english stonecrop | Race Rocks Ecological Reserve-

Wind: yesterday mostly from W 4-22 knots, today N-NE 2-9 knots
Sea State: yesterday calm in morning 0.5m chop in afternoon, today calm
Visibility: both days 5-15 NM
Sky: yesterday overcast with patches of rain and sun, today partly cloudy
Temperature: both days 6-8 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 415.43 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)

Census results from today:
6 elephant seals (2 female pups, 1 female juvenile, 3 female adults)
21 steller sea lions
62 california sea lions
1 sea otter
91 harbour seals
3 bald eagles (1 juvenile, 2 adults)
12 Canada geese
6 brandt’s cormorants
4 double-crested cormorants
10 pelagic cormorants
59 thayer’s gulls
12 black oystercatchers
14 harlequin ducks
108 pigeon guillemots
56 surfbirds
26 black turnstones
1 killdeer
1 song sparrow

There were no boats in the ecological reserve over the past two days.

: The youngest elephant seal pup practicing her water skills in the shallow water by the boat ramp and jetty.

: Recently, the harbour seals have been hauling out around the shoreline of main island and nearby shoals. In the winter, they only hauled out on the outer islands away from the boisterous sea lions.

: More harbour seals

: A Canada goose sitting on a nest made of grass and feathers. She lay seven eggs about the size of tennis balls.

: The older of the two female pups likes daffodils.

: The adult female elephant seals are showing more signs of moulting. This one on the left has shed some of her whiskers as well as fur around her eyes, nose and mouth. The white stuff is snot.

: A view from the tower of a sea otter grooming itself on the intertidal rock near three harbour seals.

: A sea otter napping in the water. Can you see the camouflaged harbour seal on the left?

: Another view from ground level of the sea otter grooming itself on a rock with a harbour seal looking on.

: A song sparrow perched on a rock ledge on the south side of the house. The succulent plant growing around the rocks is called sedum anglicum or English stonecrop, an introduced species from a lightkeeper in the 1980’s.

Weather:

Sky overcast, some clear patches (not much solar power generated today)
Visibility 15+ miles, no fog
Wind 10-20 knots W
Water calm. Some interesting standing wave patterns lately.

Boats/Visitors:

On Thursday Greg came in the afternoon to top up our water supply. Pearson alum Norbert (currently alum in residence) also came along for the ride to check out our solar panels and provide suggestions for future improvements. Pearson maintenance volunteer Jimmy also stopped in for the night to visit race rocks before he goes home to Mexico. Safe travels!
We had many hands on deck, so we were able to successfully repair and raise the flagpole.
Yesterday Greg visited with a group of college guests who toured the island.

Ecological:

The sea lions have started to haul out on the N + S/SW sides of Great Race Rock.
The oyster catcher chicks have grown to be nearly as big as their parents and are flying all over!
The seagull chicks are getting bigger and when rival adults attack they now fight back. On Thursday we spotted a chick with one eye pecked out and were concerned that it would not survive. Fortunately, when we checked later it was doing well.
There have been large numbers of black turnstones present this past week, 30+ at once