Tag Archives: tagged

Whistling House

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There was a big blow last night and I learned that this house can whistle; with three distinct tones, synchronously, very musical. This morning there was a swell from the southeaster and an even bigger groundswell coming in from open sea to the west. Add the tidal race to the mix and you can imagine that the wave patterns created were mesmerizing.

It seemed like the day was in recovery from the storm, with gentle winds from the north-northeast, light rain and overcast. The pattern of barometric pressure change was not so reassuring, falling since noon it is now back below 998 hPa. That is where it was for last night’s big blow. It looks like the forecast is for more of the same.

There were six whale-watching boats observed in the Ecological Reserve today; five Canadian and the almost daily visitor from Port Angeles, called Island Explorer. The big draw, other than Race Rocks itself, were abundant Humpback Whales in the area. It certainly wasn’t the weather. At least two of the Humpback Whales were in the Ecological Reserve .

There were four Elephant Seals on the marine railway today, Gat (#5850-6967) , Flake and two larger animals. They ‘played’ together and then slept together for most of the day. More sealions than have hauled out since about a week ago, were also sleeping soundly throughout the day today, perhaps recovering from last night.

Euju ringneck south2 Oct 22

The three entangled Stellers sealions that are proposed candidates for disentanglement were all attending, two of them hauling out close to the living-room window of the science house.

 

Euju ringneck west 2 Oct 22

Euju ringneck west Oct22 Euju hi-top ringneck Oct22

When I was doing the seawater sample I noticed a couple of Harlequin Ducks foraging on the north side of the island. I would like to see them on the underwater camera.

Hadu M & F

More shorebirds were observed foraging on the abandoned sealion haul-out today; Dunlin, Western Sandpipers and Sanderlings were foraging with the Black Turnstones. The smaller birds were kneading the substrate with their feet and probing. That area is completely covered in a mat of sealion hair from their moult.

sand tapping

Even though it was a dark and gloomy day, the solar panels managed to keep up with operational, electrical use. The generator is just cooling now after topping up the batteries for the night.

Thanksgiving Edition (No Turkeys Here.)

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The day started with a hazy, overcast sky and an ocean swell rolling in from the open Pacific. Although visibility was 10 to 15 nautical miles, the marine air gave everything a soft, muted look and both Port Angeles and Victoria looked further away than they actually are. In the morning, winds were light to gentle breezes starting in the southwest and swinging over to southeast. In the afternoon it shifted to north-northeast and became noticeably colder and wetter.
The ocean swell became dramatic by mid-afternoon, exploding over north rock and making a rolling break into the jetty bay, surging right over the jetty. Although the barometer was higher today than it has been all week, it is now slowly dropping and Monday ‘s forecast is for more clouds, wind and rain. Hmmm sounds like October.

Whale watching activity was fairly brisk today with seven boats in the Ecological Reserve. Everyone was fairly well behaved. Seaking Adventures was certainly giving a lot of throttle in the Reserve, crossing from Great Race over to North Rock but that may have been because he was bucking the tide. There were also a couple of sports-fishing boats passing through the Reserve in a hurry, Foghorn Charters was one of those two.

Some operators may not know that the speed limit is only 7 knots within the Reserve.

Some operators may not know that the speed limit is only 7 knots within the Reserve.

A large Humpback Whale passed through the Reserve westbound, late afternoon, there were no whale watching boats around.

A lot more gulls arrived with the cool wet weather and are roosting just about everywhere on Great Race now. I am curious what the numbers will be for this week’s census on Wednesday.
CaGu California Gulls resting and preening on Great Race.[/caption]

Western Gulls are a little north of their usual range here and hard to distinguish from Glaucous-winged X Western Gull hybrids.

Western Gulls are a little north of their usual range here and hard to distinguish from Glaucous-winged X Western Gull hybrids.

With the influx of California Gulls it is going to be tricky distinguishing and counting all the large gulls. A gull that is easy to distinguish and also a favorite of mine, is the Heerman’s Gull.

Heerman's Gulls are our most exotic looking gulls.

Heerman’s Gulls are our most exotic looking gulls.

Another avian visitor spotted today was the small to medium sized sandpiper pictured below, I think it is a Western Sandpiper but would like confirmation.
WeSa
There were two young Elephant Seals on Great Race today and one of them was “tagged as a weiner in 2012” at Ano Nuevo Island in California “and hasn’t been seen since, so this is an important data point” according to Dr. Patrick Robinson, Año Nuevo Island Reserve Director.
Mian 6967
The second Elephant Seal was sleeping on the marine railway in the morning.
mian jetty

Race Rocks has become Canada’s main Elephant Seal colony. It is important as a fall haul-out location for sub-adults, as well as a winter birthing and mating site and spring moulting site.
Race Rocks is an ecological treasure located at a key location next to busy shipping lanes and popular sport-fishing grounds. I am thankful to those who had the vision to protect this amazing area and thankful to be able to experience it.
roro close to RR
roro & maersk

Pictures

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Clear skies. Moderate West in the am, Force 3. Strong West this evening, Force 6.
Barometer rose until 1600, then dropped. The daily West wind cycle continues, light in the am and picking up in the pm.

3 tour boats

The Race Rocks website says that there are typically 6 Oystercatcher nests on Great Race, I have only found two. Tomorrow I will see if I can find more. The Oystercatcher nest next to the jetty no longer has eggs in it. A bird was sitting on the nest yesterday when I showed the nest to my Mom. If I had to guess, I would say that the River otter ate the eggs because it lives under the walkway very close to the nest. I am curious to see if the pair tries another nesting site. I saw two Oystercatchers poking around the rocks on the West side of the jetty so maybe they will try again. There has been a lot of Eagles around lately. Juveniles and adults. My Mom saw one empty the eggs out of a Gull’s nest. Apparently Glaucous winged Gulls can learn to recognize particular people, to a point where they will allow familiar researchers right up to their nests. My new plan is to befriend the Gulls that are nesting next to the tank shed and maybe they will stop flying at my head whenever I walk past.

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Submarine

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Strong West winds. Clouds. Steady Force 6.
The barometer is on the rise. The forecast is for it to be light-15W tomorrow.

No tour boats today. Strange.
2 halibut boats

All of the Canada Geese have abandoned their nests now. But they are starting their annual feather moult, so they’ll be around for a while yet. Garry says they leave in June when all the fresh water puddles dry out. I found another Oyster catcher nest on the bluff between the jetty and the tank shed. Probably the most stressful place the pair could have chosen to nest, but apparently they nest there every year, so it must work for them. Still plenty of Elephant seals in the reserve. I watched them playing in the rapids this morning at low tide. A lot of them are in the water first thing in the morning and they wrestle on the seaweed covered rocks and eventually come back up the boat ramp for a busy day of laying around on Great Race. The large adult male has finally started to moult; It was hard to take him seriously before, but now with his moulty nose he looks even more ridiculous. No sign of the White Fronted Goose.

-Keeper’s house water heater kicked the bucket today :(
-Collected data for intertidal transect 5

Injured Steller Sea lion

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Clear skies. Strong West winds. Force 6-7.
Barometer was rising most of the day, started to drop around 1200. West gale warning continues for tomorrow as a low pressure moves towards the mainland.

9 tour boats
2 recreational boats passed through the reserve

Yesterday, around midday, an injured Steller Sea lion arrived at Great Race. I saw it swimming through the current below the West cliffs while I was looking for transect pegs. It sussed out the boat ramp (which was full of Elephant seals) and then settled just East of the boat ramp, not far from the crane. It was in the same spot this morning, and stayed there all day. It has a salmon flasher caught in its mouth, and large wounds on both sides. Garry Fletcher suggested it might be an injury from a shark or orca bite. A lot of tour boats have gone through the reserve these past two days, right past this Sea lion, so I expect that it has been thoroughly documented in many people’s vacation photographs.

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Elephant seal tag: green 7688

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Clear skies.  Light Easterly wind all day. Beaufort Force 2-3
A beautiful day in the Reserve, but the barometer is falling and there is a front forecasted for tomorrow.
[I’m trying to learn the Beaufort wind scale off the top of my head, and get into the habit of checking the barometric tendency so that will be part of my weather log from now on]

I was sitting on the South edge of Great Race when an Elephant seal popped up to look at me and had what appeared to be a radio transmitter on its back. It promptly disappeared, but came up the boat ramp an hour later. I’m keen to find out if the researchers retrieved the transmitter and have the track of this seal. I am really curious about where these Northern-living Northern Elephant seals go when they are not in the reserve.

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e-seals, blasting

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Sky cleared up yesterday, mostly cloudy today. NE wind less than 15 NMPH becoming W this afternoon.

Counted 16 bald eagles in reserve today, they have started feeding on the deceased sea lion.

Chunk has started spending more time off the main island, he was away all day today and back this evening.  I was able to get a better view of Middle Rock yesterday. In the picture below you can see Chunk on the left and a good sized female on the right with a young male behind her.

middle rock 2 male-7306

Middle rock: Chunk, younger male and female ( i think the one that had a pup out there earlier this month)

The number of moulting female elephant seals on the main island has increased to a total of 4: 3 in south bay (including one with green tag) and 1 in South East beach (pink tag). They all look pretty rough, as usual.

3 moulting females in South bay

3 moulting females in South bay

DND blasting: 1 blast yesterday, 3 blasts today. Looked like some small military vessels doing exercises near the reserve midday today and yesterday.

1 eco tour vessel, 1 charter rental from Pedder Bay (I called the marina as they were in the reserve and it was chartered by Shaw to get footage of race rocks).

-following up on wood stove
-cut, chopped, stacked wood
-topped up fresh water
-did some training/refreshing with relief guardian
-checked on battery water levels

Vocalization of Elephant Seal Mother and Pup

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Vocalization of mother and pup are essential shortly after the birth of an elephant seal to  establish a bond and for recognition of each other if separated in the pupping colony. The first video was taken on the afternoon of January 14, day 1 the pup can be seen looking for food, but she had not started to nurse yet., The second  video was taken on the evening of January 14,  2014 the day the elephant seal was born at  Race Rocks.

Videos by the Ecoguardian, Alex Fletcher.

 

 

kayak disturbance, tagged e-seals, pup, etc

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Wind has varied between W and NE less than 20 NMPH over the past few days.  We have had some patches of fog during the week and partly clear skies today and yesterday.

On the 15th a group of 20 kayakers passed through the reserve on the East side heading West.  They passed on both sides of East rock and caused one of the largest sea lion disturbances I have seen here, several hundred sealions scrambled into the water.  I was able to talk to one of the kayakers as they passed by the south side and told him that they are not allowed to cause this kind of disturbance to marine mammals at race rocks. Though I love kayaking and prefer kayaks to motorized vessels, kayakers need to realize that because they are so nice and silent they can also easily surprise wildlife.  Once startled sealions stampede and can easily trample younger sealions or injure themselves rushing over the jagged rocks.

1 dive boat in the reserve today, 1 eco tour in the afternoon, 1 sports fishing boat in the morning which traveled too close to sealions on the East rocks. I called Pedder Bay Marina and gave them the ID number and a description and asked them to talk to the operator about regulations at Race Rocks (thanks Pedder Bay Marina!).

The elephant seal pup seems to be in good shape and is drinking milk regularly. Chunk seems fairly well behaved, a few times a day he we will arise from his slumber and chase after Bertha. Sometimes it seems he is trying to separate her from the pup and restrain her. I have seen him with his mouth around the pup’s head as well as with the pup partly underneath him though on all occasions I have observed he has clearly not harmed the pup when he easily could have. Chunk went off the island last night, I assume to middle rock and was back in the morning. There are two elephant seals on middle rock, both fairly large, one possibly a young male. I have been hearing what sounds like a male’s call coming from middle rock today. There were also two smaller scruffy, moulting female elephant seals in the shoreline of the main island today one tagged green 7502 the other tagged pink N93_ the last number is not visible. That brings the current e-seal population to 7.

Past week maintenance:
-cleaned solar panels daily
-flushed media filter on desal
-changed pre-filters on desal
-troubleshooting cam 5 with help from Jonathan, replaced POE unit. took measurements to replace leaky cable housing at base of cam stand
-ran desal x2
-ran fire pump
-replaced leaky hydraulic line on crane, pressure tested line
-cut, chopped, stacked fire wood
-replaced fire extinguishers which had been sent in for annual servicing
-brought temporary fire extinguishers off island for servicing
-troubleshooting of failed internet system with help from Jonathan
-swapped out 1 propane tank on main house

Visitors this week:
-on the 15th Erik came with a guest to drop off supplies
-on the 16th Erik brought Jonathan out to replace switch in the tower as well as the Marine sciences class for a field trip (12 students and Ann)

plumbing day

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Overcast with intermittent showers. Calm seas with a low westerly swell building in the evening.

tour boats: 5

Elephant seal 6360 has returned after being gone for a couple weeks.

P1000926

#6360

P1000925

#6360

 

-Installed shut off from student house to solar panels
-Fixed leak in hose valve at SW corner of energy building
-Fixed leaky hose nozzle and valve on solar panel roof
-Fixed and reaplced all broken and missing hose attachments that could be found
-Worked on the RR operating manual