Race Rocks Redux

The ecoguardian residence and lighthouse tower at Race Rocks

It's been almost a year, but I am back at Race Rocks, serving as a relief ecoguardian for three weeks this time.  For the first time in two weeks, I didn't have to get up around 3 am for a shift at Rocky Point Observatory, so guess what time I woke up? Yes, 3 am, because although I changed one of my alarms to 6, I neglected to reset the other two. Sheesh! I went right back to sleep though and got up at 6 for a semi-frantic "finish packing and try not to forget anything important" morning. The biggest complication was that this time I was packing for two.

Meet Mushu, my 17 year old companion, a life-long indoor cat near the end of that life.  I had honestly not expected him to still be with us when I accepted the offer to return to Race Rocks last January. I had been pretty stressed about the idea of leaving him behind feeling that I had abandoned him, so I took a chance and asked permission for him to come with me.  Because he is an indoor cat, I was granted permission. So, late in life, Mushu gets a big adventure. It's his first trip away from home.

Mushu chilling on the boat

Mushu has been sleeping in his travel crate all week, but when I put him in the car in it, I think he felt a bit betrayed.  He did not enjoy the ride, despite being a champ on test car rides in the last couple of weeks. He ended up on my lap for most of the trip to Pearson College to board the Second Nature for the trip to Race Rocks.  I was most concerned about the boat ride.  What would a homebody cat think of that?  Well, I needn't have worried.  Back in his crate aboard the boat, he settled right down and was calm for the whole ride. Captain Greg Dickinson and fellow passenger Garry Fletcher's presence seem to reassure him, despite a splashy ride over in a bit of wind.

We were greeted at the dock by departing ecoguardian Nick Townley, and visiting volunteers, Jeremias Prassl and Abi Adams-Prassl, who helped get my mountain of stuff up to the house. Once I set Mushu up in one of the bedrooms, we all spent a bit of time looking around the island and getting me up to speed on my list of daily tasks and chores. It will be great to have help for a few days until they leave next week. 

Black Oystercatcher

First order of business for me, though, and for Mushu, was a much needed nap.  I have been burning the candle at both ends for a couple of weeks with the startup of migration monitoring at Rocky Point Bird Observatory, just across the water from Race Rocks, and next door neighbour to Pearson College. Then it was time to check out the bird and other wildlife.

Race Rocks is home to a significant Glaucous-winged Gull colony, forcing the humans on the island to resort to wearing hard hats in recent weeks. I would estimate the numbers to be half to two-thirds what they were this time last year. I understand that a lot of the nests failed this year, and that is definitely in evidence, despite there still being plenty of chicks and their very defensive parents.

Glaucous-winged Gull with chicks

Other gulls seen today include a good group of California Gulls, and a few Heermann's Gulls. While we were greeted by dozen's of Pigeon Guillemots when we landed, they had almost all vanished by early evening. The east beach housed about 200 Black Turnstones and a dozen Surfbirds. As happened last year, Killdeer show up only after dark.

Triplet Glaucous-winged Gull

The big male elephant seal ("Bernard" to many, but "Bubbles" to me) is back and hanging out near the student/researcher building.  There are also at least a couple smaller elephant seals here this year.

Young elephant seal

Bernard/Bubbles

Mushu has made himself more or less at home and is curled up in a chair near the woodstove as I type this. Tomorrow starts my work here in earnest. Let's see what the strong west wind blows in tonight!