Waves

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind in the morning: 25-30 knots North East
  • Wind at 16:30: 25-30 knots South East
  • Wind in the evening: 5-10 knots West
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: 2′ chop, some impressive island/wave interactions!

Ecological

  • The same 3 elephant seals on Great Race as yesterday.
  • A few e-seals also out on Middle Rock.

The Seals Touch Down

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 20-25 knots NE, later 0-10 NE
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: 1′ chop

Ecological

  • Census day!
  • In the morning there were 2 e-seals on Great Race, and 6 on Middle Rock.
  • In the afternoon there were 3 e-seals on Great Race, and 4 on Middle Rock.
  • As far as I am aware, there were only 2 e-seals in the reserve yesterday.
  • Most of the addled eggs in the Canada goose nest near the Students’ House were cracked open and strewn about today around noon.
  • I suspect a crow to be the culprit, having seen one hanging around that nest yesterday.
  • Saw one branded California Sea Lion, but I couldn’t make out all the marks. U89[?]
  • Four young bald eagles were unsuccessfully hunting the seagulls all morning.
  1. Harbour Seals: 92
  2. California Sea Lions: 69
  3. Steller (Northern) Sea Lions: 43
  4. Elephant Seals: 8 (2 on Great Race, 6 on Middle Rock)
  5. Seagulls unspecified: 352
  6. Pigeon Guillemots: 111
  7. Cormorants unspecified: 26
  8. Brandt’s Cormorants: 16
  9. Pelagic Cormorants: 12
  10. Double Crested Cormorant: 7
  11. Surfbirds: 50
  12. Black Turnstones: 30
  13. Canada Geese: 18
  14. Harlequin Ducks: 11 (6 males and 5 females)
  15. Rock Sandpipers: 6
  16. Bald Eagles: 6 (2 adults, 4 immature)
  17. Black Oystercatchers: 6
  18. Savannah Sparrow: 1
  19. Unidentified Hawk: 1
  20. Killdeer: 1
  21. Crow: 1?

Maintenance

  • Transferred diesel from the Students’ House tank into the Tidy Tank.
  • Some goose work.

New Male Elephant Seal

Weather

  • Visibility: 5 miles, later 15
  • Wind: 10-15 knots NW, later 5-10 NW
  • Sky: raining/overcast
  • Water: 1′ chop

Ecological

  • This morning two elephant seals arrived on the middle of the island.
  • One was the weaner, and at first I thought the other was the female.
  • But then I realized it was a new young adult male. A yearling or so.
  • They both slept all day, and had no interaction.

Maintenance

  • Some goose work.

Other

  • One DND blast at 15:06.

 

Bald Eagles and Stuff

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 10-20 knots NE
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: 1′ chop
  • At about 18:00 it began to rain for a bit.

Ecological

  • The female elephant seal and the weaner spent the day sleeping on the ramp beside the jetty.
  • Some eagle activity that kept the geese and seagulls wary.

Maintenance

  • Some goose work.
  • Nearly finished topping up the batteries.

Boats

  • One eco-tour came by in the morning.

Other

  • Heard a couple of planes pass over the reserve.
  • One in the morning, and one in the afternoon.

HMCS Vancouver

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 0-10 knots E/NE
  • Sky: clear
  • Water: rippled

Ecological

  • The weaner returned. I’m not sure how much longer the term “weaner” applies?
  • Initially I thought the weaner was a male, but now I think it is actually a female.
  • There were three adult bald eagles in the reserve today. I just missed getting a photo of all three flying together.
  • I made a little “trip” to the north-west edge of Great Race.

Maintenance

  • Hand pumped some diesel.

Boats

  • Kyle came out in Haiku with some food for me!
  • A large Canadian Navy ship, the HMCS Vancouver, tied up on the navy buoy at the mouth of Pedder Bay.

Welcome April

Weather

  • The 6:45 AM weather report.
  • Visibility: 5 miles
  • Wind: 0-5 knots East
  • Sky: raining
  • Water: 1′ chop
  • Later on..
  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 25-30 knots West
  • Sky: clear and sunny!
  • Water: lots of whitecaps
  • Beautiful skies just before sunset today!
  • The above photos are almost like some sort of a panorama.

Ecological

  • Still the female and the weaner on Great Race.
  • I spied what I think is a red tailed hawk sitting on the edge of the helipad near sunset.

Maintenance

  • Ran the desalinator during the afternoon.
  • Worked on the March month end report.

Boats

  • One eco-tour came by today.

 

Visit from Cheanuh First Nations

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 10-15 knots SW, later 5-10 West
  • Sky: clear
  • Water: 1′ chop

Ecological

  • A new female elephant seal appeared this afternoon.
  • The weaner moved about 3 feet all day, snoozing on top of the cistern.
  • Watched some geese engage in battle.
  • Some nice flowers.

Maintenance

  • Month end report data collection.
  • Stacked some firewood.
  • Did some goose work.

Boats

  • Kyle came out in Second Nature with some visitors from the local First Nations Reserve.
  • While presumably checking out the harbour seals, they came across a boat with some of their friends in it.

Visitors

  • The chief from Cheanuh, his wife, and their two children came out with Kyle and Guy.

Windy Day for a Census

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: a steady 20-25 knots West
  • Sky: mostly sunny
  • Water: 1′ chop

Ecological

  • Census day!
  • The weaner was lounging by the house all day.
  • Discovered my first Canada Goose nests with eggs in them.
  1. Harbour Seals: 143
  2. California Sea Lions: 66
  3. Steller (Northern) Sea Lions: 42
  4. Elephant Seals: 1 weaner
  5. Seagulls unspecified: 221
  6. Surfbirds: 62
  7. Cormorants unspecified: 27
  8. Double Crested Cormorant: 4
  9. Black Turnstones: 29
  10. Canada Geese: 21
  11. Rock Sandpipers: 11
  12. Harlequin Ducks: 7 (5 males and 2 females)
  13. Bald Eagles: 7 (2 adults, 5 immature)
  14. Black Oystercatchers: 2
  15. Killdeer: 1

Maintenance

  • Ran the desalinator.

Boats

  • At least one eco-tour came by today.

Very Windy

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: at 7:45, 10-15 knots East, then at 13:20 up to 35-40 knots West
  • A peak of 43 knots West at 14:15. Settled at 25-30 knots West after dark.
  • Sky: overcast, in the afternoon periods of sunshine, rain after dark.
  • Water: 1′ chop, later some monster waves from the west

Ecological

  • Just the weaner on Great Race.
  • Killdeer active as ever.

Boats

  • One eco-tour came by.