Ecological Notes:

• I counted 40 Steller sea lions hauled out on Middle Rocks, the highest number so far this month.
• About 200 black turnstones, ruddy turnstones, and surfbirds have been hunkering down in the east bay in the strong west winds for the past two afternoons and evenings.
• See the photo gallery below for the ecological happenings from the past two days.

Weather:

• Yesterday (July 27):
  • Sky: Fog at 07:40 until late morning, partly cloudy until fog at 17:00 onwards
  • Wind: W 9-29 kts
  • Sea: Rippled in morning, then up to 2′ chop
  • Temperature Low 13 ^oC, High 21 ^oC
• Today (July 28):
  • Sky: Fog overnight until late morning, partly cloudy until fog rolled in at 16:00
  • Wind: W 18-32 kts
  • Sea: Rippled in morning, up to 3′ moderate in afternoon
  • Temperature Low 12 ^oC, High 14 ^oC

Weekly Census (observed on July 27):

• Elephant Seal: 3
• Steller/Northern sea lions: 40 on Middle Rock
• Harbour seals: 132
• Bald eagles: 2 (1 juvenile and 1 adult)
• Canada geese: 6
• Black oystercatchers: 21 (18 adults, 3 chicks)
• Cormorants: 6
• Glaucous-winged gulls nesting on the main island: 189
• Glaucous-winged gull chicks: approximately 200 (It is hard to get an exact number due to their camouflage)
• Gulls not nesting (some glaucous-winged and some other species) on the south end of the main island and outer islands: 156
• Pigeon guillemots: 182
• Surfbirds: 16
• Black turnstones: 192
• Ruddy turnstones: 6

Visitors:

• No visitors

Facility Work:

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

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.