Author Archives: Carol and Mike Slater

felt a lot colder than the thermometer readings.

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Sunday, May 05, 2002 Good Evening

TEMPERATURE: Max 8.1 C  Min. 5.7C  Reset 7.7 C  Rain 2.2 mm
MARINE LIFE: 1 juvenile bald eagle arrived early afternoon but stayed only about an hour.The weather really was miserable, felt a lot colder than the thermometer readings.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 4 Ecotour Boats late afternoon.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:17 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy  Vis. 15 Miles  Wind West 21 Knots  Sea 3 Foot Moderate  Ocnl RW-
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:00 AM

PC field lab

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Saturday, May 04, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 9.0 C  Min. 6.1 C  Reset 7.7 C
MARINE LIFE: 1 mature bald eagle in the reserve today, still 3 geese.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 4 ecotour boats ,2 U.S. pleasure craft in reserve today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:06 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Overcast Vis 15 Miles  Wind West 20 G 30 Knots Sea 4 Foot Moderate — Low South
West Swell
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:51 AM]
———————————————————————
Friday, May 03, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 11.0 C  Min. 5.3C Reset 8.8 C Rain 0.7 mm
MARINE LIFE: 2 mature, 1 juvenile bald eagles. 3 geese. The Gulls,Pigeon Guillamots and Oyster Catchers are all busy in the nesting areas -found 3 more Oyster Catcher nests with eggs.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 3 ecotour boats, 2 pleasure craft. The Second Nature in just before noon with Garry, Laura and students for field lab.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:29 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Clear  Vis. 15 Miles  Wind Calm  Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:56 AM

Black Oyster Catchers,always the first to lay,

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Thursday, May 02, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 10.1 C Min. 7.1 C Reset 7.3 C
MARINE LIFE: 3 bald eagles, 1 juvenile- 3 geese still here.The birds are all actively courting,mating, nest building and in the case of the Black Oyster Catchers,always the first to lay,incubating and protecting their eggs from crows and otters. Now we stay as far away from nesting areas as necessary to prevent stressing the birds.If the birds are off the nests too long the eggs will cool down in the 35+ knt. winds.
HUMAN INTERACTION: The 2nd Nature in just before noon with Garry,Laura,Sylvia and students for field lab. Another successful but tricky low tide landing! The mornings start out somewhat promising then the wind picks up and even with the sun never gets much over 10 C
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:25 PM

 

Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy  Vis 15 Miles Wind West 15 Knots  Sea 1 -2 Foot Chop
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:07 AM

Enviro. systems field lab.

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Wednesday, May 01, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 10.3 C  Min 7.7 C  Reset 9.9 C
MARINE LIFE: 1 mature and 1 juvenile bald eagle,still the 3 geese. A few gulls have managed to gather bits of grass to build nests in spite of the wind, the never ending wind!.Will check the usual areas for more Oyster Catcher nests tomorrow if the winds abates somewhat. Don’t want to disturb any egg sitting especially since the temperatures are so unseasonably cold.Usually by the first of May the garden is 1/4 planted with the snow peas,green onions and radishes up.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 2 Ecotour boats today. 2nd Nature in with Garry, Laura and students for Enviro. systems field lab. The very low tide with the brisk westerly makes landing at the dock tricky to say the least-well done Laura!
posted by Carol or Mike S at 8:05 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Part Cloudy  Vis. 5 Miles – Fog  Wind West 29 Knots  Sea 4 Foot Moderate – Low South West Swell
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:59 AM

–with the tail of the fish in it’s talons and the fish head bouncing off the water surface

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Tuesday, April 30, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 16.5 ºC »» Min. 5.7 ºC »» Reset 10.3 ºC »» Hi – Low and Totals For April »» Hi 16.5 ºC day 30 »» Low 3.1 ºC day 08 »» Total Rain 61.7 mm »» No snow
MARINE LIFE: 3 bald eagles( 1 juvenile ) With the very low tide this morning it was a seafood buffet for the birds and otters.Watched two determined gulls try to drag a large fish carcass that looked like a ling cod, out of water on to the rocks.They worked at this for over 20 minutes to no avail. Suddenly out of the fog the young eagle landed 2-3 metres away from the gulls which moved out of the way. The big bird had little trouble getting the fish carcass up on the rocks where it had a better hold then spent about 15 minutes feeding, all the while the gulls were getting more brazen, moving closer to maybe take back the fish.Not about to share, the eagle took off towards the southeast rocks with the tail of the fish in it’s talons and the fish head bouncing off the water surface several times before it was completely airborne. When the eagle had it’s fill the gulls and crows moved in to scrounge what they could.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 2 Ecotour boats and 3 Pleasure craft through the reserve today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:18 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Partly Obscured »» Vis. 2 – 4 Miles Fog »» Wind West 11 Knots »» Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:25 AM

The eagles made several attempts to land on Gr. Race but the gulls are relentless

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Sunday, April 28, 2002 Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 11.3 ºC »» Min. 7.0 ºC »» Reset 9.5 ºC
MARINE LIFE: 2 mature, 1 juvenile bald eagle- still 3 geese. The eagles made several attempts to land on Gr. Race but the gulls are relentless.Another bright sunny day although the sea was quite choppy.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 5 ecotour boats and 2 pleasure craft through the reserve today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:14 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER : Sky Clear »» Vis. 15 Miles »» Wind West 13 Knots »» Sea 1 Foot Chop
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:33 AM

bald eagles today looking a little bedraggled

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Friday, April 26, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 11.0 ºC »» Min. 6.7 ºC »» Reset 6.9 ºC »» Rain yes Rain 8.8 mm
MARINE LIFE: 2 mature and 1 juvenile bald eagles today looking a little bedraggled in the showers which were quite heavy at times.The 3 geese enjoyed the rain and the ensuing puddles.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 4 Ecotour boats and 1 Pleasure craft through the reserve today. The 2nd Nature was in with Garry, Laura and students for a field lab,unfortunately the rain put a damper on the scheduled outdoor webcast so as all good ‘producers’ Garry improvised.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:03 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Overcast »» Vis 15 Mile »» Wind West 19 Knots »» Sea 2 – 3 Foot Chop
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:30 AM

one nest of Black Oyster Catcher eggs.

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Thursday, April 25, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 11.9 ºC »» Min. 4.7 ºC »» Reset 9.0 ºC
MARINE LIFE: 3 Bald Eagles -1 juvenile.The eagles left the reserve just after 17:00. We are back to 3 geese again,I’m surprised they haven’t all left for ‘greener pastures’ now that the puddles they enjoyed so much have dried up but for a few slimy inches.Still only the one nest of Black Oyster Catcher eggs.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 5 Ecotour boats, 4 Pleasure craft. 2 of the pleasure craft were fishing in the reserve just after 13:00 but moved on with apologies after being advised of the MPA status. Picked up a drifting commercial crab trap off the east shore of Gr. Race and brought it in for disposal. This afternoon 2 College boats were in with Garry,Laura and students for a dive also Angus with Guests.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:22 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Clear »» Vis. 15 Miles »» Wind North 3 Knots »» Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:26 AM

a reunion of sorts–

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Wednesday, April 24, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 12.0 ºC »» Min. 4.9 ºC »» Reset 8.3 ºC
MARINE LIFE: 1 mature Bald Eagle which arrived just before noon and was harassed as yesterday until it left about 14:45. Still the 3 geese at least until 16:20 when to great honking a 4th goose flew in from the east,from all appearances this was a reunion of sorts with much beak touching and neck waving. I guess the where’s and why’s will remain a mystery.
HUMAN INTERACTION: There were 5 Ecotour boats and 2 Pleasure craft through the reserve today which although not very sunny was a very pleasant spring day.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:08 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Clear »» Vis. 15 Miles »» Wind Calm »» Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:24 AM

2 Black Oyster Catcher nests,

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Tuesday, April 23, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 11.0 ºC »» Min. 7.1 ºC »» Reset 8.8 ºC »» Rain 0.4 mm
MARINE LIFE: 1 mature Bald Eagle. The gulls kept the big bird moving from rock to rock. Every time the eagle settled down the gulls, in groups of 5 or 6 heckled it until it flew off to another spot.Finally just after 14:00 the eagle took off towards Whirl Bay. Still 3 Geese, the loner follows the pair all around the island but if he gets any closer than 5 metres or so is driven back with much honking and neck waving.Checking the area just above the high tide line turned up 2 Black Oyster Catcher nests, which are really just depressions lined with pebbles and bits of shells and are about 20 cm across. The nest by the East Bay has 3 eggs but the nest on the north side just east of the winch house is empty -will check again tomorrow.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 5 Ecotour boats and 1 Pleasure craft through the reserve today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:15 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Clear »» Vis. 15 Miles »» Wind West 9 Knots »» Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:21 AM