Tag Archives: Sea Otter

July 13 and 14 – Weekly Census

Posted on by

Ecological Notes:

  • The sea lion population is growing. For the past few days there have been 18 Steller sea lions hauled out on Middle Rocks. That is up from four sea lions one week ago. One of the sea lions has a brand. It appears to say 620R, although the researcher I contacted in Oregon mentioned it is what they call a bad brand and he was unable to determine the brand from the photos I sent. I will keep a look out for the sea lion and see if I can get a better view. The researcher will check his records to see if he can identify the sea lion and be able to record the resighting.
  • The super moon on Wednesday night rose in the southeast at 10:00pm. It was a big bright orange orb that looked more like the rising sun, than the moon.
  • Today’s extremely low tide of -0.2m or -0.7′ was at 10:13am. The overnight high tide at 00:55am was 3.0m or 9.8′. It is apparently the lowest tide in a decade. I was fascinated to see the extended edge of the water all around the many islands. I looked at the exposed intertidal zone from a distance and up on the jetty, so as not to disturb the many delicate species.
  • See the photo gallery below for more ecological happenings from the past two days.

Weekly Census Results from July 13:

  • Steller/Northern sea lions: 18
  • Sea otter: 1
  • Harbour seals: 133
  • Bald eagles: 2 (1 juvenile and 1 adult)
  • Canada geese: 9 (5 adults, 4 goslings)
  • Black oystercatchers: 11 (8 adults, 3 chicks)
  • Cormorant: 4
  • Glaucous-winged gulls nesting on the main island: 247
  • Glaucous-winged gull chicks: approximately 200 (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: 142
  • Black turnstones: 2
  • Western sandpiper: 2

Weather:

  • Yesterday (July 13):
    • Sky: Part Cloudy
    • Wind: W 12-32 kts
    • Sea: rippled, then up to 3′ waves in afternoon and evening
    • Temperature Low 12oC, High 16oC
  • Today (July 14):
    • Sky: Part Cloudy
    • Wind: W 15-27 kts
    • Sea: rippled, then up to 2′ chop in afternoon
    • Temperature Low 11oC, High 13oC

Visitors:

  • No visitors

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.

July 9 and 10

Posted on by

Ecological Notes:

  • On Saturday afternoon, a southern resident orca pod went through Race Passage, just north of the ecological reserve. Someone was warning boats over the VHF radio to reduce their speed, as they were “in the path of endangered southern resident killer whales.” All boats appeared to oblige. For a while, the very large pod was spread out from the Bentinck Island, at the west side of the mouth of Pedder Bay to well past William Head to the east, at least 4km or 2NM. I watched the pod for a while through binoculars and saw an orca fully breach out of the water. I did not get a photo of the breach, but it was spectacular. Then the pod travelled south to the east of Race Rocks, based on the group of ecotour boats I could see watching the pod from a safe distance.
  • The gull chicks are still popping out, with many nests having one to three chicks. There are still some gulls tending to eggs.
  • See the photo gallery below for more ecological happenings from the past two days.

Weather:

  • Yesterday (July 9):
    • Sky: Overcast, then cloudy throughout rest of day
    • Wind: W 15-30 kts
    • Sea: rippled, 1′ chop in evening
    • Temperature Low 13oC, High 16oC
  • Today (July 10):
    • Sky: Part cloudy
    • Wind: W 3-24 kts
    • Sea: rippled, 1′ chop in afternoon
    • Temperature Low 14oC, High 17oC

Visitors:

  • No visitors.

Facility Work:

  • Scrubbed and squeegeed solar panels, topped up water in battery bank, 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.

July 7 and 8

Posted on by

Ecological Notes:

  • With the help of the visitors yesterday and some gathering ecotour boats, I spotted a sea otter hanging out in the kelp bed off the east side of the island.
  • This morning, as I was walking along the path from the house, I saw four large birds flying overhead. Their distinct shapes made me realize right away they were brown pelicans. They looped around and flew off to the east. Maybe they thought  it was too crowded to land at Race Rocks with all the gulls nesting.
  • See the photo gallery and captions for more details on the ecological happenings over the past two days.

Weather:

  • Yesterday (July 7):
    • Sky: Part Cloudy
    • Wind: W 8-23 kts
    • Sea: rippled in morning, 1′ chop in afternoon
    • Temperature Low 12oC, High 15oC
  • Today (July 8):
    • Sky: Part Cloudy
    • Wind: W 12-21 kts
    • Sea: rippled in morning, 1′ chop in afternoon
    • Temperature Low 12oC, High 15oC

Visitors:

  • On July 7, Greg, Lawrence and Gretchen visited from the college to help transport supplies and do maintenance tasks on the island.

Facility Work:

  • Scrubbed and squeegeed solar panels, tidied around island, desalinator maintenance, and detached old generator exhaust pipe.

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.

Don’t trust the weather report

Posted on by

Morning visitors

Weather: SUN! westerly wind 16 knots. Sparkling water.

Visitors: Several whale watching boats. All came close to the seal lions on the jetty but they didn’t disturb them. Fishers outside reserve area.

Work: cleaned solar panels. chopped wood. cleaned windows (on the inside) in lamp room.

 

Energy: Every morning it is a bit of guess work to see  if I can hold off using the generator. Particularly today when it called for clouds and rain. I was happy the first hour of potential solar energy boosted the batteries to over 50 volts. Then I had some breathing room. I tend to look at the numbers often and try to see how I can avoid the generator or use it as little as possible. Not listening to the forecast can be useful!

Observations: Gulls are beautiful. They are so easy to take for granted but now that I am looking closely at them I see how exquisitely white they are. It is amazing to get to watch them go through their courtship. I don’t envy the few immature gulls on the island. If they try to land anywhere near the centre of the island they are quickly reminded that this is a breeding colony and they are not welcome.

Several sea lions have taken to lying on the steps of the jetty. The new electric fence keeps them from coming right up. I feel somewhat sad about this, thinking that for years they have returned and sandwiched themselves on that cement surface. We had to move them off every day to take water samples so it wasn’t an absolutely ideal life. I just wonder how often they need to get zapped to stay away and if there is anywhere nearly as comfortable.

It fascinates me that I can’t get near the nesting Canada geese. I make big detours to avoid the nest and therefore avoid getting attacked and yet the several hundred pound mammals prove no obstacle. They will readily move when I need to take a water sample.

The 6 female elephant seals have split into 2 groups (by size it seems) and life is peaceful for them. Only a few days ago there was lots of conflict. They haven’t left the island today and the male pup has not returned. They have mostly moulted it seems and are waiting for their new fur to grow.

After I wrote this I saw the sea otter! He was around seal rocks for a couple of hours.

 

sea otter!

Curiosity

the three large female elephant seals

the 3 smaller elephant seals

Not this year.

Knowledgeable Visitor

Posted on by

My solitude has been broken,
Yesterday Garry Fletcher,a former Pearson College teacher and current ecological reserve  warden, came to the island to spend the night.  He was taking advantage of the last weekday low tide for the next 8 days to get some pictures of the intertidal life.  I sure am glad that he did!

Facility Work:
His stay started with an oil change of the diesel generator that is on the island.  This has to be done every 200 hours.

Greg giving me a quick rundown before he has to head back to the college

Cleaning of solar panels (daily)
Cleaning of windows (as needed)
Cleaning interior of secondary residence

The next morning we attacked the reason for his visit first thing in the morning while the tide was still dropping

Here I am paying out the tape  on peg 15 to then take pictures of the intertidal life at low tide.   Garry was collecting this data to compare with baseline photo transects taken many years ago.

Ecological Notes:
Several Orcas were sighted in Race Passage.

Garry also took this video of a sea otter passing us when we were working in the intertidal area.off the North East corner of Great Race Island.

noted Western X Glaucous-winged Gull  hybrid by helicopter pad

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

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

Environment Canada forecast:

https://weather.gc.ca/marine/region_e.html?mapID=02

Wolf Eel

Posted on by

 

Weather: Fog this morning with very limited visibility. Wind about 20 knots at noon and visibility increased. At 1800 hours clear (and the fog horn is off!)

Facility : The fog made window cleaning easier so washed the outside house windows followed by the solar panels. Much easier to clean when they are still damp with fog. Also cleaned the porch of the lighthouse as during the gale it was very slippery. Layers of algae over the bird poop. I continue with sweeping the lighthouse stairs. Greg came out this afternoon and miraculously fixed 2 squeegees and also showed me how to use the power washer. I started cleaning the walkways but it takes too much water for a task that is endless. If it ever rains it would be good to go out and scrub them then.

Even though it was foggy there was still enough sun getting through that I didn’t require the generator today.

Traffic: 4 ecotourism boats in the fog ( Greg on his way to RR did see Orcas!)

Wildlife: At noon I was able to count 58 seals (including pups) on the south island and south seal island. The fog reappeared and so wildlife viewing was limited. I did see the sea otter! It was in the kelp bed east of the island. I took a very poor picture confirming typical sea otter posture (on its back with his head flexed). Walking on the east shore looking at the intertidal at low tide I saw large white anemones open beneath the surface (Metridium sessile) and sea cucumbers (Cucumaria) in the crevices. I found this dried skeleton of a wolf eel (Anarrhichthys ocellatus) beautifully hung on the rocks.

 

Sea Otter Viewing

Posted on by

Ecological Notes:

  • 7 Elephant Seals on the grass, including 2 “pups” from this season
  • Spotting from the rear deck of the house, I noted the single Sea Otter in the Kelp bed off the East end of the island . Took a quick picture from the deck, and then headed to the north shore, to follow along the rock edge to get a better vantage point …… took the long way around to avoid the Oyster Catcher nest posted yesterday

From the back deck 600mm

From the shoreline

  • Did you know? California Sea Lions get gray fur on the top of their head, as well as their chin when they grow old? Eventually, their backs too!

Old Gentleman

Enjoying the sun

 

Facility Work:

  • Window cleaning, wood stacking, setting up science building for guests

Weather Events:

  • Westerly winds all day at 10 – 15 knots, fog in morning and evening, sunny during the 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?

Elephant Seal ID adjustment

Posted on by

Ecological Notes:

  • 6 Elephant Seals – turns out to be at least 1 juvenile male! So,currently 5 females and 1 male (no new animals, just new id’s)
  • Elephant Seal pups: 2, but also, 1 of the pups appears to be a male as well!

Enjoying the sun

 

  • No real changes in Sea Lion or Harbour seal numbers
  • Have been seeing the Sea Otter at lower tides in the uncovered kelp forests

Facility Work:

  • Piling firewood, more sorting old materials

Feature Event:

 

Weather Events:

  • Sunny, with medium to high westerly winds all day
  • Last night was very high winds! Kept the flag down last night and today.

** 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?

Sea otter back

Posted on by

One tour boat today in main channel. Eagles all over the island. 1 sea otter off boat ramp eating sea urchin. Canada geese are claiming parts of the island. Bird of prey is feeding at night on some of the gulls. Perhaps a owl but I have not seen it yet. The leftovers from the kills are scattered around the island every morning.

August 31 – Weekly Census and Shift Change

Posted on by

Wind: W 2-15 knots
Sea State: calm
Visibility: 5-15 NM
Sky: partly cloudy in early morning, then clear
Temperature: 11-17 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 411.90 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

Census results recorded this morning at low tide for the mammals and throughout the day for the birds:
26 steller sea lions
110 california sea lions
1 sea otter
290 harbour seals
1 Canada goose
7 pelagic cormorants
1,232 california gulls
251 glaucous-winged gulls
98 gull chicks
2 black oystercatchers
7 black turnstones
1 song sparrow

There were a lot of eco tourism boats passing through the ecological reserve today. An outrigger canoeist paddled through the main channel in the mid morning and again in the early afternoon.

Tomorrow is my last day as the Ecoguardian. Mara and Kai are returning for a few months. I have enjoyed being back on this wonderful island for the past 17 days, learning on the edge where the land meets the sea meets sky. Race Rocks is a unique place that couldn’t exist without the work of Pearson students, staff, faculty, alumni and volunteers.

Here are some sights from around the island today: