Wardens’s report by Garry Fletcher contd.
In early morning calm –and clear with no wind– by 1115 hrs it was pouring rain. Predictable from the look of the barometer . The weather fluctuated all day from rain to sun with a rainbow and back to rain. Sea lion numbers are still building and one more elephant seal joined the elephant seal group by the boathouse last night . So this is what it looked and sounded like this morning :
Click for a video of sites and sounds of the sealions
Several branded sealions here today:
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- Branded 402 R
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- Branded U 262
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- Closeup of U262
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- Wet
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- Dry 66?
At this time of year there are some non-breeding plumage Heermann’s gulls that one can pick out among the large gull population .
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- Non-breeding adults
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- Non-breeding adults ( orange bill)
And a gallery of some of the other bird-life on the island, some migrating through.
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- Savannah sparrows frequent the bushes and open areas
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- at least 10 Black turnstones probe for grubs on the muddylats
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- A group of black oystercatchers flanked by Glaucous-winged and Heermann’s gulls
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- A small flock of Surfbirds
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- A short-billed Dowitcher and surfbirds and turnstones– Note similar size
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- A short-billed dowitcher in the upper intertidal on the south side of Great Race Rocks
9 whalewatching boats through the reserve this morning. Swells and the approaching storm held them off in the afternoon.
The panoramas below were taken in the last two days:
Gulls on the south islands in the morning. Note a mix of California, Glaucous-winged and Heermann’s Gulls.
Glaucous-winged, California, and a few Heermann’s Gulls and sea lions on the south-west corner of the island
The south side of Great Race Rock island
West side of the docks–note electric fence installed to keep the sealions off the docks.
East side of jetty
The east shore of Race Rocks with California and Northern Sea lions.
On Sunday morning, the Davis weather instrument wasn’t working. On checking, I found that the UPC powerbackup was malfunctioning–will return it to the college IT dept. Weather is back on now.