Author Archives: Christine Ouradou

Census day

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Weather

Pretty windy day ,North wind ,22knots at 8:00 and around 30 at 2:00PM.,white crests on the sea,visibility over 15miles

Maintenance 

Outside wall of the main house and staircase washed.

Ecological

Birds very active :fishing all around. many Oyster catchers on the south rocks of Main. Quiet Elephant seals

Census

Elephant seals:5: one big male,2 females and 2 pups

Sea lions:140

Gulls:440

Geese :4

Oyster catchers :20

Cormorants :around 40

Eagles: 2 adults and 2 juveniles

Black Turnstones:15

Harlequin ducks: 14 seen this week

Others 

Water infiltration by the windows and from the wall in a spot.Stairs a little bit slippery

 

the storm never came

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Weather

Looking at the forecast we were expecting a gust (to 40knots)on the 17th but it stayed pretty calm .Just a big swell came from East. When we had a look on the website Windyty the wind was on the West coast outside and on Victoria and the North of Vancouver Island. The sky has been very cloudy with a dark sea  and rain never far.The air temperature was a higher and the water too( around 7 degrees Celsius.) In the morning of the 18th in a gloomy atmosphere the flag was hanging like a stick for a while and like the day before keeps changing its direction all the time . The tides are really high. never saw them like that before

Ecological

Everything is fine in the nursery .The big male spend his days closed to the females and babies ,waiting for his turn and sometimes trying to get one or the other but to now without success. We got the visit of a few eagles and some geese .

Maintenance

More wood split and stacked. The desalinator and generator are on almost everyday . Guy hauled up with the crane a very long log around 30feet. The last 200 liters of gas oil have been transfered to the yellow tank.We have now 7 barrels empty ready to be filled up and 2 Propane bottles. The barrels bottoms have been got rid of rust  and repainted.

Vessels

One watching boat almost everyday

 

2 pups this morning and never 2 captains on the same boat!

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This morning before the sunset the second pup was born! Almost same location on the grass closed to the desalination house … Boss (big nose male ) was looking at the quiet scenery when another male arrived …I never saw a elephant Seal going so fast. he rushed and made the other one go back to the water and for an hour he stayed at the top of the jetty! never 2 captains !

Boat shed roof repaired

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Weather

Very nice weather 15 to 20 knots East wind . calm day

Ecological

Now every 2 hours  the baby got fed and everything looked fine. the baby was not moving easily  and was crying a lot maybe from frustration or to get attention. It was really nice to see everything from the window .

Maintenance

Kyle came with his wife and helped Guy on the boat shed roof. it badly needed repairs and patches of shingles before the heavy rainy days expected next week.

Marine activity

One whale watcher boats with freezing people ! and a plane above in the afternoon

 

The new one and mum get settled

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Weather

Wind:11knots,North East

Sky:Clear to cloudy

Visibility:Over 15miles

Ecological

Everything was going smoothly for the the new one.We missed the birth for one minute looking for our camera. It was so quickly done . What was very nice to watch and listen were the fist interactions between the 2. The male coming from sea one hour letter was also pretty dramatic : the female trying to protect the young one but she couldn’t help a full inspection. After that he went away observing closely the situation from a distance. The placenta went out 6hours later for the delight of a gull keeping the others out of the way.The baby was already looking for the tits and the mother tried to help him but no feeding for that day.

other

Visitors :Kyle brought James . and he put a camera up ready for the next coming birth in a few days.

2 new female Elephant Seals

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Weather

Wind:at 8:00 12km/h North East

Sea : calm,no waves

Visibility :over 15 miles

Ecological

At low tide I discovered 3 couples of oystercatchers. Many hunting and watching eagles around ,some very big and immature ones. At night the big male Elephant Seal and one of the female came closed to the house ,lying against each other and she was complaining at times.

Census and calm day

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Weather

Wind :went down around 10:00AM to 13knots

Sky: Nice and sunny and cold day

Census

Gulls:136

Cormorants:60

Elephant Seals:2 (1 female in the evening + the boss)

Sea lions:65

Harbour seals:34

Geese:4

Harlequin Ducks:14

Black turn Stones:10

Raven:2

Eagles :4

Maintenance

Camera 5 cleaned,battery in the crane house put in charge,desalinator and generator on

Boats

1whale Watcher vessel

 

Gale warning and in effect

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Weather

Wind: Pretty quickly the wind blew to 40knots ,reached 42 knots in the afternoon and 46 around 5:00PM and a few gust to 52knots around 9:00PM. The wind stayed strong even in the middle of the night

Sea: white crests to very high waves .

Water temperature: Around 6 degrees Celsius getting colder than the days before

Tides: very high around 10:00AM (2m98) and very low at 7:30

Air temperature:2degrees feel like -4

Ecological:

Wall flowers blooming,3 seagulls bodies.the unique Elephant on the rocks found a good spot closed to the crane to get protected and changed through the day

Maintenance

Tidying inside