Tag Archives: fish balls

Students end project week

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 9.1 ºC »» Min. 7.3 ºC »» Reset 8.5 ºC »» Rain 1.9 mm
MARINE LIFE:Still seeing fish balls but they are small and not as frequent as in the past weeks. Daily visitors are the usual gulls, Starlings,Crows,Black Turnstones, Surf Birds, Cormorants,Sparrows, Harlequin Ducks,a group of about 30 Black Oyster Catchers and the geese-usually 6 but every couple of days the 7th joins the group for at least part of the day. The Sealion population is still fairly low for this time of year as many of them have left the area since the last series of blasting on Bentinck Island.
HUMAN INTERACTION: Chris in with 2nd Nature to return Rosie, Ahmad and Jeremias to Campus. Garry out in 2nd Nature with guests also 4 Ecotour boats and 2 pleasurecraft through today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:19 PM
Good morning
WEATHER: Sky Overcast »» Vis. 10 Miles »» Wind North 11 Knots »» Sea Choppy
Goodbye RR, thanks for our marvellous project week.posted by Race Rocks Relief at 7:48 AM
Good Evening
Temperature: Max. 9.1 ºC »» Min. 7.1 ºC »» Reset 8.0 ºC
Rainfall: 9.0mm

Our last evening on the island has arrived, we’ll spend it editing
the rest of our projects.
posted by Race Rocks Relief at 7:47 AM

Sealions that seemed to be ‘fishing’ together,

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 9.5 ºC »» Min. 3.9 ºC »» Reset 6.8 ºC
MARINE LIFE: Watched a group of 5 or 6 Northern Sealions that seemed to be ‘fishing’ together, since most of the action took place under the water it is only conjecture but 4 good sized fish were brought to the surface within seconds. Other marine animals are known to work together to corral fish so it is not too surprising that sealions might as well. There are still fish balls but are small and short lived with fewer birds.
HUMAN INTERACTION: There were 14 Ecotour boats,1 research boat( the Drifter) 3 sail boats, 1 Dive Charter and 2 pleasurecraft in the MPA today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:03 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Part Cloudy »» Vis. 15 Miles »» Wind North East 7 Knots »» Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:47 AM

Blue Heron spent several hours fishing

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 8.9 ºC »» Min. 5.0 ºC »» Reset 7.7 ºC
MARINE LIFE: Still seeing numerous fish balls mostly in the tidelines outside the MPA boundries but the number of sea birds is down considerably from last week. There were 5 Harlequins in the little bay on the east side of Gr. Race also one Blue Heron spent several hours fishing in the eastern kelp bed then just before sunset flew off toward Bentinck Island. There are 5 California Sealions hauled out along the north shore of Gr. Race that have fresh looking wounds, mostly in the hind flipper area, my guess, evidence of encounters with the transient Orcas that have been in the area quite often lately. There are still about 600 Cormorants in the area, another indication that the food supply is still good.
HUMAN INTERACTION: Second Nature in with Angus, Scott over to work on the the cameras and computers. Station boat out to return Scott to campus and to Pedder Bay. There were 5 Ecotour boats, 1 pleasurecraft through today.posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:05 PM

Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Part Cloudy »» Vis. 15 Miles »» Wind North East 21 Knots »» Sea 3 Foot Moderate
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:25 AM

Sea lion population still down

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 9.5 ºC »» Min. 4.9 ºC »» Reset 7.9 ºC
MARINE LIFE: The population of Sealions is still down since the last series of blasts so it is fairly quiet,the animals hauled out by the winch house are quite nervous of any activity on or near the dock. With another series of blasts in the coming weeks they may just move away altogether. Saw only 5 small fish balls today and not many birds feeding, seem to have followed the food elsewhere for now. The geese were back, at least 6 of them.
HUMAN INTERACTION: The LGL observers arrived first thing this morning and left at 16:30 and as careful as they were the sealions closest to the dock took to the water.There were 8 Ecotour boats through today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:08 PM

Fish balls and thousands of birds feeding

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Good Evening TEMPERATURE: Max. 13.9 ºC »» Min. 8.3 ºC »» Reset 11.1 ºC

MARINE LIFE: Still thousands of sea birds feeding at times in the ‘fish balls’ that are smaller and less frequent than the pass few days. Do not remember an October with this many gulls or cormorants in the reserve, usually we have more wind and rain but the very light winds and good supply of food fish have really provided optimum conditions for the birds.

HUMAN INTERACTION: There were 11 Ecotour boats, 5 pleasurecraft in the reserve. The station boat to Pedder Bay and back,also Garry and students out in Second Nature for late afternoon class. posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:19 PM

Congregation of gulls

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 13.7 ºC »» Min. 8.9 ºC »» Reset 10.2 ºC »» Rain 0.4 mm
MARINE LIFE: Today there are hundreds of gulls on Gr. Race and hundreds more on all the other rocks and perched on the kelp. Did see a few fish balls but mostly the gulls are just sitting on shore. The majority are juveniles. The 6 geese are here again -think they must have spent the night.
HUMAN INTERACTION: Garry was over this morning in Hyaku to work on the computer for camera #2 which has been ‘acting up’ the last few days. There were 5 Ecotour boats and 3 pleasurecraft in the reserve today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:01 PM

Rosedale Light misplaced!

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 13.7 ºC »» Min. 7.1 ºC »» Reset 10.3 ºC
MARINE LIFE: A perfect day for the thousands of sea birds feeding in the many fish balls, most of the action was some distance outside the reserve but many of the cormorants and gulls landed to rest in the kelp and along the shore. Birds coming and going all day, the fishing seemed good for the sea lions as well, saw several 8-10 lb salmon caught just off the end of the dock.
HUMAN INTERACTION: There were 22 Ecotour boats and 7 pleasurecraft in the reserve today. One pleasure craft – open aluminum Girgor, approx. 4metres long 14K 33165 4 persons onboard were fishing in the reserve between Gr. Race and North Rocks.Reported this infraction to Fisheries. Near noon noticed a tug towing a log barge very close to the Rosedale light buoy, shortly after could not see the buoy and recieved several calls on the marine radio from sports fishers that they also noticed the buoy missing. Sometime later ‘found’ the buoy about 1 mile southwest of it’s designated position. Called Coast Guard and hopefully they will soon reposition the buoy.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:37 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Clear »» Vis. 15 Miles »» Wind East 7 Knots »» Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:22 AM

The Pigeon Guillemots are busy feeding young

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Friday, July 05, 2002 Good Evening

TEMPERATURE: Max 16.0 C Min. 8.9 C Reset 14.7 C
MARINE LIFE: The Pigeon Guillemots are busy feeding young while the gulls take turns nest sitting with eggs hatching everyday now. There have been ‘fish’ balls off and on all day mostly just outside the M.P.A. boundaries so far a good supply of food for the birds and their young. Only one bald eagle came into the area this evening but was driven off towards Whirl Bay before it could get close to Gr. Race, the gulls are hyper vigilant now that they have young and are on high alert to any threats. The gulls around our house are used to us coming and going but the others will dive at us to warn us away and happily use us as targets so it’s hat season and not just to keep the out the uv rays! At night there is a lot of banging and clatter on the roof from the 35-40 gulls that spend the night up there. It is hard to believe there are just birds up there from all the noise. Did not hear the birds screeching last night so I guess the otter isn’t coming around every night.
HUMAN INTERACTION: There were 23 ecotour boats and 9 pleasure craft through today; we made a return trip to Pedder Bay in the station boat and enjoyed another great sunset on a calm sea.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 11:05 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Clear  Vis. 15 Miles  Wind West 6 Knots  Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:27 AM

Gulls drive off eagle

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‘Mature bald eagle made one flight just after 6 this morning but was driven out by the gulls and all was quiet until a juvenile eagle arrived approx. 16:00. The gulls were quickly in the air and the young eagle gave up rather easily and headed off towards Bentinck Island.Just at sunset a lone adult bald eagle flew low over the water by West Race but the gulls spotted the big bird and headed it off before reaching Gr. Race. It really is amazing how the gulls work together to chase predators away. One of the large Elephant Seals spent several hours floating with his head just above the water near the east tip of Middle Rock.In the late afternoon there was a fair size fish ball near the kelp bed south of Gr. Race, the birds had a good feed.The sports fishers talking on the VHF radios are reporting a lot of bait fish so hope it”s a good supply for the nesters and their young this year.’, ‘Carol or Mike S’, ’16:19:41 ,