Tag Archives: nesting

Sunny Days, Census

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Weather:

  • Visibility 10+ NM
  • Sky Clear, partly cloudy throughout the day
  • Wind 15-20 knots NW
  • Sea State white caps, waves up to .5 m

Visitors/Boats:

  • No visitors to the island
  • Two kayakers in the reserve yesterday- very respectful of the wildlife, well done folks!
  • One pleasure craft yesterday that drifted around the reserve for quite a while (at least an hour)
  • A few “drifting through” pleasure crafts/off shift whale watching boats sprinkled over the past two days
  • We spotted the HMCS Regina heading into Pedder Bay

Ecological:

  • We found another goose nest yesterday underneath the back steps of the main residence containing 8 eggs. We noticed that the nest near the desalination structure has been looted by seagulls and abandoned.
  • The seagulls continue to arrive and establish their nesting spots. There are roughly 50% more gulls this week.
  • Two juvenile gulls spent yesterday in the reserve. We didn’t observe them catching or eating anything.

Census:

  • 92 Harbour Seals
  • 87 Sea lions
  • 11 elephant seals
  • 8 pelagic cormorants
  • 1 double crested cormorant
  • 1 bald eagle (adult)
  • 14 Canada geese
  • 140 seagulls
  • 3 black turnstones
  • 2 black oystercatchers
  • 1 black brant goose
  • The HMCS Regina
  • A cormorant taking flight
  • A young seal waits for mom to return (1/6)
  • 2/6
  • 3/6
  • 4/6
  • 5/6
  • 6/6
  • An oyster catcher searching for snacks at low tide
  • A branded sea lion
  • The elephant seals have been soaking up the sunshine
  • A young eagle
  • Two kayakers making their way through race passage from Pedder Bay
  • Seals resting on a sunny day

First Days Back

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We are happy to be back on Race Rocks surrounded by the animals again. A big thanks to Nick for leaving things in excellent shape!

Weather:

  • Visibility: 10+ NM (Victoria Clear)
  • Wind: 10-15 knots NW
  • Water calm
  • Sky overcast

Visitors/Boats:

  • No visitors to the island since we arrived on Wednesday
  • One whale watching vessel yesterday with three people on board
  • Three jet skis passed through on Thursday evening

Ecological:

  • There are 10 elephant seals resting outside of the house this morning
  • One is the last remaining pup, as pointed out by Nick
  • The map of Goose nests that Nick left for us remains accurate, but there are many new eggs.
  • The seagulls are beginning to arrive and fight over nesting spots. We have observed them beginning to pull up tufts of grass and lay them down for nesting.
  • Yesterday evening we noticed an entangled sea lion from the jetty. It appears to have a plastic packing strap wrapped around its neck, similar to the one that we saw last year.
  • There are two mature eagles that have been periodically swooping over the reserve, causing quite a stir.
  • There are at least two pairs of oyster catchers preparing to nest. Yesterday we saw the pair which nested near the guest house last year defending the same rocky area.

The Flag is Back

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Weather: 

  • Sky overcast, some clear patches (not much solar power generated today)
  • Visibility 15+ miles, no fog
  • Wind 10-20 knots W
  • Water calm. Some interesting standing wave patterns lately.

Boats/Visitors: 

  • On Thursday Greg came in the afternoon to top up our water supply. Pearson alum Norbert (currently alum in residence) also came along for the ride to check out our solar panels and provide suggestions for future improvements. Pearson maintenance volunteer Jimmy also stopped in for the night to visit race rocks before he goes home to Mexico. Safe travels!
  • We had many hands on deck, so we were able to successfully repair and raise the flagpole.
  • Yesterday Greg visited with a group of college guests who toured the island.

Ecological: 

  • The sea lions have started to haul out on the N + S/SW sides of Great Race Rock.
  • The oyster catcher chicks have grown to be nearly as big as their parents and are flying all over!
  • The seagull chicks are getting bigger and when rival adults attack they now fight back. On Thursday we spotted a chick with one eye pecked out and were concerned that it would not survive. Fortunately, when we checked later it was doing well.
  • There have been large numbers of black turnstones present this past week, 30+ at once

 

 

 

Sunny Skies, Census

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Weather: 

  • Blue skies, no clouds
  • Visibility 15+ miles
  • Wind 10-20 knots W
  • Water calm

Boats/Visitors: 

  • Greg came by yesterday with some fresh water for our main tank.
  • Quite a few tour vessels
  • Greg and Pearson Alumni are touring the reserve over the next few days as part of their reunion, but they will not be coming on land.

Ecological: 

  • There are quite a few more sea lions this week than last. They have started to haul out on Great Race Rock in addition to West and Middle Rock.

Census:

  • 51 sea lions
  • 40 seals (including 3-5 pups)
  • 3 Cormorants
  • 2 families of geese (from the spring nesting season)
  • 2 elephant seals (moulting males)
  • 300 + seagulls

Cannibalistic Seagulls?!

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Weather:

  • Sky: Foggy morning, clearing around 2pm
  • Wind: 15-20 knots W
  • Water: Rippled
  • Visibility: Morning fog 0 miles visibility, clearing to 15+ miles

Visitors/Boats: 

  • Only a few whale watching boats today, as the fog was extremely thick until mid afternoon. One boat came very close to the jetty and a sea lion resting on it.

Ecological: 

  • Yesterday we noticed that the gulls are continuing to attack each others young. As the chicks grow larger and more continue to hatch, it seems as if the population as a whole may be running out of food on the island. We noted that one seagull was pecking at an evergreen shrub, which we haven’t seen them interested in until now. As the gulls become more desperate for sustenance, they appear to be cannibalizing their neighbours young to provide for their own. We found an interesting article about the appearance that Climate change may be turning seagulls into cannibals, written about the observations of biologist Jim Hayward on Protection Island, also located in the Strait of Juan de Fuca (2016).

Visitors of All Kinds

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Weather: 

  • Wind 5-15 knots SW
  • Sky: Mostly grey, cloudy. Some rain and fog. Periods of partial clearing.
  • Water: Rippled, fairly calm.
  • Visibility: 10-13 miles

Boats/Visitors: 

  • Guy came to pick up our weekend visitors who headed home this afternoon. It was nice to have some company out here on the rock!
  • There were only a handful of whale watching boats in the reserve today since it was quite cloudy and rainy. We were surprised to discover a vessel hovering within 50 meters of a whale within the reserve this evening.

Ecological: 

  • While taking a water temperature reading we accidentally spotted a humpback whale hovering in the main channel! It stayed for about 30 minutes, surfacing approximately every 5 minutes in the same spot, facing towards the current.
  • The seagull chicks have continued to hatch and there are too many to count. They blend in with the yellowing grasses extremely well and have grown to be twice their original size in only a week. We noticed that one chick near the fuel shed hatched but did not survive, while its two nest mates appear to be healthy.
  • There has been one male stellar sea lion on middle rock for the past few days, and appears to not be moving much at all.
  • The goslings are nearly full grown now, and have been swimming

Census

  • 230 Harbour seals
  • 350 adult seagulls and many, many chicks
  • 4 moulting male elephant seals
  • 1 male stellar sea lion
  • A handful of pigeon guillemots
  • 8 adult oyster catchers, at least 7 chicks spotted
  • 1 humpback whale
  • 2 families of geese, and one additional adult pair
  • 1 nest of barn swallows

They Grow Up So Fast!

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Weather: 

  • Wind: 20-25 knots westerly
  • Sky: Some early morning fog, partially cloudy
  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Water: Rippled

Boats/Visitors: 

We haven’t had any visitors to the island over the past few days, but the whale watching traffic continues to be steady throughout the day. The concentration of traffic typically lies between 12pm and 8pm.

Ecological: 

  • The seagull eggs are hatching at full force! There are now too  many chicks to keep track. They like to nestle in the taller grasses or nearby rocks to keep out of the wind.
  • The large elephant seals are still moulting, and continue to scoot between the centre of the island and the jetty to cool off and relieve their cracking skin.
  • The oyster catcher chicks are doing well but they are much more elusive than the other birds.

 

The Big Day Has Arrived!

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Weather:

  • Wind: 10-15 knots
  • Sky: Early morning thick fog, clearing mid morning to blue sky
  • Visibility: less than .5 mile this morning due to fog. Clearing to 15 miles.
  • Water: Calm, slightly rippled.

Boats/Visitors:

Today there were many whale watching vessels, presumably since it is a long weekend. This afternoon we saw over 20 boats between 12pm and 5pm, sometimes more than 6 in the main passage at a time. We also observed a handful of pleasure craft throughout the day, who were very respectful of the reserve.

Ecological: 

  • The seagull eggs have started hatching! We have spotted 5+ hatched nests today. The chicks are hard to spot in the dry grassy areas as they are a similar colour and blend right in!
  • We have also spotted two more oyster catcher chicks, which makes a total of 5 so far.

Census: 

  • Approx. 200 seagulls, chicks beginning to hatch
  • 4 large male elephant seals moulting
  • Approx. 30 harbour seals on surrounding rocks
  • 2 families of geese, and one additional adult pair
  • 2 barn swallows nesting in our rafters
  • Approx. 8 adult oyster catchers, 5 chicks so far
  • Approx. 20 pigeon guillemots

First Hatching Eggs!

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Weather:

  • Wind: 10 – 20 knots
  • Sky: Overcast, short showers
  • Visibility: 10 miles
  • Water: Rippled

Boats/Visitors:

The winds have calmed down over the past couple of days, so we have been seeing more whale watching boats, about 10-15 per day.

Today Greg came with a college vessel with two tanks of water and one yesterday.

Ecological:

The oyster catcher eggs have hatched! Today we spotted two chicks with the two parents on the rocks in front of the crane nearby the jetty. The adults were picking food from the waters edge and carrying it to feed the chicks. We spotted one more pair with one chick on the other side of the jetty. It seems that only one of their two eggs hatched.

We are expecting the seagull eggs to hatch soon as well, as we found a deceased chick on our pathway yesterday that was nearly fully developed. The nearby shell appeared to have been pecked as well as the chick itself. There are eagle feathers scattered around the island from the eagles that have been swooping through the flocks of seagulls, but we are inclined to suspect that another seagull broke this egg due to the apparent pecking.

There are four large male elephant seals here moulting, and while they are fairly docile they have a hard time hearing us coming, and can be aggressive if they are taken by surprise.

Maintenance: 

We are still waiting on the new desalinator, but now have a sufficient fresh water supply thanks to Greg! He also brought us a new foot for the water pump which we installed. We continue to collect shingles as they blow off of the roofs awaiting repair. Kai is excited about his new project: repairing a ceased water pump.

Big Creatures and Big Winds

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Weather: 

  • Visibility 14 miles
  • Partly cloudy, sunny
  • Wind 25-35 knots (gale warning in effect)
  • White caps and spray. Waves up to 4 m.

Visitors/Boats: 

  • The college boats are still in for maintenance, so we have not had any visitors. We are hoping to go to the main island soon but winds were much too strong and unpredictable today.
  • The past couple of days we have seen a handful of eco-tourism vessels and pleasure craft. Some vessels have approached within 20 m of our jetty and surrounding Great Race Rock. The elephant seals have been scooting up the jetty to get away and the few sea lions remaining appear disturbed.

Ecological: 

  • We were sad to find the missing gosling deceased. It seems that due to its injured foot it was easy prey for the bald eagles that have been swooping by lately.
  • We are now in the company of 4 very large male elephant seals who have stopped here to moult. They are enjoying taking regular baths in the shallow and protected jetty waters.
  • The occasional sea lion has stopped by and hauled out for a rest, but otherwise they have all moved on.
  • The seagulls are becoming more and more aggressive. We are anticipating the need to wear protective equipment sometime in the coming week!

Maintenance/Other:

  • We are still waiting for the delayed desalinator, so we are conserving water as much as we can in the meantime, as it is not possible for more to be delivered without the use of the college vessels.
  • We have been collecting shingles as the high winds are tearing them off of the sheds (new metal roofing is expected sometime soon), and often find fishing lures, bits of rope, and other litter wedged into the rocky intertidal.
  • The beautiful sunny days lately have meant that we have been able to operate entirely on solar power most days. We’ve been having some troubles with the battery charge readings but otherwise the system is working without a hitch!