Moderate South/South-East winds. Clear skies.
6 tour boats
Animal census
Steller Sea lion: 23
California Sea lion: 2
Elephant seal: 4
Harbour seal: 123
Cormorant: 35
Gull: 106
Eagle: 3
Canada Goose: 17
Oyster catcher: 9
Black turnstone: 6
Surfbird: 5
Rock sandpiper: 4
Pigeon Guillemot: 45
Fairly quiet in the reserve today. I don’t know if it’s because of the weather or the tides, but a lot of the birds (guillemots, gulls) are no visible within the reserve today. There are 4 elephant seals lounging on Middle Rock; They are in a perfect spot to see them with the camera on the West bluff. And at low tide their are piles of Harbour seals on Turbine Rock and the reefs on the North side of Middle Rock.
The second half of the marine science class came out today with Anne Stewart to do their tidepool lab. The students lucked out again and got perfect weather and great (`0.7m) tides. They had to bring two boats out because there were so many students. It was a tight fit having both boats rafted up on the jetty on a low tide.
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- PC Marine Science class
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- Students hard at work, measuring DO, salinity, temperature, and learning about interactions.
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- One of the sample pools
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- Lunch time
Race Rocks now has a new observation tool: a spotting scope with a camera built in to it.
Spotting scope with camera
Erik brought out another window contractor this morning to give us a quote for replacing broken and damaged windows. in the Science house and Keeper’s house.