Moooooooooooo

The aftermath of Wednesday's winds was evident as soon as I got to the solar panels. There's nothing like a bank of panels after a wind-assisted rain of gull poop.  What normally takes about an hour took almost double to undo the damage. There are 42 panels to do.

Before

After

While on the roof of the generator building, I spotted a little flit of a bird below. My first passerine on the ground of this trip, and like last year it was....... a Brown-headed Cowbird. Seeing it reminded me of the bird in the fog last week.  I think there's a good chance that was a cowbird, too. By the time I grabbed my binoculars and camera, there were two cowbirds checking out the guano-covered rocks below. 

Juvenile Brown-headed Cowbirds

When I finished the solar panels and started on the windows, I was soon met with a major obstacle: Bubbles! It was a good time to take a break as I had a Zoom call scheduled with my friend, Alison Moran, Rocky Point Bird Observatory's Hummingbird Project director.  Being isolated on an island isn't what it used to be! It was great to catch up with her.

Yeah, that's not going to work.

I went back after the call, and Bubbles had moved--but now was more in the way than he had been. One side of the researcher's residence will have to wait another day.

Bubbles, literally between a rock and a hard place!

 But while I was there, three Brown Pelicans rose up from the shoreline to the west of the island.  Jinx is definitely broken now!

Brown Pelicans

I think this was my most scheduled day so far.  I had another Zoom meeting with the American Birding Association's awards committee in the afternoon, which of course coincided with having to do the water temperature and salinity measurement at maximum current.

Water sampling supervisor-California sea lion

There didn't seem to be much time for birding today, but I still managed to scope the water and the shorebird beach several times in between other activities. No changes in the action yet, but I'm looking forward to some changes soon. Ollie the sea otter has been present the last couple of days in the kelp beds to the east of the island.

Ollie, a long way away.

Mushu laid low for most of the day, but came out to enjoy a spot of sunshine in the kitchen late in the day. I think he's perking up a bit.

When the sun moved and cast shade on the compost, I spent about an hour moving the contents.  I added 18 buckets to the previous 15 in the dip, and I think I'm about a quarter of the way through the first compartment. I'm guessing another four or five hours will get this stage done.

Digging in

The moon rose as orange as the sun last night.  It looks like smoke from the interior is coming.

A very smoky moon