Wind: yesterday 3-32 knots from NE to S to W, today 3-45 knots from W to S
Sea State: yesterday rippled with chop up to 1 m in evening, today chop up to 1 m, then rippled in afternoon
Visibility: yesterday 5-10 NM, today 10-15NM
Sky: yesterday overcast and rain, today clear
Temperature: yesterday 5-9 °C, today 7-9 °C
Atmospheric CO2: 414.11 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii)
Results of weekly megafauna and bird census from Saturday, February 8:
9 elephant seals (2 female adults, 4 male adults, 2 female pups, 1 male pup)
169 steller sea lions
202 california sea lions
29 harbour seals
41 bald eagles (37 adults, 4 juveniles)
1 raven
19 brandt’s cormorants
138 pelagic cormorants
65 double-crested cormorants
4 canada geese
412 gulls (most are thayer’s gulls)
20 black oystercatchers
2 surf scoters
20 harlequin ducks
35 surfbirds
26 black turnstones
1 snow bunting
1 fox sparrow
Yesterday in the morning, three members of the Coast Guard came in a helicopter to do a routine check on some equipment on the island. The pilot phoned ahead to confirm the best place to land to try to avoid disturbing the animals. They landed on the helicopter pad. Sometimes they land on the grass at the base of the lighthouse. The Coast Guard guys were excited to see the elephant seals, which they hadn’t seen before. Usually when they fly into the lightstations up the coast, they see a lot of sea lions.
In the afternoon yesterday, three visitors from Pearson College came to the island to have a tour.
The only other boats that were seen in the ecological reserve were two tour boats this afternoon.
See the photos below for some views from the last two days.
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- Coast Guard helicopter taking off from the helicopter pad.
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- The sleeping california sea lion on the right was damming the water that was draining down the ramp by the boat launch.
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- Yesterday, the clouds parted at sunset after a brief blast of wind and rain in the late afternoon.
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- Double-crested cormorants drying out their wings
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- The elephant seal harem basks in the sun. The pup in the middle is the third pup, a female, which is the last one nursing. In a couple days, the mother will wean the pup and leave the island.
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- The first pup lies by himself on the east side of the house. Gulls and sea lions are by the shore in the background
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- Black turnstones sleeping in the sun on the rock ledge to the west of the jetty
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- I took this photo to make a note of where the alpha male was lying. Later, after he moved to the grass, I measured from the places where his tail flippers and proboscis were. He is 4.4 m long or 14.5′.
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- The smallest adult male elephant seal is on the path after coming in from the water. The scars on his back show that he gets in a lot of fights with the other males.
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- Surf scoter
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- The full moon rising in the background of the lighthouse at sunset this evening