Ecological Notes:
- 8 Elephant Seals in various stages of molt
- 1 of the above is the surviving male pup from this season
- 5 Canada Goose nests now
- Gulls are still pairing up and courting, but no nests yet
- Seals and sealions use the sensitive whiskers, and hair above their eyes to detect vibrations from fish when in the dark depths of the ocean.
Visitors:
- 2 separate sets of students from Westcoast Adventure College, each group with chaperone for a total of 9 students and 2 chaperones
- Each group stayed for 3 days and 3 nights, for 2 days of classes, and 1 day of learning about and helping with the procedures of the Ecoguardian
- Class was An Introduction to Marine Mammals of the Salish Sea …… A program the Ecoguardian has been teaching for 17 years to the students of WAC, and this was the first time it could be taught amongst actual marine mammals here at the reserve!
Facility Work:
- All sidewalks and the generator building have been pressure washed.
- Even more waste building materials have been gathered and stacked ready for pick up
- Many logs were salvaged from the rocky shoreline while there were extra people here.
- An extra thorough cleaning of the Student house.
- New electric fencing was set up to protect the lower solar panels from the sealions, as they had managed to get under the panels and damaged the wiring in the past.
- As normal, lots of fence repairs during the windy times. Although there is not much sealion traffic right now, it is much easier to keep it all up than redo it all later.
- Still working with the old tank on the fuel delivery vessel, so lots of fuel transfers from boat tank, to barrels, to portable tidytank, to generator tank.
Noted Vessel Traffic:
- Daily visits from Ecotourism Vessels, and some private vessels paused to look at the sealions.
- In addition to kayakers, a pair of paddlers ventured out and around the reserve in a canoe
- As the current Ecoguardian is an experienced kayak and canoe guide, all were observed closely to ensure they were equipped properly and had the skill sets to be out here in the currents. Happy to report, all was good!
- 2 sailboats passed through the main channel east to west before looping around past the southern side of the main island. 1 had a little trouble in the currents on the west side and stalled out, but they recovered before they were any actual danger …. but they looked quite tense through the binoculars!
Feature Event:
- The updated Solar power system has continued to function at the high level it was hoped it would provide. With only average sunlight, the system still uses much less generator time, and we have only been running the generator 2 out of 3 days.
Weather Events:
- Many high wind days, giving way to medium winds and clear skies. Rinse and repeat.
** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **
Weather – Current:
http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72
Weather – Past: