Wild things

I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself”    D.H. Lawrence

I am reminded of how durable and enduring wildlife is when I watch the surfbirds hunker down for the night on the cold hard rocks at the water edge, the wounded California sealion favour his injured flipper, and this morning, seeing the female elephant seal with bloody tears around her eye.

Wildlife notes:

Approximately 1/3 of the gull nests have chicks.  Even the more relaxed gulls which previously continued to sit on their nests and let me pass with just some squawking are are now irate and charge at me. The chicks are becoming vocal and I can hear their peeps. The oyster catcher chick that hatched yesterday hasn’t been moved to the cover of the rocks and is still out in the open.

Two day old black oyster catcher chick

The male elephant seal “playing” with the kelp.

The injured California sealion…. like watching someone’s head nod when they fall asleep on the bus or at a meeting.

Facility work:

  • cleaned solar panels
  • cleaned Student House windows
  • split wood
  • started weeding brick walkway on south side of Energy Building

Vessels:

38 ecotourism, 3 private

Weather:

Sunny day, light to gentle breeze (1-11 knots), mainly easterlies ranging from ESE to NE.