Weather: 

• Wind 5-15 knots SW
• Sky: Mostly grey, cloudy. Some rain and fog. Periods of partial clearing.
• Water: Rippled, fairly calm.
• Visibility: 10-13 miles

Boats/Visitors: 

• Guy came to pick up our weekend visitors who headed home this afternoon. It was nice to have some company out here on the rock!
• There were only a handful of whale watching boats in the reserve today since it was quite cloudy and rainy. We were surprised to discover a vessel hovering within 50 meters of a whale within the reserve this evening.

Ecological: 

• While taking a water temperature reading we accidentally spotted a humpback whale hovering in the main channel! It stayed for about 30 minutes, surfacing approximately every 5 minutes in the same spot, facing towards the current.
• The seagull chicks have continued to hatch and there are too many to count. They blend in with the yellowing grasses extremely well and have grown to be twice their original size in only a week. We noticed that one chick near the fuel shed hatched but did not survive, while its two nest mates appear to be healthy.
• There has been one male stellar sea lion on middle rock for the past few days, and appears to not be moving much at all.
• The goslings are nearly full grown now, and have been swimming

Census

• 230 Harbour seals
• 350 adult seagulls and many, many chicks
• 4 moulting male elephant seals
• 1 male stellar sea lion
• A handful of pigeon guillemots
• 8 adult oyster catchers, at least 7 chicks spotted
• 1 humpback whale
• 2 families of geese, and one additional adult pair
• 1 nest of barn swallows