Orcas outside

‘Orca’, 10, ‘There is something particularly special about sitting down at the kitchen table and literally hearing the whales outside. I ”ve been on the water before and heard the the heavy exhalations of a whale before spotting it, but to be on land inside a building is something else entirely. The group of 10 or more orcas were traveling N along the E edge of the reserve towards Victoria. There were two adult bulls, one with a very tattered dorsal fin. They were quite active, with some whales doing back flips and swimming upside down, flopping their tails on the surface.’,

‘Ryan’, ’14:31:09 ,

Transient orcas through the reserve.

Orca: 5, ‘The group of transients that has been in the area over the weekend came by the reserve in a near carbon copy of their Sunday route. The large male breached once while in the SE end of the reserve and 2-3 times S of the reserve. The group spent about 20 minutes criss-crossing around SE rocks in apparent feeding behaviour -tail slaps, etc.).’, ‘Ryan’, ’11:45:23 ,

Elephant Seal’, 7, ‘5 females were seen hauled out on Middle Rocks; they ranged from small juveniles to large adults. They join the 2 small females here on Great Race.’, ‘Ryan’, ’16:04:03 ,

Two Orca groups

Orca’, 2, ‘2-3 miles E of the reserve traveling south. Had boats from Washington, Vancouver and Victoria in pursuit.’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:11:46 ,
‘Orca’, 8, ‘About 30 minutes after the first group, these whales came through Race Passage and into the N part of the reserve heading E. Moving as two loose groups, I counted 2 males, 4-5 females and 2-3 calves.’, ‘Ryan’, ’15:14:03 ,

Orcas spye-hop

Orca’, 3, ‘A large male and what appeared to be two females entered the reserve from the West and spent time moving back and forth in the general area between West Race and Middle Rocks. The engineers and painters were here with Erik and we were treated to a spy-hop before they went through the channel in front of the jetty and moved E towards Victoria.’, ‘Ryan’

More solar panels installed

Orcas were spotted along the boundary of the reserve at several points throughout the day today.Our little friend the injured elephant seal has not been seen for several days now. However, the other young seal, possibly a male, was hauled up on the jetty last night.The number of sea lions continues to grow, as does the reach of their haul outs. A particularly stubborn and rather aggressive fellow was inhabiting the jetty this afternoon.Seagull chicks are beginning to lift off. Unfortunately, many are being found to have met their demise at the hands of the river otter which seems to frequent the island regularly these days.Two contractors from Home Energy Solutions in Victoria were here today to install new solar panels.  Adam, 22:41:06.

Oystercatcher chicks

‘The painters today spotted twelve orcas including babies swimming through the reserve. A possibly dead elephant seal was noticed washed up in the intertidal -but still partially submerged) this morning. Black oystercatchers have chicks! In the S surge channel beneath the science house, two chicks were noticed with a parent. They are still very small. The three baby geese are growing still. Every day they are growing stronger and venturing further and further from their parents. There is an old goose on the SE side of the keeper”s house that is looking very frail -this has been going on for a while now). I would expect that it is on its last legs.’, ‘Adam’, ’12:29:50 ,