Tag Archives: pigeon guillemot

August 1 Census

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Census Results:

Mammals:

  • Elephant seal: 2 (female and male)
  • Steller sea lion: 34
  • California sea lion: 11
  • Sea otter: 1
  • Harbour seal: 78

Birds:

  • Bald eagle: 1
  • Canada goose: 3
  • Cormorant: 33
  • Gull: 584
  • Black oystercatcher: 20
  • Pigeon guillemot: 131
  • Whimbrel: 1
  • Surfbird: 28
  • Black turnstone: 137
  • Song sparrow: 2
  • Least sandpiper: 1

Facility work:

  • Reacquaint myself with the standard operating procedures and various systems on the island
  • Check boat electronics, safety equipment, and winch
  • Clean solar panels
  • Sample seawater

Vessels:

  •  Ecotourism: 23
  •  Private: 5

Weather:

  • Sea: Rippled
  • Sky: Clear in morning, then partly cloudy
  • Wind: Variable light winds overnight until sunrise ~06:00, when wind switched to easterlies varying from 3-14 knots throughout the rest of the day
  • Daytime air temperature: low 13 C, high 24 C
  • Seawater temperature at max flood: 10.6 C

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

A Wonderful Welcome to The Rock!

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It has been a year and seven days since I was last here at Race Rocks. This evening, Greg drove me out from Pearson’s maintenance dock at 17:00. Christine greeted us on the dock. After, we quickly switched food bins and bags in the boat before hauling my stuff up the ramp to the house. We did a short walk around and chat to catch me up on the happenings on the island.

Forty minutes later, Greg and Christine set off towards Pearson, but not before having a round the ecological reserve tour.

I have big shoes to fill from the ecoguardians over the past year who have kept this place running smoothly day to day. Every ecoguardian does different tasks as called upon by the season’s elements, needs of the infrastructure, neighbouring species, and projects they take on to better the place. Some ecoguardians are even excellent landscapers, TikTokers, tinkerers, photographers, and so many other things.

Over the next few weeks, I plan to continue fighting the good fight to keep entropy at bay on Race Rocks :) I am going to frequently exercise the winch and station boat, continue to document the other than human (and some human too) species who visit the ecological reserve, do a little scrubbing of windows and solar panels, as well as whatever other tasks might come up.

 

Facility work:

  • Christine left the house and everywhere else very tidy. She also left me notes of today’s vessel traffic and weather before I arrived.
  • There was plenty of sunshine for the solar panels to run the island and top up the batteries. Between 13:00 and 15:00, the average solar input was 5 kWh out of the maximum of 7 kWh.

Vessels:

  • 32 Ecotourism
  • 5 private

Weather:

  • Sky: fog bank in the morning, clearing at noon to be partly cloudy. Clear skies after 14:00.
  • Wind: west 11-19 knots
  • Daytime air temperature: low 14°C, high 17°C
  • Seawater temperature at max flood: 10.7°C

Happy Friday!

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We have been down to just 3 elephant seals the last few days! The two small females and one larger one are still enjoying the grass, however the largest female has not been around in a few days. The last I saw of her was 2 days ago when she was bobbing around in the water behind the student house, so I wonder if she’s just chosen to haul out on one of the surrounding rocks.

Ollie spent his day in the water near Middle Rocks, just floating and looking extra fluffy.

The Stellers were no where to be found today but the California sea lions have spent the week tucked in to the left of the jetty. They must be smarter than they let on because that area is definitely the most protected from the wind. They still require the occasional reminder to stay off the jetty throughout the day but otherwise behave themselves.

California sea lion proudly displaying his snaggle tooth

Lastly on the mammal side of things, the harbour seal numbers seem to have grown since I was here in March and with pupping season just a few weeks away I hope to see that number grow before I leave in June!

There are tons of pigeon guillemots around lately, I love to watch them on the rocks and I think my favourite thing about them is that their feet perfectly match the inside of their mouth. 

Hopefully this wind dies down in the next few days and I can get back to taking more photos!

Facility work:

  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Topped up battery electrolytes

Weather:

  • Sky: Cloudy, sun and clouds in afternoon
  • Wind: Low of 14 knots, High of 19 knots, gusts up to 30 knots
  • Sea: Small whitecaps
  • Temperature: Low 7•C, High  15•C

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

Kendra – New Ecoguardian!

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Hello blog readers! My name is Kendra, and I am the new Ecoguardian here on Race Rocks, so I thought I’d introduce myself.

I grew up in Tsawwassen, BC and have been in love with the ocean and all its creatures for as long as I can remember.

My background is in veterinary medicine, and I’ve been a Registered Veterinary Technician for 8 years now. Much of the work I’ve done in the veterinary field has been marine related. It all started back in 2017 when I worked in sea turtle rescue and rehabilitation in Australia and got my advanced diving license. Shortly after that I returned home to Vancouver where I worked in marine mammal rescue with the Vancouver Aquarium for 4 years, and absolutely fell in love with harbour seals – who remain my favourite animal!

For the past 1.5 years I’ve worked for Fisheries and Oceans Canada supporting Southern Resident killer whale recovery before moving into a marine mammal rescue and response role which brought me all over the BC coast.

Marine mammals are my passion and I’m so lucky to be living here on Race Rocks, fully surrounded by them. I must admit that I am not as familiar with birds, but I am quickly learning as each day goes by here and I’m enjoying watching all of the different behaviours and mating rituals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 6th Animal Census:

Birds

  • Bald eagle adult: 3
  • Bald eagle juvenile: 7
  • Turnstones: 2
  • Gulls, Glaucous and Western: 74
  • Cormorants: 46
  • Pigeon Guillemots: 53
  • Oyster catcher: 20
  • Canadian goose: 4
  • Surf Birds: 3

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion: 20
  • Harbour seal: 44
  • California sea lion: 26
  • Elephant seal male: 1
  • Sea otter: 0
  • Animal Tracking and Injuries: none

Ecological Notes:

  • 1 lone male elephant seal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visitors:

  • 1 alumni for a visit
  • 2 guests for tour

Facility Work:

  • Gardening
  • Pressure washed the final bit of the jetty
  • Split lots of wood for fires

DND events:

  • 2 blasts March 4th at 14:30, no noted impact to animals but quite loud
  • 5 blasts March 5th at various times throughout the day, startled nearby birds but they quickly returned

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Ecotourism vessels, the same 2-3 seem to pass by each day

 Feature Event:

  • Transient orca passed by along the outside of the reserve but didn’t come through to hunt!

Weather Events:

  • Monday, March 04:
    • Sky: Sunny morning clear, 15:00 dark cloud and hailstorm!
    • Wind: High WNW 21 knots, low of 0 knots in afternoon
    • Sea: swells in the morning, chop picked up later in the day
    • Temperature: Low 0oC, High 5oC
  • Tuesday, March 05:
    • Sky: Bright blue sky morning and full sun all day
    • Wind: High of W 21 knots, low of SE 2 knots
    • Sea: Flat calm all day long
    • Temperature: Low 3oC, High 4oC
  • Wednesday, March 06:
    • Sky: Overcast, brief snow/hail at 10:30am
    • Wind: High of N 23 knots, low of E 2 knots
    • Sea: Calm, slight ripple
    • Temperature: Low 2oC, High 5oC

 

 

 

** 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?

A Quick Week on the Rocks

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A week goes by quickly out here!  First, an update:

The branded Steller’s sea lion I reported in my last post has a history that includes a previous trip to Race Rocks. 746R was branded at Rogue Reef (Southern Oregon) on July 12, 2009.  He has been all over Carroll Isl WA, Graves Rock SE AK, Castle Rock CA, Barkley Sound BC, Race Rocks in 2016, Sucia Island WA, Ewing Isl WA and Cape Arago OR as recently as July 7 this year. This and other marked sea lions are being studied by Susan Riemer of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. If you see marked sea lions, she really appreciates hearing about your sightings.

The last few days have had all of the weather possibilities for this time of year except hot. Foggy much of the time, windy most of the rest, and sometimes foggy and windy just to change things up. No rain, but humidity in the high 90s.  I’m always struck by how different the temperatures can be just a couple of kilometres away. The wind yesterday actually broke the electric fencing tape on the jetty, which I fixed this morning.

Despite the wind, it’s been a good week for shorebirds.  Another new one for me here (but not for Race Rocks) was a Sanderling. Normally seen chasing and being chased by incoming waves on a sandy beach, they do spend some time in more rocky environments.

The thick stubby bill and “spangled” back pattern are characteristics of Sanderling

The red colouring on the neck had me hoping it might be a MEGA rarity, but it was not.

The predominant gull at Race Rocks this time of year is the Glaucous-winged Gull. They are the regular breeders in this area.  But gulls don’t necessarily stick to their own kind. When they hybridize with Western Gulls, the offspring are known as Olympic gulls.  When they hybridize with Herring Gulls, the offspring are known as Cook Inlet Gulls. There is a gull that I’ve been watching that I think may be one of the latter.

Note the white “window” in the outer primary feather

The orbital ring is orange-yellow like both the Western and Herring gulls. The iris is darker than a Herring gull and lighter than most Glaucous-winged Gulls.

I’ll be passing these and other photos on to someone more “gullible” than I am!

The Second Nature from Pearson College has been making the rounds with alumni and friends of the school. Some of them had to look hard to find us through the fog!

Thanks to Greg Dickinson and Pearson College for providing this opportunity to me again.

Visitors:

  • No visitors ashore, but several from Pearson College on boat tours around the rocks
  • Ecotourism traffic has been picking up, despite the fog.

Facility Work: 

  • Cleaned windows and solar panels daily
  • Cleaned outbuilding windows inside and out
  • Swabbed the decks at the Ecoguardian residence
  • Fixed a shock-inducing break of the electric fence on the jetty
  • Visually checked the entire run of the fence and reconnected tape blown out by high winds

More photos:

 

Aug 2 – Census surprises

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One of the reasons for doing a weekly census is to put down in writing the numbers of mammals and birds that are actually in the reserve. This gives us the opportunity to compare the results, not simply rely on memory. And that’s a good thing!  My impression on my return to Race Rocks is that there were a lot fewer gulls here than last year.  A check of a census at a similar date in 2022 shows that not to be true. The numbers are actually very similar, but down about 15% from the same period in 2021. Census records the high counts of each species observed during the day. The marine mammals, for instance are best counted at low tide when most are hauled out. The adult gulls are at their highest numbers first thing in the morning and shorebirds gather on the east beach in late afternoon. Gull chicks can be counted anytime, but are usually undercounted because of their great hiding skills. In between, the census person watches for any other birds and animals that might show themselves.

Gull chick hidden in the marigolds.

Today’s census had several surprises apart from the number of gulls. While on the jetty, I thought I caught the flash of a bird in the corner of my eye.  It was more than one. At least 3 swallows were feeding on insects in the small bay beside the jetty. I managed to get some bad photos, but good enough to identify two different Barn Swallows and one Violet-green Swallow. Later in the day, a Lesser Yellowlegs was resting with the other shorebirds, and a Parasitic Jaeger (also identified by bad photos) headed west not far off Great Race. An adult and juvenile Glaucous-winged Gull were out for a little swim.  It always amazes me to see these youngsters in the water!

Lesser Yellowlegs, possibly the first documented for Race Rocks.  First on eBird for the Race Rocks hotspot.

Out for a swim

Among the sea lions today, I found one entangled with a fishing lure. This poor animal has been her for several weeks. Another had been branded for a research study. I’ll report this number to get its history.

tagged 746R

Sea lion entangled with sports fishing tackle.

More photos below!

Census, 2 August 2023

Birds

  • Harlequin Duck                              1
  • Black Oystercatcher                       23
  • Ruddy Turnstone                            1
  • Black Turnstone                              93
  • Surfbird                                           24
  • Western Sandpiper                         2
  • Short-billed Dowitcher                     2
  • Lesser Yellowlegs                           1
  • Parasitic Jaeger                              1
  • Pigeon Guillemot                            83
  • Heermann’s Gull                             2
  • Western Gull                                   1
  • California Gull                                 120
  • Glaucous winged Gulls                 332 adults, 237 juvenile
  • “Olympic” Gull                                3 adults 3 juvenile
  • Brandt’s Cormorant                        7
  • Pelagic Cormorant                         2
  • Violet-green Swallow                     1
  • Barn Swallow                                 2
  • Brown-headed Cowbird                 2

Mammals

  • Harbour seal                                195
  • Northern (Steller’s) sea lion         79
  • California sea lion                        7
  • Sea otter                                      1

Visitors:

  • No visitors
  • Ecotourism traffic has been slow.  Several boats a day, but rarely more than one in the area at a time

Facility Work: 

  • Cleaned windows and solar panels
  • Replaced batteries in smoke, CO alarm in Student House

More photos:

** All wildlife photos taken at safe distances with high-powered zoom, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

July 22 and 23 – End of Shift

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Weather for July 22:
Wind: W 11 to 34 knots
Visibility: <1-15 NM
Sky: Foggy in morning, Partly Cloudy after 09:00
Sea: rippled in morning, up to 2′ chop in afternoon
Air temperature: 12-18 C

Weather for July 23:
Wind: W 12 to 32 knots
Visibility: <1-15 NM
Sky: Fog patches in the morning, Partly Cloudy after noon
Sea: up to 1′ chop in morning, up to 3′ chop in afternoon
Air temperature: 12-16 C

Maintenance:
I did the routine tasks of cleaning the solar panels and house windows, topping up the water in the 24 deep cycle batteries, fixing the electric fence, sampling the salinity and temperature of the seawater, and running the desalinator with solar power to produce freshwater.

End of Shift:
I have enjoyed reacquainting myself with Race Rocks over the past two and a half weeks. The solar power was a sufficient source of energy each day to charge the batteries, power the island, and produce freshwater from the desalinator. I got out in the station boat, which is always a highlight to see the island from the perspective of a sea lion. Most importantly, for the second summer in a row I learned to live harmoniously with the very territorial nesting gulls.

This is my sixth shift I have done as Ecoguardian over the past nine years, for a total of almost nine months. My shifts have ranged from two weeks to four months. I have visited here in ten months of the year, with the exception of June and September.

Tomorrow I am heading home to Vancouver to get ready for two weeks in the Northwest Territories, where I will be canoeing in Nahanni National Park Reserve.

I look forward to returning to Race Rocks sometime soon to explore the familiar sights, sounds, and smells of this amazing place.

Photo highlights from the past two days:

July 17-21 and Weekly Census

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Weather for July 17:
Wind: W 14 to 34 knots
Visibility: <1-15 NM
Sky: Partly Cloudy
Sea: rippled in morning, up to 3′ chop in afternoon
Air temperature: 13-17 C

Weather for July 18:
Wind: W 9 to 25 knots
Visibility: 15 NM
Sky: Partly Cloudy
Sea: rippled in morning, up to 2′ chop in afternoon
Air temperature: 11-14 C

Weather for July 19:
Wind: W 6 to 27 knots
Visibility: 15 NM
Sky: Partly Cloudy
Sea: rippled in morning, up to 1′ chop in afternoon
Air temperature: 12-17 C

Weather for July 20:
Wind: W 21 to 40 knots
Visibility: <1-15 NM
Sky: Foggy in early morning, Partly Cloudy after 10:00
Sea: rippled in morning, up to 4′ chop in afternoon
Air temperature: 12-20 C

Weather for July 21:
Wind: W 19 to 40 knots
Visibility: 5-15 NM
Sky: Partly Cloudy
Sea: rippled in morning, up to 3′ chop in afternoon
Air temperature: 12-14 C

Maintenance:
I did the routine tasks of cleaning the solar panels and house windows, topping up the water in the 24 deep cycle batteries, fixing the electric fence, tidying, testing the salinity and temperature of the seawater, maintaining the freshwater system, and running the desalinator with solar power to produce fresh water.

Visitors:
I drove the Race Rocks station boat to pick up a friend, who came for the night of July 18. Brad had visited Race Rocks before when we both worked for many summers on campus as coordinators for PSYL (Pearson Seminar on Youth Leadership).

Weekly Census observed on July 20:
Steller sea lion: 14
California sea lion: 1
harbour seal: 124
cormorant: 5
black oystercatcher: 24 adults, 2 chicks
pigeon guillemot: 162
glaucous-winged gull: 396 adults, 147 chicks
surfbird: 30
black turnstones: 87
western sandpiper: 4

Photo highlights from the past five days:

 

July 11, 12, 13, and Weekly Census

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Weather for July 11:
Wind: W 11 to 27 knots
Visibility: 15 NM
Sky: Partly Cloudy
Sea: rippled in morning, up to 2′ chop in afternoon
Air temperature: 12-14 C

Weather for July 12:
Wind: W 18 to 35 knots
Visibility: 10 to 15 NM
Sky: Cloudy in morning, partly cloudy in afternoon
Sea: 1’ chop in morning, up to 4′ chop in afternoon
Air temperature: 11-15 C

Weather for July 13:
Wind: W 16 to 33 knots
Visibility: 15 NM
Sky: Partly Cloudy
Sea: rippled in morning, up to 2′ chop in afternoon
Air temperature: 11-15 C

DND Blasting:
There was one DND blast at 14:05 on July 12 at nearby Rocky Point.

Visitors:
Greg and Bruce visited this afternoon to deliver 1,400 L of freshwater and a new first aid kit.

Maintenance:
I did the routine tasks of cleaning the solar panels and house windows, topping up the water in the 24 deep cycle batteries, fixing the electric fence, tidying, and maintaining the freshwater system.

Ecological notes:
There have been a lot of humpback whale activity over the past few days to the west, south, and east of Race Rocks. The whale watching boats have been active in the area. From what I hear on the VHF radio, they have been very pleased with the humpback viewing. I have not seen any whales swim through the ecological reserve.

I heard back about the tagged elephant seal, from the researcher at Año Nuevo Natural Reserve, in California. The juvenile seal, tagged H999 and K646, is a male who was born in January 2022. He was previously observed here and reported to the researchers on April 1, 2023. He has been moulting here for at least the past several weeks. He appears to be almost complete the moulting process, so he might be moving on soon to feed in the deep waters.

Weekly Census observed on July 13:
elephant seal: 1 juvenile (tagged H999, K646)
Steller sea lion: 3
harbour seal: 79
bald eagle: 2 adults, 1 juvenile
raven: 1
cormorant: 7
black oystercatcher: 6 adults, 1 chick (that I could spot today)
pigeon guillemot: 148
glaucous-winged gull: 387 adults, 120 chicks
surfbird: 12
killdeer: 4
western sandpiper: 3
barn swallow: 3

Photo highlights from the past three days:

July 9 and 10

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Weather for July 9:
Wind: W 20-41 knots
Visibility: 15 NM
Sky: Clear
Sea: 1’ chop in morning, up to 3′ chop in afternoon
Air temperature: 10-14 C

Weather for July 10:
Wind: W 14 and 36 knots
Visibility: 15 NM
Sky: Partly Cloudy
Sea: 1’ chop in morning, up to 3′ chop in evening
Air temperature: 11-15 C

The sea lions seem to be making a return. Four male Steller sea lions were gathered on Middle Rock today. One California sea lion was on the end of the jetty this morning.

Here are some photos from the past two days: