August 1 Census

Posted on Thursday,August 1, 2024 by Nick Townley

Census Results:

Mammals:

Elephant seal: 2 (female and male)
Steller sea lion: 34
California sea lion: 11
Sea otter: 1
Harbour seal: 78

Birds:

Bald eagle: 1
Canada goose: 3
Cormorant: 33
Gull: 584
Black oystercatcher: 20
Pigeon guillemot: 131
Whimbrel: 1
Surfbird: 28
Black turnstone: 137
Song sparrow: 2
Least sandpiper: 1

: Female elephant seal in the jetty bay

: Male elephant seal on the left and female on the right

: Female elephant seal blowing bubbles in the jetty bay

: Elephant seals beside the jetty while I was collecting the seawater sample

: A bazaar of pigeon guillemots

: Least sandpiper

: Gull chicks panting on a hot 23°C afternoon

: Canada geese mowing the grass

: Harbour seals on South Seal Rocks

: A pair of nursing harbour seal mothers and pups on south seal rocks

: Three young gull chicks on a very empty corner of the helicopter pad

: Steller and California sea lions on Middle Rocks

: Black turnstones, surfbirds, and one whimbrel gathering during the evening in the East Bay

: Sea otter in the kelp bed near the South Islands

: Bald eagle landing on South Island after flying over Great Race Rocks and freaking out the rest of the bird population

: Four black oystercatchers on South Seal Rocks

Facility work:

Reacquaint myself with the standard operating procedures and various systems on the island
Check boat electronics, safety equipment, and winch
Clean solar panels
Sample seawater

Vessels:

Ecotourism: 23
Private: 5

Weather:

Sea: Rippled
Sky: Clear in morning, then partly cloudy
Wind: Variable light winds overnight until sunrise ~06:00, when wind switched to easterlies varying from 3-14 knots throughout the rest of the day
Daytime air temperature: low 13 C, high 24 C
Seawater temperature at max flood: 10.6 C

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

August 31 – Weekly Census and Shift Change

Posted on Monday,August 31, 2020 by Nick Townley

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:

: Song sparrow

: Three california sea lions on the boat ramp at low tide

: Pelagic cormorants

: Steller sea lion with flasher

: California sea lion with what appears to be a healing neck entanglement. There is an orange tag on its right front flipper which might be C7. The other digits aren’t legible. This tag might indicate the animal was rescued.

: Sea otter in the calm water by Middle Rocks

: Harbour seals on South Seal Rocks at low tide

: California gulls at low tide

: At first, I thought this harbour seal was a sea otter. It appears to be resting on a rock just below the surface.

: Male steller sea lion roaring at other sea lions

: A young gull with kelp

: This Canada goose was drinking out of the standing water near the east side of the house.

: Moon rising

: Sunset

Census Friday

Posted on Friday,March 27, 2020 by Nick Townley

Wind: yesterday mostly from W 4-22 knots, today N-NE 2-9 knots
Sea State: yesterday calm in morning 0.5m chop in afternoon, today calm
Visibility: both days 5-15 NM
Sky: yesterday overcast with patches of rain and sun, today partly cloudy
Temperature: both days 6-8 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 415.43 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

Census results from today:
6 elephant seals (2 female pups, 1 female juvenile, 3 female adults)
21 steller sea lions
62 california sea lions
1 sea otter
91 harbour seals
3 bald eagles (1 juvenile, 2 adults)
12 Canada geese
6 brandt’s cormorants
4 double-crested cormorants
10 pelagic cormorants
59 thayer’s gulls
12 black oystercatchers
14 harlequin ducks
108 pigeon guillemots
56 surfbirds
26 black turnstones
1 killdeer
1 song sparrow

There were no boats in the ecological reserve over the past two days.

: The youngest elephant seal pup practicing her water skills in the shallow water by the boat ramp and jetty.

: Recently, the harbour seals have been hauling out around the shoreline of main island and nearby shoals. In the winter, they only hauled out on the outer islands away from the boisterous sea lions.

: More harbour seals

: A Canada goose sitting on a nest made of grass and feathers. She lay seven eggs about the size of tennis balls.

: The older of the two female pups likes daffodils.

: The adult female elephant seals are showing more signs of moulting. This one on the left has shed some of her whiskers as well as fur around her eyes, nose and mouth. The white stuff is snot.

: A view from the tower of a sea otter grooming itself on the intertidal rock near three harbour seals.

: A sea otter napping in the water. Can you see the camouflaged harbour seal on the left?

: Another view from ground level of the sea otter grooming itself on a rock with a harbour seal looking on.

: A song sparrow perched on a rock ledge on the south side of the house. The succulent plant growing around the rocks is called sedum anglicum or English stonecrop, an introduced species from a lightkeeper in the 1980’s.

Weekly Census

Posted on Friday,March 13, 2020 by Nick Townley

Wind: yesterday variable 4-22 knots, today NE-N 1-36 knots
Sea State: yesterday rippled, today chop up to 1 m
Visibility: both days 10-15 NM
Sky: both days partly cloudy
Temperature: yesterday 5-7 °C, today 4-5 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 414.11 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

Here are the weekly census results observed today:
4 elephant seals (1 female adult, 2 female pups, 1 male pup)
24 steller sea lions
33 california sea lions
58 harbour seals
7 bald eagles (2 adults, 5 juveniles)
13 Canada geese
7 brandt’s cormorants
4 double-crested cormorants
29 pelagic cormorants
48 gulls (mostly thayer’s)
24 black oystercatchers
29 harlequin ducks
3 surfbirds
12 black turnstones
1 snow bunting
1 song sparrow
1 fox sparrow

Yesterday, there was one tour boat, one pleasure craft and the Pearson College boat Second Nature in the ecological reserve. Greg and Silke, dropped off some supplies from Pearson College. No boats were around today.

The elephant seal pups lounging on the boardwalk by the jetty. They all still have patches of their pup fur. The two month old female pup is on the left. The two and a half month old male pup is in the middle. The youngest female pup, almost two months old, is on the right.

Weekly Census

Posted on Saturday,March 7, 2020 by Nick Townley

Wind: yesterday 0-19 knots from W then E, today 2-19 knots from N then W
Sea State: yesterday calm, today calm in am and rippled in pm
Visibility: yesterday 10-15 NM, today 15 NM
Sky: both days clear with cloudy patches throughout day
Temperature: yesterday 5-8 °C, today 4-6 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 414.23 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

Six visitors briefly came to the island yesterday morning. Lawrence installed the new deck hatch he made for the station boat. Everyone helped transport and load eight of the old batteries onto the college boat to be taken back to the shore for recycling.

I ran the water pump for five hours to fill up the cistern with cleaner seawater.

Three tour boats were in the ecological reserve yesterday. Today, a dive boat had several divers in the water just north of North Rocks at slack tide in the mid morning.

There was a lot biodiversity in the ecological reserve today. Here are the results from the weekly census:
6 elephant seals (1 adult female, 2 adult males, 2 female pups, 1 male pup)
57 steller sea lions (all on Middle Rock)
50 california sea lions (19 on Great Race, 31 on Middle Rock)
52 harbour seals
1 sea otter
6 bald eagles (4 juveniles, 2 adults)
8 Canada geese
18 brandt’s cormorants
16 double-crested cormorants
35 pelagic cormorants
2 ravens
141 gulls (mostly thayer’s gulls)
14 black oystercatchers
1 whimbrel
86 pigeon guillemots
16 harlequin ducks
10 surfbirds
28 black turnstones
1 snow bunting
1 song sparrow
1 fox sparrow

: Amatuana, a Pearson College sailboat, sailed a couple kilometres to the northeast of Race Rocks on Friday afternoon. Downtown Victoria is in the background.

: The almost full moon over the lighthouse

: Raven

: The two female elephant seal pups were hanging out and chatting with each other today in the sun on the south side of the house. The younger pup is on the left and the older by six days is on the right.

Varied Thrush and River Otter

Posted on Saturday,February 22, 2020 by Nick Townley

Wind: yesterday 2-27 knots from NE to W, today 2-27 knots from W to E
Sea State: yesterday rippled in am and calm in pm, today rippled then calm in evening
Visibility: yesterday 10-15 NM, today 5-15 NM
Sky: yesterday clear, today partly cloudy with sunny patches
Temperature: yesterday 4-8 °C, today 6-8 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 414.36 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

A varied thrush was seen on Race Rocks today. The bird that has similarities in size and colouring to an American Robin, hasn’t been seen this winter and possibly never before on Race Rocks. There is no mention of other sightings on this website. According to the Audubon field guide, varied thrushes like dense forests with lots of water. That’s about as different as you can get from Race Rocks, where there are no trees or fresh water. Perhaps this bird was flying over the Strait and stopped for a rest.

There were 20 pigeon guillemots near the jetty yesterday. They swam around, perched on rocks and the edges of the jetty. None were seen today.

The elusive river otter was seen today. It was sunning itself on a log on the rocks below camera 5. When it saw me taking photos from about 30 m away, it went around the corner and continued to soak up the sun.

Over the past few days, I have been trying to tidy up the human items left on the ground, before the grass and other plants grow up around them. There are many old hoses in various places that were at one time used for gardening and washing buildings. I have collected all the old hoses so they don’t interfere with the animals. Black plastic sheets that were used for landscaping at the base of the tower and around the main residence were becoming exposed. I removed all the pieces of plastic that have worked their way to the surface.

There were seven visitors to the island yesterday from Ocean Networks Canada. They spent several hours calibrating the CODAR equipment that measures near-surface ocean currents for the central portion of the Juan de Fuca Strait.

Yesterday, other than the Pearson College boat, Second Nature, there were two tour boats in the ecological reserve. Today, four tour boats, one sailboat and two pleasure boats were around Race Rocks.

Below are the results of the weekly census observed on Saturday, February 22. The numbers are substantially lower for almost every species regularly seen over the winter. Perhaps the relatively clear and calm conditions of this past week have encouraged the birds and marine mammals to venture further from their winter retreat on Race Rocks.
6 elephant seals (3 adult males, 2 female pups, 1 male pup)
8 steller sea lions
60 california sea lions
30 harbour seals
1 river otter
6 bald eagles (3 adults, 3 juveniles)
2 Canada geese
1 raven
20 brandt’s cormorants
10 double-crested cormorants
62 pelagic cormorants
101 gulls (mostly thayer’s gulls)
6 black oystercatchers
10 harlequin ducks
30 surfbirds
10 black turnstones
1 varied thrush
1 snow bunting
1 song sparrow
1 fox sparrow

UPDATED February 26: Photos have been uploaded now that the website is fixed.

: Varied thrush

: Varied thrush

: A river otter resting on log underneath the camera 5 on the rocks.

: River otter

: Another napping place in the sun for the river otter

: River otter heading towards the water

: This california sea lion was rescued by the Vancouver Aquarium’s Marine Mammal Rescue Centre, in November. It had a wound on its neck from a plastic strap. It has been seen here a few times since and appears to be doing well. It was tagged VA017 on its flippers when it was rescued.

: Pigeon guilllemots on the rocks by the jetty. I think they look like clowns with their bright red mouths and big red feet.

: The pigeon guillemots on the right still has its winter plumage.

: Three pigeon guillemots resting on the jetty

Sunday Census

Posted on Sunday,February 16, 2020 by Nick Townley

Wind: yesterday 3-34 knots from N to W, today 19-33 knots from W
Sea State: yesterday rippled, today chop up to 1 m
Visibility: both days 10-15 NM
Sky: yesterday partly cloudy with rain in evening, today overcast then heavy rain late morning clearing in afternoon
Temperature: yesterday 6-9 °C, today 6-7 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 413.05 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

Census results from Sunday, February 16:
7 elephant seals (4 adult males, 2 female pups, 1 male pup)
68 california sea lions
21 steller sea lions
40 harbour seals
9 bald eagles (8 adults, 1 juvenile)
2 Canada geese
19 brandt’s cormorants
16 double-crested cormorants
30 pelagic cormorants
547 gulls (mostly thayer’s gulls)
2 black oystercatchers
8 harlequin ducks
10 black turnstones
1 song sparrow
1 snow bunting

Yesterday, I used the leaf blower in the boat house to clean out the thousands of dead flies left over from last summer. I laid out 76 m (250′) of fire hose to pump water from the jetty to the cistern. The fire pump ran for a couple hours to top up the seawater cistern used for the desalinator.

For the first time this winter, I saw about 20 pigeon guillemots in the water just north of the jetty yesterday morning. I haven’t seen any since.

There were 3 tour boats in the ecological reserve yesterday and no visitors on the island this weekend.

Photos from the past two days:

: The alpha male elephant seal stopped by to check the progress on filling the cistern with seawater.

: The two female elephant seal pups have been hanging out near each other for the past two days. Perhaps a friendship is forming.

: The daffodils are starting to open up.

: Soaring bald eagle

: Harbour seals on South Islands

: One of the male elephant seals is hauled out on the Middle Rocks. There are also sea lions, gulls and eagles.

Bald Eagle Convocation

Posted on Sunday,January 19, 2020 by Nick Townley

Wind: yesterday 5-33 knots SE to N, today 8-20 knots NNE
Sea State: yesterday up to 2 m swell, today rippled
Visibility: 10-15 NM
Sky: both days mixture of sun and clouds
Temperature: yesterday 5 to 8 °C, today 7 to 8 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 413.39 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

For the past two mornings, there were many bald eagles in the ecological reserve. Today, 34 were seen perched on the West Rocks. Many more were catching fish and perched around the other islands. There appeared to be a lot of fish in the water, based on the swarms of gulls, cormorants and the feasting bald eagles.

This afternoon, two whale watching boats toured around the islands after watching the orcas in J pod, which were a few kilometres to the east and south of Race Rocks. Two other eco tour boats were seen in the ecological reserve over the past two days.

See the photos below for some sights from the past two days:

: 34 bald eagles gather on West Rock

: A song sparrow perches on the bushes in the centre of the island.

: Black oystercatchers take flight

: A bald eagle looks out by camera 5 on the high point of land

: Sea lions rafting off the south end of the island

: The pregnant elephant seal with the most recent mother and pup

: An eagle eats a fish

Bird List and Census by D.Donnecke

Posted on Friday,November 8, 2019 by Garry Fletcher

Daniel Donnecke has contributed his images and counts from a visit to race Rocks on October 30 to ebird.org

https://ebird.org/checklist/S61055064

Unsafe Snorkeling, Fall Changes, Census

Posted on Sunday,September 29, 2019 by Mara & Kai

Weather:

Visibility 15+ NE
Sky overcast, cloudy
Wind 15-25 kn N
Water moderate waves, white caps.

Visitors/Boats:

Around 15 whale watching boats yesterday
Corey, Guy, and a student with their visiting grandparents visited yesterday, and delivered water- the desalinator is on the horizon!
We are ending our term on Race Rocks tomorrow, so Greg and Guy will come for a debrief before the next eco-guardian takes over.

Yesterday we saw a pleasure craft enter the reserve and drop snorkelers into the water less than 100 m from our jetty, within 5 m of shore and the hauled out sea lions. The animals were distressed and swam around the snorkelers barking. The current was flooding very quickly (5 knots), which creates dangerous water currents, eddies, and upwellings. We as well as Corey in Second Nature motioned for the boat to move away, but they simply gathered the snorkelers and moved around the corner where they presumably thought we would not see them. An eco-tourism vessel in the reserve also noticed them and contacted us to let us know, out of concern for their safety given the animals present and the currents at the time.

In the past scuba divers and vessels have found themselves capsized or pulled away from their dive site and rescued by helicopter, and in 2015 a diver went missing and was found deceased days after they disappeared by a fisherman after rescue crews were not able to find them. We were especially concerned for this group’s safety due to lack of float marking their position and the frequent boating traffic through the reserve. In the past, seal pups have been decapitated by vessels passing through too quickly and unable to see them. If these snorkelers had been pulled away by the currents, there would have been a high chance of being struck by a vessel unable to see them in the rough water.

: Snorkelers entering the water next in Race Passage.

: A distressed sea lion very close to the snorkelers. Some of these animals weigh 500+ kg.

Ecological:

The sea lions population continues to grow! We are having to repair the fences sometimes twice per day. It seems like a more powerful electric fence energizer could be a good idea.
We spotted a little Greylag goose among the Canadian geese yesterday.
The sea lion that we spotted on Sept. 12th with an apparent propeller wound to his head is still here. He stays near the jetty and seems to have some behavioural anomalies, presumably due to the head injury. He is not afraid of us like the others, and does not move away into the water with the others when we clear the jetty. We haven’t had any problems but are weary that his behaviour could be unpredictable. Marty (the vet that came to aid in rescuing the entangled sea lion) mentioned that sometimes when this happens a shard of their skull can splinter and cause a brain infection. We hope this little guy is on the mend.
There have been many Canadian Geese passing through this week; A few days ago we counted over 20. The geese are not native to the island, but according to Gary Fletcher they arrived somewhere in the 80’s as the population of geese on Vancouver Island were introduced/grew. Addling the eggs began somewhere in the late 90’s. Unfortunately, this year two nests survived and hatched goslings, meaning that 20 geese left the island after 8 nested here in the spring.