Tag Archives: humpback

Whale Palooza!

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I don’t think I could’ve looked in any direction today and NOT seen a whale, and thats saying a lot considering I have a 360 degree view of the ocean on this island.

As soon as the sun came up there were humpbacks on the horizon, some just passing by, others lunge feeding.

Around mid day multiple families of transient killer whales passed by the reserve, stopping just outside to hunt a sea lion. These families included 2 whales I have always wanted to see – T019B Galiano and T019C Spouter! They were breaching and tail slapping, putting on a great show for myself and the visiting Pearson students.

The day continued with more and more whales and no matter how many I see, it will never get old.

Facility Work:

  • Repair electric fence
  • Topped up diesel in the generator
  • Ran EQ charge on batteries 

Visitors:

  • 14 Pearson students + 1 teacher 
  • 4 contractors

Vessels:

  • Private: 2
  • Ecotourism: 14

Fog Horn Repair?

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Thursday September 12

Today Coast Guard came back to fix the Fog Horn. It is very loud.

Scott chopped a lot of wood that will be stacked up in the basement for use in the winter. We also received materials from Greg to build the electric fence around the North side of the island. That will be the weekend project.

The sunset today was beautiful, and there were so many humpback whales feeding in the distance!

  • Ran Generator
  • Ran Desalinator
  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Chopped Wood
  • Water Sample

Whale Watching Vessels: 17

Private Vessels: 3

Weather: Foggy Morning, dissipated in the afternoon. Winds W Built to 23 knts, 12 C

Upkeep Day

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Wednesday September 11

Similar day to yesterday! Did some weeding, weed whacking of the student house, made water and ran the generator.

  • Ran Generator
  • Ran Desalinator
  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Patched electric fence

Whale Watching Vessels: 10

Private Vessels: 1

Weather:  Mix of sun/cloud. Wind 8-12kts.

Fortifying Fence

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Saturday September 7 – Day 3

Our first day alone on station. We spent the morning refurbishing the fence that runs along the SW west portion of the island in front of the lighthouse down to the main residence.

It was super satisfying to have a unified barrier… until about four hours later… when some sections were promptly breached by our pinniped neighbours for the flat, comfy nesting spots they are protecting. The battle continues… Later in the evening we had to rescue our water sample bucket as an unnamed thrower let go of the rope.

  • Water Sample
  • Ran Generator
  • Washed Solar Panels
  • Repaired electric fence with anchored stanchions

Whale Watching Vessels: 20

Private Vessels: 6

Weather: Calm and Glassy, <5knts, Slightly Hazy/Overcast Wind picked up in the evening

Busy day

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Friday September 6 – Day 2

Today was another day of Visitors. Early in the morning, Greg dropped off a couple contractors to work on the windows in the Student Housing. We did our first clean of the solar panels. SO MUCH SEAGULL POOP.

Greg came back with all the materials to fortify the fencing that is supposed to keep the Sea Lions away from the Lighthouse infrastructure. I can confidently tell you that this fortification is needed.

At least 6 Humpback Whales feeding all day off the South and South West sides of the island. Greg swears he saw a full breach.. though we didn’t, and there are no photos soooooo……

  • Water Sample
  • Washed Solar Panels
  • Intro to rock drilling

Whale Watching Vessels: 15

Private Vessels: 3

Weather: Hot and Sunny, Calm and Glassy, <5knts

** So sunny we didn’t have to run the Generator all day

Farewell! (For Now)

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Well, just like that it’s been 6 weeks and it’s time for me to return to the mainland. The wind is gusting 65km/hour right now, giving me one final storm before my departure. The animals are all hidden away, protecting themselves from the weather. All except the male elephant seal who is still harassing the gulls.

I thought I’d wrap up my final blog post with my favourite photos and moments from this trip. I hope you enjoy as much as I did!

Pinnipeds:

Cetaceans:

Ollie the Sea Otter: 

Birds:

Northern Lights:

Sunsets:

That’s all from me for now, but I’ll be back! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

July 17 and 18

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Ecological Notes:

  • A large pod of humpbacks has been around Race Rocks for at least the past few days, with many visible to the south. Today, I saw a few blows and dorsal fins near north of Turbine Rocks (north of the main island), then near West Rocks. Unfortunately, I did not get any photos.
  • I keep seeing a fast moving barn swallow and fox sparrow fluttering low around the island. I only see one at a time, so it is possible there are more of each species. Similar to the humpbacks, the little birds don’t stop in one place long enough for a photo opportunity.
  • See the photo gallery below for more ecological happenings from the past two days.

Weather:

  • Yesterday (July 17):
    • Sky: Cloudy, heavy rain showers after sunset and overnight
    • Wind: W 14-25 kts
    • Sea: rippled, then up to 2′ chop in evening
    • Temperature Low 12oC, High 16oC
  • Today (July 18):
    • Sky: Partly Cloudy
    • Wind: W 12-30 kts
    • Sea: rippled, then 1′ chop in afternoon
    • Temperature Low 13oC, High 15oC

Visitors:

  • No visitors

Facility Work:

  • Scrubbed and squeegeed solar panels, routine tidying and checking infrastructure around the island.

 DND Events:

  • Between 10:20 and 13:20 today, there were three detonations on the nearby DND (Department of National Defence) training area on Bentinck Island, about 2km or 1NM from Great Race Rocks. The sudden explosions sent many birds into the air, as well as seals and sea lions into the water.

Vessel Traffic:

  • Many Canadian and American ecotour boats have been nearby and heading through the waters of the ecological reserve.

Here are photo highlights from the past two days. Click on the photos for larger views and captions.

Elephant Seal Bubbles

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This was my first full day at Race Rocks and it started with a fog check at 5 am. One of the volunteers from nearby Rocky Point Bird Observatory was interested in doing a simultaneous comparative seawatch from Beechey Head and Race Rocks to determine if the birds leaving Beechey also passed Race, and if so, how long it took.  The weather was clear, and the challenge was on!  But there was a glitch.  Nothing was passing Race Rocks, as there was a sea full of krill and to the west. I climbed the tower to do my watch, and found about 600 California Gulls already in the reserve picking at the krill near the water’s surface. The few alcids that made it here during the one hour watch (from 6:30-7:30) quickly set down rather than flying through. Most (if not all) of the birds Daniel counted at Beechey Head were not counted here.  We’ll try again.

Regurgitated krill

On a more entertaining note, the Elephant Seal went for a stroll today, all the way to the dock. I looked out the window at about 12:30, and there he wasn’t.  I ran out to see if he was really gone. Whew! Not yet!

He was working his way to the dock.

And eventually got to the water’s edge where he proceeded to stick his face in the water and blow bubbles. How exciting!! If you’d like to see some videos of this event, click here. (By the way, I am using a 600mm lens and keeping my distance!)

I was thrilled!  I thought it meant that he was on his way and could start eating again. Several wildlife watching vessels came by and were delighted to see him.  But apparently, this is a daily sojourn for him. Sure enough, as Greg Dickinson predicted, he returned to his resting spot after his trip to the beach!  Looks like he’s not done yet.

Ecological Notes:

1 Humpback Whale

Distant Humpback

1 Elephant Seal

6+ California Sea Lion

15+ Steller Sea Lion

80+ Harbour Seal

1 Feral Pigeon (Rock Pigeon) flew over while I was washing windows

1 Anna’s Hummingbird

2 Killdeer

6 Black Oystercatcher

It’s difficult to hide with a bright orange bill.

25 Black Turnstone

5 Least Sandpiper

18 Common Murre

80 Pigeon Guillemot

4 Rhinoceros Auklet

600 California Gull (feeding on krill at first light)

200 Glaucous-winged Gull

1 Heermann’s Gull

3 Pelagic Cormorant

4 Double-crested Cormorant

Facility Work: Washed all the windows and solar panels

Vessel Traffic: Eco-tourism boats all day, sometimes as many as 3 in the reserve at once. Estimate about 20 vessels. Only saw one private fishing boat in the reserve.

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

Weather – Past: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Baby Elephant Seal for the Holidays

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Newborn Elephant Seal pup! After a night of squawking we were met in the morning by this adorable squishy new baby. It makes the cutest sounds!

Weather: 2 days of over 30 knots. Sleet on the afternoon of December 21st after a morning of NW bringing lots of logs into the jetty.

Visitors: 4 tourism boats coming out to view wildlife. Coast Guard doing maneuvers in the crazy currents. Navy ship and submarine out for a jaunt.

 

Maintenance: Greg got the desalinator going. We got Ocean Network Canada’s equipment up and running, I’m told it measures the tides and currents using radar?! Pretty cool. Maybe the subject of a blog post already?

Wildlife: The Elephant Seals showed up in the first week of December, so we were expecting a few months of them hanging out on Race Rocks before anything significant happened. Just kidding! The lone female on the island (pink tag #2) gave birth at around 10pm on December 21st after a chilly afternoon with a bit of snow.

Baby Elephant Seal #1. Could be last years pup? They are thought to return to their same birthing/moulting grounds.

The big male that has been posted up with the female since the beginning of December seems to be pretty protective of the new baby, making sure the rowdy teen male seal knows he is not welcome around the female and pup. There is another large male hanging out next to the generator building, and a small male (possibly last years pup) was hanging out here for a few weeks before heading back into the ocean.

The big male chased the female around the island for a few days before she found her favourite spot and posted up. Turns out those rocks right in from of her is the best nursery.

Momma Seal: Pink tag #2

Having a well deserved rest with her newborn the the giant male stands guard for other males.

We’ve still got lots of California and Steller Sea Lions hanging out on the island/jetty, with lots of bait balls and kelp rafts drifting by. There’s been at least 2 humpbacks feeding between Race Rocks and Edye Point for a few days.

 

Only 1 gull has died in the last week, and was pretty quickly eaten by a couple of eagles.

Because every Race Rocks blog should feature a lighthouse photo.

 

Seagull Stones and Census

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Weather Today: 

  • Visibility 10 NM
  • Sky overcast
  • Wind 10-15 knots SW
  • Calm seas earlier in the day, rougher later on – swells 1-2m high

Visitors and traffic: 

  • Some old equipment is being moved to land, so there have been a couple of runs back and forth to the college.
  • The usual 5 or so whale watching vessels daily, very few pleasure craft as the weather gets worse.

Ecological Notes: 

  • We have been seeing whales every day, both humpbacks and orcas!
  • We thought the sea lions were beginning to move along for good but they came back – it has been interesting to observe how suddenly it can go from a couple hundred hauled out to perhaps only 50. They must leave in the night as we have yet to notice it as it happens.
  • Unfortunately we have another sea lion hanging around that has plastic around its neck.
  • While doing some work on the jetty today I (Kai) noticed an interesting pile of small stones piled up in a corner of the railing. We often see seagulls, especially the ones that look younger, playing with rocks of the same size. They are usually together in a group of 2-4 and they’ll take turns moving a rock around, holding it in their beak, and trying to take it away from each other. It seems plausible that the seagulls placed the rocks there, we haven’t seen other animals interacting with each other and objects this way.

Some photos from the last couple of days:

Census:

65 Harbour Seals

457 California Sea Lions

737 Cormorants

4 Eagles

17 Geese

4 Oyster Catchers

13 Black Turnstone

3 Humpback Whales

221 Seagulls

184 Stellar Sea Lions