Tag Archives: Orca

Thursday is Census Day at Race Rocks

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The weather was fine today with sunshine from dawn until about four o’clock. Winds were very light and the direction shifted around west, from northwest to southwest. As the barometers drops, rain is forecasted, southeast winds and then improving with only scattered showers by tomorrow afternoon.

The fine weather brought two small sports fishing boats into the Ecological Reserve today, both fishing and speeding inside the Ecological Reserve boundary.  My guess is that neither of them were aware of the Eco-Reserve and its protection from speeding and jigging.

There were three, whale watching boats in Reserve today and several others that passed outside of the boundaries. One of the attractions for the whale watchers were Biggs’ Killer Whales, also known as transients. The ‘T”s as they are known to the tour operators were travelling from west to east when I saw them and they passed very close to the seal haul-out on North Rocks before I lost them to view. It looked like four individuals. I saw a single, adult male Killer Whale two days ago, it was just a one-off sighting and I didn’t spot it again in spite of watching for quite a while. That one was also probably also a Biggs, just from the behaviour.

Today was Mega-fauna census day and here are the results.

Bigg’s (Transient) Killer Whales 4

Northern Elephant Seals 12

Harbour Seals 117

California Sea lions 69

Northern Sea lions 21

Canada Geese 24

Harlequin Ducks 9

Pelagic Cormorants 18

Double Crested Cormorants 15

Brandt’s Cormorants 12 (Flying through.)

Great Blue Heron 1

Bald Eagle 2 adults, 3 sub-adults

Killdeer 2 (at least two, difficult to count in the dark)

Black Oystercatchers 10

Black Turnstones 22

Surfbirds 37

Rock Sandpipers 7

Dunlin 11

Pigeon Guillemots 241 (Not a complete count. Had planned to quickly move over and do a north count but unable to count other side due to disruption with speeding boat and subsequent mass pandemonium and movement of birds everywhere.)

Glaucous-winged Gulls 365

Herring Gulls (present earlier in week)

California Gulls (present earlier in week)

Ring-Billed Gulls (present earlier in week)

Peregrine Falcon 1

Northwestern Crow 2

Common Raven 1

The Back Turnstone was one of the many species of shorebirds shown in yesterday's mystery photo. Easy to distinguish from Surfbird when they are side by side.

The Back Turnstone was one of the many species of shorebirds shown in yesterday’s mystery photo. Easy to distinguish from Surfbird when they are side by side.

Male Harlequin Duck sitting on rockweed in the inter-tidal.

Male Harlequin Duck sitting on rockweed in the inter-tidal.

What a difference between drake and hen. These 'white water' birds nest in the mountains by rushing streams and rivers.

What a difference between drake and hen. These ‘white water’ birds nest in the mountains by rushing streams and rivers.

It was a busy day with lots accomplished. I managed to get the weather station back up and connected to the Internet, thanks to good instructions. I have been on a bit of a wild goose chase, mapping out the nest locations of the Canada Geese. I troubleshot water loss problem (to no avail) and ran both the desalinator and generator. Sweeping the walkways and tidying up wood is ongoing. The census took quite a while and was totally enjoyable. This is such a special place, a real biodiversity hotspot especially underwater. What we see on the surface is like the tip of the biodiversity iceberg or the biomass (food) pyramid. All that biological activity can traced right back to plankton and sunshine that drives it. Sunshine made most of the fresh water today, thanks to the solar panels and desalinator.

New DFO Report highly critical of Kinder Morgan /TMX environmental assessment on Whales

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The recentlly released DFO report:
(See Full PDF) SUFFICIENCY REVIEW OF THE INFORMATION ON EFFECTS OF UNDERWATER NOISE AND THE POTENTIAL FOR SHIP STRIKES FROM MARINE SHIPPING ON MARINE MAMMALS IN THE FACILITIES APPLICATION FOR THE TRANS MOUNTAIN EXPANSION PROJECT was very critical of the Trans Mountain Expansion Project Application documents. The Conclusion of the report is concerned with Vessel strikes on Whales and the overall impact of noise from increased Project-related traffic.  Included below are the conclusions of the report.

Conclusions

There are deficiencies in both the assessment of potential effects resulting from ships strikes and exposure to underwater noise in the Trans Mountain Expansion Project Application documents.

There is insufficient information and analysis provided with which to assess ship strike risk in the Marine RSA from either existing or Project-related traffic. Ship strike is a threat of conservation concern, particularly for baleen whales such as Fin Whales, Humpback Whales and other baleen whales (Gregr et al. 2006). If shipping intensity increases as projected in Section 4.4 in the Marine RSA and the Strait of Georgia and Juan de Fuca Strait as a whole, the significance of this threat to cetacean populations that occupy the region will increase.

Incidence of recovered whale carcasses is not considered to be an adequate measure of the frequency of ship strikes. No information is provided about the speed and maneuverability of Project-related ships or the distribution of whales in relation to the shipping lanes. Analyses that consider the statistical probability of ship-whale encounters and the risk of collisions are considered appropriate methodologies to assess this potential effect.

The JASCO MONM model, as it has been applied by the Proponent, is not adequate to assess the overall impact of noise from increased Project-related traffic. Although state-of-the-art acoustic modelling has been used to model the noise propagation associated with a single Project-related tanker in the Marine RSA, only four locations were chosen to represent the Marine RSA; therefore, the assessment does not adequately represent the noise exposure for the entire time a marine mammal would be in the RSA. The assessment represents only Project-related tanker traffic and not the current noise environment or the potential increase due to Project-related traffic. Finally, the method used to assess the significance of impacts from the modelled noise level contours resulting from a single Project-related tanker and tug on indicator cetacean and pinniped species is qualitative and the lack of an appropriate assessment framework reduces DFO’s ability to evaluate the assessment.

(See Full PDF) SUFFICIENCY REVIEW OF THE INFORMATION ON EFFECTS OF UNDERWATER NOISE AND THE POTENTIAL FOR SHIP STRIKES FROM MARINE SHIPPING ON MARINE MAMMALS IN THE FACILITIES APPLICATION FOR THE TRANS MOUNTAIN EXPANSION PROJECT

See other posts on Oil Spill Risk for the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve

Feb 15, orcas and traffic

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family of four orcas off the south side of Race Rocks

Sunny, wind NE 10-20 becoming 5-10 E.  4 orcas passed by in the morning heading east.

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Orcas beyond south island with halibut sports fishing boats and the Captain George, a 229mx 32m bulk carrier heading to Itaquai Brazil, in the background

There were several boats in the reserve again today, at least 10 whale watching boats and one dive boat, and at least 5 halibut fishing boats around the perimeter of the reserve in the morning. I raised a new Canadian flag on the flag pole for the anniversary of the flag. Worked on firewood cutting and organizing firewood storage.  The composting toilet in the assistant’s house still has liquid in the bottom though it is decreasing.  I can notice a relative draw on the battery bank while running the unit with it’s electric heating element and vent fan.

Jan 22-26: fog, eagles, orcas

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juvenile bald eagle on the tope of the crane boom

Jan 22: Misty, low visibility. Wind N 10-15 knots. 1 private pleasure craft in the reserve. Cut and chopped firewood.

Jan 23: Rain, wind N 10-15 knots.  1 ecotour vessel in the reserve.  Followed up with eco tour company I spoke to a couple days ago about one of their boats, distance to mammals and avoiding disturbance. Also called a different eco tour charter company, that I hadn’t seen here before, about distance from mammals and speed in the vicinity of the rocks.  Cut and chopped firewood. Could hear elephant seal pup again today.

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juvenile bald eagle on one of the anemometers on top of the tower

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Jan 24:  A blanket of fog rolled in from the North in the morning reducing visibility and triggering fog horn including in the middle of the night. Periods of rain too.  Two ecotour vessels in the reserve. Went off island around noon in the fog, navigated by GPS on boat with cell phone as back up.  Picked up supplies in Colwood including extra chains, files and lube for the station chainsaw.  Brought three guests back out with me in the afternoon to stay overnight.  Sea was very calm on the way over and the fog had lifted enough to see to Port Angeles. The fog came back before dusk but lifted overnight.

Jan 25:  Cloudy, light rain, light wind.  10-15 orcas passed through race passage going with the current, heading SW. I brought guests back to college around noon. On the way over we passed by elephant seal rock and were able to see the pup with its mother.  It was on the West side of the mother, out of sight from the main island or tower cam. Came back out before dark.

Jan 26: Foggy in the morning, fog horn went off during the night. Cloudy throughout day, wind light.  1 ecotour vessel.  Cut and chopped wood. Foggy again in the evening.

Orcas, Jan 11-13

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On the morning of Jan 11 a pod of at around 20 orcas passed by in the morning on both sides of the reserve heading NE.  Mid morning they returned passing by on the East side of the reserve.  The whales were spread out and some were breaching as well as lying on their back slapping the surface of the water with their tails.

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the sealions on the south islands seemed apprehensive as the orcas swam nearby

 

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beyond south island, Rosedale Reef buoy and bulk carrier in background

 

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off the south islands

 

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on its back tail slapping the water

 

 

 

Persistent NE wind 10 -20 knots with mostly overcast sky for the past days.

Jan 11: 1 private vessel, 1 dive boat, 2 ecotour

Jan 12: one sea otter seen circling the island and a female elephant seal came on the main island briefly.  There have been very few female elephant seals on the main island so far this winter.

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Jan 13: 2 ecotour

Jan 14: 3 ecotour

I haven’t seen or heard the elephant seal pup in several days, dont know if it still alive. Have been working on wood cutting and did some more work on the composting toilet install, levelling the chamber so it drains, plumbing the chute and fastening the seat.

Generating History

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High clouds settled in today and there were even a few minute raindrops for a short time in the late morning and early evening. Hazy marine air was evident along the coast to Victoria while across on the American side, it looked like it might really be raining in the Elwha Valley, Olympic National Park. The barometer continues its slow slide, which started last Thursday. The westerly wind is forecast again for tomorrow and it has already started.

A Humpback Whale feeding and resting to the south of the rocks and Killer Whales to the west, continued to draw whale–watching boats from Victoria and a total of 22 were noted in the Ecological Reserve today, mostly observing pinnipeds (Steller’s and California Sea Lions, Harbour and Elephant Seals). One commercial, charter, fishing boat also stopped by to watch the sea lions.

One of the Brown Pelicans came back today and some members of the Victoria Historical Society group saw it on their way out to the island. Three groups of twelve people each had historical tours of Race Rocks today.

The historians were very interested in Garry Fletcher’s on-site presentations about the history of Great Race Island, the 500 year-old plus, indigenous rock cairns and the 154 year history of the Lighthouse. Race Rocks is designated as a heritage site but that only means it is registered in Ottawa, not offered any conservation protection. The Race Rocks Ecological Reserve protects Race Rocks’ biodiversity and natural history and is part of BC Parks, but it does not include human history.

Federal law passed specifically three years ago to protect historical lighthouses does not apply to the six original Imperial Lighthouses, of which this is one. Race Rocks  light-tower pre-dates the confederation of Canada and it is the only stone-constructed light tower and one of a handful of standing stone structures this old, in western Canada. It needs protection. You can learn more about its’ fascinating history through this web-site under history. There is even historical video footage of the demolition of the historic, granite, light-keeper’s house in the 1960s by bulldozer and explosives. Fisgard Light which was completed six weeks before Race Rocks is a much less impressive brick tower and is endowed with full heritage protection by Parks Canada.

With 37 visitors to attend to, I did not spend much time making ecological observations today. I did a few maintenance chores before they arrived, washing windows, sweeping the main walk-way with an historical broom and weed-eating around the fly wheels of an old Fairbanks-Morse engine from the turn of the last century, with an historical weed-eater from late in the last century. There are quite a few pieces of old Fairbanks-Morse machinery lying around that could be of historical interest. Here is a YouTube link to a similar 1906 Fairbanks-Morse engine, running. What a beast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTiK2B88EJs

My last tasks of the day are to move deionized water, delivered with the guests by Courtney on MV Second Nature, up to the energy building, and to make fresh water with the desalinator, while the historic Lister generator tops up the batteries which are powered mostly by solar panels.

Sizzling September

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Summer continues on Race Rocks with light easterly winds switching around to westerly this evening. It is still clear but there are more clouds tonight than I have seen in a while. Overall the barometer has been slowly dropping since last Thursday yet still remains relatively high. Although there is a gale warning in effect for tomorrow, the winds will be westerlies, which usually means good weather, but may bring in the fog.

Killer Whales to the south and southwest of Race Rocks drew quite a few tour boats again today. A total of fourteen whale watching boats were observed in the reserve, all well behaved. There was no illegal fishing observed.

Another ring-necked, California Sea Lion was photographed today. It appears to be healing although no rehabilitation tags were observed on this animal and it was difficult to tell if the entanglement was still there or not.

This California Sea Lion appears to be recovering from a ring-neck injury. No tags to indicate rehabilitation.

This California Sea Lion appears to be recovering from a ring-neck injury. No tags to indicate rehabilitation.

Unlike some of the ring-neck sea lions this wound appears to be clean and healing.

Unlike some of the ring-neck sea lions this wound appears to be clean and healing.

Most of the sea lions hauled out at Race Rocks appear to be in good shape. Here is a photo of a well fed Steller’s Sea Lion.

A big male Steller's Sea Lion is well fed and appears to be enjoying resting in the water.

A big male Steller’s Sea Lion is well fed and appears to be enjoying resting in the water.


The total number of Double Crested Cormorants and flock size, seems to go up everyday. Today I saw my first returning Surf Scoters flying in from the west. Rhinoceros Auklets, Common Murres and Heerman’s Gulls are very active around the edges of the reserve. The Heerman’s Gulls sometimes rest on the big rafts of bull kelp.

The Bull Kelp is on its’ way out and is epiphytized with red and green algae. Much of the area on the large blades have gone into zoospore production and the spore patches are clearly visible.

Bull kelp sporophylls are the lighter areas of the blades. This is where millions of zoospores are produced to make the microscopic over-wintering gametophytes.

Bull kelp sporophylls are the lighter areas of the blades. This is where millions of zoospores are produced to make the microscopic over-wintering gametophytes.


This last large tidal series has ‘littered’ the tide lines with floating kelp, wood and debris. A dock with a braced super-structure heading out to sea with the tide in Race Passage was reported as a hazard to navigation.

A lot of maintenance work has been accomplished over the last few days. The Jetty exclusion zone is now working well. The science house perimeter is functional. The weed-eater is working well and the compost is mulched in with hay. Many little things are a bit cleaner and tidier than when they were found.

Real Summer.

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When the good weather comes and stays in September, a friend of mine, who is a west coast, hereditary chief says, “well, white man’s summer is over, now we’ll have real summer” and that is what we are having. It continues, with more on the horizon until at least next Thursday.

Phone and Internet were down here last night so I am posting both days’ logs here.
Yesterday there were only four tour boat visits to the reserve observed and two of them were by the same boat at different times, its’ second visit minutes late to see spectacular whale action. No illegal fishing activity was observed. No visitors. Today was more active with lots of Southern Resident Killer Whales in the area – 27 boats. Some may be speeding in the reserve but it is hard to tell where the boundary is without a range finder.

Yesterday was census day and while compiling and organizing, numbers and photos on the computer, there was a sea lion ruckus outside. When your only neighbours are sea lions and they are calling, you look.

The Steller’s were up and alert stretching out their necks and roaring. The California Sea Lions were barking their heads off (not unusual). About one body length off the jetty a huge, adult male, Bigg’s Killer Whale rose, blew and dove. Two other females (?) and a small calf followed and they were in hot pursuit of either a seal or sea lion. They came up in the kelp to the northwest, one of the females spy-hopping at the east end of the kelp bed while the others looped around to the northwest. The chase culminated at North Rocks where the Harbour Seals haul out.

I lost sight of them on the other side of that islet where I assume they ate dinner. Returning to the house after the uproar died down, I was congratulating myself on the stunning photographs I had taken when I realized that the memory card was sitting in the computer.

Something of interest (to me at least) was a tightly packed group of about fifteen large, male Steller’s Sea Lions that swam into the area where the Killer Whales had just been in front of the jetty. They were in tight formation and swam around together like that for quite awhile, at the surface, heads up and agitated. After the Killer Whales had left the area, small groups of California Sea Lions were observed ‘porpoising’. Maybe they were practicing evasive, aerial actions. That would be an evolutionarily, advantageous activity in which to be well versed. A whale watching boat arrived about five minutes after all of the action.

Charismatic Megafauna census September 11, 2014
Bigg’s Killer Whales 4
California Sea Lion 373
Steller’s Sea Lion 240
Elephant Seal 4
Harbour Seal 151 (maybe 150 now ; – )
Canada Goose 8
Pelagic Cormorant 4
Double Crested Cormorant 11
Least Sandpiper 2
Killdeer 2
Black Oystercatcher 4
Black Turnstone 10
Pigeon Guillemots 0
Glaucous-winged Gull 113
California Gull 31
Heerman Gull 3
Ring-billed Gull 2
Gull sp. 17 (bigger hybrids?)
Savannah Sparrow 7
Fox Sparrow 1

Today, a large adult Humpback Whale was noted, travelling west, passing less than one nautical mile south of the reserve. Travelling in the opposite direction, later in the day was a very large pod of Killer Whales, said to be Southern Residents by the Whale Watching boats talking on the VHF radio.

Endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales being jockeyed for position by a dozen whale watching boats.

Endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales being jockeyed for position by a dozen whale watching boats.

I shot more brand-marked sea lion photos today and yesterday and looked for different entangled animals resulting in photos of two entangled, ring-necked Steller’s Sea Lions; one with heavy fishing line like halibut gear and the other too far away to tell. These photos will contribute to a study on sea lion entanglement and we are hoping the disentanglement team might be able to visit and help relieve one of these animals of their plastic noose.

A Steller's Sea Lion ring-necked with heavy fishing line.

A Steller’s Sea Lion ring-necked with heavy fishing line.

[caption id="attachment_15543" align="alignright" width="300"]Steller's Sea Lion that is ring-necked/entangled and sits in the water at South Islands with its' head up. Steller’s Sea Lion that is ring-necked/entangled and sits in the water at South Islands with its’ head up.

Maintenance chores today and yesterday consisted of fixing fences, fixing the internet/phone (with help from Jonathan over the phone), trying to fix the weed-eater, hand scything hay for the compost pile, seawater sampling, window washing, and fixing the weather system.

Killer Whales, Porpoise and Sea Lions Galore.

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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.
Following a little too close.
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.
Crowded in front of the jetty
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.
Tide is coming up.
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.
Stopped scratching for a moment.
Healing Ring-neck.Healthier ring-neck

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.

Bigg’s Killer Whales Kill in Reserve.

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The barometer rose all day and so did the westerly winds, so by the time the tide started to ebb, the opposing forces made spectacular waves. Tonight is the last full moon of the summer and it is in perigee, closest to the Earth, so it appears to be a big one, marking the third of a trilogy of super-moons we have been enjoying. It also means bigger than usual tides, making things seem even more dramatic. It was clear all day, no fog, but there are low clouds sneaking in along the Olympic Mountains and the look of fog out to sea. The westerly is supposed to be a little tamer on Tuesday.

Twenty-one tour boats were noted in the reserve today as well as one dive charter boat. A couple of the whale watchers looked like they were pushing the speed limit in the reserve and pushing the marine mammal viewing regulations outside the reserve. No illegal fishing was observed.

I am adding photos to the sea lion branding/tagging observations and that will make the data much more rigorous. Another entangled, aka ring-necked California Sea Lion was photographed. This time it looked like plastic strapping cutting a deep and infected wound.

Bigg’s Killer Whales visited again today. It appeared that they chased Steller Sea Lions all the way here from at least Albert Head. It was very dramatic here as they wove in and out of the kelp and through the tidal rips and standing waves, going with the tide and at great speed. One exhausted male Steller’s hauled out just as the chase was passing and he looked as though he may have been part of it all. He collapsed in a heap and immediately went to sleep. He was the lucky one. The kill happened in the reserve, just southwest of Great Race. There appeared to be a fairly small baby in the family of whales. The group was purportedly the T-61s (not sure of the source however). I tried to take photos so will report back with verified identification information once that comes in.

I finished some more of the set up to protect the ‘Science House’ today and started to clean out the northwest entrance to the generator room. There is a lot of very satisfying cleaning here, when you sweep you really get results, today it was many, many, generations of Ligia pallasii exoskeletons. Wow it’s a moult room instead of a cloak room.