Gina’s Sable Island Photoblog, October 2016 – January 2017

Image above: A Sable Island stallion resting in the breeze on a dune ridge in autumn.

Gina Little, who worked on Sable Island for the Meteorological Service of Canada from 2007 to 2019, had been taking photos during her walks on the island long before her first Sable Photoblog was posted on the Institute’s website in spring 2017. Here are some of those earlier images.

October 6, 2016

Weather summary for this date: no rain or fog; sunshine hours 10.2; temperature maximum 16.0°C and minimum 7.5°C; with a light breeze.

A young horse, born earlier in the summer, shedding its foal coat, face-first.

October 12, 2016

Weather summary for this date: no rain or fog; sunshine hours 9.5; temperature maximum 14.3°C and minimum 8.4°C; with light breeze.

Pebbles and a sandpiper on north beach.

October 16, 2016

Weather summary for this date: no rain or fog; sunshine hours 9.6; temperature maximum 12.8°C and minimum 4.4°C; with a peak wind of 22 knots northerly.

A swordfish bill washed up on south beach. Swordfish commonly grow to 3 m, and the bill makes up about one third of the length. Swordfish normally use the sword-shaped bill to slash and stun prey.

October 17, 2016

Weather summary for this date: 0.2 mm of rain; fog; sunshine hours 0.8; temperature maximum 15.8°C and minimum 12.1°C; with a peak wind of 22 knots southwesterly.

A herd of Surf Clams on the north beach, washed ashore with the last tide and still alive. The gulls will pry open the shells and have a feast.

October 20, 2016

Weather summary for this date: no rain or fog; sunshine hours 10.1; temperature maximum 14.4°C and minimum 9.0°C; with a peak wind of 20 knots northwesterly.

A worn and eroded fragment of finger sponge washed up on the beach.

October 24, 2016

Weather summary for this date: 1 mm of rain; no fog; sunshine hours 6.6; temperature maximum 15.3°C and minimum 10.3°C; with a peak wind of 24 westerly.

A Surf Clam on the beach, still alive and clamped shut against the wind-blown sand.

As a gust of wind, and even more blowing sand.

October 25, 2016

Weather summary for this date: trace of rain; no fog; sunshine hours 7.6; temperature maximum 12.4°C and minimum 7.2°C; with a peak wind of 26 knots westerly.

A late morning rainbow seen from the north beach.

October 29, 2016

Weather summary for this date: 38.9 mm of rain; fog; sunshine hours 0.5; temperature maximum 14.4°C and minimum 10.8°C; with a peak wind of 43 knots southeasterly.

Big surf roaring along the south side of Sable Island.

November 14, 2016

Weather summary for this date: no rain; fog; sunshine hours 5.3; temperature maximum 13.2°C and minimum 9.7°C; with a peak wind of 18 knots southerly.

A sandy frond-shaped drainage pattern on the beach.

December 4, 2016

Weather summary for this date: 1.4 mm of rain and trace of snow; fog; sunshine hours 4.7; temperature maximum 4.9°C and minimum 1.1°C; with a peak wind of 32 knots northerly.

Snow falling over an wide inland field near the middle of the island.

December 10, 2016

Weather summary for this date: light snowfall; no fog; sunshine hours 1.3; temperature maximum 0.9°C and minimum -3.6°C; with a peak wind of 30 knots northwesterly.

A horse path west of the Sable Island Station, with red rose hips on the leafless stems of wild rose. Surf along the south beach is in the distance.

December 20, 2016

Weather summary for this date: no precipitation or fog; sunshine hours 3.0; temperature maximum 2.5°C and minimum -6.6°C; with a light breeze.

Ice crystals on the surface of a freshwater pond.

A fragment of cranberry making a pattern in thin ice on shallow floodwater in a dune slack.

Nighttime frost on the glass globe of the Campbell-Stokes Sunshine Recorder at the Sable Island Station.

A recently-born Grey Seal pup. The pup’s mother is nearby…

… the pup’s mother, placing herself between the pup and an approaching Grey Seal bull.

December 29, 2016

Weather summary for this date: no precipitation or fog; sunshine hours 6.8; temperature maximum 5.3°C and minimum 0.1°C; with a peak wind of 32 knots southeasterly.

A horse’s leg bone colonized by lichens.

A horse hoof a fragment from a nearby horse skeleton, resting in a patch of crowberry.

January 7, 2017

Weather summary for this date: 2.8 mm of rain; no fog; sunshine hours 2.6; temperature maximum 3.4°C and minimum -2.2°C; with a peak wind of 45 knots easterly.

Small clumps of ice suspended on plants in Pinetree Pond West.

A female Grey Seal in the breeding colony, watching a watcher.

Gina Little’s Sable Island PhotoBlog, October 2016 – January 2017
Prepared for the Sable Island Institute

See Gina’s PhotoBlogs:
April-July, 2017
October 2017 – January 2018
April-June, 2018
October 2018 – January 2019
April-June 2019
and July 2019
And see Gina’s profile.