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!
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)
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.
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.
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.
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!
Quite a few ecotour boats today, with a couple of private boats as well
A weirdly shaped plane flew over this morning
Birds
I spotted two Oystercatcher chicks near the crane as I was standing on the jetty. I grabbed a photo from far but they were gone by the time I got close. I have walked around the entire shore and haven’t seen any other chicks yet – looks like we had some literal early birds.
Saw a harlequin duck near the east shore of the island. Photographed below.
Marine mammals
Caught a lone orca swimming past Pedder Bay, but by the time I went to get a photograph it was gone.
Kyle brought in a team of PTTP technicians to the island to help finish our new energy system wiring and to optimize our solar array for the greatest efficiency. Additionally, we also carried some of the older lead-acid batteries from the battery room to the tank room, from where they will be loaded on to a boat for the main island.
Kyle was also able to repair the Boston Whaler onsite – looks like the issue was corrosion on the contacts to the battery and the switch. He was able to sand the corrosion away and the electronics jumped to life!
Marine Mammals
The sea lions have completely disappeared over the last 2-3 days. Can’t see a single one around now
Elephant seal counts are at 2 females and 4 males – 3 of the males seemed to be all huddled up next to the student house, possibly to escape the wind.
A small pleasure craft with 3 occupants was fishing in the north end of the reserve. After several attempts to radio them and using the air horn to get their attention, they remained for 20 mins or so. They left after catching a couple of large fish. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to catch the vessel’s number. Photographed below.
A Pedder Bay Marina boat with 4 occupants was fishing in the east end of the reserve. I called the marina immediately but they couldn’t get in touch with the people in the vessel. They left the reserve area when the tide pushed them east about 10 mins later, but they still remained on the boundaries of the reserve. Photographed below.
Marine Mammals
The Sea Lions seem to have disappeared today – no sign of them anywhere on the main lighthouse island.
Saw some orcas about 2 km south – surprisingly they stayed there for over 2 hours! The orcas out-waited several whale watching boats.
There was a man who arrived close to the reserve in a row boat. Upon talking to him I learned that he rowed here all the way from Port Angeles and was headed to Victoria, but the tide pushed him to Race Rocks instead. After rowing around the reserve for a few minutes, he headed on to Victoria.
Bird Notes
Noticed a sudden rise in number of immature gulls. Photographs below.
Marine Mammals
The latest elephant seal count is at 5 males and 1 female.
There are two California Sea Lion young ones around the jetty, with an adult (presumably the mother).
