Weather: wind mostly westerly averaging 30 to 40 k/hr sunny most of the day

Visitors: no boats braved Race Rocks today, after the storm yesterday the swell was still big, the wind strong all day and the tidal variation caused fast currents

Addendum: at around 8 pm a ecotourism boat came through for a beautiful sunset run. Cold and windy but clear.

Census,

Although not the ideal day for the census as the winds were still very strong and I think the lack of small birds may be due to that, no sparrows, no turnstones and no shorebirds, but Greg is taking over from me and he will have his hands full doing island maintenance so I thought I would help out in this way.

Elephant seals 6

A large male (compared to the 3 young ones on the island) showed up today. His tag reads D018 and he has been here several times. The last record I can find of him is 2020. But he did come in 2019 and 2018. I have contacted Patrick Robinson and look forward to hearing more of his history. A small female also arrived. Her skin is in bad shape. I believe it is more than moulting but we can see how she fares the next few days if she stays around.

D018

Newly arrived small female with skin condition

Gulls  421

Seals 66

California sealions 17

Stellar 10

Canada Geese 14, currently 3 active nests

Pigeon guillemots 136

Cormorants 34

Harlequin ducks 6

Oyster catchers 6

River otter 1 on the grass by the crane

It was a mid day low tide of .4 metres. The westerly was strong and there was some swell. The tidepools and spring seaweed growth were phenomenal. Here are a few pictures.

Codium and isopod

Henricia