Author Archives: Laas Parnell

Pigeon Guillemot

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-15 SE
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Calm for the most part

Boats/Visitors

  • Guy and Alex came by today along with a couple visitors to collect the body of the deceased pup

Maintenance

  • I have barely scratched the surface with pressure washing, so much still needs to be done

Ecological

  • The third did not make it, it just never figured out how to nurse
  • the other two pups are doing great and are getting quite large
  • the pigeon guillemots are back, some of them even still have a bit of their winter plumage
  • still plenty of eagles around
  • will update census tomorrow and hopefully, the pigeons will still be around, sometimes they are here one day and gone the next and back the day after that, I would like to get some better close up photos of them

Elephant seals

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Sorry, it has been a few days since I posted, it’s been a little busy around here.

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 0-10 NE
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Calm

Boats/Visitors

  • The weather has been pretty nice so there have been quite a few ecotours going by, probably hoping to get a view of the pups but I don’t think they are visible from the water

Maintenance

  • The pressure washer is ready to go so I will start rinsing off the buildings this afternoon

Ecological

  • The first pup is massive, its kind of funny watching her get around, the second pup, the little guy is the size you’d expect him to be for being two weeks old and the third pup does not look like it is doing very well, still unsure of how long it will hold out for, will update when we sort things out.
  • All of the other animals seem to be doing alright, we have a juvenile elephant that was going through quite the moulting process but it looks like that’s almost over.
  • There are still plenty of sea lions around and so many birds

48 eagles

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-15 SW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Calm for the most part

Boats/Visitors

  • A few ecotours going by today, some divers went by yesterday

Maintenance

  • Plan on stacking firewood today, and top up the water tank, I’m hoping to start pressure washing soon

Ecological

  • The third pup, is covered in bite marks and I really don’t know how long it’ll last but at the moment its still alive but one of the other mothers keeps attacking it
  • Chunk is here but hasn’t really come up past the jetty, which is good I think he is scared of Bernard

Census

  • California Sea Lions – 232
  • Steller Sea Lions – 106
  • Harbour Seal – 21
  • Elephant Seal – 2 male, 3 female plus 3 pups, 1 female, 1 male, and the third gender is undetermined
  • Cormorants – 417
  • Gulls – 507
  • Black Turnstones – 44
  • Eagle – 48
  • Oyster Catchers – 28
  • Harlequin Ducks – 8
  • Ravens – 2

The third pup

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The thirds pup has arrived, the mother was hauled out for about 4 days on Great Race before giving birth yesterday morning. The other females immediately came to check out the new pup. Unfortunately one of the females attacked the pup, several times. I am surprised the pup at the moment is still alive because the female attacked her many times and the pup is covered in scratches and bite marks. The pup is still alive at the moment so we’ll see how it fares but I’m not getting my hopes up right now.

 

Still just two pups

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-15 SW
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: pretty calm today

Boats/Visitors

  • Guy delivered some fuel yesterday, other than that its been pretty windy so not a lot of ecotours going by but there is still a few out there

Maintenance

  • Haven’t had any power issues lately, waiting on one more little part for the pressure washer before I can start trying to make these buildings white again
  • I am slowly moving the woodpiles around, bringing more in and stacking the stuff under the stairs

Ecological

  • Both pups are still doing great, they are already getting pretty big, the first pup is going to much bigger than this third pup that I’m hoping will be here any day now, I check on the elephant seals regularly to see if the third mom has given birth yet.
  • Will update the census tomorrow, there definitely seems to be less sea lions and many, many more eagles

Hoping for pup number 3

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 15-25 SE
  • Sky: Partly cloudy
  • Water: A bit choppy, under a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • had some people from ocean networks working on the codar system yesterday, also an electrician to take a look at our system came with alex, guy and greg were also here, and fixed the pressure washer, so hopefully, I can get these buildings clean soon

Maintenance

  • Looks like guy was pressure washing the tank shed yesterday, I would like to continue pressure washing the buildings but the desalinator is not in the best shape, so I will probably just do a bit at a time

Ecological

  • Both pups are doing great, the alpha is keeping all the other males away and he is treating the pups very gently
  • a third female showed up today who looks like she’s about to have a pup of her own, she is quite large and it is still within the birthing season, so maybe we will have 3 live pups this year

Pups are doing well

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 10-20 SE
  • Sky: Sunny, partly cloudy
  • Water: A bit choppy

Boats/Visitors

  • I took the boat out today, went out for a little grocery run and came back

Maintenance

  • ran the generator while running the winch to put the boat in the water, and then just topping up the battery charge for the night

Ecological

  • Both pups are doing well, the alpha came to check out the little guy but mostly left the moms and pups alone
  • the first pup is definitely gaining weight

Pup number 2

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 10-20 NW
  • Sky: Sunny, partly cloudy
  • Water: A bit choppy but fairly calm

Boats/Visitors

  • a few ecotours went by today

Maintenance

  • transferred more fuel to the generator will need to refuel the big tank soon
  • a good amount of solar today, shouldn’t have to run the generator too much

Ecological

  • The untagged female who has been hauled out for 10 days finally had her pup today, the pup is a bit larger than the first one was, I still don’t know the gender but will update when I figure it out
  • the first pup who is now 8 days old is doing very well, she is definitely gaining weight
  • the first pups mother was very interested in the new pup and the two moms were scrapping for a bit but everyone is doing just fine now
  • the alpha was very disinterested in the new pup, hasn’t checked it out yet and is currently napping by the guest house

Census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-15 NW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Calm for the most part

Boats/Visitors

  • A few ecotours going by today

Maintenance

  • Let the batteries too low today, lost power around 16:00 and started the generator

Ecological

  • I’m getting concerned about the other female, they usually give birth within a few days of hauling out but she hasn’t which leads me to believe either she isn’t pregnant even though she really looks like it or maybe something wrong, I’m not sure
  • the pup is doing well though, getting a bit bigger every day, the beta males have stayed away and the alpha always stays close by

Census

  • California Sea Lions – 112
  • Steller Sea Lions – 124
  • Harbour Seal – 59
  • Elephant Seal – 3 male, 4 female plus 1 pup who I suspect is female
  • Cormorants – 32
  • Gulls – 89
  • Canada Geese – 18
  • Black Turnstones – 38
  • Eagle – 2
  • Oyster Catchers – 4
  • Harlequin Ducks – 12

One Orca

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 2-38 SW
  • Sky: Cloudy
  • Water: Waves were 0-2 metres today

Boats/Visitors

  • There was on ecotour this morning when the wind wasn’t too bad but none this afternoon when the wind picked up

Maintenance

  • Moving the dry wood from the porch stairs to the basement, when the wind calms down again I’ll be moving the wood that Alex cut from the pile to under the stairs to dry out
  • Didn’t have to run the generator during the day but started it after sunset

Ecological

  • I forgot to mention I saw one killer whale swimming west in front of Peddar Bay on Monday
  • Still no second pup, this female has been hauled out for at least six days, starting to think she’s just a bit pudgy, but hopefully, she’ll have a pup soon