Author Archives: Laas Parnell

I’m Back

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10 miles
  • Wind: 15-25 kn SW
  • Sky: slightly hazy/partly cloudy
  • Water: a bit choppy, under a metre

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Plenty of ecotours, whalewatchers around today, by the way they were circling the kelp patch I assume the otter was there

Island maintenance

  • had to run the generator for a few hours today because there was not a lot of sunlight
  • also cleaned off the camera by the helicopter pad, received a message saying the cameras were getting difficult to see through

Bird notes

  • Nice to see a few younger seagulls around, they were already a decent size and lost their baby feathers by the time I got here last september

Marine mammals

  • Plenty of sea lions already on the main island, will need to put up a fence soon to keep them away from important areas, such as the generator room, don’t want to run into them if I need to get to the generator

Last Day

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 15-35 NW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Waves 1-2 metres

Boats/Visitors

  • not much boat traffic today

Ecological

  • About 9 elephant seals still around, 2 males, 7 female
  • looks like there are more seagull eggs around
  • unfortunately the oyster catcher eggs haven’t hatched yet, I was hoping they would before I leave tomorrow for the summer

I have had an amazing time at Race Rocks, my shift is over tomorrow and Aziz will be here, I’m sure he will do a great job this summer.

Another Elephant

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 15-35 NW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Waves 1-2 metres

Boats/Visitors

  • a few ecotours went by today

Ecological

  • About 9 elephant seals, 2 males now, one larger one showed up today and about 7 females
  • tried to get a photo of the seagull nest with eggs in it but the seagull was not having it and I could not get the photo

Sunday

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 10-30 NW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Waves under a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • a few ecotours went by today, the weather was so nice, hardly any wind in the early afternoon but the wind has come up to 30 now
  • Guy came by with a group that were visiting the college for a symposium

Ecological

  • saw the first seagull eggs today, the gulls are starting to get more protective of their nests
  • about 9 elephant seals around today and hardly any sea lions

Swiftsure

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 15-25 NW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Waves under a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • a few ecotours went by today
  • many sailboats for the swiftsure race
  • Guy came by with his family for a little visit

Ecological

  • looks to be yet another goose nest near the tank shed
  • the seagulls should be nesting very soon

Census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 20-35 NW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Waves 1-2 metres

Boats/Visitors

  • not much boat traffic today, its been pretty windy

Ecological

  • less elephant seals
  • also less sea lions

Census

  • stellar sea lions – 11
  • california sea lions – 15
  • elephant seals – 7 female, 1 male
  • gulls – 180
  • pigeon guillemots – 98
  • oyster catchers – 14
  • geese – 16
  • eagles – 2

Thursday

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10-15 Miles
  • Wind: 20-30 NW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Waves 1-2 metres

Boats/Visitors

  • a few ecotours went by today
  • Guy and Dan came by this morning, Dan to work on the internet and Guy and I got a few chores done

Ecological

  • Not many sea lions around today, there seems to be less and less each week
  • a bit windy today the elephant seals stayed around the front yard and there new favourite spot by the shed that operates the crane
  • looks like there are more seagull nests around, will probably be seeing eggs very soon

Wednesday

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Weather

  • Visibility: 0-15 Miles
  • Wind: 20-35 NW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy and Foggy
  • Water: Waves 0-1 metre

Boats/Visitors

  • a few ecotours went by today but not many, due to the wind and fog

Ecological

  • a dozen elephant seals around today, not a lot of sea lions
  • I think all the goose eggs have been successfully addled, I have not seen any goslings around
  • And no seagulls eggs yet but the nests are pretty clear and they will probably start laying eggs soon

Sunday

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 20-30 NW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Waves 1-2 metres

Boats/Visitors

  • quite a few ecotours went by today

Ecological

  • About a dozen elephant seals out there today, one young male, the rest female
  • looks like there is a few oyster catcher nests around, I saw the one by the house awhile ago, I hope to see them hatch before I leave at the end of the month but we will see