Wildlife Notes:
- A scoop of brown pelicans stopped by the ecological reserve this afternoon. They rested and preened on the South Islands before taking off a couple hours later. A group of pelicans can go by many names: brief, fleet, pod, pouch, scoop, and squadron.
- Many of the gull chicks are practicing their take offs and landings. Some are getting about 30 cm or higher off the ground during their wing strengthening exercises. Soon they will all take flight! Then I can stop walking around with a broom over my head to prevent the gull parents from attacking me.
Facility work:
- The generator ran automatically this morning when the battery voltage dipped down to 47.8V just before 07:00am. The batteries did not fully charge from solar power yesterday due to the clouds. The generator ran for almost seven hours today, using about 30 L of diesel. The battery state of charge went from 65% to 100%, with only some assistance from solar energy since it was cloudy this morning.
- Changed the relatively much smaller 12V battery in station boat after charging it for a couple days.
Vessels:
- Ecotourism: 17
- Private: 3
Weather:
- Sky: Cloudy this morning, partly cloudy this afternoon, fog patches in the evening
- Wind: variable early this morning, west 4-30 knots from mid morning onwards
- Sea: rippled for most of the day, then up to 3′ chop in the evening
- Air temperature: low 13 °C, high 18 °C
- Seawater temperature at max flood: 10.7°C
Photos from today:
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- Two adult bald eagles perched on North Rocks this morning at low tide
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- Harbour seals by South Seal Rocks
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- Pigeon guillemots
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- Pigeon guillemots
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- Glaucous-winged gull chick practicing with their wings.
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- Savannah sparrow
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- A scoop of pelicans coming in for a landing on the east side of the ecological reserve.
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- Five pelicans take a break on the South Islands on the next rock over from the current main haul out for the sea lions.
*All wildlife photos are taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail.