Elephant Seal Entertainment

It was time to try another parallel census with Daniel at Beechey Head, less than 10 kilometres from Race Rocks.  Before I could get to my seawatch spot, though, I noticed Bubbles coming up the path. Looks like he stayed out all night, but came ashore at first light. My curiosity got the best of me, and I took a quick detour to see where the young female elephant seals had ended up. The shyer of the two was high on the rocks where she'd retreated to a few days ago, but the bolder one was right behind Bubbles, following him up the path!  She followed behind all the way to his place alongside the researcher residence and stayed there for about five hours with him. I don't think he was impressed!

I'll just stay out of the way.

I need to know where he's going!

Settled in.  When I checked after she left, Bubbles was turned around the other way. I'd sure like to see him do that!

The weather was perfect--sort of.  Seas and winds were calm and the sky was overcast. No wind to blow the scope around, and nice clear views over the water.  The problem is that many birds are like sailboats. When there is no wind, they just sit and bob on the water.  The most fun thing about a seawatch is seeing flocks of birds (aka specks) go zipping by so you aren't counting the same ones over and over. However, the glass-like nature of the water made it easy to see mammals coming to the surface. There were harbour porpoises all over the place, and within the first few minutes of my watch, I saw the flukes of a descending humpback whale.  But birds?  Almost nothing at all, besides the gulls parked alongside me on the rocks. Admittedly, I had to cut it short, as I had to do a water test at 7:25, but pretty disappointing overall.  Common Murres were in small groups or bobbing individually all around the area.  I don't think I even saw 20 in flight.  A few Rhinoceros Auklets were on the wing.  The highlights were a distant flock of Red-necked Phalaropes--a shorebird that seems most comfortable at sea--and a Belted Kingfisher, and uncommon visitor from nearby Bentinck Island or Race Rocks. A Nazca Booby--very rare for this area--had been seen riding a barge on the east side of Puget Sound yesterday, but it took off.  I checked every ship that passed very carefully. A number of them had large white objects on them, but I am satisfied that they weren't my target bird--or at least that I couldn't identify it as such.  Maybe it will show up here! Daniel, on the other hand, had a great seawatch. Compare our lists here: Daniel  Ann

From Google maps.  Distance from Race Rocks to Beechey Head.

Is that a large white bird at the very top??

Could it be???

After the water test, I had an interview on CBC Radio Victoria to talk about what an Ecoguardian does out here at Race Rocks, and then had to get on with the chores of the day.  I started working on the solar panels around the time I'm usually done with them. The gulls had done their duty--or should I say, "doody" providing me ample time to work with the new brush head that I had discovered in the generator room.  It's a combination brush and squeegee in one, making the task much simpler and quicker.  I had brought a car snow brush with me on this trip for that combo plus a scraper, but this new brush head holds a lot more water than the snow brush. We relief ecoguardians get excited about the most mundane things!

Jackson Pollock must have lived near the sea.

The timing was good, though, as I had just finished the windows when Greg was on the radio, arriving with the chimney cleaner. Mushu took cover under the bed (as any respectable cat would) while they were here, and before long they were on their way again.

The Second Nature transports goods and services to Race Rocks.

It was the hottest it had been since I arrived two weeks (has it really been two weeks already?) ago.  With no wind, though, I thought it would be the perfect time to work on the compost project.  Wrong.  Within about ten minutes, I was dripping in sweat and put down the shovel. Once I cooled down a bit, I tried again, but came to the conclusion that it was not a good day for this project.

I was a little shocked when I checked out the shorebird beach in the late afternoon, their prime gathering time, there were only 17 Black Turnstones and no Surfbirds.  I guess their molting has finished and they are dispersing.  One day does not make a trend, though, so we'll see what's there over the next couple of days.

Where have all the shorebirds gone?

The ecoguardian's house has almost all the amenities of home, including good internet service. That allows me to stay connected with others, including attending meetings. The day concluded with a Rocky Point Bird Observatory board meeting.  It was good to see many of the gang again!

Mushu update: 

Lovin' the sun!