August 14 and 15

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It was a short but great stay for Carl and Brady Hughes. They managed to see all of the expected mammals and got to know the Glaucous-winged Gull community quite well during their visit. Carl spotted the season’s first Sooty Shearwater on Saturday and attempted overnight audio recording that night. He will post his recordings to iNaturalist and eBird. The compost rejuvenation project continues with 48 more buckets of aged compost removed from the first chamber.

Ecological Notes:

  • All three elephant seals were seen on August 14 and 15.
  • Passerines seen in the last two days were Brown-headed Cowbird, Barn Swallow and Northern Rough-winged Swallow. A Northern Harrier flew north over Great Race on Saturday.
  • A juvenile Short-billed Dowitcher was wandering the paths in the fog on August 15.
  • The branded Steller’s sea lion sighted on August 12 has a history! Originally branded at Rogue Reef, Oregon in July 2003, he has been sighted at least 70 times. Previous sightings on Race Rocks include Dec 2007, May 2008, Sept 2009, Aug 2014, and Aug 2017. The most spectacular resighting, though, involved an escape from a pod of Orca in the San Juan Islands in 2020.
  • Humpbacks and Orca are being seen regularly, but generally at great distance.
  • See photos below for more ecological sightings.

Weather:

  • Yesterday (Sunday, August 14):
    • Sky: Sunny with light cloud. Scattered fog patches
    • Wind: W 8-23 kts
    • Sea: up to 1′ chop
    • Temperature Low 12 oC, High 16 oC
  • Today (Monday, August 15):
    • Sky: Fog most of the morning, clearing to partially cloudy in the afternoon
    • Wind: W/WSW 11-37 kts
    • Sea: calm to 3′ chop
    • Temperature Low 11 oC, High 17 oC

Facility Work:

  • Solar panels cleaned daily. Windows washed.
  • Battery electrolyte level topped up.
  • Compost renewal project continues.

Vessel Traffic:

  • Many Canadian ecotour boats have been nearby and heading through the waters of the ecological reserve. Cruise ship traffic is increasing.

Here are photo highlights from the past two days. Click on the photos for larger views and captions.

Second Nature taking visitors back to Pearson College.

Bonaparte’s Gull

Early morning fogbow

Almost empty!

Progress on the compost project

Young Pigeon Guillemot with adult

Elephant seal in the East Bay

 

Traffic jam on the ramp

California Gulls

Young Glaucous-winged gulls almost ready to fly

Young Glaucous-winged gulls almost ready to fly

Male elephant seal

Sleeping Harlequin Duck

Brown-headed Cowbirds

Male elephant seal

Cruise ship traffic

Juvenile Short-billed Dowitcher

Juvenile Short-billed Dowitcher showing diagnostic markings in tertials

Brown-headed Cowbird