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Weather
Visibility: 15 miles
Wind: 5-10 knots West, later 0-5 South
Sky: clear and sunny
Water: calm
Temperature: Just a match under 16C (60F)
Ecological
Got a better view of the tagged elephant seal today. The tag reads: 5086.
Apparently she was born at Año Nuevo in 2011, the daughter of G2234, an 8 year old born at Año Nuevo in 2003.
She was last documented at Race Rocks on April 22 2012.
Maintenance
Took out all the remaining Canada Thistle with the weed-eater.
Cleaned the solar panels.
Began painting.
Boats
A couple of small pleasure craft came by today.
One boat appeared to be only a few yards from the sea lions on South Rock.
Weather
Visibility: 10-15 miles today. At times quite hazy.
Wind: 15-25 knots West
Sky: clear and sunny
Water: 1′ chop
Ecological
Conducted a census today.
Found a tiny dead harbour seal on the rocks.
A flock of geese arrived in the late afternoon.
Harbour Seals: 91
Northern Sea Lions: 35
Elephant Seals: 22 (17 on Great Race, 5 on Middle Rock)
California Sea Lions: 20
Seagulls: 275
Pigeon Guillemots: 130
Canada Geese: 20! (although for much of the day only 10)
Black Oystercatchers: 8
Harlequin Ducks: 3 (2 females, 1 male)
Cormorants: 2
Bald Eagle: 1
Rock Sandpiper: 1
Unidentified large bird on Middle Rock; Owl?: 1
Maintenance
Removed lots of algae from the boat house.
(Re)discovered that the pressure washer does not work.
Boats
About 4 eco-tours came by today.
Chris dropped off and picked up my friend Greg O’.
Visitors
Greg O’, the tree scientist of Vernon, came by in the afternoon for a 3 hour visit!
Other
A couple of big DND blasts in the afternoon.
Posted in Animal census , Bird Notes , Ecoguardians Log , Island Visitors , Mammal Notes , Marine Vessels , Military Activity
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Tagged bald eagle , Black Oystercatcher , california sea lion , Canada goose , cormorant , DND blasting , elephant seal , harbour seal , harlequin duck , Northern sea lion , owl , pigeon guillemot , rock sandpiper , seagull , visitor
Weather
Visibility: 10 miles at 5:30, down to 1/4 mile from 8:00-early afternoon. Back up to 10 in the evening.
Wind: 10-15 knots West in the morning, up to 25 in the evening.
Sky: fog everywhere! Fog horn went off continuously from 5:30-2:30.
Water: rippled, 2′ chop in the evening.
Ecological
17 elephant seals on Great Race today!
I think the 2 new ones are from Middle Rock, where only 2 remain.
Counted 88 harbour seals on Turbine Rock.
A rather subdued day for all the animals today. I suspect the fog had an impact.
Maintenance
Re-attached the gasket on the door of the wood stove. It had been partially pulled off by an errant log last time I made a fire.
Weed whacked more thistles and stuff.
Boats
Weather
Visibility: 15+ miles
Great view of Mt. Baker and the Olympics today.
There appears to be a very small fire across the water in Washington.
Wind: 5-10 knots West, up to 20 in the evening.
Sky: clear with a view clouds.
Water: mostly calm
Ecological
The usual 15 elephant seals on Great Race today.
I enjoyed watching them play on the ramp.
Some of them just lie there and occasionally splash water onto their backs with a flipper. Very handlike those flippers of theirs.
Maintenance
More weed whacking. Took out lots of the Canada Thistle.
Cleaned the solar panels.
Investigated the pressure washer for future use.
Boats
At least 5 eco-tours today.
Other
A few DND blasts today.
The detonations occurred farther to the West than usual.
Weather
Visibility: 15 miles
Wind: 5-10 knots West, in the evening up to 20.
Sky: clear
Water: calm
Ecological
The 15 elephant seals were slower down to the water today, perhaps due to the influx of students.
One California Sea Lion spent most of the exam at the end of the jetty, unfazed by all the activity going on. Quite unusual for a sea lion!
All manner of barnacle, shell creatures, and algae plant things were examined today by the Pearson College students.
Visitors!
Approximately 30 folk from Pearson College made their way out to Race Rocks today.
This included Laura Verhegge who was running the Marine Sciences field exam, Johanna who was observing Pearson’s instruction techniques, one 2nd year student, one alumni, Chris, and 25 or so students.
The first group arrived at 8:15, the final group left at about 12:15.
Maintenance/Chores
Weed whacking.
Algicide application. Photo shows before scrubbing.
Safety observation and hosting of students during exam.
Ran the desalinator.
Boats
The Ocean River Kayak Discovery Shuttle and Haiaku each took two trips of students to and from Race Rocks.
On the return voyage the tide was very low, and the sea lions were in the way, so the shuttle boat “docked” against the rocks on the NE part of Great Race.
At least 4 eco-tours came by the reserve today.
Saw a nice red sailed sailboat to the north of the reserve.
One boat spent much of the day fishing on the edge of the reserve.
Posted in Ecoguardians Log , Ecological Monitoring , Ecological Reserve , Island Visitors , Mammal Notes , Marine Algae , Marine Vessels , PC Students at Race Rocks
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Tagged barnacle , california sea lion , elephant seal , students
Weather
Visibility: 15 miles
Wind: 15-20 knots West, later up to 35.
Sky: mix of sun and cloud
Water: 3′ chop
Ecological
15 elephant seals on Great Race.
Quite social and entertaining today. Some of them even trying to follow me around, though they didn’t like the noise of the weed eater.
About half as many Canada Geese on the island today!
Maintenance
Did some more weed whacking along the paths.
Cleaned the solar panels.
Stacked some firewood.
Cleaned part of the students’ house with algicide.
Boats
3 eco-tours today.
1 rented pleasure craft was seen fishing to the East of Great Race, quite likely within the reserve area where no fishing is allowed.
The photos I took aren’t the best. I spied them fishing with the binoculars before I could grab the camera.
This photo doesn’t really show it, but they were fishing
Leaving after fishing. Still within reserve?
Weather
Visibility: 15 miles
Wind: 0-5 knots W in the morning, by 14:00 it had jumped to 40+ knots.
The highest reading I saw was 48 knots, which is no longer a “strong gale” but a “storm”.
Sky: clear in the morning, dark clouds by evening.
Water: initially calm, but the wind kicked up massive waves!
Forecast: looks like more gale tomorrow.
Ecological
15 elephant seals on Great Race.
A few California Sea Lions on the jetty today.
One lone crane fly was attached to a window for the second day straight. The gale blew it away.
The same elephant seal who blocked me outside yesterday tried the same trick again! Only this time I was already inside, so I wisely used a different door.
Maintenance
Goose work.
Weed eating. Or “whacking” if you prefer.
Boats
6 eco-tours today.
1 small pleasure craft had what appeared to be a family with young children fishing in the reserve. They departed very quickly before I could identify their boat, perhaps realizing their mistake independent of me?
Weather
Visibility: 15+ miles
Wind: 0-5 knots North, later 10-15 West
Sky: clear
Water: calm
Ecological
15 elephant seals on Great Race today.
For about an hour either side of noon, I was blocked out of the house by one elephant seal who insisted on sleeping against the door.
The two deck entrance doors to the house were both locked, and seem to require keys no longer on the main key ring.
One of the female elephant seals has a tag on her flipper: 980S (?)
Update 13 May 2016: the flipper tag was upside down. It actually says: 5086
A new flower has opened today, the beautiful red Gladiolus imbricatus.
Maintenance
Finished cleaning the outside of all the windows of the two dwellings.
Set up the new weed whacker.
Cleaned the solar panels.
A bit of goose work.
Boats
At least 9 eco-tours came into the reserve today.
Didn’t get photos of them all, as I was blocked outside for some of them.
One small fishing boat was fishing to the east of Great Race; it looked like it might be just inside the borders of the rockfish conservation area?
Two fishing boats passed through the reserve at speeds that appeared to be too fast.
The first of these created a very large wake near the jetty; unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a photo of the peak wake.
Other
Two medium DND blasts today; 9:52 & 10:15~
Weather
Visibility: 15 miles
Wind: 0-5 knots South in the morning, 15 knots West in the evening
Sky: clear and sunny
Water: calm
Ecological
Conducted a census.
Surprised I didn’t see any Black Turnstones today.
Saw one Northern sea lion branded 524R.
Northern Sea Lions: 93
California Sea Lions: 59
Elephant Seals: 20 (15 on Great Race. 5 on Middle Rock)
Harbour Seals: 6
Seagulls: 355
Pigeon Guillemots: 101
Canada Geese: 18
Black Oystercatchers: 10
Harlequin Ducks: 6 (5 male, 1 female)
Cormorants: 4
Bald Eagles: 4 (1 adult, 3 immature)
Rock Sandpipers: 2
Crow: 1
Maintenance
Cleaned more exterior windows.
More goose work.
Boats
12 eco-tours today!
Some of them appeared to get too close to the sea lions.
Three uninvited SUP’ers (stand up paddle boarders) came by Great Race today.
After a short rest and a quick chat I sent them on their way again.
Other
Five DND blasts today.
Two medium blasts at 10:13 and 10:15.
One big blast at 10:17.
Two medium blasts at around 12:10.
Posted in Animal census , Bird Notes , Ecoguardians Log , Island Visitors , Mammal Notes , Marine Vessels , Vessel Observations
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Tagged bald eagle , Black Oystercatcher , branded , california sea lion , Canada goose , cormorant , crow , DND blasting , elephant seal , harbour seal , harlequin duck , Northern sea lion , pigeon guillemot , rock sandpiper , seagull
Weather
Visibility: 10 miles in the morning, 15 miles rest of the day
Wind: 10-15 knots West
Sky: overcast
Water: 1′ chop
Ecological
15 elephant seals on Great Race today.
More Canada Geese on Great Race today.
Several fierce battles ensued between resident geese and new geese.
Maintenance
Cleaned some exterior windows on the student’s house.
Applied 30 second spray to part of the student’s house.
Scrubbed off the algae afterwards.
Goose work.
Boats
Kyle, his father, and Guy came out at 8:50 to drop off a weedeater and take a look at the old diesel transfer hose system.
On their return they pulled up the lost buoys!
5 eco-tours came by today. Some of them seemed to be too close to the animals.
A fishing boat and a pleasure craft also seemed to be encroaching a bit.
Other
The lost buoys were retrieved today.
There was nothing significant attached to them.
4 DND blasts today.
One huge blast at 11:01.
Three big blasts at 11:03, 12:17, and 2:34.
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