Tag Archives: Orca

Knowledgeable Visitor

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My solitude has been broken,
Yesterday Garry Fletcher,a former Pearson College teacher and current ecological reserve  warden, came to the island to spend the night.  He was taking advantage of the last weekday low tide for the next 8 days to get some pictures of the intertidal life.  I sure am glad that he did!

Facility Work:
His stay started with an oil change of the diesel generator that is on the island.  This has to be done every 200 hours.

Greg giving me a quick rundown before he has to head back to the college

Cleaning of solar panels (daily)
Cleaning of windows (as needed)
Cleaning interior of secondary residence

The next morning we attacked the reason for his visit first thing in the morning while the tide was still dropping

Here I am paying out the tape  on peg 15 to then take pictures of the intertidal life at low tide.   Garry was collecting this data to compare with baseline photo transects taken many years ago.

Ecological Notes:
Several Orcas were sighted in Race Passage.

Garry also took this video of a sea otter passing us when we were working in the intertidal area.off the North East corner of Great Race Island.

noted Western X Glaucous-winged Gull  hybrid by helicopter pad

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

Weather – Past: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Environment Canada forecast:

https://weather.gc.ca/marine/region_e.html?mapID=02

Animal Count

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Hello! Happy Friday:)

This week I took on the task of counting all the animals on the reserve,

Armed with a clicker, binoculars and my camera I got to work:

I counted:

23 California Sea lions
115 Stellar sea lions
133 Harbour seals
4 Orcas (Transients)
1 Humpback Whale
7 Oystercatchers
2 Cormorants
6 Pigeon Guillemots
20 Black Turnstones
3 Ruddy Turnstones
1 Short Billed Dowitcher (I believe)

That day I felt that there were fewer common birds in the area than usual, except for the seagulls! They were everywhere!

I counted 3885 seagulls

This, to me, seemed like an absurd number. I recounted the pictures multiple times as I was convinced I had made a mistake, but would be proven wrong (Although I am not dismissing the very big possibility of my human error)

Here are some pictures of the waters surrounding the main island

(Feel free to expand the pictures to appreciate the sheer volume of white specs that are on the images)

Here are a couple pictures of the Short Billed Dowitcher (Thanks Halle), I had not yet had the chance to see this bird, it was hanging around the Turnstones for the better part of the afternoon.

I was also very lucky with Orca seeing, yet again, the pod of transient orcas around the island.

I was also lucky enough to see a humpback surface a couple of times, but it was too far away for me to capture it.

Weather events:

It has been quite uneventful, the intense westerlies have subsided for the most part and I am getting a break in the clouds mostly in the afternoons.

I did see more cirrus clouds on Tuesday that were very similar to the ones we had previously seen in height, texture and size.  Those also brought me a few minutes of sprinkling the next day.

 

Facility work:

Washing solar panels (Daily)
Washing windows (as needed)
Sweeping second residence
Maintenance/Repairs on power washer
Water levels in the battery
Optimizing electric fence (Jetty)

Groceries and Orcas

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One thing about being in the wild that I find exciting is how your “planned out” day can turn around in an instant. Yesterday I had one of those moments.

Greg had scheduled to stop by the island to get some work done and drop off groceries, although the work part of his mission out to the rock fell through he still came out to drop off some food…  And I’m glad he did!

Ecological Notes: As he was approaching the dock he gets word on the radio that a group of orcas are nearby.  After I bolt inside to drop off the groceries and grab the camera, we head out to fight the current and take a look.

Fair enough the orcas, T018’s (from what I have been told, thanks Sean!) were floating about, they were quite calm and stayed put for the time we were out on the water but managed to snap a few shots to share with you :)

Meteorology:

The last few days have been overcast, but the cloud cover cleared up this afternoon.

There is a semi-stationary ridge (fancy word for high pressure system that isn’t moving very much) off the west coast of Vancouver Island.  This explains the constant and somewhat strong westerlies we’ve been having.

High pressure also usually means little to no clouds.  Now that the clouds have cleared I am hopeful that this might be the beginning of a clear sky break!!  I do my best to try and limit my power consumption on the island.  Days I can rely solely on solar power are quite rewarding, we’ll have to wait and see.

 

Tasks:

Washed solar panels (Daily)

Washed windows

Continuation of Moving old building materials

Continuation of cleaning the outside of secondary residence

A Whale of a Day

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The sunsets here at Race Rocks are amazing, but the sunrises are pretty spectacular as well. This morning the roving mass of California Gulls were hanging out among the kelp on the southeast side of the island. Hundreds of gulls all looking for breakfast!  The krill is still around, at least early in the day, but you can tell that it’s moving around because the flock of birds will be here one minute and gone the next.

Sunrise at Race Rocks with Mt Baker in the background

While I’m not seeing a lot of bird diversity during my stay here, I have been given the chance to study the behaviours of the gulls. With all the krill in the area, there is no shortage of food, and the young Glaucous-winged Gulls know that.  Depending on their age and whether or not there are siblings, the adults may regurgitate directly into the chick’s mouth, or onto the ground so the young can fight over it.

Single chick gets special delivery of food

Triplets fighting for the goodies the adult brought from the sea.

One of the most interesting behaviours I’ve seen has been that of a young gull that has figured out that even though it can’t fly, it can swim!  For three days now, I’ve seen this single chick in the channel to the east of the island. I suspect that it accidentally ended up in the water one day and survived to tell the tale. It certainly is more mobile than the other youngsters on the island.

Meandering along like this is normal

Completely able to come ashore when it wants to

And speaking of flying, it’s incredibly amusing to watch the antics of the youngsters trying to make their wings work.

Today I saw the first Orcas of my visit here. The marine radio is a constant companion, and while most of the chatter is about where the best fishing is, tonight a call came in about Orcas just off Bentinck Island. A pod of 5 put on an incredible show for the whale-watching boats and private vessels.  They moved from Bentinck to the mouth of Pedder Bay and continued the action for more than half an hour.

Surprise! The pod surrounded this small boat.

Earlier in the day, Daniel Donnecke was at Rocky Point and spotted Humpback Whales to the east of Race Rocks. I managed to get on them thanks to his sighting. Two whale species day!

Ecological Notes:

Mammals

2 Humpback Whale

5 Orca

2 Harbour Porpoise

1 male Elephant Seal (went to the water early today–around 10 am–and spent the whole day there. Still on the ramp at dark)

California Sea Lion

Steller’s Sea Lion

Good contrast between male Steller’s in the rear and male California in front of him

Harbour Seal

Mom and nursing pup

Birds

5 Canada Geese

1 Killdeer

8 Black Oystercatcher

14 Black Turnstone

This Black Turnstone hasn’t yet moulted all of its breeding plumage. Note the white speckles on the chest and pale eyebrow.

This one is a little closer to the birds we typically see here in the winter.

3 Surfbird

6 Common Murre

60 Pigeon Guillemot

3 Heermann’s Gull

700 California Gull

Little white specks of a massive flock of (mostly) California Gulls

600 Glaucous-winged Gull

3 Pelagic Cormorant

5 Double-crested Cormorant

Double-crested Cormorants with Pelagic Cormorant and Pigeon Guillemots

1 Brown-headed Cowbird

Facility Work: Cleaned solar panels and continued fly-busting in the houses

Vessel Traffic: Late start for the eco-tourism vessels. Saw very few before 11, then they were steady the rest of the day until dusk. Very large container vessel heading west.

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

Weather – Past: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Animal Census-July 28, 2021

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Weather: west wind 15 knots, fog cleared by 8 a.m. visibility good

Tide .8 m at 12 noon

Elephant Seal 1 male, 1 female
Orcas 4
Seals 68 (13 pups?) on south and south seal rocks
Sea Lions both Stellar and California 60 on middle and west rocks
Gulls

While I was counting these gulls there were 2 “feeding flocks” just off the island with about 1000 gulls so there may have been fewer gulls on the islands than usual
660 on rocks below generator shed western and glaucous winged gulllls
110 on island “nesting” mostly glaucous winged gulls but several western/hybrid gullls nesting as well
estimate of between 80 and 150 chicks

Cormorants 14
Pigeon Guillemots 56
Surfbirds 8
Black turnstones 58
Black Oystercatcher 18? they are hard to count as they move around so much 1 new chick!

Bald Eagle 1

Western sand piper 4

can you identify this bird? red knot ?

Bird Courting Time

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Ecological Notes:

  • 6 female Elephant Seals, 3 molting very heavily
  • 2 Elephant Seal pups, one spent much of the day soaking in the water at the end of the boat ramp
  • Although not right in the reserve, observed one Humpback whale, about 1 mile south, and Transient Orca between the reserve and Bentinck Island. Identified as the T101’s and T100B’s
  • Lots of courting behavior observed with the Pigeon Guillemots, and also the Harlequin ducks

Pigeon Guillemots

Harlequin Ducks

Facility Work:

  • Pressure washing main building

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 5 EcoTourism boats, spread throughout  the afternoon
  • 3 separate sport boat went through the reserve at high speed, luckily no obvious disturbance of the animals other than noticeable wake

Weather Events:

  • Cloudy with sunny breaks, Calm seas

** All 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?

Orca

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Ecological Notes: 7 Biggs Orca going west in Race Pass at 10:20.The whales IDs reported to me as the T109A2s with new calf T109A2C and the T86As pod.

Lots of Eagles around the island.

Vessel Traffic: 3 Eco tour boats in park today and two private boats.

Weather– Current: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72
Weather–Past: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?id=72

Orca

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Ecological Notes:Yesterday was special day!  I was lucky to see the southern resident J17 orca pod swim west through Race Pass. Around 16:00, the pod traveled into the pass heading west. A black bear was sighted by an Eco-tour boat on Vancouver Island side walking the shoreline. The bears are waking up from hibernation and searching for food. Four elephant seal pups remain on the main island as well as one adult female and male. Lots of eagles, gulls and Canadian geese. The Canadian geese are very noisy and roam the island like they own the place!  Lol.

Vessel Traffic : For most of the morning,a dive boat had divers doing drift dives in the main channel. Two Eco-tour boats and one private boat were sighted during the day.

 

 

 

Orca

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Two Orca”s were spotted west of Race Rocks and into Race Pass. Whales were swimming into a strong tide in a resting mode. The whales did not make way until dark. Likely, the same whales as Sunday. They were to far away to get pictures for identification. Sea lions moved to the North East side of main island. Elephant seals are starting to molt and are very sleepy.