Tag Archives: Sea Otter

Killer Whales Everywhere!

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What a killer day!

I think the rainy days might be my favourite so far. This morning it poured with rain as I drank my coffee, the mist hung low around the reserve and I could see the steamy breath of the sea lions as they yelled and yawned.

The ocean surface was glassy, and Ollie casually floated in the water around South Seal Rocks. Sometimes I think that otter has spent so little time around other otters and so much time around pinnipeds that he thinks he is a seal. The seals are completely unbothered by him, just giving him the occasional side eye.

I completed most of my to do list in the rain, which makes the cleaning tasks far easier. Around noon I headed inside to eat and just as I was about to sit down I noticed a few slow moving ecotourism boats in the distance. I ended up eating my lunch with one hand and holding the binoculars in the other to try and figure out what was coming my way. After a few minutes I saw at least 5-6 transients heading towards me so I ran out with my camera. As per usual they stuck to the outside of the reserve, although this time they passed by slightly closer. No hunting today, they were on the move with an adorable baby in tow. Each time it came up for a breath it basically flung it’s entire body out of the water. As I watched them I looked up and a flock of 19 brown pelicans flew over my head, I think the rainy days might be the best for spotting animals!

After that amazing experience, I went back inside to try and sit down yet again. I had barely taken off my shoes when I saw 2 more boats heading my way from the same direction as the previous ones. I pulled the binoculars back out only to find ANOTHER family of 5-6 transients following the same route as the others. These ones came closer and actually cut into the reserve, but not too close, sticking a couple hundred meters behind the South Islands. This family had an even smaller baby with them which was exciting to see. No hunting for these guys either, another quick pass by but I was grateful that it was the closest I’ve seen yet!

At this point I gave up on taking a break for the day. I continued on with my to do list and just as I went down to the jetty to take the salinity and temperature readings, 2 large killer whales popped up 100m in front of me. Of course I didn’t have my camera with me but I’ve never seen orca so close from land before, it was incredible. By the time I sprinted back inside to get my camera they were almost at the outskirts of the reserve. The current was strong so they came up that one time in front of me and by the time they surfaced again they were already out near Turbine Rock where they took another dive and I wasn’t able to spot them again.

Today was unbelievable, I am truly living the dream out here!

Facility Work:

  • Topped up battery electrolytes
  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Cleaned outside windows of both houses
  • Chopped wood and kindling
  • Scrubbed algae off of outer lighthouse stairs
  • Swept/cleaned deasal bunker floor

Vessels:

  • Ecotourism: 15
  • Private: 1

Weather:

  • Sky: Clouds and rain
  • Wind: Low of 1 knot, High of 7 knots
  • Sea: Flat
  • Temperature: Low 8•C, High 13•C

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

Wednesday’s Animal Census

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It’s Wednesday which means it’s time to count the animals in the reserve! I find when I do this each week that I get competitive with myself and always want to spot more species than the week prior. Today was a win because I think it’s the most variety I’ve seen in one day so far!

Mammals:

California sea lions: 24
Elephant seals: 3 (females)
Harbour seals: 96
Sea otter: 1 (Ollie)
Steller sea lion: 7
Not quite in the reserve, but honourable mentions: 1 killer whale and 3 humpbacks

Birds:

Bald eagle (adult): 3
Bald eagle (juvenile): 3
Barn swallows: 3
Canadian geese: 10
Cormorants: 102
Gulls: 369
Harlequin ducks: 8
Oyster catchers: 8
Pigeon guillemots: 64
Ravens: 2
Whimbrel: 1 

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

Animal Census

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Another week, another animal census! The wind has finally dropped enough that being outside is enjoyable again which made today a perfect day for counting animals!

Mammals:
California sea lions: 19
Steller sea lions: 11 (1 branded 304Y)
Harbour seals: 87
Elephant seals (female): 4
Sea otter: 1

Birds:
Canadian geese: 8
Bald eagles: 4
Gulls: 318
Pigeon guillemot: 100
Cormorants: 35
Oyster catchers: 7
Savannah sparrows: 4
Shorebirds: 6
Harlequin ducks: 10
Raven: 1

Other:

While not a bird nor a mammal (but close in size), I’d like to include an honourable mention to the wolf spider that has taken up residence in the lighthouse tower. It is so large and fuzzy that I figured it deserves to be included in this week’s animal census.

On a totally unrelated note…I will not entering the lighthouse tower for the foreseeable future.

Additional info:

Ecotourism vessels: 1

Facility work:

  • Cleaned windows of both houses
  • Chopped wood and kindling
  • Deep cleaned kitchen in main house

Weather:

  • Sky: Blue skies and sunny
  • Wind: High of 18 knots, Low of 9 knots
  • Sea: Started calm ,whitcaps in the afternoon
  • Temperature: Low 8•C, High 14 •C

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

Another Windy Day

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Today was another blustery day and the weather couldn’t seem to make up its mind. The wind remained around 30knots throughout the day but the rest was a mix of blue sky and sun to dark clouds and pouring rain, and everything in between.

The sea lions don’t seem to mind the wind and looked as cozy as ever on their rocks. The gulls hunkered down with their heads tucked under their wings, the rest of the birds seemed to continue as normal. That includes the one goose that hangs out near the crane and stalks me whenever I walk in that general vicinity despite not having a visible nest (or mate) nearby. I also watched the same goose chase an elephant seal this morning but she seemed rather unbothered by it. I am still learning about birds and their behaviours but this particular goose seems to be holding a grudge!!

I didn’t expect to see Ollie today. With the wind and current being as strong as it is, I assumed he’d be tucked somewhere sheltered or asleep in a bed of mussels. Nope! I spotted him in the most exposed area possible, snoozing in a kelp bed – dead centre in the middle of the channel. I could barely see him between waves but he was completely unbothered by the weather. 

Despite the poor weather I did count 4 ecotourism vessels within the reserve today.

Nothing else to note today! 

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

Sea Otter Facts and Facility Work

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Today was a cloudy and drizzly day but I managed to get a good chunk of work done, all while hanging out with Ollie the sea otter. I think that’s one of the things that makes this place so special is that you can be scrubbing bird poop off solar panels in the rain and look down and see this fuzzy little otter staring up at you. I’ve spent a lot of time working on and around the ocean and never have I experienced wildlife like this.

Since Ollie has been around so much lately I figured I’d make this post a sea otter specific one (since you might find that more interesting than hearing about the fire hoses I rolled).

Sea otters are a keystone species, meaning that other species within the ecosystem largely depend on them and without sea otters there would be drastic changes to those ecosystems. Sea otters predate on sea urchins who graze one kelp. The sea otter’s urchin heavy diet keeps the kelp forests from being decimated by urchins, and as a result kelp forests flourish in the presence of sea otters.

A new otter (not Ollie) with a large red urchin.

 

Ollie wrapped up in the kelp he helps protect

Urchin’s aren’t the only thing sea otters eat, you’ll also find them munching on clams, crabs, mussels, and other marine invertebrates. Adult sea otters need to eat a quarter of their weight in food a day. To put that into perspective – if you weigh 150 pounds, you’d have to eat almost 40 pounds of food PER DAY!

Picking out his next snack

Sea otters do not have blubber like other marine mammals do, instead they have the densest fur of any mammal, with up to one million hairs per square inch! If they aren’t busy eating, then they are busy grooming. That much fur takes a lot of upkeep and is their only source of insulation. The constant grooming traps air and heat next to the skin, preventing the skin from getting wet and keeping them warm in the process.

Ollie grooming his hind flippers

Ollie, Race Rock’s resident sea otter, is one of few sea otters seen this far south in BC. He is easily recognized by his light blonde head and by the pink scar on his nose. He’s adored by many, and any day I encounter him I consider to be a great day!

Now onto the less adorable items…

Facility Work:

  • Filled cistern, fresh water flushed the pump, rolled and stored fire hoses
  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Cleaned windows of both houses
  • Chopped firewood
  • Ran an equalization charge of the batteries
  • Mopped basement floor

Vessel Traffic:

  • 1 ecotourism vessel
  • 3 private vessels

Infractions:

  • 1 rental boat fishing within the reserve despite multiple communication attempts. Informed the local marina and reported to DFO

Weather:

    • Sky: Overcast, on/off rain
    • Wind: High of 4 knots, Low of 19 knots
    • Sea: Calm
    • Temperature: Low 9, High  11oC

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

Friday Update

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The Steller sea lions have taken over the rocks to the right of the jetty which has resulted in the California sea lions inconveniently taking over the jetty and spilling over into the rocks on the left. Usually a calm and careful walk down the jetty clears them off but by the time I get back to the shed they are already back. Some seem to learn quicker than others or are more fearful of humans so those ones find themselves a new spot right away. However there are always a few stragglers that don’t seem to care in the slightest which results in me taking many trips down to the end of the jetty and back.

When I’m here I try to do everything in my power to not disrupt the animals, however it’s important to keep the jetty clear for when our boat arrives as well as for emergencies. It can also be dangerous at a very low tide if there are sea lions on the jetty and something spooks them. It’s a long drop into very shallow or no water and when something sets them off they seem to react first, think later. So really, a clear jetty is for both human and animal safety. Thankfully there are plenty of other areas for them to snooze and sunbathe and eventually they get tired of seeing me on the jetty and find themselves a safer place to relax.

Ollie spent his day in the kelp beds behind the student house again, grooming and sleeping before moving onto the rocks to settle onto a not so comfy looking bed of mussels.

The same 4 female elephant seals are still here. Elephant seals go through something called a catastrophic moult each year where they shed their fur as well as their top layer of skin. It’s quite common to see these guys looking pretty rough but all 4 of the ones that are currently here appear to be in good condition.

Facility Work:

  • Topped up battery electrolytes
  • Started filling the cistern, it is very low so I plan to run the pump tomorrow too

Vessel Traffic:
– 1 ecotourism vessel
– 2 cruise ships on the horizon and multiple freighters/tankers

Visitors:
– Cedric to help me fill the cistern and with a few other tasks around the site

Weather:
Sky: Sun and clouds
Wind: High of 10 knots, Low of 6 knots
Sea: Calm
Temperature: Low 7, High  13oC

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

Sunshine and a Sea Otter

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Today was the warmest, most beautiful day I’ve had yet! Clear blue sky, glassy calm water, and barely a breeze in the air.

As I took my morning coffee for a walk around the site I quickly found Ollie wrapped up in the kelp bed behind the student house. I crept down to the rocks, careful not to wake him and spent close to an hour watching him float in the sun, occasionally rubbing his fluffy little face. This is the closest Ollie encounter I’ve had so far and it was a great way to start my day.

When the weather is this nice you never want to go inside so I decided to tackle my outdoor to do list (see below for facility work). I took a few breaks to check on Ollie and he was in the same spot wrapped up in the same kelp until 5pm when I finally went inside. I saw a few porpoises from the kitchen window as I made dinner which was a nice surprise. Harbour porpoises are tiny and barely make a blip in the waters surface, so days like today are the only days I really get a chance to see them.

I was hoping to capture Ollie at sunset but of course he had moved on by the time I went back outside. I checked on the other animals around the main island and just as I got to the jetty guess who I found? Ollie again right off the rocks and swimming like he was a man on a mission! Considering adult sea otters eat a quarter of their body weight in food a day I was surprised I didn’t see him with any urchins or other snacks today.

In other animal news, one of the female elephant seals has a green flipper tag so I reached out to some contacts for further information. I was able to learn that she was tagged in 2023 in Año Nuevo, California! This is the first time that she has been sighted since then and the researchers were thrilled to hear she survived her first year. How cool!

This girl travelled nearly 1,500km to get here!

 

Facility Work:

Scrubbed solar panels – today is day 3 of not using the generator because we’ve had so much sun! It’s crucial to keep them clean and poop free so we can get the most out of them.

Weeding: greenery grows fast here including weeds. I spent a bit of time clearing out some areas that were growing back.

 

Wood pile: the firewood pile has taken over the majority of the area by the path so I attempted to organize the chaos for a few reasons. I wanted to clear the walking area for both humans and elephant seals, I also wanted to sort out which wood should be used first, if at all. I really had to brave my arachnophobia for this project but I survived! This should hopefully give the wood a chance to dry out better too, now that its not one giant pile.

 

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

A Dream Come True! (and an animal census)

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Everyone has a favourite animal, maybe its a dog or a cat or maybe its something elusive that you have a slim chance of ever seeing like a platypus. For some people, especially those in the marine mammal field it goes even deeper than that. We have specific animals within a species that we hope to one day see. For me I have two:

CA216C1 Frosty – an all white killer whale that travels between California and BC

T063 Chainsaw – a transient killer whale who visits the Salish Sea for roughly 2 weeks every spring and is recognized by his large jagged dorsal fin

Don’t get me wrong, the list is longer than that…I’ve yet to see K or L pod (Southern Resident Killer Whales), and I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing a narwhal or a leopard seal somewhere in the world one day, but as far as specific animals go – Frosty and Chainsaw are the top of my list.

Around mid afternoon I heard some chatter over the radio and spotted a few slow moving ecotourism vessels on the outskirts of the reserve which usually means there are whales nearby. I grabbed my camera and ran outside to find the man, the myth, the legend…Chainsaw! I almost didn’t believe it at first but that dorsal is hard to miss! He was travelling with at least 4 other whales including a youngster.

Not only have I been fortunate enough to see killer whales twice since my arrival yesterday afternoon but also my bucket list whale! I think this means that this Race Rocks trip will be a pretty spectacular one, I can’t wait to see whats to come. At this rate I should set my sights high, maybe a blue whale?

Now that I’ve shared my celebrity encounter, on to the rest of the day!

Today was animal census day and I proved myself wrong (see yesterday’s blog post) by spotting more pigeon guillemots than I’ve ever seen before. I did not however, see any turnstones today. Ollie was hauled out on Middle Rocks this morning but I heard over the radio that he was possibly near Swordfish Island this afternoon. Last but not least, I spotted my first whimbrel and hope to see more!

 

Animal Census:

Elephant seals: 4 female
Steller sea lions: 14
Harbour seals: 68
California sea lions: 19
Sea otters: 1 (Ollie)
Killer whales: 5 (T65s and T63s)
Gulls: 264
Canadian geese: 7
Oyster catchers: 10
Pigeon guillemots: 106
Eagles: 3 (2 adults, 1 juvenile)
Cormorants: 17
Savannah sparrow: 3
Whimbrel: 1
Raven: 1

 

Thankfully we don’t count bivalves in the census!!

Vessel Census:

1 private
4 ecotourism – far less today!

Weather:

    • Sky: Blue and clear
    • Wind: High of 11 knots, Low of 5 knots
    • Sea: Calm
    • Temperature: Low 8oC, High  12oC

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

Me Again!

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After 5 long weeks on the mainland…I’M BACK! I was counting down the days and I could not be happier to be back on this wonderful little rock.

The first thing I noticed on arrival was how lush it’s become in the past month, new pink, white, and purple lowers have bloomed and the grass and plants seem to have exploded everywhere.

While I am slightly disappointed that the male elephant seal is no longer here, I was very excited to meet the 4 females that were lounging in the grass outside the main house. They all appear to be different ages and have lots to yell about.

My next “welcome back” greeting came from T49A1 Noah as he passed by along the outskirts of the reserve. Just when I thought that a killer whale greeting couldn’t be topped I spotted Ollie the sea otter drifting and grooming in the kelp near Middle Rocks.

 

Could my first day back have been any better?!

Here are changes I’ve noticed (so far) since the end of March:

  • More kelp beds
  • Less pigeon guillemots, turnstones, and oyster catchers (will confirm with tomorrow’s census)
  • More plants and flowers on the main island
  • More sunlight! I’m looking forward to more solar and less generator use!
  • Increase in ecotourism vessels

Today’s facility work was minimal as I’m just settling back in, however I did complete the month end report which helped me get up to speed on fuel and water inventory on site.

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

Wednesday Census

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I am writing this on Thursday although the census was done yesterday.

I was happy to welcome 3 new elephant seals to the island. Yesterday the count was at 5 and from what I can discern there are 2 large female, one subadult female, 1 small female and 1 small male. The small male is tagged. Update next post when I can get the number on its green tag.

Census

A sunny day in the intertidal

Mammals

Elephant seals 5

4 confirmed female and perhaps 1 male

Stellar sea lions 19

California Sea lions 33

Harbour seals 57 (mostly on surrounding rocks at low tide)

Sea otters 3 (seen off Turbine rocks 2 days ago)

Birds

Gulls   292 mostly glaucous wing and western and hybrids  (please see the amazing survey done last week by RPBO for species breakdown)

Bald Eagles 1 mature 2 immature about 1/2 and 1 year old

Turnstones 10

Cormorants 112 (roosting in the evening) the recent survey suggested the majority are Brandts, about 15% Pelagic and some Double Crested)

Dunlins 7

Surfbirds 56 (see photos below)

Rock Sandpiper? there may be some mixed in with the surfbirds see photo below

Fox sparrow 1

North western crow 1

 

Weather:

Clear and warm with mild variable winds mostly from the west

Visitors

Greg brought 3 boat loads of Pearson College biology students out with LAura to explore the low tides

Facility Work

Cleaned solar panels in the morning

wood to house

began cleaning fuel shed

Vessel traffic

A very noticeable change in the last several years in the marked increase in shipping traffic. I understand what a shipping lane is now. There is a CONSTANT stream of large container ships travelling by. There are about 6 on the horizon whenever I look out.

 

Constant shipping traffic

2? year old Bald Eagle

3 elephant seals , the 2 moulting are new

Surf Birds and others camouflaged