Today’s Weather: 

• Sky overcast with light fog
• Visibility 10 NM
• Wind 5-10 knots SE
• Calm sea for the most part

Marine Traffic/Visitors: 

• Whale watching vessels over the past week: As Covid19 restriction ease, we’re seeing an gradual increase in commercial traffic through the area, the highest volume being 10 vessels counted in one day.
• We have noticed once every couple of days, low flying planes that look to be Coast Guard or perhaps military.
• A handful of private vessels/pleasure craft: Pleasure craft presence in the reserve has been sparse, 1-3 boats daily.
• Greg visited today with water.

Ecological Observations:

• The seagull chicks are growing quickly, the adult birds fight among themselves frequently and continue to become more aggressive towards human presence.
• The goslings are growing quickly: ‘fluff and all’, they are closing in on a small seagull size! The three continue to stay close to their parents and spend dawn to dusk foraging in the plants and grasses. We noticed that all of the geese seem to be surviving by drinking the non-salty ‘grey water’ that comes from our house and filters through a septic field.
• We discovered river otters with young living under our fuel shed yesterday evening, just next to the jetty. We noticed an adult running under the connecting boardwalk/pathway, and discovered that they have gotten under the building by pushing past some plywood that should close off access. They smell bad, but sure are cute! We’ll wait for them to leave on their own time, and then make sure they can’t get back in and cause damage. We suspect that they are the reason for the nightly seagull disturbances we have been hearing.
• Many small birds present in the reserve this week: sandpipers, turnstones, and the barn swallows have been flying around frequently.