Didn’t notice much boat traffic today, one diving boat
No visitors today
Ecological
I counted 4 male elephant seals on and around the island today
large group of 30-40 cormorants on the south rocks in the early evening
same elephant seal pup has been hanging close to the house and has been very vocal for the past few days, calling out sporadically throughout the day and night.
Saw 4 adult bald eagles around today as well as two large juveniles.
Other
This will be my last week out at Race Rocks until February, when I return for another month stay. Laas will be back for the remainder of January so you can expect much better quality photography then I’ve supplied! (:
Visibility: very clear throughout the day, 15 Miles
Wind: heavy winds all day reaching upwards of 33 knots
Sky: sunny with no clouds
Water: rough, 3 foot swells
Boats/Visitors
Boat traffic was pretty minimum today with the rough water
No visitors today
Ecological
Not much has changed in terms of wildlife on the island in the last few days. Consistent number of gulls, sea lions, eagles, black turnstones, canada geese and cormorants with one or two large male elephant seals.
Wind: Light breezes throughout the day with strong gusts up to 40 knots overnight
Sky: Cloudy with sunny break
Water: a bit choppy, one foot swells in the morning
Boats/Visitors
Boat traffic was pretty minimum today, whale watching boat cruised by
No visitors today
Ecological
Not much has changed in terms of wildlife on the island in the last few days. Consistent number of gulls, sea lions, eagles, black turnstones, canada geese and cormorants with one or large two male elephant seals.
Haven’t seen any whales of any kind yet unfortunately.
Other
DND blasting has taken a break for the past week which has been nice.
Visibility: 15 miles for most of the day with the Washington coast as clear as I’ve seen it so far, until early evening when fog came in from the east covering downtown Victoria from view.
Wind: Little to no breeze during the day with it picking up to 14-18 knots by 7pm.
Sky: Mostly cloudy with some sun
Water: calm throughout the day, a bit choppy at times
Boats/Visitors
Boat traffic was fairly minimum today with the usual commercial vessels in the distance and one or two whale watching boats.
No visitors today
Ecological
There seems to be more stellar sea lion pups on the island, especially on the south rocks in the last few days, though I may just have not noticed them among the “piles” of bodies as they tend to lay all over each other.
Still lots of Black Turnstones, Cormorants, Eagles, Canada Geese and Gulls around
Only saw one of the male elephant seals around today
Other
Chopped some bigger logs into kindling for the woodstove this afternoon and cleaned up a lot of rocks of varying sizes that have been falling from the paths and bank walls between the lighthouse and science house.
Pretty chilly today, had frost on the ground and frozen puddles for the first time.
