aggressive gulls | Race Rocks Ecological Reserve-

Weather:

Visibility: 15-40 NM
Today we discovered that on the foghorn sensor there is a visibility reading display. Normally we base this off of which landmarks we are able to see (Victoria is around 10 NM, North rock is 1 NM, Port Angeles is roughly 15 NM).
Sky clear and blue, a few white clouds
Wind 25-30 knots W
Sea state: Rough. Waves up to .5 m, white caps
A climb in humidity today after a relatively calm and dry weekend

Marine Traffic/Visitors:

No visitors to the island since Saturday (Greg)
Only a few eco-tourism boats today (very windy), but a steady trickle over the nice weekend. We have been seeing an average of 7 boats every day, not including pleasure crafts.

Ecological Observations:

We noticed yesterday that the goose with a limp (affectionately dubbed “limpy”) is no longer here. We aren’t sure if it was attacked by an eagle or decided to move along (the 13 remaining adult geese are here).
We were happy to see an adult otter run across the jetty boardwalk yesterday, raising our hopes that the dead river otter seen with “Ollie” the sea otter last week may not have been one from under our shed (creating the possibility of abandoned young if this were the case).
The seagulls seem to have gotten even more aggressive as their young begin to venture away from the nest: attacking young of other gulls, diving at our heads, and attacking each other if their individual “territory” (the area around their nests) is invaded. We have to be extremely careful with our movements around the island to avoid scaring chicks into the open where they can be attacked.
Many small harbour seal pups today! They are particularly playful at this time of year as they learn to swim and fish with their mothers. We have been enjoying observing their movements from the top of the lighthouse where our presence doesn’t bother them and we can see directly downwards into the water around the island.

Monday’s Census: