Wildlife notes

The unwell California sealion has been here for 5 days. Its rib and spine bones are visible. It goes for a short float at least once a day but is only able to move its front flippers. He had the energy to haul himself onto the rocks this afternoon but does not look any better.  The gull chick with mobility challenges (shown yesterday) is likely about 5 days old. It is now noticeably smaller than its nest mates and spends most of its time exposed in the wind, all alone.  I would guess the sealion will be with us longer.

Some of gulls and pigeon guillemots are still sitting on eggs. For the gulls it may be around 20% of the total nesting population, for the guillemots I could not venture a guess, but more guillemots are seen with prey in their beaks.

Facility work

The generator and the desalinator ran this morning.  I hadn’t planned on it but I used all the water produced during the 5 hour run. The gulls were right on target this morning so I needed a shower (this is no place for a ponytail), did a load of laundry (was out of clean shirts) and used a lot of mopping and cleaning water in one of the side storage basement rooms that was cleared out recently. The solar panels were skipped today as the winds were strong and the generator was running.

Vessels (partial count today)

• Ecotourism: 13
• Private: 1

Weather

Skies with scattered clouds. Winds westerlies 23 to 29 knots.  Daytime temperatures 11 to 16 degrees.