Monday Update
Nothing too exciting to report today! There seem to be more sea lions around the jetty and the rocks lately, I’ll have to compare this week’s census to the past few and see if its true.
I did find one new creature today that I haven’t seen here yet – a sea roach! Despite living in the marine environment, sea roaches are terrestrial isopods and will not survive if fully submerged. This particular little guy was on the wall next to the generator building door, no where near the water!
A Whale of a Day
Happy Sunday! The sun is shining, the air is calm (finally!!!!) and I spotted my first baleen whale of the season!
My favourite days here are ones like this – I can get a lot of work done but also pause between tasks to soak up the warm weather and experience the wildlife. Today’s wildlife involved a humpback whale and I couldn’t be happier about it. The humpbacks have been making their way back into the Salish Sea for a while now so I’ve been not so patiently waiting for one to come by. With the wind being so strong this past week its been nearly impossible to spot the spout of a cetacean, but today was perfect for it and I even got a little fluke shot.
Hopefully more days like this to come!
Facility Work:
- Cleaned solar panels
- Cleaned main house windows
- Repaired breaks in electric fence
- Started bucking/chopping remaining wood in the outside pile
Vessels:
- Ecotourism: 5
- Private: 4
- Dive boat: 1
Infractions:
- No infractions, I did remind one private vessel to keep their distance from sea lion haulouts but no animals were disturbed. Tons of fishing vessels near/around the reserve but none came in.
Weather:
- Sky: Blue sky and sun
- Wind: Low of 4 knots, High of 16 knots
- Sea: Calm, small whitecaps in afternoon when wind picked up
- Temperature: Low 7•C, High 16•C
** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
A Steller Saturday
Today was a relatively calm Saturday (aside from the wind). The website that we use to check solar/batteries has been offline since yesterday so I’ve been working on trying to fix that. Thankfully the panel in the generator building has been working as it should so I can still check on things, I’m sure getting my steps in with lots of trips over there!
One of the tiniest Steller sea lions thats been hanging around the island decided to haul out on the end of the jetty today. I managed to get a couple photos of him before he took off. I find that the Stellers are very skiddish, which is often helpful when I need to remove them from the jetty.
I’ve included a few photos below to show the size difference in the young Steller versus a full grown male Steller.
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- This young Steller isn’t a whole lot larger than the cleat!
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- This adult Steller towers over this full grown California sea lion
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- Here is the young Steller, next to the adult male Steller for comparison!
Facility Work:
- Inside house cleaning
- Chopped wood
Ecotourism Boats: 4
Weather:
- Sky: Cloudy, sun and clouds in afternoon
- Wind: Low of 13 knots, High of 19 knots
- Sea: Small whitecaps
- Temperature: Low 7•C, High 13•C
** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
Happy Friday!
We have been down to just 3 elephant seals the last few days! The two small females and one larger one are still enjoying the grass, however the largest female has not been around in a few days. The last I saw of her was 2 days ago when she was bobbing around in the water behind the student house, so I wonder if she’s just chosen to haul out on one of the surrounding rocks.
Ollie spent his day in the water near Middle Rocks, just floating and looking extra fluffy.
The Stellers were no where to be found today but the California sea lions have spent the week tucked in to the left of the jetty. They must be smarter than they let on because that area is definitely the most protected from the wind. They still require the occasional reminder to stay off the jetty throughout the day but otherwise behave themselves.
California sea lion proudly displaying his snaggle tooth
Lastly on the mammal side of things, the harbour seal numbers seem to have grown since I was here in March and with pupping season just a few weeks away I hope to see that number grow before I leave in June!
There are tons of pigeon guillemots around lately, I love to watch them on the rocks and I think my favourite thing about them is that their feet perfectly match the inside of their mouth.
Hopefully this wind dies down in the next few days and I can get back to taking more photos!
Facility work:
- Cleaned solar panels
- Topped up battery electrolytes
Weather:
- Sky: Cloudy, sun and clouds in afternoon
- Wind: Low of 14 knots, High of 19 knots, gusts up to 30 knots
- Sea: Small whitecaps
- Temperature: Low 7•C, High 15•C
** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
Thursday Update
I think I experienced every possible type of weather today! From a beautiful rainbow at sunrise to dark clouds and sideways rain, to enough sun to charge the batteries to 100%, to now window rattling wind as I type this. I guess that’s technically not EVERY type of weather, but at this point I wouldn’t be shocked by a snow storm before dark.
Weather aside, today was still very productive which is my favourite kind of day. No boats in the reserve today which wasn’t surprising.
Facility work:
Cleaned outer windows of both houses
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- The birds really favour this window on the student house
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- I’m sure this will only last a few minutes before being redecorated!
Finished work on desalinator; it has been leaking so Cedric did some work on it yesterday and I finished putting it back together this morning but unfortunately it still leaks so more work to come!
Lots of cleaning and organizing inside the house, the wind is too strong for much else right now. My favourite thing to do when the weather is bad is to bake so I quickly whipped up some banana muffins during the rain. I always do my best to not waste any food and make the most of all my supplies here so this was the perfect opportunity to make use of my very brown bananas.
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- I figured the muffins deserve a before and after too!
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- Perfect stormy day snack
DND:
– 6 blasts throughout the day; minimal animal disturbance noticed (although I nearly jump out of my skin every time!)
Unphased
Weather:
- Sky: Cloudy, sun and clouds in afternoon
- Wind: Low of 17 knots, High of 20 knots, gusts up to 31 knots
- Sea: Rough, whitecaps
- Temperature: Low 9•C, High 15•C
** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
May 15th Animal Census
Another great day in paradise! See below for today’s animal census.
Mammals:
California sea lions: 18
Steller sea lions: 16
Harbour seals: 87
Elephant seals: 3 (all female)
Sea otter: 1 (Ollie)
Birds:
Gulls: 231
Geese: 6
Bald eagles: 1 adult, 2 young
Pigeon guillemots: 208
Oyster catchers: 5
Cormorants: 42
Bonus – 16 brown pelicans yesterday!
** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
Pelicans Galore!
Today started out sunny with no wind which was a lovely change! A big fog bank rolled through in the morning but thankfully didn’t stick around too long. Cedric stopped by with 9 guests for a tour which is always fun. I love being able to talk to people and tell them about this history of the island, my job, and of course all the seal facts possible!
I got some outdoor work done (without the feeling like I was going to blow away) including giving the solar panels a good clean. I think we are almost at the time of year where this becomes a daily task. Despite the wind we’ve had a ton of sun and I have only used the generator a few times since my arrival at the end of April. These long sunny days are so wonderful!
The wind picked up in the afternoon, but not before a flock of 16 brown pelicans took a lap around the reserve before flying back out to sea! I don’t think seeing them will ever get old.
Visitors:
– Cedric + 9 guests
Vessels:
– 3 Ecotourism
Weather:
- Sky: Blue skies and sunny
- Wind: Low of 9 knots, High of 20 knots
- Sea: Calm most of the day, small whitecaps in afternoon
- Temperature: Low 8•C, High 18•C
** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
Monday Update
Another day of blue sky and sun but unfortunately another day of wind too! 30 knots today and it looks like it will continue through the rest of the week.
Due to the weather I did not see any boats on the water today aside from cruise ships and freighters on the horizon.
I was able to clean all the house windows on the outside before the wind nearly took the brush out of my hand and I had to move onto indoor cleaning and organizing.
When moving the sea lions from the jetty this morning I did notice that one of the California sea lions has what appears to be an old eye injury. His other eye is normal, his body condition is great, and it is overall not concerning. Just thought it was worth mentioning because it caught my eye – no pun intended.
Not the most eventful day today, but great nonetheless!
** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
Sunday’s Update
The wind is back with a vengeance! It’s only reached about 30 knots at its highest today which reading through some previous blog posts is nothing compared to what other Eco Guardians have experienced. I imagine a big storm would be a pretty wild experience here. Even with today’s gusts the house seems to shake and rattle.
Today was a relatively relaxing Sunday, although I’m not sure I ever fully relax here because there always seems to be something exciting happening out one of the many windows and I worry if I sit down that I may miss it.
My staring out a window paid off this morning as a couple of transient orca swam past the reserve. Of course with my usual luck, just as they seemed to be heading toward me they veered back out and swam off into the distance.
However I’m not complaining, no matter how many times I see whales I will always giddily sprint out of the house with my camera. But I do hope one of these days they’ll swing by the house as I’ve heard they often do!
There are still 4 female elephant seals here, 2 big and 2 small. The sea lions have been favouring the jetty more and more each day but are pretty quick to leave if I walk in that direction. There is one large California sea lion that is pretty resistant to being moved and has showed some aggressive behaviours toward me if I’m in his vicinity, but thankfully he seems to have found a new haul out site and has not been misbehaving the last couple of days .
I have not yet come across any gull nests but they are definitely pairing off and can almost always been seen in twos. The geese have various nests around the island and the gulls have been quick to destroy any new eggs. They have a habit of dropping the broken eggs directly on the foot path outside my front door, sort of like a cat bringing home a dead mouse. I’m not sure which is worse. I may not have arrived to Race Rocks as a bird person but I am becoming more and more intrigued by them and their quirks, rituals, and different behaviours.
Facility Work:
– Chopped wood and kindling
– Cleaned solar panels
Vessels:
– 2 Ecotourism
Weather:
- Sky: Blue skies and sunny with clouds moving in late afternoon
- Wind: Low of 7 knots, High of 19 knots with gusts up to 30 knots
- Sea: Whitecaps, strong current within the reserve
- Temperature: Low 11•C, High 22•C
** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
Northern Lights at Race Rocks
Last night after the sun set and the sky became dark, I experienced one of the most jaw dropping events of my life. The northern lights doused the sky in colour and I genuinely could not believe my eyes. With a 360 degree, unobstructed view with little to no light pollution, Race Rocks is the best place to have witnessed the show.
It started out as faint white streaks in the distance before erupting into dancing greens and pinks. I nearly gave myself whiplash trying to see them in every direction around me. I ended up laying on my back in the middle of the path and staring up at the sky until late into the night/early morning.
I had read in the news that it was a possibility to see the northern lights in BC but I never imagined it would be anything like that. That kind of experience is something I thought I’d have to travel far for, not look out my window and see.
The geomagnetic storm that caused this is the strongest storm of its kind in over 20 years and is supposed to last through until Sunday so I plan to keep an eye out for it tonight as well. Who needs sleep right?
