Fogust again

I awoke to the sounds of the fog horn this morning, which meant I could hit the snooze button a few more times.  There would be no sea watch before chores today! Still, when I got up, I packed my scope, camera, and binoculars when I headed to the generator building, and it was a good thing I did.  At first glance in the fog, there were the usual young gulls along the path, but wait... that's not a gull!  I backed up just a bit, set the scope down and started shooting. It was a good-sized shorebird, and before long, I had settled on dowitcher, but I knew I had to get several angles to determine what species.  Thankfully, the bird was very cooperative, and was identifiable as a young Short-billed Dowitcher.

Cleaning the solar panels in the fog requires one extra piece of equipment--hearing protection.  The modern foghorn is really more of a fogbeep, but it is loud and persistent. The best part of cleaning the panels in the fog is that they are already pre-wetted, making clearing the gull poop a lot easier.  I think I got through them in record time today. I also got to see my second fogbow of this trip. 

Once done with the panels and the windows, I had breakfast and then tackled the compost for a couple of hours.  The fog came and went, and then came and went again, so I really didn't do as much birding as I would on most days.  There were Brown-headed Cowbirds flitting around again, and just as I was about to dump a wheelbarrow full of compost, three Northern Rough-winged Swallows (by sound) flew over the top of the house.

Gull approval

The sun was out, but the wind was up after lunch.  I did a bit of seawatching from the inside of the researcher residence (which definitely has the best views), but there was nothing to see but good numbers of gulls (mostly California) spread out over a wide area.  With the wind, even Pigeon Guillemot numbers seemed low.

My next task was the weekly checking and topping up of the batteries. As there is an acid splash risk when dealing with open batteries, I have to gear up with protective equipment before opening them up. They actually lose a lot of electrolyte during the week, which has to be topped up with diluted water. It's a bit of a challenge doing fine work with giant gloves, but it all got done. 

Between the fog and the wind, which increased to more than 30 kts in the evening, I really didn't take too many photos today. But I have a great follow-up story for you.

On Aug 12, I spotted a branded sea lion on the rocks east of the jetty while I was waiting for Carl and Brady. I did a bit of research and learned that this Steller's male had been seen on Race Rocks in 2014 and that he had a near death experience with Orcas in 2020. I sent the photo to Bryan Wright at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife who sent me a long list of about 70 sightings of this sea lion since he was originally branded in 2003. In addition to sightings at Race Rocks in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2014 (not on Bryan's list), and 2017, he was been sighted in numerous locations along the Oregon, Washington and BC coasts. A sighting at Cape Arago, OR, on June 6 hasn't made it to the database yet.

 

With the high winds tonight, I'm hoping that there will be something interesting on the water (and maybe even on the land) tomorrow!