Overcast/cloudy. Light North to North-East wind. Low SE swell in the afternoon.
5 tour boats

This morning there was a Great Blue Heron on the bluffs on the NE side of Great Race, 5 eagles on the outer islands, and Guillemots!
I don’t know if all these birds have been in the reserve for a while, but with the high tide this morning there were probably 100 Pigeon Guillemots whistling their little high-pitched whistle all along the shore of Great Race. Pigeon Guillemots (Cepphus columba) are members of the auk family. They are small diving birds. Their most obvious attribute is their radioactive-red feet that stick out behind them when they fly. Interestingly, these feet only have 3 toes (most birds have 4). They also have large white wing patches with a black bar. They spend spring and summer onshore to breed. A pair mates for life. They build their nests on bluffs and lay 3 to 4 eggs.  The rest of the year they live in offshore waters. They are fairly inefficient flyers, and goofy walkers (kind of like a penguin) but they are amazing swimmers. They use their wings to propel themselves underwater. They typically forage for small fish and invertebrates at 10 to 30 m, but they have been documented at 45 m. A group of Guillemots is apparently called a “bazaar”.

-measured windows
-figured out jetty ladder hardware
-discouraged geese from nesting