Groceries and Orcas

One thing about being in the wild that I find exciting is how your “planned out” day can turn around in an instant. Yesterday I had one of those moments.

Greg had scheduled to stop by the island to get some work done and drop off groceries, although the work part of his mission out to the rock fell through he still came out to drop off some food…  And I’m glad he did!

Ecological Notes: As he was approaching the dock he gets word on the radio that a group of orcas are nearby.  After I bolt inside to drop off the groceries and grab the camera, we head out to fight the current and take a look.

Fair enough the orcas, T018’s (from what I have been told, thanks Sean!) were floating about, they were quite calm and stayed put for the time we were out on the water but managed to snap a few shots to share with you :)

Meteorology:

The last few days have been overcast, but the cloud cover cleared up this afternoon.

There is a semi-stationary ridge (fancy word for high pressure system that isn’t moving very much) off the west coast of Vancouver Island.  This explains the constant and somewhat strong westerlies we’ve been having.

High pressure also usually means little to no clouds.  Now that the clouds have cleared I am hopeful that this might be the beginning of a clear sky break!!  I do my best to try and limit my power consumption on the island.  Days I can rely solely on solar power are quite rewarding, we’ll have to wait and see.

 

Tasks:

Washed solar panels (Daily)

Washed windows

Continuation of Moving old building materials

Continuation of cleaning the outside of secondary residence

Beautiful Fall Sunset, Minke Whales!

Weather Today: 

  • Visibility 15+ NM
  • Sky overcast, some sunshine in the afternoon
  • Wind 0-5 knots NE
  • Sea state calm, some interesting wave patterns due to currents in the mid day

Visitors: 

  • Greg visited with a contractor yesterday along with some island supplies
  • Not too many visitors in the reserve this time of year. A steady trickle of eco-tourism boats on the less windy days, maybe 5-10.
  • Yesterday we watched the HMCS Brandon leave from its home port, Esquimalt. An impressive vessel in capabilities and design, you can learn more about it Here if you are interested!

Ecological Notes: 

  • On Tuesday we were lucky to be present for a spectacular display of orcas in the strait, roughly 2 NM to the S of Great Race Rock. The pod seemed to be hunting something, perhaps a sea lion. It was an incredible sight to observe, with the whales flying out of the water and slapping the surface with their tales.
  • We continue to see humpback whales daily, surrounding the rocks here and a bit further into the strait. Most of the time we first notice the cloud of water that forms when they surface, exhale, inhale, and dive.
  • Today we were joined by a small group of whales, smaller than humpbacks and not orcas (small dorsal fins). We are thinking that these could have been minke whales since they seemed larger than porpoises.
  • Yesterday evening we found an adult glaucous-winged gull sitting in the intertidal near our jetty. It wasn’t moving and seemed to be positioned in an uncharacteristic way, with wings splayed. We weren’t able to identify any physical injuries, although noted that it wasn’t able to make any normal seagull noises, and seemed to be attempting to regurgitate something. We were hopeful that we might be able to transport it to the nearby wild arc rescue center nearby, but unfortunately it was deceased by this morning. We are wondering if it could have swallowed a piece of human trash that may have become lodged, although we were not able to see anything when we examined it.
  • The sea lions are noisier than ever but seem to have found their places among the rocky intertidal. It is amazing to watch them fish in the early mornings, often surfacing with large salmon with a flock of seagulls close behind! I (Mara) noticed two young tagged sea lions this week that seem to be staying close to each other throughout their time here. It’s hard to say if this happens more often since it’s tough to identify individual animals among the over 1000 currently here!

Additional Notes: 

  • There has been quite a bit of blasting on the DND land over the past week to two weeks. Most of the time it is not unreasonably disruptive, but when there is a particularly large blast all of the animals on the island rush in the opposite direction.