Sunny Days, Census

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Weather:

  • Visibility 10+ NM
  • Sky Clear, partly cloudy throughout the day
  • Wind 15-20 knots NW
  • Sea State white caps, waves up to .5 m

Visitors/Boats:

  • No visitors to the island
  • Two kayakers in the reserve yesterday- very respectful of the wildlife, well done folks!
  • One pleasure craft yesterday that drifted around the reserve for quite a while (at least an hour)
  • A few “drifting through” pleasure crafts/off shift whale watching boats sprinkled over the past two days
  • We spotted the HMCS Regina heading into Pedder Bay

Ecological:

  • We found another goose nest yesterday underneath the back steps of the main residence containing 8 eggs. We noticed that the nest near the desalination structure has been looted by seagulls and abandoned.
  • The seagulls continue to arrive and establish their nesting spots. There are roughly 50% more gulls this week.
  • Two juvenile gulls spent yesterday in the reserve. We didn’t observe them catching or eating anything.

Census:

  • 92 Harbour Seals
  • 87 Sea lions
  • 11 elephant seals
  • 8 pelagic cormorants
  • 1 double crested cormorant
  • 1 bald eagle (adult)
  • 14 Canada geese
  • 140 seagulls
  • 3 black turnstones
  • 2 black oystercatchers
  • 1 black brant goose
  • The HMCS Regina
  • A cormorant taking flight
  • A young seal waits for mom to return (1/6)
  • 2/6
  • 3/6
  • 4/6
  • 5/6
  • 6/6
  • An oyster catcher searching for snacks at low tide
  • A branded sea lion
  • The elephant seals have been soaking up the sunshine
  • A young eagle
  • Two kayakers making their way through race passage from Pedder Bay
  • Seals resting on a sunny day