We made some improvements to our last stretch and started on a new section that has been totally wrecked by the sealions. We are again converting from the old-style block anchors to metal stanchions that are bolted into the rock. We chose a course that provided good anchor locations and uses the natural geography to work with the sealions preferred nap spots. We also cleaned the windows of the various buildings because with 715 gulls…well you get the idea.
While having our morning coffee we saw our first Orcas. 5-6 with a baby was a treat for sure. Another notable siting was three ocean canoes coming through middle channel around 2pm, pretty rowdy if you ask me.
Whale Watching Vessels: 15
Private Vessels: 5
Weather: Calm and overcast in the morning. Cleared in the afternoon with winds reaching 14-16kts.
I’ve been lucky to come to Race Rocks on and off for just over twenty years – and there is still nothing quite like the magic of pulling out of Pedder Bay and first catching a glimpse of the lighthouse on the horizon.
I arrived yesterday afternoon to glorious sunshine and a warm welcome and handover from Kendra, and quickly felt at home once more amongst the island’s sights, sounds, (and smells!)
The weather had turned to grey and windy this morning – but who can worry about inclement conditions when there are boisterous sea lions going about their morning stomp down to the jetty for a quick dip?
The rest of the day was spent wandering around the island, re-familiarising myself with facilities and SOPs, and frequently just stopping for a moment to marvel. It’s great to be back!
Ecological Notes:
Several orcas entered the reserve south of Great Race Rock, but didn’t stay for long or come in to feed.
The lone juvenile male is now consistently joined by two females, with Petal continuing to enjoy demolishing any flowers she can find around the island.
Spotted one of three currently resident sea otters.
Visitors:
Greg and Cedric came on Second Nature to pick up Kendra and dropped off some fresh drinking water.
Facility Work:
Handover inspection of facilities, fuel, water &c
Checked Battery Acid levels and topped up as appropriate
Setting up in the Keeper’s cottage
Checked safety equipment (first aid kit, fire detectors & extinguishers, &c
Then at about 8:15 a.m. I went up to the lamp room to do a census but the tide was too high so I decided to clean the room (I had brought up supplies). At about 830 I saw a splash and watched it until I saw whales surface. Initially I was not sure if they were Dall’s porpoises or Orcas I watched and took photos for about 20 minutes. Then I saw a sea lion flipper. I thought maybe all were fishing together (very influenced by Robin Kimmerer and looking for reciprocity not competition). Every time the sea lion surfaced the largest Orca would come crashing over it. This happened often. Soon I realized I could depend on a good Orca photo if I waited until I saw the sea lion. It did not come up face first very often, almost always just a fin. Over the next hour I knew I was watching transient Orcas hunt a stellar sea lion. Soon they had moved close to outer seal rocks (I imagine the sea lion was desperately trying to get to shore) and the sea lions on the rocks became active. They moved into the water! After about another 30 minutes the whales and surrounded sea lion were moving again off shore. One last surface from the sea lion flipper and it was not seen again. In about 20 more minutes the whales were surrounded by gulls diving and picking debris off the water. Even an eagle got involved. I watched this drama for 2 1/2 hours and at that time the whale watching boats arrived, 5 of them. But the whales kept surfacing and the gulls flocking. Unfortunately the camera was full within the first 20 minutes and I was so frustrated BUT my iphone was able to capture great video footage of the whales at seal rocks and the sea lions!
I am sorry I cannot download the videos!
Visitors: 5 whale watching boats made their way to the whales but not until after the sky was full of seagulls and I suppose they were eating their prey. Afterwards all the boats went through the reserve. An spill response boat also went through.
Energy: For some reason the draw is very high today. At about1 o’clock I noticed our usage was over 2 kW and usually it is about 1.2. I spoke to ONC to see if their equipment was faulty but everything at their end was normal.
No visitors today, but over the last few days we have have been joined by Greg and a technician to service equipment and deliver supplies to the island. Environment Canada personnel came to update weather equipment on the lighthouse with new sensors and other hardware!
A handful (5-10) eco-tourism vessels have been though the reserve daily as well as the same for pleasure crafts.
Ecological Observations:
Over the last few days it has been very interesting to note the development of the seagulls chicks during our two week absence. The majority of them can now fly, although many appear to spend time in their respective nesting areas. While the young ones spend time on the water and practice bobbing their heads under, they still beg for food from their parent(s).
There have been 2-5 explosions daily, except for today, at the Esquimalt Canadian Forces Base. They seem to be varying in intensity – sometimes only a sharp ‘thump’, while other times the whole house shakes! The animals in the reserve certainly notice the latter. We sometimes see the majority of the landed birds and hauled out pinnipeds in the area flee to the water or air on these occasions.
On Tuesday we observed a larger pod (5-6) of orca whales move through the reserve and the surrounding waters. We first spotted them to the inside of north rock and over roughly 20-30 minutes they moved around great rock to opposite side. It looked as though they may have been hunting (moving towards shore in a line formation) but we were not able to see their prey.
Orcas passing through (1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
Environment Canada staff working on the lighthouse
Gull chick with skull pecked by other adult gulls
Two young chicks hanging out on the jetty
Sea lion enjoying the warm rocks (big yawn!)
Seagull perched on our fireplace chimney. We can often hear them through the woodstove!
DND vessel preventing boaters from getting too close to the ammunition detonation
Sea lion running into the water after explosion on land
Sky partly cloudy, some thick fog banks passing over us
Visibility 5-15 miles, intermittent fog
Wind 0-5 knots W
Water calm
Boats/Visitors:
Yesterday we had a great team of volunteers come to help remove the rest of the shingles and accumulated rubbish from around the island. We still have some more to go but it’s looking great!
Greg showed us how to set up the electric fencing to keep the sea lions off some of the island. Yesterday we set up one at the back of the island and will need to set up the fence near the jetty soon.
Today Corey and his family will pop in for a visit
Our friend is going home this afternoon
Ecological:
We spotted the seagull chick that had been attacked (and lost an eye) yesterday and it’s doing well. It is missing an eye now but is learning to fly alongside the others.
We saw two orcas pass just outside of the reserve on Thursday
The sea lions have started to come further onto the island, and there are more and more each day
Over the past few days we have been keeping an eye on eco-tourism vessels, and have been documenting their presence and their proximity to wildlife. The somewhat isolated nature of Race Rocks, minimal to no presence of regulating authority, and many other factors lead to a high risk of animals and the delicate marine environment being disturbed and potentially exploited.
While the distance of a vessel from wildlife is important, another considerable disturbance may be vibration and noise. Eco-tourism vessels fighting against the current to get the best viewing angle of resting animals easily vibrates a glass of water in our concrete foundation dwelling, over 100m from the waters edge. Another factor to consider is the volume of traffic. Items shaking in our home is normal, and we often hear boats coming before we see them. Perhaps a handful of boats conducting themselves responsibly would not be a problem, but on some days we see approximately 35+ eco-tourism boats alone. This does not include private vessels.
The below video is from July 31st, 2019 at 1413hr. It shows two zodiacs coming close to a pod of orcas within the reserve. The orcas were visible for over 15 minutes before this video was taken, and conversation on VHF channel 68 and 79 indicated that all boats in the area knew of their presence. Based on what we observed, it seemed as though the boats did not accidentally drift into place. Visible in the background is North Rock, video taken from the jetty.
We were unable to previously post it due to its size, but discovered uploading to YouTube and embedding to be a great solution.
As mentioned in the last blog post, the hauled out sea lions continue to provide an opportunity to observe how closely boats approach the wildlife. Here are three more videos of boats approaching the resting sea lions, all filmed within the last few days:
Additionally, here are some photos of miscellaneous vessels taken within the last 5 days or so:
This boat is interesting, it comes through often (see matching hull numbers) with different passengers but the same operator.
Another interesting boat coming in close for a look:
Weather:
Sky clear
Visibility 15+ miles
Wind 10 knots W
Water flat to rippled
Boats/Visitors:
No visitors over the last few days.
Ecological:
On the day the roofers were here a pod of orcas came through the reserve and I misplaced this photo, here it is now.
Census as follows:
250 sea lions
200-300 seagulls
6 Canadian geese
Ruddy Turnstones and migrating birds come and go frequently
No visitors to the island since Greg delivered water on Monday. We were happy to have a few guests of the college also stop in for a visit at the same time.
Lately there have been quite a few eco-tourism vessels (20+ each day). The noise from the vessels is continuous and can be felt as a low vibration even inside the house. We have seen the odd private pleasure craft as well but they are typically smaller and move more slowly.
Ecological:
The seagulls are growing more and more! The chicks have started to flap their wings into the wind, and wading into the water near the jetty. The adults seem to be attacking the young less frequently as they get bigger, but we still spot the odd deceased chick. Today we saw an adult gull swallow an unlucky chick whole.
The oyster catcher chicks have begun flying! They are able to cross the short distance between the jetty and the nearby rocks.
There are only two moulting male elephant seals on the island now. They look like they will likely leave soon, as their peeling of skin and fur is nearly done.
Earlier this week we saw orcas in the reserve, making twice in the past week and a half.
There have been a handful of seal pups and their moms resting in the shallower intertidal on the SE side of the island (also many seals on rosedale rock)
There has been a slow increase in sea lions hauling out onto west and middle rock. They occasionally stop on the jetty at a higher tide, or the rocks nearby.
One of the families of geese that hatched here in the spring. They look nearly full-grown now!
An adult seagull bringing food for its chicks.
They swallow their food whole and then fly back to regurgitate it for their young.
One of the first hatched chicks showing development of flight feathers.
The young gulls often sit like this with their feet out in front of them.
A sea lion hauled out beside the jetty.
The kelp forests surrounding us exposed by a lower tide.
Today we saw a group of orcas (4-6) within the ecological reserve, and noted that there was a horde of whale watching/ecotourism boats that followed. Shortly after the pod entered the reserve, we observed 12-15 boats convening in the area, forming a wall of motorized vessels on the border of the reserve. A diving boat was also present in the reserve, and had approximately 5 divers in the water at the same time.
While the ecotourism boats may have maintained an “appropriate” distance, it was undeniable that their approach from one direction as a large group negatively affected the wildlife. The diving boat had divers in the water, which inevitably means it is difficult to move away.
After only a few minutes of the boats approaching the orcas departed, heading away from the approaching boats, which gave chase.
Some of the orcas visible just off of great race rock.
Some of the whale watching boats stationed at the edge of the reserve.
They maintain “appropriate” distance by keeping just outside of the reserve.
The dive boat in the reserve, with activity in the background.
Boats in pursuit of the departing orcas.
A large vessel following the action.
Weather:
Wind: 10-15kn
Sky: Partially overcast
Visibility: 10mi
Water: Small waves not in excess of 0.5m
Boats/Visitors:
We have had no visitors over the last while, short of Greg delivering water yesterday.
After the strong winds cleared the haze day-before yesterday, the smoke has set in again since the winds died down
Boats/Visitors/Sightings
An average number of whale watching boats in the area
Quite a few private boats over the last couple of days trying to get a glimpse of the hauled-out sea lions
Bird notes
Spotted a lone pigeon on the island
The flock of geese are back on the island in search of food – about 9 of them
The juvenile seagulls have started to take flight – the highest I’ve seen one go is about 12 feet in the air, hanging in there for about a minute.
Marine mammals
The J-pod of orcas swam past late in the afternoon, going through Race Passage and slowly making their way towards victoria. See here for more details on the j-pod: https://orcaspirit.com/2012/05/the-resident-orcas-of-j-pod/
Sea lion numbers have started to stabilize over the last few days, but still growing slowly. Will get an accurate count in tomorrow’s census.
Average amount of ecotour boats around the island today
Marine Mammals
The additional male Elephant Seals from yesterday remained on the island today, causing yet another fight between a new adult male and the existing adult male. Neither was seriously injured.
Some harbour seals got closer to the main island than I’ve seen before – they usually hang out around the south islands.
Saw some whale watching boats gathered probably a couple of kilometers away in the south, and with my camera I got some shots of the orcas they were watching. It was too far to see the orcas themselves with the naked eye, but I could see the water sprays they were making.
