Category Archives: alternate energy

Westerly Winds Prevail

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Well it blew hard west, west-southwest all night and all day without let up. I didn’t see the tower anemometer drop below 20 knots and it was often gusting to 30 (and over last night). Although there were a few serious clouds and showers that came through it was overall a sunny day and the barometer climbed high and fast in the late morning, slowing to a more gradual ascent in the afternoon. The forecast continues to be the same with a strong wind warning in effect but winds are forecast to drop to 10 to 20 overnight and become light in the morning.

There were no boats of any kind in the Ecological Reserve today. It was a wild place with the wind combing whitecaps, on top of a big oceanic swell. Beautiful to watch from shore but not something you would want to be out in, especially in a small boat.

Northern Elephant Seals sleeping in the old garden.

Northern Elephant Seals sleeping in the old garden.

The ecological happenings are subtle right now. There is nest building, courtship, egg laying and brooding, lots of resting and sleeping by the seals and sealions and continuing predation by the eagles. The Northern Elephant Seals visiting Great Race spent the day sleeping in the heritage garden and another 22 animals could be seen asleep on Middle Rock bringing the total to 27. These are mostly sub-adult animals and some of them appear to be starting their moult. This time on land looks really labourious for them but it is important in building bone density to have some weight bearing time ashore.

Mian sleeepy M

I believe that the animals here on Great Race now are the some of the same ones that were here in the fall. It is easy to know for sure with the tagged animal and I am quite sure with one other animal that had terrible looking psoriasis last fall and still does now. The only place the skin is not scratched raw is under the flippers. The others look really familiar too but that could just be their generic elephant seal look.

It was sunny enough to run the desalinator off the solar energy today and it always feels good to know that the sustainability plan is paying off. Now we just need to add to the suite of diesel alternatives and wind is such a natural for this site.

There were no visitors today.

Dec 28, Warden’s Report -Race Rocks Ecological Reserve

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I went to Race Rocks today with Val George for the Christmas bird Count.  ( See other reports from  today.) The highlight of course was the discovery of the first record for the Boreal Owl in Southern Vancouver Island . Some other observations from my visit are included here:

2014-12-28gooseexclosure2 2014-12-28gooseexclosure1m
Several 1 metre exclosures for goose grazing have been installed on the grass  areas on Race Rocks. Winter grazing by the Canada geese (introduced to Vancouver Island in the 1980s) has resulted in erosion in some areas of the island, and grass turf cover is prevented.
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Drift Macrocystis at the jetty. This Giant Kelp can grow anchored at great depths but winter storms will lift it up and the  main contribution to energy-flow  in the ecosystem comes from decomposition on the shoreline. Macrocystis grows in areas of high salinity, so not in he brackish estuarine conditions of the Strait of Juan de Fuca , but not at Race Rocks  where it ends up only as drift in the strand line.
deadcorm cormfeet
A dead cormorant, (probably Brandt’s ). Interesting webbed foot structure.
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A 1st year juvenile Thayer’s Gull The breast had a hole and internal organs  were eaten. It was probably from an eagle attack.
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This year, the college has finished tilting the solar panels. Increased energy efficiency has been noted. They were originally installed flat since we were concerned that the strength of the wind may damage them. This hasn’t happened. View of the energy building roof from the top of the tower.
2014-12-28johanplaque ..
This fall a plaque has been installed to honour Johan Ashuvud, who as a student at Pearson College, was instrumental in having Race Rocks designated as an ecological reserve in 1980 ..

Other Ecological reserves wardens reports are available here:

Sea Lion Thermoregulation

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The barometer rose steadily throughout the day as a moderate westerly breeze whipped across the reserve. The clouds parted mid morning to bring an afternoon of sun and a high of 13.1 oC.

The solar panels weren’t the only things soaking up the sun’s rays. Sea lions were floating in small groups with one or all four flippers exposed to the air, using thermoregulation to their advantage. The sun warms the seal’s flippers, which are poorly insulated, then the warmed blood is pumped throughout their body.

One whale watching boat was seen in the reserve, after they spotted humpback whales surfacing a few kilometres to the east of the Race Rocks.

Courtney visited on the Second Nature to give a quick lesson on some of the mechanical systems on the island.

Maintenance tasks were performed today: running the generator, cleaning the solar panels, tracking down equipment and parts, figuring out how to use the equipment, vacuuming, flag care, and sweeping the paths.

Sea lions thermoregulating by sticking a fin out of the water.

Sea lions sticking flippers out of the water for thermoregulation.

Clear Skies

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As the daylight broke, the fog began to burn off near the entrance of Pedder Bay and to the west of Race Rocks. The wind rose slightly throughout the day to a medium breeze of 11 knots in the evening. Clear skies prevailed through the day as the barometer rose slightly.

Maintenance tasks were performed throughout the day, giving me a chance to spend lots of time outside: painting, tidying, sweeping, cleaning the solar panels, and topping up the batteries with the generator.

There were ten boats in the seen in the reserve. Several whale watching boats passed by. The Juan De Fuce Warrior from Ogden Point Dive Centre spent a few hours with two groups of divers. Two boats from Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue (RCMSAR) Station in Sooke passed through Middle Channel at noon. A sailboat went against the current through Middle Channel at 15:30.

Divers from Ogden Point Dive Centre with curious California Sea Lions looking on

Divers from Ogden Point Dive Centre with curious sea lions looking on

sailors

A sailboat heads northeast by Middle Rock

Elephant seal

Flag at half mast with the sunset in the background

Pea Soup

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It was socked in with fog as thick as pea soup today. It cleared off this evening just before six and well in time for a fantastic sunset and my realization that it was probably a beautiful day, just about everywhere else in the region.

California Sea Lions silhouetted by setting sun.

California Sea Lions silhouetted by setting sun.

There was not much wind today, the high was 5 knots out of the east-northeast and everything is damp almost as if it had rained. Most of the day the flag hung limp and a bit sodden. The barometer continued yesterday’s gradual rise until about noon when it started to slowly decline, ending up at about the same place it started. The forecast looks like rain for at least a week but it probably just means showers. I keep forgetting that rain here and rain in Bamfield are just not the same thing.

There were no whale-watching boats observed although one commercial sports fishing boat stopped by to have a look at the sea lions.

The results of this weeks’ large animal census follows:

Steller’s Sea Lion 173
California Sea Lion 412
Harbour Seal 136
Elephant Seal 12
River Otter 1
Canada Goose 20
Greater White-fronted Goose 5
Harlequin Ducks 8
Double-crested Cormorant46
Pelagic Cormorant 5
Black Oystercatchers 20
Black Turnstones 6
Killdeer 4
Glaucous-winged Gull 88
Glaucous-winged x Western Gull Hybrid
Thayer’s Gull 303
Heerman’s Gull 17
California Gull 12
Western Gull 2
Ring-billed Gull 2
Gull sp, 260
Bald Eagle (adult) 1
Fox Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 1
Savannah Sparrow 17

Most of the sea lions have moved over to the west side of the island and are hauling out on Middle Island and some of the smaller rocks. They are seem to be spending much more time in the water instead of sleeping on land and salmon kills are visible all over the Ecological Reserve when the visibility is good enough to see.

Wall-to-wall California Sea Lions catch a nap in a pile.

Wall-to-wall California Sea Lions catch a nap in a pile.

Thayer’s Gulls are the dominant gull now in terms of numbers and they seem to spend a lot of their day resting and grooming. All the gulls seem to take advantage of the sea lion feeding events as bits of salmon are flying. I double-checked my Thayer’s Gull identification with Dick Cannings and his super-birder son, Russell and they concur that this is a Thayer’s Gull.

Race Rocks is an important resting, roosting and feeding place for Thayer's Gulls recovering from a busy summer in the Arctic.

Race Rocks is an important resting, roosting and feeding place for Thayer’s Gulls recovering from a busy summer in the high Arctic.

My biggest task today was attempting to muck out the roof of the energy building where the solar panels are installed. It reminded me of a stable job I had when I was a kid. I actually used a snow shovel to scoop out the organic crud that had built up under the last of the panels to be raised by the electrician yesterday. The rest of the day’s maintenance-type activities were the regular jobs entailed in living here; making fresh water, topping up the batteries with the generator (even the solar panels had a hard time keeping up in the thick fog), doing the seawater sampling and sweeping a few walkways.

Battery Power

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The fog came and went again today but overall there was enough sunshine to keep the solar panels producing power. There was very little wind, always less than ten knots and often less than five. The direction was quite variable: in the morning it came from the north, then switched around to south and was blowing westerly at sunset. Now in the late evening it has turned back to a three-knot north wind. The barometer rose gradually most of the day so we are back up where we were a couple of days ago. The forecast is for increasing clouds with some sunshine tomorrow.

Today, I was not able to monitor vessel traffic in the Ecological Reserve as well as I usually do, nevertheless, 23 whale watching boats were observed in the Reserve, several visiting multiple times.

I did a large animal census, today and will report on it tomorrow as it is late now.

The middle of the day was taken up with battery room maintenance. Courtney showed me how to do it by doing 24 batteries and then I did the rest while the electrician and his apprentice were there. They checked on me to make sure that I was okay, working in that dangerous environment. All 96 batteries were checked and topped up with distilled water. Other chores included the usual daily tasks, seawater sampling, generation of electricity with the Lister and launching the boat. Once the electricians were finished, I gave them a ride into Pedder Bay. In spite of fog, there was a bit of a sunset. Here’s the shot.

As the tide ebbs, the sun sets through the fog reflected in the boils and rips.

As the tide ebbs, the sun sets through the fog reflected in the boils and rips.

Fogimatrix.

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The weather here was dominated by fog today. It lifted in an interesting way this morning so that you could see out and under the fog for several miles yet there was thick fog above, at very low elevation. The rising sun shone through this clear layer, creating a weird and wonderful lighting effect from below. By mid-day the fog had burned off and sunshine prevailed at sea level. There was still fog in the shipping lane and the tops of the Olympic mountains were visible. The fog flowed back in by mid-afternoon and thickened steadily after that, pushed in by a westerly fog wind. During the day there wasn’t much wind until late afternoon/early evening when it picked up to 15 to 20 knots from the west. The barometer continued its slow trend downward that started a few days ago and the forecast looks relatively good until rain on Friday.

There was a fairly steady parade of whale watching boats in the Ecological Reserve today. They were looking at Humpback Whales, Harbour Porpoise and of course the Sea Lions. Sixteen tour boats were noted although I may have missed some in the fog. One of the tour operators had the chance to see a really big (tyee) spring salmon swimming through the kelp forest.

There were sports fishers catching Coho, Spring and Chum Salmon to the south and west of Race Rocks and many sea lions were also busy catching salmon while at the same time helping to feed the gulls with their scraps, not out of any benevolence, just because they are messy eaters.

There are many gulls here now including Glaucous-winged, Glaucous-winged hybrids and Thayer’s gull which are challenging to distinguish. I look forward to doing the census first thing tomorrow to try and figure out how many of which species. The Heerman’s Gulls continue to benefit from sea lion salmon treats which they certainly can’t do where they breed in Mexico. I like watching them. They are very beautiful and have a interesting feeding behaviours that they may have learned from birds like skimmers where they live rest of the year. They fly with their lower bill hanging down just above the water and occasional skim the water with it, catching small prey.
There are many sea lions on the west side of the island now and the westerly wind carries the dusty grime from them onto everything in its path. The Savannah Sparrows feed in and around the sea lions.

These little Savannah Sparrows forage through the sea lion waste picking up morsels and probably a few parasites.

These little Savannah Sparrows forage through the sea lion waste picking up morsels and probably a few parasites.

Elephant Seals have been hauling out on Middle Rock for over a month and now some are back on Great Race again. There was a small one hauled out on the northeastern side and a bigger one on the railway with the sea lions.

This Elephant Seal is napping with California Sea Lions on the marine railway.

This Elephant Seal is napping with California Sea Lions on the marine railway.

Washing the solar panels took a long time this morning. They were really dirty. I will do them after the census and it will probably take even longer, tomorrow as I want to shovel off the organic stuff that has accumulated before the electrician arrives to work on the panels. Today I readjusted to life on Race Rocks, finished the month-end report for September, did the seawater sample, made freshwater with the desalinator, ran the Lister generator and sorted photos as well as sea lion brand and entanglement data.

This entangled California Sea Lion has been spotted repeatedly since the end of August.

This entangled California Sea Lion has been spotted repeatedly since the end of August.

Last Blast of Summer

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Tomorrow is the equinox and it was a glorious last day of summer today on Race Rocks. In the morning, outflow northeasterly winds soon gave way to westerlies, which gained momentum creating whitecaps and active seas in the afternoon. Both yesterday and today there was also an ocean swell, indicating a storm out at sea. Some of the surges created large, standing waves in the tidal flows. The barometer continued slide today and a change is on the way with showers forecast to start by tomorrow evening.

There were only a few whale-watching boats today, four observed in total. The Ogden Point Dive Centre’s charter boat ran a dive right off the jetty today. A few recreational boats stopped to watch the sea lions and three were speeding in the reserve, as they came into and left the area. A Pedder Bay, Oak Bay Marine Group rental boat didn’t bother to slow at all and sped through the area packed with sea lions.

After picking up calipers at the floating lab, I was able to almost complete meristic data collection for the Glaucous-wing Gull mortality study. Measurements were made of over 50 gulls in order to determine the age range and location at death. It has been so dry for so long, that the birds were basically mummified, not nearly as gross as standing up-wind of the living sea lions.

Several opportunistic brand photos were taken today and census photos were taken to validate against the more traditional census technique.

Sometimes the brands are easier to read with binoculars than in the photo. This one is 1032.

Sometimes the brands are easier to read with binoculars than in the photo. This one is 1032.

It seems that more Steller’s Sea Lions, Thayer’s Gulls and Double-crested Cormorants are arriving daily As you can see from this photograph of one the main California Sea Lion sleeping areas they are packed in tightly and not strictly segregated by species.

Sea lions pack into sleeping areas. This big Steller's Sea Lion caused a ruckus by walking over the Californians.

Sea lions pack into sleeping areas. This big Steller’s Sea Lion caused a ruckus by walking over the Californians.

The more mundane tasks of washing the solar panels, building up the compost, washing windows and mending the fences were done in the morning and it was actually hot, hmmm, just like summer. The seawater data was collected in the afternoon as the sunshine powered the solar panels which in turn powered the desalinator to make fresh water out of salt water. As the sun set south of Cape Flattery now, the classic Lister generator topped up the batteries for the overnight period.

Generating History

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High clouds settled in today and there were even a few minute raindrops for a short time in the late morning and early evening. Hazy marine air was evident along the coast to Victoria while across on the American side, it looked like it might really be raining in the Elwha Valley, Olympic National Park. The barometer continues its slow slide, which started last Thursday. The westerly wind is forecast again for tomorrow and it has already started.

A Humpback Whale feeding and resting to the south of the rocks and Killer Whales to the west, continued to draw whale–watching boats from Victoria and a total of 22 were noted in the Ecological Reserve today, mostly observing pinnipeds (Steller’s and California Sea Lions, Harbour and Elephant Seals). One commercial, charter, fishing boat also stopped by to watch the sea lions.

One of the Brown Pelicans came back today and some members of the Victoria Historical Society group saw it on their way out to the island. Three groups of twelve people each had historical tours of Race Rocks today.

The historians were very interested in Garry Fletcher’s on-site presentations about the history of Great Race Island, the 500 year-old plus, indigenous rock cairns and the 154 year history of the Lighthouse. Race Rocks is designated as a heritage site but that only means it is registered in Ottawa, not offered any conservation protection. The Race Rocks Ecological Reserve protects Race Rocks’ biodiversity and natural history and is part of BC Parks, but it does not include human history.

Federal law passed specifically three years ago to protect historical lighthouses does not apply to the six original Imperial Lighthouses, of which this is one. Race Rocks  light-tower pre-dates the confederation of Canada and it is the only stone-constructed light tower and one of a handful of standing stone structures this old, in western Canada. It needs protection. You can learn more about its’ fascinating history through this web-site under history. There is even historical video footage of the demolition of the historic, granite, light-keeper’s house in the 1960s by bulldozer and explosives. Fisgard Light which was completed six weeks before Race Rocks is a much less impressive brick tower and is endowed with full heritage protection by Parks Canada.

With 37 visitors to attend to, I did not spend much time making ecological observations today. I did a few maintenance chores before they arrived, washing windows, sweeping the main walk-way with an historical broom and weed-eating around the fly wheels of an old Fairbanks-Morse engine from the turn of the last century, with an historical weed-eater from late in the last century. There are quite a few pieces of old Fairbanks-Morse machinery lying around that could be of historical interest. Here is a YouTube link to a similar 1906 Fairbanks-Morse engine, running. What a beast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTiK2B88EJs

My last tasks of the day are to move deionized water, delivered with the guests by Courtney on MV Second Nature, up to the energy building, and to make fresh water with the desalinator, while the historic Lister generator tops up the batteries which are powered mostly by solar panels.

Blustery

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It was a blustery day dominated by the west wind today and with the wind came some cloud cover and cooler maritime air. The barometer rose slightly and then started to drop late in the day. It is likely that we will get both fog and showers tomorrow.

I saw Killer Whales off to the southwest, early, but only had glimpses and wasn’t able to identify them. Whale watching was down to a dull roar with only seven commercial whale-watching boats noted in the reserve today. There was no illegal fishing activity and only one recreational boat that came in to watch the sea lions.

These young Steller's Sea Lions have been wrestling for hours and are taking a break here without either conceding defeat.

These young Steller’s Sea Lions have been wrestling for hours and are taking a break here without either conceding defeat.

The bigger, young, male Steller’s Sea Lions spend hours each day practicing their sparring skills as they try to grab the other by the throat or hold the head of their opponent down through brute force. This activity usually happens in the shallow water next to the haul-out, so they are actually moving around on the rocks underneath them but in the water. It appears to be all in good fun and involves a lot of lunging, avoidance, feints, attacks and parrying. All good practice for when they are big enough to haul out on the breeding grounds and fight with more grim determination to hold their ground and pass their genes on to the next generation.

Brown Pelicans blown in by the westerly winds.

One of the Brown Pelicans blown in by the westerly winds and a young gull.

The west wind blew in four Brown Pelicans today and their arrival seemed to herald a change of season. They were buffeted by the heavy winds and didn’t stay for long.

Other visitors today included the electrician and his assistant/daughter(?) and her friend, who would like to be an eco-guardian some day. The electrician was tilting up the last row of the flat solar panels and inspecting the solar-powered system.

Solar panels provide much of the electricity used on the island and the generator is just used to top-up the batteries. The plan is to add wind generation, which would further enhance sustainable, off-grid, power generation. There is certainly enough wind.