Quite a few ecotour boats in the area today – a lot of them stopped near the northern rocks to watch the bald eagle sitting there
Bird Notes
The seagulls have become extremely aggressive every since their eggs have started to hatch. I’ve been attacked countless times over the last few days just walking on the paths – thankfully I’ve always had my hard hat and thick jacket on so no injuries!
Census
Elephant Seals
Male = 3
Female = 0
Sea Lions
California = 2
Steller = 0
Seagulls = 380 adults, ~50 babies (hard to estimate)
Spotted several juvenile eagles just by the jetty today. This is quite unusual, but I suspect the newborn babies attracted them. However, when I got close, I saw one eagle feeding on an adult oystercatcher (I think, it was hard to tell because it was deformed, could have been a pigeon guillemot).
Marine mammals
Looks like there were some resident whales swimming past Pedder Bay yesterday, but I couldn’t get a glimpse because it was too far. There were a whole bunch of whale watching boats, and the marina mentioned it was resident whales when I called them about one of their boats.
Kyle came by to drop off some food supplies for me, but because of the dropping tide he wasn’t able to stay long enough to come ashore.
Birds
The seagull eggs have started to hatch! I estimate about 20 babies as of this morning. It’s hard to get a count of them as the seagulls are now at their most aggressive – I got hit on the head a few times, but thankfully I had my hard hat on.
Spotted some more oystercatcher chicks, but again they were gone by the time I got close. They are REALLY hard to photograph.
Marine mammals
Yet another day of no sea lions
Elephant seal count remains the same – one of the adult males got all the way up to the base of the lighthouse today!
Quite a few ecotour boats today, with a couple of private boats as well
A weirdly shaped plane flew over this morning
Birds
I spotted two Oystercatcher chicks near the crane as I was standing on the jetty. I grabbed a photo from far but they were gone by the time I got close. I have walked around the entire shore and haven’t seen any other chicks yet – looks like we had some literal early birds.
Saw a harlequin duck near the east shore of the island. Photographed below.
Marine mammals
Caught a lone orca swimming past Pedder Bay, but by the time I went to get a photograph it was gone.
An average number of ecotour boats today – the tourists were treated with quite a spectacular sunset!
Marine Mammals
Saw a single California Sea Lion on the jetty early this afternoon – the only sea lion to be visible in the last 3 days.
Spotted a molting harbour seal near the jetty that seemed to be in a lot of pain. It’s unusual for harbour seals to come to the main island, but this one seemed to be trying to stay out of the water, possibly due to sensitive skin. I kept an eye on it for the evening, and went to check on it this morning but it was gone.
Kyle brought in a team of PTTP technicians to the island to help finish our new energy system wiring and to optimize our solar array for the greatest efficiency. Additionally, we also carried some of the older lead-acid batteries from the battery room to the tank room, from where they will be loaded on to a boat for the main island.
Kyle was also able to repair the Boston Whaler onsite – looks like the issue was corrosion on the contacts to the battery and the switch. He was able to sand the corrosion away and the electronics jumped to life!
Marine Mammals
The sea lions have completely disappeared over the last 2-3 days. Can’t see a single one around now
Elephant seal counts are at 2 females and 4 males – 3 of the males seemed to be all huddled up next to the student house, possibly to escape the wind.
Heavy fog crept in and out through the day, fog horn went off a couple of times
Boats/Visitors/Sightings
Search and Rescue Operation currently underway for 58 year old asian male kayaker who hasn’t been seen since yesterday.
I received the information this morning from Pearson College about an active search and rescue for a kayaker who left from Beecher Bay on Monday afternoon. I immediately did a sweep of the Race Rocks perimeter and a scan of the area from the top of the lighthouse. There was a rescue helicopter and several marine vessels around the area throughout the day. As of 2200 hrs on Tuesday he hasn’t been seen.
A small pleasure craft with 3 occupants was fishing in the north end of the reserve. After several attempts to radio them and using the air horn to get their attention, they remained for 20 mins or so. They left after catching a couple of large fish. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to catch the vessel’s number. Photographed below.
A Pedder Bay Marina boat with 4 occupants was fishing in the east end of the reserve. I called the marina immediately but they couldn’t get in touch with the people in the vessel. They left the reserve area when the tide pushed them east about 10 mins later, but they still remained on the boundaries of the reserve. Photographed below.
Marine Mammals
The Sea Lions seem to have disappeared today – no sign of them anywhere on the main lighthouse island.
Saw some orcas about 2 km south – surprisingly they stayed there for over 2 hours! The orcas out-waited several whale watching boats.
