The day started with light westerly winds that brought quite a bit of sunshine. Although the wind picked up a little, today’s weather and sea conditions seemed like a bit of a reprieve after the last week of big swells and high winds. The barometer rose all day but it looks like another southeaster coming tomorrow.
Four whale watching boats were observed in the Ecological Reserve today. There was one sports fishing boat fishing in the Ecological Reserve just before sunset.
Sport-fisher trolling in front of Eco-guardian house just before sunset.
I spotted a gull that was a total mystery. I have the question out for help in identification. Do you know what it is? An albino Thayer’s Gull? (This just in: Dick Cannings says that it is a very light, second year, Glaucous-winged Gull.) Sorry no mystery for Halloween.
Mystery gull visited Race Rocks. Jury still out on its identification. One possibility is an immature Iceland gull (gf)
There were at least five Humpback Whales spotted to the south and the west of Race Rocks today.
The Northern Elephant Seals continue to occupy the ramp from the jetty. This little guy has tag # 7625 and was tagged as a weanling at Ano Nuevo Island in 2013. So he will turn two this winter.
Northern Elephant Seal tagged as a weanling in the winter of 2013. This feisty little guy is out on land using gravity to help strengthen his bones and prepare him for hauling out for longer times as an adult.
The sealion count is up dramatically from last week with 980 individuals, 447 Stellers and 433 Californians. It took me so long to count them that I am going to have to finish the census tomorrow and that will give me a chance to recount, if I start earlier. It is a bit like trying to count people in a mosh pit. The photos really help fine tune the numbers.
These sealions are keeping each other warm and catching up on their sleep.
There were quite a few visitors today including two veterinarians Martin and Joe who are part of a collaborative, international team that is (amongst other things) disentangling sealions. They completed reconnaissance for a possible rescue here. If you have been following the blog you will know that there are at least six ring-necked sealions here with plastic strapping and three more with fishing gear. Entanglement is definitely a human caused issue, hard to deny that one. Both Garry the Ecological Reserve Warden and Chris head of operations at Pearson College were here as well as my colleague Courtney, a contractor and two former students.
My tasks today were focused on cleanup (some of the outside windows on the guardian house), the bathroom, the basement and on sorting and cataloguing images. If someone had told me how time consuming that job is, I wouldn’t have taken so many photos.