Tag Archives: ollie

Ollie the Sea Otter

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This morning started with strong winds, dark skies, and sideways hail. The wind didn’t let up at all throughout the day but there were brief periods of sun here and there. The darker sea otter from yesterday was happily eating urchins off South Island again but the smaller one was no where to be seen. Although it was hard to spot much out there among the whitecaps. I finally saw the true Ollie, nose scar and all near Turbine Rock this afternoon. He took a quick jaunt over to the South Island but the other otters were not there, on his return back to Turbine rock he passed right in front of the jetty allowing me to get a photo and confirm my suspicion that there have truly been 3 different otters here the past 2 days. How wild is that! Ollie’s light blonde head and prominent nose scar easily distinguish him from the other 2. I wonder if I’ll see them tomorrow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s Weather:

  • Tuesday, March 12:
    • Sky: Dark, hail, rain, brief periods of sun
    • Wind: High of W 32 knots, low of ENE 3 knots
    • Sea: Large whitecaps, strong current
    • Temperature: Low 6oC, High 9oC

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

July 9 and 10

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Ecological Notes:

  • On Saturday afternoon, a southern resident orca pod went through Race Passage, just north of the ecological reserve. Someone was warning boats over the VHF radio to reduce their speed, as they were “in the path of endangered southern resident killer whales.” All boats appeared to oblige. For a while, the very large pod was spread out from the Bentinck Island, at the west side of the mouth of Pedder Bay to well past William Head to the east, at least 4km or 2NM. I watched the pod for a while through binoculars and saw an orca fully breach out of the water. I did not get a photo of the breach, but it was spectacular. Then the pod travelled south to the east of Race Rocks, based on the group of ecotour boats I could see watching the pod from a safe distance.
  • The gull chicks are still popping out, with many nests having one to three chicks. There are still some gulls tending to eggs.
  • See the photo gallery below for more ecological happenings from the past two days.

Weather:

  • Yesterday (July 9):
    • Sky: Overcast, then cloudy throughout rest of day
    • Wind: W 15-30 kts
    • Sea: rippled, 1′ chop in evening
    • Temperature Low 13oC, High 16oC
  • Today (July 10):
    • Sky: Part cloudy
    • Wind: W 3-24 kts
    • Sea: rippled, 1′ chop in afternoon
    • Temperature Low 14oC, High 17oC

Visitors:

  • No visitors.

Facility Work:

  • Scrubbed and squeegeed solar panels, topped up water in battery bank, routine tidying and checking infrastructure around the island.

Vessel Traffic:

  • Many Canadian and American ecotour boats have been nearby and heading through the waters of the ecological reserve.

Here are photo highlights from the past two days. Click on the photos for larger views and captions.

July 7 and 8

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Ecological Notes:

  • With the help of the visitors yesterday and some gathering ecotour boats, I spotted a sea otter hanging out in the kelp bed off the east side of the island.
  • This morning, as I was walking along the path from the house, I saw four large birds flying overhead. Their distinct shapes made me realize right away they were brown pelicans. They looped around and flew off to the east. Maybe they thought  it was too crowded to land at Race Rocks with all the gulls nesting.
  • See the photo gallery and captions for more details on the ecological happenings over the past two days.

Weather:

  • Yesterday (July 7):
    • Sky: Part Cloudy
    • Wind: W 8-23 kts
    • Sea: rippled in morning, 1′ chop in afternoon
    • Temperature Low 12oC, High 15oC
  • Today (July 8):
    • Sky: Part Cloudy
    • Wind: W 12-21 kts
    • Sea: rippled in morning, 1′ chop in afternoon
    • Temperature Low 12oC, High 15oC

Visitors:

  • On July 7, Greg, Lawrence and Gretchen visited from the college to help transport supplies and do maintenance tasks on the island.

Facility Work:

  • Scrubbed and squeegeed solar panels, tidied around island, desalinator maintenance, and detached old generator exhaust pipe.

Vessel Traffic:

  • Many Canadian and American ecotour boats have been nearby and heading through the waters of the ecological reserve.

Here are photo highlights from the past two days. Click on the photos for larger views and captions.

Otter Observations, Seagull Takeover!

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Today’s Weather:

  • Sky Clear, blue (very foggy in morning and evening)
  • Visibility 10+ NM (less than 1 during fog)
  • Wind 10-20 knots W
  • Sea state: calm, slightly rippled

Marine Traffic/Visitors:

  • Yesterday Greg visited to drop off some supplies, as well as on Thursday
  • Less than 10 whale watching boats per day recently
  • Minimal pleasure craft activity and the regular stream of fishing vessels, and larger ships

Ecological Observations: 

Due to amount of nesting birds and chicks, we’ve been going outside only when necessary as our presence seems to bother them quite a bit. Some of the windows facing the action have been getting, ahm… ‘fogged’ despite our efforts to collect rain water and scrub them when we can!

  • One of the two elephant seals molting has left the island, and the last pieces of skin are falling off in big dry pieces for the one remaining.
  • Seagull season is getting a bit violent: there are many deceased and dismembered seagull chicks around the island. We don’t usually see it happen, but we think that they are being killed by other adult seagulls protecting their territory and chicks.
  • While walking over the rocky area near the jetty to recover a significant amount of plastic that floated in, we noticed some pigeon guillemot eggs hidden in a rocky crevice! This is the first time that we have spotted a confirmed nest, although we had suspicions as we have been seeing them with fish and waiting for us to leave (before they carry it into their nest).
  • We found a pigeon guillemot near the jetty under camera five- it appeared to have been eaten by a bird of prey or perhaps an otter. It had been partially plucked of its feathers and eviscerated.
  • We’ve been noticing more harbour seal pups! We’re not sure if this is due to there being a increase in the total pups around, or we are seeing them closer than usual due to the low tides this week. We spot the pups with their mothers taking shelter from heavy currents in the more sheltered area between us and rosedale rock.
  • Yesterday we noticed that there were quite a few dead seagull chicks dragged underneath a diesel tank waiting for removal near the jetty/crane shed. We looked under the walkway where we often see the river otter duck through the rocks, and there were quite a few there as well. This explains the cacophony we sometimes hear at night!
  • We were contacted by an eco-tourism company who shared with us that they had spotted “ollie” the sea otter holding the body of a river otter. It sounds like he has been noted as particularly territorial before, so this is not a surprise, although this is the first time we have heard this during our time on Race Rocks.

We’ve been saving the fresh water that drains from the firehoses after pumping from Second Nature’s tank, and using it to fill the pressure washer tank. We can use this to mist the panels and scrub them by hand to remove the seagull waste that builds up so quickly this time of year. Every little bit of sun counts!