| Race Rocks Gull Survey April 3 2024 |
| Andrew Jacobs | 5 April 2024 at 21:35 | |
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Category Archives: Animal census
The Weekly Animal Census
Today, it was time for the weekly animal census on Race Rocks – a longstanding tradition (see the full archive, here) that allows us to keep track of an ever-fluctuating population of birds and marine mammals. The morning weather wasn’t particularly promising, with wind, rain, and dark overcast skies.
Combined with high tides and a rough sea state, perhaps it wasn’t entirely surprising that the numbers seemed a bit lower than usual – with the harbour seals in particular mostly hiding out in the waves surrounding the South Rocks, and thus rather tricky to count. Alas – who was about?
Census equipment – species list, binoculars, and a clicker to keep track of everyone
March 27th Animal Census
Birds:
Oyster catcher: 22
Harlequin duck: 15
Gulls: 195
Cormorant: 73
Pigeon guillemot: 101
Juvenile eagle: 1
Adult eagle: 1
Canadian geese: 9
Shore / Surf birds: 15
Turnstones: 10
Marine Mammals:
Steller sea lions: 14
Harbour seal: 21
Male Elephant seal: 1 (back on land after a lengthy morning expedition)
Female elephant seal : 0
California sea lion: 24
The weather did eventually start to calm down a bit – still hopeful to catch my first RR sunset of the trip later tonight!
Facility Work:
- Weekly Animal Census
- Continued algae clean-up on Generator Roof
- Chopped Firewood
- Prepared new Water Filters for both the Keeper’s Residence and the Marine Science Building
- Early AM generator run to top up batteries, PM solar enough to reach charge status of 100%
Noted Vessel Traffic:
- 1 ecotourism vessel, passing between the South Islands and Rosedale Reef
Weather – Current:
http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72
Weather – Past:
Animal Census and Blog
The great weather had to come to an end eventually! Despite being a dark and cloudy day we lucked out with no rain and no wind.
I had 9 extra helpers for the animal census today, the Pearson students are extra observant so this may be the most accurate count yet!
No sea otters were seen today but the two new ones have been around the past few days. Still no additional elephant seals on the main island, just our solo male! A couple of females have been hauled out on the various surrounding rocks but none of come ashore here.
March 20th Animal Census:
Birds:
Oyster catcher: 15
Harlequin duck: 12
Gulls: 261
Cormorant: 62
Pigeon guillemot: 149
Juvenile eagle: 3
Adult eagle: 4
Canadian geese: 9
Shore birds: 10
Turnstones: 28
Savannah sparrow: 1
Marine Mammals:
Steller sea lions: 17
Harbour seal: 64
Male Elephant seal: 1
Female elephant seal : 2 (north rocks)
California sea lion: 20
Injuries:
Harbour seal with facial injury
-
- Harbour seals on high alert
-
- One of two female elephant seals counted today
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- An impressive balancing act
-
- Beautiful!
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- I initially thought this was meal remnants but I’ve seen this seal multiple times over a couple of weeks
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- A very tricky to photograph Savannah sparrow
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- Harlequin ducks at low tide
DND Activity:
- 2 blasts at 12:55 and 13:00. They did startle the harbour seals and the second blast sent a California sea lion fleeing into the water.
- 3rd blast at 14:15 no obvious disturbance noted.
- 4th blast at 15:05 no obvious disturbance noted.
- 5th blast at 15:08 no obvious disturbance noted.
Noted Vessel Traffic:
- One ecotourism vessel
- One Coast Guard vessel
- Three RCMP vessels
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- RCMP coming by for a visit
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- Coast Guard with guests passing by the jetty
Weather Events:
- Wednesday, March 20:
- Sky: Cloudy all day
- Wind: High of WNW 13 knots, Low of SW 4 knots
- 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?
Growing sea lion numbers…
Animal Census and Blog
Time is flying by here! Nothing too wild to report today, the weather is definitely getting warmer and the solar panels are working hard. See below for more details!
March 13th Census:
Birds
- Harlequin duck: 13
- Bald eagle adult: 5
- Bald eagle juvenile: 1
- Turnstones: 16
- Gulls, Glaucous and Western: 130
- Cormorants: 27
- Pigeon Guillemots: 86
- Oyster catcher: 21
- Canadian goose: 11
- Surf Birds: 8
Mammals
- Steller sea lion: 23
- Harbour seal: 40
- California sea lion: 27
- Elephant seal male: 1
- Sea otter: 1 (+ additional sighted March 11th)
- Animal Tracking and Injuries:
- Injuries: Steller sea lion with head wound (see photo)
- Tracking: California sea lion with small red flipper tag, no numbers or markings on tag
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- This guy has a large head wound but it doesn’t seem to be affecting him
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- Steller with head wound
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- Cali with a tag
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- Nothing legible on this side of the tag
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- Hard to feel lonely here when you’re always being watched
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- Airing out
Ecological Notes:
– Two sea otters observed near the South Island on the morning of March 11th. One was larger with a dark face, the second appeared to be young with blonde cheeks and lacking the nose scar that Ollie is known for. Watched them both for 3-4 hours, they were eating urchins, crab, grooming, and exhibiting other common sea otter behaviours.
– Still just one male elephant seal on the rocks. Female was reported on Middle Rock by an ecotourism vessel.
Visitors:
- Greg to drop off supplies
Facility Work:
- Gardening/weeding
-
- Before
-
- Half way
-
- Done!
- Repaired some gaps in the electric fence
- Full clean inside keeper’s house (on bad weather day)
Noted Vessel Traffic:
- Ecotourism vessels, the same 2-3 seem to pass by each day
- Wednesday, March 13:
- Sky: Blue sky with some clouds
- Wind: Low of WNW 4 knots with high of WSW 18 knots
- Sea: Relatively calm today
- Temperature: Low 6oC, High 9oC
** 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:
Kendra – New Ecoguardian!
Hello blog readers! My name is Kendra, and I am the new Ecoguardian here on Race Rocks, so I thought I’d introduce myself.
I grew up in Tsawwassen, BC and have been in love with the ocean and all its creatures for as long as I can remember.
My background is in veterinary medicine, and I’ve been a Registered Veterinary Technician for 8 years now. Much of the work I’ve done in the veterinary field has been marine related. It all started back in 2017 when I worked in sea turtle rescue and rehabilitation in Australia and got my advanced diving license. Shortly after that I returned home to Vancouver where I worked in marine mammal rescue with the Vancouver Aquarium for 4 years, and absolutely fell in love with harbour seals – who remain my favourite animal!
For the past 1.5 years I’ve worked for Fisheries and Oceans Canada supporting Southern Resident killer whale recovery before moving into a marine mammal rescue and response role which brought me all over the BC coast.
Marine mammals are my passion and I’m so lucky to be living here on Race Rocks, fully surrounded by them. I must admit that I am not as familiar with birds, but I am quickly learning as each day goes by here and I’m enjoying watching all of the different behaviours and mating rituals.
March 6th Animal Census:
Birds
- Bald eagle adult: 3
- Bald eagle juvenile: 7
- Turnstones: 2
- Gulls, Glaucous and Western: 74
- Cormorants: 46
- Pigeon Guillemots: 53
- Oyster catcher: 20
- Canadian goose: 4
- Surf Birds: 3
Mammals
- Steller sea lion: 20
- Harbour seal: 44
- California sea lion: 26
- Elephant seal male: 1
- Sea otter: 0
- Animal Tracking and Injuries: none
Ecological Notes:
- 1 lone male elephant seal
Visitors:
- 1 alumni for a visit
- 2 guests for tour
Facility Work:
- Gardening
- Pressure washed the final bit of the jetty
- Split lots of wood for fires
DND events:
- 2 blasts March 4th at 14:30, no noted impact to animals but quite loud
- 5 blasts March 5th at various times throughout the day, startled nearby birds but they quickly returned
Noted Vessel Traffic:
- Ecotourism vessels, the same 2-3 seem to pass by each day
Feature Event:
- Transient orca passed by along the outside of the reserve but didn’t come through to hunt!
Weather Events:
- Monday, March 04:
- Sky: Sunny morning clear, 15:00 dark cloud and hailstorm!
- Wind: High WNW 21 knots, low of 0 knots in afternoon
- Sea: swells in the morning, chop picked up later in the day
- Temperature: Low 0oC, High 5oC
- Tuesday, March 05:
- Sky: Bright blue sky morning and full sun all day
- Wind: High of W 21 knots, low of SE 2 knots
- Sea: Flat calm all day long
- Temperature: Low 3oC, High 4oC
- Wednesday, March 06:
- Sky: Overcast, brief snow/hail at 10:30am
- Wind: High of N 23 knots, low of E 2 knots
- Sea: Calm, slight ripple
- Temperature: Low 2oC, High 5oC
** 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:
Animal Census
Census done by Students of WestCoast Adventure College during their stay here for classes
Birds
- Harlequin duck 12
- Bald eagle adult 5
- Bald eagle juvenile 2
- Golden Eagle juvenile 1
- Turnstones 10
- Gulls 323
- Cormorants 243
- Pigeon Guillemots 18
- Oyster catcher 6
- Canadian goose 10
- Surf Birds 2
- Dunlin 4
- Savannah Sparrow 1
Mammals
- Steller sea lion 79, including 1 female nursing a yearling
- Harbour seal 25
- California sea lion 40
- Sea otter 1
- Humpback whale, mid strait south of Race
- Orca 2 hunting in the reserve
- 6 hunting south of the reserve, waiting until the
- 2 joined them
Animal Census
Birds
- Harlequin duck 8
- Bald eagle adult 4
- Bald eagle juvenile 6
- Turnstones 17
- Dunlin 27
- Gulls 132
- Cormorants 87
- Oyster catcher 23
- Canadian goose 18
- Raven 2
- Crow 6
- other shore bird 7
Mammals
- Steller sea lion 134
- Harbour seal 8
- California sea lion 87
- River otter 1
- Sea otter 1 (reported to me by tourism vessel)
** Not on count day …. but there were transient orca in the reserve 3 days in a row last week
Animal Census
This last month, the daily numbers vary dramatically, possibly due to rapid changes in weather and ultra high tides (?) Still no Elephant Seals hauling out.
Birds
- Harlequin duck – 6
- Bald eagle adult – 4
- Bald eagle juvenile – 12
- Turnstones – 18
- Gulls – 43
- Cormorants – 74
- Oyster catcher – 6
- Canadian goose – 16
- Dunlin – 4
Mammals
- Steller sea lion – 132
- Harbour seal – 22
- California sea lion – 41
- Sea otter – 1 (reported to me by Eco-Tourism vessel)
Animal Census
- Bald eagle adult 2
- Bald eagle juvenile 4
- Barred Owl 1
- Black Turnstones 10
- Black Oyster Catchers 6
- Gulls 148
- Cormorants mostly Brandt’s 87
- Canadian goose 22
- Ravens 2
- Surf Scoters 12
- Dunlin 8
Mammals
- Steller sea lion 590
- Harbour seal 42
- California sea lion 380
- Sea Otter 1
Several Humpback Whales visible from the reserve
Animal census Oct 18
Beautiful day, but mostly high tide so a bit harder to count. Injured elephant seal still in the same 10m radius circle near the jetty, 48h after first sighting.
- 928 california sea lions
- 566 steller sea lions
- 8+ bowhead whales
- 10 canada geese
- 6 elephant seals
- 12 harbour seals
- 230 gulls (way more came back at dusk)
- 283 cormorans
- 3 black turnstone
- 1 brown pelican, passing by
- 2 ravens, passing by
Tags – see pictures attached. All sea lions except for 2 elephant seals:
- 312?
- 3
- 3X13
- 730
- 9776
- C?70
- C772
- C82?
- C927_456
- C945_X2
- K646_greentag_elephant_seal
- V27
- V839
- VA057_cookiecut
- X0
- X289
- X292
- X2
- X351_injured_elephant_seal
- X46
- X?55
- X55?
- X63
- X655
- X65?
- X68
- X6?
- X773