This weekend the island and reserve is teeming with humans. Seven Pearson students are experiencing a weekend here, we have 4 groups of Pearson students (60 in total) coming out for a biology exam. As well the “Friends of Ecological Reserves” group is coming for a tour in a few hours. But perhaps most obvious are the 25-30 sport halibut fish boats ringing the reserve to the East, South and West. Apparently there is a derby with about 450 fishing tickets sold. Either those boats are crowded or we can expect more before the day is over. Personally I am routing for the halibut!

We had 6 elephant seals here yesterday including numbers 6360, 5086 and 6375. Bertha is back for her moulting time of the year. She seems to go through the process much quicker than the juveniles. You can see the scar that makes her so easy to identify and is testament to her recuperative powers.

One of the juvenile elephant seals managed to wiggle under the chicken wire of one of the enclosures Alex made to measure the impact of Canada Geese on the grass. Turns out a 100 kg e-seal can have an impact on grass too.

photo courtesy of Pam Birley. Taken from the tower remote camera.

She has been liberated but seemed more annoyed than thankful!

Bald Eagle flyover…. a float plane just buzzed us and last night the military helicopter was doing exercises in the area. Chris cleaned the underwater webcam yesterday. You can watch the fish and if you are lucky spot a Sea Lion! https://racerocks.ca/racerock/uwcam/video2frame.htm