Category Archives: Animal census

Sept. 19, 2025 – Animal Census Day

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Luckily for me it was a clear morning for the day of my first animal census. With coffee and binos in hand I headed up to the top of the lighthouse tower and began the count of every seal, sea lion, whale, and bird in sight… needless to say it took me much longer than expected! The sun was quickly heating up the tower and by the time I was finished counting the hundreds of sea lions, beads of sweat were dripping down my brow. Despite the heat, it was plenty worth the effort as I spotted some interesting animals – most notably, a Northern Fur seal! This little fellow was hiding in amongst the Cali’s and Stellers on the East corner of the island, not making many friends as it was crawling overtop the sea lion’s bodies and getting consistently yelled and snapped at.

Animal Census Report:

* Note the animal census was time limited to the morning only. Due to bright sun & shadows, cormorants were not distinguished by species.

Mammals:

  • Steller sea lion: 371
  • California sea lion: 906
  • Harbour seal: 89
  • Northern Fur seal: 1
  • Humpback Whales: 6

Birds:

  • Glaucus-winged Gull: 201
  • California Gull: 1
  • Western Gull: 6
  • Cormorant Spp: 701
  • Black Turnstones: 8
  • Surfbird: 14
  • Savanah’s Sparrow: 1
  • Western Sandpiper: 1

Facility work:

It was a busy day trying to fit in all my tasks on top of the animal census, as I was leaving the island for the weekend. Thankfully Richard was patient with me trying to get packed to go last minute.

  • Electric fence repairs – corner post on jetty snapped and got replaced.
  • Cleaned solar panels
  • Water sampled – just in time!
  • Batteries filled (early as I would be away on Saturday)
  • Animal census
  • Compost and tidying of house

Weather:

  • Sky: Mainly clear and sunny
  • Wind: 5-10kts
  • Sea state: calm
  • Air temp: 23C

I was sad to be leaving for any time at all, given the excitement of the animal census. Thankfully, Bella and the students were incoming to keep an eye on the place in my absence. I’ll be back to it Monday morning!

 

Census day

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Wildlife: Conducted wildlife census, counted from the lighthouse last week, counting from viewpoints on the ground and photos from the tower for cross check.

Amazing day for whales. Observed eight blows in less than two minutes south of Bentinck island.

Entangled Steller sea lion seen again on Middle Island.

Facility work: Fueled generator, cleaned solar panels, fence maintenance, temp and salinity measurements

Census day

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Wildlife: Census results

Thirteen pelicans sighted on Seal rock in the later afternoon.

Steller sea lion (SSL) with band around its neck seen on north beach near jetty. Appropriate agencies contacted.

Two more sea lions observed with scars around their necks. Do not appear to be infected.

Great day for whale sightings, 13 in total, mostly out beyond the green starboard buoy and to the east.

Weather

Clear, beautiful day on the rock

Facility work

  • Repaired fence. Encouraged three CSLs back over to their side. Moving forward slowly and then backing away (pressure on, pressure off, seems to work best in getting them to move in the direction you are hoping for.
  • Solar panels cleaned. Water and salinity readings taken.

Vessels

14 tour boats noted, 2 private boats

August 23 Weekly Census

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First things first! Time to check out the solar panels, while at the same time, keeping track of what animals and birds are being seen. Census is usually conducted on Friday, but since I didn’t arrive until mid-afternoon, I opted to do it today.

The solar panels were in better shape than I expected given the look of the Science Building windows. I remembered all of the valves that needed to be opened to provide water on the generator building roof, so a single trip up the ladder was all that was needed. Once those were taken care of, it was off to tackle the Science Building. There are some great new tools available for reaching the second story windows, but they are quite unwieldy, especially for someone who is just a little over 5 feet tall! As I feared, the gull artwork was baked on, so although there was improvement, the windows were not fully clean when I was done.

Next, a trip up the tower to count marine mammals and gulls. I found a key outside the door as I entered. The fob looked somewhat familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it. I thought one of the guests might have dropped it yesterday, so left it at the bottom of the stairs. A hundred steps up, I remembered why it looked familiar–it was the key to the hatch to the outside of the light. Down 100 steps and back up 100 steps. A double workout for today!

While at the top, I called my friends at Rocky Point Bird Observatory just the other side of Bentinck Island and arranged a neighbourly wave. There is a gap in Bentinck that provides a great view of Race Rocks from the other side.

Census complete, I headed back to ground level. Hmmm..Where are my glasses? You got it–back up at the light! Another trip to the top!  Although I had done a count of gulls from the top, I decided to count the young birds again. They are difficult to see from the light. At ground level, I found about three times as many as I had counted from the birds’ eye view.

The sea lions had dumped most of the posts and their concrete blocks off the jetty again. I managed to get them back up before the tide rolled in and repaired the fence–again. I have to say, I felt that I’d put in a full-day’s labour before noon!

Weekly Census
Observed today because of arrival too late on Friday for a fair census

Mammals:

  • Steller sea lion: 327 (including entangled female detected yesterday)
  • California sea lion: 142
  • Harbour seal: 64

Birds:

  • Canada Goose: 7
  • Black Oystercatcher: 5
  • Pigeon Guillemot: 34
  • Ruddy Turnstone: 1
  • Black Turnstone: 15
  • Brandt’s Cormorant 2
  • Pelagic Cormorant 30
  • Western Gull 2
  • California Gull 270
  • Glaucous-winged Gull 1042 (including about 300 young)
  • Brown Pelican

Facility work:

  • Clean the solar panels
  • Cleaned windows on the north and west side of Science Building
  • Returned posts and concrete blocks to the jetty and repaired the fence
  • Topped up batteries

Weather:

  • Sky: sunny and clear all day
  • Wind: variable 0 – 18 knots
  • Sea: rippled
  • Air temperature: low 15 °C, high 26 °C
  • Seawater temperature at max flood: 11.6 °C

Photos from today:

Entangled Sea Lion still being seen near the jetty.

Mom and pup Harbour Seal exuding cuteness

Jetty stripped almost clean of all the fencing posts

Young Glaucous-winged Gull in the early morning sunlight

One of several private vessels seen near the rocks today.

Looks familiar!

 

August 16 Weekly Census

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Weekly Census
Observed today because of yesterday’s poor visibility from heavy fog.

Mammals:

  • Steller sea lion: 229 (way up from 41 on August 9)
  • California sea lion: 211 (way up from 35 on August 9)
  • Harbour seal: 125

Birds:

  • Bald eagle: 2
  • Canada goose: 2
  • Cormorant: 37
  • Gull: 464
  • Black oystercatcher: 6 (including 2 chicks)
  • Pigeon guillemot: 92
  • Surfbird: 25
  • Ruddy Turnstone: 2
  • Black turnstone: 99

Facility work:

  • Checked the water levels in the batteries and topped up.
  • Fixed parts of the electric fence to deter the sea lions from plopping themselves onto the paths and other human built areas of Race Rocks.

Vessels:

  •  Ecotourism: 10
  •  Private: 6

Weather:

  • Sky: Partly cloudy
  • Wind: west 3-25 knots
  • Sea: rippled
  • Air temperature: low 14 °C, high 17 °C
  • Seawater temperature at max flood: 11.6°C

Photos from today:

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

August 9

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Weekly Census
Observed today in between fog patches.

Mammals:

  • Steller sea lion: 41
  • California sea lion: 35
  • Harbour seal: 105

Birds:

  • Bald eagle: 1
  • Canada goose: 4
  • Cormorant: 37
  • Gull: 495
  • Black oystercatcher: 16 (including 3 chicks)
  • Pigeon guillemot: 112
  • Harlequin duck: 2
  • Surfbird: 34
  • Black turnstone: 68

Facility work:

  • Check and top up battery water
  • Weed whacking paths

Vessels:

  •  Ecotourism: 21

Weather:

  • Sky: fog with occasional patches of visibility up to 2 km
  • Wind: west 12-26  knots
  • Sea: rippled
  • Air temperature: low 12 °C, high 15 °C
  • Seawater temperature at max flood: 10.7°C

Photos from today:

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

August 1 Census

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Weekly Census:

Mammals:

  • Steller sea lion: 36
  • California sea lion: 4
  • Harbour seal: 129

Birds:

  • Canada goose: 9
  • Cormorant: 19
  • Gull: 556
  • Black oystercatcher: 10
  • Pigeon guillemot: 102
  • Short-billed dowitcher: 1
  • Surfbird: 22
  • Black turnstone: 52

Facility work:

  • Clean solar panels and windows
  • Tidy up the boat house

Vessels:

  •  Ecotourism: 21

Weather:

  • Sky: Partly cloudy, fog in evening
  • Wind: west 22-41 knots
  • Sea: 3-4′ chop
  • Air temperature: low 12 °C, high 17 °C
  • Seawater temperature at max flood: 10.3°C

Photos from today:

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

July 18 Census

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Mammals:

  • Steller sea lion: 1 South Islands, 4 on Middle Rock
  • California sea lion: 0
  • Harbour seal: 101 plus 5 pups (July 11: 181 adults, one pup, July 4: 54 adults, one pup, June 27: 258)

Birds:

  • Gulls: 612 (July 11: 1309, July 4: 514)
  • Pigeon guillemot: 139
  • Cormorants: 32
  • Bald eagle: 3
  • Black oystercatcher: 14 adults (saw 8 chicks today, likely 10 or more, no visual yet on the Energy Building chicks)
  • Harlequin duck: 2
  • Surfbird: 70
  • Black turnstone: 141
  • Ruddy turnstone:  2
  • Brown pelicans: 49

Wildlife seen this week inside the reserve but not observed today include: humpback whale, wandering tattler, western sandpiper, least sandpiper, short-billed dowitcher. Note gull count does not include this years chicks.

Glaucous winged sea gull chicks, not included in the census numbers.

A squadron of brown pelicans, at least 49 of them, flew over the western end of the island several times. They landed in the water and were around for about 30 minutes.

The harbour seal pubs stay with their moms for 4 to 6 weeks before they are weaned and will double in size during that time. The white seal pup first photographed on July 2 and 3 has put on a lot of weight.

Facility work

  • cleaned solar panels
  • topped up battery fluids

Vessels

  • Ecotourism: 17
  • Private: 2

Weather

Strong westerly breeze until afternoon, gale force in the evening, gusting 40 knots. Day time temperatures: low 11, high 16.

US Coast Guard tall ship heading west up Juan de Fuca Strait. Shame it was heading upwind as it would have been fantastic to see the sails up.

July 11 Census

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Mammals:

  • Steller sea lion: 1* on Middle Rock
  • California sea lion: 1
  • Harbour seal: 181 plus 3 pups (July 4: 54 adults, one pup, June 27: 258)

Birds:

  • Gulls: 1309* (July 4: 514)
  • Pigeon guillemot: 57* (July 4: 163)
  • Cormorants: 28
  • Bald eagle: 3
  • Black oystercatcher: 18 adults (only saw 4 chicks today, likely 10 or more)
  • Harlequin duck: 2
  • Surfbird: 21
  • Black turnstone: 45
  • Ruddy turnstone: 1
  • Western sandpiper: 6
  • Short-billed dowitcher: 1

Wildlife seen this week inside the reserve but not observed today is one humpback whale.

* Notes on census numbers

  • The Stellar sea lion on Middle Rock is likely injured. It is too far away to properly observe or photograph well from Great Race Rocks. I reached out to Eagle Wing Tours who will be photographing and observing the animal over the weekend.

    Stellar sea lion on Middle Rock.

    Stellar sea lion on Middle Rock. Photo taken by Eagle Wing Tours, July 10.

     

  • The pigeon guillemots count today is not reflective of the actual numbers living and nesting on the island. The count from June 19 is more representative.
  • There was an exceptional number of gulls on the islands today and yesterday. The visiting gulls are a mix of adult and immature California, glaucous-wing, Western and Heerman’s gulls. I have broken down the total count of 1309 gulls by location
    257 – South Islands
    345 – Seal Rocks
    4 – Middle Rock
    151 – Great Race Rock, on the periphery beyond the area with gull nests
    552 – Great Race Rocks, inside the nesting area

Part of one of the South Islands covered in gulls.

Wildlife notes

The pigeon guillemot chicks are hatching. I have viewed several nests and the chicks vary in size.

Pigeon guillemot in burrow with chick (in the blue circle). Burrow is near the boat ramp, taken July 10th.

Pigeon guillemot chick in burrow. Burrow is south of the CODAR tower, taken July 11.

The Energy Building oystercatchers have no more eggs on the nest. They had two eggs until July 5 and a single egg was present until today (5 to 6 day period). The parents have remained on the beach in the rocks near the nest. It is possible that both have hatched but I have not been able to spot any chicks. The Keepers House oystercatcher pair have two chicks that hatched several days apart and their chicks are still obviously different in size. Their first chick hatched June 28th and the mother remained on and near the nest until July 3rd. There is about a months time between when the East Beach oystercatchers and the Energy Building oystercatcher eggs hatched.

Facility work

  • cleaned solar panels
  • weeding

Vessels

  • Ecotourism: 17
  • Private: 4

Weather

Moderate westerlies in the morning with periods of fog. Wind strengthening to gale force gusting 40 knots by evening. Daytime temperatures: low 10, high 16.

June 20 Census

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Mammals:

  • Steller sea lion: 0  (June 13: 0, June 7: 2, May 30: 10, May 23: 6, May 15: 21, May 8: 37)
  • California sea lion: 1 (June 13: 3, June 7: 12)
  • Harbour seal: 32 on Turbine Rock only (June 13: 211, June 7, 103, May 30: 90, May 23: 50)
  • Elephant seal: 1 female

Birds:

  • Gulls:  352 (June 13: 603, June 7: 645, May 30: 464, May 23: 467, May 15: 391, May 8: 114)
  • Pigeon guillemot: 159 (June 13: 36, June 7: 82, May 30: 6, May 23: 30, May 15: 78, May 8: 153)
  • Cormorants: 10
  • Canada geese: 2
  • Bald eagle: 1
  • Black oystercatcher: 12 adults plus 6 chicks

Wildlife observed this week but not on census day were hummingbirds and barn swallows.

The tides today were not that extreme and there were only 32 harbour seals on Turbine Rock. Last Friday during a lower low tide there were 211 seals on Great Race Rock, South Islands, Seal Rocks, Turbine Rock and North Rocks.  Today was a good day for counting the pigeon guillemots (not quite as many as the concentrated effort yesterday) and a bad one for counting gulls, many of which were out fishing.

The earth, moon and sun will be in alignment during the new moon on June 25th causing a spring tide. The tidal range will be greater because the gravitational effects of the Sun and the Moon reinforce each other. The extreme tidal lows during these spring tides are a great time for peering into tide pools or taking your dog to Spanish Banks in Vancouver. The census next Friday with a lower low tide than seen today should provide different results.

Tides at Pedder Bay from today to next Friday.

In some parts of the world the tide changes by only 0.3m and in others up to 12.2m. For further reading on tides (the earth’s surface has a tide as well!) see the Almanac and for some awesome illustrations on how the sun and moon cause tidal bulges, neap tides, spring tides etc see NASA .

Facility work

Today was laundry day (an essential but costly task – 125 L of water used for one load!). It had been three weeks since the last load and there wasn’t enough room in the tub for the bed sheets so I had to sort through the linen closet for clean sheets. I hadn’t poked around in there since my first day here. I knew it was bad but I had more forward facing things on my list to tackle first. It is cleaned out now and hopefully a few less spiders…more on spiders another day.

  • cleaned the solar panels
  • cleaned parts of the house

DND

Trident Fury the international maritime exercise continues.  I hear conversations on channel 68 that I am glad are only simulations and not real events in this part of the world.

Captain stop your vessel.
Captain stop your vessel or you will be fired upon.
WARN WARN WARN
DISABLE DISABLE DISABLE

Vessels

  • Ecotourism: 13
  • Private: 1

Weather

Cloudy periods. Moderate to fresh westerlies building to near gale by early evening. Daytime temperatures: low 10 , high 13.