so close and as I was snapping a few shots something else caught my eye. A second sea otter! About 200m apart I watched 2 individual sea otters crack open urchins and crab on their bellies, dive, and groom in the current. After spending nearly 3 hours watching and photographing them, I finally went inside to go through my photos. One of the otters appeared larger with a much darker head and narrow face, the second was smaller with blonde cheeks and in my opinion appeared to be a juvenile. Could it possibly be two otters that aren’t Ollie??? The blonde one was also lacking the nose scar that Ollie is known for, and he has been reported hanging around the North Rocks lately, so my hunch is these are two new animals. Will keep you posted!

 

Our elephant seal friend soon also found himself cruising by the South Island and just as I was wondering where the otters went…guess whose big head popped up in the current!? Poor guy scares off every animal he approaches. I look forward to tomorrow to see if the otters return or were perhaps just passing through.

 

Just need another elephant seal or 2 to keep him company!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Elephant Seal!

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I’ve officially been on the rocks for 10 whole days and every single one of them have been incredible. I can’t walk by a single window in this house without staring out of it in awe.

I have learned so much in such a brief period and although I’ve always been a rather solitary person, this is a whole new level of living alone. While slightly overwhelming at first, I think I’ve found my groove and there is always something to do.

Elephant seal

He’s always watching!

Each morning I awake to the sound of my new alarm clock – the singular male elephant seal on the island who is bellowing for what I assume is a female (or maybe he does it solely to wake me up). The gulls enjoy chiming in which usually sets the geese off too, by then the 3 California sea lions by the jetty are annoyed and they begin to holler along with the whole choir. Honestly, I wouldn’t want to be woken up any other way!

Looking back through previous logs and animal census it is obvious that this is a slow time of year for animals, the census I did this week is far outshined by most of the others. I look forward to more animals arriving.

The weather the last few days has been warmer than when I first arrived and despite some strong winds last night, the wind seems to have calmed down as well. The evenings are still chilly, but the fire warms the house perfectly.

I haven’t spotted any cetaceans in the last few days but I’m hoping I will soon. The same 2-3 ecotourism vessels pass by each day and the passengers always give me an excited wave. I feel as though I’m the star attraction when they do that – or maybe it’s more like I’m one of the animals to spot? There haven’t been a whole lot of pinnipeds around either, but from what I’ve experienced so far, all the operators are very respectful when showing their guests the reserve.

It’s daylight savings today which means we get a whole extra hour of daylight and a whole extra hour of solar power, woohoo!

 

Here are some additional notes from the past few days:

Ecological Notes:

–          Still just the one male elephant seal. There was a brief appearance by a female on March 7th but she was quick to return to the water when the sole male came barrelling towards her (a full speed galumph if I’ve ever seen one!!)

Visitors:

–          Greg, Cedric, and furnace repairman

Facility Work:

  • Gardening
  • Station refuel
  • Furnace maintenance
  • Wood bucking and splitting (extra thanks to Cedric!)
  • Washed house windows inside and out
  • Topped up batteries with water

Noted Vessel Traffic:

–          Ecotourism vessels
–          Group of 6 kayakers

 Weather Events:

  • Thursday, March 07:
    • Sky: Overcast with the sun coming out later in the day
    • Wind: High of NNE 15knots, low of NNE 5knots
    • Sea: Calm
    • Temperature: Low 1oC, High 6oC
  • Friday, March 08:
    • Sky: Overcast, on and off drizzle
    • Wind: High of N 21 knots, low of ENE 9 knots
    • Sea:  Calm, strong current coming through in the evening
    • Temperature: Low 6oC, High 10oC
  • Saturday, March 09:
    • Sky: Dark skies, brief period of sun with a big rainbow!
    • Wind: High of ESE 31knots, low of WSW 4 knots
    • Sea: Relatively calm with swell picking up
    • Temperature: Low 7oC, High 9oC
  • Sunday, March 10:
    • Sky: Mix of overcast and sun throughout the afternoon
    • Wind: High of E33 knots, low of N5 knots
    • Sea: Strong current in the reserve today but calm outside
    • Temperature: Low 7oC, High 10oC

 

** 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?

Foghorn and tower updates

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Ecological Notes:

  • Large female Elephant Seal came up to the centre haul out area on the Island. She appeared to be one of the females from last year. She spent regular periods ca.ling out, before leaving after 3 days ……. a pattern I have seen each time any single Elephant Seal has come to the reserve this season

  • Juvenile Golden Eagle still visiting occasionally
  • One morning there was an extra high number of eagles here….. 40+. I looked for new carrion or any other reason for there to be so many, but couldn’t find any.
  • California Sea Lion that had a band removed a while ago is around, and his neck appears to be healing well

Visitors:

  • 2 techs from the college
  • 3 techs from coastguard

Facility Work:

  • Pearson College IT installed new Starlink system at the top of the tower. Still awaiting implementation

  • Coastguard attempted to repair foghorn system but are awaiting parts now, and serviced the battery system for thew lighthouse
  • Cleaned the filter on the main house furnace, but detected a probably leak in the main fuel line
  • Received new files to re-work the chainsaw chain
  • Cleaned the rest of the outside walls of the student building, save for one area where I couldn’t position  the ladder safely by myself.(once the green is gone, the residue comes off after a couple rains)
  • Cleaned a small section of the roof, but found it pretty sketchy for a “larger” old guy to extend his reach that far above the ladder!

  • Daily attempts to keep the boat ramp clear of driftwood

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Eco-Tourism vessels

Weather Events:

  • Thursday, February 15:
    • Sky: Overcast, with brief showers
    • Wind: N 30kts, dropping to 15kts late afternoon
    • Sea:  .5M chop
    • Temperature Low 3oC, High 8oC
  • Wednesday, February 13:
    • Sky: High overcast with sunny breaks, rain showers
    • Wind: NE 20-25 kts, rising to 30kts in the evening
    • Sea:  waves to 1M, high standing waves in the channels
    • Temperature Low 7oC, High 9oC
  • Tuesday, February 12:
    • Sky: Overcast with a few sunny breaks
    • Wind: N 20kts, switching to E 5-10kts during the day
    • Sea:  light chop
    • Temperature Low 7oC, High 9oC

 

 

** 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?

Holiday Storm

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Best Wishes to you if you celebrate anything special this time of year!

Ecological Notes:

  • Still no Elephant Seals hauling out.
  • 1 yearling(?) came ashore for a couple days. When if first arrived it spent half a day moving around the central area, “calling” loudly (perhaps checking for others to haul out with?)

“You can’t see me here”

  • The Sea Otter – “Ollie” – was reported to be just off Helicopter rock by a photographer out on one of the EcoTourism boats. It’s nice to get updates on this animal, as his teeth are failing, and he is relatively old for a Sea Otter

    “Ollie” the sea Otter Photo submitted by Clint William

  • After dropping to very low numbers, there seems to be another surge of both Steller and California Sea Lions to the haul outs
  • There have been 2 or 3 small wrens in the flower beds, with help from Ann Nightingale, we believe these to be Pacific Wrens … too fast for me to get my own photo ….

photo by Mason Maron

Visitors:

  • 2 contractors from Viriidian Energy came and serviced the generator and upgraded the control system with an Auto Start/Stop system
  • Park Warden Garry Fletcher visited, and in addition to gaining an overview of the park and facilities, spent time with the Eco-Guardian providing interesting stories and history around the facility

Facility Work:

  • Spent some time analyzing and making adjustments to the new control system for the generator system
  • Initial setting on the Auto system proved to be problematic in that they resulted in very extended runs times(up to twice as long = twice the fuel burn and fuel transport!) Discussed with the programmer and they remotely adjusted the unit  to more appropriate times. Also, found out how to properly override the system for a manual run,  to ensure once a week full charges can still be done.
  • Will re-visit with the technician after the holidays
  • After help to secure some more logs … ongoing bucking and splitting to build up firewood stocks for the winter.
  • Did full maintenance on the chainsaw
  • Now running both the old, and the new Seawater data units, to give both readings to adjust  older incorrect readings

  • Proof on Concept: As the damp wood produces less heat in the woodstove, I decided to try to curtain off some areas, such as the front doorway and the kitchen. Using found materials , the main curtain is very thin, and does not cover the top very well, but it still produces a very noticeable temperature difference on either side

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Ongoing Eco-Tourism vessels in the park
  • Several private vessels visiting, no noted infractions

Weather Events:

Ongoing winter weather, unseasonably warm, winds direction shifting daily, very little rain

  • Monday, December 25::
    • Sky: Dense, High overcast, very light sprinkles threatening rain, but none occurred
    • Wind: ENE 5-15 kts during the day, rising to nighttime winds gusting to 35 kts
    • Sea:1 meter swells from the East
    • Temperature Low 8.5oC, High 11oC
  • Tuesday, December 26:
    • Sky: Bright overcast sky
    • Wind: ENE, calm in the morning, expected to rise to 25kts during the day and up to 45kts by evening
    • Sea: Large rolling swells from the east
    • Temperature Low 9oC, High 11.5oC

 

 

** 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?

Winter Storms and High Tides

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Ecological Notes:

  • 1 small  Elephant Seal out on Helicopter rock (reported to me by an ecotourism vessel)
  • 1 Female Elephant Seal (looked like it was in season to pup), only made it to the boat ramp. When the sea lions above her were startled and stampeded down, she was very vocal and left.
  • Up to 20 eagles here each morning, preying on gulls for the most part
  • Over 300 Steller Sea Lions here….. quite a few very small one, only found 2 actually nursing pups (last year was the first time I had ever personally seen pups nursing here, and have been observing from the water for 20 years)
  • Turnstones and other small birds nave returned now that the Barred Owl has left

Visitors:

  • contractors
  • Cedric brought a few faculty staff out for a quick visit

Facility Work:

  • Continued work by contractors in the main house, some window trim and painting
  • Started cleaning the gutters on the student house, a job that should only be done when there is someone here to hold the ladder!
  • More storm logs are now starting to come in, collecting them when able
  • Now able to start bucking up for firewood
  • Other note: exchanges the ocean temp/salinity device, and obtaining more reasonable numbers now

DND events:

  • Ongoing blasting ….. My opinion! … is the Steller sea lions are far more reactive to the blasts, and after heavy blasts, they seem to move to the southern rocks

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Ecotourism vessel, and an educational vessel
  • Some private vessels, no noted infractions or fishing

Weather Events:

    • A full mix of typical fall weather. more and more days of N and NE winds
    • 2 full on storms, accentuating the seasonal high tides

 

 

** 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?

November Returns

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Happy to be returning to the Eco-Guardian position, after a summer on and off the ocean (and my motorcycles!)

Ecological Notes:

  • 3 Elephant Seals, one tagged

  • Large daily fluctuation of sea lions…… lots of forage fish in the area, and I believe some are moving further into the Salish Sea, as other regular haunts were low on sea lions last week
  • Did see “Ollie” the sea otter near one of the north west rocks
  • Deceased Sea Lion removed from boat ramp area ….. (untrained)observation looked like an older animal, in normal shape, with no visual injuries
  • Many Brandt’s Cormorants in the reserve
  • 3 Humpback whales in the pass between Race Rocks and Pedder bay, several more south of race, viewable by eye and binoculars

Visitors:

  • Contractors working on main house window replacement

Facility Work:

  • Contractors replacing windows
  • Perimeter fence maintenance
  • Moving maximum fuel to generator room, keeping it up to ensure easy access during the upcoming storm season
  • Opportunistically remove dead Gull carcasses from the island while performing other tasks
  • Solar working well, and batteries retaining levels well overnight

DND events:

  • none during this time period, but they were working there earlier in the week, and could account for lower sea lion levels mid week

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 2 or 3 Ecotourism vessels
  • 1 Ecotourism  vessel with multiple visits while implementing their education program
  • 2 Kayakers out and about in the reserve

Weather Events:

  • Friday, November 03:
    • Sky: Clear in the morning, then filling in with high overcast and some clouds, light haze on the water by mid-day
    • Wind: Dropping during the night , to 5-10 kts mid morning, northerly,  building to 20-25 kts mid afternoon/evening
    • Sea: rippled to 2′ chop
    • Temperature Low 10oC, High 13oC

 

 

** 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?

July 14-16

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Weather for July 14:
Wind: W 15 to 30 knots
Visibility: 15 NM
Sky: Partly Cloudy
Sea: rippled in morning, up to 3′ chop in afternoon
Air temperature: 11-13 C

Weather for July 15:
Wind: W 12 to 35 knots
Visibility: <1 to 10 NM
Sky: Fog for most of the day, with some patches of Partly Cloudy in afternoon
Sea: rippled in morning, up to 4′ chop in afternoon
Air temperature: 10-15 C

Weather for July 16:
Wind: W 19 to 38 knots
Visibility: 10-15 NM
Sky: Partly Cloudy
Sea: 2′ chop in morning, up to 4′ chop in afternoon
Air temperature: 11-17 C

Maintenance:
When the solar panels were producing a lot of power on July 14 and 15, I used the desalinator to make a total of 700 litres of water. The output of the desalinator is 1.25 L per minute. It takes about 2.6 kW of energy to run the desalinator, on top of the regular 1.2 kW load of the island.

Today I lowered the boat into the water to grease the boat trailer wheels as well as finish installing and testing the new boat GPS and sonar.

Photo highlights from the past three days:

July 11, 12, 13, and Weekly Census

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Weather for July 11:
Wind: W 11 to 27 knots
Visibility: 15 NM
Sky: Partly Cloudy
Sea: rippled in morning, up to 2′ chop in afternoon
Air temperature: 12-14 C

Weather for July 12:
Wind: W 18 to 35 knots
Visibility: 10 to 15 NM
Sky: Cloudy in morning, partly cloudy in afternoon
Sea: 1’ chop in morning, up to 4′ chop in afternoon
Air temperature: 11-15 C

Weather for July 13:
Wind: W 16 to 33 knots
Visibility: 15 NM
Sky: Partly Cloudy
Sea: rippled in morning, up to 2′ chop in afternoon
Air temperature: 11-15 C

DND Blasting:
There was one DND blast at 14:05 on July 12 at nearby Rocky Point.

Visitors:
Greg and Bruce visited this afternoon to deliver 1,400 L of freshwater and a new first aid kit.

Maintenance:
I did the routine tasks of cleaning the solar panels and house windows, topping up the water in the 24 deep cycle batteries, fixing the electric fence, tidying, and maintaining the freshwater system.

Ecological notes:
There have been a lot of humpback whale activity over the past few days to the west, south, and east of Race Rocks. The whale watching boats have been active in the area. From what I hear on the VHF radio, they have been very pleased with the humpback viewing. I have not seen any whales swim through the ecological reserve.

I heard back about the tagged elephant seal, from the researcher at Año Nuevo Natural Reserve, in California. The juvenile seal, tagged H999 and K646, is a male who was born in January 2022. He was previously observed here and reported to the researchers on April 1, 2023. He has been moulting here for at least the past several weeks. He appears to be almost complete the moulting process, so he might be moving on soon to feed in the deep waters.

Weekly Census observed on July 13:
elephant seal: 1 juvenile (tagged H999, K646)
Steller sea lion: 3
harbour seal: 79
bald eagle: 2 adults, 1 juvenile
raven: 1
cormorant: 7
black oystercatcher: 6 adults, 1 chick (that I could spot today)
pigeon guillemot: 148
glaucous-winged gull: 387 adults, 120 chicks
surfbird: 12
killdeer: 4
western sandpiper: 3
barn swallow: 3

Photo highlights from the past three days: