Tag Archives: pearson students

Getting ready for the cold

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Ecological Notes:

  • Still no Elephant Seals
  • Snow Goose is still here

  • Daily visits from Eagles hunting Gulls
  • Smaller sea otter reported to me by an Eco-Tourism vessel

Visitors:

  • Greg and Richard from shorefront team
  • Service Tech
  • Students from Pearson College each weekend

Facility Work:

  • Another clean up of dead birds…… mostly Eagle predation, but a couple of “healthy looking” birds as well
  • Service Tech came out again for the hot water system in the main house
  • Some weeding accomplished in the hollow in front of the water tank
  • Ongoing fence repairs
  • Battery fluids maintained
  • Delsalinator run when ever the generator was running during the day
  • Students from Pearson College helped with the animal census and laying out the hose to fill the cistern with salt water

  • more firewood split to stock it up for the colder weather coming! Thank you Richard for the platform for the wood splitter, up off the floor and now able to keep face away from the mechanism while using

  • Set up, flushed, and then ran the water pump to start filling the cistern, will need more as the tide ran low

DND events:

  • a few blasts earlier in the week, disturbing the Sea Lions and birds

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Some Eco-Tourism and educational vessels
  • Some private vessels, including Kayakers, and a small dinghy

  • 1 Spill Response Vessel transiting 

  • All behaved responsibly 

Weather Events:

  • Thursday, November 27:
    • Sky: Overcast, with very brief sunny periods
    • Wind: NNE 25-30kts
    • Sea: 3-5 waves, hitting the pier heavily 
    • Temperature Low 8.1oC, High 9.6oC
  • Friday, November 28:
    • Sky: Clear in the morning,gradually becoming high overcast as the day progressed, tempest system report slight rain during the night
    • Wind: NE winds, 5kts in the morning, rising to 18kts by mid afternoon 
    • Sea:  remained light chop as when the wind rose, it was tide with wind
    • Temperature Low 8.1oC, High 10.4oC
  • Saturday, November 29:
    • Sky: High overcast
    • Wind: NE 10-15 kts
    • Sea:  light chop 
    • Temperature Low 6oC, High 8.2oC
  • Sunday, November 30:
    • Sky: Clear all day
    • Wind: ENE 15kts, dropping to 5kts mid afternoon
    • Sea:  light chop 
    • Temperature Low 6oC, High 8oC

 

 

** Any wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Bluebird Day on the Rock

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It has been an eventful couple of days here. Yesterday Richard came by with a new group of students here for the weekend. They are here to do some data collection for various marine science projects, and they also helped me with chores all day today!

They also removed all the grass growing up between the cracks in the sidewalks, and cleaned all the windows on the island!

Amazing students doing my work for me :)

Richard also brought along my MOM yesterday!! She is in town for a week, and it lined up perfectly with the students weekend, so we have been having a great time! She even helped me with the census today!

Counting seagulls!

Census

  • Stellar Sea Lions: 446
  • California Sea Lions: 419
  • Harbour Seals: 24
  • Elephant Seals: 1 (Female)
  • Seagulls: 250
  • Cormorants: 230
  • Canada geese: 7
  • Snow Geese: 1
  • Turnstones: 10
  • Bald Eagles: 2

Today the students and I also noticed some new injured sea lions. These have now been reported.

Facilities (Since Thursday)

  • Ran Desal (~600L)
  • Cleaned Pathways
  • Sprayed south side of student house
  • Filled Generator
  • Checked and Refilled Batteries
  • Swept lighthouse platform and stairs

Weather

  • Sky: Sunny
  • Sea Condition: Calm
  • Wind: E 5kts
  • Air Temp: 9C

Cute stellar babies

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Yesterday Greg brought over a group of 8 students for a night in the Student House. They made themselves right at home and baked a bunch of delicious bread!

I went over for the evening, and was greatly entertained by the shenanigans of High School students.

Playing Catan on the New Couch

Today, I weed-whacked and cleaned up the edges of all the pathways on island, and I got very distracted by all the cute little stellar families chilling on the South Seal Rocks.

 

Facilities

  • Fixed Fence
  • Sprayed Boat shed and tank shed
  • Filled Generator
  • Ran Desal
  • Weedwhacked
  • Cleaned Pathways

Weather

  • Sky: Partially cloudy
  • Sea Surface: Wind Chop
  • Wind: NE 10kts
  • Air Temp: 8C

 

Videos on the Rock

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Wildlife: Beautiful day. Black Turnstones and black oystercatchers seen on west rocks of island.

Another branded seal lion (U826?) at the jetty . Afternoon spent taking videos of life at Race Rocks.

Facility work: Fence inspection and repairs, solar panel cleaning, salinity and sea temperature readings.

Visitors: LBPC biology class out in the morning with Laura V. Race Rocks Ecological Reserve to be the focus for course this year. Exciting studies ahead.

Vessels: 11 tour boats noted.

Friday Fun

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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! **

Chaos and Creatures!

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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!

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! **

Wildlife Everywhere!

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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.

 

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!

 

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!

 

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!

 

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, High  10oC

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Animal Census and Blog

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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.

March 20th Animal Census:

Birds:

Oyster catcher: 15
Harlequin duck: 12
Gulls: 261
Cormorant: 62
Pigeon guillemot: 149
Juvenile eagle: 3
Adult eagle: 4
Canadian geese: 9
Shore birds: 10
Turnstones: 28
Savannah sparrow: 1

Marine Mammals:

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


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

 

 

Weather Events:

  • Wednesday, March 20:
    • Sky: Cloudy all day
    • Wind: High of WNW 13 knots, Low of  SW 4 knots
    • Sea: Calm
    • Temperature: Low 8oC, High  10oC

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Growing sea lion numbers…

Underwater Scenes

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Ecological Notes:

  • 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! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Third Elephant Seal Pup

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Ecological Notes:

  • 2 female Elephant Seals (first mom has left the island for now)
  • 3 Elephant Seal pups, 3rd one born just before sunrise on Jan 26th, one month after the first pup was born

Visitors:

  • 36 Pearson College students, (over 6 trips) with their instructor

  • The Marine and Seafront Operations Coordinator transported students, groceries, parcels, and supplies.

Facility Work:

  • Replaced the motherboard on the Desalinator (again) as the last one was defective

Concentrate outflow from the Desalinator

  • After the first run, the main unit was due for an oil change, completed for the  high pressure pump.
  • Pacing myself on bucking, splitting and moving firewood

DND events:

  • Several detonations over a couple days. No disturbance noted.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 4 Eco-Tourism vessels
  • 3  private vessels

 Feature Event:

  •  Checking heater tapes and heaters preparing for possible freezing weather.
  • Stored some extra tap water for dishes and washing, in case the lines freeze again

Not for drinking!

Weather Events:

  • Yesterday (Friday January 27):
    • Sky: Overcast
    • Wind: Variable 5-15 kts
    • Sea: rippled to 1 meter chop
    • Temperature Low 6oC, High 9oC
  • Today (Saturday January 28):
    • Sky: Overcast in the morning, afternoon, clear and sunny to overcast in the evening
    • Wind: E 5 to 15 knots in the morning,increasing to northeast 15 to 25 near noon and to NE 40+ kts in the evening
    • Sea:  1-2 meter waves and chop
    • Temperature Low  5oC, High 8 oC

 

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?