6 barrels and 2 men

Weather

At 5:30 West light wind 6 knots,no visibility :very foggy .Actually the fog horn has been honking from 3:00 Am to 5:30. It cleared up around 6:00. Sea flat the whole day. and sky :cloudy to sunny

Ecological

The seagull are the main actors right now on the rocks :they are busy and noisy.The little ones pops out everywhere ,even the ones closed to the camera 3. They were born Today but still under the parent’s wing right now…At least every hour ,especially this morning you could see clouds of gulls and listen their shrill cries,sometimes because of the presence of an eagle but not always . All at once ,around 600 of them (at least) at the same time  were taking wing in the sky and a few minutes later  back to the ground…Now I understand the expression a flock of seagulls. Still around 5 Elephant seals . Yesterday night we counted 10 oystercatchers before sunset and some very small and adorable seashore birds.A big pod of Orcas were closed to the green boyd around Noon

Maintenance

Kyle came early because of the tide with 6 barrels of diesel and they hauled them with the crank .Now we have 1200 litres of gasoil. I never saw the solar panels dirtier than Today. It was thick and smelly .One bucket of warm water for the top panels was not enough .I had to do it twice .The young ones under the low panels were born so it’s now getting tricky to do the cleaning job! The parents are getting mad …and we have to wear an helmet.

Other

Many watching boats Today and the same helicopter above 2 times. A tanker had to honk for a watching boat too closed…

 

Errands and groceries days

Weather

2 very calm days,sea like a mirror and only 18 knots at 9:00 on Wednesday it rained in the morning just good  for a rock cleaning (the whole place is getting white ).

Ecological

On Tuesday I went back to the top of the tower and around the rock to double check the birds on the rocks:I discovered 2 beautiful Harlequin ducks always in the same area closed to the beach,2 oystercatchers couples,around 30 Seashore birds,3 sea lions and many harbour seals ,some with very small babies.

Other 

After 8 days on the rocks it was time for shopping and recycling. The days were perfect Tide ,currents ,visibility and …wind contributed to a quiet trip to shore.After those windy days we found many logs floating on the sea between here and Pearson College . Leaving Main, you could see two huge eagles on Middle ready for breakfast…Usual scenery in the morning or before dark.We took advantage of the trip to fill up the gasoline tanks for the boat.(95 litres) and I send (slow mail)the end of the month report for the Seawater .

Unusual eye pattern of nesting gull

This morning I noticed a Glaucous-winged gull on a nest up close to Camera 5 on the West side. These pictures show an unusual eye pattern??

 

Census day

Weather

The wind has been blowing  strongly since 10:00AM ;before that it was around 19 knots At 5:00 it was calm with 10 miles of visibility. At Noon we had 26 knots ,38 at 4:00PM and down to 30 around 7:00. When we went in the light to do the census the effect of the wind and the tide was amazing and gave the feeling to be on a speed boat especially on South side. Going from the house to the tower for the census was like an adventure between the gulls above , the flying helmet, the binoculars and the wind climbing  the outside stairs but…beautiful up to the tower. By the way we have been steady on the rock for 8 days without going back to shore ! Not bad  really..now we just need more groceries…

Ecological and Census

Glaucous winged Gulls (mainly): around 870(mainly outside the main Rock)

Sea otter :1

Elephant Seals :4

Pigeons -Guillemot: 25.

Oystercatchers:2 couples seen today and 5 babies in the week (I will try to spot the other couple )

Harbour Seals : 65 +babies

Seashore birds: 10

Cormorants : 0

Sea lion:1

Geese : 2 (but not seen Today)

Eagles : 3

Seashore birds : a few ( I will try to see  on the beach( If the wind is not too strong )before  the sunset)

Maintenance 

Food inventory (emergency stock),some stuff discarded .

Generator ran 4 hours and half

Guy measured the door that needs to be changed (Derrick house)

Other

1 helicopter above and 2 commercial fishing boats , No watchers

 

 

No dust around this Week end!

Weather

Almost a permanent gale warning situation those last days: a few hours in the morning around 20 knots and very quickly it increased to 35 to 40 knots for the rest of the day

Ecological

More chicken were born but no comparison with last year . Even if there are many birds on the rocks around we have maybe half of the nesting birds on main! same thing for the sea lions : not one ! 2 times we saw a sea otter: eggs and chicks!..No cormorants and 4 to 6 maximum Elephant seals. Maybe this is because of this very windy spring or/ and less fish.

Boats 

We saw some commercial fishing boats going or coming back even at night but otherwise no pleasure or watching vessels.On Sunday afternoon we spent 2 hours observing a sail boat with some engine problems in a 35 knots wind going towards Victoria .(they had already past the most dangerous area around Race Rocks)   We try to get in touch but nobody answered and finally they managed to enter Pedder Bay entrance and a fishing boat followed them and it looks like he changed its route .

Maintenance 

The desalinator has been on for 16 hours between Saturday and Sunday.The soft water tank is now full.

 

 

Happy canada Day especially for the new born!

Weather

This first of July has been one of the only calm day of the week.17 knots at 5:00 AM and a sea calm with a good visibility over 15 miles but in the morning the visibility was only 2 miles looking to Vancouver Island but just for a while ,cool day but clear sky.

Ecological 

Busy life around: 4 to 5 elephants on main,2 geese ,1sea lion on the jetty (the first and only one in weeks ) and the birds :we discovered the 3 first gull chicks .2 were at least one or 2 days old and the other one newborn.It must be why the eagles are so active and we had 3 serious attacks.They spent a lot of time on Middle and South rocks.The oystercatchers after the gust of Tuesday came back but no chick. I keep an eye on them.

Maintenance 

Usual chores and I did the end of the month report and get the seawater datas ready for Peter Chandler. Guy had to clean the oxidized cable connected to the generator battery.  The desalinator and the generator were on for 8 hours.

Boats 

Almost no watching vessels. A few commercial one: always different and so majestic : a pleasure to watch them steady in the wind