Today was another gorgeous day with little to no wind and temperatures reaching 25 degrees celsius! I spent the morning puttering around the site and completing tasks like the weekly battery top up. The usual animals are around today, all 4 elephant seals, a handful of sea lions, and of course – Ollie.
In the afternoon, Cedric brought two groups of Pearson student’s over for visit, most of whom had never been to Race Rocks before. It’s always nice to have visitors and I thoroughly enjoy answering questions about the reserve and my job.
Only a few ecotourism vessels today but I expect I’ll see plenty over the weekend if the weather stays like this.
The water around jetty is crystal clear, it’s so fun to watch the sea lions swim and play beneath the waters surface. As I type this now, I am watching a young California sea lion leap out of the water as if it’s having the time of its life.
** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
Today was so action packed I’m not even sure where to begin!
I woke up just after sunrise as I knew today was going to be busy and I wanted to get a few tasks out of the way. At 6am it was already warm out with barely a breeze. The ocean was glassy as I cleaned the solar panels – which were yet again decorated by the birds.
Around 8:30am the first group of Pearson students were dropped off for their marine science exam which was taking place here at Race Rocks. By 9am we had 46 humans on the island which is a lot after not seeing anyone for a whole week. Today’s tide was one of the lowest I’ve seen since being here and its neat to see the rocks and small islands that are usually well below the surface.
Halfway through the exam we had a surprise visit from Coast Guard via helicopter to continue working on the fog horn. Thankfully all of the students were safely tucked away working on their exams down in the tide pools when it arrived. This time they had a smaller helicopter so they actually landed on the grass next to the tower rather than the helipad. Overall disturbance was limited aside from birds leaving the area (but immediately returning) and the minor panic exhibited by me.
If that wasn’t excitement enough, we saw 3 passing transient killer whales shortly after! Once again, they were quite far in the distance but always nice to see. One of these days I’ll see them up close!
On return to the school, one of the boats found a deceased harbour porpoise floating on the surface. I reported this to DFO and the animal was collected and brought back to the college where it can be stored in a freezer until the DFO team and veterinary pathologist are able to perform a necropsy.
The afternoon slowed down once it was just me and the animals alone on site. Ollie was relaxing in the kelp beds, the sea lions were quiet, and the sun was toasty. I ventured down to the rocks behind the student house to soak up some sun when something shiny caught my eye. Partially sticking out in the dirt I picked up what originally looked like some sort of bivalve or calcified shell, almost something you’d expect to see on a tropical beach. Upon picking it up I realized how heavy it was and that it actually appeared to be man made, with grooves that seemed as though they would hold rope or line. My next guess was that it was a lead fishing weight of some sort or maybe a piece of similar equipment. I rinsed it off and sent some photos to colleagues to further inquire. One of the other Eco Guardians, Derek, helped me to ID it as an “open-end strain insulator” and it supports guy wires/cables by working under compression. Through a page on the Maine Historical Society website I was also able to learn that this porcelain egg like tool was made in 1900. How wild is that! I know this island holds more history than I’ll ever know, but never did I think I’d stumble across a little piece of it among the dirt and the goose poop. I’m going to have a read through some books here tonight and see if there are any photos or mention of it!
From the website of Collections of Maine Historical Society
Wow, okay I think that is everything for today! Race Rocks will never cease to amaze me.
…I guess I spoke/posted too soon! Shortly after publishing this blog post I spotted a brown pelican circling the reserve and figured it deserved a mention!
Additional info:
Ecotourism vessels: 10+ busiest day I’ve seen so far!
Weather:
Sky: Blue skies and sunny
Wind: High of 8 knots, Low of 2 knots
Sea: Glassy
Temperature: Low 8•C, High 22 •C
** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
Every day when I think I’ve seen it all here, somehow something new happens and its what I love most about this place. Aside from the seals that is…and the sea lions…and the sea otters.
This morning as I did my morning walk around I spotted one of the female elephant seals in the water next to the jetty. Shortly after, the male elephant seal joined her. There was a lot of chaos — heads thrashing, biting, splashing, vocalizing. It finished as fast as it started. The female was nowhere to be found and the male took back his spot on the boat launch.
Suspicious
Morning chaos
More chaos! Amazing photo taken by one of the visiting students
This afternoon I spotted a lone male killer whale who may be one of the largest I’ve personally seen. I’m working on my ID skills still but I’d love to figure out who he is. He was quite far away so my photos aren’t too clear. One of these days I’ll get whales in the reserve! (I hope.)
A few hours later 4 more killer whales passed by about the same distance away. These ones appeared to have a baby with them and although they were travelling we did get to see a couple little spy hops!
I Spy!
2 out of 4 whales travelling together
As we were watching the whales, one of the California sea lions near the jetty popped up right in front of us with a large octopus in his mouth. He thrashed it around and put on a pretty great show!
As for the less exciting non animal notes — I’m still working on cleaning and getting the main house ready for the next Ecoguardian to arrive, including cleaning out the vents in the house now that the furnace is up and running. Talk about dusty! (see photos below).
I have also been trying to use the desalinator as much as possible to get the water level up. It dipped down low after we did some pressure pressure washing earlier this month and coupled with the 9 extra people here this week I want to make sure the Ecoguardian coming after me isn’t left high and dry!
Before
After!
It has been so great getting to know the students from Pearson. Everyone has such different interests and knowledge, I think I have learned more from them than they have me!
Male elephant seal
Bald eagle mid flight
Group photo!
Additional information from the day:
DND Activity:
2 blasts around 11:30
2 blasts around 13:00
2 blasts at 15:45
Observers were on the water all day. No blasts happened while orca in the area and no noted disturbance to animals within the reserve.
Noted Vessel Traffic:
5 ecotourism vessels
5 RCMP vessels
Weather Events:
Thursday, March 21:
Sky: Sunny morning, some cloud cover in the afternoon
Wind: High of ENE 13 knots, Low of 0 knots
Sea: Calm
Temperature: Low 7oC, High10oC
** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
The great weather had to come to an end eventually! Despite being a dark and cloudy day we lucked out with no rain and no wind.
I had 9 extra helpers for the animal census today, the Pearson students are extra observant so this may be the most accurate count yet!
No sea otters were seen today but the two new ones have been around the past few days. Still no additional elephant seals on the main island, just our solo male! A couple of females have been hauled out on the various surrounding rocks but none of come ashore here.
Steller sea lions: 17 Harbour seal: 64 Male Elephant seal: 1 Female elephant seal : 2 (north rocks) California sea lion: 20 Injuries: Harbour seal with facial injury
Harbour seals on high alert
One of two female elephant seals counted today
An impressive balancing act
Beautiful!
I initially thought this was meal remnants but I’ve seen this seal multiple times over a couple of weeks
A very tricky to photograph Savannah sparrow
Harlequin ducks at low tide
DND Activity:
2 blasts at 12:55 and 13:00. They did startle the harbour seals and the second blast sent a California sea lion fleeing into the water.
3rd blast at 14:15 no obvious disturbance noted.
4th blast at 15:05 no obvious disturbance noted.
5th blast at 15:08 no obvious disturbance noted.
Noted Vessel Traffic:
One ecotourism vessel
One Coast Guard vessel
Three RCMP vessels
RCMP coming by for a visit
Coast Guard with guests passing by the jetty
Weather Events:
Wednesday, March 20:
Sky: Cloudy all day
Wind: High of WNW 13 knots, Low ofSW 4 knots
Sea: Calm
Temperature: Low 8oC, High10oC
** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
Sea Lion numbers range up and down daily. Have notice more smaller sea lions this year, and can hear the higher squawks of younger ones. Unlike last year, I haven’t found any nursing pups yet.
Barred Owl is still here. For a couple days, there were zero other birds on the top area of the main island (Canada Geese, Turnstones, Gulls, or Dunlins)….. but they are gradually returning now. I suspect maybe the Owl hunted extensively one night and scared them all away(?)
Humpback whales still visible daily
On one day, in addition to the Humpbacks, Southern Resident Orca passed south of the reserve heading west, and Bigg’s (Transient) Orca passed heading East. While they were too far to get photographs, both groups were visible by eye (once I located them with binoculars)
Visitors:
Group of students and instructor from Pearson College visited for the weekend. They were primarily interested in mapping the kelp forests and how they are affected by Urchins and Sea Otters. They helped with other projects and used the ROV to view the underwater area off the jetty.
Siri, Finn, Maria, Annabelle, and Edgar
Always curious!
Sea Urchins
Young Bull Kelp
Contractors to work on the main house windows
Facility Work:
Now able to start bucking logs from the ramp area and moving to the full bucking area for firewood.
Cleaned and prepped the science house for the students visit
Did another full sweep of the main island to remove dead gull carcasses
Contractors continue the finishing work on the newly installed windows, moving primarily to the sills and finish on the inside.
Communicating with DFO in regards to the salinity measurements. They seem high, even though the meter was recently replaced. Tested with a meter owned by Pearson College and that meter showed numbers I would be expecting.
Ongoing spray down of walkways and decks to reduce slim and algae, but wondering if the cooler weather is reducing the effectiveness of the spray(?)
Noted Vessel Traffic:
Continued visits by Eco- Tourism vessels
Some private vessels transiting, some pausing to enjoy the nature in the reserve.
Noted Infractions:
No attempted fishing detected
Transit and departure speeds all good
Weather Events:
Winds pretty consistent NNE 10-15 Kts
Mixes of partial cloudy, and some fog at night
Temperatures ranging 4 to 7 degrees
** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
1 Juvenile Male Elephant Seal (yearling?). He is determined to be with the others, but they keep chasing him away. He does a big loop around the flagpole mound and returns
Still finding gull remains from the Eagle hunts, but have also seen the eagles swoop diving on the Turnstones as well
Have seen all 3 types of Cormorants this last week – Pelagic, Double Crested, and Brandt’s
Most gulls present are Iceland (formerly Thayer’s)
Thanks to Ann Nightingale for helping me to learn to ID more birds!
Visitors:
Cedric brought 2 groups of 6 students with their Teacher over to see and learn about the Elephant Seals and pup
Weather Events:
Primarily N/NE winds for the last week, overcast with lots of snow
Tuesday January 10:
Sky: Slight haze, light haze, mostly sunny in the morning
Race Rocks is a wealth of biodiversity, and an amazing place to get to spend any amount of time. Despite the huge amount of wildlife that spend time on Race Rocks over the winter, it can feel a little quiet. Not last week!
We were super lucky getting some of the Pearson College students out despite COVID lockdowns on Campus, this is always one of the highlights of our time at Race Rocks! The kids always have the best questions and remind me why I pursued the life I live now. Any opportunity to share the joy and smells of Race Rocks.
Pearson Students getting Elephant Seal 101. Photo by Laura Verhegge
After the final group of students left, we got a surprise visit from DFO via their helicopter coming by for a socially-distanced visit. We had a helicopter buzzing us throughout the week, and it wasn’t until it landed at the end of the week we realized that was most likely the crew checking out the island, seals, and heli-pad. The elephant seals clearly weren’t fans of the helicopter. Interesting-ly the idling helicopter covers the same sound frequencies the Beachmaster uses to drum his dominance. Our Beachmaster tried drumming at the intruder, but he couldn’t overpower the sound and decided that abandoning his harem and a trip into the ocean was preferable to hanging out with a helicopter.
The next day we woke up to a new female Elephant Seal! We suspect this seal was Tyra from last year, going off her scar patterns and BEAUTIFUL eyes. At this point in the season we have expectations for these seals: they come ashore, hang out for 5 days, give birth, nurse for 21 days, mate and leave. Tyra was a reminder that we don’t really know that much about these mysterious animals. She came ashore, mated, and left. She looked great, very plump. I am really quite surprised. Maybe not all pregnancies come to term, and in that light her behaviour actually makes a lot of sense. She needs to come ashore when a Beachmaster is ready to mate, and if she doesn’t have a pup to birth then there really isn’t a reason to stick around and wait until it’s time to moult.
Tyra returning to Race Rocks to visit the Beachmaster. All hail the Beachmaster!
And we had a new pup born! I told you lots happened. Rhi-Rhi has been ashore since January 25th and slipped out a new pup this morning. The new pup is super chirpy, and very mobile; it had a very ‘rolled up’ vibe directly after being born, with curled fingernails and it’s giant flippers wrapped around itself. We expect her to nurse until the 22nd of February, but clearly I need to stop trying to predict what these animals are going to do.
Rhi-Rhi inspecting her newborn pup.
Facility Work:
Race Rocks has a Boston Whaler from it’s Coast Guard era that can be used in case of an emergency. During a very low tide we figured this was the ideal time to re-spool the twisted up cable used to launch the boat. While it’s easy to think that emergencies never happen, it’s great to know that in that hypothetical situation the boat will be able to be launched on any tide without any problems. Big thanks to the previous Eco-Guardians who did some great boat maintenance!
DND events:
Lots of blasting over the last week, some of the Pearson College students were definitely surprised.
Elephant Seals seem happiest when all smushed up against each other.
Feature Event:
We had someone report a wayward Elephant Seals wandering around Sturdees Beach & the Gorge vale Golf Club. This fits very well with the theme of ‘we don’t really know much about Elephant Seals’ and thought it would be worth mentioning. As the Northern Elephant Seal population continues to recover, hopefully we’ll all get to experience more Elephant Seals in British Colombia, and sometimes that might be a returning pup who hasn’t really figured out the timing of things yet. They’re really remarkable animals, who spend a very small proportion of their time (<10%) above the water Over the last 2 years there have been wayward pups reported crawling around in areas where they were not wanted, these little seals are just looking for some place safe to moult and head back into the ocean. This is one of the parts that makes Race Rocks such an important place for these animals: a place on land where the seals can hang out and sleep without being disturbed: their time on land relies on them fasting for weeks on end losing up to 40% of their body weight during these stints. Every time they get woken up or stressed that is another drain on their limited energy available, leading to the first couple of years where mortality can be up to 75%.
A wayward elephant seal pup at Christie Point, photos by Dorothy Chambers
The silver colouration shows this wayward pup has already moulted, so probably from last years birthing season. While we would expect pups to return to Race Rocks to moult, we don’t really know how they return to the same areas, and they may just try out new areas at different times; or just get lost.
8 students, 2 elephant seals & over 1200 sea lions for 1 week
The Ecological Reserve hosted instructor Laura Verhegge and 8 IB students from Pearson College for 5 days of learning, exploring, and fun!
Ecoguardian Derek also included some naturalist-level sharing of information about Race Rocks, pinnipeds, bull kelp, and even great views of humpback whales and Southern Resident Killer Whales (Orca)!
