Tag Archives: full moon

Full Moon Tuesday

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I woke up quite early this morning (not difficult when the seagulls keep jumping around on your roof, and the sea lions continuously bark at one another…!), and was rewarded with the most astonishing full moon:

The moon (!), the stars, and Race Rocks Lighthouse

The clear night translated into a beautiful sunny morning, so I headed up the ladder to the roof of the generator room to give the solar panels a good scrub and maximise energy generation…

Everyone’s favourite task…

… and duly managed to run the desalinator purely off solar power from just before noon until around 3:30, when the clouds started to fall in.

Generation eventually went as high as 5kw!

 

Ecological Notes: 

  • The juvenile male elephant seal continues to hang out on the island, whereas I didn’t spot either of the females all day.

    Always keeping a watchful eye in between snoozes…

  • Sea lion numbers continue to increase steadily: it’ll be interesting what tomorrow’s census yields

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

 

Facility Work:

  • Solar Panel clean
  • Stagnant Water removal and Anti-Algae Treatment of Generator Room roof to ensure it doesn’t become treacherous to work up there
  • Topped up generator fuel
  • Hoisted new flag

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • No visits to the reserve
  • Extensive coastguard exercises on both sides of the Strait

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

 

A Big Storm + Lots of Birds! (census)

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Weather Today: 

  • Visibility 14 NM
  • Sky partially overcast
  • 30-55 Knots SW
  • Sea state: swells up to 2m, otherwise 3-4+ ft chop

Visitors/Traffic: Nothing other than a few fishing and shipping vessels in the strait.

Ecological Notes: 

  • We found another apparently healthy gull dead today; this is the fourth one since the beginning of the month. We now have two preserved for necropsy, which we hope to transport to land soon to be investigated. They have all displayed the same odd symptoms: weakness in the wings progressing to unable to move, wings dropping to the sides, and unable to make any sound.
  • This week there have been an incredible number of cormorants in the reserve! An underrated bird, they are very fun to watch as they waddle, preen, and fish.
  • We’ve been noticing some fungi popping up around the island now that we are into the rainy season! Photos below. These are in addition to the shaggy mane mushrooms we found last spring fruiting beside the composters.
  • Last week we spotted another “neck wrap”: a california sea lion with some kind of pollution material embedded into his neck. Unfortunately it seems that he is no longer present in the reserve, making a rescue improbable.

Census:

  • 4 black oystercatchers
  • 1 dunlin
  • 1 ruddy turnstone
  • 9 black turnstones
  • 3 surfbirds
  • 500 Thayer’s gulls
  • 17 Canada geese
  • 1550 Cormorants (wow!)
  • 2 bald eagles
  • 100 stellar sea lions
  • 502 California sea lions
  • 2 harbour seals

April 7 and 8

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Wind: yesterday W 0-34 knots, today E in am SE in pm 0-16 knots
Sea State: both days calm
Visibility: yesterday 10-15 NM, today 15 NM
Sky: yesterday partly cloudy in morning, clear onwards, today clear
Temperature: yesterday 8-11 °C, today 6-13 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 415.60 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

A sea otter spent most of yesterday afternoon in the South Channel between South Islands and South Seal Rocks. It ate clams, cleaned itself and rested on the rocks. When it dove underwater to grab some more food, I approached to get a closer view from an indent in rocks on South Seal Rocks. See the 16 second video below.

The last elephant seal pup appears to have left today. She was swimming in the jetty bay for most of the day. When I went out in the boat this afternoon, she was floating by the rocks to the north of the jetty bay. When I returned, she wasn’t there anymore or on the land. All three surviving pups left the island within a week of being three months old. The two others haven’t returned. Presumably, they are off feeding themselves after teaching themselves to swim over the past two months, since they weaned from their mothers.

I moved four wheelbarrows of the remainder of this winter’s supply of wood from the cupboards beside the Energy Building to the basement of the house. That wood should last for any cool or damp days of the spring or fall. I fixed some loose boards on the winch deck and boardwalk. Over the winter, the sea lions were rough on that deck.

A single blast was heard yesterday morning just after 11:00, coming from the demolition training area at Rocky Point.

One pleasure boat was seen in the ecological reserve this evening. The Race Rocks station boat was out this afternoon for a quick trip to Pearson College to pick up groceries.

  • Just a few big chunks of fir and skin around her middle remain to moult. T562/T653 is almost done.
  • Sea otter swimming in South Channel in the clear water, as seen from the lantern room of the tower
  • Deconstructed shore crab
  • Watching a sea otter from the south side of the island yesterday evening. See the video below.
  • The full moon rising yesterday evening just after sunset
  • When I headed out in the boat in the late afternoon, the youngest elephant seal pup was floating in the water by the rocks, near a resting california sea lion.
  • The view of the ecological reserve coming out of Pedder Bay, passing Bentinck Island.
A video of a sea otter cleaning itself on the south end of the island. A california sea lion pops up twice.

Elephant Seal Pup Posse and Orcas

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Wind: yesterday 2-7 knots from NW to SE, today 0-15 knots from N to E
Sea State: both days calm
Visibility: both days 15 NM
Sky: both days clear
Temperature: both days 3-7 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 414.30 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

The wind has been relatively calm over the past two days. Along with clear skies, it’s been very delightful here. This morning, the three elephant seal pups began hanging out all together for the first time. I saw their slide marks coming from different directions across the frosty grass towards the bushes in the middle of the island.

This morning at 8:45, I was at the kitchen sink doing dishes and looking out the window, I spotted a pod of orcas splashing just south of the island. When I went out to get a closer look, it appeared the pod of five to seven orcas were hunting a harbour seal or sea lion. The orcas were swimming in circles and splashing around. A few sea lions were looking on from nearby shallower water. The orcas are most likely transient or bigg’s, which hunt marine mammals.

Five visitors from Pearson College were on the island today to remove 16 old batteries and three empty diesel drums. They each weigh 250 lbs, so two trips were made to keep the boat seaworthy. Thanks for the great work Corey, Giovanny, Greg, Jake and Lawrence.

Other than the Pearson boat, there were four boats in the ecological reserve over the past two days. Yesterday, three tour boats stopped by for a look. Today one pleasure craft went through Middle Channel.

See the photos of some views from the past two days:

A short video of the orca pod just south of the island today. I was standing by the surge channel near the Science House. The bird that flies across the frame is a juvenile bald eagle. You can see the sea lions on the left side looking on. The orcas might be hunting a sea lions or seals. I will provide an update if the pod is identified.

Weekly Census

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Wind: yesterday 3-32 knots from NE to S to W, today 3-45 knots from W to S
Sea State: yesterday rippled with chop up to 1 m in evening, today chop up to 1 m, then rippled in afternoon
Visibility: yesterday 5-10 NM, today 10-15NM
Sky: yesterday overcast and rain, today clear
Temperature: yesterday 5-9 °C, today 7-9 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 414.11 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

Results of weekly megafauna and bird census from Saturday, February 8:
9 elephant seals (2 female adults, 4 male adults, 2 female pups, 1 male pup)
169 steller sea lions
202 california sea lions
29 harbour seals
41 bald eagles (37 adults, 4 juveniles)
1 raven
19 brandt’s cormorants
138 pelagic cormorants
65 double-crested cormorants
4 canada geese
412 gulls (most are thayer’s gulls)
20 black oystercatchers
2 surf scoters
20 harlequin ducks
35 surfbirds
26 black turnstones
1 snow bunting
1 fox sparrow

Yesterday in the morning, three members of the Coast Guard came in a helicopter to do a routine check on some equipment on the island. The pilot phoned ahead to confirm the best place to land to try to avoid disturbing the animals. They landed on the helicopter pad. Sometimes they land on the grass at the base of the lighthouse. The Coast Guard guys were excited to see the elephant seals, which they hadn’t seen before. Usually when they fly into the lightstations up the coast, they see a lot of sea lions.

In the afternoon yesterday, three visitors from Pearson College came to the island to have a tour.

The only other boats that were seen in the ecological reserve were two tour boats this afternoon.

See the photos below for some views from the last two days.