Category Archives: Mammal Notes

Census and haze

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10 miles
  • Wind: 0-5 knts W
  • Sky: Hazy
  • Water: Ripply

Mammal Notes

  • More sea lions continue to arrive on the island – spotted a few branded ones, but could only make out one number (steller with brand 348R).

Bird Notes

  • The first of the juvenile seagulls have started to fly short distances (5-6 feet at a time). Most are still grounded though.

Census

  • Elephant Seals
    • Male = 1
    • Female = 0
  • Sea Lions
    • California = 32
    • Steller = 38
  • Seagulls = 305 adults + 128 juvenile
  • Pigeon Guillemot = 67
  • Eagles = 0
  • Oystercatchers = 4 adults
  • Harbour Seals = 16 adults, 2 (maybe more) babies
  • Geese = 9
  • Black turnstone = 85

First rain in a while, sea lion population rapidly growing

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Weather

  • Visibility: 10 miles
  • Wind: 25-35 knts W
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Ripply
  • Light showers this morning, continuing into early afternoon

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • There were quite a few Pearson alumni who visited the island on short 20 min tours this past week, as a part of their 10 year reunion. Photo attached!

Technical

  • The washing machine is now non-functional – it suddenly stopped working earlier this week while I was doing laundry. Guy helped me drain the detergent water from it. We suspect there’s something wrong with the controller – it’s expected of a machine that’s 10+ years old.

Bird Notes

  • No new seagulls chicks have been born in the last 2 weeks, so I’m guessing that is all for this season. There remain a few unhatched eggs and I don’t expect they will hatch.
  • The geese population remains steady at 6-7 birds. They seem to be roaming around the island.

Marine mammals

  • After not seeing that injured/malnourished california sea lion for a week now, I think it most definitely has passed away.
  • There are now 12 sea lions near the jetty area, and many more on the surrounding rocks!

More fog and reunion visitors

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I would usually be doing a census count today, but the heavy fog has made it impossible to get an accurate count of the species. I’ll try again tomorrow.

Weather

  • Visibility: <1 mile
  • Wind: 20-25 knts W
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Ripply
  • Heavy fog over the last few days

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Guy brought some of the alumni who are on campus for the reunion, to the island for a very quick look around. They had leave within 20 minutes as the fog crept back in.

Bird Notes

  • The seagulls seem to be attacking each others offspring regularly now. The last of the chicks were born more than a week ago now.

Marine mammals

  • The injured female elephant seal that has been on and off the island, returned today. It’s resting on the jetty
  • More california sea lions and one steller have been hanging out around the jetty. I think this marks the start of the sea lion season. Time to start putting up the fences soon!

 

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

A foggy 48 hours

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Weather

  • Visibility: <1 mile
  • Wind: 20-30 knts W
  • Sky: Clear
  • Water: Ripply
  • The island has been shrouded in dense fog for the last 48 hours and the fog horn has been going off continuously

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • The fog has reduced the number of whale watching boats in the area, or at least I cannot see many due to the fog.

Marine mammals

  • The harbour seals have really taken to liking the little rocky beach on the southeast side of the island. These days you can spot about 20 of them on the rocks there, including the pups – although I have only seen one pup over the last few days, not sure where the second one went.

Census, new stellers and update on injured mammals

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 10-15 knts W
  • Sky: Clear
  • Water: Ripply

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Lots of ecotour boats between 12 and 1 pm, and a few private boats as well, making race passage quite crowded

Mammal Notes

  • Some steller sea lions have arrived on the northwestern rocks! It’s hard to get an accurate count from this distance, but I estimate 12-15 including one really big one (a webcam viewer informed me that the big bull is branded “76Y”). Photographed below.
  • I got a closer look at the injured californian sea lion that was hanging out near the guest house earlier, and it definitely has an injury on its hind flipper. I saw it try to get into the water yesterday and it was pretty much dragging itself.
  • The injured female seal has nestled itself by the boat shed. I don’t see any further injuries on it.

Census

  • Elephant Seals
    • Male = 4
    • Female = 1
  • Sea Lions
    • California = 2
    • Steller = 15
  • Seagulls = 480 adults (a big part of them remain on the smaller rock islands during low tide), ~100 babies (hard to estimate)
  • Pigeon Guillemot = 85
  • Eagles = 2
  • Oystercatchers = 12 adults
  • Harbour Seals = 25 adults, 2 babies
  • Geese = 0
  • Black turnstone = 55

Visitors, injured seal, and canoes

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Weather

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

Boats/Visitors/Sightings

  • Kyle visited the island today and brought Nick along, who is a former Ecoguardian and currently works as a facilitator for Pearson’s PSYL program. They brought my my food supplies and Kyle gave Nick a tour on some of the newer systems here.
  • Lots of whale watching boats in the area today
  • Saw a bunch of canoes paddle past the island, headed south. I believe they originated from Beecher Bay. Photograph below.

Marine mammals

  • Noticing a slow rise in the steller sea lion population on the northern rocks. There’s at least one really massive sea lion. I’ll get an accurate count later this weekend.
  • The injured seal that showed up a few days ago with predator marks and molting fur, returned to the island today and seemed to be more injured. I think it is a female. I’ll keep an eye on it.
  • Possible humpbacks far south of the island – too far to see the whales, but there was a gathering of whale watching boats in the spot where the humpbacks like to hang out.

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.

River otters, an injured seal and a baby seal

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Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 10-15 knts W
  • Sky: Clear
  • Water: Ripply
  • Some fog this morning

Birds

  • The 2 geese that had a nest near the crane have now abandoned their nest – haven’t seen them in a couple of days and one single egg remains unhatched.

Marine mammals

  • Lots of seal news!
    • After reports of an injured harbour seal in the area, I finally spotted one on the boat ramp today. While this seal has several scars and some bloody wounds, it doesn’t however match the description of the injured seal we received, so maybe it’s a different one. This one I spotted doesn’t seem to have any serious injures, just several small ones.
    • Spotted an adult and baby seal just behind the crane today! They were originally spotted the other day by Nikola from the top of the lighthouse when the Communications team came for a visit, but I couldn’t get a photo earlier. They are extremely adorable!
  • River otters
    • I caught a glimpse of a pair of river otters for the first time today, running down the jetty with what seemed to be either a seagull chick or an egg. There were two of them, but they were too fast for me to get a picture.

Technical

  • 10 days now without having to start up the generator! We are 100% solar!