The North wind has been decreasing, 15-25 knots and clear skies today.
Continued debris and log clearing and firewood cutting/gathering.
seagull reaching for a chin scratch while soaring on the North East wind.
The log jam today, from the top of the tower.
Container ship passing by, heading to sea.
NE wind has persisted, 25-30 knots all day. 3-4 foot waves rolling into the mouth of the jetty, continuing to bring in logs and debris due to high tides and wind direction.
Have been doing a lot of cutting and collecting wood and frequent boat ramp clearing. Unfortunately the station pike pole is missing and the crane is out of order so it is difficult to clear it out logs.
One whale watching boat and one dive boat in reserve today.
Thursday the weather/visibility was pretty bad for a census and on Friday I went off island so I did a makeup census on Saturday.
Notably: there was a high count of cormorants, 520, compared to last week as well a yellow banded individual (KCO)- details documented on next post. There was a high number of bald eagles (20) in reserve, and a lone kingfisher and pelican again in the reserve. While there have been over 40 black oyster catchers here this week there were none observed today.
Harvested driftwood including a good size fir log I tied up at high tide and bucked and chopped once the tide had fallen. Worked on toilet install and hammer drilling for plaque install.
Census:
California Sea lions: 38
Northern Sea Lions: 222
Harbour Seals: 5
Elephant Seals: 6
Cormorants: 520
Canada Geese: 2
Gulls: 680 mostly Thayer’s)
Bald Eagle: 20
Harlequin Ducks: 5
Black Turnstone: 2
Dunlin: 3
Sparrow: 0
Kingfisher: 1
Pelican:1
The barometer hit a low of below 985 hPa in the afternoon. Winds had been 10 to 20 knots N most of the day but picked up in the evening and switched to west late in the night, gusting over 50knots.
I spotted one pelican offshore in the reserve. Chunk was on the main island overnight but left around noon.
A submarine passed by close to the reserve.
submarine passing on the East side of the reserve, heading North.
pelican in the reserve, N of Great Race
A lot of wood debris got washed up on the boat ramp throughout the day and this evening. Collected lots of driftwood for burning. Working on compost toilet installation.
Lots of rain today. The barometer continued to fall this morning reaching a low of 985 hPa this afternoon. It was windy overnight and a west wind picked up this evening briefly gusting over 35 knots. There have been swells coming in on both the NE and W sides of the island today along with high tides all morning that combined to submerge the jetty with waves and provide good surfing conditions for sea lions.
I spotted a infrequent visitor, a belted kingfisher perched on the crane. There were also three green winged teals in the mud flats on the NE side of the island, I only ever see them when it rains a lot and there are fresh water puddles.
Sealions had good surfing conditions most of the day. The images were taken off the south side of the island, reef break.
Before dusk Chunk (Zeke) came up the boat ramp onto the island, the first time he has come on the main island during my shift. He has grown since last winter and has a stronger vocalization.
Rain throughout the day. Atmospheric pressure has continued to drop towards 1000 hPa. Wind shifted throughout the day blowing upwards of 20 knots NE, then E then West. Wind speeds were not as high as had been forecast here but the swells from the NE breaking over the jetty indicate wind upstream.
Sea temp has been rising incrementally over the past few days up to 9.3 Deg C today which is higher than I recall from my previous years for December.
Cleared more debris from the boat ramp, ran desalinator and familiarized myself with the new composting toilet to be installed in the guest house.
Barometer continued to drop during the day to below 1005 hPa by nighttime. The wind was10 knots N in the morning and picked up to gusts over 30 knots in the evening. There have been growing swells coming in from the North East.
Observed two river otters around the boardwalk in the morning and several eagles hunting and feeding in the reserve today. Before dusk there was a lone humpback whale between West rock and Church rock. Also around dusk I saw a sea otter off the south end of the island swimming on its back eating something off its chest.
Cleared the boat ramp twice of debris, harvested driftwood, cut and stacked firewood.
Whale watching boat, sealions on south islands
Atmospheric pressure rose from around 1004 hPa yesterday to top out around 1020 hPa near Saturday night. Pressure has been falling today; winds up to 45 knots expected Tuesday.
Most of the sealions are out on the south islands now. There are still a few on the main island, bellow the fog horn and the engine room.
Boats in the reserve: 2 dive boats, 1 whale watching boat, and 1 sailboat under motor.
Moved fire wood, cleared boat ramp and took down more electric fence.
Rainbow, between the tower and the guest house, Dec 6.
Wind light all day, overcast, light rain.
Two dive boats in the reserve today.
Took advantage of good weather to go off island in the afternoon to run some errands.
Wind N 15 building up to over 25 knots in the evening. Barometer over 1010 in the morning falling to 1005 in evening. Overcast with heavy mist in the morning reducing visibility to below 1 mile.
Did some more unpacking, checked the boston whaler electrical, took down electric fencing around the jetty and put away concrete footings, cleared wood and debris from jetty, harvested driftwood and moved firewood.