Tag Archives: sealion

Northern and Calif Sealions still here.

Posted on by
Wednesday, May 29, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 13.0 C  Min. 9.3 C  Reset 12.0 C Rain .06 mm
MARINE LIFE: 1 juvenile Bald Eagle which again arrived in the afternoon and made several unsuccessful attempts to land on Great Race.There is a group of about 9 Northern Sea Lions spending a lot of time swimming along the north and east shore of Gr. Race could be the same group I saw and heard in the early hours yesterday.Can hear the California Sea Lions barking off and on during the night,they are hauled out on Middle Rock and the sound carries over this way very well with the westerly.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 2 ecotour boats and 3 pleasure craft. Angus out in Second Nature with group from DFO. Late afternoon Chris out in Second Nature with the students who will be here webcasting etc. A full load with food,supplies and air tanks. Hope the weather gets a little nicer for them.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:59 PM

Good MorningWEATHER: Sky Cloudy  Vis. 15 Miles Wind West 15 Knots  Sea 1 – 2 Foot Chop
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:45 AM

Still 5 goslings and 5 oyster catcher chicks.

Posted on by
Tuesday, May 28, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 12.9 C  Min. 8.9 C Reset 11.0 C  Rain 1.0 mm
MARINE LIFE: 2 mature Bald eagles this morning then 1 juvenile late in the afternoon that made several attempts to hunt on Gr. Race but so far the gulls and oyster catchers have been able to drive it away Still 5 goslings and 5 oyster catcher chicks.A noisy group of sealions circled the island a couple of times in the early a.m. at one point could see their wet heads shining in the path of the moon which was very bright off and on as the clouds rolled past.
HUMAN INTERACTION: There were 6 ecotour boats and 7 pleasure craft through today. Station boat to Pedder Bay and back.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 8:16 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Obscured  Vis. 0 Miles Fog  Wind North 7 Knots  Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:59 AM

ammunition detonations at the D.N.D. site

Posted on by
Thursday, April 18, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 11.5 ºC »» Min. 5.7 ºC »» Reset 8.5 ºC »» No Rain :o)
MARINE LIFE: 2 mature bald eagles today, which spent the day flying between North and Southeast Rocks. Constantly on the alert because of the eagles, the birds were further upset by the ammunition detonations at the D.N.D. site.There were 4 sets of 3 blasts, with 2 minutes between each blast.Although there are not many sealions hauled out at this time of the year they were disturbed to the extent that 6 went into the water. The birds take flight with each blast. The more energy they expend, the more food they require and they are coming into breeding season now, putting a greater demand on the birds energy requirements.There were 3 geese today,1 pair and a loner that follows the pair around the island, wonder what happened to the 4th goose?
HUMAN INTERACTION: 2nd Nature in twice, station boat 2 return trips to Pedder Bay. 2nd Nature went out to pleasure craft to advise fishers of the ‘no fishing’ guidelines in the reserve.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:33 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Clear »» Vis. 15 Miles »» Wind West 3 Knots »» Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:59 AM

Sealions were hauled out all day

Posted on by
Saturday, April 13, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 14.0 ºC »» Min. 7.0 ºC »» Reset 10.1 ºC »» 7.2 mm
MARINE LIFE: 1 immature Bald Eagle which spent most of the day on the ridge of the southeast rocks.4 pair of geese.6 large Northern Sealions were hauled out all day on the western slope of the southeast rocks and did not seem to mind the odd swell breaking over them.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 5 tour boats and 1 dive boat ‘Michelle Diana’
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:09 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy »» Vis 15 Miles »» Wind West 25 G 30 »» Sea 4 – 5 Foot Moderate
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:43 AM

pair of geese continue to roam

Posted on by
Saturday, April 06, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 10.1 ºC »» Min. 5.9 ºC »» Reset 7.2 ºC »» Rain 0.5 mm
MARINE LIFE: 2 Bald Eagles, 1 mature. The pair of geese continue to roam the Island, they have a great time in the pond-need some rain soon as they have splashed most of the water out! There are still 10 or so Sealions, 4 large Northern Sealions are hauled out on the south side of the southeast rocks.Without the elephant seals it is very quiet except when the gulls are stirred up by the eagles flying over the island.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 4 pleasure craft through the MPA ( on their way to the halibut grounds -derby this weekend) Station boat to Pedder Bay and back (computer died –to town to get new bits and bytes) 2nd Nature out with guests for a visit.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:22 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy »» Vis. 10 Miles »» Wind West 19 Knots »» Sea 2 Foot Chop
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:09 AM

 

First of the Integrated Energy Talks

Posted on by
Sunday, February 10, 2002
 Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 8.0C  Min. 3.0C Reset 5.7C Rain 7.6 mm
MARINE LIFE:The California Sea Lion was still hauled out on the dock but went into the water just before 8:30 a.m. There were 10 mature and 3 immature Bald Eagles in the reserve by 8 a.m. The Bull Northern Elephant Seal is still spending most of the time along the shore of Gr. Race and in the little bay on the east side. Still 6 Geese.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 2nd Nature out about 9a.m. with students to manage things while we spent some quality time with family. While we were away there was quite a fierce weather system through the area and it was still blowing 29-32 knts. when we arrived at the dock, a little cold and damp but glad to be back! Chris picked up the students in 2nd Nature just as we were arriving back about 5p.m.
In the morning, Garry came out with Taco Niet and Ged McLean of ISEVIC. (University of Victoria) with 8 of the members of the alternate energy company “Clean Energy” from Vancouver. Taco presented us with his completed copy of his Masters Thesis in Engineering on the Proposed Energy Systems for Race Rocks. An excellent piece of research, parts of which we will be linking soon on our energy pages. An outline of an intriguing proposal for a current energy turbine system on which they are working was brought forward.- More later on the Race Rocks energy page.
–Garry Fletcher
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:07 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy Vis. 15 Miles Wind North East 11 Knots  Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:13 AM

Close call with log boom

Posted on by

Saturday, February 09, 2002

Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 8.2C Min 5.7C  Reset 6.9C Rain 0.6
MARINE LIFE: 13 mature, 2 immature Bald Eagles today.The day started out quite nice but by noon the wind was up to 20knts. from the northeast with a fair swell coming into the dock area and the lone California Sea Lion that had hauled out on the end of the dock kept moving ‘inland’ to get away from the spray. He looked old and quite thin and was still there as it got dark. We now have 6 Canada Geese which are very definitely pairs. Today they spent foraging in the southwest quadrant of Gr. Race, somewhat sheltered from the wind.
HUMAN INTERACTION: Although not quite in the reserve the tug Rivtow Capt. Bob and barge Rivtow Hercules with a full load of raw logs passed very close to the Rosedale buoy heading east. Usually these tugs are much farther out to sea near the shipping lanes.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:14 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy  Vis. 15 Miles Wind North East 11 Knots  Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:29 AM

Sealions disturbed by DND blasting

Posted on by
Thursday, January 24, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 8.9C Min. 5.9C  Reset 5.9C  Rain 8.2 mm
MARINE LIFE: Today we monitored the scheduled detonations at the D.N.D. site on Bentinck Island. There were three sets of blasts,each consisting of two detonations separated by about 2 minutes.The first blast at 10:54 sent the gulls,cormorants into the air and alerted the sealions hauled out on the middle rock.About 20 animals moved towards the water then the second blast went off and caused a stampede of all the hauled out sealions. The birds as usual settled back down in a minute or two. Very gradually a few at a time, 10-15 sealions returned to the haul out areas.The Elephant Seals raised their heads and looked around but did not move away.The Second set of blasts at 11:53 and 11:55 cleared Middle Rock of sealions and also sent 40-45 Harbour Seals hauled out on the western slopes of the Southeast Rocks scrambling into the water. The Last 2 blasts( 12:48 and 12:50 ) sent the 5 sealions that hauled out again about 20 minutes after the 11:55, back into the water. Do not know the size of the detonations but they shook the cameras and most of the pictures on the walls.There are more blasts scheduled for tomorrow.There were 7 Bald Eagles – 4 mature.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:21 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Overcast �� Vis. 15 Miles �� Wind South West 17 Knots �� Sea 2 Foot Chop – Low West Swell
posted by Carol or Mike S at 8:13 AM

Birds feeding in Strait

Posted on by
Monday, January 14, 2002
 Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max 8.1C  Min 3.7C Reset 5.0C
MARINE LIFE: The calendar does say January but it was like spring on the ‘rock’ today with the very light winds and bright sunshine.Another good day for the birds,from 1/2 km off the island as far as we could see thousands of feeding sea birds.Only 9 ( 5 mature) Bald Eagles came into the reserve today,spent a little time eating, resting then back out to sea. Just after noon noticed a California Sea Lion haul out on North Rocks with a fresh wound on the top side of the left flipper.Looking with the telescope could see a bigger area of raw flesh under the flipper -like the armpit area – Orca nibble maybe??? About 15:30 a Heron landed on the railing of the boat dock,sat there almost half an hour then flew over the little bay on the east shore of Gr.Race, was still there as the sun was setting.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 1 pleasure craft through the M.P.A. today
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:09 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy  Vis. 15 Miles  Wind North East 4 Knots Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 8:21 AM

Orcas out

Posted on by
Sunday, December 16, 2001
MARINE LIFE: 4 Bald Eagles visited the Reserve today,3 immatures and one mature.The first one(mature) arrived just after 9:30 this morning with it’s breakfast-an unidentified fish -grasped in it’s talons. The big bird set down on the NW bluff just above the boat house to eat. As the eagle tore off pieces of fish the 5 crows danced around it, wary, but anxious to get any bits that scattered.After only 5 or 6 minutes the eagle flew off leaving the crows to scour the rocks for any scraps however tiny! I did not see anything that would have scared the eagle,certainly not the crows!
Just after 10 a.m. a lone California Sea Lion came ashore just east of the boat dock and proceeded to lumber across the island stopping every 3 metres or so to roll and rub on the grass.The reason we took note of the poor fellow is that he has a terrible scar around his neck -garbage in the sea or maybe some type of discarded fishing gear.Sea Lions with this type of wound, unfortunately are not that rare.We could not get close enough to see if it was just a scar or whether something was still in the wound.About noon 3 immature Bald Eagles landed on the ridge of West Race.They sat there for about 10 minutes until a boat approached (divers) and they flew over to N Rocks.After 1/2 hour or so they flew over to SE rocks where they stayed except for a couple of flights around the islands, unsuccessful attempts at getting a bird dinner.Two of these birds looked somewhat bedraggled with the mottled appearance of the head and tail feathers.The distinctive white plumage gradually appears with each molt over 4 or 5 years.
Just before 1:30 I noticed two Orcas northeast of North Rks. They were being followed by several groups of Sea Lions at about 100 metres. The whales surfaced 4 or 5 times as they made their way south just at the edge of the east side kelp bed.The last we saw they were in front of the engine room 200-300 metres off shore.As we watched for the whales to come back a 3-4 metre bull Elephant Seal drifted by and came into the small east bay. I did get some video as he floated around with just his head and unmistakable nose above the surface.He stayed in the bay only 12-15 minutes,arched his back,flared his great nostrils,dove into a wave and was gone! We often hear the elephant Seals vocalizing at night, it sounds like a calf bellowing in a tin can, but not lately, and from the sound of the roaring 45+ knt. not tonight either!
HUMAN INTERACTION: 12:10am -1:45pm Boat with 6 divers -West Race
TEMPERATURE: Max. 10.1C — 6.3C — Reset 8.7C — Rain 26.2 mm — Total rain fall for December 109.9 mm
posted by Carol or Mike S at 10:11 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Overcast — Vis. 15 Miles — Wind West 13 Knots — Sea 1 Foot Chop
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:32 AM