Regular checking needed on Sea lion fence

Thurs 12 October Allen & ilka Olsen, Eco Guardians 6 –13 Oct 2023
Fog 0700—Foghorn began sounding at 1000

Allen cleaned windows again in order to be able to observe. Next, checked fence line and righted supports, etc. No errant sealions, yet. Sent observation of branded sealions to US researchers. Noticed a single Varied thrush. Blubber Boy still sleeping in preferred spot; the other elephant sea outside fence seems to not have moved in 24 hrs—small
female? Only two ecotour vessels in am; numerous in pm. Jetty fence down so had to disturb sealions. Allen made repairs. Further observation of sealion behaviour: Steller’s roar; Ca bark—cacophony of vocalization day and night.
Massive mature males are tolerant, even tender, with youngster’s antics (possible offspring?). Youngsters playful in & out of water honing skills. All ages communal stacked side by side or draped & entangled; a few solitary.

Cleaning and Maintenance

Ecological Notes:

  • 7 Elephant Seals, including 2 “pups” still using the grass areas
  • Monday saw a dramatic reduction of animals and birds in the reserve (almost no guillemots or Sealions, and about half the number of gulls) but they are gradually returning.
  • An anecdotal possibility is that Sunday night had a 50+ knot storm, lining up with a high tide and lots of big ocean swells, making the reserve a very nasty place to be!
  • Noticing more Black Oyster Catcher nests. These are more just an indentation in the gravel, and the birds rely a lot on the camouflage of the eggs. Due to high egg loss rates (here, primarily gulls snatching them), Oyster catchers can lay up to 3 or 4 replacement clutches in a season.

Very distant photo

Visitors:

  • Guests left Sunday
  • 4 Pearson College students on Monday, for an informal visit, with some discussions on marine mammal adaptations life in the ocean.
  • Was also nice to re-instate the visitor log in the newly painted and repaired Visitor Welcome Box

Facility Work:

  • Trouble shooting power interruptions originating from the Student Building
  • Cleaning and minor repair to the housing on the Camera 5 unit.
  • There’s an old prairie saying “Make hay while the sun shines” …… out here, the addendum could be “Clean stuff while the rain falls!” Rain makes it much easier to clean paths and windows, and through the rain collection, provides water for the pressure cleaner.

DND events:

  • 6 or 7 loud blasts today, all sealions left the rocks again

 

Weather Events:

  • Westerly winds, 15-20 knots brought rain showers in the morning. Mostly sunny with cloudy periods in the afternoon. Calm seas. Clear skies and 20 knot westerly winds in the evening

 

** 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?

ER Wardens Report, Sept.21

Today, Guy Ouradou from Pearson College drove me out to Race Rocks Ecological reserve with David Obura, Pearson College alumni from Kenya year 10. The main change since I was there last was the predominance of California sea lions over most of the island. Northern sealions occupied a small portion of rock near the docks and the isthmus below the light tower. Each year the college has to put up an electric fence to prevent the sealions from invading the centre of the island which can result in damage to conduits, and facilities.

Laas adjusts the electric fence on the south side of the house.

A new fence system is being installed this year, which has so far proven to be very effective. Another aspect of the sealions being on the centre part of the island is that they have been damaging the structure of the rocks arranged in the areas of the aboriginal burial cairns. The big change in sealion distribution is that previously they have concentrated on West Race Rocks, North Race Rocks and the south Islands off the tower. This year there are none out on those islands  and they are all on the main island.

 

CODAR antenna and sealions

I also was able to observe the equipment installed by Oceans Network Canada for CODAR. Hopefully we can get a connection to the output of the data obtained from this equipment when we neet with Kevin Bartlett from Ocean Networks Canada next week on Sept 28.

Earlier this year, Lester Pearson College upgraded the solar batteries which have served for the past 11 years. New inverters were also installed.

Leaving the island we have to deal with a dock full of sealions which have returned since our arrival.

More Sea Lions

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 10-20 SW
  • Sky: Cloudy
  • Water: Calm

Boats/Visitors

  • Mostly ecotours going by
  • Guy and Travis also came by today to help me with the fence, which is almost completely set up

Maintenance

  • Had to run the generator for quite a while today, the batteries have been getting low with lack of solar input, its been pretty foggy on and off lately

Ecological

  • I will have a better idea tomorrow of how many sea lions there are but I would guess around 500 right now, about 100 more than last week
  • only one female elephant seal around today, havent seen the smaller one since last night

River otters and Fences

Weather

  • Visibility: 0-15 Miles Foggy until noon
  • Wind: 0-10 NW
  • Sky: Cloudy
  • Water: Flat Calm

Boats/Visitors

  • There were still plenty of ecotours even through the fog that covered the island all morning
  • Guy and Greg came by today and we put up the electric fence to keep the sea lions away from the generator room and the guest house

Maintenance

  • Putting up the electric fence and running the generator a bit to make up for the lack of sunlight this morning
  • Guy also brought me fuel today so we topped up the diesel tank

Ecological

  • Found the body of a river otter today near the tank shed, it doesn’t look very old but it was definitely squished
  • Still two female elephant seals but no others have shown up
  • Seems like there is more and more sea lions everyday

November 4th

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind:  10-20 E
  • Sky: cloudy throughout the day
  • Water: choppy, about a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • Had a few ecotours cruise by today, not many

Ecological

  • a few elephant seals, more sea lions in front of the house but less in general
  • definitely less californias and more stellars around

Fog and Sun

Weather

  • Visibility: 0 Miles in the morning 15 the rest of the day
  • Wind:  0-10 SE
  • Sky: Foggy this morning, mostly clear the rest of the day
  • Water: calm

Boats/Visitors

  • Had quite a few ecotours cruise around today

Ecological

  • 2 elephant seals spotted today and 2 eagles on the outer rocks

Notes

  • Ran the desalinator and generator today, the freshwater tank is almost full

Beautiful Day

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind:  0-5 NE
  • Sky: clear all day
  • Water: calm

Boats/Visitors

  • Gorgeous weather means plenty of ecotours

Ecological

  • the elephant seal made another appearance today, there were humpbacks, sea lions, and eagles

Notes

  • power went out early this morning so I turned on the generator and gave the solar panels a scrub, so hopefully it doesn’t happen again

Visitors!

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind:  10-20 SE
  • Sky: clear all day
  • Water: calm

Boats/Visitors

  • Had some friends come visit for a few hours today, so nice to see them
  • also plenty of ecotours cruising by

Ecological

  • seems like there is less sea lions that the other day
  • did not see any elephant seals today but i am sure there is some around

Notes

  • There were also some humpbacks swimming around today

October 22nd

Weather

  • Visibility: 10 Miles
  • Wind:  15-30 NW
  • Sky: cloudy but there was some sunshine today
  • Water: pretty rough with wind and waves

Boats/Visitors

  • Had some ecotours go by

Ecological

  • plenty of sea lions around along with the 5 female elephant seals