Tag Archives: Orca

Blue Heron spent several hours fishing

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 8.9 ºC »» Min. 5.0 ºC »» Reset 7.7 ºC
MARINE LIFE: Still seeing numerous fish balls mostly in the tidelines outside the MPA boundries but the number of sea birds is down considerably from last week. There were 5 Harlequins in the little bay on the east side of Gr. Race also one Blue Heron spent several hours fishing in the eastern kelp bed then just before sunset flew off toward Bentinck Island. There are 5 California Sealions hauled out along the north shore of Gr. Race that have fresh looking wounds, mostly in the hind flipper area, my guess, evidence of encounters with the transient Orcas that have been in the area quite often lately. There are still about 600 Cormorants in the area, another indication that the food supply is still good.
HUMAN INTERACTION: Second Nature in with Angus, Scott over to work on the the cameras and computers. Station boat out to return Scott to campus and to Pedder Bay. There were 5 Ecotour boats, 1 pleasurecraft through today.posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:05 PM

Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Part Cloudy »» Vis. 15 Miles »» Wind North East 21 Knots »» Sea 3 Foot Moderate
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:25 AM

Counted over 500 Cormorants just on North Rocks

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 10.2 ºC »» Min. 7.0 ºC »» Reset 8.1 ºC
MARINE LIFE: Another good day for sea birds feeding, thousands of birds from Whirl Bay and as far as you can see to the east , every rock including Gr. Race ‘covered’ in birds. Counted over 500 Cormorants just on North Rocks and the rocks to the Southeast and most likely at least that many in the kelp beds. Not many Sea Lions have hauled out, only 15 along the north shoreline of Gr. Race, a group of 11 Northern are bunched together on the high point just east of the house but are very edgy.Most of the animals hauled out are on the middle rock.The injured California Sea Lion was gone at first light and we have not seen him all day. There were 7 geese today.There is no standing fresh water but they do enjoy the greens. A small group – 5 or 6 – Transient Orca were hunting in the entrance to Pedder Bay and took at least one seal. There were several pleasurecraft and 7 Ecotour boats watching the kill. After the boats left the Orca moved west along the shoreline quite slowly and at times rested on the surface for 5 minutes at a time. It took them a good hour to go from the east tip of Bentinck Island to Whirl Bay, I guess they continued west but did not see them again.
HUMAN INTERACTION: There was 1 dive charter in the West Race area, 13 Ecotour boats and 7 pleasurecraft through today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:59 PM

Orca sighted

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 14.1 ºC »» Min. 8.5 ºC »» Reset 11.8 ºC
MARINE LIFE: There are thousands of sea birds busy feeding in the many fish balls, a few inside the MPA but most of the action in about 1/2 to 1 mile past the boundaries. Many of the birds come into the reserve to rest ashore and in the kelp so there is a constant flow of birds back and forth. A small group of Orca were sighted southeast of Gr. Race travelling westsouthwest.1 Canada goose came ashore up over the rocks by the winch house causing a stampeed of sea lions. The gulls and other birds move among the sea lions all the time but for some reason, the goose rising up out of the water waving it’s neck and moving towards them was somewhat of a threat.The goose seems to have an injured left wing and moved into a protected area among some large boulders and except to pop it’s heard up every once in a while for a look around has stayed put all day. Cannot get close to the goose to assess it’s condition as any movement would disturb the 60 or so sea lions hauled out all along the shore.
HUMAN INTERACTION: There were 11 Eco tour boats and 7 pleasure craft through the reserve today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:25 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Clear »» Vis. 15 Miles »» Wind East 11 Knots »» Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:07 AM

Orcas

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 13.1 ºC »» Min. 6.5 ºC »» Reset 10.7 ºC
MARINE LIFE :Orcas sighted about 14:00 to the northeast of Gr. Race, could be the same group seen yesterday morning along the south shore.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 13 tour boats and 4 pleasurecraft through today. Second Nature in at about 14:00 to pick up students who spent the weekend. Hyaku and Second Nature in with group from CISTA .Yesterday there were 9 tour boats and one dive charter off West Race.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:04 PM

Orcas and whale watchers

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 13.9 ºC »» Min. 7.5 ºC »» Reset 11.1 ºC
MARINE LIFE: There were about 50 Cormorants in the reserve today some on North Rks. but the majority along the ridges of the Southeast Rks. There are also over 60 Heermann’s Gulls. The geese family landed for a very short visit- about 15 minutes- but the real excitement was provided by the Orca, believed to be T10 group, transients. First sighted was the large bull near William Head just before 11:00. The Orca spent some time in the entrance to Pedder Bay then moved along the shore of Bentinck Island.After a wait of 10 minutes or so they then surfaced midway between North Rks. and the dock. While watching for the whales we listened to some of the tour boat operators on the VHF reporting the animals movements for the benefit of other boat operators.As the whales made their way heading east in front of the station the ‘Wildcat’ was entering from the west and followed the whales and at one point were so close I thought they were going to run over top of them! The whales moved south along the edge of the kelp bed to the east of Gr. Race then west along the southeast rocks and Gr. Race quite close to shore .2 boats Pr. of Whales (princess) and SeaFun Safaris followed along even though they were well within the reserve’s southern boundary which is the Rosedale buoy.The whales moved through the reserve passed West Race to the Pedder Bay area again and then about 14:00 headed West. At last report they were near Secretary Island. With all the sea lions and seals in the water, some Northern Sea lions in tight groups following quite closely I expected the Orca to have a kill, but then there were all those boats coming and going and staying????? for hours!
HUMAN INTERACTION: There were 4 pleasure craft and 28 Ecotour boats through the reserve today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:09 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Part Clouldy »» Vis. 15 Miles »» Wind North East 5 Knots »» Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:14 AM

Turnstones and Orca

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TEMPERATURE: Max. 17.0 ºC »» Min. 9.9 ºC »» Reset 15.9 ºC
MARINE LIFE: several groups of 20 or so Cormorants are spending part of the day on North Rks. and the rocks on the southeast of Gr. Race. There are now about 60 Black Turnstones busy along the shoreline, you can often see them on camera # 3 hopping among the sealions foraging for sand fleas or beach hoppers.Most of the time though they are farther down on the beach where the food supply includes small crabs which they find by ‘turning over pebbles and small stones’ thus the name Turnstone.There was one identified transient Orca, a large bull known as Y1 through the reserve about 10 am. There were 4 or 5 other Orca with him including a calf. These transeints came in from the west between North Rks. and Gr. Race. They spent a while foraging about not far off the dock then circled Gr. Race rather slowly before moving off to the northwest. At about 11:15 heard a report from one of the Ecotour boats that there was a group of residents in the entrance of Pedder Bay, did see some tail slapping and breaching but too far away to identify any individuals.
HUMAN INTERACTION: Second Nature in with supplies this morning. While the Orca were in the reserve 4 boats followed them which is contrary to the guidelines. 3 of the boats were fishing charters ,Beasley, Adams and Island Outfitters. The 4th was an unidentified 5 or 6 metre open Lifetimer.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:12 PM

Whales and sealions

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TEMPERATURE: Max. 14.1 ºC »» Min. 9.6 ºC »» Reset 14.0 ºC
MARINE LIFE: The chatter on the marine radio reported sightings of some Minke whales and also a Humpback but not unfortunately close to us. We did see several Orca a mile or so beyond the MPA boundries.This morning we counted 172 California, 9 Northern Sea lions hauled out on West, Middle and North Rocks. The group hauled out at the dock and along the north shoreline of Gr. Race still numbers 13-15 California and 2 Northern.Most of the day they spend sleeping but through the night get quite vocal. Most of the young gulls have stopped returning to the nest areas and are usually chased off by the adults.
HUMAN INTERACTION: There were 37 Ecotour boats, 2 Charter dive boats and 7 pleasure craft through the reserve today.Station boat to Pedder Bay and back this morning.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:27 PM

a small group of Orca passed through

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Tuesday, August 20, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 16.0 C  Min. 10.3 C  Reset 12.7 C
MARINE LIFE: There is plenty of fish around but many of the sealions have left and wonder if the high level of boat traffic is having an impact.Between noon and 13:00 a small group of Orca passed through between Gr. Race and North Rks. heading west.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 36 Ecotour boats through today also Second Nature in for two dives off the dock and one dive late afternoon at West Race.The station boat to Pedder Bay and back.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:14 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy  Vis. 15 Miles  Wind West 21 Knots  Sea 3 Foot Moderate
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:34 AM

practicing the art of landing

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Tuesday, August 13, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 24.9 C  Min. 11.5 C  Reset 19.0 C
MARINE LIFE: The number of sea lions continues to increase,most seem to arrive in little groups during the night.This morning counted over 50 hauled out and several small groups floating about in the kelp. There were 6 Northern sea lions swimming along the south shore when the Orcas passed by just after 20:00.The whales were headed east after feeding near Beechey Head and surfaced only twice as they went through the reserve.The geese did not visit today, guess that is it for this year,miss them in a way but there are better places for geese! The young gulls are still spending a lot of time practicing the art of landing and there were a lot of close calls with several chicks getting quite a ‘roughing-up’ from some of the more aggressive adults.Saw 4 young with pecks on their heads that drew blood and some tail feathers pulled out. The adults fly out just off shore and call to the young but they are very reluctant to follow , so it gets quite noisy at times.One California sea lion hauled out for a couple of hours on the end of the dock, he had # 62 branded on his back.
HUMAN INTERACTION: There were 33 Ecotour boats and 9 pleasure craft through today, Hyaku did a tour through in the evening.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:33 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Clear �� Vis 15 Miles �� Wind East 7 Knots �� Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:15 AM

Ryan to the reserve for relief

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Saturday, July 27, 2002

A beautiful day here on the rocks today. 5 orcas passed north of the reserve at 17:30, two whale watchers through the reserve after around 18:00. The Canadian Geese are back, didn’t see them fly in though. 1 mature bald eagle made a number of passes of the island today, but was unsuccessful. The cormorant was joined this afternoon by another one, and several more may be near the water on the southwest corner of the island.
posted by Ryan Murphy at 7:06 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Clear  Vis. 16 Miles Wind West 7 Knots  Sea Rippled  Temp. 10 degrees
posted by Ryan Murphy at 5:54 AM