March 28 and 29 – Spring Cleaning

Wind: yesterday variable 1-19 knots, today W 5-25 knots
Sea State: yesterday calm, today up to 1 m chop
Visibility: yesterday 10 NM, today 15 NM
Sky: yesterday partly cloudy, today clear
Temperature: yesterday 8-10 °C, today 7-9 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 415.68 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

Today marks a big milestone for me, spending 100 days at Race Rocks. I’ve enjoyed witnessing the entire winter and transition into spring from this incredible ecological reserve on the edge, where the land meets the sea meets the sky.

Lots of chores were done around the island this weekend: cleaning windows, chopping wood rounds with the axe, vacuuming and mopping.

Two pleasure boats were in the ecological reserve today. A lone occupant of on of those boats was fishing near North Rocks.

Census Friday

Wind: yesterday mostly from W 4-22 knots, today N-NE 2-9 knots
Sea State: yesterday calm in morning 0.5m chop in afternoon, today calm
Visibility: both days 5-15 NM
Sky: yesterday overcast with patches of rain and sun, today partly cloudy
Temperature: both days 6-8 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 415.43 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

Census results from today:
6 elephant seals (2 female pups, 1 female juvenile, 3 female adults)
21 steller sea lions
62 california sea lions
1 sea otter
91 harbour seals
3 bald eagles (1 juvenile, 2 adults)
12 Canada geese
6 brandt’s cormorants
4 double-crested cormorants
10 pelagic cormorants
59 thayer’s gulls
12 black oystercatchers
14 harlequin ducks
108 pigeon guillemots
56 surfbirds
26 black turnstones
1 killdeer
1 song sparrow

There were no boats in the ecological reserve over the past two days.

 

Shoreline Debris

Wind: yesterday N-NE 25-53 knots, today NE-S 9-45 knots
Sea State: both days rough with waves up to 2 m
Visibility: both days 10-15 NM
Sky: both days clear
Temperature: yesterday 0-3 °C, today 1-6 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 414.33 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

The wind was strong all day yesterday until mid afternoon today, when it began to die down. The cool temperatures and winds blasted some of the plants that were exposed on the north side. The high pressure and clear skies were great for the solar power. For the first time this winter, the batteries recharged themselves today, reaching full charge just after 4:00 this afternoon. Normally, I top the batteries up with the generator for a few hours each evening. Hopefully the voltage of the batteries will remain at a good level until the sun rises at 7:24 and begins to feed the solar panels soon after.

For the past two and a half months, I have been combing the shoreline, picking up all the trash that washes ashore. I picked up a lot of pieces of plastic, rope, foam, fishing gear, buckets and other things that floated their way here. There are only three small beaches on the island that collect garbage: the boat ramp, east bay and the tombolo, which at low tide connects the south side of the island with the south seal rocks. There must be a massive amount of trash that floats by Race Rocks and doesn’t get captured by the shoreline. On the south side of the island, I found a lot of metal and pieces of ceramic that were mostly from the days when the old things and buildings on the island were disposed of by pushing them into the water. A few of the items I found are going to be reused: dog toys, floats and rope. The rest will be either recycled or sent to the landfill.

There were two tour boats in the ecological reserve this weekend, both today.

Other photos from around the island over the past two days:

Exciting Sightings

Wind: yesterday 0-31 knots from W to E to N, today 10-17 knots from N-NE
Sea State: yesterday rippled, today rippled with chop up to 1 m in morning
Visibility: both days 10-15 NM
Sky: both days clear
Temperature: yesterday 5-7 °C, today 4-6 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 413.85 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

There were some exciting sightings over the past two days. Just before sunset this evening, a pod of orcas was swimming in the current to the west of the island. There were at least five or six orcas of various ages.

This morning, between 20 to 30 pigeon guillemots were paddling through the Middle Channel, to the north of the main island. Some still have grey-ish heads of their winter plumage.

Yesterday one tour boat, two sailboats and three pleasure crafts passed through the ecological reserve. Today three tour boats travelled by the islands. No visitors were on the island.

The military was doing demolition training for the past two days on Bentinck Island.

See the photos below for sights from the past two days:

Sunday Census

Wind: yesterday 3-34 knots from N to W, today 19-33 knots from W
Sea State: yesterday rippled, today chop up to 1 m
Visibility: both days 10-15 NM
Sky: yesterday partly cloudy with rain in evening, today overcast then heavy rain late morning clearing in afternoon
Temperature: yesterday 6-9 °C, today 6-7 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 413.05 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

Census results from Sunday, February 16:
7 elephant seals (4 adult males, 2 female pups, 1 male pup)
68 california sea lions
21 steller sea lions
40 harbour seals
9 bald eagles (8 adults, 1 juvenile)
2 Canada geese
19 brandt’s cormorants
16 double-crested cormorants
30 pelagic cormorants
547 gulls (mostly thayer’s gulls)
2 black oystercatchers
8 harlequin ducks
10 black turnstones
1 song sparrow
1 snow bunting

Yesterday, I used the leaf blower in the boat house to clean out the thousands of dead flies left over from last summer. I laid out 76 m (250′) of fire hose to pump water from the jetty to the cistern. The fire pump ran for a couple hours to top up the seawater cistern used for the desalinator.

For the first time this winter, I saw about 20 pigeon guillemots in the water just north of the jetty yesterday morning. I haven’t seen any since.

There were 3 tour boats in the ecological reserve yesterday and no visitors on the island this weekend.

Photos from the past two days:

Groundhog Day

Wind: yesterday 0-52 knots from S to W, today 0-18 knots from W to NE
Sea State: yesterday rippled with waves up to 1 m in afternoon and evening, today rippled
Visibility: yesterday 5-10 NM, today 15 NM
Sky: yesterday rain then patches of sun, today clear
Temperature: yesterday 5-12 °C, today 3-5 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 414.49 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

This morning at sunrise, the elephant seals saw their shadows. As the lore goes for their fellow mammal the groundhog, that means six more weeks of winter. Hard to believe with the crocuses blooming and daffodils buds almost ready to burst. Although, there is snow in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow as the temperature drops to 0 °C.

There were no visitors to the island. Two eco tour boats were seen in the reserve this afternoon.

Here are the results for the weekly census, conducted in the afternoon of Sunday, February 2:
10 elephant seals (3 female adults, 4 male adults, 1 female pup, 1 male pup and 1 unknown gendered pup)
147 steller sea lions
288 california sea lions
104 harbour seals
10 bald eagles (5 adults, 5 juveniles)
1 raven
109 brandt’s cormorants
182 pelagic cormorants
49 double-crested cormorants
24 canada geese
931 gulls (most are thayer’s gulls)
18 black oystercatchers
1 whimbrel
1 surf scoter
8 harlequin ducks
16 black turnstones
1 snow bunting
1 fox sparrow

Saturday

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots North West
  • Sky: clear and sunny all day
  • Water: calm

Ecological

  • Two e-seals on Great Race.

Maintenance

  • Ran the desalinator.
  • Did some goose work.

Boats

  • A few boats wandered by.
  • The Mahimahi, a US container ship departed from Seattle, was especially noisy as it passed by.

Visit from Cheanuh First Nations

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 10-15 knots SW, later 5-10 West
  • Sky: clear
  • Water: 1′ chop

Ecological

  • A new female elephant seal appeared this afternoon.
  • The weaner moved about 3 feet all day, snoozing on top of the cistern.
  • Watched some geese engage in battle.
  • Some nice flowers.

Maintenance

  • Month end report data collection.
  • Stacked some firewood.
  • Did some goose work.

Boats

  • Kyle came out in Second Nature with some visitors from the local First Nations Reserve.
  • While presumably checking out the harbour seals, they came across a boat with some of their friends in it.

Visitors

  • The chief from Cheanuh, his wife, and their two children came out with Kyle and Guy.

Daffodils and Rain

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots SE, later N
  • Water: rippled
  • Sky: overcast, rain in the afternoon

Ecological

  • One lone seagull has been pecking away at the weaner. Nature at work.
  • Chunk attempted to mate with the grieving mother. Then he left the island at 17:00.
  • Great Race mum and pup, Lady, and Middle Rock mum and pup still present. No sign of Chuckles today.
  • Noticed about 12 harbour seals out on the rocks. It’s not everyday that they’re here.
  • The daffodils started to open up today. Purple crocus and various other flowers have been open for over a week.

Maintenance

  • Started organizing and tidying up the Student’s House.

Boats

  • The HMCS Whitehorse was out near Albert Head in the morning.
  • Two eco-tours came by in the afternoon. The second boat seemed too close to a group of sea lions, half of whom then stampeded into the water.

March 20 – Spring Equinox

Overcast with occasional light rain
Wind: NE 6-15 knots
Air Temperature: Low 9.2°C, High 11.2°C
Ocean Temperature: 8.8°C

The Spring Equinox brought more of the same weather. The daffodils, which have been in bloom for about a month, are beginning to die off. The canadian geese and gulls are still spending their days looking for their future nesting sites. They are getting more aggressive with each other. I don’t need an alarm clock in the morning, because the birds wake me up with the sun. The goose droppings are piling up in various deposits around the main island.

Courtney brought out a group on Second Nature from Pearson: Roman, Noemi, Roger, Catherine, Heather and Kim. They will be staying for the weekend and helping with some service projects on Saturday.