Tag Archives: pigeon guillemot

Leaving Race Rocks on a High Note

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It’s hard to believe a week has flown by!  The boat took me back to the “big island” shortly after 2 pm, but there was still plenty of time before they arrived to have an exciting moment. Daniel Donnecke from Rocky Point Bird Observatory persuaded me to do one last seawatch this morning, once again apparently showing that the birds that fly past Beechey Head do not come close by Race Rocks on their voyage east. It’s likely that they move across the strait over to the American side. It may be wind dependent, but we had no correlation at all the three days we did seawatches at the same time.

Seawatch is a fancy term for trying to identify little specks at the limit of your visual range. This is a Common Murre.

I cleaned the solar panels for the last time this week.  The gulls had been pretty reasonable the last couple of days except for that one section where it was bad every day.

Sparkling clean!

There were several other things to get done to prepare for my departure and Greg’s arrival, but I had plenty of time.  That is I had plenty of time until I turned the corner towards the house and saw a songbird on the ground.  There had only been a Song Sparrow and one or more Brown-headed Cowbirds on the island all week as far as passerines went, so this was good. And it got better when I realized the bird was a Yellow-headed Blackbird, an uncommon bird for Victoria. Normally, my camera is on my shoulder, but since I had been cleaning the solar panels, it was back at the generator building. I did have my phone with me, though, so I snapped a quick couple of documentation shots.  They were really bad, but showed some of the diagnostic features for the species. By the time I got back with the camera, the bird was gone. That just seemed weird, as normally a bird that lands on offshore islands does so because it needs to refuel.  I looked all around, but no luck. So I climbed the tower and searched the whole island from up there. Still no luck, so I came down and continued with my tasks. About two hours later, I looked out the window, and there it was!

Nice of him to stretch out a wing so you can see the white edges on the primary coverts.

Yellow-headed Blackbirds are common in the BC Interior. It’s possible that the smoke may have moved him to the coast.

I probably took 400 shots to make sure I got a few good ones. The time I took following him around, though, cut my packing and cleaning time down. I was just barely finished when the marine radio call came from the Second Nature that Greg and Jeff were only a few minutes away.

Greg’s stuff was unloaded and mine loaded, and before you knew it, we were headed back to Pearson College, leaving Greg on the dock-an unusual situation for him!

It’s been an amazing week, and I’m grateful to the folks at Pearson College for allowing me to serve as the relief Eco-guardian this week. I hope that I will get the chance to do this again!

Ecological Notes:

Mammals

1 Humpback Whale

2 Harbour Porpoise

Steller’s Sea Lion

California Sea Lion

Successful fishing!

Harbour Seal

Birds

5 Black Oystercatcher

10 Black Turnstone

41 Common Murre

65 Pigeon Guillemot

When in breeding plumage, the linings of the their mouths are as red as their feet.

6 Rhinoceros Auklet

1 Heermann’s Gull

60 California Gull

700 Glaucous-winged Gull

3 Pelagic Cormorant

15 cormorant sp.

1 Song Sparrow

1 Yellow-headed Blackbird

Facility Work: Cleaned all the solar panels and the dirty windows

Vessel Traffic: Shipping lanes were busy again today.  Several whale-watching boats ad 2 private fishing boats came by for the sea lions (which they saw) and the elephant seal (which they didn’t).

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

Weather – Past: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

A Wild Gull Chase

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Today (Thursday) is my last full day as a relief Eco-guardian at Race Rocks, so it seemed fitting that there be a few interesting events. The first was waking up to a sky full of wildfire smoke. We’ve been so lucky with the westerly winds that kept all of the smoke away, but with the latest heat wave and drop in wind, it was on us before dawn today.

Smoke on the water

It was also eerily quiet.  The hundreds of California Gulls that have been somewhere around here each morning were missing.  What was present were tankers and bulk carriers. I’m sure they’ve been plying the waters of the shipping channel all week, but today was the first day I noticed them in such numbers.  There were 6 in quick succession in the first hour I was watching.

One of many vessels that passed by Race Rocks today.

It’s amazing how much traffic there is in the Juan de Fuca Strait. It’s possible to watch and get details on the ships in real time here.

I started the day by washing the solar panels–a necessary task given the amount of bird droppings on them.  They’ve been outfitted with bird spikes, but on my last panel today, I found this:

Yes, a gull demonstrating how clever he (or she) is in defeating the mechanisms we put in place to stop them. Just step on the flat side, not the pointy end!

A closer look revealed something else.  This bird is banded!!!  For bird banders, there’s little more exciting than finding out what has happened to birds you banded. That happens when others observe or find the bands, determine the band number, and report that information to reportband.gov  . Of course, I didn’t have my camera with me, and the bird also wasn’t going to stick around. In fact, it flew. The good news is that most of the gulls on the island are at least somewhat predictable as they are on territories right now. I saw him fly around the lighthouse but not come out the other side.  It was possible he was very close by.  When I finished the panel cleaning, I grabbed my camera from the generator room, and went off in search of a gull among 700. It didn’t take me too long to find him, but not in a very convenient spot.

Each bird band has a unique set of nine numbers.  You need them all to positively identify the bird.  This means you have to get a decent photo of all sides of the band, and that can take a bit of patience.  Fortunately, I have that! My presence riled the gulls enough that they were all yelling at me and the banded gull came in to help chase me off. That was good enough to get me a partial set of numbers.  Now I had to get him from the other side. I moved closer to the house and waited. After about 4 times of him coming to the ground and flying off, I finally had all the numbers!

If you ever find or photograph a bird band, you should report it to reportband.gov. There are a series of questions to answer, but in the end, you will learn about the banding of the bird and receive a certificate of appreciation.

Ecological Notes:

Mammals

1 male Elephant Seal – departed today after molt. After he spent the night at the dock last night, I suspected this might happen.  He was in the water most of the day, and when I looked for him around suppertime, he was nowhere to be seen.

Steller’s Sea Lions – Good numbers now on Great Race Island

California Sea Lions – Numbers increasing dramatically on Great Race and surrounding islands

 

Harbour Seals – Many throughout the area

Birds

7 Black Oystercatcher, including young bird near the dock

18 Black Turnstone

5 Least Sandpiper

1 Western Sandpiper

Western Sandpiper in the lead, followed by Least Sandpiper

11 Common Murre

136 Pigeon Guillemot counted by clicker at around 8 am. There could be more, but no fewer.  Many catching gunnels or blennies (see last bird on right).

3 Heermann’s Gull

400 California Gull, mostly feeding on krill today

700 Glaucous-winged Gull, including 1 banded

Tussles like this are going on all the time

6 Pelagic Cormorant

1 Bald Eagle on Turbine Island at dawn

22 Purple Martin – biggest bird surprise of the day! Flock circled the lighthouse at 8:35 pm and continued south. Only flyovers I have seen this week.

1 Song Sparrow, rummaging in the compost

 

Facility Work: Cleaned solar panels. Not one window had gull droppings today, thanks to the calm winds.

Vessel Traffic: Many vessels in the shipping lanes today. Smaller than usual number of eco-tourism vessels, likely due to Biggs Orcas in other areas around the region. Several private fishing vessels came by the dock because of the sea lions.

Infractions: Private vessel coming through the reserve at too high a speed. Warned them to slow down, which they did.

Weather Events:  First day of noticeable smoke from fires on the mainland. Reduced visibility. Low winds from the south and east.

Wildfire smoke was present all day.

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

Weather – Past: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

A Whale of a Day

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The sunsets here at Race Rocks are amazing, but the sunrises are pretty spectacular as well. This morning the roving mass of California Gulls were hanging out among the kelp on the southeast side of the island. Hundreds of gulls all looking for breakfast!  The krill is still around, at least early in the day, but you can tell that it’s moving around because the flock of birds will be here one minute and gone the next.

Sunrise at Race Rocks with Mt Baker in the background

While I’m not seeing a lot of bird diversity during my stay here, I have been given the chance to study the behaviours of the gulls. With all the krill in the area, there is no shortage of food, and the young Glaucous-winged Gulls know that.  Depending on their age and whether or not there are siblings, the adults may regurgitate directly into the chick’s mouth, or onto the ground so the young can fight over it.

Single chick gets special delivery of food

Triplets fighting for the goodies the adult brought from the sea.

One of the most interesting behaviours I’ve seen has been that of a young gull that has figured out that even though it can’t fly, it can swim!  For three days now, I’ve seen this single chick in the channel to the east of the island. I suspect that it accidentally ended up in the water one day and survived to tell the tale. It certainly is more mobile than the other youngsters on the island.

Meandering along like this is normal

Completely able to come ashore when it wants to

And speaking of flying, it’s incredibly amusing to watch the antics of the youngsters trying to make their wings work.

Today I saw the first Orcas of my visit here. The marine radio is a constant companion, and while most of the chatter is about where the best fishing is, tonight a call came in about Orcas just off Bentinck Island. A pod of 5 put on an incredible show for the whale-watching boats and private vessels.  They moved from Bentinck to the mouth of Pedder Bay and continued the action for more than half an hour.

Surprise! The pod surrounded this small boat.

Earlier in the day, Daniel Donnecke was at Rocky Point and spotted Humpback Whales to the east of Race Rocks. I managed to get on them thanks to his sighting. Two whale species day!

Ecological Notes:

Mammals

2 Humpback Whale

5 Orca

2 Harbour Porpoise

1 male Elephant Seal (went to the water early today–around 10 am–and spent the whole day there. Still on the ramp at dark)

California Sea Lion

Steller’s Sea Lion

Good contrast between male Steller’s in the rear and male California in front of him

Harbour Seal

Mom and nursing pup

Birds

5 Canada Geese

1 Killdeer

8 Black Oystercatcher

14 Black Turnstone

This Black Turnstone hasn’t yet moulted all of its breeding plumage. Note the white speckles on the chest and pale eyebrow.

This one is a little closer to the birds we typically see here in the winter.

3 Surfbird

6 Common Murre

60 Pigeon Guillemot

3 Heermann’s Gull

700 California Gull

Little white specks of a massive flock of (mostly) California Gulls

600 Glaucous-winged Gull

3 Pelagic Cormorant

5 Double-crested Cormorant

Double-crested Cormorants with Pelagic Cormorant and Pigeon Guillemots

1 Brown-headed Cowbird

Facility Work: Cleaned solar panels and continued fly-busting in the houses

Vessel Traffic: Late start for the eco-tourism vessels. Saw very few before 11, then they were steady the rest of the day until dusk. Very large container vessel heading west.

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

Weather – Past: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

First Fog and Census

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Fog rolled in on Monday night, activating the signal from the beacon. It’s a piercing set of three tones every minute, and a sound that I am very familiar with from hearing it often while at Rocky Point. I had been warned to bring earplugs, which I did, but I didn’t need them.

Fog roll

I was actually welcoming the fog for several reasons. Recent Eco-guardian Joan Rosenberg shared a tip about cleaning the solar panels when they were still wet with fog. Great idea! That made things go much quicker. There were also some things I really needed to get to on the computer, but when the weather is good, I want to be out looking around. The panels got cleaned, but the fog cleared fairly early, so things that should be done are still waiting.

The fog clearing definitely made my planned census today possible. Here is my report:

Census

Mammals

Humpback Whale: 1

Elephant Seal: 1 male

Returning from his daily swim.

Harbour Seal: 191 including several pups

Steller’s Sea Lion: 27

Steller’s and California Sea Lions

California Sea Lion 23

California Sea Lions

Birds

Black Oystercatcher: 8

Killdeer: 2

Black Turnstone: 21

Surfbird: 1

Rhinoceros Auklet: 5

Common Murre: 1

Heermann’s Gull: 1

California Gull: 700 (mostly early morning, although some lingered through the day)

Glaucous winged Gull: 655 (by clicker–highest count for me so far)

Pelagic Cormorant: 5

Double-crested Cormorant: 4

Bald Eagle: 1

Song Sparrow: 1

Brown-headed Cowbird: 1

Unidentified passerine: 1 (right as the sun set, the bird flew in east of the lighthouse, but I couldn’t relocate it. I’ll be checking the area in the morning!

Facility Work: Solar panels and windows cleaned. Greg came by with a load of diesel. Arriving California Sea Lions prompted check and minor fixes to the fencing.  We also topped up all of the batteries with distilled water.

Battery bank. 24 needing juice!

Vessel Traffic: Ecotourism was big today with as many as five vessels in the reserve at once. Estimate more than 20 came through today. No private vessels noted.

Another beautiful sunset!

Sunset

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

Weather – Past: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Pigeon Guillemot

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Ecological Notes:

  • Large Male Elephant Seal is still spending most of his time in the water by the ramp
  • The young Female Elephant Seal pup that left the reserve last week of April had returned for daily haulouts in the ramp area. She is very plump, indicating she has been feeding well, but has lots of little sores and scars. She was very ragged when she left in April as well, but you can see healed scars from them, with new ones around them. Also look like maybe an out of regular season molt.

  • Have noticed many more Pigeon Guillemots return to shore and entering dens with fish!

Gunnel for dinner

  • Nature being what it is, I did find a few Gull chicks that did not make it with the extreme heat.

Visitors:

  • Pearson College instructors and family left Sunday evening.

Facility Work:

  • Hot weather limited outside work to early morning and late evening. Mostly stuck with basics – cleaning windows, cleaning solar panels, check battery fluid levels and such.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Several Ecotourism vessels and private vessels sightseeing.

 Noted Infractions:

  • Private Vessel fishing in the reserve. They did not respond to my hails on the VHF. I mentioned checking regulations on Rockfish Conservation Areas. Another private vessel went over to them and mentioned it to them ( I think). as they altered course to leave in a straight line outbound.

Weather Events:

  • Hot and clear most of the day, slight haze in the evening. Winds from East/Southeast during the day, 10-15 Knots.

 

** 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?

Nesting Everywhere

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Ecological Notes:

  • Looking like just 5 Elephant Seals left in the main area. (although I like to give it a couple days to confirm)
  • This group is now 3 Adult Females, 1 Juvenile Male, and 1 male “pup”. Both males are really gaining strength and I give them an extra wide margin when moving around.
  • 9 Oyster Catcher nests mapped. Lots of Pigeon Guillemots darting in and out of the rock crevices, assuming they are nesting now as well.  So many Glaucous Wing Gull nests it’s hard to keep count. Many of them now have 3 eggs, so they are starting to incubate now.

Hard to not take all the Black Oyster Catcher pictures I can!

Variations in Gull egg colouring

  • Large group of yearling Glaucous Wing Gulls on one of the rocks, looking very much like a different species until their mature plumage comes in.

Facility Work:

  • As mentioned, everything takes longer when the paths and doorways are blocked!

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 1 large Government vessel through the main channel, with a small vessel in tow.

 Noted Infractions:

  • The above mentioned vessel went through very close to the pier, at very high speed! Documented and reported to superiors at Pearson College, and they are following up with those involved.

Weather Events:

  • Westerly 10 knot winds most of the day, easing to 3 knots in the evening. Mostly cloudy skies and calm seas.

 

** All 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?

Pigeon Guillemots

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Ecological Notes:

  • Still 7 Elephant Seals on land, including the 2 pups. As mentioned in previous blog, they are all getting thin.

Should head off to feed once the molt is complete

  • Although it looks a bit chaotic when in larger flocks, Closer attention reveals that the Pigeon Guillemots are pairing up more now. Lots of courting displays, and ducking in and out of the rock crevasses and gaps in the boulders. A species of bird in the auk family (Alcidae) , they normally lay 1 or 2 eggs in a clutch.

 

Facility Work:

  • As always, lots of cleaning!

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 3 Ecotourism boats, all with good behavior. 2 private vessels, sightseeing with good behavior, and departed the reserve at proper speed!

Feature Event:

  • Part of working as an Ecoguardian here at Race Rocks, is making time to just take in the view. The steps inside the tower are each carved from sandstone blocks, and include 99 steps from floor to floor.

Weather Events:

  • Slight haze most of the day, visibility of about 10 nautical miles. Westerly winds at 15 – 20 knots until mid afternoon, rising to 35 – 40 knots by evening. High winds, combined with tide action created 1.5- 2 meter  swells, topped with up to 1 meter foot chop. Not a great place to be in a smaller boat.

 

** All 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?

Sunny Day

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Ecological Notes:

  • 6 female Elephant Seals, 2 “pups” (looking about 150 – 200 Kilos now) …. half moved closer to the ramp to enjoy some cool dips in the water. They were observed rubbing their noses and heads on the underwater rocks to aid in moulting
  • Another big influx of Pigeon Guillemots, and most Gull nest building

Cooling by the ramp

Visitors:

  • 1 – Seafront Coordinator… Reviewing tomorrow’s student landing area with the new Eco Guardian

 

Facility Work:

  • Door and trim painting, general tidying. Reset some of the fencing.

 

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 1 Eco Tourism boat
  • Reasonably close pass by a float plane, looked like sightseeing. No noticeable animal disturbance.

 Feature Event:

  • Wildlife Census (see additional post)

Spotting

 

Weather Events:

  • Mostly sunny, with a mix of sun and clouds. Westerly winds, averaging 15 knots (28km) all day

** All 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?

Bird Courting Time

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Ecological Notes:

  • 6 female Elephant Seals, 3 molting very heavily
  • 2 Elephant Seal pups, one spent much of the day soaking in the water at the end of the boat ramp
  • Although not right in the reserve, observed one Humpback whale, about 1 mile south, and Transient Orca between the reserve and Bentinck Island. Identified as the T101’s and T100B’s
  • Lots of courting behavior observed with the Pigeon Guillemots, and also the Harlequin ducks

Pigeon Guillemots

Harlequin Ducks

Facility Work:

  • Pressure washing main building

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 5 EcoTourism boats, spread throughout  the afternoon
  • 3 separate sport boat went through the reserve at high speed, luckily no obvious disturbance of the animals other than noticeable wake

Weather Events:

  • Cloudy with sunny breaks, Calm seas

** All 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?

Black Oystercatcher

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Ecological Notes: Today, a Black Oystercatcher is walking the main island and looking to make a nest. Two breeds of gull on the island including the Glaucous Gull and Western Gull. Pigeon Guillemot are making their nest on the edge of the helicopter pad and north wall below the camera.Spring is here!
Animal Tracking and Injuries: California Sea Lion injured shoulder.
Elephant seal pups: 4
Elephant seal female: 3
Visitors: 1
Facility Work. More cleaning inside and out.
Vessel Traffic:  2 Eco tour boats
 
Weather– Current: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72
Weather–Past:  http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?id=72