Whimbrel and otters

Fog until after 1100h. Westerlies that stayed between 20-30 knots for most of the day. Air temperature was 10-12 degrees Celsius all day. Forecast calls for winds rising to 20-30 knots tomorrow afternoon.

2 recreational fishing boats passed through reserve today

This afternoon I spotted a Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) on the south side of the main island. It was flying solo and I didn’t see any others around. Chunk has finally completely finished moulting. He’s looking silver and sleek! He and Cheeky have been testing out new resting spots on the island that are unfortunately close to some gulls’ nests. (Yesterday Chunk rolled over on one of the chicks, but it survived.) This evening I saw three river otters run under the big empty tank near the winch shed used for transporting diesel. They were hurrying from the direction of the main residence (opposite the ocean side) right through a number of gulls’ nests. It was the gulls’ squawking that made me notice them in the first place.

Ran the desalinator today. Sharpened the axes on cite. Prepped the propane tanks for painting but it was too windy.