And Then There were Two

Mushu gave me a hard time about not including him as assistant ecoguardian last time I said that only one of us was left on the island, so there are now two of us here, not just one.

Another day, another sea watch.  Carl and I got up early to do a watch parallel to Daniel Donnecke and David Bell who were headed out to Otter Point. As slow as yesterday was, today was even slower. Loads of California Gulls and many of the birds that you'd expect to see, but no special species.  We did get to see a recently fledged Pigeon Guillemot, though!  I'm amazed that any of them could survive the gauntlet of gulls they would have to get through. Cowbirds and Barn Swallows were the only passerines present today, as usual. Something different should show up soon.

Recently fledged Pigeon Guillemot on the left, adult on the right

Carl and Brady watching the sea

What is this little black bird next to the adult Common Murre????

After sea watch comes solar panel cleaning.  I was expecting light work up there today, as the wind was reasonable yesterday. However, some gulls seemed to figure out how to use the panels as slip and slide devices. While I was cleaning, they kept it up.  I had to redo at least five panels that were crapped upon, or slid down before I could get them all finished.

Looking down one of the panels that the birds were obviously sliding down

They couldn't even let me finish before they started messing them up again.

Carl and Brady tackled the ground level solar panels and cleaned windows on the houses while I was on the roof battling the gulls. It was great to have some extra hands to help!

The next few hours were used for them to pack up and have some last looks around.  Both Orca and humpbacks were seen, and Bubbles put on a show by gallumping all the way down to the ocean, then swimming around to the East Bay for a relaxing visit.

Into the water at the jetty

Only to pop up near the East Bay

The other end of Bubbles

Just before it was time to go, some fellow birders did a motor past looking for birds.

We waited down at the dock for Greg.  Thanks to him for making Carl and Brady's visit possible by shuttling them our and back.

Rumor has it they saw a close humpback on their way back to Pearson College.

Back on the island, the young Glaucous-winged Gulls were getting some real air as they practiced their flights.  They'll be up and away soon!

Brady had asked me what would happen if Bubbles returned to find young elephant seals on the ramp.  Both youngsters had returned on Sunday and were in place for a demonstration.

A record of 21 Surfbirds were on the shorebird beach at the end of the day.  One last scope turned up the first Bonaparte's Gull of my trip.

Bonaparte's Gull

I think I might be becoming a morning person.  It's harder and harder to keep my eyes open in the evenings when I work on these blog entries.  It's off to bed for a few hours now until we start all over again. I hope Mushu has it all warmed up!