Tag Archives: humpback whale

Last Day!

Posted on by

I don’t think my time here has ever flown quite this fast! 

Between visitors, rescue work, whales, and beautiful weather, the past month has gone by in the blink of an eye. It has been incredible and I am forever grateful for the opportunity to be able to work out here. 

I know I’ll be back, but until then – here are a few of my favourite moments from October. 

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

Whales and Sunshine

Posted on by

Well, I think the beautiful weather is about to change – with rain warnings all weekend long!!

Today was pretty perfect, nearly no wind and blue, sunny skies. The sea lions didn’t destruct the fence over night (a true miracle) but I’m sure I’ll pay for it tomorrow in the rain.

After getting some work done in the morning I spent the afternoon watching killer whales and humpbacks feeding and bothering each other off the South side of the island!

Pretty perfect day all around.

Sea Lion VS Fence

Posted on by

The never ending battle of sea lions vs electric fence continues!

They behaved themselves overnight with only a couple posts knocked over which in their defence…could have been the wind.

However today was not remotely windy and every time I went outside the fence needed some level of repair. Down by the jetty was jam packed with California sea lions, a few stellers, and even two elephant seals. Throughout the day they continued to rip down lines and tear out the screws, but I managed to keep up with it (or so I thought).

I had just come inside and sat down with a cup of tea when I looked out my window to see a giant steller lounging on the jetty with the electric fence resting on his back….a good indicator that it was grounding out somewhere.

Something tells me the fence isn’t very hot…

Back outside I went and found the source of the problem – a piece of fence so frayed it was hanging on for dear life and it was clear that no current could run through that. I fixed the fence with fresh fencing material and adjusted the other area around the jetty so that nothing was touching the cement.

Fixed!

I plugged the fence back in and crossed my fingers. No one was back on the jetty by the time it got dark so we’ll see how the night goes!

As per usual, whales everywhere today!

Facility Work:

  • Topped up battery electrolytes
  • Repaired electric fence

Vessels:

  • Ecotourism: 7
  • Private: 0

Weather:

  • Sky: Cloudy
  • Wind: Low of 1 knot, high of 7 knots
  • Sea: Mostly calm
  • Temperature: Low 9•C, High 15•C

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

Moody Monday

Posted on by

Not much to report today! Rainy and grey all day with the wind picking up in the afternoon and still going strong as I write this.

The sea lions took a toll on the fence over night as they usually do but it still managed to keep them out, except for one lone Cali who was happy to head back over.

The humpbacks were EVERYWHERE today. Every direction I looked I either saw a breach, a tail slap, or a blow and it certainly made the moody weather a little brighter.

Facility Work:

  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Repaired electric fence

Vessels:

  • Ecotourism: 7
  • Private: 0

Weather:

  • Sky: Cloudy/rainy
  • Wind: Low of 0 knots, high of 16 knots
  • Sea: Whitecaps
  • Temperature: Low 10•C, High 17•C

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

Northern Lights at Race Rocks

Posted on by

Last night’s northern lights were as incredible as I could’ve hoped for! This is the second time now that I have been lucky enough to witness them from Race Rocks.

This morning the sky was still colourful – this time with a beautiful sunrise accompanied by a logging humpback just off the south side of the island. It slept there as I completed my morning fence repairs, surfacing for a big breath every few minutes.

The sea lions had a hay day with the fence over night, and I’m sure there will be just as many repairs needed tomorrow. Good thing I love them anyway!

Both female elephant seals are still here which always makes my day, they aren’t big fans of the sea lions but manage to tolerate them.

Greg brought 3 loads of water over today – topping the fresh water tank up  4000L which means its now full!

I filled the generator up with diesel and we brought the small tank up as well so I won’t have to try and move it on my own any time soon. I spent the afternoon topping up battery electrolytes and rolling fire hoses before moving inside to get some work done.

Another beautiful day out here, sure doesn’t seem like October!

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

Census Day! Humpbacks ..30!

Posted on by

It’s census day! 

This is my first time doing the census since June when we only had about 20 sea lions so this count required some focus.

Mammals:
California sea lions: 731
Steller sea lions: 422
Harbour seals: 72
Elephant seals: 2
Cetaceans: more humpback whales than I could keep track of! At least 30+

Birds:
Gulls: 579
Cormorants: 195
Canadian geese: 16
Turnstones: 12
Whimbrel: 1
Savannah sparrow: 1

Today was beautiful out, a perfect sunny Sunday!

Vessels:

  • Ecotourism: 10
  • Private: 13 + 2 jet skis

Weather:

  • Sky: Blue sky and sun
  • Wind: NONE
  • Sea: Glassy
  • Temperature: Low 9•C, High 18•C

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

Wild Weather

Posted on by

Today felt like fall. I woke up to pouring rain and otherwise quiet morning. It seems as though the sea lions would rather be in the ocean than lay in the rain because about half of them were gone this morning.

The most vibrant rainbow I’ve ever seen!

The fence required minimal repairs which meant I could spend longer inside with my coffee. I did find one intruder – a California sea lion on the wrong side of the fence who thankfully meandered back over with a little encouragement. The contractors arrived by 8:30 to continue work on the student building, lucky for them most of their work was inside today.

The rain stopped briefly so I was able to tackle my to do list before it started up again. By mid afternoon the sun was out but the wind picked up rather fiercely.

The weather didn’t stop the humpbacks from breaching just outside the reserve, as usual there seemed to be one in every direction. I spent my evening watching them from the kitchen window as I did some baking and started a fire – truly the perfect evening!

The whales in question

The baking in question

Facility Work:

  • Took specific gravity readings and topped up batteries
  • Fence repair
  • Topped up generator
  • Solar panels (the rain really helped with this one)

Vessels:

  • Ecotourism: 9

Weather:

  • Sky: Cloudy/Rainy, turned to blue sky in the afternoon
  • Wind: Low of 8 knots, High of 15 knots
  • Sea: Calm morning, whitecaps in afternoon
  • Temperature: Low 9•C, High 15•C

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

 

Golden Hour

Posted on by

Today was jam packed!

My morning started the same way it will start every day for the next month – fixing the fence. I also moved the sea lions off the boat launch so its clear yet I swear the SECOND I turn my back they just pile right back up. 

Not a bad view to start the day!

The windows on the student building are being replaced so the contractors were out bright and early to get started. Throughout the day we had 2 groups of Pearson students come out which is always fun because I love to show off this little island. They also never seem to mind when I talk about marine mammals which is more than I can for most people in my life who have to listen to my yap about them!

There were humpbacks in every direction, big blows in the distance, pectoral fins in the air, and splashy breaches on the outskirts of the reserve. I felt even luckier when a massive killer whale passed by!

Humpback at sunset

A second female elephant showed up today, she had some trouble getting past the sea lions but finally made it to the grass outside the house. The Calis don’t seem to mind her but the Stellers don’t like her at all.

I don’t think she likes the Stellers either

I finished the day off outside watching the sun set as the sea lions basked in the final rays.

Facility Work:

  • Topped up battery electrolytes for those that were low
  • Repaired electric fence (about 50 times over)

DND:

3 blasts today all with varying reactions, only the initial blast caused some sea lions to flush into the water.

Water Woes

Posted on by

Friday, September 27, 2024

Unfortunately for us, the levels of water in the massive cistern beside the house are low, so we have not been running the desalinator lately, and despite our best water saving efforts we need more …

Until the sea lions (and the massive amounts of poop that comes with them) clear out we aren’t able to fill the cistern with seawater. So…  today, Greg came out with a massive tank of freshwater on the back of the Second Nature to top up our reservoir.

This was a bit of a production as we had to lay out ~ 75m of fire hose from the reservoir to the dock, but we did it, and now we won’t be leaving the next eco-guardian in a lurch.

On another note, we have a returning Elephant Seal. This lady is untagged, and definitely knows her way around the island. We first saw her at 11 am on the jetty, and by 2 pm she was in the grass by the main path to the house.

I hope she sticks around for the weekend!

Weather: Sunny all day, Wind at around 16knts SW all day.

Whale Watching Vessels: 15

Private Vessels: 0

**Loads of Humpbacks close to the Island today 😊

Elephant Seal!

Posted on by

Friday September 20th

Last night while we were fixing the fence on the South Side of the Island that had been knocked over….Again.. we spotted a seal looking a little different than everyone else

Looking a little closer, we realized it was an elephant seal! Looks like a small female, and she is tagged, though we couldn’t get a good photo of it. We reported it to the biologists from California who implement that specific tagging study.

Also saw a couple more branded Sea Lions who we also reported, as well as a dead sea lion we spotted along the south side of the island at low tide.

Scott has worked his way through the pile of wood piled down near the Jetty, so the next Eco-Guardians will def be warm for a while.

Whale Watching Vessels: 10

Private Vessels: 0

Weather: Mix of Sun and Cloud. Pretty Calm day, wind pretty consistent around 5knts W.

And like everyday this month lots of humpbacks feeding all day!