Tag Archives: rainbow

July 19 and 20 – Weekly Census

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Ecological Notes:

  • An elephant seal swam up to the boat ramp at some point yesterday late afternoon or evening. When I went to do the seawater sample at 19:30, I spotted her sleeping at the water’s edge. As far as I can tell, she has been there ever since.
  • See the photo gallery below for more ecological happenings from the past two days.

Weekly Census recorded on Wednesday, July 20:

It was not an ideal day to record the census, as it was quite foggy. Although, I had a window of less fog at around noon, when I could see all the islets that comprise Race Rocks and the water in between, so I was able to count the species from the lantern room of the lighthouse. I counted other species throughout the day as I walked around.

  • Elephant Seal: 1
  • Steller/Northern sea lions: 15
  • Harbour seals: 125
  • Bald eagles: 2 (1 juvenile and 1 adult)
  • Canada geese: 9 (5 adults, 4 goslings)
  • Black oystercatchers: 11 (8 adults, 3 chicks)
  • Cormorants: 5
  • Glaucous-winged gulls nesting on the main island: 229
  • Glaucous-winged gull chicks: approximately 250 (It is hard to get an exact number due to their camouflage in the grass and hiding under their parents) 
  • Gulls not nesting (some glaucous-winged and some other species) on the south end of the main island and outer islands: 96
  • Pigeon guillemots: 163
  • Black turnstones: 2
  • Western sandpiper: 3
  • Fox sparrow: 1

Weather:

  • Yesterday (July 19):
    • Sky: Partly cloudy, fog in evening
    • Wind: W 3-29 kts
    • Sea: rippled, then up to 1′ chop in afternoon and evening
    • Temperature Low 11oC, High 15oC
  • Today (July 20):
    • Sky: Fog overnight, a mixture of partly cloudy and fog throughout the day and into the evening
    • Wind: W 12-30 kts
    • Sea: rippled, then up 2′ chop in afternoon and evening
    • Temperature Low 11oC, High 14oC

Visitors:

  • 2 visitors from Pearson College to deliver supplies. 

Facility Work:

  • Scrubbed and squeegeed solar panels, routine tidying and checking infrastructure around the island.

Vessel Traffic:

  • Many Canadian and American ecotour boats have been nearby and heading through the waters of the ecological reserve.

Here are photo highlights from the past two days. Click on the photos for larger views and captions.

August 25

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Wind: W 2-33 knots
Sea State: calm, up to 0.5m chop in evening
Visibility: 0-15 NM
Sky: clear, fog from 5:20 to 7:00
Temperature: 10-15 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 411.96 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

Today was spent tidying around the island, chainsawing logs and chopping firewood. I gave the gulls and sea lions a wide berth as I moved around the paths.

650 L of diesel was delivered this afternoon.

Here are a few photos from today:

August 19 – Fog

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Wind: W 4-23 knots
Sea State: rippled
Visibility: 0-15 NM
Sky: fog in morning, clear in late morning, partly cloudy in afternoon, then light rain in evening
Temperature: 12-17 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 412.58 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

The fog began to roll in after sunset yesterday. In the early hours of the morning just before 3:00, the fog got thick enough for the sensor part way up the tower to trigger the fog signal. Three high pitch blasts sounded every minute until 11:20, then the fog gave way to a clear sky.

The steller sea lion with the flasher from yesterday still has it hooked to its mouth and is still on Middle Rock, hanging out with a bunch of other sea lions. I spotted it through the partial fog this morning, but wasn’t able to get a good photo. This afternoon, it was facing away from the main island.

Greg came out in the late afternoon to deliver diesel. We are filling the various storage tanks around the island for the furnaces and generator, in anticipation for the cooler and darker months ahead. There will be more fuel delivered over the coming days, taking advantage of the calm seas.

Other maintenance tasks included trimming the plants growing over parts of the paths, cleaning the solar panels and using the chainsaw to buck up more firewood. I finally cut up a 15 metre log that I saw wash up in a winter storm. It was propped up on rocks in the East Bay.

See the photos below for sights from today:

March 30 and 31

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Wind: yesterday variable 4-40 knots, today W 3-25 knots
Sea State: yesterday up to 1 m chop, today rippled
Visibility: yesterday 10 NM, today 15 NM
Sky: yesterday partly cloudy with rain in morning, today clear
Temperature: yesterday 5-8 °C, today 5-7 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 415.65 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

I took soundings on all the water and fuel tanks as well as other notable measurements for the month end report. Here are some of the numbers. The desalinator produced 6,650 L of water, which was used mostly for pressure washing the buildings and other cleaning. 540 L of diesel was used to run the generator to top of the batteries, when there wasn’t enough sun to charge the solar panels. The generator ran for 141 hours over the month, for an average of 4.5 hours/day. There were 24 visitors (16 unique visitors) to the island over the course of the month.

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

See the gallery below for views around the island.

  • A high concentration of harbour seals on Turbine Rock at low tide
  • A small midden of deconstructed mossy chitons
  • Five out of the six elephant seals going for a dip in the jetty bay
  • Elephant seal pup buddies
  • Another view of the post sunrise sunny rain, from inside the energy building
  • Canada geese reflecting pond
  • A post sunrise double rainbow, while it was sunny raining
  • Different stages of moulting. The elephant seal on the left has got rid of most of the fur and skin on her head, except a patch on the nose.

Sea Otter Visit and Snow Day

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Wind: yesterday 3-53 knots W, today 9-34 knots N
Sea State: yesterday 2 m waves from W, today up to 1 m waves from N
Visibility: yesterday 2 to 10 NM, today 1 to 2 NM
Sky: yesterday sunny with cloudy patches, today fog and snow
Temperature: yesterday 7 to -1 °C, today -1 to -4 °C with windchill as low as -14 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 413.15 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

Yesterday brought many gifts from the sun: rainbows, warmth and solar power for the batteries. In the afternoon, I spotted an unusual sight for this time of year. A sea otter was being tossed around in the waves near the jetty. I grabbed the camera and did my best to capture some photos as it swam around the northeast side of the island, got out briefly on the rocks near the house, then swam back to the waves of the north side, before it floated northeast past the east side of the North Rocks. The wind was over 40 knots, which made it hard to hold the camera steady and take photos. I managed to get a few photos (see below) that show a slightly blurry sea otter in action.

Last night, the temperature dipped below O °C. I prepared the buildings from getting too cold by turning on heat in the evening. Throughout the night, the fog horn sounded and the snow accumulated. Judging by the snow on the relatively sheltered ground mounted solar panels, there was about 8 cm of snow overnight and into the early afternoon. On the rest of the island, the tracks of sea lions, birds and slide marks of elephant seals showed the few movements of a quiet island. A smaller than usual group of gulls and cormorants were hunkered down on the southwest side of the island. Most of the sea lions were rafting in the water, which was observed this afternoon at 7.7 °C, much warmer than the -4 °C air temperature.

A video of the two beta male elephant seals fighting at the base of the lighthouse. They move very fast when they are motivated. After they disappeared behind the tower, they chased each other around the island and into the water by the jetty, causing a stampede of some nearby sea lions.

A video of the snowy views and windy sounds of the islands.

 

 

Blowing a Hooley

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Wind: Yesterday 5-35 knots N to W; Today 25-35 knots W with gust of 44 knots
Sea State: up to 2.5 m waves
Visibility: 5-10 NM
Sky: overcast with clear patches today
Temperature: 7-12 C
Atmospheric CO2: 413.20 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

The forecasted gale warning materialized right on time on Tuesday evening. Overnight and throughout today, the westerly winds were between 25 to 35 knots with gusts as strong as 44 knots. There are lots of whistles and creaks in the 1960’s house. The storm also showed a few leaks in the various outbuildings. The strong winds brought clear skies and slightly warmer temperatures. For most of the day, rainbows were visible to the north, between Rocky Point and Victoria.

Yesterday, even though it was stormy, several hours were spent working outside on various maintenance and month end tasks around the island, which was made easier due to the animals and birds being less spread out as they hunkered down out of the wind.

Today, four branded sea lions were recorded and reported to researchers, who study sea lion ranges and lifespans.

The island’s population of elephant seals is currently at seven. One recently came back from a solo retreat on the West Rocks. The four non dominant males appear to be keeping their distance from each other at cardinal points of the island. The alpha male is hanging out in the middle of the island with the mother and pup. This morning, two of the beta males had fresh wounds on their backs, suggesting a possible disagreement with each other overnight. The elephant seal pup is continuing to nurse. Pups gain a whopping 4.5 kg per day from their 35 kg birth weight. Between all those pounds the pup is packing on and the rain, no wonder its coat is looking less wrinkled.

Jan 16th 2018

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Weather

  • Visibility:15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-10 NE
  • Sky: Partly cloudy, mostly sunny
  • Water: Choppy less than a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • a couple ecotours went by today

Ecological

  • The 7 day old pup is doing well
  • The mature male elephant seal is staying near the pup and mother
  • Saw one of the 3 juvenile males around but the other two were somewhere else today, didn’t even see them when I went to do the water sample by the jetty

Notes

  • had some beautiful sunrises and sunsets lately so I haven’t had to run the generator as much

 

Rainbow!

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Weather

  • Visibility: 5 miles in the morning, 15 later on.
  • Wind: 10-15 knots NE
  • Sky: overcast, periods of sun, periods of rain.
  • Water: calm
  • Rainbow in the afternoon!

rainbow-4-10

Ecological

  • Saw several branded sea lions but they have already been reported recently.
  • X611, U400 etc.

Maintenance

  • Usual chores.
  • Ran the desalinator in the evening.

Boats

  • Several eco-tours came by today.
  • Noticed four leaving at once in the afternoon.

4-boats-leaving-reserve-4-10

Rainbows and Rough seas

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Gold at the end of the jetty?

Gold at the end of the jetty?

Ecological Happenings

  • Strong gale force winds in the morning with showers and rough seas. Bright periods later with rainbows. Gale force winds dropping to a fresh breeze before a calmer evening.
  • Fourth elephant seal seen on North East of the main island. This one seems much smaller, though it is difficult to tell at distance.
  • The two males and female that have been here for a few days rehydrated, by taking dips in the ocean, at the jetty before returning to land.
  • Birds found sheltered spots while sea lions either saw out the rough weather in the ocean or braved the rocks. If they could get up.

Marine Vessels

  •  None

Maintenance

  • Stripped and re-built pressure washer pump. Still not operating correctly.
  • Oil leak to generator ‘B’ investigated and found. Part required to fix problem.

New Elephant seal

New Elephant seal

Male and Female Elephant seal

Male and Female Elephant seal

DSC_5692

Hmmn... maybe not

Hmmn… maybe not

Double bow

Double bow

Immature Bald Eagle

Immature Bald Eagle

The sun tried to break through

The sun tried to break through…….

Sunset

Sunset

March 22 – Rainbows and Venus

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Overcast in the morning, rain and breaks of sun in the afternoon
Wind: NE 3-17, switching to SW 2-14 in the late afternoon onwards
Air Temperature: Low 7.8°C, High 10.0°C
Ocean Temperature: 8.8°C

A 2.6m high tide came overnight, sending lots of logs floating through the reserve today. A small dead octopus washed ashore near the energy building. It was noticed by the visiting Pearson students, much to the excitement of their curious marine science minds.

The visiting students returned to the college this morning.

A floatplane flew very low over Great Race this morning. One eco tour boat was seen in the reserve today.

A very bright Venus was visible this evening, soon after the sunset. It was in the west of the sky, just north of the moon.