Ecological Notes:

• With the help of the visitors yesterday and some gathering ecotour boats, I spotted a sea otter hanging out in the kelp bed off the east side of the island.
• This morning, as I was walking along the path from the house, I saw four large birds flying overhead. Their distinct shapes made me realize right away they were brown pelicans. They looped around and flew off to the east. Maybe they thought  it was too crowded to land at Race Rocks with all the gulls nesting.
• See the photo gallery and captions for more details on the ecological happenings over the past two days.

Weather:

• Yesterday (July 7):
  • Sky: Part Cloudy
  • Wind: W 8-23 kts
  • Sea: rippled in morning, 1′ chop in afternoon
  • Temperature Low 12^oC, High 15^oC
• Today (July 8):
  • Sky: Part Cloudy
  • Wind: W 12-21 kts
  • Sea: rippled in morning, 1′ chop in afternoon
  • Temperature Low 12^oC, High 15^oC

Visitors:

• On July 7, Greg, Lawrence and Gretchen visited from the college to help transport supplies and do maintenance tasks on the island.

Facility Work:

• Scrubbed and squeegeed solar panels, tidied around island, desalinator maintenance, and detached old generator exhaust pipe.

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.