0 SW

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 0-10 SW was 0 this morning, came up in the afternoon
  • Sky: Very Sunny
  • Water: Flat Calm

Boats/Visitors

  • quite a few boats out there
  • also quite a few visitors coming to take a quick tour of race rocks

Ecological

  • The males both seem to have gone off today, I haven’t seen them, I’ve only seen the pups along with the two juvenile tagged females

Visitors

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 15-20 W
  • Sky: Mostly Cloudy, rain in the late afternoon
  • Water: Waves 0-1 metre

Boats/Visitors

  • a few boats went by today,
  • some staff from the college along with a group of people came by the island today for a little tour

Ecological

  • Still the two males and 4 females, two of them tagged around the jetty

Tagged female elephant seal

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 10-25 NW
  • Sky: Mostly Cloudy
  • Water: Waves 1-2 metres in the morning, 0 in the evening

Boats/Visitors

  • a few boats went by today
  • had a couple visitors along with the two alumni that spent the night

Ecological

  • Both pups were by the jetty today, the older pup went in but the younger stayed close to the new female who is also by the jetty
  • the new female appears to be young still and she is tagged, there was mud on the tag so I’m not quite sure what the number was it was a green tag C-8?7

Tuesday

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

Wednesday

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

Visitors

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 0-10 NE
  • Sky: Sunny
  • Water: Pretty calm

Boats/Visitors

  • Had some people come by today to work on a project by the student house
  • Guy brought the Race Rocks boat by today and put it in the boat shed, will hopefully be getting trained next week

Ecological

  • The oldest pup came back today, I think she just went out for a swim yesterday
  • The younger pup has moved around a bit and she has mostly been left alone today too

Mother Elephant Seal Departure & Snow

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-10 N/NE
  • Sky: cloudy with heavy snowfall and fog
  • Water: mostly calm

Boats/Visitors

  • Had a nice visit from a veteran ecoguardian Guy Ouradou along with a pearson college alumni member for a quick visit to the island.

Ecological

  • Some time in the night the mother elephant seal left the island to feed and let her pup become independent and eventually make it’s own way to the water.
  • Surprisingly Bernard (father elephant seal) has still been very close and protective to the two pups that are now side by side.

Census

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

More Male Elephant Seals

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-10 N/NE
  • Sky: cloudy in the morning then cleared up by afternoon
  • Water: mostly calm

Boats/Visitors

  • Saw a few ecotours go by today
  • Two workers from Environment Canada came by for a few hours to inspect the weather monitoring equipment on the top of the lighthouse.
  • Kyle came out to deliver fuel and brought a student from Pearson college to see the island.

Ecological

  • There are now three other male elephant seals hanging around.
  • The older elephant seal pup has been sleeping away from the elephant seal family (dominant male, female and weaner) for the last few days now and the other males are starting to become interested in it. I really hope they don’t attack it!

Sunbathing Sea Lions

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.