Category Archives: Mammal Notes

Ollie, the land otter!

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I’m back for a short stint on Race Rocks, and it feels strangely like home–with some improvements.  I much appreciate the upgrade to the composting toilet! Yesterday, I  conducted a simultaneous seawatch with Daniel Donnecke at Beechey Head.  He always seems to have higher numbers of most species and more diversity, but we definitely had some overlaps yesterday. If you would like to see our respective lists for the first two hours of decent light, here are the links:
Beechey Head hour 1
Race Rocks hour 1
Beechey Head hour 2
Race Rocks hour 2

Many of the birds that appeared on yesterday’s list weren’t on today’s, as seawatch counts extend well beyond the boundaries of the reserve.  On a seawatch, you can count a bird clear across the strait, if you can identify it!

The gulls and the guillemots have been very “busy” this week. There have been a lot of double-decker moments and cloacal kissing going on. There should be a bumper crop of chicks in the next few weeks!

One surprising sightings is an apparent Western Gull nesting on the east side of the island. Although they do breed as near as the Columbia River area, they are not usual breeders in the Puget Sound/Salish Sea area.  She may well have some Glaucous-winged Gull genes in her lineage, but nothing obvious from her appearance.

Western Gull

The two highlights for me this week have been the continuation of the Barn Swallow pair.  It seemed to me that suitable mud for their nest might have been a limiting factor, but they appear to have chosen a storage cupboard on the outside of the generator building as their potential location. This is very exciting!!

Barn Swallows

The second was a great encounter with Ollie, the sea otter. Today, during census, I found him out of the water on one of the exposed rocks on the west side of Great Race.  I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to see a sea otter in Victoria waters, but that bucket list item was checked off when I met Ollie several years ago.  I never even dreamed I would see him on land!  He came out to roll around in some seaweed, straighten some fur, have a little scratch, and then returned to his normal environment.

Ollie the sea otter

Census, 7 June 2023Birds

  • Bald Eagle                                       2 adult   1 juvenile
  • Glaucous winged Gulls                  412 many with nests, most nests with 3                                                                        eggs
  • Western Gull                                    1 (uncommon-not usual nester in this                                                                     area)
  • Caspian Tern                                     2
  • Brandt’s Cormorant                         55
  • Pigeon Guillemots                           139
  • Black Oystercatcher                         7
  • Barn Swallow                                     2
  • Canada Goose                                   2
  • Purple Martin                                     1 (at top of lighthouse)
  • Hummingbird sp.                               1 (probably Anna’s)

Mammals

  • Harbour seal                                 61
  • California sea lion                        10
  • Elephant seal sub adult male      1
  • Elephant seal adult female          1
  • Elephant seal pups                      1
  • Sea Otter                                       1

Visitors:

  • No visitors so far this week
  • Ecotourism traffic is building.  Several wildlife watching boats a day coming through now, sometimes multiple in the passage at once.

Facility Work: 

  • Cleaned windows and solar panels
  • Fixed basement screen door piston
  • Monitored leaking pump situation.  Attempted remedies didn’t work.

More photos:

** All wildlife photos taken at safe distances with high-powered zoom, 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?

Hawk and tag

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Ecological Notes:

  • 1 Female Elephant Seal in the center of the island, looks like one of this years moms
  • 1 near mature Male Elephant Seal
  • 1 tagged yearling Elephant Seal male, tagged in California at the age of 23 days on 2022-02-19 …. reported to appropriate resource

Near adult male on left, tagged yearling male on the right

  • 3 Elephant Seal pups from this season on the boat ramp
  • A first for me here at Race Rocks …. noticed the panicking gulls were making a slightly different noise, and sure enough, instead of Eagles it was a Red Tailed hawk!

Visitors:

  • A Pearson College alumni (and past Eco-Guardian) is visiting Race Rocks for a couple weeks, for a visit and to offer time to volunteer on projects.

Facility Work and tasks:

  • Month end paperwork and reporting, including Seawater data
  • Monthly equalization charge and weekly battery fluids top up

DND events:

  • Ongoing detonations
  • Noted that when they do multiple blasts in close succession, there is a greater reaction from the Sea Lions and birds.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Eco-Tourism vessels
  • 2 Kayakers,  that gave all wildlife a very good buffer, in the reserve at slack tide * note: they didn’t drop the fishing lure while they were in the reserve *

  • 3 private vessels visiting the reserve

 Noted Infractions:

  • 1 Private vessel did a highspeed bank turn and exited at full speed from well within the reserve…. Yes, this photo was taken after they left the reserve, and they had slowed a lot when they saw me come out with the camera

Weather Events:

  • Sunday, April 02:
    • Sky: Full range from high overcast, to clear with clouds to the south and north, to high overcast and mixed clouds
    • Wind: Variable calm-10 kts peaked to W 3 20 kts mid afternoon
    • Sea: lightly rippled
    • Temperature Low 4oC, High 8oC
  • Monday April 03, :
    • Sky:Mostly Clear to overcast
    • Wind: low WSW rising to W 30kts lat in the afternoon
    • Sea:  light chop turning to larger swells by evening
    • Temperature Low 4oC, High 7oC

 

 

** 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?

College Collaboration

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Ecological Notes:

  • 1 Female Elephant Seal
  • 1 Near-Adult Male elephant seal
  • 1 (sex to be determined) tagged Elephant Seal, sized as a near adult Female, or juvenile male

  • Elephant Seal pups: 3, spending most of their time on the boat ramp, with visits to the water
  • 2 Canada Goose nests now have eggs

Visitors:

  • 5 Students, and one of the owners of the WestCoast Adventure College spent 3 days at the Student and Science Centre, doing a Marine Mammals of the Salish Sea Program with the Eco-Guardian, as well as a thorough introduction to the operations of the facility.
  • A Group form the Beecher Bay First Nations visited to see the facility and the Student And Science Centre

Facility Work:

  • As part of the Community Involvement portion of their program the WAC students helped with Facility duties, including the animal census, solar panel cleaning, and helping to move driftwood from the lower area to the bucking area ….. some were particularly interested in learning the day to day tasks of operations. Future Eco-Guardians??

WestCoast Adventure College students with their Marine Mammal Instructor

Conducting the Animal Census for the tower

Bird Poop 101

Ready to buck and split

  • Battery servicing

DND events:

  • Ongoing detonations

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Eco-Tourism Vessels
  • Some private vessels viewing wildlife

** 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?

Vessel Visitors

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Ecological Notes:

  • 3 Elephant Seal pups, camping out at the top end of the pier, with occasional visits to the water

Facility Work/Activity:

  • The sawbuck turns out very nice for bucking logs.

  • Stripping down, pressure washing and cleaning of the Natures Head from the main house, awaiting a new seal for between the halves
  • More nook and cranny clean up

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 2 Ecotourism Vessels
  • 1 Sailboat did a pass on the outside, then back towards Victoria through middle channel (past the pier)

  • A private vessel spent time in middle channel, doing wedding photos with the main island and the lighthouse in the background

 Noted Infractions:

  • 1 vessel from a local boat charter company fishing in the reserve. No response to radio contact. When I contacted the charter company, they were already watching the boat on the RR web cam and trying to contact them….. they left shortly after the phone call.

Weather Events:

  • Saturday, March18:
    • Sky: Clear and Sunny, full visibility
    • Wind: ENE 5 kts, rising to 15 kts mid day, veering to S and dropping back to low late afternoon
    • Sea: rippled
    • Temperature Low 6oC, High 11oC
  • Sunday, March 19:
    • Sky: High overcast, full water level visibility
    • Wind: NE 15 kts,veering to N and dropping to 0 kts by evening
    • Sea:  Flat calm
    • Temperature Low 8oC, High 11oC

 

 

** 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?

Pinniped Notes

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Ecological Notes:

  • All 3 Adult Female Elephant seals have left the island, occasionally showing up late at night, bellowing from the high points of the island for a couple hours, then returning to the ocean. I wonder if they are calling out looking for males?
  • The 3 Elephant Seal pups have formed their own little pack and have been spending time”wrestling” and exploring the small standing fresh water pond. They also have been exploring the mud flats to the north of the house, looking out towards the water. In past years, they have followed adults down to the water via the boat ramp, but haven’t seemed to explore that way yet.

Meeting at the scratching branch

“This is our Ocean!” (not really, it’s just a mud puddle)

“The real ocean is out there….. but how do we get to it?”

  • Big Male Steller Sea Lions have pretty much taken over the prime area of rock by the crane shed. The largest each take their own rock, and are surround by smaller ones that look to me like females. Remembering that in December, I photographed 4 different females nursing young here at Race Rocks.

  • Female Steller nursing a pup!

A couple California Sea Lions in this one, but normally just big males Stellers and smaller Stellers (females?)

  • There are fewer California sea lions around, but there are reports of many hauled out at Trial Island, which has not been seen for many years.

Visitors:

  • Quick visit from Pearson staff with family members
  • Due to weather, just a quick touch and go from the waterfront coordinator for deliveries

Facility Work:

  • Swapped tires and rims off a hand truck to the pressure washer trolley while repairing the ones off the trolley
  • Gradual pressure washing of paths and grime on buildings

DND events:

  • Ongoing Detonations

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Limited Eco-Tourism in some of the weather breaks

 Feature Event:

  •  none

Weather Events:

  • Previous week was a full range of cold wind, light snow, and rain squalls
  • Saturday , February 25:
    • Sky: Overcast with Sunny Breaks
    • Wind: E to NE – 5 – 12 kts
    • Sea: 1 meter waves most of the day
    • Temperature Low -1oC, High 4oC
  • Sunday, February 26:
    • Sky: Full mix of sun, cloud, and overcast as the system moves through rapidly, including mixes of sleet and hail
    • Wind: W 35-40kts, dropping over the day to 1o kts
    • Sea:  1 meter waves in the morning, flattening as the day progressed
    • Temperature Low 1oC, High 6oC

 

 

** 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?

Biggs Orca Visit

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(trouble adding photos, will try to add more later)

Ecological Notes:

  • 1 Female Elephant Seal (mom #3), still nursing her pup
  • 1 Female Elephant Seal (mom #2) visiting nightly, bellowing loudly for a few hours, then normally leaving by morning.
  • 3 Elephant Seal pups, 1 nursing, 2 weened
  • Biggs (Transient) Orca family, T041s visited at twilight on Tuesday, milling for a long time around the Harbour Seal haul out on the south rock. They also circled the main island twice.

T041 and her daughter T041A, 2 others not in this photo as well

 

Facility Work:

  • Weekly battery maintenance
  • Main generator oil and filters changed
  • Pressure washed some slippery walk sections, and some main house windows.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Eco-tourism vessels
  • 1 Eco-tourism vessel visited a few times as a boat based classroom

 

  • Cedric, from the Pearson College waterfront team, visited the reserve with a friend by kayak, but did not come ashore.

 

Weather Events:

  • Monday, February 13:
    • Sky: Overcast with lots of high cloud cover rolling through
    • Wind: WSW 25-30 kts, veering to W35-45 kts later in the afternoon, gusting to 55 kts
    • Sea: 1-2 meter waves with chop on top
    • Temperature Low 5oC, High 9oC
  • Tuesday, February 14:
    • Sky: Mostly overcast, low clouds to the south
    • Wind: 5-10 kts, N veering around to S during the day
    • Sea: 2′ chop
    • Temperature Low 5oC, High 8oC
  • Wednesday, February 15:
    • Sky: Light high overcast, with sunny breaks
    • Wind: S 0-5 kts, backing to E late afternoon
    • Sea:  light chop
    • Temperature Low 5oC, High 8oC

 

 

** 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

 

Cold and Clear

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Ecological Notes:

 

  • 3 female Elephant Seals (mom #1 returned in the night)
  • 3 Elephant Seal pups. Pup #1, born Dec 26, 2022, is independent, not associating directly with mom #1

  • Relative rare sighting of a Sanderling

Black Oystercatchers feeding

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 3 Eco-Tourism Vessels

Weather Events:

  • Yesterday (Sunday January 29):
    • Sky: Sunny and clear
    • Wind: NNE 15kts shifting to NE later in the day
    • Sea: Rippled, no swell or waves
    • Temperature Low 1oC, High 6oC
  • Today (Monday January 30):
    • Sky: Mostly clear with some clouds, very slight overall haze, full light overcast by afternoon
    • Wind: NNE 10 kts , veering to SSE in the afternoon
    • Sea: Rippled, no swell or waves
    • Temperature Low 0oC, High 3oC – although wind speed is low, there is definitely a wind chill factor
    • Standing “fresh” water pools are all frozen

 

** 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?

Third Elephant Seal Pup

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Ecological Notes:

  • 2 female Elephant Seals (first mom has left the island for now)
  • 3 Elephant Seal pups, 3rd one born just before sunrise on Jan 26th, one month after the first pup was born

Visitors:

  • 36 Pearson College students, (over 6 trips) with their instructor

  • The Marine and Seafront Operations Coordinator transported students, groceries, parcels, and supplies.

Facility Work:

  • Replaced the motherboard on the Desalinator (again) as the last one was defective

Concentrate outflow from the Desalinator

  • After the first run, the main unit was due for an oil change, completed for the  high pressure pump.
  • Pacing myself on bucking, splitting and moving firewood

DND events:

  • Several detonations over a couple days. No disturbance noted.

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 4 Eco-Tourism vessels
  • 3  private vessels

 Feature Event:

  •  Checking heater tapes and heaters preparing for possible freezing weather.
  • Stored some extra tap water for dishes and washing, in case the lines freeze again

Not for drinking!

Weather Events:

  • Yesterday (Friday January 27):
    • Sky: Overcast
    • Wind: Variable 5-15 kts
    • Sea: rippled to 1 meter chop
    • Temperature Low 6oC, High 9oC
  • Today (Saturday January 28):
    • Sky: Overcast in the morning, afternoon, clear and sunny to overcast in the evening
    • Wind: E 5 to 15 knots in the morning,increasing to northeast 15 to 25 near noon and to NE 40+ kts in the evening
    • Sea:  1-2 meter waves and chop
    • Temperature Low  5oC, High 8 oC

 

** 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?

Students Visiting the Elephant Seals

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** Server not allowing photo uploads, will try to add later

Ecological Notes:

  • 2 Adult  Female Elephant Seals, 1 expecting, 1 with calf below
  • 1  Elephant Seal Pup, 2 weeks old
  • 1 Juvenile Male Elephant Seal (yearling?). He is determined to be with the others, but they keep chasing him away. He does a big loop around the flagpole mound and returns
  • Still finding gull remains from the Eagle hunts, but have also seen the eagles swoop diving on the Turnstones as well
  • Have seen all 3 types of Cormorants this last week – Pelagic, Double Crested, and Brandt’s 
  • Most gulls present are  Iceland (formerly Thayer’s)
  • Thanks to Ann Nightingale for helping me to learn to ID more birds!

Visitors:

  • Cedric brought 2 groups of 6 students with their Teacher over to see and learn about the Elephant Seals and pup

Weather Events:

  • Primarily N/NE winds for the last week, overcast with lots of snow
  • Tuesday January 10:
    • Sky: Slight haze, light haze, mostly sunny in the morning
    • Wind: N/NE winds 10-15 Kts in the morning
    • Sea: Flat calm
    • Temperature Low 7 oC, High 9 oC
  • Wednesday January 11:
    • Overcast with a mix of sunny periods
    • Wind: N/NE 10-20kts
    • Sea:  1 meter waves
    • Temperature Low 8oC, High  10oC

 

 

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?