Bird observations
– Bald Eagles: 8 bald eagles have been staying on the rocks every morning starting on Tuesday this week: 2 adults and 6 young ones.
– Gulls: massive inflow of sea gulls on Wednesday-Thursday (+200 newcomers within 24h). They are becoming increasingly agitated.
– Geese: while there are 4 established couples, a single one hangs by the lighthouse, on its own.
Wednesday Census – April 24
Mammals:
– 4 elephant seals, all females
– 10 steller sea lions, mostly on the northeast rock
– 17 california sea lions mostly around the jetty
– 58 harbor seals
Birds:
– Gulls: 500+ (about 270 in the morning and more than 500 later in the day, lots of newcomers on that day)
– Cormorants: 120
– Canada Geese: 9 Geese. Only 6 eggs this week, all in the same nest by the house. No visible eggs for the other 3 couples. Gulls have been feasting on them, no eggs left.
– Bald Eagles: 8 (2 adults + 6 youngs), mostly on the seals’ southern rock.
– Black Turnstones: 21
– Surfbirds (brownish): 2
– North western crow: 1
– Sparrows: 18
– Barn Swallow (orange belly): 1
– Black Oystercatcher: 6
– Pigeon Guillemot: 85
– Harlequin Duck: 15
Branded sealion, desalinating water with sunshine, Good bye Race Rocks
They all came to wave goodbye
Eco-guardian cross over day. I arrived here barely over a bout of sciatica. I wasn’t sure if I should cancel my week but thought I could do all the absolutely necessary tasks, even if I had to crawl to take the water samples! As it turned out I was able to clean the solar panels, top up the batteries, collect enough wood to keep the house warm, clean the house, start a thorough cleaning of the fuel shed, scrub the walkways in the rain and do the necessary tasks. It was difficult though not to carry out the tasks I enjoy, like carrying a bucket of water to clean the lamp room or splitting wood.
I love the challenge at Race Rocks of living with a small environmental foot print. The abundant life here, that I deeply care about, inspires me to decrease my fuel consumption. This visit I did not need to use the house furnace and heated my hot water on the woodstove. I even used this method of heating water for “Thai” showers. Cleaning the solar panels when they have dew on them and the walkways in the rain helps too. If I didn’t love my coffee first thing in the morning I could probably cook on the woodstove too. Maybe next time!
heating water
Observations
The 2 moulting elephant seals are still by the jetty. One is looking very good, all open sores are healed over. The other one is still panting away and shivering. I sent a video and have heard back from Candice at marine mammal rescue at the Vancouver Aquarium and she would like to be kept informed if his status changes (rescue@vanaqua.org). Still no luck getting his tag #. I should note that I have not seen any infant seals this visit. I have scanned the rocks. My usual visit is in late April and there are often nursing pups.
The branded sealion 1191 below has been reported and we await back information.
Finally the two immature bald eagles are on the island at the same time and I believe they are the same age, less than a year. Do you agree?
Visitors
Greg is bringing out several classes for low tonight today
Vessels
Several tour boats have gone by already today (13:00 hours)
Facility work
Cleaned the solar panels
cleaned the house so it is ready for Ilka and Alan Olsen the next eco-guardians
wood to house
I am currently running the desalinator on sunshine! Amazing.
This is the screen we live by on Race Rocks. It tells how how much energy we are using and how much we are producing. Right now the sun is producing 4.88 kw and we are consuming 3.8 kilowatts while running the desalinator.
Weather
The day started out with thick cloud cover. The sun broke through around 1400 hrs. The wind is currently 13 knot SE. Scattered clouds.
The two immature Bald eagles
Catastrophic moult
OBSERVATIONS
This is my last full day here. The week has gone fast and slow. Time is different here. I spend countless hours watching the birds, mammals and the ocean. The intertidal is phenomenal. There is always “news”, elephant seals arriving, eagles catching prey, new birds momentarily setting down, sun rises, sunsets… this type of news is easy to get absorbed in.
This morning, once again, a gull had a goose egg at our back door. At this time there are no known eggs in any nests. When I first arrived the nest by the generator building had 2 eggs but they are gone. I watched the goose pull out its chest feathers to conceal the eggs when she left the nest. They were so well insulated and hidden. Below is the picture of the empty nest once the gulls had taken the eggs.
One of the elephant seals that I first saw yesterday morning is going through a “catastrophic moult”. Open sores on it’s back and abdomen. I also noticed it has laboured breathing and is shivering. I called Marine Mammal Rescue and sent them a video at rescue@vavqua.org. I know that the appearance of elephant seals can be upsetting when they are moulting but I was not aware that they get systemic symptoms. Also it is TAGGED with a green tag on it hind flippers. I have a picture but the numbers are not visible. I am continuing to see an opportunity to get the number.
I also saw a branded Stellar sealion, a small female? #895. If I don’t get a picture by the time I leave I will report it but I would prefer to report it with a picture.
Weather
calm wind variable all day, cloudy with periods of drizzle
Facility wok
ran the desalinator today when the generator was running
Vessel traffic
4 ecotourism boats
The Stellar sea lions are much quicker to vacate the rocks than the California sea lions when the tour boats come by. The tour boats do back off when the Stellar sea lions leave but they are still getting on and off a few times/day particularly the smaller ones, females and younger males.
Catastrophic moult
Bright blue gular on Brandt’s cormorant
two large female elephant seals
abandoned nest
Sunset reverence?
Wednesday Census
I am writing this on Thursday although the census was done yesterday.
I was happy to welcome 3 new elephant seals to the island. Yesterday the count was at 5 and from what I can discern there are 2 large female, one subadult female, 1 small female and 1 small male. The small male is tagged. Update next post when I can get the number on its green tag.
Census
A sunny day in the intertidal
Mammals
Elephant seals 5
4 confirmed female and perhaps 1 male
Stellar sea lions 19
California Sea lions 33
Harbour seals 57 (mostly on surrounding rocks at low tide)
Sea otters 3 (seen off Turbine rocks 2 days ago)
Birds
Gulls 292 mostly glaucous wing and western and hybrids (please see the amazing survey done last week by RPBO for species breakdown)
Bald Eagles 1 mature 2 immature about 1/2 and 1 year old
Turnstones 10
Cormorants 112 (roosting in the evening) the recent survey suggested the majority are Brandts, about 15% Pelagic and some Double Crested)
Dunlins 7
Surfbirds 56 (see photos below)
Rock Sandpiper? there may be some mixed in with the surfbirds see photo below
Fox sparrow 1
North western crow 1
Weather:
Clear and warm with mild variable winds mostly from the west
Visitors
Greg brought 3 boat loads of Pearson College biology students out with LAura to explore the low tides
Facility Work
Cleaned solar panels in the morning
wood to house
began cleaning fuel shed
Vessel traffic
A very noticeable change in the last several years in the marked increase in shipping traffic. I understand what a shipping lane is now. There is a CONSTANT stream of large container ships travelling by. There are about 6 on the horizon whenever I look out.
Constant shipping traffic
2? year old Bald Eagle
3 elephant seals , the 2 moulting are new
Surf Birds and others camouflaged
Gulls are entertaining
OBSERVATIONS
A gull on our back porch regurgitated this pellet. The gulls have crops and gizzards allowing them to eat whole animals, crabs, chitons, sea urchins and starfish.
Here’s a gull from today (I looked but did not see any starfish in the intertidal but there must be some).
Low tide on a sunny day. Lots of new seaweed growing on the rocks. Sculpins in the tide pools, there are two.
Two more pictures with hidden subjects. Looking closely there are about 16 surfbirds camouflaged in the rocks.
Visitors
Today there is a strong westerly blowing around 20 knots all day. No fishing or tour boats seen.
Maintenance
Yesterday while it was raining I scrubbed the cement walkways. This saves water and energy by avoiding the power washer.
Collected kindling and brought wood rounds to the house.
Mating has begun
Observations: I am combining Saturday and Sunday. I wasn’t able to log in until Monday morning. Usually I like to write daily while events are still fresh that wasn’t an option.
The Mist Maiden, Romanzoffia tracyi, a red listed plant, is not yet blooming but coming up on the island.
There are 2 elephant seals on the island. They are both female. I am enclosing revealing pictures because often in posts the gender of the elephant seal can be assumed. In the future these pictures will be evidence!
The past 3 mornings I have opened the basement door to a new goose egg on the pavement being eaten by a gull. Why do they choose to bring the eggs to our door? Is it the least likely place to have it challenged?
…and the title for today, mating has begun.
Maintenence
Both Saturday and Sunday the solar panels were cleaned
The batteries topped up on Saturday
The fridge cleaned out
wood brought up to house for burning
Visitors and tour boats
On Saturday there were about 10 ocean touring boats. On Sunday closer to 30. As well on Saturday there were outrigger kayaks navigating Great Race.
Welcome to Race Rocks
Friday April 5
Arrived at Race Rocks to take the baton from Jeremais. I was here just short of a year ago but this is my 4th or 5th time arriving in April. The house looks remarkable with new windows and new paint. The pathways are all clean and Jeremias has done work everywhere I look. I am thankful for all his endeavours. I come to the island recovering from a back problem and although I know I can do the necessary work it is the first time I will not be able to chop wood, move the concrete posts around and generally I need to sit around more than usual. Lots of time for observations!
As soon as the boat pulled away I went to look for a tagged gull I have documented in 2023 and 2022. And it was there! Same spot. This gives me a moment of reflection, last year I wrote about it too, how most of these animals are likely the same ones which return each year. It also makes me relieved because this bird has survived with 4 tags on its legs. Although we know how light they are I still require reassurance that they do not harm the bird (The birds are tagged elsewhere, at Race Rocks we do not having a tagging program). Here is another bird returned from last year I am even more surprised to see. With this one legged bird there is less certainty that it is the same individual but a remarkable coincidence if not, same month and same spot. If you search my previous blog entries you will find their pictures. 
Race Rocks ER Gull Survey April 3 2024
| Race Rocks Gull Survey April 3 2024 |
| Andrew Jacobs | 5 April 2024 at 21:35 | |
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Race Rocks Ecological Reserve #97 warden’s report April 2024
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- Jeremy and Garry
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- Jeremy and Greg checking water reservoir storage level
For the past few weeks a former biology student whom I taught at Pearson College, Jerremy Prassl has been serving as the Ecoguardian at Race Rocks. He would be leaving on April 5 and returning to Britain where he is a professor at Oxford.
I got a ride out on Second Nature with Greg and we also took out two bird observers from the Rocky Point Bird Observatory ( RPBO) / BC Nature Gull survey, Andrew Jacobs and James Kennerley. The detailed observations and a link to the identification of the interspecific gull hybrids eBird Canada Checklist – 3 Apr 2024 – Race Rocks – 16 species (+2 other taxa) was a valuable addition to research in the Ecological Reserve. Below is a sample from Andrew’s photos on eBird of their identification of the different gulls:
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- Glaucous-winged
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- Western
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- WesternXGlaucous-winged hybrid
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- Herring x Glaucous
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- Iceland(Thayers)
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- Tulips survive after may years of being planted by former lightkeepers
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- Stairs covered with the introduced sedum.. and interesting ecological succession story
One project that needs to be done is a more permanent placement of stakes to hold the electric fencing which keeps the sea lions from damaging the vegetation and infrastructure on the island.
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- unstable concrete supports for the electric fencing
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- area inhabited over the last few months by sea lions on the left
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- areas protected from sea lion haulout have vegetation surviving preventing erosion
In my walk around the island I noted several areas that need attention, BC parks indicated several years ago that they would be out to remove several piles of construction waste. I think this has gone on too long and these piles are very unsightly and an intrusion into the ecosystem. Perhaps a reminder will elicit some action.
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- Wood waste from house balcony replacement
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- Concrete from stairs repair