Educational Visit, and Orca

Posted on Saturday,February 10, 2024 by Derek Sterling

Ecological Notes:

Steller Sea Lion photographed nursing what appears to be a yearling “pup”

photo by Ashley Warwick

2 Orca hunting in the reserve, 6 more hunting south of the reserve. This is not uncommon behaviour, as the 2 inside can panic and scatter the seals and sea lions out into the deeper water

: “They’re right over there!”, photo by Kennedy Heyes

: “lots of choices”, photo by Kennedy Heyes

: Close passes right below the rock the students were standing on, photo by Ashley Warwick

: Heading back out to the rest of the group, photo by Ashley Warwick

Juvenile Golden Eagle present 2 days in the reserve. (there has been one frequently sighted in the Rocky Point area since last fall)
Students conducted the animal census

Visitors:

In cooperation with Pearson College, 7 Students and 1 chaperone for the WestCoast Adventure College stayed for 4 days. Current Eco-Guardian taught classes in Marine Mammals of the Salish Sea, and did some Heritage Arts projects in the evening. In addition, students learned about Race Rocks, all operations out here, and helped the Eco-Guardian with projects …. especially projects like work on ladders, and moving logs that are difficult to do by himself

: Start of orientation, photo by Sean Thompson

: Student Group, photo by Sean thompson

Learning how to fill the cistern, photo by Sean Thompson

Facility Work:

Gutters cleaned on the Student House/ Science Center

: Safe with 2 persons

: Had not been cleaned in a long time

Most paths, wooden stairs, roof of desalinator bunker, some exterior walls treated to remove algae

Paths pressure washed

: photo by Sean Thompson

logs stacked in the ramp area, pre-bucked and moved to the upper bucking area

: Caught up!

: Ready for bucking and splitting

More large logs salvaged and moved onto the ramp area

: Extra hands to use the come-along

: 4 up, ready for landing buck

Weekly battery maintenance

DND events:

3 days with occasional blasting, some delays when Orca in the pass

Noted Vessel Traffic:

Eco-tourism vessels
Cetacean Research vessel when whales present, and Marine Mammal Observer Vessel present blasting

Research vessel – Mike 1, photo by Ashley Warwick

Weather Events:

Week ending February 10
- Sky:Overcast with sunny breaks
- Wind: 5-15 kts
- Sea:light swells
- Temperature Low 6^oC, High 9^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?

March 4 and 5

Posted on Thursday,March 5, 2020 by Nick Townley

Wind: yesterday 2-42 knots variable directions, today 0-31 knots from N in am and W in pm
Sea State: yesterday chop up to 1 m, today rippled then up to 1 m chop in afternoon
Visibility: yesterday 10 NM, today 5-15 NM
Sky: yesterday clear, today partly cloudy and rain in afternoon
Temperature: yesterday 5-10 °C, today 5-9 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 413.05 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

The tide has been getting low in the evenings over the past two days, revealing lots of neat intertidal creatures. With no sea lions hanging out on the east side of the island, I was able to explore the rocky shoreline to see feather duster worms, sea stars, barnacles, surf grass, many types of seaweeds and long ago discarded metal pieces from former buildings and equipment at the lightstation that only reveal themselves at low tide.

There are six very stationary elephant seals on the island: one adult female, two adult males, two female pups and one male pup.

Today, I drained the cistern which stores the seawater before it gets treated by the desalinator. The cistern is a large concrete box located between the lighthouse and the main residence. It measures 12 m long by 8 m wide by 3 m deep. It holds a lot of water. The water was slightly turbid and causing the desalinator pre-filters to work harder than needed. The water pump ran for four hours to drain the many thousands of litres of water back into the ocean. I used a long pressure washing wand to reach in to clean the rocks on the bottom and concrete walls, at least the parts I could reach. Tomorrow, I will refill the cistern when the tide is higher and the intake hose can be put off the end of the jetty.

Yesterday morning, six visitors came to the island: Travis, Hilary, Antoine, Hannah, Val and Greg. There was one tour boat that passed by. Today, two tour boats were in the ecological reserve in the morning.

: Sea captain Travis bringing visitors to Race Rocks in Pearson’s boat Second Nature.

: Northern feather duster worms at low tide near the east bay.

: Fire pump and hoses to drain the cistern, which is the size of the flat surface seen in the photo and a depth of 3 m.

: A view inside the almost drained cistern.

Elephant Seal Excitement

Posted on Tuesday,March 3, 2020 by Nick Townley

Wind: yesterday 0-36 knots from W, E, S, W throughout the day, today 9-40 knots from W
Sea State: yesterday rippled changing in late afternoon onwards to chop up to 1 m, today calm in early morning then up to 1 m chop for rest of the day
Visibility: both days 10-15 NM
Sky: both days overcast
Temperature: yesterday 5-9 °C, today 7-10 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 413.72 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

The ecological highlights of the past two days were a bald eagle eating a bird and as usual the very entertaining elephant seals.

A new female elephant seal arrived on the main island this morning. She is tagged T563 on tags on each of her tail flippers. I contacted elephant seal researchers to check her history. She was tagged as a pup in the birthing season of 2010-2011, on the Farallon Islands, off the coast of San Francisco. That makes her just over nine years old. She hasn’t been seen by those researchers since. Last year, Ecoguardian Laas spotted her for the first time at Race Rocks on March 21. This morning, the alpha male was attempting to mate with her. Now she is hunkered down by the flagpole, shielded from the strong west wind. The adult males were bellowing at each other for most of the day. The beta male has an advantage of a high lookout point, on the helicopter pad. He has been up there since January without leaving. I am not sure he knows how to get down, as I have seen him attempt a few times before turning around. He must be getting hungry.

The oldest of the two female pups might have gone for a swim yesterday. I saw her with wet fur climbing up the rocks from the east bay.

The youngest female pup and oldest and only male pup have been hanging together, vocalizing with each other and appearing to play fight.

In between watching nature neatos, I did some maintenance around the island. I used a new two metre pressure washer wand to get the algae off the north side of the boat house, tank shed and Race Rocks sign. I hope to clean off the rest of the buildings over the next few weeks, now that the desalinator is pumping lots of freshwater. I also fixed the door on the freshwater shed with a new hasp and a piece of wood to stop the door from blowing inwards.

No boats or visitors were in the ecological reserve over the past two days.

Here are some photos from the past two days:

: After this eagle flew around the island with a bird in its talons, it landed on the high point of rocks by camera 5. The unlucky bird appeared to be a pigeon guillemot.

: The eagle spent a while plucking the feathers to get at the meat.

: I used camera 5 to get a better look at the eagle eating its meal. Look at all the feathers the eagle plucked.

: An extreme closeup of the eagle eating the bird.

: Yesterday, the oldest of the two female pups makes her way up from the water of the east bay. She chose a difficult route to ascend.

: I took this photo yesterday through the spotting scope in the lantern room of the lighthouse. The grey elephant seal near the middle is the female that arrived on the main island this morning. The brown figures are sea lions.

: The sun is rising behind the female, pups and alpha male elephant seal.

: The tail flipper tag on the recently arrived female. T563 has almost worn off since she was tagged as a pup in the winter of 2010-2011. That makes her nine years old.

: The alpha male and the oldest and youngest pups were nearby to check out the female.

: Cute! The oldest (left) and youngest (right) elephant seal pups are getting along well.

: The adult male on the helicopter pad appeared to be taunting the alpha male, who couldn’t get up the fortification.

: The forgotten middle child is by herself behind the house, near the compost bins. She appears to be showing off her fresh new coat, after moulting the dark fur on her chest.

: There have been lots of pigeon guillemots in the morning by Middle Channel, the rocks by the jetty and near the east bay.

: Grape hyacinths are popping up around the rocks and ledges in the centre of the island. Another remnant of lighthouse keepers past.

Another Elephant Seal Birth

Posted on Saturday,January 11, 2020 by Nick Townley

Wind: yesterday 2-19 knots NE, today 1-46 knots NE shifting to W
Sea State: yesterday 3 m waves from NE, today 2 m waves from W
Visibility: 10 NM
Sky: both days overcast with patches of sun and rain
Temperature: 6-8 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 413.54 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

Yesterday morning in the rain, I started pressure washing the slime covered stairs up to the door of the lighthouse. They were getting a bit treacherous on a wet and windy day. A second tank of water later, it was sunny and the 18 stairs as well as entryway were clean.

The past two nights have been louder than usual, with the elephant seal bellows and barks dominating the soundscape of waves, wind and sea lion barks. I was surprised to not see a new pup yesterday morning, after all the carrying on outside my windows all night. This morning, the light brought a delightful sight of a new pup. Once again, the eagles, black turnstones and gulls all made quick work of getting rid of the placenta and umbilical cord. The new mother had arrived at Race Rocks on January 3. The other pup looks huge compared the new pup. It’s amazing how much weight the older pup has gained in two weeks. The three females appeared to be at odds with each other for most of the day, with lots of bellowing and chomping. If the remaining pregnant female sticks to the pattern, she should give birth on Tuesday, which is nine days after she arrived on the island.

See the photos and videos below for some sights and sounds of the past two days.

: The jetty was swamped for most of yesterday with the northeast swell.

: With the desalinator producing more fresh water, the pressure washer is used to get rid of the slippery algae on the outside stairs to the lighthouse. I did the first five and half steps before I realized it was easier to go from the top down.

: The other day I found this red strip of fabric near the south side of the house. It took me a moment to figure out it was the edge of the flag that had been knotted twice, torn off the rest of the flag and blown half way across the island in the strong winds. I brought it inside to the old frayed flag, which I need to dispose of in a dignified way.