Weather: mostly clear sky and light wind from the West.
Ecological:
-A flock of Pigeon Guillemots with winter plumage (photos) were in the foreshore by the jetty, these were the first PGs I have seen on this shift.
-The Snow Bunting was out and about (photo)
Vessels: 2 tour boats and 1 private/sports fishing boat
Maintenance:
-cut firewood
-moved fuel barrels
-stocked up firewood in basement
-continued to look in to energy system issues.
Weather: Continued west wind up to 30 knots in the morning and some lingering swell, sunshine for a change.
Ecological:
Guy brought Kim and Jim out in the morning for the annual “Sooke Christmas Bird Count”. They surveyed the island and surrounding waters from the top of the tower and walked around the island. Guy took them around the reserve in the boat on the way back to get a better view of the pelagic zone. Apparently the Snow Bunting they saw here was one of the highlights of the Sooke count this year.
12 Canada Goose
10 Harlequin Duck
4 Surf Scoter
3 White-winged Scoter
2 Red-breasted Merganser
24 Black Oystercatcher
38 Black Turnstone
3500 Common Murre
90 Ancient Murrelet
4 Rhinoceros Auklet
800 Mew Gull
150 Iceland Gull (Thayer’s)
250 Glaucous-winged Gull
1 Western x Glaucous-winged Gull (hybrid) — 95% Western
1 Red-throated Loon
40 Pacific Loon
1 Common Loon
50 Brandt’s Cormorant
75 Pelagic Cormorant
20 Double-crested Cormorant
10 Bald Eagle
2 Common Raven
1 Snow Bunting — Photos taken
1 Song Sparrow
Number of Taxa: 24
-4 tankers passed by today: The STI Battery, and oil/chemical tanker on its way to Quintero, Chile; The Florida, an oil/chemical tanker heading to Anacortes from Nikiski (USA); The Unique Developer, and oil products tanker coming from Topolobampo (Mex) en route to Port Angeles; and the Valrossa, from Cherry Point to Manzanillo (Mex)
Vessels:
-Second Nature
-one private/sports fishing
-3 tour boats
-1 little red zodiac going over the requested speed limit.
Maintenance:
-fixed firewood cutting jig
-sharpened chainsaw
-cut firewood
-Tidying in tank room
Weather: visibility dropped in the morning as a wet west wind picked up with driving rain. Wind reached up to 40 knots and pushed in large swells.
Ecologcial:
-As the rain accumulated and low spots started to fill with standing water, the female e-seal (C887) didnt seem bothered about being in a puddle.
-One of the larger male e-seals move up under one of the house decks where i could get an easy photo of the scar pattern on his back. There are so many (4) large males now that it is hard to keep them sorted.
-The Valrossa, an oil/chemical tanker, passed by on its way from Guaymas, Mexico to Cherry Point, USA
Maintenance: Finished energy assessment report.
Weather: good visibility, light wind, overcast, calm sea
Vessels. After a couple fairly quiet days traffic increased today. Several of the boats appeared to be within 100 meters of sealions. A couple appeared to be going over the 7 knot speed limit within 400 meters of the rocks.
-1 Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue boat
-4 private/sports fishing boats
-2 rental boats from Peder Bay Marina. I called the Marina to let then know their rental boats were in the reserve and that one was quite close to marine mammals.
-4 tour boats
-Hyaku from Pearson College, Cory with 2 guests stopped in for a short tour on the island
Maintenance:
-continued work on energy system assessment, writing report.
Weather: good visibility, wind North 10 knots, sky overcast, 2 foot swell
Vessels: not much boat traffic in the area today.
Ecological:
-Tankers: Kouros (oil/chemical) passed by on its way to Manzanillo Mexico and The Alaskan Navigator heading to Port Angeles
-We continue to have 4 male elephant seals and 3 females, including C887 (green tag) on the main island (observed previously). C887 was quite interested in a puddle, she would put her snout in the water and make bubbles then appeared to swallow mud from the bottom and cough it back up.
Maintenance:
-continued work on energy system assessment, took battery bank specific gravity and voltage measurements of each cell.
-transfer 80L diesel to engine room, fill generator tank
-cleared driftwood from boat ramp
Weather: Wind light, good visibility, cloudy with a few breaks, and pretty calm sea.
Maintenance:
Vessels:
Good conditions for a shift change today. Jeff has been out since Laas left last week, I will be on until around January 3. Guy brought me out on Second Nature and brought Jeff and guest back around noon. Unfortunately Neighbour wouldnt start, she is at the college dock, we will try again tomorrow.
Vessels:
Ecological
I am heading out tomorrow for winter break but both Jeff and Alex will be here.
Thought I would do one last count before I head out for a couple weeks, there seemed to be more Steller Sea Lions around today
Weather
Boats/Visitors
Maintenance
Ecological
Census
Have a couple nice screen captures of the bald eagles that have been hanging around the camera sent in by Jenn W.
Final exams are over so I will be posting more until I am out for winter break December 20th to January 3rd
Weather
Boats/Visitors
Maintenance
Ecological
Census
