Mammals:

• Steller sea lion: 0  (June 13: 0, June 7: 2, May 30: 10, May 23: 6, May 15: 21, May 8: 37)
• California sea lion: 1 (June 13: 3, June 7: 12)
• Harbour seal: 32 on Turbine Rock only (June 13: 211, June 7, 103, May 30: 90, May 23: 50)
• Elephant seal: 1 female

Birds:

• Gulls:  352 (June 13: 603, June 7: 645, May 30: 464, May 23: 467, May 15: 391, May 8: 114)
• Pigeon guillemot: 159 (June 13: 36, June 7: 82, May 30: 6, May 23: 30, May 15: 78, May 8: 153)
• Cormorants: 10
• Canada geese: 2
• Bald eagle: 1
• Black oystercatcher: 12 adults plus 6 chicks

Wildlife observed this week but not on census day were hummingbirds and barn swallows.

The tides today were not that extreme and there were only 32 harbour seals on Turbine Rock. Last Friday during a lower low tide there were 211 seals on Great Race Rock, South Islands, Seal Rocks, Turbine Rock and North Rocks.  Today was a good day for counting the pigeon guillemots (not quite as many as the concentrated effort yesterday) and a bad one for counting gulls, many of which were out fishing.

The earth, moon and sun will be in alignment during the new moon on June 25th causing a spring tide. The tidal range will be greater because the gravitational effects of the Sun and the Moon reinforce each other. The extreme tidal lows during these spring tides are a great time for peering into tide pools or taking your dog to Spanish Banks in Vancouver. The census next Friday with a lower low tide than seen today should provide different results.

Tides at Pedder Bay from today to next Friday.

In some parts of the world the tide changes by only 0.3m and in others up to 12.2m. For further reading on tides (the earth’s surface has a tide as well!) see the Almanac and for some awesome illustrations on how the sun and moon cause tidal bulges, neap tides, spring tides etc see NASA .

Facility work

Today was laundry day (an essential but costly task – 125 L of water used for one load!). It had been three weeks since the last load and there wasn’t enough room in the tub for the bed sheets so I had to sort through the linen closet for clean sheets. I hadn’t poked around in there since my first day here. I knew it was bad but I had more forward facing things on my list to tackle first. It is cleaned out now and hopefully a few less spiders…more on spiders another day.

• cleaned the solar panels
• cleaned parts of the house

DND

Trident Fury the international maritime exercise continues.  I hear conversations on channel 68 that I am glad are only simulations and not real events in this part of the world.

Captain stop your vessel.
Captain stop your vessel or you will be fired upon.
WARN WARN WARN
DISABLE DISABLE DISABLE

Vessels

• Ecotourism: 13
• Private: 1

Weather

Cloudy periods. Moderate to fresh westerlies building to near gale by early evening. Daytime temperatures: low 10 , high 13.