Tag Archives: harlequin duck

Twofold Foggy: Friday – Saturday

Posted on by

Friday started with fog again and light southeast winds, from 5 to 10 knots. By late morning there were glimmers of clearing and by mid-day the sun was shining. The wind stayed calm and it stayed fairly clear, with clouds rolling by as the wind turned to west, in the late afternoon. By evening it was still and the sky mostly clear but that must have changed as the was fresh rainwater in the morning. The barometer bottomed out Friday morning at 1007 hPA before rising briefly. It started to drop again mid-day falling until mid-Saturday. The gale warning for Saturday, came true after another very foggy morning and light easterly winds. The turn to westerly was rapid, the fog was blown off and ominous clouds with a black line on the water to the west, foretold of what was to come. It blew up fast, reaching 40 knots and then settled back down to the up and down of 20 – 35 knots. There is gale warning is still in effect and the wind is forecast to lighten overnight, then become easterly 5 to 15 near noon Sunday. (I am collecting rainwater for laundry, bonus.)

Only two whale watching vessels were observed in the protected area Friday. Two sports fishing vessels also passed through. Saturday was a little busier with five whale watching vessels noted in reserve but there were no pleasure craft, they were probably seeking shelter. It is quite possible that I missed traffic both days due to thick fog reducing visibility.

Thursday was too foggy to do the animal census so it is cobbled together from the brief time slots when visibility permitted on Friday. It is interesting to note that the gull population plummeted after the arrival of the first Bald Eagle to be seen here, since I arrived at the end of August. Not sure if that is coincidental or not.

I only noticed the eagle because of the hundreds and hundreds of gulls moving en masse, from North Rock over to Great Race. When I peeked through the spotting scope, all the cormorants were in the water, the gulls were gone and there sat an adult Bald Eagle. Only the Harbour Seals seemed to ignore its presence.

There was no sign of the eagle today and the gull numbers are perhaps even lower. Glaucous-winged juveniles and adults continue to mill around summer territories. Some young ones are still practising picking things up, flying up and dropping them. Most of the adults are fully into their alternate plumage now. Their faces recovering from the physical aspects of feeding young.

The sea lions are spending more time in the water now that their favourite haul-out spots are worse than pig pens. Some of them have turned to rock climbing and I saw the first scouts up on the heli-pad today.

Animal Census

Steller Sea Lion 317

California Sea Lion 428

Harbour Seal             156

Northern Elephant Seal 6

Sea Otter 1

Southern Resident Killer Whale ( observed within one mile of ER during count week, (Race Passage, east, west and south of RR)

Biggs Killer Whale (Transients) ( during count week Race Passage & southwest)

Humpback Whale 2 (1 observed within ER west side during count week)

Minke Whale 1 ( observed within one mile of ER during count week just east of North Rock)

Canada Goose 4

Harlequin Duck 7

Surf Scoters 73 (flying through to east)

Double-crested Cormorant 35

Brandt’s Cormorants 29

Pelagic Cormorant 9

Bald Eagle 1 adult

Black Oystercatcher 23

Black Turnstone 6

Kildeer 2

Glaucous-winged Gull 258

California Gull 41

Thayer’s Gulls 874

Herring Gull 0

Ring-billed Gull 0

Western Gull 2

Heerman’s Gull 20

Mew Gull 18

Unidentified gulls 361

Total gull count 1574

Common Raven 2

Savannah Sparrow 19

Fox Sparrow 1

Junco 1

Golden-crown Kinglet 1

American Pipet 1

 

Starting the countdown on my last week on the rock for this shift. I may be back for a bit at the end of October, if extra training is needed for the new folks.

Sun-Monday Log: Double Billing Blog

Posted on by

Two more, lovely, sunny days squeezed in with the barometer down at ~ 1010 hPA and dropping. Light southeast wind today and yesterday will switch to variable and east on Thursday and the forecast looks like a change towards showers and southeasters towards the end of the week.

Ten visits by whale-watching vessels were observed in the Ecological Reserve each of the two days being reported. A handful of pleasure craft came through as well and everyone except the same guys who are always in a hurry and one boatful of lucky fishermen, were well behaved. The fishermen were lucky as they must have lost power and were swept over the little reef by Turbine Rock. One was ready with a paddle and the youngest one got the kicker going which got them out of there (eventually). That was exciting, especially for them. Eight kayaks came through the reserve yesterday. The paddlers at the front came through without disturbing any of the animals hauled out. The weakest paddler came by on her own, last. The tide pushed her a bit too close the Middle Rock and the sea lions stampeded. Sometimes it doesn’t take much.

Humpback Whales are feeding close if not in the reserve just about every day now. The individual spotted by the Marine Science students is feeding downstream just to the west of Middle Channel, during ebbing currents. I am curious if it goes down and just orients itself into the flow and filters away. There is a lot of food in the area and large multi-species feeding flocks driven by diving birds such as Common Murres and all three species of cormorants. The gulls, and there are a lot of them, roost on Race Rocks and then rush out to the feeding frenzies which I am assume are either small schooling fish like herring, sand lance or anchovies and/or large zooplankton like krill. These crustaceans are also known as Euphasiids and they look a bit like tiny shrimp with really big eyes. Those are the same sort of treats that Humpback whales like to feed on with their baleen and they use their really big fore flippers that are white on the underside, to herd krill and forage fish.

I have come to realize that the Glaucous-winged Gulls are still sitting around on the territories. Something I didn’t notice or understand last year until the spring shift and then I thought that they had just come back from somewhere. The juveniles that were raised here are mostly out foraging but also sometimes ‘hang-out’ where they were raised and also do a fait bit of begging from their parents. This week a lot of them have been practicing picking objects in their bills, flying with them and dropping them. Not sure if they are working on their aim but have noticed rocks, chunks of wood and bark and clumps of vegetation on the walkways. Yesterday morning I found a rock on the roof of the energy building and when I looked around saw the damage done to one of the solar panels.

Other birds seem a lot more refined. It is so nice to see the Harlequin Ducks back again, they are a favourite of mine. More and more Surf Scoters are flying through from west to east and it seems that fall is in the air.

 

Chores were routine both days and there were no visitors.

 

 

Gathering of the Gulls

Posted on by

Today started fairly clear, then clouded over. In the afternoon it was sunny for a few hours and eventually the sky darkened and at dusk the rain started. The barometer rose to almost 1019 hPA mid-day and then fell. The forecast is for clearing and light east winds with sunshine on the horizon.

Twelve commercial whale-watching vessels were observed working in the Ecological Reserve. They were in the area watching a Humpback feeding very close to the western reserve boundary, transient orcas to the southwest and southern resident killer whales to the northeast.

Today was census day due to thick fog yesterday.

Animal Census

Steller Sea Lion 338

California Sea Lion 908

Harbour Seal             178

Northern Elephant Seal 5

Sea Otter 1

Southern Resident Killer Whale (26 observed within one mile of ER during count week, (Race Passage, east, west and south of RR)

Biggs Killer Whale (Transients) (9 during count week Race Passage & southwest)

Humpback Whale (3 observed within one mile of ER during count week)

Minke Whale (1 observed within one mile of ER during count week just east of North Rock)

Canada Goose 20 attempting to be full time

Harlequin Duck 5

Surf Scoters 30 (flying through to east)

Double-crested Cormorant 12

Brandt’s Cormorants 27

Pelagic Cormorant 5

Black Oystercatcher 5

Black Turnstone 7

Surfbirds 13

Kildeer 2

Total gull count 2469

Estimated numbers

Glaucous-winged Gull 350

California Gull 50

Thayer’s Gulls 1500

Herring Gull 1

Ring-billed Gull 1

Western Gull 1

Heerman’s Gull 15

Mew Gull 20

~531 unidentified gulls

Common Raven 2

Savannah Sparrow 10

Fox Sparrow 2

Song Sparrow 2

Junco 3

Pacific Wren 1

 

Other chores were routine. There were no visitors.

 

Elephant Seals Hang On.

Posted on by

The overcast morning sky cleared by noon, clouds pushed out by light northeast winds. In the afternoon, the wind turned to west and then in the evening to southwest. The barometer rose to 1013 hPA today. The forecast continues to call for rain along with variable winds at 5 – 15 knots.

There were only six whale watching visits observed in the Ecological Reserve today and no sports fishers. The large military explosions punctuating yesterday’s alternate sea lion swims and haul-outs continued today.

Today was census day at Race Rocks.

Steller Sea Lion 313

California Sea Lion 649

Harbour Seal 155

Northern Elephant Seal 14 (Two on Great Race -#5850 + female; 12 on Middle Rock)

Sea Otter 2

Southern Resident Killer Whale 16 (during count week)

Humpback Whale 3 (during count week)

Canada Goose 4 full time (2 adults 2 goslings) (flock of 25 chased off twice)

Harlequin Duck 1

Double-crested Cormorant 83

Pelagic Cormorant    9

Cormorants spp 18

Black Oystercatcher  6

Black Turnstone 12

Kildeer 2

Mew Gull 134

California Gull 11

Herring Gull

Glaucous-winged Gull total ( 277- adults; 74 – juveniles)

Ring-billed Gull 1

Gull spp 62

Song Sparrow 1

Savannah Sparrow 22

Fox Sparrow 1

Junco 3

Barn Swallows 2

American Pipet 1

A crew from operations at Pearson College, visited today and were very helpful in getting freshwater flowing again in the Eco-guardian’s House, amongst other things. Courtney was at the helm of Second Nature, Jeff brought all the plumbing gear and know-how to replace the pump and Jasper (PC Alumnus year 20) a curious, environmental engineer figured out a few of diesel pumping mysteries. A big shout out to all three. Thanks for the support.

 

End of Summer?

Posted on by

The day started with partially overcast skies and a south wind of 5 – 10 knots. Late morning, the wind picked up from the northeast and brought fog. There was a bit of sunshine mid afternoon and then clouds gradually filled. By evening the wind was from the west 5 knots. Barometric pressure ended up a little higher than yesterday, but not by much and it was dropping again as evening progressed. The forecast is calling for showers and light to variable east to northeast winds.

There were was whale watching activity to the south today and 12 whale watching vessel visits were observed in the Ecological Reserve. They were mostly well behaved but a couple operators need to mind their speed in reserve and everyone gets very close to the sea otters, although the sea otters do not seem disturbed. Three sports fishing vessels were noted in reserve. They all slowed and proceeded carefully, using Middle Channel.

As the weather changes and summer draws to a close, more migratory birds are noted at Race Rocks. Some are just passing through on their way south, maybe some of the same ones I saw going in the other direction last spring such as Barn Swallows, Fox Sparrow and American Pipets. Other birds are arriving back from their breeding grounds to spend the fall winter and spring, like the Harlequin Ducks. Harlequin Ducks were seen this morning around Turbine Rock. Others are at the northern end of their post-breeding migration like the Heerman’s Gulls and California Gulls and will head south again before long. Pelagic Cormorants are spotted roosting near Camera 5 daily. This is a species that used to nest here and it would be nice to see them nesting here again.

On the Pinniped front there were nine Northern Elephant Seals holding their ground on the top of Middle Rock today. As I know from personal experience they are good at that.

Chores were routine today and there were no visitors.

Making Sense of the Census.

Posted on by

The sun shone through a bit more today even as clouds and much needed rain continued. West winds blew at about 10 knots most of the day as the clouds were pushed steadily inland. The barometer is now back up to where it was last Friday before the big nose-dive into Saturday’s storm. The forecast looks a little brighter for Friday and Saturday before a return to wet and cool.

Whale watching activity in the Ecological Reserve was very subdued today as the black and whites moved north and east yesterday. Only four visits by commercial whale watching boats were observed in the Ecological Reserve. One sports fishing vessel and a couple of rental boats also came through obviously oblivious to the speed reduction zone within the reserve boundaries .

Thursday is census day and here are the results of this week’s animal census.

Steller Sea Lion 497

California Sea Lion 522

Harbour Seal 81

Northern Elephant Seal 2

Sea Otter 1

River Otter 1 seen (probably more)

Southern Resident Killer Whale 7 (during count week)

Biggs (Transient) Killer Whale 5 (during count week)

Humpback Whale 1 just outside of reserve but may have transited border

Canada Goose 4 full time (2 adults 2 goslings) (24 visited once during count week)

Harlequin Duck 1

Double-crested Cormorant 11

Pelagic Cormorant 12

Brandt’s Cormorant 1

Black Oystercatcher 29

Black Turnstone 95

Ruddy Turnstone 1

Western Sandpiper 3

Kildeer 1

Dunlin 1

Glaucous-winged Gull 276 (193 – adults; 83 juveniles)

California Gull 61

Western Gull 1

Heerman’s Gull 26

Peregrine Falcon 1

Common Raven 2

Savannah Sparrow 3

It is of note that there have been no Pigeon Guillemots seen since I arrived. Last year there were chicks, still  being fed by their parents, on the nests in the rubble area just west of the jetty at this time of year and later. I am hoping that the river otters have not been visiting these ground-breeding birds and will look for evidence of what has been going on there.

Maintenance work was routine and the only other visitors to the reserve were the Pearson College students having their orientation by vessel. Courtney kindly delivered paper, which was appreciated as there was none.

Pearson College students doing orientation week activity at Race Rocks Ecological Reserve.

Pearson College students doing orientation week activity at Race Rocks Ecological Reserve.

super friendly philosophy teacher

 

 

 

 

Double-Billing (Thursday-Friday)

Posted on by

Thursday was a howler. The wind started early and blew ferociously all day. Although it developed into a classic westerly, it actually started out from the west-northwest, which is closer to the direction running down the outside coast of Vancouver Island (NW). Most of the day, it was westerly from 30 – 40 knots and late in the afternoon there gusts over 40 knots. The fog that formed early on the Port Angeles side of the Strait was blown away early and the sky stayed clear until just after sunset when clouds became visible in the west. The barometer has been rising since Wednesday and the forecast is for continued gale warnings and mix of sun and cloud.

 

It really calmed down on Friday. The westerlies with a touch of southwest, continued but at moderate speeds of 15 -25 knots. Although there were clouds to the west early in the morning, they evaporated quickly and it was full on sunshine all day. The barometer is dropping from a high of 1020 hPa and the forecast is for strong winds and mostly clear skies.

There were no whale-watching boats, or sport fishers on Thursday, as the weather and sea conditions were just too wild. Friday was a totally different story with 16 whale-watching vessels observed, visiting the Ecological Reserve. Some vessels made multiple visits.

There was a lot of whale activity within and around the Ecological Reserve. Both a Minke Whale and a large Humpback were feeding just to the southeast and south respectively and three different pods of Killer Whales moved through the area in the afternoon and evening, including small group of Bigg’s Killer Whales (Transients), two pods of southern residents ( J-pod and L-pod according to the whale-watching boats). One of the SRKW pods came right into the Reserve within fifty meters of South Rock, heading east. There were two large adult males, one small calf and about 15 individuals all together. Another ~ 20 individuals were travelling in the same direction about one mile to south, at the same time. It appeared as though the two groups met up and mingled to the east of Race Rocks. Time for the sockeye to be running.

gwgu on nest juniper

Other ecological happenings are progressing as has been reported on for the past few weeks. I started a Glaucous-winged Gull nest survey Thursday and finished surveying about one third of the island. On Friday the female Northern Elephant Seal # 5866’s tags were noted. Chunk and Floyd have been peacefully moulting, sleeping and travelling up and down the ramp for several swims a day (more like lolly-gagging in the water).

Thursdays are animal census day. It is worth noting that the winter resident bird species such as Black Turnstone, Harlequin Duck and many species of gulls that nest elsewhere are gone now and so are the transitory migrant shorebirds and other migrants that stop off briefly or for a while. The sealions are at their lowest number which is expected since they too should be on or heading towards their breeding grounds. Census results follow.

Northern Elephant Seals 10 (including 5 on Great Race)

Harbour Seals 218

California Sealions 5

Northern or Stellers Sealions 2

River Otter 1

Sea Otter 1

Canada Geese 24 (= 10 goslings + 14 adults) (many appear to have swum away)

Pelagic Cormorants 3

Double Crested Cormorants 5

Bald Eagles 2 (1 adult, 1 sub-adult)

Black Oystercatchers 10 (5 nesting pairs all incubating)

Kildeer 2

Pigeon Guillemots 110

Caspian Terns 2

Glaucous-winged Gulls total 424 (402 adults in nesting areas; 22 sub-adults in roosting/resting area). Most gulls are incubating now, although some are still getting started.

There were no visitors on Thursday and two visitors Friday, who did a retreat in the science house. They came and went in Second Nature with Chris.

Chores and maintenance were routine today and I am glad to report that I am able to wash windows again.

 

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Posted on by

Again it was a day dominated by the west and west-southwest winds. It was blowing 30 to 35 knots at dawn but the velocity subsided and most of the day it blew 20 to 25 knots. Skies were partially overcast and as predicted there were a few showers. Air temperature remains low, and is not much different than flooding sea surface temperature at ~ 9.7 oC. ranging between 10 oC and 12 oC .The wind is also chilling and today had the highest wind speeds of the week. The barometer rose today from 1008 to 1013 hPa and is dropping now while the forecast calls for gales and a gale warning has been issued. Saturday is supposed to be mainly cloudy with a 30% chance of showers.

There were four whale-watching boats observed, working in the Ecological Reserve today. No other vessels were observed in reserve.

Female Northern Elephant Seal # 5086 is on day seven of her moult now and has made great strides in losing skin during the last 24 hours. She has achieved the two thirds moulted milestone and is still grouchy.

5086_Day 7

Black Oystercatchers are without a doubt nesting now and there are eggs in their terribly spartan nests, which have none of the comforts of home like soft vegetation or down.

Untitled bloy egg2

Some of the goslings are getting quite large and although they may be considered pesty, they are still fascinating to watch.

gosling

The California Sealions are moving back onto Great Race and I awoke to a chorus of them doing a call and response outside my bedroom window this morning.

ZACA

Thanks go out to Don Stewart for spotting and identifying an Anna’s Hummingbird on Great Race today, I believe this is a new addition to the species list here.

DCS

Another thank you to Rocky Point Bird Observatory for identifying a Yellow-headed Blackbird, another possibly new bird to the island. It has been hiding in the long grass and thistles near the base of the Light Tower and it has been difficult to get a photo fast enough. Today it flew to the roof of the Energy Building which made a photo much easier.

Yhblkbrd

Yesterday was census day but it was too foggy much of the day to do a good census. Here are the results from today’s census.

Northern Elephant Seals 26 (18 on Great Race, 8 on Middle Rock)

Harbour Seals 228

California Sealions 14

Northern (Stellers) Sealions 26

Canada Geese 24 (+ 21 goslings)

Harlequin Ducks 6

Pelagic Cormorants 8

Double Crested Cormorants 13

Bald Eagle total 3; 1 adult, 2 sub-adults

Black Oystercatchers          14

Kildeer                                   2

Pigeon Guillemots              230

Glaucous-winged Gulls total 564 (556 adults in nesting areas; 8 sub-adults in                           roosting/resting area)

California Gulls                    6

Common Raven                  1

Northwestern Crow             1

Anna’s Hummingbird         1

Yellow-headed Blackbird   1

Chores were routine today. Courtney came out with the new switch box for Camera 2 and installed it. Camera 2 is working again now but a close-up study on diatom film. Don left on Second Nature.

 

 

 

Great Guy at Great Race (Covering May 13 & 14)

Posted on by

Wednesday and Thursday were both westerly days, wet in the mornings, clearing in the afternoons, with winds increasing through the day. Wednesday winds reached 25 -30 in the evening and it was much quieter on Thursday with an evening breeze of 10 – 15. on Fog reduced visibility to about a mile this morning but quickly burned off. The barometer stayed fairly steady around 1010 hPa both days and there is a strong wind warning (20 – 30 knots) in effect for Friday afternoon.

Wednesday, two whale watching vessels were observed in the Ecological Reserve and none on Thursday. Several sport fishers passed through at a respectful speed both days. There was military blasting on Wednesday with no apparent effect on the wildlife other than Steller’s Sealions neck craning.

A large male Northern Elephant Seal arrived at Great Race yesterday along with a record (for me) number of seals 17 ashore here for the moult. More length measurements were made on new arrivals and the big guy who were calling Floyd in honour of large portions, measured 3.22 meters from the tip of nose to tip of tail. He seems a mellow fellow but very large and I suspect, still growing.

Floyd resting up in preparation for the herculean effort of hauling himself up the path.

All paths leading up from the jetty had heavy traffic today.

Floyd

Floyd resting up in preparation for the herculean effort of hauling himself up the path.

A new (to me) female who is just starting her moult arrived today. She is tagged and her very worn number is 5086.

This female is larger than the other tagged animals I have seen. You can see the first few roles of skin and fur as her moult starts on her hind flippers.

This female is larger than the other tagged animals I have seen. You can see the first few roles of skin and fur as her moult starts on her hind flippers.

Thursday is census day and here are the results

Northern Elephant Seals 35 (including 18 on Great Race & 17 on Middle)

Harbour Seals 101

California Sea lions 27

Northern Sea lions 24

Canada Geese 24 (+18 goslings)

Harlequin Ducks 3

Pelagic Cormorants 18

Double Crested Cormorants 19

Bald Eagle 1 adults, 2 sub-adults

Black Oystercatchers 12

Whimbrels 8

Pigeon Guillemots 227

Glaucous-winged Gulls total ( adults in nesting areas; adults in roosting/resting area; sub-adults in roosting/resting area)

Common Raven 1

Barn Swallows 2

Savannah Sparrow 2

American Pipets 3

Wednesday Courtney brought Guy and Christine out on Wednesday for eco-guardian training and to trouble-shoot electrical generation issues. While she was here she and Guy cleaned the battery tops of water and attempted to fix the Lister’s over-speed issue. With load (boat winch), it went to over-speed, which shut it down and the power to the main house. Running the de-salination unit did not affect the generator. Christine trained on seawater sampling, faunal observations and had an introduction to the house and island.

 

How Low Can It Go?

Posted on by

Thick fog met me at dawn, not the sleepy kind that coffee cuts through, but dripping wet, zero visibility, fog created through the convergence of cold ocean water and warm air. The fog retreated and advanced repeatedly before it was beaten back by high wattage sunshine. The westerly wind blew throughout, at 5 – 15 knots only rising near sunset to closer to 20. The barometer started a gradual drop in pressure late morning yet the forecast is for sunshine and continuing westerlies.

There were a few whale watching boats in the area mid-morning with two observed in the Ecological Reserve. Sports fishing boats were seen in the general area but outside the Reserve.

The elephant seals found the trek to seawater quite an effort today and some of them gave up for a few hours on the way to have a swim. Getting back up the hill was even more of an effort.

The tide is a long way out.

The tide is a long way out.

Observational efforts were focused in the inter-tidal and on the mega-fauna census today. Another really good tide (0.5m) allowed me to do a large algal survey and find more marine invertebrate species. I will share some of the invertebrates here and come back to the seaweeds tomorrow. In each photo, if you look closely you will notice smaller and smaller animals in a wall to wall competition for space or is it sharing of space.

The human history and natural history are intertwined.

Both the natural and human history at Race Rocks are profound.

California Mussel beds are ‘old growth’ and substantial on Great Race. The large area provides important habitat creating significant diversity.

 

Extensive mussel beds on the south side of Great Race.

Extensive mussel beds on the south side of Great Race.

A brooding sea anemone (Epiactus prolifera) with numerous offspring attached low on the column near the pedal disc.

Epiactus prolifera

The mottled sea anemone (Urticina crassicornis) is quite common in the low inter-tidal on the south side of Great Race.

Urticina crassicornis

This species of tubeworm, named after Vancouver (Eudistylia vancouverensis) is usually more abundant sub-tidally. Here in the high current area between Great Race and South Islands, it is common in the low inter-tidal.

Eudistylia vancouverensis There is a lot of gigantism on the Pacific coast but here at Race Rocks even the giant species seem even more abundant and bigger than I have seen them elsewhere.

Cryptochiton

The gumboot chiton (Cryptochiton stelleri) is an important grazer in the inter-tidal. They are very abundant here.

Katharina

The Black Leather Chiton (Katharina tunicata) is another grazer and like the gumboot chiton grows both very large and is super abundant here.

 

Cucumaria Dodecaceria

Orange sea cucumbers (Cucumaria miniata) are really abundant both in tide pools and under the edges of boulders and there a lot of boulders on the south side.

 

Three species of sea urchin were observed today, adding the green urchin (Stronglyocentrotus drobachiensis) to the list. The green and purple both like to “dress-up” aka cover themselves, with shells, seaweeds and even bits of wood. Here they were using empty limpet shells in an area frequented by oystercatchers.

drobachiensis rostangia

Green and purple sea urchins with a small orange nudibranch to their left (Rostanga pulchra) that usually lives on the red sponge Ophlitasponge.

 

Today was large animal census day and the results are as follows:

Humpback Whale (young (small) animal) 1

Northern Elephant Seals 34 (including 15 on Great Race)

Harbour Seals 179

California Sea lions 17 (includes brand U792)

Northern Sea lions 20 (mostly old males)

Sea Otter 1

Canada Geese 36 (includes 18 goslings)

Harlequin Ducks 8

Pelagic Cormorants 0

Double Crested Cormorants 6

Bald Eagle 2 adults, 3 sub-adults

Black Oystercatchers 10

Greater Yellowlegs 1

Black Turnstones 0 (none seen in spite of searching)

Western Sandpipers 2

Least Sandpiper 2

Pigeon Guillemots 148

Glaucous-winged Gulls total 607 (458 adults in nesting areas; 60 adults in roosting/resting area; 79 sub-adults in roosting/resting area)

Western Gull (hybrid?) 1

Herring Gull 2 (Juv.)

Common Raven 1

Northwestern Crows 2

Barn Swallows 2

Savannah Sparrow 6

There were no visitors today. Chores were routine.