Author Archives: Laas Parnell

Townsend’s Warbler

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Weather: 

  • Sky: Overcast
  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 10-20 knots NE
  • Water: Choppy under a metre

Boats/Visitors: 

  • A couple visitors today and expecting more throughout the week

Ecological

  • Saw this adorable little Townsend’s warbler on my way to turn the generator room, it was just hopping around in the flowers
  • The young female elephant seals, there were three did not stay very long, they have all left but there is still 5 males, 3 young ones and two big ones
  • Two of the young ones are tagged green tags C887 and D108
  • They are scattered around right now making some of my daily tasks difficult but it is so great to see them here before I take off

 

Elephant Seals

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Weather: 

  • Sky: Overcast
  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 10-20 knots SE
  • Water: Choppy under a metre

Boats/Visitors: 

  • A few tour boats still out and about

Ecological

  • The sea lions numbers were still kind of holding steady until yesterday, a couple hundred of them have left again and there are still a few hundred sticking around.
  • There are now 5 elephant seals, two of them tagged, the small pink tag is still around along with a familiar one green tag C887 who I called Flounder last year.
  • Two bigger males, one of them the familiar Bernard, a slightly smaller guy and then flounder being the smallest male along with two females that are under a year old.
  • Not much else going on here the weather has been very dreary, still a mild winter though I’ve only had one or two storms so far

December so far

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Weather: 

  • Sky: Overcast
  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 5-15 knots NE
  • Water: Choppy under a metre

Boats/Visitors: 

  • Not many boats going by lately, there have been a couple tour boats here and there

Ecological

  • The sea lion numbers seem to have stayed pretty steady since I last counted a few days ago, the winter has been pretty mild so far so maybe thats why the sea lions seem like they don’t want to leave
  • There are 3 elephant seals still, 2 big guys and the young female. They boys have left the female and each other pretty much alone since they got here
  • There are still quite a few eagles hanging around they like to chase the seagulls around

Humpbacks still around

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Weather: 

  • Sky: Overcast
  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 5-15 knots NE
  • Water: Choppy under a metre

Boats/Visitors: 

  • Saw a couple tour boats going by today, and a dive boat

Ecological

  • The sea lion numbers dropped a little again and the elephant seal numbers have gone up a tiny bit
  • Census
    • Sea Lions – 438 (96 Steller and 342 California)
    • Harbour Seals – 32
    • Gulls – still around 200
    • Cormorants – 75
    • Canada Geese – 14
    • Black Turnstones – 30
    • Eagles – 6
    • Elephant Seals, 2 males, one of them is the alpha the previous two years, Bernard and the other is slightly smaller male and then 1 small female tagged V173 who I found out was born in Point Reyes last February 2019
    • Humpbacks – 3 are going by just now, photo below is very blurry due to low light

Storms, birds and elephant seals

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Weather: 

  • Sky: Partly cloudy
  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 0-40 knots NE
  • Water: waves between 0-2 metres

Boats/Visitors: 

  • Saw a couple boats here and there, not during the big storm though
  • Greg is dropping by today with some supplies

Ecological

  • Seems like some of the sea lions came back when the storm hit, it was blowing up to 40 knots on Wednesday but today it has finally come down to almost nothing
  • A couple different birds also came by, I’ve been seeing a lot of ravens lately, eagles, snow buntings and one whimbrel
  • There is a little elephant seal by the jetty today, pink tag V173
  • Thankfully the storm brought in some driftwood than can be cut up and dried out for next winter

Sea lions coming and going

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Weather: 

  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 15-30 knots SW
  • Water: Choppy

Boats/Visitors: 

  • Didn’t see any boats today
  • I am expecting some visitors tomorrow, we are working on decluttering and getting the desal going

Ecological

  • The sea lion numbers were dropping but it seems there is a lot more today than there have been in the past week, possibly due to the sudden change in weather the wind came up today
  • Census
    • Sea Lions – 500 (145 Steller and 315 California)
    • Harbour Seals – 0
    • Gulls – 240
    • Cormorants – 56
    • Canada Geese – 23
    • Black Turnstones – 30
    • Eagles – 10, there have been quite a few eagles hanging around lately
    • At least 2 male elephant seals around as well

Nice Weather

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Weather: 

  • Sky: Clear
  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 5-15 knots NE
  • Water: flat

Boats/Visitors: 

  • A few tour boats and fishing boats cruising around today
  • We have had visitors coming and going recently as we declutter the island along with maintenance

Ecological

  • With the beautiful weather in the past couple days there seems to be a few more sea lions around than I last counted but they’ll probably continue leaving as it gets colder
  • I saw a large male a few days ago that I believe is chunk but he was only hear briefly and I haven’t noticed any elephants since but I’m sure he didn’t wander too far I would expect the male elephants to be returning in bigger numbers soon

Less Sea Lions

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Weather: 

  • Sky: Overcast
  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 5-15 knots NE
  • Water: flat

Boats/Visitors: 

  • Not as many boats out lately
  • some visitors to work on projects around the island having to do with energy, infrastructure, desalination

Ecological

  • Over a period of a few days the sea lions left in big numbers
  • Census
    • Sea Lions – 370 (200 Steller and 170 California)
    • Harbour Seals – 24
    • Gulls – 360
    • Cormorants – 150
    • Fox Sparrows – 10ish, harder to count these guys
    • Canada Geese – 22
    • Black Turnstones – 30
    • Eagles – 6
    • Haven’t seen any humpbacks in a little while, I would expect most of them to be well on their way south by now
    • At least 2 male elephant seals around as well
    • some of the stellers look pretty young

Marine Mammal Rescue

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On November 4th and 5th the Marine Mammal Rescue Team was here to help out a couple California sea lions that were entangled. They arrive on the 4th and after doing a thorough search around the island there were no tangled sea lions around so we were afraid they may have left the area but thankfully the team stayed the night and the next morning they were able to find two sea lions who needed some help getting the garbage off of their necks. The first animal was on the north east side of island up on the rocks and Marty was able to dart him without him fleeing into the water. His tangle was pretty bad but thankfully the team was able to help him out before it got any worse. I’ve seen him hanging around the same spot since he’s been untangled.

The second one was in a bit of a tougher spot he was already half in the water so he jumped right in as soon as the dart hit him and went for a swim. The dart was very helpful in making him easier to spot as he swam around until he was sedated and the team was able to get a hold of him to help him out.

Overall it was a very successful trip and I am so glad the Marine Mammal Rescue team was able to come out here and help these guys out. I have not seen any new tangles since and I’m keeping an eye out for the two that are on the mend.

 

Census update

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Weather: 

  • Sky: partly cloudy
  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 0-10 knots NE
  • Water: flat

Boats/Visitors: 

    • still a few tour boats cruising around along with some fishing and sailing boats
    • had visitors recently, the marine mammal rescue team came and I will post more on that later

Ecological

  • So many sea lions, here is an updated census
  • Census
    • Sea Lions – 1085 (365 Steller and 720 California)
    • Harbour Seals – 37
    • Gulls – 400
    • Cormorants – 210
    • Fox Sparrows – 10ish, harder to count these guys
    • Canada Geese – 22
    • Black Turnstones – 30
    • Eagles – 6
    • Raven – 1
    • possibly 1 sea otter, bit hard to see from this distance
    • still seeing a humpback here and there but less frequent than last week