Tag Archives: firewood

August 20 – Two Pods of Transient Orcas!

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Wind: W at the beginning and end of day, NE mid morning to early afternoon, 4-18 knots
Sea State: calm
Visibility: 0-10 NM
Sky: fog in morning, clear in the middle of the day, overcast in afternoon, rain in evening
Temperature: 12-17 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 412.15 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

There was a lot marine mammal activity today. At 11:00, two pods of Bigg’s transient killer whales were in the ecological reserve. One pod appeared to have about six whales. The other pod appeared to have three. Both pods spent a lot of time around the South Islands. A nearby whale watching boat captain mentioned on the VHF radio that the orcas were two families most likely having some social time. They were probably having a good meal too. I didn’t see any hunting happening on the surface. Transients eat marine mammals like seals. I did see a lot of harbour seals not taking any chances, huddled together on nearby rocks and around the east bay beach, looking towards the areas where the orcas were swimming. The transients stayed around until at least 3:30.

See the photos below for views of the orcas and other sights from today:

August 18 -More Sea Lions

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Wind: W 15-29 knots
Sea State: up to 0.5m chop
Visibility: 10-15 NM
Sky: clear in morning, partly cloudy beginning in early afternoon
Temperature: 14-19 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 412.58 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

The groups of steller and california sea lions around the main island and on Middle Rocks have all increased in number. There were two noteworthy sea lions today. In the afternoon, I noticed a lone steller sea lion near the end of the jetty. It had a white and red flasher (fishing lure) hooked to its mouth. Unfortunately, this is a sight that is occasionally seen here. Just last week there was another steller sea lion with a pink and yellow flasher. That sea lion (branded O-19) has not been spotted since. The flashers could have had a fish hooked on the end, which was eaten by the sea lion, or the lure could have appeared to the sea lion to be a fish. The sea lion this afternoon, left the jetty when a large boat went by. A few minutes later, it appeared on Middle Rock where a group of about thirty sea lions were hauled out. I will keep an eye on this sea lion. If it stays around for a few days, it could be a candidate for a rescue from the Marine Mammal Rescue Centre.

When I spotted the sea lion with the flasher haul out on Middle Rock, I noticed a steller sea lion branded 975R. The R means it was branded at Rogue Reef, in Oregon. This animal has been seen here before. See Ecoguardian Anne Stewart’s post from April 6, 2015. The steller was branded as a pup in 2011.

There were about twenty-five eco tour boats that passed through the Ecological Reserve today, some of them repeats. They appeared to be viewing the hauled out sea lions, harbour seals and the floating in the kelp sea otter.

See the photos below for sights and happenings from today:

Sea Otter and Logs

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Wind: yesterday 0-11 knots from N to NE, today 17-36 knots from W
Sea State: yesterday rippled, today chop up to 1 m
Visibility: yesterday 5-15 NM, today 10-15 NM
Sky: yesterday overcast and rain, today clear
Temperature: yesterday 5-8 °C, today 7-8 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 413.78 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

In the middle of the day yesterday, a sea otter floated and swam near the south islands. It looked small in comparison to the nearby blimp like harbour seals.

The alpha male elephant seal left the island at some point last night. As of the sunset this evening, he hadn’t returned. The elephant seal pups have spread out from where they spent the past few days, near the bushes in the middle of the island. For most of the day, the three pups were sunning themselves on the grass between the science house and the lighthouse.

The gulls and Canada geese are acting more aggressive. The number of gulls is still fairly low, but they are spread out around the islands. I often see them pulling at each other’s wings. Perhaps they are trying to claim the preferred spot. The Canada geese frequently honk and charge at each other with their necks horizontal.

Many of the daily tasks involve keeping the human life sustaining systems running. I spent a couple hours each of the past two days preparing firewood for next winter. All winter, I have been collecting logs that wash ashore on the boat ramp. I rebuilt the chainsaw cutting jig, got suited up in the chainsaw safety gear and bucked up a lot of logs. The salt will get rinsed off the wood some more in the rain, as the wood waits to be split and stacked in various indoor spaces over the coming months.

Yesterday, four tour boats were in the ecological reserve. Today, there was one tour boat.

Festivus

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Wind: 5-19 knots NE
Sea State: up to 1 m chop
Visibility: 15+ NM
Sky: 50% cloud cover with sunny patches throughout the days
Temperature: between 6 and 8 C
Atmospheric CO2: 411.99 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

It has been mostly quiet on the rock for the past two days, with the exception of the sea lions barking nonstop. It’s a mystery to me what they carry on about all night. Although, I will take that any night over the fog horn or the urban noises that are too far away for me to hear. The only visitors to the reserve were a few eco tour boats that lingered offshore in the late afternoons.

I had to quickly jump into action this morning, when I realized power had gone out just before I got out of bed. I ran the generator for several hours to make sure the batteries were fully charged. The solar panels helped a bit today, soaking up 3.7kWh of energy, which is a couple hours worth of the energy used on the island. There is lots of learning about off grid living.

Yesterday one of the juvenile males elephant seals left, bringing the population of elephant seals on the island from six to five.

A parcel of about 20 oystercatchers have been hanging out on the south side of the island. They mostly huddle on one leg with their beaks tucked into a wing.

The northeast winds have delivered presents in the form of free firewood to heat the ecoguardian’s house. Through some clumsy use of a pike pole and the tolerance of a nearby resting elephant seal, I managed to land a 6.5 metre log and drag it up the jetty ramp. I also gathered lots of smaller pieces. The wood will be left out in the rain for a while to wash off the salt, then chopped up into manageable pieces, and eventually put away to dry for next winter.

March 16 – Camera, Crane and Coruscating Sun

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Sunny
Wind: 5-16 knots from the SW and S in the early morning, NE until 17:00, SE for a few hours and calm after 20:00
Air Temperature: Low 6.6°C, High 10.3°C
Ocean Temperature: 8.9°C

The underwater camera is back up and running, after a few weeks offline. The power issue has been solved. Algae on the dome around the camera is partially obstructing the view, but it will be cleaned soon by divers from the college.

This afternoon, there were two low flying aircraft: a floatplane and a Search and Rescue Helicopter.

Three fishing boats passed through the ecological reserve today. One boat spent an hour fishing within the Rockfish Conservation Area, which is prohibited by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). The Rockfish Conservation Area is within the 40m depth contour of Great Race Rocks and Rosedale Reef, marked by the green buoy to the southeast of Great Race Rocks.

The crane needs to be run and serviced once a month. Today, it was used to lift a 12m log from the jetty beach to the boardwalk, where it will be chopped into firewood. In hindsight, it would have made it less challenging to cut the log in half while it was on the beach. Although, 6m sections wouldn’t have been as much fun to manoeuvre with the crane.

During the low tide in the afternoon, there was a large number of harbour seals and sea lions hauled out on the rocks. Two branded steller sea lions were seen on the South Islands. Both sea lions were branded as pups at Rogue Reef, Oregon. 524R was branded in 2007. 365Y was branded in 2013.

March 15 – Raining

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Rain (22.6 mm in total)
Wind: 2-9 knots NE in the morning, 4-29 knots NE to WSW in the afternoon/evening
Air Temperature: Low 6.3°C, High 8.9°C
Ocean Temperature: 9.0°C

The students visiting from Pearson were picked up this morning by Chris in Second Nature. They were a great help around the island for the past week as they helped clean and organize. They also pursued their own projects in diving, photography, identifying the flora and fauna, catching up on their studying and locating the mysterious secret room at Race Rocks.

The day was spent doing lots of odd jobs around the island: securing a large log for firewood, cleaning windows, de-algaefying buildings and computer work.

There were a lot of new puddles formed today in the grass and rocks. 22.6 mm of rain was recorded by the Davis weather station, which is located in the middle of Great Race near the flagpole.

A large river otter was spotted this morning scampering up the jetty beach, then underneath the boardwalk by the tank room.

March 9 – Pearson Project Week Visitors

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Fog overnight, sunny begining at 9:00
Wind: 6 – 27 knots W to SW
Air Temperature: High °C, Low °C
Ocean Temperature: 9°C

Five second year Pearson students came to Race Rocks this morning to spend part or all of Project Week. Yam, Sean, Martin, Neel and Bader will be exploring Race Rocks, helping out with tasks, studying and diving. Chunk came back onto the island just in time to welcome the visitors as they toured around the ecological reserve.

Yam helped shrink the firewood pile by the tank house by stacking it underneath the stairs of the Marine Science Centre. It will dry out over the summer and be ready to heat the Ecoguardian’s house next winter.

One eco tour boat visited the reserve today.