Tag Archives: harbour seal

March 19 – Last Day of Winter- Census

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Raining
Wind: NE 4-14 knots
Air Temperature: Low 8.8°C, High 10.3°C
Ocean Temperature: 8.8°C

The wet conditions were helpful with cleaning some exterior walls and windows. The rain water cistern was filled up from the roof. The rain also helped wash away the algae and slime on the walls, along with some scrubbing.

The low light and rain made the census difficult. In recent days, there has been a much higher number of harbour seals hauled out on the rocks. The sea lions also spent most of the day in the water. It was not possible to distinguish between the species of cormorants on Turbine or Middle Rock.

There were no boats seen in the reserve today.

Census results:
Steller Sea Lion: 59
California Sea Lion: 62
Harbour Seal: 21
Bald Eagle: 7
Cormorant: 27
Canada Goose: 24
Gull: 352
Black Oystercatcher: 4
Harlequin Duck: 9
Pigeon Guillemot: 13
Surfbird: 4
Black Turnstone: 16
Rock Sandpiper: 6
Savannah Sparrow: 1

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 13 – Finding Nests and Making Water

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Cloudy with sunny breaks
Wind: 2-14 knots, NE in morning SE in afternoon
Air temperature: Low 8.7°C, High 11.3°C
Ocean temperature: 9.0°C

A bazaar of 27 pigeon guillemots spent the morning on the wharf, nearby rocks and occasionally gathering in the water to float through Middle Channel. They appeared to be checking out nesting sites on the rocks between the wharf and helicopter pad. They like nesting in the crevices and under the blasted rocks on the northwest side of Great Race.

The visiting students helped unroll the fire hoses to pump salt water into the cistern, which is underground between the lighthouse and the Ecoguardian’s house. The water from the cistern is pumped through the desalinator. This afternoon, the desalinator ran for eight hours, producing about 700 litres of fresh water.

There were three eco tour boats and two recreational boats in the ecological reserve today.

March 12 – Sunny Census Thursday

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Sunny
Wind: 0-13 knots SW in the morning, NE from mid morning to afternoon and SW in the evening
Air Temperature: Low 9.9°C, High 13.2°C
Ocean Temperature: 9.0°C

Three Pearson students came to Race Rocks this morning. Karen, Sunny and Hanne joined Martin, who has been here since Monday.

The students did some work this afternoon: sweeping all 99 steps of the lighthouse and continuing the process of stowing the chopped wood in all the nooks and crannies of the buildings, to be used next winter to heat the main house.

There was DND blasting happening in the morning and early afternoon on Bentinck Island, less than 1km away from the ecological reserve.

Today’s high temperature of 13.2°C, as measured at the ground weather station, was the highest recorded since 2006, when the weather station was installed. A high of 14°C was recorded by the instruments at the top of the lighthouse.

Three eco tour boats visited the reserve. One boat came very close to a group of sea lions swimming and others hauled out on the South Islands.

The low tide of 1.1m at 13:52, exposed lots of species from the low tide zone into the air. The shore and tidal pools were full of life: mussels, barnacles, limpets and lots of other flora and fauna of the sea. The oystercatchers and shore birds were having a feast.

There were no small birds perching birds seen today. There are usually a few fox, sparrows, savannah sparrows and occasionally juncos and robins zipping around the island.

Here are the results from today’s Megafauna Census:
Elephant Seal: 1
Steller Sea Lion: 54
California Sea Lion: 43
Harbour Seal: 52
Bald Eagle: 9
Great Blue Heron: 1
Crow: 1
Oystercatcher: 4
Double Crested Cormorant: 12
Brandt’s Cormorant: 21
Gull: 247
Canada Goose: 14
Pigeon Guillemot: 9
Harlequin Duck: 13
Surfbird: 3
Black Turnstone: 10
Rock Sandpiper: 2

March 5 – Census Thursday

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Sunny with occasional clouds
Wind: 0-5 knots from N and switching around to SW throughout the day
Air temperature: High 10C, Low 6C
Ocean temperature: 8.9C

A great blue heron hung out on northeast side of Great Race for the afternoon. The oystercatchers are travelling around in pairs and are quite vocal. The gulls have spread themselves out around the island as they start to find nesting sites. Chunk returned to Great Race during the night. He spent the day resting against a boulder and the rock below the helicopter pad. The female elephant seal is relaxing in the same spots as yesterday, to the west of the main house.

Today’s census results:
Elephant Seal: 2
Steller Sea Lion: 18
California Sea Lion: 28
Harbour Seal: 41
Bald Eagle: 6 (3 adult, 3 juvenile)
Raven: 2
Great Blue Heron: 1
Double Crested Cormorant: 9
Brandt’s Cormorant: 15
Black Oystercatcher: 8
Canada Goose: 17
Pigeon Guillemot: 36
Gull: 103
Harlequin Duck: 11
Surfbird: 2
Black Turnstone: 15
Savannah Sparrow: 1

One eco tour boat and one recreational boat visited the reserve today.

End of Shift

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The wind blew from the northeast at 13-26 knots.  A small swell with whitecaps blew in from the northeast.  The barometer dropped from 1024 hPa to 1015 hPa.  The temperature reached a high of 5oC at 15:00.

There were no boats seen within the reserve today.

Everyday there appears to be fewer gulls and sea lions in the reserve.  An official count will happen on Thursday with the census.  There are still a lot of cormorants congregating on the shores of Great Race, as well as Turbine Rock and North Rocks.  The harbour seals are hauling out at low tides on various rocky ledges close to the shoreline.

Today was filled with cleaning and wrapping up some tasks that I’ve been doing while here for the past five weeks: construction in the basement of the Marine Science Centre, sorting out photos, and cutting up firewood that was collected at the shore and piled up by the tank house to get the salt rinsed off by the rain. Tomorrow is a shift change that will see Alex arrive for the winter shift.  I’ve had a great time as the Ecoguardian, learning lots from the species and history of this beautiful piece of land and sea.

Sun and Calm Seas

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The wind blew from the north between 13-15 knots, until 10:00 this morning.  Then the wind shifted towards to northeast and calmed down to between 2-9 knots.  The sea was very calm, with no swells or whitecaps.  The barometer rose from 1020 hPa to 1024 hPa. The temperature increased slowly throughout the day from 1-4oC.

There were no boats seen in the reserve today.

If solar panels could be happy, they would have been happy today.  The sun shone brightly, juicing up the photovoltaic cells.  It wasn’t enough to melt all of the snow and ice, which remains in patches around the islands.  Some of the plants have begun to wilt from the prolonged cold weather.

I made a trip into Pedder Bay this afternoon.  Having been solo for the past two weeks at Race Rocks, it was great to catch up with some students and staff at Pearson.  I also dropped off garbage and picked up gas.  The northern half of Pedder Bay was frozen over with ice that was 2-3cm thick.  It made boat travel tricky.  Luckily there was a lane of broken ice just wide enough for the Boston Whaler to travel from the Pearson dock to the Pedder Bay Marina, where the gas was filled.  Unlike driving a car on ice, a boat stops when you hit ice, so it’s much easier to handle.  On the return trip to Race Rocks, I saw a large group of surf scoters between the mouth of the Pedder Bay and Race Rocks.

Snow Day!

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The wind was howling up to 38 knots from the north northeast last night, bringing with it a low of -2oC and a couple centimetres of snow.  The temperature stayed just below 0oC for the rest of the day.  The barometer rose from 999 hPa to 1022 hPa throughout the day, making for a bluebird sky.  During the daylight hours, the wind continued to blow from the north northeast between 10 and 20 knots.

There was one whale watching boat seen in the reserve in the mid afternoon.  Six divers from Ogden Point were exploring the undersea world of the reserve in the late morning.

The snow didn’t seem to faze the animals.  The sea lions barked just as loud and the bald eagles tormented the gulls just as much.  Some of the snow melted from the sun.  There is still ice on some of the paths and rocks, as well as a light dusting of snow on the grass and in the places that were shaded by buildings and rocks.

Other than taking photos of snow, the tasks of the day included: running the desalinator, topping up the batteries with the generator, deconstructing the old washroom in the basement of the Marine Science Centre to accommodate the new composting toilet (it’s almost finished), fixing the wheelbarrow, testing the salinity and temperature of the water, and doing a load of laundry.

Weekly Census

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The wind varied in velocity and direction throughout the day.  Fog settled in overnight as the wind blew between 15-25 knots from the southwest.  In the daylight hours, the wind blew from the south and west between 7-32 knots.  The barometer dropped slightly from 1008 hPa to 1004 hPa.  It was overcast with patches of sun and rain throughout the day. The temperature reached a high of 12.8oC at noon.

There was one whale watching boat seen in the reserve, in the mid afternoon.

I saw humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) twice today, both times from the kitchen window.  The whales were surfacing just south of Great Race Rocks, within the boundaries of the Ecological Reserve.  At 9:30am, I saw two humpbacks blow, surface and dive westward.  At 3:20pm, I saw one humpback surface and dive eastward.  I am not positive if they were different whales, so I counted them as two in the census.

Two branded steller sea lions were seen seen today.  76Y was a pup in 2002 when it was branded in St. George Reef, California.  443Y was branded in 2013, when it was a pup at Rogue Reef, Oregon.

Here are the results of the weekly census:

Humpback Whale: 2
Steller Sea Lion: 244
California Sea Lion: 216
Harbour Seal: 39
Northern Elephant Seal: 4
Bald Eagle: 5 (2 adults, 3 juveniles)
Canada Goose: 18
Crow: 2
Harlequin Duck: 4
Double Crested Cormorant: 61
Pelagic Cormorant: 142
Black Oystercatcher: 25
Gull: 411
Black Turnstone: 8
Rock Sandpiper: 6
Surfbird: 11
Savannah Sparrow: 2
Fox Sparrow: 2

Weekly Census of Race Rock’s Megafauna

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The wind blew about 10 knots from the north.  The barometer rose overnight from 1009 hPa to 1013 hPa as the sun set at 16:29, beginning to drop in the evening.  The sea was rippled.  The sky was mostly overcast with some breaks of sun and occasional light rain showers.  It hasn’t rained here during the day (possibly at all) in about two weeks.

There was one whale watching boat seen in the reserve today.  It spent a lot of time near the southern side Race Rocks, where the whale watching boats don’t usually go. Three small grey inflatable military boats sped around the edge of the reserve at 15:00, coming within less than a hundred meters of the islands.  After their circuit, they headed back towards the navy base.

Here are the results of the weekly census:

Steller Sea Lion: 263
California Sea Lion: 208
Harbour Seal: 7
Northern Elephant Seal: 5
Bald Eagle: 4 (2 adults, 2 juveniles)
Canada Goose: 9
Harlequin Duck: 3
Double Crested Cormorant: 44
Pelagic Cormorant: 147
Black Oystercatcher: 10
Gull: 396
Black Turnstone: 20
Rock Sandpiper: 3
Surfbird: 17
Fox Sparrow: 1

As always, there were variations in the numbers seen since last week.  There were fewer harbour seals.  I checked them throughout the day, the most I was able to see at one time were seven, scattered around the many small islands.  The tide was fairly high during the daylight hours, which tends to not be good hauling out conditions for the seals.  There were more smaller birds seen this week.  It was easier to spot smaller birds this week because of the lower wind speed.  I had a tough time distinguishing the rock sandpipers amongst the surfbirds.  While they look very similar, the surfbirds are a bit larger and have shorter bills.  See if you can tell the difference in the photos below.