Weather: 

• Visibility 0-10 NM (some intermittent morning/evening fog)
• Sky clear
• wind 25-30 knots W
• Sea state: rippled, whitecaps
• A steep decline in humidity today helped dry out the island after a bit of rainfall

Neat Fact: The body temperature of seals is very similar to our own! Endothermic like us, they maintain an internal temperature of 36.5-37.5 degrees Celsius.

Marine Traffic/Visitors: 

• Greg visited today to top up island supplies before the college vessel goes for regular maintenance
• Not many boats today- around 5 eco-tourism vessels.

Ecological Observations:

• Elephant seal V173 was not here today. We wonder if she was just stopping for a rest or if she will be back soon.
• There have been very large groups gulls and also black turnstones migrating through, intermingled with a few surfbirds. There were so many today that we took a photo from the lighthouse in order to count them!
• The pigeon guillemots seem to be nesting in full force. We have spotted many carrying fish into crevices on the west side of the island near camera five and also the rock walls on the east side.
• The seagull takeover has seemingly started to ease and moving around the island is becoming easier day by day. The chicks are beginning to be able to escape the attacks of the rival adult gulls by flapping their wings and flying/hopping away.
• On a slightly…mushier note (stop reading if you get queasy!): Yesterday we removed the gull that was eviscerated on our back porch. We let it sit for a few days to see if an otter would come back for it or if the gulls might take a nibble (neither occurred). We were surprised by the amount of maggots that had grown in only a couple of days, presumably due to the warm and humid weather recently.
• The sea lion population is increasing every day and they are started to climb onto the main rock. It’s almost time to put up the electric fence or we will have unwelcome house guests!
• The geese have suddenly left this week (all but 4). Interestingly, earlier in the week we saw a flock of 17.

Census: 

• 4 Canada geese
• 985 Seagulls (does not include chicks)
• 84 Harbour seals
• 1 Male elephant seal
• 25 Stellar sea lions
• 19 California sea lions
• 88 Pigeon guillemots
• 2 Bald eagles
• 1 Humpback whale (in the straight)
• 1 Brandt’s cormorant
• 12 Black oystercatchers
• 143 Black Turnstones
• 1 Sandpiper ((?) will update with confirmed id!)