Wildlife spotting as we circled Lopez Island

September 15, 2020 – Smokey haze from the nations wildfires combined with fog made for interesting conditions with layers of islands barely visible. With visibility reduced our sense of hearing was accentuated as we drift sailed through Turn Island Pass and we heard and saw a pair of common loons. As we came around towards Pear Point we again saw a pair of loons so perhaps there are two pairs here. From Big Rock glacial erratic we followed the Lopez shoreline. Cormorants were standing tall on Shark Reef and many harbor seals rested at Deadman Island.

A gathering of fifteen black oystercatchers flew in together, danced in their greeting ceremony and foraged. A great blue heron stood on the kelp fronds waiting for a chance to spear a fish. We heard the steller sea lions noisy boisterous behaviour a long time before we could see them. Cormrants fished in the strongest tide rip where the currents overlap at the Southern tip of the rocks. White winged scoters flew by quickly.

We boogied out to Salmon Bank to search for minke whales. Large numbers of common murres and various types of gulls were on the bank, but we didn’t find any minkes with the limited visibility.

A bald eagle stood on Swirl Island. We drifted through the pass inside Castle Rock, another world appearing through the sea mist and smoky haze. Then rode the flood tide up Rosario Strait inside James Island. A brief heavy rain shower as we left Bald Bluff, the steep cliff face of Blakely Island. And after rounding Upright Head to finish our circumnavigation of Lopez we found many roosting cormorants.