Wildlife notes

Large, older Stellar sea lions are starting to arrive and settle on the islands and rocks in the area. There are still a few gulls with eggs. The oldest gull chicks are starting to grow their feathers and are jumping and stretching out their wings. The oldest oystercatcher chicks are almost full size, their beaks are orange except at the tips and are also stretching their wings. Harbour seal pups haven’t been dropped off on at East Beach for the past two days. The population of black turnstones and surfbirds has exploded. There are so many of them and they are all nattering away – no wonder the ruddy turnstone keeps to itself.

On a sad note, I watched an adult gull take its last breath. It was floating in the back eddy at East Beach, with one wing bent in an odd position. For the 10 minutes I watched, it didn’t struggle or move except to lift its heavy head out of the water. I don’t know how it got there or what happened to it. It was gone when I checked 30 minutes later. Sure there are so many gulls all over the world but still it feels odd displaying these moment of death photos. If it had chicks, they will likely also die as one parent can’t both feed and protect the chicks.

Facility work

• cleaned solar panels
• measured battery specific gravity
• finished cleaning the laundry room (walls, windows, ledges and shelves), swept and cleaned woodpile area in basement

After…so nice to look out the windows.

The laundry room.  The last of my cleaning jobs as I only have one and a half days left.

Vessels

• Ecotourism:22
• Private: 2

Weather

Skies partly cloudy. Strong WNW or W breeze until evening then near gale force. Daytime temperatures: low 12, high 14.