Category Archives: Bird Notes

Construction site survey

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 mile
  • Wind: 15-20 knts NW
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Ripply

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Ty, Kyle and Doug visited the island to do a construction site survey. They got a good look at the current state of the infrastructure on the island, which will be helpful in determining what repairs are needed.

Technical

  • After the handle on the composting toilet in the main house broke a few days ago, I finally got it working again. In a painstakingly long procedure, I unscrewed the handle from the guest house composting toilet and screwed it on the the one in the main house. The screwing mechanism is quite finicky and involved everything from WD40 to zip ties. Finally got it functional though!

Bird Notes

  • I was surprised to see 6 geese on the island today, after not seeing any for a while. The last geese on the island left after their eggs didn’t hatch. This morning I saw 6 geese roaming the island (on foot) and hanging out near the cistern.

Marine mammals

  • The injured/sick california sea lion looks to be in really bad shape. It’s become really skinny (I can see it’s ribs through its skin) and doesn’t seem to even have the energy to lift its head up when I walk by. I saw it last near the student house yesterday in the morning. No sign of it today.
  • The injured seal that’s been on and off the island over the  last month, was back again today. We spotted it resting at the base of the science shed.

 

Census, end of the fog and more stellers

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Today was the first day in over a week where the island wasn’t covered in dense fog for most of the day. I was finally able to get a good look at what was happening on and around the island.

Weather

  • Visibility: 10 miles
  • Wind: 20-25 knts W
  • Sky: Clear
  • Water: Ripply
  • Heavy fog this morning, lifted by mid-afternoon

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • A few ecotour boats and a couple of private boats as well

Technical

  • I installed bird deterrent strips on all the solar panels this morning. It took a couple of hours of drilling and screwing in strips of wire, but all the panels are now protected from seagulls. This should drastically reduce the frequency with which the panels will have to be cleaned.

Mammal Notes

  • Once the fog lifted, I got a good look at the western rocks and looks like the steller population has doubled! There seem to be several more large bulls. Pictures below.
  • The injured seal that was resting their the jetty for the last week or so, seems to be more mobile now. I saw it playing in the water by itself this evening.
  • The injured california sea lion doesn’t seem in any better condition. It’s getting skinnier every day.
  • I found the spot where the two seal pups like to sleep! I found them dozing on the southeast corner of the island, in a small and shallow inlet.

Bird Notes

  • The seagulls have been gradually getting less and less aggressive. I spent almost 6 hours outdoors today without getting hit on the head – I’ll take it as a good sign!
  • Most of the seagull chicks are now at least 1/2 the size of the adults – some appear almost as big as the adults! However, there are still a few really small ones, especially near the water, that are about a week old. I witnessed an adult seagull trying to kill another’s week-old baby this afternoon.
  • I spotted two geese on the island after a long time

Census

  • Elephant Seals
    • Male = 2
    • Female = 0
  • Sea Lions
    • California = 3
    • Steller = 30
  • Seagulls = 450 adults (a big part of them remain on the smaller rock islands during low tide), ~100 babies (hard to estimate)
  • Pigeon Guillemot = 90
  • Eagles = 0
  • Oystercatchers = 12 adults
  • Harbour Seals = 50 adults, 2 (maybe more) babies
  • Geese = 2
  • Black turnstone = 72

Seagull chicks growing and adult seagulls less aggressive

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 25-35 knts W
  • Sky: Clear
  • Water: 1-2m waves, white caps
  • Some fog this morning to the south

Birds

  • The early seagull chicks have grown a lot, and are currently 2/3 the size of the adults.
  • Today was the first day the seagulls seemed to be (relatively) less aggressive – not sure if it was because of the strong wind or the fact that the chicks can now move themselves to safety.

Marine mammals

  • The californian sea lion that was earlier seen near the guest house, has returned there.
  • Saw a female elephant seal on the island after a while. That makes 3 males and 1 female on the island
  • I think there are more than 2 harbour seal pups near the island, although I haven’t been able to confirm yet. Attached is a picture.

An exciting day with several updates!

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knts SW
  • Sky: Clear
  • Water: Ripply
  • Fog horn went off last night for an hour

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Kyle visited the island along with Jake from maintenance and the Communications team
    • Kyle and Jake took some of the bed fixtures out of the guest house and replaced some of the tube lighting
    • I had lunch with Brian and Nikola from the Pearson Communications team, and gave them a short tour of the island
  • Lots of ecotour boats in the area today!

Birds

  • Spotted several new shore bird species that I haven’t seen before this summer – photographed below! (I’m not sure if I’ve identified the species correctly)
  • The number of gulls on the south rocks has increased dramatically over the last few days – about 100-150 more I would guess. I’ll do a proper count on Sunday.

Marine mammals

  • Several humpback whales on the south side near the bouy! They made numerous rain-blows and attracted a lot of whale watching boats.
  • 2 californian sea lions on the island today

Technical

  • Kyle brought lots of new LED bulbs for me, and I’ve replaced all the bulbs in the Ecoguardian house with the new ones. They are significantly more power efficient and brighter too!

Census and an odd sea lion

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 20-25 knts W
  • Sky: Partly cloudy/overcast
  • Water: Ripply

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Quite a few ecotour boats in the area today, especially in Race Passage

Bird Notes

  • The first set of seagull chicks are growing fast – one of the first things to develop are long legs. I spotted some of them flapping their wings in imitation of the adults, but they are still a long way from flying.

Mammal Notes

  • A lone sea lion made it all the way up on the main island until the guest residence! It would get aggressive if I got even slightly close to it. I first thought it might be injured, but I saw no scars or bleeding anywhere.

Census

  • Elephant Seals
    • Male = 3
    • Female = 0
  • Sea Lions
    • California = 1
    • Steller = 0
  • Seagulls = 350 adults, ~70 babies (hard to estimate)
  • Pigeon Guillemot = 60
  • Eagles = 4
  • Oystercatchers = 8 adults, 4 babies (haven’t spotted any new chicks since last week)
  • Harbour Seals = 50
  • Geese = 3

First dead baby seagull

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 20-25 knts W
  • Sky: partly cloudy
  • Water: Calm in the morning, small waves in the evening

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • An average number of ecotour boats in the area
  • A few fishing boats just outside Pedder Bay as well

Birds

  • Just when I thought the Seagulls couldn’t get any more aggressive, they did just that. Noticed the first dead baby seagull, possibly due to a predator bird, and the adult seagulls around it were extremely violent.

Marine mammals

  • 3 Elephant seals on the island today – all male.

Technical

  • Placing the new batteries on the insulated rack and the technicians’ work on the grid has made an impact – over the last 48 hours the island has only consumed 3% of the battery charge. Will continue to monitor charge and voltage over the week to see the effect.

Southeast winds, more work on the electric grid and ollie!

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 15-20 SE in the morning, 5-10 N in the evening (quite unusual)
  • Sky: partly cloudy
  • Water: Ripply

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Kyle again brought several technicians from PTTP to do further work on the energy systems. They were able to connect the system to the internet which now allows them to remotely monitor solar input and usage. I also helped them lift the new batteries off the floor and place them on to an insulated rack.
  • Noticed an ecotour boat from the United States going around the reserve, and I’ve never seen this boat before. Maybe it was a 4th of July special?

Birds

  • Most seagull eggs have hatched, but some still remain whole. The seagulls are extremely aggressive now, and hard hats are a must for any visitors at this point.
  • A couple of juvenile bald eagles are making the rounds on the island – I initially mistook them for golden eagles, but Kyle explained they were simply juveniles.

Marine mammals

  • Kyle and I went to grab some photos of Ollie the sea otter that lives in a kelp patch near turbine rock.
  • We also spotted a humpack’s blow but by the time we got close it was gone.

Census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 20-25 knts W
  • Sky: Partly cloudy/clear
  • Water: Ripply

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Quite a few ecotour boats in the area today – a lot of them stopped near the northern rocks to watch the bald eagle sitting there

Bird Notes

  • The seagulls have become extremely aggressive every since their eggs have started to hatch. I’ve been attacked countless times over the last few days just walking on the paths – thankfully I’ve always had my hard hat and thick jacket on so no injuries!

Census

  • Elephant Seals
    • Male = 3
    • Female = 0
  • Sea Lions
    • California = 2
    • Steller = 0
  • Seagulls = 380 adults, ~50 babies (hard to estimate)
  • Pigeon Guillemot = 70
  • Eagles = 2
  • Oystercatchers = 12 adults, 4 babies
  • Harbour Seals = 50
  • Geese = 3

Several eagles come to feed on island

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 25-30 knts W
  • Sky: partle cloudy
  • Water: Ripply

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Just a few ecotour boats in the area today
  • Not many private boats either

Birds

  • Spotted several juvenile eagles just by the jetty today. This is quite unusual, but I suspect the newborn babies attracted them. However, when I got close, I saw one eagle feeding on an adult oystercatcher (I think, it was hard to tell because it was deformed, could have been a pigeon guillemot).

Marine mammals

  • Looks like there were some resident whales swimming past Pedder Bay yesterday, but I couldn’t get a glimpse because it was too far. There were a whole bunch of whale watching boats, and the marina mentioned it was resident whales when I called them about one of their boats.

Seagull Eggs have hatched!

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 25-30 knts W
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: small white caps

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Just a few ecotour boats in the area today
  • Kyle came by to drop off some food supplies for me, but because of the dropping tide he wasn’t able to stay long enough to come ashore.

Birds

  • The seagull eggs have started to hatch! I estimate about 20 babies as of this morning. It’s hard to get a count of them as the seagulls are now at their most aggressive – I got hit on the head a few times, but thankfully I had my hard hat on.
  • Spotted some more oystercatcher chicks, but again they were gone by the time I got close. They are REALLY hard to photograph.

Marine mammals

  • Yet another day of no sea lions
  • Elephant seal count remains the same – one of the adult males got all the way up to the base of the lighthouse today!