Category Archives: Bird Notes

Black Bellied Plover

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-15 NW up to 25 in late afternoon
  • Sky: Overcast with a few sunny spots
  • Water: Calm

Boats/Visitors

  • a few ecotours went by today

Ecological

  • 6 female elephant seals all together, the pups are by the lighthouse the other 4 are the flag pole
  • saw a Black bellied plover today and got a few photos of it
  • the geeses are now laying eggs, saw 3 nests today

Kayakers

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Weather

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

Boats/Visitors

  • a few boats went by today, including ecotour, fishing boats and a couple kayakers

Ecological

  • All 5 female elephant seals are still doing good
  • there were plenty of harbour seals around
  • the geese will probably start nesting soon but I haven’t seen any clear nests yet
  • and saw a common merganser by the harlequinn ducks

 

Friday

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 10-20 NW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Pretty calm throughout the day

Boats/Visitors

  • a few boats went by today

Ecological

  • An adult female elephant seal showed up today and she had a pretty wornout orange tag on her that so she was definitely the one here last week, it is an orange tag reading T563, she was here on March 21st as well when I took the picture of it
  • the pups are doing fine and were right beside each other this morning but now are a bit seperated on either side of the adult females
  • also there were about 6 ravens flying around, I don’t see them around too often, I’ve seen crows around but not many ravens

Census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 0-10 SW
  • Sky: Cloudy
  • Water: Flat Calm

Boats/Visitors

  • a few boats went by today, along with a couple visitors on the island

Ecological

  • The pups are inseperable, its adorable, then an older female that is pretty large showed up today and got right in between them, the youngest pup was pretty upset about it but the three of them are napping together now

Census

  • stellar sea lions – 29
  • california sea lions – 74
  • harbour seals – 15
  • elephant seals – 3 female
  • gulls – 205
  • cormorants – 24
  • pigeon guillemots – 276
  • black turnstones – 31
  • harlequinn ducks – 12
  • oyster catchers – 12
  • fox sparrows – 2
  • geese – 14
  • eagles – 2

Census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 15-40 SW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Waves 1-2 metres

Boats/Visitors

  • haven’t seen much activity probably because it was blowing 40 knots but the DND was blasting today

Ecological

  • way less activity than usual probably because of the weather today, its supposed to calm down tomorrow

Census

  • stellar sea lions – 22
  • california sea lions – 43
  • harbour seals – 0
  • elephant seals – 3 female
  • gulls – 215
  • cormorants – 31
  • pigeon guillemots – 0
  • black turnstones – 18
  • harlequinn ducks – 12
  • oyster catchers – 8
  • fox sparrows – 2
  • geese – 14

Census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 0-10 SE
  • Sky: Sunny
  • Water: Some waves this morning but calm later in the day

Boats/Visitors

  • a few boats went by today, ecotours and fishing

Ecological

  • An adult female elephant seal showed up today and the oldest pup was relaxing on the jetty with the sea lions
  • also the juvenile male had blood on him, there may have been a couple small puncture wounds but nothing serious
  • it was a beautiful afternoon, a bit difficult counting with all the movement

Census

  • stellar sea lions – 75
  • california sea lions – 112
  • harbour seals – 28
  • elephant seals – 2 male, 4 female
  • gulls – 324
  • cormorants – 35
  • pigeon guillemots – 37 (there were way more yesterday)
  • black turnstones – 18
  • harlequinn ducks – 12
  • oyster catchers – 11
  • fox sparrows – 2
  • geese – 12

Tuesday

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 10-20 SE
  • Sky: Mostly Cloudy
  • Water: Waves 1-2 metres

Boats/Visitors

  • a few boats went by today
  • Have a couple visitors on the island overnight and the guys working on the project by the student house came by today and finished up

Ecological

  • The elephants had some movement today, the juvenile male was chasing one of the pups until the big guy chased him off
  • plenty of pigeon guillemots around today

Monday

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 15-25 NE
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Waves 0-1 metres

Boats/Visitors

  • a few boats went by today

Ecological

  • The elephants haven’t moved around too much, the sea lions were in and out of the water because it did get pretty sunny this afternoon and I did see quite a few pigeon guillemots around today

Census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 15-25 SW this morning, down to 5-15 SW this afternoon
  • Sky: Very Sunny
  • Water: Waves about a metre this morning, to flat in the afternoon

Boats/Visitors

  • a few boats went by today, saw some tour boats, fishing boats and sailboats

Ecological

  • Quite a few of the sea lions were in the water today, with their fins up, soaking in the sunlight

Census

  • Stellar Sea Lions – 35
  • California Sea Lions – 38
  • Harbour Seals – 27
  • Elephant Seals – 2 females and 3 males
  • Gulls – 213
  • Cormorants – 24
  • Eagles – 5
  • Harlquin Ducks – 14
  • Black Turnstones – 18
  • Black Oyster Catchers – 8
  • Geese – 12
  • Fox Sparrows – 2

Wednesday

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 10-20 NE
  • Sky: cloudy with sunny periods
  • Water: choppy, 1-2 metres

Boats/Visitors

  • Had the guys working on the project by the student house here today
  • Kyle came by with a student as well to show him around a bit
  • Had an ecotour and a couple fishing boats and a sailboat cruise by today as well

Ecological

  • Both pups still around this morning, the younger pup found a safe spot away from the males near the helicopter pad, so she did a bit of rock climbing to get there
  • also saw a few Killdeer birds around today