Peregrine Falcon During Animal Census

It was a very quick moment but a peregrine falcon flew by, low along the rocks of the east shore and swooped across the north by the crane and jetty. I lost sight of it quick and was unable to snap a photo, but I was a beautiful moment to witness.

Adult Bald Eagles were catching fish today and fighting over them in the sky.

Juvenile Bald Eagle sitting on the old crane.

Adult Bald Eagle perched atop our northern camera.

Adult Bald Eagle with a fresh catch.

 

Birds

  • Harlequin duck                                  4
  • Bald eagle adult                                2 
  • Bald eagle juvenile                           2
  • Turnstones                                        1
  • Glaucous winged Gulls                  527     
  • Cormorants                                        36
  • Pigeon Guillemots                             167
  • Oyster catcher                                    8
  • Fox Sparrow                                         8
  • Canada Goose                                     16
  • Raven                                                   1
  • Peregrine Falcon                                     1

 

Mammals

  • Steller sea lion                             35
  • Harbour seal                                 73
  • California sea lion                        38
  • Elephant seal sub adult male      2
  • Elephant seal adult female          2
  • Elephant seal pups                      2

 

Coast Guard Zodiac going through Middle channel.

Visitors:

  • Sarah, a women who is also a marine biologist, battling cancer who will loose her sight came out to see the elephant seals before she does. 

Facility Work: 

  • Chopped drift wood
  • Cleaning and organizing house and tools 

 

** All wildlife photos taken at the furthest distance possible, and may be cropped to improve detail! **

 

Weather – Current:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/current.php?id=72

 

Weather – Past:

http://www.victoriaweather.ca/station.php?

Elephant Seals

Weather: 

  • Sky: Overcast
  • Visibility: 15+ miles
  • Wind: 10-20 knots SE
  • Water: Choppy under a metre

Boats/Visitors: 

  • A few tour boats still out and about

Ecological

  • The sea lions numbers were still kind of holding steady until yesterday, a couple hundred of them have left again and there are still a few hundred sticking around.
  • There are now 5 elephant seals, two of them tagged, the small pink tag is still around along with a familiar one green tag C887 who I called Flounder last year.
  • Two bigger males, one of them the familiar Bernard, a slightly smaller guy and then flounder being the smallest male along with two females that are under a year old.
  • Not much else going on here the weather has been very dreary, still a mild winter though I’ve only had one or two storms so far

Splashing around

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 0-15 NE
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Flat

Boats/Visitors

  • a few boats out today
  • I took the boat in for a bit today which took awhile because the pups were in the way so had to wait for them to move off the boat ramp

Maintenance

  • Ran the desal for a while yesterday, I’ve just been trying to keep the tank topped up

Ecological

  • two females showed up today, one of them is the tagged mother of the female pup and a new one showed up as well about the same size.
  • the pups are getting more adventurous, the female pup was swimming this morning but the male pup is still just sticking his face in

Over 1000 Sea Lions

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-25 NW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Choppy under a metre

Boats/Visitors

  • A few ecotours and sailboats going by

Maintenance

  • Fence needed a bit of a fix up today

Ecological

  • So many sea lions lately
  • I didn’t actually see the elephant seal today, I am just hoping she is still around
  • Haven’t seen the pup in a couple days either
  • As for the neck banded sea lions, they are difficult to keep track of with so many sea lions around but I’m sure they are still around

Census

  • Elephant Seal – 1
  • Harbour Seals – 60
  • California Sea Lions – 685
  • Stellar Sea Lions – 412
  • Harlequin Ducks – 4
  • Cormorants – 313
  • Gulls – 698
  • Fox Sparrows – 16
  • Geese – 10
  • Black Turnstones – 24

Elephant Seals and Suffering Sea Lions

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 0-10 NW
  • Sky: Partly Cloudy
  • Water: Calm

Boats/Visitors

  • A few ecotours and sailboats going by

Maintenance

  • Refulled the generator but the fence hasnt needed any fixing lately and I’m being more careful with the water until we get more rain so I haven’t been pressure washing as much lately

Ecological

  • An elephant seal is here, nice to see one around, not sure when more will be showing up
  • Two sea lions with garbage on their neck, will report it and hopefully see if we can get someone out here to take the garbage off of them soon

Census and so many sea lions

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 0-10 NW
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Calm

Boats/Visitors

  • Guy, Greg and Travis came by to help finish putting up the fence and also fix a couple things in the house
  • Still a lot of ecotours cruising by each day

Maintenance

  • The fence is up and working better than the old fence for keeping the sea lions out of certain areas
  • the washer is now also working, which is great for me
  • had to run the generator quite a bit today, the batteries have been running low

Ecological

  • About a hundred more sea lions than there were last weak
  • also seems to be more gulls and harbour seals
  • havent see the geese around today
  • also a sea lion with garbage wrapped around its neck, will contact the right people and keep an eye on him

Census

  • California sea lion – 371
  • Stellar sea lion – 184
  • Harbour seal – 77
  • Elephant seal – 1 female , there was another female but she left a couple days ago
  • Cormorants – 30
  • Seagulls – 486
  • Black turnstones – 25
  • Fox sparrows – 12

More Sea Lions

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 10-20 SW
  • Sky: Cloudy
  • Water: Calm

Boats/Visitors

  • Mostly ecotours going by
  • Guy and Travis also came by today to help me with the fence, which is almost completely set up

Maintenance

  • Had to run the generator for quite a while today, the batteries have been getting low with lack of solar input, its been pretty foggy on and off lately

Ecological

  • I will have a better idea tomorrow of how many sea lions there are but I would guess around 500 right now, about 100 more than last week
  • only one female elephant seal around today, havent seen the smaller one since last night

River otters and Fences

Weather

  • Visibility: 0-15 Miles Foggy until noon
  • Wind: 0-10 NW
  • Sky: Cloudy
  • Water: Flat Calm

Boats/Visitors

  • There were still plenty of ecotours even through the fog that covered the island all morning
  • Guy and Greg came by today and we put up the electric fence to keep the sea lions away from the generator room and the guest house

Maintenance

  • Putting up the electric fence and running the generator a bit to make up for the lack of sunlight this morning
  • Guy also brought me fuel today so we topped up the diesel tank

Ecological

  • Found the body of a river otter today near the tank shed, it doesn’t look very old but it was definitely squished
  • Still two female elephant seals but no others have shown up
  • Seems like there is more and more sea lions everyday

Another Elephant

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 0-10 SW
  • Sky: Cloudy, patches of fog
  • Water: Flat Calm

Boats/Visitors

  • Some boat traffic around, mostly ecotours

Maintenance

  • had to run the generator for a few hours today because there was no sunlight coming through those clouds

Ecological

  • the sea lions are taking up that area between the guest house and the generator room, seems to be more and more of them everyday
  • there is another female elephant seal, shes bigger than the first one that showed up and more calm, she doesn’t look like she is molting as bad as the first one

Census, rain and whales

Weather

  • Visibility: 15 Miles
  • Wind: 5-15 NW
  • Sky: Overcast
  • Water: Flat calm

Boats/Visitors

  • Quite a bit of boat traffic, most of it being whale watching tours
  • Guy came by with a couple more boat loads of students to give them a tour around the island

Maintenance

  •  Didn’t have to do any pressure washing today thanks to the rain although I did have to run the generator a bit to make up for not getting any solar energy today

Ecological

  • An elephant seal showed up yesterday and she is still around today, so thats exciting
  • also there have been a few humpback whale sightings and Guy said he saw some killer whales on the way over here but I missed them unfortunately
  • plenty of sea lions, seems like there is more everyday
  • not as many gulls as last week and I haven’t seen any cormorants on the outer rocks today

Census

  • stellar sea lions – 132
  • california sea lions – 314
  • harbour seals – 94
  • gulls – 261
  • elephant seals – 1 female
  • black turnstones – 12
  • fox sparrows – 2