Tag Archives: elephant seal

Gale Force Winds and Peregrine Falcon

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10 miles
  • Wind: 0-5 knots NW in the morning
  • By 11:10 up to 25 knots West
  • By 11:25 33 knots, 11:55 40 knots West
  • Post 12:00 steady at 30-35 knots West
  • Late afternoon into darkness 15-20 knots West
  • Sky: mix of sun and cloud
  • Water: 2′ chop

Ecological

  • 4 elephant seals on Great Race.
  • They were very playful today.
  • Pam Birley spotted a Peregrine falcon with the webcam!
  • She took these 4 photos for us!

Maintenance

  • Back flushed the desalinator.
  • Ran the desalinator.
  • Uploaded June Seawater data to the website.

Boats

  • Did not see any boats in the reserve.

The Accreditation Team

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 10 knots N
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: calm
  • Fresh snow on the Olympic Mountains.

fresh-snow-olympics-11-11

Ecological

  • 4 elephant seals on Great Race

grrrrrr-11-11

Maintenance

  • Stacked some fire wood.
  • Did some electric fence re-organizing.
  • Cleaned the solar panels.

fire-11-11

Boats

  • Kyle came out in Second Nature.
  • One pleasure craft came through the Middle Channel.
  • A few eco-tours came by.

Visitors

  • Kyle brought the accreditation team out for an hour long tour.
  • Three men: an Austrian, a Colombian, and a British via Tanzania.

Sea Lions, Boats, & Other Stuff

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles (Mt. Baker visible)
  • Wind: 5-10 knots West
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: rippled

Ecological

  • Census day!
  • Two California sea lions with neck rings. Poor guys.
  • Two sea lions with brands.
  • California: X168
  • Steller: 678
  • Saw a few California sea lions with head injuries, as well as one Steller.
  1. California Sea Lions: 678
  2. Northern (Steller) Sea Lions: 533
  3. Harbour Seals: 37
  4. Elephant Seals: 5 on Great Race
  5. Seagulls unspecified: 449
  6. Thayer’s Gulls: 235
  7. Glaucous-winged Gulls: 20
  8. Cormorants unspecified: 357
  9. Brandt’s Cormorants: 10
  10. Pelagic Cormorants: 6
  11. Double Crested Cormorants: 4
  12. Black Turnstones: 20
  13. Canada Geese: 5
  14. Dunlin: 1
  15. Savannah Sparrow: 1
  16. Bald Eagle: 1 adult

Maintenance

  • Ran the saltwater pump into the cistern for 5 and a quarter hours.

Boats

  • A handful of eco-tours came by today. At least 5.
  • One of the boats caused a minor sea lion stampede on the east part of Great Race.
  • My photos only show the tail end of the stampede.
  • Much more happened between the “pre stampede” photo and my end shots.

Foggy Day

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Weather

  • Visibility: 0-5 miles
  • Wind: 10-15 knots W, then around to NE
  • Sky: fog!
  • Water: calm
  • The foghorn was beeping off and on much of the morning and afternoon.

Ecological

  • 3 elephant seals on Great Race.

Maintenance

  • Ran the desalinator.

Boats

  • No boats that I’m aware of.

Fun Elephant Seal Day

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Weather
Visibility: 15 miles
Wind: 10-20 knots North
Sky: overcast
Water: calm

Ecological
It was fun to watch the 5 elephant seals today, 3 of which were rather active.
Look at the action photos in order and it’s like a comic book!

Maintenance
All the usual chores.
Log post tool bar disappeared again.

Boats
A couple of eco-tours came by today.

eco-tour-7-11

Various Boats

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 NE
  • Sky: clear
  • Water: calm
  • The fog horn went off from at least 4am-7am.

Ecological

  • Saw a great blue heron fly over the reserve around 11.
  • Was unable to get a photograph though.
  • 6 elephant seals on Great Race.

Maintenance

  • Added most of a diesel barrel to the tidy tank.
  • Ran the desalinator in the evening.
  • The usual chores.

Boats

  • Several eco-tours came by today.
  • A sailboat glided peacefully through middle channel.
  • One pleasure craft was observed travelling at a speed which was likely over the limit.
  • A rather peculiar looking craft spent much of the daylight hours near North Rock.

Mystery Ship

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Weather

  • Visibility: 5-15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots SE, at times up to 18
  • Sky: foggy much of the day
  • Water: calm

Ecological

  • The elephant seals were down in the water near the jetty
  • Saw 5 cormorants going on an adventure on a floating log.

Maintenance

  • The usual chores

Boats

  • I spied a rather official looking ship south of Race Rocks, but it wasn’t marked on the AIS marine vessel tracking website.
  • It looked to me like a Canadian Coast Guard ship, though it was not the Sir Wilfred Laurier.
  • A few eco-tours came by today.
  • The Ogden Point Dive Boat was over near Middle Rock around noon.

A Visitor

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles (Mt. Baker visible)
  • Wind: 5-10 knots NE
  • Sky: gently overcast
  • Water: calm

Ecological

  • 5 elephant seals on Great Race.
  • 19 Canada Geese on the island.

Maintenance

  • Regular chores.
  • Kyle brought me some items for future application.
  • A thermometer and a 1″ H valve.

Boats

  • A few eco-tours came by today.
  • Kyle brought Natasha out for a visit.

eco-tour-4-11

A Very Nice Day

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles (Mt. Baker visible)
  • Wind: 5-10 knots North
  • Sky: clear and sunny
  • Water: calm
  • A very beautiful day, with a nice sunset
  • A good night for stargazing!

Ecological

  • Conducted the weekly animal census.
  • Saw several branded sea lions today.
  • California sea lions: U690, U105, and 8427 (I think I got those correct)
  • Steller sea lions: 420Y and 347Y (those are definitely correct)
  • Also saw one sea lion with a neck ring, presumable from plastic.
  • No harlequin ducks today.
  • One of the male elephant seals was trying to mate with the female.
  • This seems like an odd time of year for that?
  1. California Sea Lions: 728
  2. Northern (Steller) Sea Lions: 493
  3. Harbour Seals: 48
  4. Elephant Seals: 5 Great Race (4 males, 1 that I think is a female)
  5. Seagulls unspecified: 672
  6. Thayer’s Gulls: 247
  7. Glaucous-winged Gulls: 30
  8. Cormorants unspecified: 329
  9. Double Crested Cormorants: 24
  10. Pelagic Cormorants: 11
  11. Brandt’s Cormorants: 2
  12. Black Turnstones: 19
  13. Canada Geese: 6
  14. Black Oystercatchers: 6
  15. Dunlins: 2
  16. Savannah Sparrows: 2

Maintenance

  • Cleaned the solar panels.
  • Tidied up a few odds and ends.
  • The usual chores.

Boats

  • A few eco-tours today.
  • One rental boat came through the middle of the reserve.

Visitors

  • No visitors today.
  • Quite a nice, relaxing day today.
  • The kind of day that makes one appreciate being alone.

Re-engaged

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After Monday’s difficulties with the log, yesterday was even worse as I was unable to log on to the website. The problem seems to have been only temporary though, because I am now able to log on using both my computer and the main house computer.

Here is a summary of yesterday and today, along with photos from Monday.

Monday 31 October 2016-Photos

Tuesday 1 November 2016-Report & Chore Day

  • Weather
  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 0-5 knots E
  • Sky: rain
  • Water: calm
  • 5 elephant seals on Great Race today.
  • Had to push the dead sea lion out past the jetty where it finally floated away.
  • An inquisitive seagull floated up to the corpse and gave it a peck.
  • Spotty the harbour seal was back on his rock near the jetty.
  • Couldn’t log on to the Race Rocks website.
  • Finished gathering data for the month end report.
  • Completed October month end report for Kyle.
  • Entered and sent off October seawater report.
  • Ran the desalinator.

Wednesday 2 November 2015

  • Weather
  • Visibility: 5 miles
  • Wind: 15-20 knots NE
  • Sky: overcast with showers
  • Water: 2′ chop
  • Fierce waves crashing against the jetty today.
  • Expected to be windy overnight, with things calming down by noon tomorrow.
  • Lots of Canada Geese on the island today.

big-waves-2-11