kayaker | Race Rocks Ecological Reserve-

Weather; beautifully calm most of the day. Sunny with the occasional cloud. Wind mostly southwest

Visitors to reserve: 1 kayaker at slack tide. Went around seal rocks. Caused a landslide of Stellar sea lions.

No eco-tourism boats. Maybe the whales were in a different area?

Work: finished cleaning the lamp room and started sweeping the lighthouse stairs. chopped wood. what kept me VERY busy was the energy system which was drawing 2 kW instead of 1.2 kW (our usual load). I spent several hours trying to find something using that much draw. I had to start the generator at about 6 a.m. as the battery voltage was very low (large draw continued all night). Then I thought running the desalinator might solve the problem but neither seemingly did. It continued drawing between 1.6 and 2.1 until 3 pm and then it went down to 1.2. Greg believes charging up the battery from the generator may have reset things?

Observations:

Census

Elephant seals 7 (the male juvenile was away for several days this week but is back on Great Race)

Stellar sea lions 51 on south islands, none on Great Race today but over the last week there have been one or two here

California sea lions 8 on Great Race

Seals 60 on middle rocks

Gulls (western, glaucous-winged ) 236 counted from the lamp room on the island this morning

Pigeon guillemot 210, a large raft of them off seal rocks

Eagles 2 adult 2 immature

Cormorants 16

cormorants, double crested and pelagic

Oyster Catchers estimate 20

Harlequin ducks saw 5

Turnstones 32 very rough estimate, there are 8 on the grassy area around the house

Savannah sparrows I only ever see 4 at once but I see them constantly, that’s why I guess 20

Surf birds so well camouflaged but I would guess 20?

The following were seen this past week but not today,

Marbled godwit

Brown headed cowbird

brown headed cowbird

Sea otter

sea otter!

Orcas, transient or Biggs

one female and young, one or two males, one to three other adults

Birds I did not get a picture off but were here this week:

Northern Crow (today and yesterday, aggressively chased away!!)

Semipalmated plover x 1

purple martin x 1

CENSURED

it appears to me that the 6 moulting females may NOT be female. the 3 large adults appear female but the at least 2 of the 3 small may be male. Am I right?

Doesn’t this “female” appear male???

Here’s a female.

laughing?

Wind: W at the beginning and end of day, NE mid morning to early afternoon, 4-18 knots
Sea State: calm
Visibility: 0-10 NM
Sky: fog in morning, clear in the middle of the day, overcast in afternoon, rain in evening
Temperature: 12-17 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 412.15 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

There was a lot marine mammal activity today. At 11:00, two pods of Bigg’s transient killer whales were in the ecological reserve. One pod appeared to have about six whales. The other pod appeared to have three. Both pods spent a lot of time around the South Islands. A nearby whale watching boat captain mentioned on the VHF radio that the orcas were two families most likely having some social time. They were probably having a good meal too. I didn’t see any hunting happening on the surface. Transients eat marine mammals like seals. I did see a lot of harbour seals not taking any chances, huddled together on nearby rocks and around the east bay beach, looking towards the areas where the orcas were swimming. The transients stayed around until at least 3:30.

See the photos below for views of the orcas and other sights from today:

: Three transients in the south channel with many harbour seals on the rocks, probably trying not to become the next meal for the orcas. The large dorsal fin has a distinctive notch on the back side, which could help identify it. DFO has a 127 page document photos identification for the Bigg’s (Transient) Killer Whales from BC, Northern Washington and Southeastern Alaska. I flipped through the photos, but could definitively identify the orca.

: Four transients

: A family of four transient orcas surface south of the South Rocks.

: A large harbour seal looks on to the action in Middle Channel.

: Orca

: Orca

: Orca

: Two orcas surface in near the bull kelp

: A brave or foolish male steller sea lion swims toward an orcas.

: The fluke of an orca

: An orca takes a breath beside South Rock close to gulls, an oystercatcher and harbour seals.

: An orca surfaces near some scared looking harbour seals on the South Rocks.

: View from the jetty of sea lions on the rocks and an orca behind them.

: A california sea lion on the boat ramp that appears to have glaucoma in its left eye.

: Three different species hauled out together on the south side of the island: steller sea lions, california sea lions and harbour seals.

: An overlooked gull snack that was left on the path. It appears to be a juvenile herring.

: While I was eating lunch in the house, I saw a different kind of marine mammals, a group of seven sea kayakers approaching from the west. The kayakers paddled around the ecological reserve and headed north.

: Oystercatchers making noise

: The steller sea lion with the flasher is still hauled out on Middle Rock with the flasher attached. Behind is another steller, who was spotted recently with a suspected shark bite on its side.

: The steller with a suspected shark bite wound made a brief appearance on the jetty this afternoon.

: Two gull chicks look on as I stack winter firewood under the back porch.

Race Rocks Ecological Reserve-

marine ecology educational resource, remote-control webcams,elephant seal colony,Sea lion haulout,sustainable energy, solar energy

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Census and censured

August 20 – Two Pods of Transient Orcas!