Wind: yesterday W 15-40 knots, today variable 2-17 knots
Sea State: yesterday up to 0.5m chop, today up to 1 m chop
Visibility: both days 10-15 NM
Sky: both days partly cloudy
Temperature: both days 4-7 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 415.60 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)
A fourth adult female elephant seal arrived on the island yesterday morning. She appears to be another one of the four mothers that was here in the winter, based on the appearance of the scars on her back from mating in February.
The Race Rocks symphony is still going day and night, with the barking sea lions, bellowing elephant seals, whistling pigeon guillemots, squawking gulls, honking geese, twittering turnstones, piping oystercatchers and howling wind.
Weekly census results observed today:
8 elephant seals (2 female pups, 1 female juvenile, 1 sub adult male, 4 female adults)
26 steller sea lions
69 california sea lions
134 harbour seals
3 bald eagles (1 juvenile, 2 adults)
20 Canada geese
32 pelagic cormorants
4 brandt’s cormorants
6 double-crested cormorants
1 black brant goose
83 gulls (mostly thayer’s gulls)
6 black oystercatchers
96 pigeon guillemots
16 harlequin ducks
10 black turnstones
The Race Rocks station boat was launched this morning to go to the dock at Pearson College to pick up supplies and the Pedder Bay Marina to get gas. On my first trip out of the ecological reserve since the beginning of winter, I enjoyed seeing some species that don’t live on Race Rocks: big douglas firs, arbutus, garry oak, two swans and kingfishers.
In the afternoon, a 24′ fishing boat became disabled while it was in Race Passage, just north of the ecological reserve. They put an anchor down when they got close to West Rocks. The anchor appeared to become unattached from the boat, as the float stayed in place, but the boat kept drifting to the west. The Coast Guard boat Victoria 1 and a C-Tow boat, responded within about 20 minutes to the Pan Pan call on the VHF. While the C-Tow boat towed the disabled boat into Pedder Bay, the Coast Guard retrieved the anchor.
Elephant seal cuddle puddle with four female adults and the sub adult male off to the side. 
Another view of the seal cuddle puddle 
Another goose nest between the old flywheels and rocky ledge. 
I wonder if the older female pup knows she is napping on top of a goose nest. 
C-Tow and Coast Guard assisting the disabled boat in the middle. 
Coast Guard boat Victoria 1 retrieves the disabled boats anchor the anchor in Race Passage.
