Mitlenatch Island continues to amaze us with its natural beauty and abundance of wildlife. We’d like to share some of our 2016 season highlights, courtesy of our volunteers. This year, two groups were treated to the sighting of a sea otter in Camp Bay. The gradual reappearance of the sea otter after its extirpation from hunting in the last century from the waters of Vancouver Island is a wonderful sight.
The Stellar sea lions were a big attraction on the rocks outside of Camp Bay. Throughout the summer different teams of volunteers reported that tour boats were often within 100 meters of the sea lions; in some cases they were alarmingly close. This is where one of MIST’s main duties on the island – gathering data about boats and visitors – becomes important.
Bird sightings
Among the many birds sighted were 50 common loons and 15 bald eagles, with evidence an owl had spent some time around the cabin over the winter. The team witnessed a small pod of about a dozen orcas attack and kill several sea lions outside the Echo Bay opening.
Two volunteers counted 273 pelagic cormorant nests and 48 double-crested cormorant nests. They also observed a pair of oystercatchers with two chicks in Camp Bay that somehow avoided predation by ravens and a peregrine falcon. At one point, the peregrine and the ravens went after each other. They also spotted a Virginia rail chick on the trail.
The lead volunteer on plant phenology spent a lot of time improving the signage and going over the reports. She wonders whether the apple trees should be allowed to spread across the island.
The sea lions returned to the rocks off Camp Bay causing some tour operators and boaters come in very close. This issue continued the following week, when volunteers observed tour boats getting close enough to jump onto the sea lion islet and flushing sea lions from the rocks.
Three volunteers observed seals with pups on the rocks of NW Bay. They pulled up a patch of storksbill and attacked a dense patch of St. John’s wort next to the start of the southern trail to the gull blind, then switched to the dense blackberry patch behind the outhouse. They learned not to leave the oven mitt out overnight when they discovered a mother mouse had given birth to five babies inside one.
2016 was a season to remember. Here’s to another great year on Mitlenatch Island in 2017!