Animal Census

  • Bald eagle adult                          2
  • Bald eagle juvenile                     4
  • Barred Owl                                  1
  • Black Turnstones                      10
  • Black Oyster Catchers                6
  • Gulls                                           148
  • Cormorants  mostly Brandt’s    87
  • Canadian goose                          22
  • Ravens                                          2
  • Surf Scoters                                 12
  • Dunlin                                            8

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                          590
  • Harbour seal                                42
  • California sea lion                     380
  • Sea Otter                                      1

Several Humpback Whales visible from the reserve

Underwater Scenes

Ecological Notes:

  • Sea Lion numbers range up and down daily. Have notice more smaller sea lions this year, and can hear the higher squawks of younger ones. Unlike last year, I haven’t found any nursing pups yet.
  • Barred Owl is still here. For a couple days, there were zero other birds on the top area of the main island (Canada Geese, Turnstones, Gulls, or Dunlins)….. but they are gradually returning now. I suspect maybe the Owl hunted extensively one night and scared them all away(?)
  • Humpback whales still visible daily
  • On one day, in addition to the Humpbacks, Southern Resident Orca passed south of the reserve heading west, and Bigg’s (Transient) Orca passed heading East. While they were too far to get photographs, both groups were visible by eye (once I located them with binoculars)

Visitors:

  • Group of students and instructor from Pearson College visited for the weekend. They were primarily interested in mapping the kelp forests and how they are affected by Urchins and Sea Otters. They helped with other projects and used the ROV to view the underwater area off the jetty.

Siri, Finn, Maria, Annabelle, and Edgar

Always curious!

Sea Urchins

Young Bull Kelp

  • Contractors to work on the main house windows

Facility Work:

  • Now able to start bucking logs from the ramp area and moving to the full bucking area for firewood.
  • Cleaned and prepped the science house for the students visit
  • Did another full sweep of the main island to remove dead gull carcasses
  • Contractors continue the finishing work on the newly installed windows, moving primarily to the sills and finish on the inside.

  • Communicating with DFO in regards to the salinity measurements. They seem high, even though the meter was recently replaced. Tested with a meter owned by Pearson College and that meter showed numbers I would be expecting.
  • Ongoing spray down of walkways and decks to reduce slim and algae, but wondering if the cooler weather is reducing the effectiveness of the spray(?)

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Continued visits by Eco- Tourism vessels
  • Some private vessels transiting, some pausing to enjoy the nature in the reserve.

 Noted Infractions:

  • No attempted fishing detected
  • Transit and departure speeds all good

Weather Events:

  • Winds pretty consistent NNE 10-15 Kts
  • Mixes of partial cloudy, and some fog at night
  • Temperatures ranging 4 to 7 degrees

 

 

** 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?

First week back

Ecological Notes:

  • 3 Male Elephant Seals, 1 sub adult, 1 yearling, 1 3 year old(?) tagged – K646 (other tag obscured)
  • At least 20 Canada Geese, more adults than I have personally seen here before other than brief stop overs for migration
  • At least 6 Humpback whales, 2 well in the reserve

Visitors:

  • Contractors, working on the windows of the main house

Facility Work:

  • topped up battery electrolyte levels for solar storage

    Solar power battery bank

  • Took delivery of 1300 litres fresh water for the the storage tank

How we transfer water to the storage tank

  • Transferred a barrel of diesel to the main house tank, was a poor fall for wood salvage for the wood stove (so far)

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • Still regular Ecotourism vessels, and the school educational vessel
  • 1 private vessel fishing in the reserve, left as soon as I contacted them on VHF

 

Weather Events:

  • Saturday, November 04:
    • Sky: Bright high cloud early, giving way  mixed high and low rain clouds by mid-morning
    • Wind: Low north winds in early morning, rising by noon to NW 35+ kts, dropping in the evening and overnight to light winds
    • Sea: Morning rippled to 2′ chop
    • Temperature Low 11oC, High 15oC
  • Sunday, November 05:
    • Sky: Early morning fog giving way to high cloudy overcast
    • Wind: morning NNW 5 kts, gradually shifting to N and rising to 20kts mid day
    • Sea:  light chop with a slight underlying swell
    • Temperature Low 10oC, High 12.5oC
  • Monday, November 06:
    • Sky: Foggy until mid-afternoon, clear and sunny to overcast
    • Wind: W/WSW 16-37 kts
    • Sea:  light chop turning to high waves by evening
    • Temperature Low 12oC, High 13oC
  • Tuesday, November 06:
    • Sky: Clear and sunny to overcast by afternoon
    • Wind: NNE 15 kts dropping and shifting to W 3kts through the day
    • Sea:  light chop , with underlying swell
    • Temperature Low 10oC, High 12oC

 

 

** 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?

November Returns

Happy to be returning to the Eco-Guardian position, after a summer on and off the ocean (and my motorcycles!)

Ecological Notes:

  • 3 Elephant Seals, one tagged

  • Large daily fluctuation of sea lions…… lots of forage fish in the area, and I believe some are moving further into the Salish Sea, as other regular haunts were low on sea lions last week
  • Did see “Ollie” the sea otter near one of the north west rocks
  • Deceased Sea Lion removed from boat ramp area ….. (untrained)observation looked like an older animal, in normal shape, with no visual injuries
  • Many Brandt’s Cormorants in the reserve
  • 3 Humpback whales in the pass between Race Rocks and Pedder bay, several more south of race, viewable by eye and binoculars

Visitors:

  • Contractors working on main house window replacement

Facility Work:

  • Contractors replacing windows
  • Perimeter fence maintenance
  • Moving maximum fuel to generator room, keeping it up to ensure easy access during the upcoming storm season
  • Opportunistically remove dead Gull carcasses from the island while performing other tasks
  • Solar working well, and batteries retaining levels well overnight

DND events:

  • none during this time period, but they were working there earlier in the week, and could account for lower sea lion levels mid week

Noted Vessel Traffic:

  • 2 or 3 Ecotourism vessels
  • 1 Ecotourism  vessel with multiple visits while implementing their education program
  • 2 Kayakers out and about in the reserve

Weather Events:

  • Friday, November 03:
    • Sky: Clear in the morning, then filling in with high overcast and some clouds, light haze on the water by mid-day
    • Wind: Dropping during the night , to 5-10 kts mid morning, northerly,  building to 20-25 kts mid afternoon/evening
    • Sea: rippled to 2′ chop
    • Temperature Low 10oC, High 13oC

 

 

** 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?

It’s Sea Lion Season!!

Hey, look who’s back!  I’ve been on Race Rocks since Saturday for a quick relief stint and will be heading back to the “Big Island” on Tuesday.  This is my first trip to Race in September, and it’s very different from trips earlier in the season.

We are just about at the peak of songbird migration on Vancouver Island, so I was optimistic that I might see or hear more birds going over.  The few birds on the ground have almost all been Savannah Sparrows. There was one raven here on Sunday, but other than that, no passerines seen or heard–yet.

Savannah Sparrow

Seabird activity has been off the charts outside of the marine protected area with reports of many jaegers, shearwaters, and of course, gulls of several species. Within the Race Rocks limits, it has been variable. Upon arrival on Saturday, I estimated more than 8,000 gulls in view, most of them California Gulls.  There have been good numbers of Heermann’s Gulls, especially youngsters. The number of Glaucous-winged Gulls–the ones that breed on Race Rocks–are lower now that most of the young have dispersed. Despite scouring the flocks, I was unable to detect any less common gulls or the terns that have been spotted nearby. However, eight Brown Pelicans were nearby. They must have blown out with the wind on Saturday night! Since the grand welcoming, the gulls have spread out more throughout the area, often following the Humpback Whales and Orca that are keeping the growing number of ecotourism boats in business.

Welcoming party

Brown Pelican in the kelp

Pigeon Guillemots, one of the most abundant species earlier in the year, have moved offshore.  They will spend the winter in their pale gray and white plumage, a startling contrast to the sharp black and white with bright red feet that we see here in the summer. The shorebirds that rested here each evening in July and August are largely gone, with just a few Black Turnstones, Surfbirds, and Black Oystercatchers onsite along with a few other stragglers. There was one species I missed in August that put in an appearance.  Two Wandering Tattlers were here on Sunday and one posed for photos on Monday.

Wandering Tattler

The population that has exploded since I was last here are the sea lions. California and Steller’s stacked like cordwood all around the outskirts of Great Race and the surrounding islands. It is quite clear that they would be at the door if it weren’t for a perimeter fence that (mostly) keeps them to the outer portion of the island. The work of a September ecoguardian is largely to keep the buildings and equipment zone sea lion free!

Sea lions aplenty!

The days are getting shorter, and it feels like the winds are getting stronger. Winter is coming!

More photos from the last few days:

A Quick Week on the Rocks

A week goes by quickly out here!  First, an update:

The branded Steller’s sea lion I reported in my last post has a history that includes a previous trip to Race Rocks. 746R was branded at Rogue Reef (Southern Oregon) on July 12, 2009.  He has been all over Carroll Isl WA, Graves Rock SE AK, Castle Rock CA, Barkley Sound BC, Race Rocks in 2016, Sucia Island WA, Ewing Isl WA and Cape Arago OR as recently as July 7 this year. This and other marked sea lions are being studied by Susan Riemer of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. If you see marked sea lions, she really appreciates hearing about your sightings.

The last few days have had all of the weather possibilities for this time of year except hot. Foggy much of the time, windy most of the rest, and sometimes foggy and windy just to change things up. No rain, but humidity in the high 90s.  I’m always struck by how different the temperatures can be just a couple of kilometres away. The wind yesterday actually broke the electric fencing tape on the jetty, which I fixed this morning.

Despite the wind, it’s been a good week for shorebirds.  Another new one for me here (but not for Race Rocks) was a Sanderling. Normally seen chasing and being chased by incoming waves on a sandy beach, they do spend some time in more rocky environments.

The thick stubby bill and “spangled” back pattern are characteristics of Sanderling

The red colouring on the neck had me hoping it might be a MEGA rarity, but it was not.

The predominant gull at Race Rocks this time of year is the Glaucous-winged Gull. They are the regular breeders in this area.  But gulls don’t necessarily stick to their own kind. When they hybridize with Western Gulls, the offspring are known as Olympic gulls.  When they hybridize with Herring Gulls, the offspring are known as Cook Inlet Gulls. There is a gull that I’ve been watching that I think may be one of the latter.

Note the white “window” in the outer primary feather

The orbital ring is orange-yellow like both the Western and Herring gulls. The iris is darker than a Herring gull and lighter than most Glaucous-winged Gulls.

I’ll be passing these and other photos on to someone more “gullible” than I am!

The Second Nature from Pearson College has been making the rounds with alumni and friends of the school. Some of them had to look hard to find us through the fog!

Thanks to Greg Dickinson and Pearson College for providing this opportunity to me again.

Visitors:

  • No visitors ashore, but several from Pearson College on boat tours around the rocks
  • Ecotourism traffic has been picking up, despite the fog.

Facility Work: 

  • Cleaned windows and solar panels daily
  • Cleaned outbuilding windows inside and out
  • Swabbed the decks at the Ecoguardian residence
  • Fixed a shock-inducing break of the electric fence on the jetty
  • Visually checked the entire run of the fence and reconnected tape blown out by high winds

More photos:

 

Aug 2 – Census surprises

One of the reasons for doing a weekly census is to put down in writing the numbers of mammals and birds that are actually in the reserve. This gives us the opportunity to compare the results, not simply rely on memory. And that’s a good thing!  My impression on my return to Race Rocks is that there were a lot fewer gulls here than last year.  A check of a census at a similar date in 2022 shows that not to be true. The numbers are actually very similar, but down about 15% from the same period in 2021. Census records the high counts of each species observed during the day. The marine mammals, for instance are best counted at low tide when most are hauled out. The adult gulls are at their highest numbers first thing in the morning and shorebirds gather on the east beach in late afternoon. Gull chicks can be counted anytime, but are usually undercounted because of their great hiding skills. In between, the census person watches for any other birds and animals that might show themselves.

Gull chick hidden in the marigolds.

Today’s census had several surprises apart from the number of gulls. While on the jetty, I thought I caught the flash of a bird in the corner of my eye.  It was more than one. At least 3 swallows were feeding on insects in the small bay beside the jetty. I managed to get some bad photos, but good enough to identify two different Barn Swallows and one Violet-green Swallow. Later in the day, a Lesser Yellowlegs was resting with the other shorebirds, and a Parasitic Jaeger (also identified by bad photos) headed west not far off Great Race. An adult and juvenile Glaucous-winged Gull were out for a little swim.  It always amazes me to see these youngsters in the water!

Lesser Yellowlegs, possibly the first documented for Race Rocks.  First on eBird for the Race Rocks hotspot.

Out for a swim

Among the sea lions today, I found one entangled with a fishing lure. This poor animal has been her for several weeks. Another had been branded for a research study. I’ll report this number to get its history.

tagged 746R

Sea lion entangled with sports fishing tackle.

More photos below!

Census, 2 August 2023

Birds

  • Harlequin Duck                              1
  • Black Oystercatcher                       23
  • Ruddy Turnstone                            1
  • Black Turnstone                              93
  • Surfbird                                           24
  • Western Sandpiper                         2
  • Short-billed Dowitcher                     2
  • Lesser Yellowlegs                           1
  • Parasitic Jaeger                              1
  • Pigeon Guillemot                            83
  • Heermann’s Gull                             2
  • Western Gull                                   1
  • California Gull                                 120
  • Glaucous winged Gulls                 332 adults, 237 juvenile
  • “Olympic” Gull                                3 adults 3 juvenile
  • Brandt’s Cormorant                        7
  • Pelagic Cormorant                         2
  • Violet-green Swallow                     1
  • Barn Swallow                                 2
  • Brown-headed Cowbird                 2

Mammals

  • Harbour seal                                195
  • Northern (Steller’s) sea lion         79
  • California sea lion                        7
  • Sea otter                                      1

Visitors:

  • No visitors
  • Ecotourism traffic has been slow.  Several boats a day, but rarely more than one in the area at a time

Facility Work: 

  • Cleaned windows and solar panels
  • Replaced batteries in smoke, CO alarm in Student House

More photos:

** All wildlife photos taken at safe distances with high-powered zoom, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

EXISTING SHORELINE CONDITIONS STUDY EAO Condition 39

The full pdf of this report is contained in this pdf:
BC EAO Condition 39 Exisitng Shoreline Conditions Report – May 2023 – for engagement

The purpose of this posting is to reference the part of the report referring to Metchosin’s coastline including Race Rocks and to provide comment on it.

===========================================================

From page 4 of the REPORT:
1 Introduction
As defined by the amendment to Trans Mountain’s BC Environmental Assessment Certificate (EAC) issued by the Province of British Columbia (the Province) on February 24, 2022, Trans Mountain must prepare an Existing Shorelines Condition Report and submit to the Province within 18 months (August 2023) as Condition No. 39.

Polaris Applied Sciences was retained to prepare a report containing shoreline baseline data for shoreline areas closest to spill scenario locations modeled along the marine shipping route and submitted in the Project application. The Province listed the specific scenario locations for the purpose of this study (Figure 1) as:

  • English Bay (Location B)
  • Roberts Bank (Location C)
  • Strait of Georgia (Location D)
  • Arachne Reef (Location E)
  • Strait of Juan de Fuca (south of Race Rocks) (Location G); and
  • Buoy J (Location H)

 

Page 25
Strait of Juan de Fuca (south of Race Rocks) (Location G);
Figure 18 shows the Location G – Race Rocks site with the available existing spatial data. Shoreline data are from the Shorezone mapping effort available from the BC Data Catalogue, which show the shore type consisting of rock cliff. Shore-zone Bioband data indicate the presence of barnacles, dark brown kelps, fucus, bull kelp, red algae, surf grass, and Verrucaria. Other data sources indicate offshore kelp beds and multiple seal and sealion haulouts. The Race Rocks Ecological Reserve (RRER) website (https://racerocks.ca/home/) provides more details on ecological resources documented and studied at the site, but not in a spatial format for mapping.

COMMENTS :  The exceptionally high Biodiversity of the area and high level of protection since 1980 as a Provincial Ecological Reserve  are not reflected at all in the map presented. If one were to look at the Race Rocks Taxonomy presented at https://racerocks.ca/race-rocks-animals-plants/taxonomy-image-gallery/ there may be a better appreciation of the natural capital of this area

  1. Rock Cliff  Beach designation is inaccurate.. there is a pebble beach and Intertidal areas with tidepools on much of the shorelines of the 9 islandfsd in the Archipelago.  Also several surge channels are located around the main island. 
  2. Bird Colonies :
    –no mentions is made of four species of nesting seabirds.
    –no mention is made of the fact this is a winter roosting area for thousands of seabirds.
    — no mention of the fact that the archipelago of islands are an important migratory stopover for marine and terrestrial migratory birds.
  3. Marine Mammals:
    –no mention is made of the fact this is the most northerly haul-out and pupping colony  for Elephant seals — no mention of the fact that California and Northern sealions haul  out in numbers over 1000 in the fall of the year. 
    —no mention  that the haul-out locations for harbour seals are also pupping colonies. 
    — no mention of the ocurrence of river otters and sea otters on and within the islands.
    – no mention of the fact that it is an important feeding area for Biggs killer whales. https://racerocks.ca/humpback-and-orca-sightings-race-rocks/
    –no mention of the fact that the surrounding waters have had a rapid increase in the past few years of Humpback whales 
  4. Invertebrates: 
    –The extremely high biodiversity of invertebrate species both inter-tidally and sub-tidally is not mentioned. 
    –Several rare species of invertebrates are found here and are not acknowledged
  5. Fish :
    –This is a rockfish protection area and all species of BC Rockfish are represented.– a high diversity of other fish are also represented here,  with even sitings of Sturgeon occurring.
  6. Marine Algae :
    –There is a much higher  species diversity of Marine Algae found in the ecological reserve than is n surrounding areas. 
    — the indication of kelp beds on the map presented here is totally inaccurate and insufficient.  Given the decline of kelp beds in our coastal water , this is highly relevant. 
  7. Indigenous and Historical Significance: 
    — the presence of archaeological sites and the significance of the historic structures cannot be minimized . All are sprayed with seawater and therefore subject to immersion in pollutants during intense winds  which occur regularly. 

===============================================================

Page 26

 

 

Comments:
The reference at the Race Rocks website  from racerocks.ca which analyzes the Wind speed from observations of the hourly data provided by Environment Canada show a completely different picture . https://racerocks.ca/race-rocks-lightstation-weather-conditions-environment-canada-problems-for-oil-spill-cleanup/

 Some facts from the Environment Canada data:
1. In July of 2022  there were 11 days when the wind speed every hour was 28 km/hr or greater. and 69.5% of the hours in the month, clean up equipment could not be deployed due to high velocity wind conditions.
2. In March of 2023, the wind speed was 28 km/hr or greater  37% of the time.
3. In Februarry of 2023 , the wind speed was 28 km/hr or greater 43 % of the time
4. In January of 2023 , the wind speed was 28 km/hr or greater 36% of the time 

============================================================

Page 27

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

================================================

The reality of current speed  is that there is a very small window of time during the day that the waters around Race Rocks are not over three knots. In the graph below only in the few hours a day not covered by the white arrows could any boom placement be established. WHen looked at from this perspective, added onto the small windows of time when the wind speed is under 28 km per hour could spilled oil containment even be possible. 

 

 

=============================================================

From page 28 of the Polaris report

Field surveys were not conducted at Race Rocks due to the long lead time in acquiring a “research” permit from BC Parks to access the Ecological Reserve. Information detailed below comes from reviewing the existing data available, Google Earth, the RRER website, and a First Nations representative.
The shoreline at Race Rocks, specifically Great Race Rock, appears to be mostly bedrock cliff, ramp, and platform, possibly with some small pocket pebble/cobble beaches. Bedrock cliffs and ramps are observable in Figure 21 which show some example photographs from the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve website. The backshore appears to be mostly bedrock with some vegetation.
An active lighthouse along with several other buildings are present. Pearson College UWC conducts research and teaches classes at the site. Whale and sightseeing boats frequent the waters around Great Race Rock and are visible from photographs on the Race Rocks website and on Google Earth.
As mentioned before, Race Rocks is a BC Parks Ecological Reserve which are “areas selected to preserve representative and special natural ecosystems, plant and animal species, features and phenomena. Scientific research and educational purposes are the principal uses of ecological reserves”7. A wide variety of ecological resources are documented, tracked, and studied at the site. This documentation includes a weekly animal census, annual bird counts, and an entire list of species ever documented with photos/videos since 2000 (https://racerocks.ca/race-rocks-animals-plants/taxonomy-image-gallery/). Additional research conducted at the site can also be found on the RRER website. The extensive use of the site as a haulout location by pinnipeds is documented on the website and visible on Google Earth.
This area has historically been used by First Nations for harvesting food, as documented on the Race Rocks website, and a First Nations representative indicated that fishing is common in the waters around the site. Burial mounds/cairns have been researched and documented on Great Race Rock.
A helicopter pad is located near the lighthouse.
Based on the available data, and without visiting Race Rocks, the Shorezone mapping appears to be relatively accurate. The detailed observation of the flora and fauna on the Race Rocks website and other research conducted by Pearson College provides the most thorough documentation of the ecological resources present compared to any of the other sites visited.
7  https://bcparks.ca/eco_reserve/

================================================================

================================================================

So much of what we are expected to do in response to the Trans Mountain EAO requests has been done before. 
However…. 
I am pointing out some information from work that Mike Fenger and myself did on the Board of Friends of Ecological Reserves the past for the NEB hearings . 
1. In this document, although it  lists species of several of the marine ecological reserves,  Race Rocks is included with examples 
page 48 -page 54 : Marine mammals
see page 52  
page 55-page 61 Birds 
page 63-67  fish (including forage fish on our beaches
page 67- page 71 .. Invertebrates
page 72- page  74  .. macroalgae
page 75-  terrestrial plants in upper foreshore areas
From this link ….
there is a lot of information of the biological resources along the Strait of Juan De Fuca also in section
3.5 SARA-Listed Species in Two Ecological Reserves and in appendix page 139
============================================
Garry Fletcher.. Metchosin Environmental Advisory Select Committee 

 

Ollie, the land otter!

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

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?