Day 5.
Another very windy day on St. George Island! After some stretching to wake ourselves up, Jillian, Chipper and I made a circular northern fur seal calendar, learning what adult females, adult males and pups do over the course of a year. Male fur seals start showing up on the beaches of St. George and St. Paul Island in May, and they don’t go out to sea to feed again until August! Females arrive later than the males, coming to shore in July and giving birth to their pup within 1-2 days of arriving on the beach. Males, Females and pups all leave the Islands in November.
There is one thick-billed murre with a chick left on the cliffs below the village, and we’re expecting it to fledge any day. We braved the wind to go and check on it. It was too windy to hold the scope still, and we could only see the adult clearly. But, we expect the chick was still there and huddling closer to the cliff for safety.
It is truly incredible that these tiny fledglings can survive the jump to sea when you watch these huge storm waves crash against the cliffs.
Emma painted seaweed, snacked on some seaweed, and finished her leaf prints. We spent the rest of the afternoon finishing up projects at school.
