Daniel Donnecke has contributed his images and counts from a visit to race Rocks on October 30 to ebird.org
https://ebird.org/checklist/S61055064
Tag Archives: iceland gull
Mystery Gull and Monster Mosh Pit
The day started with light westerly winds that brought quite a bit of sunshine. Although the wind picked up a little, today’s weather and sea conditions seemed like a bit of a reprieve after the last week of big swells and high winds. The barometer rose all day but it looks like another southeaster coming tomorrow.
Four whale watching boats were observed in the Ecological Reserve today. There was one sports fishing boat fishing in the Ecological Reserve just before sunset.
Sport-fisher trolling in front of Eco-guardian house just before sunset.
I spotted a gull that was a total mystery. I have the question out for help in identification. Do you know what it is? An albino Thayer’s Gull? (This just in: Dick Cannings says that it is a very light, second year, Glaucous-winged Gull.) Sorry no mystery for Halloween.
Mystery gull visited Race Rocks. Jury still out on its identification. One possibility is an immature Iceland gull (gf)
There were at least five Humpback Whales spotted to the south and the west of Race Rocks today.
The Northern Elephant Seals continue to occupy the ramp from the jetty. This little guy has tag # 7625 and was tagged as a weanling at Ano Nuevo Island in 2013. So he will turn two this winter.
Northern Elephant Seal tagged as a weanling in the winter of 2013. This feisty little guy is out on land using gravity to help strengthen his bones and prepare him for hauling out for longer times as an adult.
The sealion count is up dramatically from last week with 980 individuals, 447 Stellers and 433 Californians. It took me so long to count them that I am going to have to finish the census tomorrow and that will give me a chance to recount, if I start earlier. It is a bit like trying to count people in a mosh pit. The photos really help fine tune the numbers.
These sealions are keeping each other warm and catching up on their sleep.
There were quite a few visitors today including two veterinarians Martin and Joe who are part of a collaborative, international team that is (amongst other things) disentangling sealions. They completed reconnaissance for a possible rescue here. If you have been following the blog you will know that there are at least six ring-necked sealions here with plastic strapping and three more with fishing gear. Entanglement is definitely a human caused issue, hard to deny that one. Both Garry the Ecological Reserve Warden and Chris head of operations at Pearson College were here as well as my colleague Courtney, a contractor and two former students.
My tasks today were focused on cleanup (some of the outside windows on the guardian house), the bathroom, the basement and on sorting and cataloguing images. If someone had told me how time consuming that job is, I wouldn’t have taken so many photos.
Christmas Bird Count 2001
2001-12-24′, ’16:00:20′, ‘Yesterday Angus Matthews took Alan MacLeod, Andrew Harcombe, and Ron Satterfield out in the Pearson College boat, 2nd Nature for the annual Sooke Christmas bird count. The trip was postponed from the 22nd because of the 40knt. north winds. Following is a list of the birds seen between the Pearson College dock and Race Rocks- most of the sightings were in the area around Race Rocks. The highlight was the lone Iceland Gull, a very rare bird in this area! The first sighting of this bird for the trio of bird counters! Pacific Loon 14 Common Loon 1 Horned Grebe 1 Double Crested Cormorant 80 Brandt”s Cormorant 60 Pelagic Cormorant 12 Harlequin Duck 2 Surf Scoter 30 Bufflehead 60 Hooded Merganser 5 Bald Eagle 4 adult,2 immature Black Oyster Catcher 16 Black Turnstone 6 Surfbird 6 Rock Sandpiper 9 Mew Gull 15 Herring Gull 8 Thayers Gull 530 Western Gull 1 Glaucous Winged Gull 720 Common Murre 40 Pigeon Guillemot 8 Marbled Murrelet 6 Belted Kingfisher 1 Eurasian Starling 8 Common Flicker 1 You may check out the file on the Christmas Count with pictures at: http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/seabirds/xmascount/xmascount2001.htm Thank you Angus,Alan,Ron and Andrew, maybe it wasn”t blowing 40knots from the north but it was still a cold bumpy trip with 20 knots from the north east!’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’16:00:54 ,
Rare Iceland Gull recorded in Christmas Bird Count, 2001
See the Index of the Christmas Bird Count. Thanks to Angus Matthews and the Pearson College boat, Andrew Harcombe, Ron Satterfield and I were able to get to Race Rocks this morning to count birds. Forty-knot northerlies prevented us from getting out there yesterday for the Sooke Christmas Bird Count. We had 9 ROSA and 6 SURF this morning but the highlight bird was an adult Iceland gull among a group of 1,200 gulls (mostly GWGU and THGU) at the west side of the main island. Here are the totals observed from Pearson College’s boat dock to Race Rocks and the Rocky Point headlands. The vast majority of these birds were at Race Rocks and vicinity. —Alan McLeod
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- Andrew Harcombe, Ron Satterfield and Alan Macleod at Race Rocks
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- Counting and Identifying sea gulls.
Pacific loon 14 common loon 1 horned grebe 1 double-crested cormorant 80 Brandt’s cormorant 60 pelagic cormorant 12 harlequin duck 2 surf scoter 30 bufflehead 60 hooded merganser 3 bald eagle 4 ad, 2 im black oystercatcher 16 black turnstone 6 surfbird 6 rock sandpiper 9 mew gull 15 herring gull 8 Thayer’s gull 530 Iceland gull 1 western gull 1 glaucous-winged gull 720 common murre 40 pigeon guillemot 8 marbled murrelet 6 belted kingfisher 1 common flicker 1 Eurasian starling 8
The rare Iceland gull Larus glaucoides (centre)