Census & Five Male Elephant Seals

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles all day
  • Wind: Light breezes throughout the day NE mostly
  • Sky: mostly cloudy
  • Water: a bit rough, one to two foot swells

Boats/Visitors

  • Boat traffic was pretty minimum today again, saw one fishing boat go by
  • No visitors today

Ecological

  • There are now a total of 5 male elephant seals on the island. Two are full grown and the other three are adolescents.
  • The two elephant seal pups are still around as well.

Census

  • California Sea Lions – 78
  • Stellar Sea Lions – 64
  • Harbour Seals – 2
  • Elephant Seals – 7
  • Gulls – 58
  • Cormorants – 16
  • Bald Eagles – 2
  • Black Turnstones – 6

Sleepy Seals and Hungry Geese

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles throughout the day, clearest day I’ve seen here since Dec 1
  • Wind: Light breezes throughout the day
  • Sky: very sunny
  • Water: mostly calm

Boats/Visitors

  • No visitors today
  • Had the usual divers and whale watching boats go by

Ecological

  • Still a lot of Sea Lions around. South Rock is almost always covered with Stellar and Californias.
  • Consistent small groups of Canada Geese munching on the grass
  • Two male Elephant Seals are still hanging around, sleeping mostly

Census, birds and mammals

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 miles
  • Wind: 6-10 NE throughout day
  • Sky: cloudy with some sun
  • Water: mostly calm, a bit choppy

Boats/Visitors

  • had a few eco tour boats cruise by
  • no visitors today

Ecological

Census:

  • California Sea Lions – 120
  • Stellar Sea Lions – 102
  • Harbour Seals – 4
  • Seagulls – 252
  • Eagles – 5
  • Cormorant – 22
  • Canadian Geese – 12
  • Black Turnstone – 3

Whales in the area today and new male elephant seal.

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind:  15-25 NE
  • Sky: cloudy for the most part, bit of sun came through
  • Water: a bit choppy today

Boats/Visitors

  • Had a couple boats cruise by

Ecological

  • same amount of sea lions
  • one large male elephant seal
  • a couple eagles
  • there were also maybe 3 humpbacks and about 4 orcas around

Notes

  • it does still look like there are quite a few sea lions around, will do the census tomorrow

Census Day

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind:  20-15 NW
  • Sky: overcast
  • Water: calm

Boats/Visitors

  • A few ecotours today

Ecological

  • 11 elephant seals scattered around today, mostly around the jetty to cool off in the water

Census

  • Stellar Sea Lions: 33
  • California Sea Lions: 23
  • Elephant Seals: 11
  • Harbour Seals: 161
  • Unspecified Gulls: 212
  • Pigeon Guillemots: 53
  • Cormorants: 12
  • Canada Geese: 19
  • Oystercatchers: 8
  • Harlequinn Ducks: 0
  • Crows: 1

Notes

  • The harbour seal numbers have significantly increased but all of the other numbers seem to have gone down
  • The little elephant seal is back, I haven’t seen her for a few days

Swiftsure Race Today

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind:  5-10 NW was a bit less in the middle of the day but picked up a bit again
  • Sky: clear and sunny
  • Water: calm

Boats/Visitors

  • A lot of ecotours today, along with countless boats sailing by and fishing

Ecological

  • 12 elephant seals scattered around today, mostly around the jetty to cool off in the water

Other

  • The swiftsure race started today and hundreds of sailboats went sailing by the lighthouse today

Sea Otter!

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind:  0-5 S
  • Sky: clear and sunny
  • Water: calm

Boats/Visitors

  • A lot of ecotours today, and a couple visitors on the island

Ecological

  • 14 elephant seals scattered around today, mostly around the jetty to cool off in the water
  • There was a sea otter in the kelp bed off the north side of the island, unfortunately I could not get close enough to get a decent picture

Other

  • DND blasting continued today but  just a bit this morning

 

Census Day, Thursday, May 25th

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind:  0-5 NW
  • Sky: clear and sunny
  • Water: calm

Boats/Visitors

  • Many different boats around today

Ecological

  • 14 elephant seals scattered around today, mostly around the jetty to cool off in the water

Other

  • DND blasting continues

Census

  • Stellar Sea Lions: 42
  • California Sea Lions: 44
  • Elephant Seals: 14
  • Harbour Seals: 36
  • Unspecified Gulls: 321
  • Pigeon Guillemots: 120
  • Cormorants: 23
  • Canada Geese: 16
  • Oystercatchers: 8
  • Harlequinn Ducks: 5 males (that I could see)

Notes

  • I have not seen any eagles today but I saw them yesterday and they have been hanging around so I am guessing they are around here somewhere
  • There is another Elephant seal
  • An increase in sea lions as well as gulls

 

 

Wednesday, May 24th

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: between 15-25 throughout the day
  • Sky: partly cloudy
  • Water: choppy, no more than a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • A few ecotours came by today

Ecological

  • 14 elephant seals on the island today

Other

  • DND blasting today, the elephant seals don’t seem bothered by it but he sea lions really don’t like it

Tuesday, May 23rd

Weather

  • Visibility: 10 Miles
  • Wind: between 20-40 knots throughout the day
  • Sky: few clouds
  • Water: choppy, no more than a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • Maybe one or two, too windy for many boats to be around

Ecological

  • 14 elephant seals scattered around today