Weather
Ecological
Maintenance
Boats
The sky was partially overcast early but cleared a bit in late morning. Then it clouded over and finally started to rain as it socked in just before dark. The wind started out east-northeast then turned to west late morning before backing all the way around to southwest. The barometric pressure is rising as I write this log and the forecast calls for clearing in the morning and sunshine. Winds will turn to westerly 10 – 15 knots Friday afternoon.
Commercial whale watching vessels made fifteen observed visits to the Ecological Reserve today. One vessel regularly comes in fast and not slowing until well inside the go slow boundary and then consistently speeds up early. The same vessel can be seen hop-scotching ahead of endangered southern resident killer whales as the pass by and in the reserve, sitting almost on top of the sea otter. It is a large, noisy vessel that reliably pushes the limits of respectful whale watching and will end up by hitting an animal or worse. Most of the operators realize that this sort of behaviour is not sustainable.
Biggs Killer Whales were already being followed by the whale-watching fleet before they came into the Ecological Reserve from the east and milled in and around South Seal Rocks and the breaking rock just off the energy building. There were many sea lions in the water, some craning their necks to see better and others just trying to maintain as much time as possible in the air, by repeatedly leaping airborne. I am not sure if the killer whales made a kill or not but sense that they did. There was some fancy criss-cross swimming by the first three whales, then a little one accompanied by a bigger one arrived on scene. This was followed by a few minutes with all the whales underwater and gull action above, which made me think food leftovers. After that they left, heading south and then southeast, dogged by the fleet. Two vessels came into the reserve while the whales were already inside. It is possible that they were not aware on entering but they did not leave once they were aware of the whales’ presence.
Ecologically, the transition from summer into fall continues. Salmon migration is still strong and birds, pinnipeds and cetaceans abundant. The size of the multi-species feeding flocks on the water, is increasing daily with some aggregations (outside the protected area) appearing to have thousands of gulls.
Thursday is animal census day so here are the numbers for charismatic mega-fauna.
Steller Sea Lion 303
California Sea Lion 578
Harbour Seal 187
Northern Elephant Seal 11
Sea Otter 1
Southern Resident Killer Whale (2 in ER during count week, additional 18 in Race Passage during count week)
Biggs Killer Whale (Transients) 6 today (3 more during count week)
Humpback Whale (3 during count week)
Canada Goose 0 full time (flock of ~25 chased off almost daily)
Harlequin Duck 0
Double-crested Cormorant 25
Brandt’s Cormorants 22
Pelagic Cormorant 6
Unidentified cormorants 17
Black Oystercatcher 5
Black Turnstone 11
Kildeer 3
Glaucous-winged Gull total 453 (325 – adults; 128 – juveniles)
California Gull 847
Thayer’s Gull 180
Mew Gull 24
Herring Gull 0
Ring-billed Gull 2
Western Gull 2
Heerman’s Gull 36
Adult Gull spp (Unidentified) 242
Juvenile Gull spp (Unidentified) 223
Savannah Sparrow 9
Fox Sparrow 1
Unidentified Sparrow 1
Junco 3
Horned Lark (2 in count week)
Pacific Wren 1
Routine chores continue. There were six visitors today. Two very self contained Environment Canada technical service officers came out to do annual maintenance on their weather station up on the tower. If you were looking on camera # 1 you may have had a close-up view of them at work, calibrating, replacing and maintaining their instruments in full climbing gear. Thanks go out to them as well for the help they gave us before leaving the island. Two national geographic photographers came out to get a sense of the diversity of wildlife and of course take photos. Two young people who may potentially become eco-guardians also visited. Thanks go out to Don for helping move fuel, a heavy job. Well done. Courtney drove Second Nature to get them all out here and back safely and she was accompanied by Jasper, volunteer extraordinaire.
Killdeer Charadrius vociferus photo by Ryan Murphy, 2010.
Killdeer Charadrius vociferus photo by Anne Stewart, Oct 2014
Link to other posts on this website about Killdeers
| Domain | Eukarya |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Sub-Phylum | Vertebrata |
| Class | Aves |
| Order | Charadriiformes |
| Family | Charadriidae |
| Subfamily | Charadriinae |
| Genus | Charadrius |
| Species | vociferus |
| Common Name: | Killdeer |
Other Members of the Class Aves at Race Rocks.
 Return to the Race Rocks Taxonomyand Image File |
 The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams.
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The barometer dropped all last night from 1015 hPa to 1002 hPa this morning, before it began to climb again towards 1008 by the end of the day. The wind started from the northeast, but then switched to blow strongly from the southwest from mid morning onwards. The gusts reached 47 knots in the evening.
There were two whale watching boats seen in the reserve.
Once the fog lifted, the census was a bit easier to do. Then the wind blew up and most of the birds hunkered down on the leeward side of the island. I wasn’t able to positively identify all of the individual species of gull. Next week, I will strive to get an accurate breakdown of the number of glaucous-winged, thayer’s, california, western and heerman’s. There are a lot fewer gulls compared to last week, only 14% of the 3224 that were on the reserve last Thursday.
See the photos below for some of the noteworthy species and sights seen during today’s census.
Here are the results of the census:
Steller Sea Lion: 211
California Sea Lion: 404
Harbour Seal: 7
Northern Elephant Seal: 11
Bald Eagle: 1
Canada Goose: 24
Double Crested Cormorant: 14
Pelagic Cormorant: 56
Gull: 450
Black Oystercatcher: 18
Black Turnstone: 26
Surfbirds: 15
Dunlin: 4
Killdeer: 2
Savannah Sparrow: 2
Fox Sparrow: 1
A rainbow appeared as the fog was burning off this morning. West Rock is in the foreground. The pot of gold is Church Point.
A savannah sparrow near the burial mounds by the marine science centre
Another view of a savannah sparrow
Black turnstone
Black turnstones on the boardwalk by the crane
A male elephant seal floats and barks beside the jetty.
Sandpiper-like birds: dunlin, surfbird and black turnstone. Can you identify them all?
A black turnstone and elephant seal share the boat ramp
Black oystercatchers on the rocks by the surge channel
A steller sea lion with the brand “966R.” The “R” signifies that it was branded in Rogue Reef, Oregon. I will add more information when I find out. [Updated information from Pat Gearin with the NOAA: The Steller was branded as a pup at Rogue Reef, Oregon in July 2011. It is a male and so far we have 9 resights from this individual, all from BC. In 2011, he was sighted at Pachena Point once, and in 2012 he was sighted at Carmanah 8 times.]
Another view of 966R
A branded california sea lion with the brand “U596.” The “U” or “C” depending on which way you look at it, means that the sea lion was captured in the Columbia River Area. It was branded in Astoria, Oregon. [Updated information from Matthew Tennis: U596 was branded on August 15, 2014 in Astoria. At that time he weighed ~193 kg. He was seen in Astoria for a few days following the branding and again in the middle of October. This is the first resight for this animal outside of Astoria. They have high site fidelity and being a relatively young animal, it is very possible he will be seen at Race Rocks for years to come.]
A group of steller and california sea lions get bashed by the wind and waves on the south islands.
The wind gusts reached 47 knots from the southwest during the late afternoon, whipping up big waves. The buoy that marks Rosedale Rock can be seen getting tossed around in the background.
The lighthouse with the moon rising behind
It was another glorious day at Race Rocks and the trend is continuing. The barometer rose slowly until late afternoon and then levelled off and dropped a bit. The forecast is for outflow easterlies that are so good at keeping the fog at bay.
There was a flurry of whale watching activity today as Southern Resident Killer Whales went past Race Rocks going east with the tide. After the main pod had passed, there were 15 whale watching boats in the reserve and I noted a total of 32 over the day.
I saw two Harbour Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) feeding in the reserve. They are such smooth, quiet, little divers. They seemed to be feeding on some sort of forage fish that were flipping at the surface. Very tidy and well behaved compared to the sea lions.
Some of the choice spots for hauling out are quite crowded now and there is a lot of jockeying for position in the California Sea Lion mosh pit where it is not unusual to see animals running across others to find a comfy sleeping spot. They stack in like cord-wood and must keep each other warm.
Here are a few shots of the California Sea Lion with the orange tags (no numbers) that has been ring-necked but seems to be healthy and vigorous. I didn’t find the ring-necked Steller’s today.
Alex Fletcher solved my bird mystery: the mystery birds are Killdeer that arrive just after dark each night. Alex has heard them in the winter too. They must roost on the island and then leave for the day, as I have not seen them in daylight yet.
I finished the fence today, did more cleaning and made fresh water with the desalinator. By the time I went to turn off the generator the Sea Lions were laying on my fence. Hmmm, that is not not very effective.
A few days ago we had two unusual visitors to our waters. Two Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) spent several days on Great Race and North Rocks. Brown Pelicans, though the smalles of pelicans, are enormous birds weighing up to 6 kilos and measuring up to 135 cms with a wingspan of up to 2.5 meters.
A visitor from warmer climes….
Northern vacation to Race Rocks….
We have had two other unusual visitors in the last week. I discovered a Barred Owl in the boathouse attacking a Starling (another recent arrival), and Pam our avid photographer friend from England got several pictures of Peregrine Falcons that came through hunting sparrows and starlings. Pam’s pictures can be seen at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/
Another tagged e-seal showed up in the boathouse yesterday.
Might as well hang out somewhere cozy…
Tagged 7225
Animal Census Nov 8 2012
| Species | Current Population (Est) |
| Stellar/Northern Sea Lion | 30 |
| Elephant Seal | 7 |
| Harbour Seal | 200 |
| California Sea Lion | 50 |
| Glaucous-winged Gull | 150 |
| Herring Gull | 300 |
| California Gull | 30 |
| Heerman’s Gull | 80 |
| Black Turnstones | 100 |
| Surfbird | 6 |
| Pelagic Cormorants | 40 |
| Brandt’s Cormorant | 30 |
| Killdeer | 6 |
| Dunlin | 16 |
| Harlequin Ducks | 20 |
| Canada Goose | 14 |
| Bald Eagle | 3 |
| Black Oyster-catcher | 40 |
| Sanderlings | 8 |
| Starlings | 8 |
| Race Rocks Eco-Guardian | 1 |
| Rhinoceros Auklet | 100 |
| Common Murre | 100 |
| Sparrows | 20 |
| Brown Pelican | 2 |
| Barred Owl | 1 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 2 |
The first gentle sou’east weather pattern with clouds and rain occurred in the last few days. The rain is most welcome to wash away a summers worth of gull and pinniped excrement. This island can be smelled from a kilometer away!
At the edge of the world…
Surrounded by ankle-biters!
About 2/3s of the sea lions have left since the weather change. We are down to around 140 animals, perhaps 75 are Stellers down from the 175 of 10 days ago. Californians make up the remainder down from 225. Quite a few juveniles have showed up in the last week.
More birds are showing up. In the last few days several Harlequin ducks and a few dozen cormorants returned to dot the shoreline with the oystercatchers. Flocks of Bonaparte gulls feed on minnows in the eddies, forced to the surface from the deeper water by murres and rhinoceros auklets. Killdeers are spending the nights here. I hear them when I shut down the generator at night. Close to 30 sparrows are flitting about, and yesterday a few eagles and ravens were hunting and scavenging. Late developing gull chicks are on the menu. The flock of turnstones forages in the sea lion haulout ignored by the sea lions.
Tour boats are becoming less frequent and sport fishermen are waning too… yesterday for example a pod of orca passed with only 2 boats watching them rather than 8-10.
Air Breathing Animal Census of Race Rocks Jan 2012
Stellar Sea Lions: 30
Elephant Seals: 6-7
Harbour Seals: 50
Bald Eagles: 5-15
Brandt’s Cormorants: 50
Glaucous-Winged Gull: 100
Herring Gull: 30
Black Turnstones: 50
Song Sparrow: 6
Peregrine Flacon: 1
Killdeer: 4
Dunlin: 2
Sandpiper: 6
Harlequin Ducks: 20
Human: 1