Yesterday morning as I was walking back from turning the generator on, I noticed the gulls were causing a ruckus. Usually they do that when an eagle is flying by so I was looking to see where it might be. I spotted it but thought it maybe looked a little fluffier and stubbier than a typical eagle. It soon landed on the crane and I quickly realized it wasn’t an eagle…and it had horns!?

This is the first time (both at Race Rocks and ever) that I’ve seen a Great Horned Owl! It only spent a few minutes on the crane before flying off to middle rocks where it remained for the rest of the day. How cool!

I have not seen the booby in a few days and the fur seal seems to have left as well, but Oswald the little blond sea otter is still here! Tonight I watched as he dove for urchins and then brought them back up to open on his belly. Now if only he would pick a closer kelp bed so I don’t have to squint through my binoculars to watch him!

Sea lion numbers are still low, I think anyone who hadn’t been here before would think I’m crazy for saying that. This is my third October here and there really just aren’t as many as usual! The same goes for the humpback whales, usually I can’t look out a window without seeing 3 or 4, but lately I find myself really having to search.

Just one sea lion where there would usually be hundreds.

Not that I am complaining by any means, it’s incredible here regardless. I just wonder why numbers may be down? Is the El Niño changing things up? Is the fishing better elsewhere? Who knows! It’ll be interesting to see if numbers increase or decrease over the next month.

8 eco-tourism vessels today, 3 DND blasts with minimal disturbance, and facility work consisted of topping up batteries, and replacing/inventorying the fire extinguishers.