Oak Bay Islands Wardens Report 2021
See the link above for the complete report with photos
OAK BAY ISLANDS ECOLOGICAL RESERVE
Warden’s Report 2021
Marilyn Lambert
The Oak Bay Islands Ecological Reserve is a dispersed collection of islands: Great Chain Island and the Chain Islets, Jemmy Jones Island, Alpha Island and Griffin Island. Together they protect 211 hectares of marine bird nesting habitat, rare meadow plants and shallow-water ocean ecology. The reserve is also home to one of the largest breeding populations of Glaucous-winged gulls in B.C. Black Oystercatchers nest on the small gravel beaches and are particularly vulnerable to disturbance during the breeding season.
The reserve was established to protect marine meadows rich in spring flowers, a seabird nesting colony and representative marine life.
Visits:
April 11 – Marilyn Lambert, Phil Lambert, Jacques Sirois and Michael Jackson
A visit to Jemmy Jones Island to addle Canada Goose eggs. We found 13 nests and addled 66 eggs. The geese on this island are quite protective of their nests and eggs and it takes at least three people to addle eggs here. One to addle, one to record and one to fend off the geese that are trying to return to the nest. On this trip, we also visited some smaller nearby islands that also had CAGO nests. These small islands are close to the Ten Mile Point shoreline and are visited frequently by kayakers and paddle boarders. The geese here are fiercely protective of their nests, probably because of the human traffic on the islets.
Jemmy Jones Island CAGO results: Total nests found = 13 Total eggs addled = 66
Jemmy Jones island has an amazing show of wildflowers and the bloom of sea blush is spectacular. We found a patch of the Brittle Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia fragilis) that I had not seen here before.
Standing Guard
Opuntia fragilis (Brittle Prickly Pear)
April 12 – Marilyn Lambert, Phil Lambert, and Jacques Sirois
Jacques, Marilyn and Phil Lambert headed over to Great Chain Island to meet up with Tim Clermont and his crew from the Guardians of the Mid-Island Estuaries Society (GoMES). Tim’s group reported that they received $5000.00 from the Royal Victoria Golf Club to be used for the egg addling project. He also mentioned that their group had a blanket permit to do their addling work in the area. (At least I’m pretty sure that is what he said.) When we arrived on Great Chain Island, Tim and crew were already at work finding nests and addling eggs. The crew from GoMES is well experienced, so we left them to it. As we were on a mission to addle Canada Goose eggs in an attempt to reduce the goose population around the Oak Bay Islands area, we focused our effort on other islands in the area. We did a bird survey and Jacques submitted the list to eBird.
CAGO Egg Addlers – Great Chain Island
Summary of Canada Goose Eggs Addled in the Oak Bay and Trial Islands Area
Island
Nests
Eggs
Jemmy Jones
13
66
Flower Island
8
42
Great Chain
37
216
Mary Tod
0
0
Staines Island
3
20
Uplands Islets
3
15
Lesser Trial
38
222
Greater Trial
19
96
Totals for the Oak Bay Area
121
677
April 14 – Marilyn Lambert, Phil Lambert, Jacques Sirois, Liam Ragan, Sarah Joanisse, Jessica Lines
Long anticipated day on Great Chain Island to put up signage for the Ecological Reserve and the Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA). Sarah Joanisse, BCParks Area Supervisor, was able to find some funds to purchase signage, blocks and posts for the Oak Bay Islands Ecological Reserve. The Chain Islets and Great Chain Island IBA is part of this reserve and it was agreed to put the IBA sign on the ER signpost. Liam Ragan, BC Provincial Coordinator for the IBA Program, was along to help with the sign installation. It was hard work toting three heavy blocks across the island. As this island is mostly bedrock, it was difficult finding a suitable spot to dig a hole for the blocks. The hole has to be fairly deep so the blocks won’t topple in the first windstorm. We weren’t able to put up the poles as we were missing a crucial part of the pole assembly. We were able to walk around the island and Liam found a plant, Red Maids (Calandrinia menziesii), that I had not seen growing there before. There were signposts to be delivered to Trial Islands, so that was the next stop.
It was a lovely day to be out on the islands and Liam entered his sightings to eBird.
Liam and Jacques at work
April 20 – Marilyn Lambert and Phil Lambert