Biodiversity Aplenty + Sunday Census

Weather:

  • Sky overcast
  • Visibility 15+ NM
  • Wind 20-25 knots W
  • Sea state: chop, whitecaps breaking at .5 m

Visitors/Marine Traffic:

  • On Thursday an electrician came to work and Greg brought us some supplies- Thanks Greg!
  • Also on Thursday, Daniel came to do a bird count and take recordings of bird calls. He was able to spot and identify many more species than we are able to, and it was fantastic to learn more about what is here! He also found owl pellets near where we heard an owl in April, and we are excited to see what information can be concluded from them.
  • On Friday Greg delivered water
  • Also on Friday, there were many RCMP boats just outside of the reserve.
  • There have been a few pleasure crafts, some fishing within the reserve boundaries.
  • One whale watching vessel today, which approached the animals and the jetty very closely

Ecological: 

  • Daniel also spotted two new observations: a fern growing out of a crack on the lighthouse, and some beautiful harvest brodiaea.
  • There is now only one elephant seal, the large male.
  • There is one goose still sitting on a nest underneath camera 5. She’s been there for a long time and we are wondering if the eggs will still hatch since it is so late in the season. There are no goslings currently, but still a constant 16 adult geese total.
  • In the past two weeks we have been observing many jellyfish in the water, including sea nettles, fried egg jellyfish, and the occasional water jelly still.
  • On Thursday morning we watched as two eagles chased one seagull into the water and continuously took turns diving at it. They dove at it until it was completely wet and unable to fly away. At this point, one of the eagles swooped down and carried the seagull away by its neck.

Census: 

  • 280 Seagulls
  • 12 Adult oystercatchers
  • 2 Oystercatcher chicks
  • 157 Harbor seals
  • 1 Adult male elephant seal
  • 16 Adult Canada geese
  • 11 California sealions
  • 3 Stellar sealions
  • 9 Pigeon Guillemots
  • 2 Adult bald eagles
  • 1 Barn swallow

Beautiful Spring Day

Weather: 

  • Sky partly cloudy
  • Visibility 15+ NM
  • Wind 10-15 knots SW
  • Sea state: calm, rippled

Visitors/Marine Traffic: One pleasure craft within the reserve yesterday

Ecological: 

  • There are now 5 goslings between 2 nests
  • There are 2 oyster catcher chicks (nest on E side of island). They are too elusive for our camera for now!
  • The garbage brought to the island by seagulls is increasing now that they are nesting and laying eggs
  • Yesterday we spotted a patch of broken seagull eggshells near the guest house. Our best guess: the gulls are already looting neighboring nests for food

 

Spring Showers Brought New Critters!

Weather: 

  • Sky overcast
  • Visibility 10 NM
  • Wind 10-15 knots W
  • Sea state: calm

Boats/Visitors: 

  • One pleasure craft fishing within the reserve today. They did not have a visible number so we were unable to report to DFO.
  • Yesterday Greg brought water which we pumped into our storage tank

Ecological: 

  • Today a large male elephant seal arrived! He is huge!
  • The smaller female elephant seal has returned for a bit more R&R
  • There are now goslings! There was one nest behind the boat shed which we did not see before. This morning we noticed two little fluffy goslings peeking out. Adorable!
  • The oyster catchers have begun to lay eggs
  • The seagulls are also laying eggs in full force. The nests are becoming fully established all over the island. They have become more defensive of their areas, which means we need to cover up! One of their favorite defense tactics is flying above us and trying to hit us with their droppings.

Sunday Census

Weather: 

  • Sky partly cloudy
  • Visibility 10 NM
  • Wind 20-25 knots W
  • Sea State: white caps, chop less than 1/2 m

Visitors/Marine Traffic: No visitors

Ecological: 

  • The last elephant seal seems to have departed since yesterday.

Census: 

  • 46 Sea lions
  • 8 Oystercatchers
  • 16 Canada Geese
  • 116 Harbor Seals
  • 1 Bald Eagle
  • 1 Elephant Seal
  • 470 Seagulls

Returning Sun, Census

Weather: 

  • Visibility 15-20 NM
  • Sky partly cloudy clearing to blue sky
  • Wind 15-20 Knots W
  • Sea state: calm, rippled

Visitors/Marine Traffic:

  • No visitors
  • Yesterday we spotted a group of kayakers who had emailed to let us know they were coming: We tried to wave, but you were too far away to see us- hope you had a good paddle!

Ecological: 

  • The seagull population has skyrocketed this week, but still no fully constructed nests
  • The elephant seals have left now, aside from one. We anticipate that we may see a few large males in a month or so.

Census: 

  • 16 Geese
  • 8 Oystercatchers
  • 39 Sea Lions
  • 40 Harbor Seals
  • 1 Elephant Seal
  • 1 Bald Eagle
  • 580 Seagulls
  • 42 Pigeon Guillemots

First Days Back

We are happy to be back on Race Rocks surrounded by the animals again. A big thanks to Nick for leaving things in excellent shape!

Weather:

  • Visibility: 10+ NM (Victoria Clear)
  • Wind: 10-15 knots NW
  • Water calm
  • Sky overcast

Visitors/Boats:

  • No visitors to the island since we arrived on Wednesday
  • One whale watching vessel yesterday with three people on board
  • Three jet skis passed through on Thursday evening

Ecological:

  • There are 10 elephant seals resting outside of the house this morning
  • One is the last remaining pup, as pointed out by Nick
  • The map of Goose nests that Nick left for us remains accurate, but there are many new eggs.
  • The seagulls are beginning to arrive and fight over nesting spots. We have observed them beginning to pull up tufts of grass and lay them down for nesting.
  • Yesterday evening we noticed an entangled sea lion from the jetty. It appears to have a plastic packing strap wrapped around its neck, similar to the one that we saw last year.
  • There are two mature eagles that have been periodically swooping over the reserve, causing quite a stir.
  • There are at least two pairs of oyster catchers preparing to nest. Yesterday we saw the pair which nested near the guest house last year defending the same rocky area.

Barn Swallows

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-15 SW
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Flat

Boats/Visitors

  • had a little tour from the college come by this morning
  • the day before there were a couple of people from UVIC setting up equipment to monitor earthquake activity

Maintenance

  • The blue water tank at the side of the house is being cleaned out and filled at the college and will be transported here to fill up our freshwater tank until we get a new desalinator put in place

Ecological

  • Maybe 15 stellers and 30 Californias around, the numbers have gone down
  • two adorable little barn swallows have been hanging around the house
  • 11 elephants, the numbers will be dropping soon as everyone has finished molting and will need to go hunting soon
  • a couple of hundred pigeon guillemots around today
  • about 8 oystercatchers who should be setting up their nests soon
  • still around 16 geese and at least 14 goslings, three nests hatched
  • a few hundred seagulls buildings their nests
  • the cormorants and harbour seals are sticking to the outer rocks
  • two bald eagles out on north rock today

Other

  • was stuck in a fog bank yesterday and it has been very cloudy today so I will run the generator a bit
  • I leave on Tuesday and our new eco-guardians Mara and Kai will be taking over for the summer

Barn Swallows on the deck railing

48 eagles

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-15 SW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Calm for the most part

Boats/Visitors

  • A few ecotours going by today, some divers went by yesterday

Maintenance

  • Plan on stacking firewood today, and top up the water tank, I’m hoping to start pressure washing soon

Ecological

  • The third pup, is covered in bite marks and I really don’t know how long it’ll last but at the moment its still alive but one of the other mothers keeps attacking it
  • Chunk is here but hasn’t really come up past the jetty, which is good I think he is scared of Bernard

Census

  • California Sea Lions – 232
  • Steller Sea Lions – 106
  • Harbour Seal – 21
  • Elephant Seal – 2 male, 3 female plus 3 pups, 1 female, 1 male, and the third gender is undetermined
  • Cormorants – 417
  • Gulls – 507
  • Black Turnstones – 44
  • Eagle – 48
  • Oyster Catchers – 28
  • Harlequin Ducks – 8
  • Ravens – 2

21 Geese

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 10-25 NW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Choppy under a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • Had a couple visitors come by throughout the week, to check out the crane and desalinator

Maintenance

  • Now that the fresh water tank is almost full, will start pressure washing some of the lichen off the buildings

Ecological

  • Slightly less sea lions than last week
  • still no elephant seals on the main island but I think I spotted one on one of the outer rocks
  • a lot of Canada geese lately

Census

  • California Sea Lions – 674
  • Stellar Sea Lions – 702
  • Harbour Seal – 81
  • Elephant Seal – maybe 1 male
  • Cormorants – 388
  • Gulls – 293
  • Fox Sparrows – 16
  • Canada Geese – 21
  • Black Turnstones – 28
  • Eagle – 2
  • Oyster Catchers – 8

Students, pups, humpbacks and a dead sea lion

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 0-20 SW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Choppy, under a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • A few ecotours
  • Guy came by with a little tour group this morning and then again in the afternoon with a group of students that will be spending their CAS week here

Maintenance

  • Fence maintenance, some pressure washing

Ecological

  • Counted at least 8 humpbacks throughout the day
  • there is a big dead stellar on the south west part of the island, I don’t usually go down there so I havent seen it until now
  • There are also about a dozen oyster catchers near the generator room
  • The sea lion pup is back and i got some great photos of it, even got some shots of it nursing which is very unusual to have such a young pup on the island