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| Month: February | Year: 2013 | ||||
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Monthly Archives: February 2013
Feb 26 count
Wildlife
Bertha left the main island the night of the 16 and I have not seen her since. She was on the island and mating with Misery for just over a week. Zeke stayed around for the first few days and was very interested in the new arrival and activity but after being chased off by Misery a few times he left, I have not seen him in about a week. Misery seems to still be looking for her sometimes. He has been on the main island every day since Bertha arrived and seems to go off the island most nights.
The Pigeon Guillemots are becoming more frequent with a recent count of over 200, they stay mostly just offshore or in the intertidal zone and make their shrill calls. A couple pairs of Black Brant Geese have also been showing up just offshore of the main rock. Most days there are over half a dozen bald eagles in the reserve perched on the crane, the generator exhaust pipe, camera 5, on rocks, on the smaller islands, gliding in the air on the west winds, or chasing each other around.
Census, Monday Feb 18, 2013 Continue reading
Crane work
Erik was out today to help fix the crane and offload garbage from removing old carpet and linoleum from the guest house. The cable had come off the upper pulley so Erik climbed the boom to get it properly seated again while i belayed him off the diesel transfer tank.
Once fixed we were able to offload the two bulk bags and sling load onto Second Nature while at a low tide of 5.6 feet. I went off island to unload the waste from the boat into a dump bin on campus.
Winch house and sling load. Image captured from web cam (5) by Garry.
Image capture from tower web cam by Garry
Mating
Yesterday just before dusk Bertha showed up on the main island. Misery made his way very quickly over to her and they were mating pretty soon after. He has been staying close to her overnight and this morning.
DND Activity
The DND has been doing various activities this week nearby on vancouver island including setting off smoke signals, flares, and on Feb 6, around 5 loud explosive blasts.
Feb 4, 14:35
Feb 4, 12:51
Kayakers
A group of 15 kayakers paddled through the reserve around noon, this is the largest group I have seen out here. They rounded the main island and headed towards Bentinck island.
Sea Lions
Sea lions on West Rock
The sea lions have been switching their haul-outs lately. Some days there have been almost no sea lions visible on the rocks. Recently i have been seeing them on West rock (above) which is not usual in my observations.
Most fishing boats pass by on the outside of the reserve but this one took the scenic route. Sea lions in the background on middle rock and one of the male elephant seals on the top of the rock.
California sea lion
There is one California sea lion that I have been seeing occasionally, it seems to keep to itself.