Ecological Notes:

• 12 brown pelicans flew around the island at 12:30 yesterday. They returned just before 14:00, flew by the South Islands, and landed on the South Seal Rocks. They moved to the east side of Race Rocks, where they remained for at least a couple hours. A group of pelicans is known as either a pod, pouch, scoop, squadron, or fleet.
• The glaucous-winged gull chicks are growing quickly, with many meal deliveries happening throughout the day by their parents.
• See the photo gallery below for more ecological happenings from the past two days.

Weather:

• Yesterday (July 15):
  • Sky: Part Cloudy
  • Wind: mostly W, 0-28 kts
  • Sea: rippled, then up to 2′ chop in afternoon
  • Temperature Low 12^oC, High 16^oC
• Today (July 16):
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Wind: W 15-25 kts
  • Sea: rippled, then 1′ chop in afternoon
  • Temperature Low 13^oC, High 15^oC

Visitors:

• No visitors

Facility Work:

• Scrubbed and squeegeed solar panels, routine tidying and checking infrastructure around the island.

 DND Events:

• Between 10:00 and 14:00 yesterday, there were five detonations on the nearby DND (Department of National Defence) training area on Bentinck Island, about 2km or 1NM from Great Race Rocks. The sudden explosions sent many birds into the air, as well as seals and sea lions into the water.

Vessel Traffic:

• Many Canadian and American ecotour boats have been nearby and heading through the waters of the ecological reserve.

Here are photo highlights from the past two days. Click on the photos for larger views and captions.