Tag Archives: transient orca

Incoming Wind

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Well, the run of nice and windless weather is coming to an end. The predicted wind for tonight is up to 50 knots (90km/hour) so we are battening the hatches!

The last couple days have been beautiful with whales everywhere you look. My dad is now a seasoned pro at electric fence repairs and it so nice (and helpful) to have him here!

We got some work done this morning and are making sure everything is tucked away for tonight’s wind and the rain that is supposed to accompany it. We even had a nice pass from 4 transient killer whales as we worked! 

Facility Work:

  • Topped up battery electrolytes
  • Chopped wood
  • Diesel transfer up to the generator
  • Electric fence repair

Eco vessels: 8

Weather:

  • Sky: Overcast
  • Wind: Low of 3 knots, high of 25 knots, with gusts up to 33 knots
  • Sea: Whitecaps in the afternoon
  • Temperature: Low  5•C, High  11•C

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

Farewell! (For Now)

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Well, just like that it’s been 6 weeks and it’s time for me to return to the mainland. The wind is gusting 65km/hour right now, giving me one final storm before my departure. The animals are all hidden away, protecting themselves from the weather. All except the male elephant seal who is still harassing the gulls.

I thought I’d wrap up my final blog post with my favourite photos and moments from this trip. I hope you enjoy as much as I did!

Pinnipeds:

Cetaceans:

Ollie the Sea Otter: 

Birds:

Northern Lights:

Sunsets:

That’s all from me for now, but I’ll be back! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Sunday’s Update

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The wind is back with a vengeance! It’s only reached about 30 knots at its highest today which reading through some previous blog posts is nothing compared to what other Eco Guardians have experienced. I imagine a big storm would be a pretty wild experience here. Even with today’s gusts the house seems to shake and rattle.

Today was a relatively relaxing Sunday, although I’m not sure I ever fully relax here because there always seems to be something exciting happening out one of the many windows and I worry if I sit down that I may miss it.

My staring out a window paid off this morning as a couple of transient orca swam past the reserve. Of course with my usual luck, just as they seemed to be heading toward me they veered back out and swam off into the distance.

However I’m not complaining, no matter how many times I see whales I will always giddily sprint out of the house with my camera. But I do hope one of these days they’ll swing by the house as I’ve heard they often do!

There are still 4 female elephant seals here, 2 big and 2 small. The sea lions have been favouring the jetty more and more each day but are pretty quick to leave if I walk in that direction. There is one large California sea lion that is pretty resistant to being moved and has showed some aggressive behaviours toward me if I’m in his vicinity, but thankfully he seems to have found a new haul out site and has not been misbehaving the last couple of days . 

I have not yet come across any gull nests but they are definitely pairing off and can almost always been seen in twos. The geese have various nests around the island and the gulls have been quick to destroy any new eggs. They have a habit of dropping the broken eggs directly on the foot path outside my front door, sort of like a cat bringing home a dead mouse. I’m not sure which is worse. I may not have arrived to Race Rocks as a bird person but I am becoming more and more intrigued by them and their quirks, rituals, and different behaviours. 

Facility Work:
– Chopped wood and kindling
– Cleaned solar panels

Vessels:
– 2 Ecotourism

Weather:

  • Sky: Blue skies and sunny with clouds moving in late afternoon
  • Wind: Low of 7 knots, High of 19 knots with gusts up to 30 knots
  • Sea: Whitecaps, strong current within the reserve
  • Temperature: Low 11•C, High  22•C

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

Chaos and Creatures!

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Today was so action packed I’m not even sure where to begin!

I woke up just after sunrise as I knew today was going to be busy and I wanted to get a few tasks out of the way. At 6am it was already warm out with barely a breeze. The ocean was glassy as I cleaned the solar panels – which were yet again decorated by the birds.

Around 8:30am the first group of Pearson students were dropped off for their marine science exam which was taking place here at Race Rocks. By 9am we had 46 humans on the island which is a lot after not seeing anyone for a whole week. Today’s tide was one of the lowest I’ve seen since being here and its neat to see the rocks and small islands that are usually well below the surface.

Halfway through the exam we had a surprise visit from Coast Guard via helicopter to continue working on the fog horn. Thankfully all of the students were safely tucked away working on their exams down in the tide pools when it arrived. This time they had a smaller helicopter so they actually landed on the grass next to the tower rather than the helipad. Overall disturbance was limited aside from birds leaving the area (but immediately returning) and the minor panic exhibited by me. 

If that wasn’t excitement enough, we saw 3 passing transient killer whales shortly after! Once again, they were quite far in the distance but always nice to see. One of these days I’ll see them up close!

On return to the school, one of the boats found a deceased harbour porpoise floating on the surface. I reported this to DFO and the animal was collected and brought back to the college where it can be stored in a freezer until the DFO team and veterinary pathologist are able to perform a necropsy.

The afternoon slowed down once it was just me and the animals alone on site. Ollie was relaxing in the kelp beds, the sea lions were quiet, and the sun was toasty. I ventured down to the rocks behind the student house to soak up some sun when something shiny caught my eye. Partially sticking out in the dirt I picked up what originally looked like some sort of bivalve or calcified shell, almost something you’d expect to see on a tropical beach. Upon picking it up I realized how heavy it was and that it actually appeared to be man made, with grooves that seemed as though they would hold rope or line. My next guess was that it was a lead fishing weight of some sort or maybe a piece of similar equipment. I rinsed it off and sent some photos to colleagues to further inquire. One of the other Eco Guardians, Derek, helped me to ID it as an “open-end strain insulator” and it supports guy wires/cables by working under compression. Through a page on the Maine Historical Society website I was also able to learn that this porcelain egg like tool was made in 1900. How wild is that! I know this island holds more history than I’ll ever know, but never did I think I’d stumble across a little piece of it among the dirt and the goose poop. I’m going to have a read through some books here tonight and see if there are any photos or mention of it!

Wow, okay I think that is everything for today! Race Rocks will never cease to amaze me.

…I guess I spoke/posted too soon! Shortly after publishing this blog post I spotted a brown pelican circling the reserve and figured it deserved a mention! 

 

Additional info:

Ecotourism vessels: 10+ busiest day I’ve seen so far!

Weather:

  • Sky: Blue skies and sunny
  • Wind: High of 8 knots, Low of 2 knots
  • Sea: Glassy
  • Temperature: Low 8•C, High 22 •C

** 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! **

Grey and Rainy

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Today was very grey and rainy but it didn’t stop the animals from showing off.

All 3 elephant seals (1 male, 2 females) are now on the main island. The smaller of the 2 females has been asleep in the grass behind the student house since last night. The larger one was chased up the boat launch by the male. For about 20 minutes he chased her around, lunging and throwing his head, grabbing her hind flippers and shaking them, both were very vocal. Since they are large and not so graceful this event (I’d call it a low-speed chase) involved lots of rest breaks. Finally the male made his way back to the water and the female found a place to sleep in the grass.

 

The torrential downpour was the perfect opportunity to deep clean the main house. Between cleaning I spotted 2 transient orcas, as well as the darker of the new sea otters a little while later.

 

So close but yet so far

This place is pretty unbelievable even when the weather isn’t!

Facility Work: (today and yesterday)

  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Split wood
  • Deep clean main house 
  • Cleaned windows of the main house inside and out
  • Cleared boat launch of drift wood
  • With the help of a very motivated Pearson student we also finished gardening around the old bricks at the base of the flywheel!

 

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Ecotourism vessels

Weather Events:

  • Saturday, March 23:
    • Sky: Dark cloudy skies, on and off heavy rain
    • Wind: High of WNW 10 knots, Low of ESE 1 knot
    • Sea: Calm
    • Temperature: Low 8oC, High  10oC

** All wildlife 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?

Wildlife Everywhere!

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Every day when I think I’ve seen it all here, somehow something new happens and its what I love most about this place. Aside from the seals that is…and the sea lions…and the sea otters.

This morning as I did my morning walk around I spotted one of the female elephant seals in the water next to the jetty. Shortly after, the male elephant seal joined her. There was a lot of chaos — heads thrashing, biting, splashing, vocalizing. It finished as fast as it started. The female was nowhere to be found and the male took back his spot on the boat launch.

 

This afternoon I spotted a lone male killer whale who may be one of the largest I’ve personally seen. I’m working on my ID skills still but I’d love to figure out who he is. He was quite far away so my photos aren’t too clear. One of these days I’ll get whales in the reserve! (I hope.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few hours later 4 more killer whales passed by about the same distance away. These ones appeared to have a baby with them and although they were travelling we did get to see a couple little spy hops!

 

As we were watching the whales, one of the California sea lions near the jetty popped up right in front of us with a large octopus in his mouth. He thrashed it around and put on a pretty great show!

 

As for the less exciting non animal notes — I’m still working on cleaning and getting the main house ready for the next Ecoguardian to arrive, including cleaning out the vents in the house now that the furnace is up and running. Talk about dusty! (see photos below).

I have also been trying to use the desalinator as much as possible to get the water level up. It dipped down low after we did some pressure pressure washing earlier this month and coupled with the 9 extra people here this week I want to make sure the Ecoguardian coming after me isn’t left high and dry!

 

It has been so great getting to know the students from Pearson. Everyone has such different interests and knowledge, I think I have learned more from them than they have me!

 

Additional information from the day:

DND Activity:

  • 2 blasts around 11:30
  • 2 blasts around 13:00
  • 2 blasts at 15:45
  • Observers were on the water all day. No blasts happened while orca in the area and no noted disturbance to animals within the reserve.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 5 ecotourism vessels
  • 5 RCMP vessels

Weather Events:

  • Thursday, March 21:
    • Sky: Sunny morning, some cloud cover in the afternoon
    • Wind: High of ENE 13 knots, Low of 0 knots
    • Sea: Calm
    • Temperature: Low 7oC, High  10oC

** All wildlife 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?

Sunny Saturday!

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Warmest day yet! Rather uneventful as far as animals go today (or so I thought), managed to get some facility work done – lots of cleaning. Just as I was watching the sunset a pod of transient killer whales passed by just outside the reserve. A beautiful and exciting day way to end a Saturday!

 

 

Facility Work:

  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Cleaned windows of both houses inside and out
  • Chopped wood

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Ecotourism vessels
  • One recreational vessel came to check out the sea lions, kept a good distance away.

Weather Events:

  • Saturday, March 16:
    • Sky: Clear, not a cloud in the sky
    • Wind: High of E 19 knots, Low of  SSW 3 knots
    • Sea: Flat calm
    • Temperature: Low 8oC, High 13oC

** All wildlife 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?

Not a Fun Day to be a Sea Lion!

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Another epic day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This morning I spotted the darker of our two new otters feeding off South Island again. These two might need names if they keep sticking around. Bright red urchins were on the breakfast menu for today, personally I prefer a few less spikes with my coffee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The afternoon brought transient killer whales past the reserve who spent 2.5 hours in the area hunting sea lion. While they didn’t come super close, they did put on a pretty unbelievable show!

 

 

Visitors:

  •  Greg and furnace repairman

Facility Work:

  • Keeper’s house furnace now working!
  • Prepped student house for visitors

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Ecotourism vessels

Weather Events:

  • Friday, March 15:
    • Sky: Blue sky
    • Wind: High of 14 knots, Low of 6 knots
    • Sea: Whitecaps
    • Temperature: Low 6oC, High 10oC