Red Sky in the Morning, Sailors Take Warning.

Posted on Sunday,October 19, 2014 by Anne Stewart

Today was a transitional day that started with a spectacular sunrise of backlit clouds with lots of pinks and reds. That was a warning of things to come. It didn’t blow much until just before sunset and then switched from the dithering north and northeast winds of the daytime to a steady westerly of 20 knots, gusting to over 25 knots. The rain was not far behind.

This warm blow feels and smells like a pineapple express, even above the essence of sea lion. The barometer track from last night to this one was a diagonal drop but the forecast shows some hope for sunshine tomorrow and then back to southeast.

There were ten commercial whale watching boat visits to the Ecological Reserve today and even more activity in Race Passage. There were multiple Humpback Whales in the neighbourhood again today. It was also a busy day for sports-fishing boats and people racing around in speedboats. There were several speeders in the Ecological Reserve including a young family who had rented at Pedder Bay marina.

A Harbour Seal hauls out in the Jetty bay most afternoons now. It is very photogenic with its little pink tongue and great stretches. Check-out those not so cute, formidable looking nails (aka claws).

Another favorite resident here is the Black Oystercatcher.

I did the usual chores today, clean-up, wash solar panels, sample seawater and run the generator for a couple of hours to top up the batteries. I tried unsuccessfully (again) to fix the wind direction input on the weather station and to get the weed-eater going.

Gentle Breezes

Posted on Saturday,October 18, 2014 by Anne Stewart

There were gentle breezes from the north and northeast with mostly sunny skies today, a nice reprieve from yesterday. There was no groundswell and the barometer continued its 20 degree climb until late afternoon. As the sun set, the breeze swung over to the southwest and now that is night, it is back to northwest. The outlook is a switch back to southeast winds as another low approaches.

There was quite a bit of fishing activity in the distance around Race Rocks but nothing observed in the Ecological Reserve itself. Cedar, a sailboat registered in Victoria cut right across the kelp beds north and east of Turbine Rock, under power and managed to come out the other side without stalling or snagging a rock.

No problem cutting right through kelp beds, heading for the haul-out.

A few sports-fishers passed through, doing the speed limit with two exceptions.

Perhaps speed limit signs need to be installed or the DFO notice needs to be recirculated?

Perhaps speed limit signs need to be installed or DFO notice needs to be recirculated?

Ogden Point Dive boat, JdF Warrior spent the day, as is usual on Saturdays, diving in the Ecological Reserve.

This boat brings divers to the Ecological Reserve every Saturday, for multiple dives.

Up to three o’clock, just one whale watching boat was observed in the Reserve. After three-thirty a dozen boats went through on their way, to and from the whales.

It was a quiet day until mid afternoon, in terms of ecological observations. I finally got a photo of one of the Killdeer that I hear calling just about every night. Until today I have just had glimpses of it in the dark.

I finally saw one of the mysterious Killdeer that usually arrive after dark and leave before dawn. The distinctive call drew me to the bird.

There didn’t seem to be much happening so I had a look at the underwater camera and in a few minutes had seen three species of rockfish, Sebastes melanops, s. maliger and S. nebulosus, large, adult male and large female greenlings and then of course the lavendar carpet of coralline algae, orange cup-corals Balanophyllia elegans, the ubiquitous red urchins, Stronglyocentrotus fransiscanus and the beautiful white plumose anemones Metridium farcimen. Wow, that is a window on the underwater world.

Marine protected areas can grow big healthy, rockfish like this one that will then disperse young to adjacent fishing areas.

Marine protected areas can grow big healthy, rockfish like this one that will then disperse young to populate adjacent fishing areas.

After 3PM there was an explosion of cetacean activity and mixed species feeding aggregations all around Race Rocks. I didn’t see any whales right in the Ecological Reserve but they had the place surrounded. There were at least four Humpback Whales and three separate pods of Killer Whales.

Multiple pods of Killer Whales were feeding in the vicinity of Race Rocks today.

The Humpbacks were breaching and fin slapping as well as exhibiting their more dignified behaviours of blowing and diving. A whale watching boat skipper said on the VHF radio, that he had seen seven Humpbacks between Secretary and Race Rocks and there were at least another two to the east of Race Rocks. The Killer Whales were slowly heading to the west and again the whale watchers said that there were both Southern Residents (J & K) and transient or Bigg’s Killer Whales to the east of Race. The Sea Lions were also off foraging today and groups of Steller Sealions could be seen working feed together in Race Passage and beyond. There were many thousands of birds forming some really huge, mixed species, feeding flocks to the southeast. Race Rocks really is an amazing location for both biodiversity and productivity.

Now to the more mundane: for an unknown maintenance experience, I tackled the grease gun today and greased the nipples on the desalinator and the winch. I continued to clean the roof of the energy building but its low centre and dam forming aluminum struts are starting to frustrate my efforts.

It was so nice in the afternoon, I thought I would make more hay for the compost but was sorely defeated by the weed-eater, which refused to start. This was the beginning of my mechanical problems. Next, I went to run the desalinator and the high-pressure pump wouldn’t start. My faith in engineering was restored by the trusty Lister generator. At the turn of the switch, it whined and roared into life and topped up the solar powered batteries for the island. With another turn of the switch it shuddered and stopped and silently cools as I write this blog.

The Tie That Binds

Posted on Thursday,October 16, 2014 by Anne Stewart

It was another northeast day, with really not much happening weather wise. It blew NE about ten knots, was mostly overcast in the morning, with some sun in the afternoon. The barometer rose gradually all morning and then started to slowly slide after noon. It is expected that tomorrow’s southeast will bring rain, starting late tonight.

The whale watching boats were busy in the afternoon with Humpback Whales to the southeast of Race Rocks and more activity out to the west. A total of eight tour boats were seen in the Ecological Reserve.

Today was mega-fauna census day and these are the results:
Steller Sealion 298
California Sealion 508
Harbour Seal 79
Northern Elephant Seal 9
River Otter 2
Canada Goose 22
Greater White-fronted Goose 1
Harlequin Duck 5
Double-crested Cormorant 61
Pelagic Cormorant 15
Black Turnstone 9
Surfbird 5
Black Oystercatcher 38
Glaucous-winged Gull 145
Thayer’s Gull 1482
California Gull 3
Western Gull 7
Heermann’s Gull 35
Gull sp. 52
Common Murre 1
Common Raven 2
Fox Sparrow 2
Savannah Sparrow 15

Here are a couple of shots of Surfbirds, alone and with Black Turnstones.

Surfbirds resting in the Jetty Bay.

The census was challenging due to the numbers and species of gulls and the fact that both Steller Sealion and Harbour Seal numbers were lower than expected during the morning count, so they were re-counted in the early evening. I generally like to count Harbour Seals on the morning low tide but the tide wasn’t really doing much today. The evening counts were higher for both the Steller and the Harbour Seals. Two new Elephant Seals arrived today. They are both moulting, the smaller one hung out with the dual tagged three year-old, which appears to be staying on. The bigger animals may have gone back to Middle Rock as there were still six animals visible there.

Ring-necked animals as well as tagged and branded animals were also re-surveyed today. I am still working on the branding data from a month ago. Two of the ring-necked Steller Sealions that have been observed since August are still here and languishing as the plastic straps cut into the backs of their necks. I am putting out an appeal to the disentanglement crew again.

The second ring-necked animal ‘highlighted’ here is also branded on its’ left side 946R. I believe that it was branded at its’ natal colony which from the R should be Rogue Reef in southern Oregon. From the number it was branded after 2009 but I will find out more.

If it is not lying on its’ left side this ring-necked Steller’s Sealion is easy to tell apart from the others.

Like the other Steller it has plastic strapping, which is visible on the ventral surface.

This is a bit gory but I hope it will inspire the disentanglement team to come to Race Rocks.

The Atlin Post passed by Race Rocks today but did not slow. Must have been in a hurry.

Did not do much maintenance today other than the basic cleaning, making water with the desalinator and electricity with the generator.

Musical Rocks at the Race

Posted on Tuesday,October 14, 2014 by Anne Stewart

It was another north-easterly day, with an ocean swell running up and down the islets of the Race. Although it was mostly overcast in the morning, periods of sunshine dominated and it was a pleasant, autumn day. The barometer continued to climb until about noon and then slipped back down, but not as far as yesterday’s low. The marine forecast is for variable winds in the morning and west Wednesday evening with periods of rain during the day.

In the pinniped world of Race Rocks, haul-outs are shifting around like musical chairs. Steller Sea lions are now abundant on North Rock, which in September was the exclusive domain of Harbour Seals. There is a small Harbour Seal hauling out in the jetty bay now and most of the California Sea Lions have moved to the south and west side of Great Race. Middle Rock, which had ten Elephant Seals, a few weeks ago, now has over one hundred Steller Sea Lions and five of the Elephant Seals have moved back onto Great Race. They arrived all wet and big-eyed this morning and moved in for all day slumbering. All of these pinnipeds make interesting sounds, music to their ears, I am sure, and they all distinctly different. More on that another day.

It is quite delightful what you can see out your kitchen window here. I looked out while doing dishes this evening and saw two large Humpback Whales to the south, just outside the Ecological Reserve near Rosedale Reef. There were no boats around, just the two of them blowing and diving, circling around in the same area, taking fairly short dives and showing their big flukes in a beautiful display of might and grace. The dishes were quickly superseded with the spotting scope and binoculars. A sport fishing boat approached, slowed and stopped a respectful distance away and just sat there taking it all in, for a long time. When they left the scene, they did so slowly, giving the whales a wide berth. I believe that this sort of respect insures a better viewing experience as well as protecting the whales. Earlier in the day, I stopped for tea and was just heading for my book when I looked out the kitchen window and saw this plain, medium-sized shorebird foraging with the Canada Geese. It was a Dunlin in winter plumage.

Routine maintenance was augmented with getting the Underwater Video Camera (Camera #2 on this web-site) hooked up to the Internet and starting winter preparations such as getting the furnace running. I had hoped to join the marine science class by boat for their kelp forest adventure but the swell and wind waves were a bit too large to launch and retrieve the boat.

Thanksgiving Edition (No Turkeys Here.)

Posted on Sunday,October 12, 2014 by Anne Stewart

The day started with a hazy, overcast sky and an ocean swell rolling in from the open Pacific. Although visibility was 10 to 15 nautical miles, the marine air gave everything a soft, muted look and both Port Angeles and Victoria looked further away than they actually are. In the morning, winds were light to gentle breezes starting in the southwest and swinging over to southeast. In the afternoon it shifted to north-northeast and became noticeably colder and wetter.
The ocean swell became dramatic by mid-afternoon, exploding over north rock and making a rolling break into the jetty bay, surging right over the jetty. Although the barometer was higher today than it has been all week, it is now slowly dropping and Monday ‘s forecast is for more clouds, wind and rain. Hmmm sounds like October.

Whale watching activity was fairly brisk today with seven boats in the Ecological Reserve. Everyone was fairly well behaved. Seaking Adventures was certainly giving a lot of throttle in the Reserve, crossing from Great Race over to North Rock but that may have been because he was bucking the tide. There were also a couple of sports-fishing boats passing through the Reserve in a hurry, Foghorn Charters was one of those two.

Some operators may not know that the speed limit is only 7 knots within the Reserve.

A large Humpback Whale passed through the Reserve westbound, late afternoon, there were no whale watching boats around.

A lot more gulls arrived with the cool wet weather and are roosting just about everywhere on Great Race now. I am curious what the numbers will be for this week’s census on Wednesday.
California Gulls resting and preening on Great Race.[/caption]

Western Gulls are a little north of their usual range here and hard to distinguish from Glaucous-winged X Western Gull hybrids.

With the influx of California Gulls it is going to be tricky distinguishing and counting all the large gulls. A gull that is easy to distinguish and also a favorite of mine, is the Heerman’s Gull.

Heerman’s Gulls are our most exotic looking gulls.

Another avian visitor spotted today was the small to medium sized sandpiper pictured below, I think it is a Western Sandpiper but would like confirmation.

There were two young Elephant Seals on Great Race today and one of them was “tagged as a weiner in 2012” at Ano Nuevo Island in California “and hasn’t been seen since, so this is an important data point” according to Dr. Patrick Robinson, Año Nuevo Island Reserve Director.

The second Elephant Seal was sleeping on the marine railway in the morning.

Race Rocks has become Canada’s main Elephant Seal colony. It is important as a fall haul-out location for sub-adults, as well as a winter birthing and mating site and spring moulting site.
Race Rocks is an ecological treasure located at a key location next to busy shipping lanes and popular sport-fishing grounds. I am thankful to those who had the vision to protect this amazing area and thankful to be able to experience it.

Out of the Fog

Posted on Monday,October 6, 2014 by Anne Stewart

I returned to Race Rocks today after attending the Trans-Atlantic workshop on Ocean Literacy and the European Marine Science Educator’s conference last week, in Gothenburg, Sweden. I am refreshed and inspired to finish off my shift at Race Rocks.
It was warm and sunny when Courtney and I left Pearson College in Pedder Bay this morning but as we drove southeast towards Race Rocks, we were soon enveloped in the cool, damp fog. As the sunny peaks of the Olympic Mountains slid out of view, obscured by fog, the dark shape of North Islet emerged and behind it came Great Race and the light-tower, out of the fog. It is great to be back and was just as great for Jeff, who was filling in, to leave.
It was foggy on and off all day with a few periods of sunshine with visibility of over a nautical mile. Throughout the day, the foghorn blew and I could hear ships signaling as they navigated the Strait of Juan de Fuca in the fog. There was no wind for most of the day but it has been consistently blowing about ten knots out of the west for the past several hours and the fog is thickening.
The fog did not deter the whale watching boats as there were Humpback Whales feeding in the area today and the last cruise ship of the season in port. One smaller Humpback was diving and presumably feeding right in the Ecological Reserve diving against the flooding tide. I wonder if they can use the flow to their advantage in feeding more efficiently with less effort? Natural history speculation aside, the count of observed whale watching boats from 11:00 to 19:00 (dusk) was thirteen with some vessels visiting more than once.
The Chum Salmon run started in earnest while I was away and there appears to be fewer sea lions hauled out than there were before. There are many in the water however. Sea lions of both species are very busy eating Chum Salmon with most of the kills I observed, happening right in or at the edge of the tidal flows. They thrash the fish and rip it apart at the surface and swallow large chunks tail last at the surface as well. This source of scraps, of course attracts gulls. Several species of gull were seen in these sea lion driven feeding flocks today; Glaucous-winged, Hermann’s, Thayer’s and Ring-billed Gulls. There were three or four fairly hefty Elephant Seals hanging around the marine railway today. They have such huge eyes and such clean looking pink mouths. Many of the Sea Lions have serious tooth decay and oral disease.

While I was away there were several a visits to the island. The Victoria Natural History Society made it part of their birding trip on September 27, sixteen friends of the Royal BC Museum made a visit October 4th and a family visit was made by by Mike and Carol Slater, one of their daughters and several grand-children. Mike and Carol were the last light-keepers at Race Rocks and the first Eco-Guardians. They survived some epic storms and I am sure they have some great stories to tell. If you are interested in the “contemporary” history of Race Rocks, there is a lot of information on this web-site, including ancient videos, images and even historic weather events.

My main tasks today were to get moved back into the house, to do the seawater sampling, fix the pier fence and run the generator for a few hours in order to top up the batteries. There is new clean oil in the Lister gen-set and new filters etc. thanks to Jeff. The old Lister seems to run better than ever tonight a I finish my last task, posting this blog..

Generating History

Posted on Wednesday,September 17, 2014 by Anne Stewart

High clouds settled in today and there were even a few minute raindrops for a short time in the late morning and early evening. Hazy marine air was evident along the coast to Victoria while across on the American side, it looked like it might really be raining in the Elwha Valley, Olympic National Park. The barometer continues its slow slide, which started last Thursday. The westerly wind is forecast again for tomorrow and it has already started.

A Humpback Whale feeding and resting to the south of the rocks and Killer Whales to the west, continued to draw whale–watching boats from Victoria and a total of 22 were noted in the Ecological Reserve today, mostly observing pinnipeds (Steller’s and California Sea Lions, Harbour and Elephant Seals). One commercial, charter, fishing boat also stopped by to watch the sea lions.

One of the Brown Pelicans came back today and some members of the Victoria Historical Society group saw it on their way out to the island. Three groups of twelve people each had historical tours of Race Rocks today.

The historians were very interested in Garry Fletcher’s on-site presentations about the history of Great Race Island, the 500 year-old plus, indigenous rock cairns and the 154 year history of the Lighthouse. Race Rocks is designated as a heritage site but that only means it is registered in Ottawa, not offered any conservation protection. The Race Rocks Ecological Reserve protects Race Rocks’ biodiversity and natural history and is part of BC Parks, but it does not include human history.

Federal law passed specifically three years ago to protect historical lighthouses does not apply to the six original Imperial Lighthouses, of which this is one. Race Rocks light-tower pre-dates the confederation of Canada and it is the only stone-constructed light tower and one of a handful of standing stone structures this old, in western Canada. It needs protection. You can learn more about its’ fascinating history through this web-site under history. There is even historical video footage of the demolition of the historic, granite, light-keeper’s house in the 1960s by bulldozer and explosives. Fisgard Light which was completed six weeks before Race Rocks is a much less impressive brick tower and is endowed with full heritage protection by Parks Canada.

With 37 visitors to attend to, I did not spend much time making ecological observations today. I did a few maintenance chores before they arrived, washing windows, sweeping the main walk-way with an historical broom and weed-eating around the fly wheels of an old Fairbanks-Morse engine from the turn of the last century, with an historical weed-eater from late in the last century. There are quite a few pieces of old Fairbanks-Morse machinery lying around that could be of historical interest. Here is a YouTube link to a similar 1906 Fairbanks-Morse engine, running. What a beast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTiK2B88EJs

My last tasks of the day are to move deionized water, delivered with the guests by Courtney on MV Second Nature, up to the energy building, and to make fresh water with the desalinator, while the historic Lister generator tops up the batteries which are powered mostly by solar panels.

Humpbacks

Posted on Thursday,July 24, 2014 by Julie Bowser

Overcast this morning with some rain, clearing up in the afternoon. Strong winds from 0800h onwards. Barometric pressure on the rise since Wednesday morning. Fifteen to 25 knot winds are predicted for tomorrow.

19 whale watching boats

There were two humpbacks on the southern border of the reserve this afternoon heading west. Several whale watchers surrounded them. Eagle Winged Tours was particularly persistent in chasing them. We now have 5 elephant seals on the reserve. Chunk, the big male, and the other four about half of his size or smaller. Chunk is looking very slim.

Two bombs sounded this morning off of Bentinck Island around 1015h.

Went into campus today from 1330h to 1530h to pick up a visitor for the night. Took a load of garbage/junk with me off the island.

Orcas and Humpbacks!

Posted on Monday,June 30, 2014 by Julie Bowser

Low winds today under 15 knots. Clear skies with some fog in the morning. Barometric pressure has been increasing since Friday.

7 whale watching boats in the reserve (although several more along the border of the reserve). 3 recreational boats passed through, and one has been on the SW edge of the reserve for the past two days.

I saw an orca pass through the reserve Saturday late in the morning and then a small pod was surrounded by whale watchers offshore from Swordfish Island. On Sunday another pod of 5-6 (with at least two calves) headed west along Bentinck Island. Today a humpback made its way along the eastern edge of the reserve blowing several times and took the flood current towards Victoria. It dove showcasing its fluke 4 or 5 times.

I got help cleaning the rain gutters Saturday and Sunday. Cleaned and mopped the winch house yesterday. The internet connection has been off since Friday evening in the main residence (which also means the phone has not been working). The weather system was also down yesterday. Rebooted all systems multiple times and got everything working late this afternoon.

Humpback Whales in the Ecological Reserve

Posted on Friday,March 21, 2014 by Garry Fletcher

Paul Pudwell of Sooke Coastal Explorations & Salty Charters has sent us these images taken of a pair of humpback whales in the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve