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Weather
Visibility: 15 miles
Wind: 15 knots West most of the day, 30-40 in the evening.
Sky: clear
Water: 2′ chop
Ecological
This morning there was a new large male elephant seal on Great Race.
He is far larger than any of the other ones here.
Then in the evening Chunk arrived on the Western part of the island, equalling the new male in size.
Chunk was last reported as being on Great Race on March 4th of this year.
Chuckles was last sighted on Great Race on February 29th of this year.
I don’t think the other one is Chuckles, as I remember Chuckles being smaller.
15 in total on Great Race.
Lots of entertaining e-seal sparring and interactions, much to the delight of the students.
e-seal sparring 1
e-seal sparring 2
e-seal sparring 3
e-seal sparring 4
e-seal sparring 5
e-seal sparring 6
e-seal sparring 7
e-seal sparring 8
e-seal sparring 9
New male!
New male!
Can we identify him?
Ali and seals
Size comparison
Chunk!
His back (pun)
Definitely Chunk!
Maintenance
In the morning, the 4 of us finished uncovering the brick feature under the flywheel.
We also cleaned the algae off of the flywheel and cleaned the solar panels.
In the afternoon we scraped paint chips off the white railings near the derrick.
Did the old water sampling method, as the YSI wasn’t turning on.
Boats
Lots of eco-tours today.
Most of them appeared to go too close to the sea lions.
Several sailboats out on the water; beautiful!
Sail, boat!
Never seen this one before.
Too close?
Other
Approximately 10 DND blasts today at the more easterly detonation station on Bentinck.
This included blasts at 9:30, 9:40, 10:00, 12:48, 12:49, & 12:51.
The initial blast scared several sea lions into the water.
By my personalized scale, the first five were medium blasts, the final five were huge.
For those of you wondering, my scale goes something like this: small, medium, big, huge, massive.
Weather
Visibility: 10-15 miles today. At times quite hazy.
Wind: 15-25 knots West
Sky: clear and sunny
Water: 1′ chop
Ecological
Conducted a census today.
Found a tiny dead harbour seal on the rocks.
A flock of geese arrived in the late afternoon.
Harbour Seals: 91
Northern Sea Lions: 35
Elephant Seals: 22 (17 on Great Race, 5 on Middle Rock)
California Sea Lions: 20
Seagulls: 275
Pigeon Guillemots: 130
Canada Geese: 20! (although for much of the day only 10)
Black Oystercatchers: 8
Harlequin Ducks: 3 (2 females, 1 male)
Cormorants: 2
Bald Eagle: 1
Rock Sandpiper: 1
Unidentified large bird on Middle Rock; Owl?: 1
Maintenance
Removed lots of algae from the boat house.
(Re)discovered that the pressure washer does not work.
Boats
About 4 eco-tours came by today.
Chris dropped off and picked up my friend Greg O’.
Visitors
Greg O’, the tree scientist of Vernon, came by in the afternoon for a 3 hour visit!
Other
A couple of big DND blasts in the afternoon.
Posted in Animal census , Bird Notes , Ecoguardians Log , Island Visitors , Mammal Notes , Marine Vessels , Military Activity
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Tagged bald eagle , Black Oystercatcher , california sea lion , Canada goose , cormorant , DND blasting , elephant seal , harbour seal , harlequin duck , Northern sea lion , owl , pigeon guillemot , rock sandpiper , seagull , visitor
Weather
Visibility: 15+ miles
Great view of Mt. Baker and the Olympics today.
There appears to be a very small fire across the water in Washington.
Wind: 5-10 knots West, up to 20 in the evening.
Sky: clear with a view clouds.
Water: mostly calm
Ecological
The usual 15 elephant seals on Great Race today.
I enjoyed watching them play on the ramp.
Some of them just lie there and occasionally splash water onto their backs with a flipper. Very handlike those flippers of theirs.
Maintenance
More weed whacking. Took out lots of the Canada Thistle.
Cleaned the solar panels.
Investigated the pressure washer for future use.
Boats
At least 5 eco-tours today.
Other
A few DND blasts today.
The detonations occurred farther to the West than usual.
Weather
Visibility: 15+ miles
Wind: 0-5 knots North, later 10-15 West
Sky: clear
Water: calm
Ecological
15 elephant seals on Great Race today.
For about an hour either side of noon, I was blocked out of the house by one elephant seal who insisted on sleeping against the door.
The two deck entrance doors to the house were both locked, and seem to require keys no longer on the main key ring.
One of the female elephant seals has a tag on her flipper: 980S (?)
Update 13 May 2016: the flipper tag was upside down. It actually says: 5086
A new flower has opened today, the beautiful red Gladiolus imbricatus.
Maintenance
Finished cleaning the outside of all the windows of the two dwellings.
Set up the new weed whacker.
Cleaned the solar panels.
A bit of goose work.
Boats
At least 9 eco-tours came into the reserve today.
Didn’t get photos of them all, as I was blocked outside for some of them.
One small fishing boat was fishing to the east of Great Race; it looked like it might be just inside the borders of the rockfish conservation area?
Two fishing boats passed through the reserve at speeds that appeared to be too fast.
The first of these created a very large wake near the jetty; unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a photo of the peak wake.
Other
Two medium DND blasts today; 9:52 & 10:15~
Weather
Visibility: 15 miles
Wind: 0-5 knots South in the morning, 15 knots West in the evening
Sky:Â clear and sunny
Water:Â calm
Ecological
Conducted a census.
Surprised I didn’t see any Black Turnstones today.
Saw one Northern sea lion branded 524R.
Northern Sea Lions: 93
California Sea Lions: 59
Elephant Seals: 20 (15 on Great Race. 5 on Middle Rock)
Harbour Seals: 6
Seagulls: 355
Pigeon Guillemots: 101
Canada Geese: 18
Black Oystercatchers: 10
Harlequin Ducks: 6 (5 male, 1 female)
Cormorants: 4
Bald Eagles: 4 (1 adult, 3 immature)
Rock Sandpipers: 2
Crow: 1
Maintenance
Cleaned more exterior windows.
More goose work.
Boats
12 eco-tours today!
Some of them appeared to get too close to the sea lions.
Three uninvited SUP’ers (stand up paddle boarders) came by Great Race today.
After a short rest and a quick chat I sent them on their way again.
Other
Five DND blasts today.
Two medium blasts at 10:13 and 10:15.
One big blast at 10:17.
Two medium blasts at around 12:10.
Posted in Animal census , Bird Notes , Ecoguardians Log , Island Visitors , Mammal Notes , Marine Vessels , Vessel Observations
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Tagged bald eagle , Black Oystercatcher , branded , california sea lion , Canada goose , cormorant , crow , DND blasting , elephant seal , harbour seal , harlequin duck , Northern sea lion , pigeon guillemot , rock sandpiper , seagull
Weather
Visibility: 10 miles in the morning, 15 miles rest of the day
Wind: 10-15Â knots West
Sky:Â overcast
Water: 1′ chop
Ecological
15 elephant seals on Great Race today.
More Canada Geese on Great Race today.
Several fierce battles ensued between resident geese and new geese.
Maintenance
Cleaned some exterior windows on the student’s house.
Applied 30 second spray to part of the student’s house.
Scrubbed off the algae afterwards.
Goose work.
Boats
Kyle, his father, and Guy came out at 8:50 to drop off a weedeater and take a look at the old diesel transfer hose system.
On their return they pulled up the lost buoys!
5 eco-tours came by today. Some of them seemed to be too close to the animals.
A fishing boat and a pleasure craft also seemed to be encroaching a bit.
Other
The lost buoys were retrieved today.
There was nothing significant attached to them.
4 DND blasts today.
One huge blast at 11:01.
Three big blasts at 11:03, 12:17, and 2:34.
Weather
Visibility: 15+ miles
Wind: 0-5 knots NE, then S
Sky: clear and sunny!
Water: calm
Welcome springtime!
Ecological
The usual 15 elephant seals on Great Race today.
Thought I saw whales out West at sunset. I definitely saw something coming up for air and blowing jets of water.
Maintenance
Wrote the April month end report today amongst the usual chores.
Boats
5 eco-tours came by today.
Some of them appeared to be too close to the harbour seals on Turbine Rock.
The viewing distance for boats near marine mammal haul-outs has been accepted by the Ecotour community to be 100 metres.
Other
DND blasts at 10:14, 10:16, and 10:20.
Weather
Visibility: 15 miles
Wind: 5-10 W, in the evening up to 20 W
Sky: clear, later cloudy
Water: 1′ chop
Ecological
14 elephant seals on Great Race
2 that I could see on Middle Rock
The sea lions were surprisingly calm today considering how many boats seemed to be too close.
The injured California sea lion was near the derrick again.
Boats
9 eco-tours came by today. I guess there was a big backlog of tourists after several days of high winds.
I think 8/9 of the boats today looked to be too close. Certainly the boats that viewed the sea lions near the derrick were the closest I have ever seen.
The viewing distance for boats near marine mammal haul-outs has been accepted by the Ecotour community to be 100 metres.
Other
One DND blast at 10:02.
Another one at 11:12.
Weather
Visibility:Â 15 miles
Wind:Â 15-35 knots West
Water: 2′ chop
Sky:Â Partly cloudy
Ecological
13 elephant seals on Great Race today.
In the morning there was a lone California Sea Lion on Great Race fairly far from shore.
Maintenance
More goose work.
Cleaned the solar panels.
My coat now needs to be cleaned for the same reasons as the solar panels.
Boats
One pleasure craft passed through Middle Channel today.
Spied an attractive blue and white fishing boat to the north of the reserve.
Other
6 loud DND blasts today.
10:40, 10:42, 11:50, 11:52, 13:57, 13:59
Weather
Visibility:Â 15 miles
Wind:Â 15-35 knots W, then NW
Water: 2′ chop
Sky:Â cloudy, a few drops of rain
Ecological
Yesterday’s lone sea lion on the rocks near the derrick was joined by 6 others today.
Later a sea lion briefly ended up on the end of the jetty.
Lots of Canada Goose infighting as newcomers jostle for territory with existing nesters.
Maintenance
Cleaned the solar panels.
More goose work.
Got the manufacture date from the Yamaha outboard for Kyle.
Vacuumed up fruit flies in the basement.
Wanted to run the fire pump today to add some water to the cistern, but the combination of nearby sea lions, elephant seals, and high winds made this unwise.
Boats
A couple of fishing boats outside the reserve.
One eco-tour passed by the south rocks in the late afternoon.
It appeared to be too close to the sea lions.
Other
A couple of DND blasts at 10:06 & 10:08.
The buoys were still present at low tide in Middle Channel.
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