Tag Archives: Orca

Windy Monday

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Weather

The wind picked up to 30 knots in the middle of the night and was still 32 knots  at 5:00AM and 38 at 7:30 . The visibility was over 15 miles ,clear sky ,white caps on the sea.

Ecological

 

The Sea lions stayed late in the morning in ,what I call the dormitory ,in fact a patch of land among the rocks. We were lucky enough to spot for the first time a few orcas closed to the shore behind the guest house. Many black turnstone  in the rocks and sea lions closer and closerDSC_0003DSC_0173DSC_0262DSC_0371

Maintenance

Guy repaired the lock of the bedroom window . He changed the filter of the generator 2.and drilled and fixed a support. Everything is now working except an oil leak because of too old hoses . New ones has been ordered.

Other

The video Aziz Sowannella took on the rock is now online (Youtube ) . Thanks to him . It’s as beautiful as the place.  He got the feeling of the rocks around the clock. Nice job!

Electrician on the Rock

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Weather

We had for a few days the last perfect Summer days: no wind ,mirror sea and heat…

Ecological

For the first time we saw 2 orcas in the passage . It was like a dream and ironically all the watching boats were outside and we were the only ones to enjoy.DSC_0502DSC_0500We did!

Hungry not anymore baby gulls! No Elephant seals .

Other

The number of watching boats this sunny days is insane !So many and all at the same time .too closed ,too fast and too noisy (engines). too often disturbing! An helicopter was above very noisy too and the birds were afraid.We had a plane above.DSC_0553DSC_0549

A visitor : an electrician 

He came to double check the electrical system on the rock. Even if the old system is running pretty well a brand new generator would be  a good solution for more efficiency.We learn a few things : The generator should work around 12 hours in a raw every 10 days even in Summer time. We would need a high voltage for 12 hours to activate correctly the mixture . The sulfuric acid  stays down and the water up and that means corrosion …If high voltage were sent for 12 hours or even more the batteries could be charged at 80 %. Right now they are charged at the best to 40-50%.The solar panels are not enough efficient because of the big and numerous batteries. Even the shadow of a pipe on the panel have an incidence on the production. The second generator is not working right now . We will make it work next week with new filters.this one produce 25AMPS instead of just 15AMPS for the first one in use presently.

 

Census Day and fishing activity in the ecological reserve

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Weather

Calm Summer day

Ecological

Where are gone so many gulls and why?

Boats

6 kayakers between Vancouver Island shore and Race Rocks (half distance )with a  rescue Zodiac in case.4 First nations big canoes 2 under sails and one with oars between East Sooke and the States with  some rescue power boats. 1st watching vessels at 9:30AM .In the afternoon around 3:30PM ,3 people in a small power boat were fishing in the ecological reserve.From south rocks to the middle passage ,with the engine in  neutral position,they went through  the passage 2 times .The guy was fishing with a short rod and we saw one of the women with a mackerel size fish in her hand . It took them 15min to go through  . Because of the aggressive gulls all around we couldn’t go but we took all the references and phoned to Fisheries and Oceans Canada.They left in the Victoria direction and pretty soon to Pedder Bay at full speed.

DND activity

Extensive activity for the DND Today; 14 blasts and the 4 last one were huge .

Census

Elephant seals :2

Gulls: 390 mainly adults glaucous winged gulls, a few Heermann’s gulls only

Harbour seal:s 70 + many swimming newborns ones

Harlequin ducks:1

Oystercatchers:5

Pigeons-guillemot:35

Cormorants :0

River otters:0

Gull chicks:50 to 60 from the front window.

geese :0

Seashore birds : 4

Orcas: around 10 (seen close enough)

 

 

 

 

 

Spontaneous Whale Watching!

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Mt. Baker visible at times today.
  • Wind: 10-15 knots West
  • Sky: clear and sunny!
  • Water: calm

Ecological

  • We spied three eagles on Turbine Rock this morning.
  • 14 elephant seals on Great Race today, including both Chunk and Chuckles.
  • As Second Nature was departing Race Rocks sometime after 9:00, Kyle spied several whale watching boats following a pod of orcas outside the reserve.
  • I hopped aboard (sans camera) and we went off to join the fleet.
  • Over the next half hour or so, we watched 5 or 6 orcas as they repeatedly surfaced on their southerly course.
  • Christine (Guy’s wife) took several photographs; perhaps she will share them with us soon.
  • Pam Birley discovered a Black Oystercatcher nest today via webcam. That makes 3 known nests.
  • As Pam noted, it is “not a good spot to nest because the Otter likes to sunbathe in that spot on the rocks.”

Maintenance

  • I did some yellow paint touch up on the jetty.
  • Sprayed more algicide on the students’ house.
  • Shut-down the students’ house.

Boats

  • Second Nature arrived around 9:00, and properly departed around 10:00 after our unexpected whale watching trip!
  • Many eco-tours came by today.
  • A few of them appeared to be too close to the sea lions.

Visitors

  • Kyle, Guy, Christine, and their daughter arrived at 9:00.
  • Guy and Christine were dropping off some gear for their upcoming shift.
  • Maya, Tazi, and Ali departed on Second Nature.

Tazi, Maya, Ali

Ali, Maya, Tazi, Mt. Baker

Orcas, Penis, Helicopter

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Ecological

  • Elephant seals: Chunk has appeared to be trying to mate since before the pups were born but today it was the first time I have observed successful copulation with the mother of first pup.  In the photos he seemed keen to go again but she didn’t seem very interested.
  • Orcas: what appeared to be a family of 4 orcas passed through race passage in the morning heading East.  A “Whale Research” vessel can be seen in the photo following them.
  • Fishing: several sports fishing boats with buoys were around the reserve today,  a sure sign that the halibut fishery has reopened for the season.

Other:

  • took measurements for camera mounting housing and hardware
  • Coast Guard Helicopter pilot Captain David Ferguson paid a visit to Race Rocks with 2 crew to do routine maintenance on the light and fog signal.  They came in one of the Coast Guard’s new, shiny Bell 429 machines, which apparently cost about 8.3 Million dollars apiece.

Humpback and Orca Sightings from Race Rocks in the Strait of Juan de Fuca

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In preparing for the oral presentation that the Friends of Ecological Reserves  will give on January 28 in Burnaby, as an intervenor for the National Energy board Hearings, I have recently updated or graphs on Humpback and Orca sightings by the Ecoguardians at Race Rocks: The posts done by our Ecoguardians tagged for orcas or  humpback whales assisted in this tabulation.

image003 orcadays

Godwit and Guillemots

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Marbled Godwit

Marbled Godwit

Ecological Happenings

  • Calm overcast day with light winds and settled seas.
  • Allot of driftwood and deadheads floating past in the current around the rocks from the storms and high tides of late.
  • Marbled Godwit spotted on the main island in the afternoon.
  • Pigeon guillemots and Surf scoters observed around the main island to the North and East.
  • The female Elephant seal remains on middle rocks, while the males and smaller Elephant seal remain on the main island.
  • Pod of Orca seen passing to the south, feeding in the straight. Approximately five in group consisting of males (larger dorsal fins), female and a calf. Group of accompanying birds (gulls and cormorants) circling and highlighting their position.

Marine Vessels

  • One Whale Watching boat through the reserve.
  • Courtney visited on 2nd Nature, from Pearson College, dropping off the winter fuel and a set of repaired steps for the jetty.

Maintenance

  • Steps and fuel unloading from 2nd Nature.
  • General tidying and preparation for end of shift.
Cracking Sunrise

Cracking Sunrise

Cormorants taking a rest on some drift wood

Cormorants taking a rest on some drift wood

Pigeon Guillemots

Pigeon Guillemots

Marbled Godwit and Black Turnstone

Marbled Godwit and Black Turnstone feeding

Immature Bald Eagle landing

Immature Bald Eagle landing. Beautiful plumage.

Double-crested Cormorants

Double-crested Cormorants and Thayer’s Gulls

Courtney prepping 2nd Nature

Courtney prepping 2nd Nature to come into the jetty

Male Orca in strait

Male Orca in strait

Female Orca and calf

Female Orca and calf

Early Morning Orcas

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Weather

A fine day out at RR today. Winds of between 5-12 kts in varying easterly directions. The barometer dropped from 102.4 this morning to 101.9. Winds increasing tonight to up to 20kts, with midnight fog, forecast to dissipate by Saturday morning.

Boat activity

  • Six tour boats (3 of which spotted the Orcas that were hanging around the reserve this morning)
  • Two pleasure fishing vessels. One moved a little too quickly out of the reserve. We encourage all vessels to travel at a maximum of 7kts within the reserve (we don’t want butchered Sea Lions :)

Ecological happenings

  • 3 Orca’s spotted well within the reserve this morning at 10am.
  • Two bald eagles at North Rocks

Maintenance

  • We continue to trouble shoot the water system in the student house. The pump is now installed, but there is a mysterious leak. Stay tuned……

Visitors

  • Two friends of the eco-guardians are visiting the island today (Carole and Flo). One is a renewable energy consultant and will be checking out the island’s system for improvements. Like all visitors they are awestruck by the island’s energy and beauty.