weather : wind from the northeast today, calm this morning but at 12 to 15 km/hr now. skies mostly clear.

visitors: a couple of eco-tourism boats went by. otherwise very quiet.

energy: solar all day.

Observations: mostly I observed my mood today. This is my  last night here and as I shift my focus to “real life” I am slightly melancholy. And so seeing from that point of view I watched the young eagle hunt over Great Race several times unsuccessfully and wondered if it would be easier to catch fish. I have seen very few fish caught this past week. The island is covered with chiton shells and even goose neck barnacle shells. Then I saw these two gulls, one missing a foot and beside it a gull not able to weight bear. They were both at the periphery of the breeding colony with the immature gulls. I also saw the first Thayer’s gull and I see that in previous years many have nested on the island.

One without a foot, the other cannot weight bear

Thayer’s Gull?

Thayer’s?

Work: cleaning and getting ready for next ecoguardian. chopping wood. sweeping the lighthouse stairs. doing month end tallies. cleaned the student house windows and lower solar panels.

Addendum:I went to sit on the back porch as Mount Baker is quite clear and a new bird ( this week) appeared.

whimbrels

whimbrels, 8 in all