Category Archives: Bird Notes

Friday

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-15 NE
  • Sky: Cloudy with some sun in the afternoon
  • Water: on the calmer side today

Boats/Visitors

  • quite a few boats cruising around today

Ecological

  • All seems well with the elephants, they haven’t moved much today
  • the geese are getting a bit more annoying, looks like they will start nesting soon

Census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 10-20 NE
  • Sky: Sunny all day
  • Water: Choppy 1-2 metres

Boats/Visitors

  • Saw some boats cruising by

Ecological

  • The pups are doing well, one of the younger males was attacking the oldest pup until Bernard came along and chased him off

Census

  • Stellar Sea Lions – 80
  • California Sea Lions – 62
  • Harbour Seals – 28
  • Elephant Seals – 2 female pups, 3 males
  • Geese – 12
  • Oystercatchers – 16
  • Eagles – 6
  • Harlequinn Ducks – 9
  • Gulls – 283
  • Cormorants – 60
  • Black Turnstones – 35

Protective Father Elephant Seal

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-10 knots NW
  • Sky: sunny with cloudy periods
  • Water: mostly calm, a bit choppy

Boats/Visitors

  • Saw two ecotour boats go by
  • No visitors

Ecological

  • Bernard was keeping an eye out for the pups today, looking up from his sleep every time one of them would cry out, which is less frequent and high pitched now too as they continue to grow. Having a father elephant seal protect it’s pups like this after the mother has left is not ordinary behaviour so this has been very interesting to watch.
  • Lots of Canada Geese landed on the island today, around 6-10 pairs that are very territorial with each other. I assume they’re getting ready for nesting season as that generally starts around March.
  • Still a decent number of cormorants, black oyster catchers and black turnstones around too.

Notes

  • DND blasting has started up again with several loud explosions going off each day for the past few days.

Views From England

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Today I received a nice note from Pam Birley, our devoted follower from Leicestershire  Great Britain who often captures great images with our remote cameras. She writes: “Couldn’t resist taking these pics today.   Spectacular views this morning at RR. ”

Note the nictitating membrane on the right

So I just went on camera 5 and found one of the eagles still in close range:

Fighting Males and Surviving Pups

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-10 N/NE, picked up to 20-30 knots overnight
  • Sky: cloudy with light snowfall and fog
  • Water: large rolling swells throughout the day

Boats/Visitors

  • Didn’t notice any ecotour boats or divers around today
  • No visitors

Ecological

  • Woke up at 4:30 am to the sound of the elephant seal pups being attacked by a big male elephant seal. Pretty sure it was Bernard, their father, but hard to tell. Was surprised to find both pups seemingly unharmed and sleeping peacefully in the morning when I got up.
  • One of the younger, smaller males took the opportunity to try to mate with one pup while two of the bigger males were fighting, but luckily she got away from him after a few minutes of panic. Very difficult to watch I must say. These males are all fired up from the mating season and most don’t get a chance to mate, especially if they are smaller in size.
  • Saw about 10-20 Pigeon Guillemots chasing each other and diving into the water.

Census & Independent Pups

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 1-10 knots N/SW
  • Sky: sunny and clear
  • Water: mostly calm

Boats/Visitors

  • Didn’t notice any ecotours go by today
  • No visitors

Ecological

  • Bernard left the two pups today, not sure if he’ll return or not.
  • The pups are almost the same size now. Both are nice and plump and seem healthy.
  • Lots of Black Oyster Catchers and Cormorants around lately

Census

  • California Sea Lions – 85
  • Stellar Sea Lions – 60
  • Elephant Seals – 5 (two pups, three adult males)
  • Harbour Seals – 5
  • Cormorants – 200
  • Seagulls – 150
  • Bald Eagles – 5
  • Black Oyster Catchers – 15
  • Black Turnstones – 10

Cormorants and Elephant Seals

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-18 knots N/NE
  • Sky: cloudy in the morning then cleared up by afternoon
  • Water: mostly calm, a bit choppy at times

Boats/Visitors

  • Didn’t see any ecotours today
  • No visitors

Ecological

  • Mother elephant seal was a bit distant from her pup today and is looking really thin. Pretty sure she’ll be heading off soon.
  • Lots of cormorants around lately. Counted around 200 on the south rocks this morning.

Census

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10-15 Miles
  • Wind: 20-30 knots W this morning, dying down to 1-10 knots by night
  • Sky: cloudy with some sun
  • Water: choppy this morning, calming throughout the day

Boats/Visitors

  • Saw a few ecotours go by
  • Jeff and a student from the college came by quick to drop off some food for me.

Ecological

  • The 3 lone male elephant seals have left the older pup alone so far which I am very happy about.
  • The dominant male and female have been mating every day for the past week.

Census

  • California Sea Lions – 130
  • Stellar Sea Lions – 94
  • Elephant Seals – 7  (four adult males, one adult female, two pups)
  • Seagulls – 285
  • Bald Eagles – 7
  • Black Oyster Catchers – 30
  • Black Turnstones – 15
  • Harlequin Ducks – 10
  • Canada Geese – 4
  • Cormorants – 75

Sunbathing Sea Lions

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-10 N/NE
  • Sky: sunny with cloudy periods
  • Water: mostly calm, bit choppy at times

Boats/Visitors

  • Had a few ecotours go by today
  • New batteries were installed for the main energy systems. The generator will only need to be run once a week for 2-4 hours rather than 2-4 hours a day! Huge decrease in carbon footprint.

Ecological

  • The sea lions and seals were enjoying the sun today
  • Lots of black turnstones running around the lawn throughout the day
  • An eagle flew right over me and my friend right when she arrived to say hi.

Growing Pups

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-15  N/NE
  • Sky: cloudy with some sun
  • Water: mostly calm

Boats/Visitors

  • Didn’t notice an ecotours today
  • Kyle came by with some food and a new cart for wheeling fuel around. New batteries for the generator and energy system are getting installed tomorrow which will greatly reduce the amount of time we will need to run the generator! Very exciting.

Ecological

  • Haven’t seen the young tagged C887 seal again
  • The elephant seal pups are getting so big, can’t believe how fast they grow. The weaner is so noisy, especially at night.
  • Lots of eagles and black oyster catchers out again today.