Finishing this term, will be back in the spring!

Ecological Notes:

• Still no Elephant Seals
• Cooler, mostly NE winds seems to affect the birds a lot…… some days lots of birds, and others, no smaller birds at all
• Large amount of eagles, both mature and juvenile, here every morning, many here all day. I’ve counted as many as 29 at a time. They seem to be spending a lot of time hunting gulls.

Visitors:

• 2 guests here for the Christmas bird counts

Facility Work:

• Cleaned windows on the house, and solar panels. Nice to do them in the cold and hopefully just before some rain as it reduces streaking.

• Although a full cleaning is needed every now and then, it’s important to keep the battery tops clean to notice any problems sooner

• It seems the algae growth came on very suddenly, pressure washing is the best way to clean the paths

• Swept out all the buildings, and areas where the tanks were removed

• Cleaned the main house preparing for my departure, including the fridge I do once a month

• All the regular tasks including desalinator runs, fuel transfers, firewood, battery maintenance and water sampling
• Submitted all month end reports

DND events:

• none

Noted Vessel Traffic:

• Occasional Eco-Tourism vessels

Weather Events:

Recent weather has been pretty consistent NNE winds 5-15kts, High overcast and calm seas. Low pressure and high tides consistently wash over the jetty.

** Any wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

Weather – Current:

https://tempestwx.com/station/190757/

Weather – Past:

https://tempestwx.com/history/190757

Ecological Notes:

• The Snow goose apparently left
• Smaller Sea Otter, and  Northern Fur Seal reported to me by Eco-Tourism vessels
• Still no Elephant Seals
• Although not uncommon to see eagles hunting gulls here, One day in particular was quite extraordinary …. up to 7 Eagles in the air at the same time chasing gulls, it was like a fighter plane dogfight!
• Returning to the reserve after a personal time off, the boat was swarmed by Orca, about 20 feet from the jetty! I believe the sea lion they were chasing must have jetted under the boat as they would not leave. They did eventually get their lunch as proven by the gulls frenzy on the scraps.

Visitors:

• Shorefront team for various delivers and ongoing maintenance and clean up

Facility Work:

• Richard from Shorefront team moved fuel from various old tanks to the Student building tank.
• Prepared one old tank for removal
• Removed piping from the large(old)diesel tank from the structure by the the Generator building, too it apart and removed it from the island
• Regular battery maintenance and fuel transfers
• A couple more desalinator runs (running when the Generator runs during the day, it often runs at night)
• Changed oil and filters on the Generator
• Sometimes you have to follow the little beeps too!

• Replaced the starter cord on the gusher pump (used to fill the cistern)

DND events:

• some blasts spread over time

Noted Vessel Traffic:

• A couple private boats transiting
• Occasional Eco-Tourism vessels

Weather Events:

• Monday, December 15:
  • Sky: High overcast occasional rain
  • Wind: N 5-10kts early morning, shifting to W and rising as high as 45kts over the day, tapering to 20kts by midnight
  • Sea:  light chop turning to 3-4ft waves by afternoon
  • Temperature Low 9.3^oC, High 10.5^oC

• Tuesday, December 16:
  • Sky: Overcast with a few rain showers
  • Wind: ESE winds 5-10kts during the day rising rapidly late evening to W 48kts
  • Sea:  Light chop all day
  • Temperature Low 8^oC, High 10^oC

• Wednesday, December 17:
  • Sky: overcast with sunny patches
  • Wind: W gusting to 60kts over night, dropping to 25-30kts early morning, continuing to drop to 5-10kts by evening
  • Sea:  3-4 ft waves and swells 
  • Temperature Low 12^oC, High 20^oC

High winds find anything that’s not screwed down

Although it would have been good to get some more fire logs, at least the wind direction didn’t bring a ton of debris to the ramp.

** Any wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

Weather – Current:

https://tempestwx.com/station/190757/

Weather – Past:

https://tempestwx.com/history/190757

Ecological Notes:

• Still no Elephant Seals
• Snow Goose is still here
• Daily visits from Eagles hunting Gulls, Saturday had 11 or 12 eagles hunting, it wreaked havoc with the gulls

• Smaller sea otter reported to me by an Eco-Tourism vessel
• Very large clusters of Black Oyster Catchers, and Black Turnstones huddled on the lee of the island

Visitors:

• Greg and Richard from shorefront team delivering fuel
• A Service Rep here to measure the house windows for blinds and/or curtains
• This weekend’s visit from students was cancelled due to winds

Facility Work:

• Fuel transfers
• Twice weekly battery fluid servicing
• With the help of the shorefront team, more wood was brought up, ready for bucking
• Replacing some of the well worn sections of electrical fencing

DND events:

• a few blasts earlier in the week, disturbing the Sea Lions and birds

Noted Vessel Traffic:

• Some Eco-Tourism and educational vessels
• Some private vessels

Side note: this is the 5th year I have spent my Birthday out at Race Rocks!

Weather Events:

• Normal selection of fall weather during the week, no extremes
• Friday, December 05:
  • Sky: Overcast and stormy, some periods of very heavy rain
  • Wind: N 5-10 kts in the morning, switching to W by noon, rising to 35-45 kts late in the evening … ground measurement shows gusts to 63kts during the night!
  • Sea:  3-4 ft waves and sometimes higher swells
  • Temperature Low 7.9^oC, High 10.7^oC
• Saturday, December 06:
  • Sky: High overcast, some rain
  • Wind: W 20-25 kts, dropping to 5 kts by evening
  • Sea:  waves and swells to 2 feet 
  • Temperature Low 9.2^oC, High 10.6^oC
• Sunday, December 07:
  • Sky: Mixed clear and cloud, very occasional rain showers
  • Wind: N 5kts in the morning, shifting to west and rising to 25 kts during the day
  • Sea:  light chop 
  • Temperature Low 8.7^oC, High 11^oC

** Any wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

Weather – Current:

https://tempestwx.com/station/190757/

Weather – Past:

hhttps://tempestwx.com/history/190757