Birds and Sea Lion Brands

The wind was calm, not rising above 10 knots.  It blew from the northeast, swinging around to the south in the middle of the day, and settling on the east at night.  The barometer dropped from 1020 hPa to 1009 hPa, with a few short rises throughout the day.  The temperature reached a high of 10.8oC, at the ground station.

There was one whale watching boat seen in the reserve, just before sunset.

Pam Birley, the dedicated webcam viewer from the UK, spotted a peregrine falcon again this morning.  She was able to capture a photo of the peregrine from Camera 1, see below.  Pam thinks it’s a young one, because it has dark brown chest feathers.

I wasn’t able to spot the peregrine, but I saw two branded steller sea lions.  See the photos below of brands 205Y and 405Y.  The steller sea lion branded 405Y was born in 2013, at Rogue Reef, Oregon.  The steller sea lion branded 205Y is a female born in 2004 at St. George’s Reef, California.   The sea lion is well known to Pat Gearin, from the NOAA. Pat emailed me with some details about the sea lion: “She is an unusual animal because she has not returned to CA to have her pups but instead has settled at Carroll Island, WA where she has had at least two pups over the last 4 years.  I think the animal next to her in your first photo may be her juvenile which is still nursing.  Steller’s sometimes nurse their pups for over 2 years.”