It is great to be back as the Ecoguardian at Race Rocks. I have been lucky enough to spend a total of almost seven months here between 2014 and my last shift which ended on September 1, 2020. I have been spending the past three and a bit days reacquainting myself with the island and infastructure. I have not stayed here before in July, so it is taking some adjustment to live in harmony and not disturb hundreds of nesting gulls. It drastically limits where I can go on the island.
Ecological Notes:
- The glaucous-winged gull population is increasing everyday with lots of chicks hatching. I do my best to avoid getting close to the nests. I move quickly by the ones near doors and pathways on which I need to travel to get to the energy building, jetty and lighthouse.
- A pod of orcas swam westward through the ecological reserve on Saturday, July 2, then went eastward in Race Channel. The orcas continued to head eastward, with at one point 14 ecotour boats viewing them from a safe distance.
- A juvenile male elephant seal, tagged D018/D019, has been hanging around here for a while this spring and early summer. I noticed the tags this weekend, so I could confirm it was the same seal that Ecoguardian Joan spotted on the seal’s arrival on the island on May 19. Here is a link to the tagged resight histories, when I spotted this seal in April 2020 and reported the details to the Director of the Año Nuevo Reserve, in California. The brief version is he was tagged in February 2017 as a pup in Año Nuevo. He was first observed at Race Rocks in April 2018. He was again spotted here in April 2019, December 2019, and April 2020. His proboscis (nose) and body has grown a lot in the past couple years. I wonder what adventures he has gone on in that time.
- I know of two black oystercatcher chicks that I have seen through the binoculars and long lens of the camera. One is hanging out near the jetty with its parents. The other is hanging out near east bay with its parents. The dark grey fluff ball chicks are hard to spot, as they blend in well with rocks.
- See the photos below for these and more ecological sights.
Weather:
- The wind has been consistently coming from the west over the past four days that I have been here.
- Friday and Saturday were part cloudly with lots of sun to fully charge the solar panels by 17:00 both days.
- Sunday and Monday were overcast with periods of rain and fog.
- The temperature in the past four days has ranged between 11 to 14 oC.
Visitors:
- Greg drove the boat on the afternoon of Friday, July 1 to do the shift changeover between Jillian and I. Thanks, Jillian, for leaving the place in such great shape.
Vessel Traffic:
- Many Canadian and American ecotour boats have been nearby throughout this long weekend.
Here are photo highlights from the past few days. Click on the photos for a larger view.
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- Black oystercatcher parent and chick.
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- A pod of orcas swimming eastward at the north end of the ecological reserve. William Head is in the background.
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- Orca between Race Rocks and downtown Victoria.
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- These poppys are in the centre of the island near the flagpole. Perhaps they were planted by a long ago lightkeeper.
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- A black oystercatcher chick in the intertidal zone.
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- A black oystercatcher chick near the jetty.
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- Pigeon guillemots communicating with their whistling sounds at the end of the jetty.
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- A Canada geese family with four goslings goes for a swim off the boat ramp.
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- The juvenile male elephant seal on the derrick deck.
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- The juvenile male elephant seal trying a different position on the derrick deck.
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- The juvenile elephant seal tag D018 on the left tail flipper.
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- Elephant seal tag D019 on the right tail flipper.
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- A colourful sunset above the Sooke Hills, on July 2.
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- Two gull chicks near their mother and nest on the centre of the island.
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- A freshly born glaucous-winged gull with its egg beside it. The nest is right below the path outside the house. I snapped a photo as I moved quickly along the path :)
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- Three Steller/northern sea lions hauled out on middle rocks.
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- A great blue heron standing on top of bull kelp to the east of the island. It was low light in the evening and far away, so I had trouble focusing the camera.
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- A young harbour seal hauled out on top of bull kelp to the east of the island. The evening low light tricked me at first into thinking the seal was a sea otter.