
Friday, December 31, 9999
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Farallon Update - Nov 8
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Farallon Update - October 21
On Oct. 5 we saw a ray of sunshine with a small increase in diversity, including a couple unusual species. Great Blue Heron, Northern Harrier, Black-bellied Plover, and Varied Thrush all made an appearance. The weather forecast was showing some favorable conditions over the next several days, so we decided to start the Farallonathon. This is an annual event each fall in which we attempt to score points by finding as many species as possible, including marine mammals, fish, salamanders, butterflies, dragonflies, as well as birds, over a seven day period. Farallonathon usually starts sometime in late September with one of the bigger waves that usually come that time of year. As this year is unusual, we waited until October to start.
The next day we garnered a few more points from Minke Whale, Monarch, Black Saddlebags, Mew Gull, Short-eared Owl, Barn Swallow, Hermit Warbler, Clay-colored Sparrow, and White-throated Sparrow, among others. We were literally scrounging for points on the 7th as the winds continued to come from the WNW with Mark looking around for Arboreal Salamanders (he found one). A rush of excitement came in the afternoon when Matt flushed a nightjar, which we then chased for an hour up and down Lighthouse Hill. This cryptically colored group of birds can be very difficult to identify when seen. The calls of these birds are the easiest way to identify them, which they usually give at night. After several fleeting glimpses of the bird and discussion of the features each of us had seen, we came to the conclusion that the bird was a Common Poorwill. With less than 10 records for the island, it's a rare bird for us even though they are relatively “common” along the mainland coast.
Light winds and high overcast greeted us on the morning of Oct. 8 and brought more birds to the island, though not the wave we were hoping for. The new species we saw were mainly migrants from the western US, which still give us Farallonathon points, but don't get us nearly as excited as the vagrants from the east. We added Black-vented Shearwater, Wilson's Snipe, Warbling Vireo, Nashville Warbler, Western Tanager, Grasshopper Sparrow, Lazuli Bunting, and Purple Finch. The one eastern bird we did see was a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Farallonathon points that day also came from Harbor Porpoise, Hoary Bat, Green Darner, Variegated Meadowhawk, and a shark attack off of Saddle Rock (those are worth 5 points). So on day 4 of the Farallonathon, we were at 118 points. Last year we ended with 129 points which was the lowest ever. Could we get eleven more points in three days?
No problem when you get hit with a WAVE DAY! The long awaited wave of migrant birds appeared on Oct. 9. The biologists were feeling as light as the south winds and flying as high as the overcast skies. Birds were flitting about everywhere, from the marine terrace to the lighthouse. A flock of 20+ Hermit Thrushes was seen around the top of Lighthouse Hill early in the morning. Yellow-rumped Warblers (both Audubon's and Myrtle) seemed to be covering every square meter of the island. A flock of about 250 Violet-green Swallows was swirling around the island. After getting past the shear numbers of birds, we started to sift through the flocks and pick out some interesting birds. Early on we saw a Chestnut-collared Longspur that arrived at the lighthouse and then made its way down to the terrace, where we were able to get some great pictures. Then a Red-eyed Vireo was found in Twitville. As for warblers we added Tennessee, Blackburnian, Blackpoll, MacGillivray's, American Redstart, and Ovenbird. Bobolink, Least Flycatcher, and Lawrence's Goldfinch were also good finds. A Solitary Vireo was seen that suggested a Blue-headed. With a nice photo by Kristie, we were able to confirm that ID. The big find that day though was a Gray-cheeked Thrush. There have only been 21 records of this species in California, over half of which are from Southeast Farallon Island. This bird was found in a flock of Hermit Thrushes atop Lighthouse Hill and was accommodating enough to allow everyone to see it.
When it was all totaled up in the journal, we had seen 87 migrant bird species and 1332 individual landbirds. We set island high count records for Violet-green Swallow and Audubon's Warbler and saw 16 species of warbler and 16 species of sparrow. With all the new birds and a couple shark attacks, our Farallonathon total shot up to 158. Though our goal of “not being the worst” was pretty low, we crushed it with two days to spare.
With visions of vagrants in our dreams, we went to bed exhausted and elated. What would tomorrow bring? As we starting birding on the 10th it was obvious that there were fewer birds on the island, but there were different birds around. The numbers of Hermit Thrushes and Yellow-rumped Warblers were reduced by two-thirds, and Golden-crowned Kinglets doubled. We found Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Black-throated Green, Palm, and Black-and-white Warblers. Long-billed Dowitcher, Band-tailed Pigeon, Hammond's Flycatcher, Northern Mockingbird, and Orchard Oriole were also nice additions. To add to the frantic pace of the day, we were also switching crew members and getting our food shipment. Jim, Matt, and Kristie were leaving, and Pete Warzybok and Andrew Greene were arriving.
About an hour before Jim was supposed to get on the boat and leave, he and Pete came across a bird that Jim didn't recognize. That's code for “it's probably not from North America.” He called out on the radio that he had just seen an “Asian bunting,” which sent us all running. Unfortunately, the two minutes it took for others to get to Jim were just long enough for the bird to disappear. It wasn't seen again. Jim consulted a field guide and identified the bird as a Yellow-breasted Bunting. The only records for this species in North America are from Alaska, and there are only a few. It has never been seen in the lower 48. Super mega, mega rarity. Then Jim left, and the bird was never refound. The other biologists were left in a state of shock. Such an amazing bird, that we didn't get to see, even on this tiny, barren island. What other birds have we missed? No sense in dwelling on it though. Ten Farallonathon points anyway.
Sunday, Oct. 11 was the last day of Farallonathon, and we were determined to squeeze out some more points. Diversity and numbers were down, but new species were still being found. A few of the highlights were Northern Shoveler, Tropical Kingbird, “Siberian” American Pipit, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Lark Bunting, and Yellow-headed Blackbird. Interesting fact for the day was that we saw all three Black-throated warbler species (Blue, Gray, and Green). Our Farallonathon point total was 193, which was the sixth highest total since it started in 1992. Hooray for wave days!
The following week saw a big change in the weather, as we were slammed by a storm on the 13th. We'll try to post some pictures of that soon. As would be expected, the numbers and diversity of birds are down. We had a flock of blackbirds that included Brewer's, Red-winged, Yellow-headed, and Tricolored Blackbirds with a few Brown-headed Cowbirds. That's a nice icterid flock. A Virginia Rail was found (and banded) on Oct. 12, followed by a Sora (also banded) on Oct. 16.
That's the news from Southeast Farallon Island, where all the biologists are strong, all the Elephant Seals are good looking, and all the vagrant birds are above average.
Saturday, October 03, 2009
It's October....Where Are The Birds??
In the two weeks since our last update, a few birds have managed to find the Island, despite the strong wind and dense fog, but in far lower numbers than are expected from this time of year. For example, while we expect to see greater than 100 Yellow Warblers in a given Fall season, we have only recorded ten individual Yellow Warblers so far in the 2009 Fall Season! The same is true for most of our other typical Fall migrants: 'Western' Flycatchers, Willow Flycatchers, Warbling Vireos, Black-headed Grosbeaks, Orange-crowned Warblers, Townsend's Warblers, Wilson's Warblers and Common Yellowthroats are all way, way down from their usually abundant numbers. It's still too early to be sure if later Fall arrivals, species like Hermit Thrush, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and Fox, Lincoln's, White-crowned , Golden-crowned and Savannah Sparrows will make a decent showing, but we still await our first Hermit Thrush, Red-breasted Nuthatch and Lincoln's Sparrow of the Fall.
As is usual for the Fall Season, a few rare vagrants have shown up this year. Some, such as Blackpoll Warbler, Tennessee Warbler and Clay-colored Sparrow show up every fall, generally in small numbers. This Fall has also been slow for these "usual vagrants", but representatives of many of them have made an appearance. Every year we also expect a few rarer birds to show up. This year some of the highlights have included a Connecticut Warbler (the first on the Island since five appeared in 2006) on September 18th , a Brown Booby observed on seawatch on the 19th, a dark-lored White-crowned Sparrow, of either the mountain race oriantha or the eastern subspecies leucophrys was observed, and on September 27th, a minor day of arrivals, a Prairie Warbler (the first since 2005), a Bay-breasted Warbler, and a Painted Bunting, one of fewer than 15 records for the Island, were all discovered. The Painted Bunting was a very disheveled-looking individual, that when caught and banded, was aged as a second-year bird. Painted Buntings are one of the very few species of North American birds that can be aged as second-year in the fall.
However, even such exciting birds as the

Continuing their strong showing from the Summer, Whales have maintained a constant presence around the Island. While Humpbacks have been the most abundant species, with up to 25 individuals on some days, a few Blues have been around, too. Our resident Gray, whom we have nicknamed Dorian, has been seen just about every day. Sometimes it will come so close to the Island that we can almost imagine reaching out and touching it!
On September 19th, Jordan Casey, our Seabird Season holdover, departed the Island. After she left the Island, she visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where she finally got to see a Great White Shark, then headed back to the East Coast. She'll be spending the winter doing seabird work on another set of rocky islands: the Galapagos! Cassin's Auklets are cool, but can they compare with Nazca Boobies? Jordan will have to keep us posted! We were joined by Mark Dettling and Kristie Nelson, two SEFI Fall Season veterans, on September 26th. With six birders on the Island, what astounding rarities will be found?? Stay tuned to find out!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Farallon Bird and Insect Update_15-Sept-09
Although many migrant songbirds probably flew right past the island without even knowing we exist, a few hours of good weather on 9 Sept brought some nice surprises such as the Canada Warbler that we eventually caught in the Heligoland mistnet. Other interesting birds seen this day were a pair of Purple Martins flying over the lighthouse, a Baltimore Oriole seen in a cave during an area search, and a Clay-colored Sparrow in Twitville.
The fog briefly dissipated today and brought a few more birds like this juvenile Orchard Oriole.
Thankfully, some birds that arrived earlier lingered in the bad weather while others that remained may decide to overwinter. While the Farallones has had many species of shorebirds migrate to the islands, only a few species of shorebirds overwinter. The ones that do overwinter usually are ones that can utilize the extensive rocky shoreline such as Whimbrel and Wandering Tattler. During high tide, PRBO biologists conduct a shorebird survey that attempts to locate high tide roosts where large numbers of these "rocky" shorebirds congregate. Other species such as Long-billed Dowitcher turn up at the few small ponds along the water's edge or on the Marine Terrace where there is soil for foraging.
Frequently when we have even semi-decent weather, we see a few migrant insects such as butterflies and dragonflies. These two "ladies" are supficially similar, but if you look closely at the outer part of the forewings you'll notice that Painted Lady has two white spots along the leading edge while West Coast Lady only has one white spot. Over the last few years, Painted Ladies have been far more abundant than West Coast Lady. Although we're seeing a typical number of Painteds (n = 9) over the past 3 weeks, we've had >6 times as many West Coast Ladies as Painteds. Clearly this is a good year for West Coast Ladies!
Saturday, September 05, 2009
The Fall Season Begins
During this transitional time, several late-nesting seabird breeders linger on the island to feed their downy chicks. While others that either already fledged their young or failed at nesting, return to socialize and perhaps prospect for next year. Tufted Puffins are particulary abundant at this time of year and we frequently see them flying closeby the lighthouse and land around crevices in small groups and then appear to discuss its potential.

Although the weather over the last two weeks has not been condusive for many migrant to find the island, we have had a smattering of West Coast migrants and a handfull of vagrants from the East Coast. For the first few days after our arrival, we experienced decent weather with high cloud cover and light northwest winds. This allowed a few of the western birds to find the island such as a Dusky Flycatcher on Aug 23rd which is actually an unusual bird to the Farallones in the fall. In fact, there are fewer than 40 records of Dusky in the fall which is odd when you consider that we have over 100 records of Least Flycatcher - a very uncommon bird along the California Coast. It is believed that most Duskies fly along the inner mountain routes and mostly avoid the coastline.
During late August and September, we typically capture large numbers of Yellow Warblers and Townsend's Warblers in our mistnets. We then colorband them so that we can better determine the number of days that each individual is present and better estimate the number of each species on the island. In addition to these birds, a few other western birds were present such as a Rufous Hummingbird, a couple Hermit Warblers, and both Western and Eastern Kingbirds.


On the first of September, a few more migrants found the island including a Tennessee Warbler and a Virginia's Warbler – the Tennessee is a vagrant from the northeast while the Virginia’s is a vagrant from the desert southwest.

In addition to birds we also collect data on sharks, insects, bats, whales, fur seals, and anything else of interest. We’ll give some information about these other taxa in future blogs.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
There Be Whales Here!
When feeding conditions are good, both of these species are drawn to the Gulf in the late summer and fall from their breeding areas further south along the coast of Mexico and Central America. Humpback whales are the acrobats, leaping out of the water and slapping the surface with their immense pectoral fins. You can often see massive splashes from the breaching miles away, even without binoculars.
Blue whales are the largest animals to have ever lived, and while the North Pacific Blues are not as large as their Antarctic relatives, they are still an impressive sight up close. With a blow like a fire hydrant and a 70+ ft body, there is no mistaking a blue.
While blues and humpbacks have arrived relatively recently, we have seen resident gray whales at the island almost every day this spring and summer. As we have observed for the past several decades, 2-3 Gray Whales feed at the island throughout the spring and summer months. This is unusual behavior, as most grays migrate from breeding areas in Mexico to feeding areas in the Bering Sea each year. It appears that a small number of whales decide not to make the full migration, and spend their summers part way along the route.
In addition to whales, there are many species of dolphins which are present as well. Recently we have seen Risso’s Dolphins (heavily scarred by squid and each other), Pacific White Sided Dolphins (high flyers), Northern Right Whale Dolphins (look ma, no dorsal fin…), and Dall’s Porpoise (kicking up a rooster tail with their rapid swimming).
Throughout PRBO’s 40 year history on the Farallones, we have documented sightings of cetaceans (whales and dolphins) as part of our long term studies on this marine ecosystem. These data have shown the recovery of several species – including Gray, Humpback, and Blue whales. We will continue to chronicle these visitors to the island, and never lose that rush of excitement upon seeing these incredible creatures.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Mist Netting for Rhinos
Right after dinner, we place a net just in front of occupied rhino burrows, lie flat on our backs, and wait quietly for the birds to hit. And, careening through the air at speeds up to 35 miles per hour, they really do hit the net. Rather than flitting gently into the mesh, rhinos crash into (and sometimes through) it, like feathered meteors. Upon impact, we jump up and race to grab the bird and whatever fish it’s brought with it. If you wait too long, your quarry is liable to escape or inflict serious damage to the net. With their scissor bills, strong wings, and powerful heft, rhinos can shred a net in no time. These same qualities make them a challenge to handle and they have been known to draw blood from an errant finger now and again.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The Strange Case of the Missing Cormorants...
In early April, we began receiving reports of unusually high numbers of dead cormorants washing up on local beaches. The indications were that most birds appeared emaciated but not suffering from disease. It seemed birds were struggling just to feed themselves and lacked sufficient food to attempt breeding. Mystery solved? Not exactly. It simply raised another question, why would a lack of food, primarily juvenile rockfish and Northern anchovy, affect only Brandt’s? Many other seabirds on the Farallones eat the same fish, yet they seemed unaffected. Until recently that is…
Although the warm weather and sensational visibility were enjoyed by the island biologists, it seemed to have unfortunate consequences for the breeding birds. Coincident with the decreasing wind and increasing temperatures, Common Murres began abandoning eggs and chicks in unusually high numbers. Murres almost never leave an egg alone due to the high risk of predation by gulls. This year, we have observed numerous birds simply get up and walk away, leaving their egg or chick unattended and vulnerable. A further indication of poor foraging conditions is the increase in adult murre aggression toward unattended chicks. With no parent to protect them, vulnerable chicks are being harassed unmercifully.
To add to the confusion, during this period when murres were taking a turn for the worse, Brandt’s cormorants finally appeared. Not in the volume we would expect at this time of year, but a small number of birds have showed up, set up nests and are now incubating eggs. And so the mystery continues. The unusual patterns emerging this year demonstrate once again the invaluable perspective that PRBO provides on the Farallones. This year is just the latest indication of new changes occurring in marine ecosystems. The mysteries developing from these changes can only hope to be solved by examining long-term data sets such as those from the Farallon Islands.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
A Mighty Wind
For several days last week and many more over the last month, northwest winds were blasting the island at a steady 40 knots, and gusting upwards of 50 knots. The sea heaped up in great waves of white foam and salt spray coated everything.
Wind is one of the great driving forces in the ocean. Its patterns can dictate currents, drive nutrient rich upwelling, and shape the distribution of marine life at all levels of the ecosystem. But while wind is crucial to biologically rich areas of the ocean, like here in the Gulf of the Farallones, it can also make things difficult when you are living and conducting research on an isolated island. When it really starts to blow – there is no place to hide…
Friday, March 13, 2009
Team Mirounga Goes Intertidal
Although it is easy to see how beautiful these invertebrates are, the behaviors and physical adaptations they have acquired to live in such a harsh environment are even more remarkable. Imagine what life on the rocks that ring the ocean's edge of SEFI means for these creatures: crushing surf and hours of dessication, scorching sun and frigid water, Black Oystercatchers and other shorebirds pecking at you from above, and a host of other invertebrates and fish looking for a meal from below. This severe environment produces animals that not only look like something out of science fiction film, but often act like it too.
The Twenty-Rayed or Sunflower Star
Proliferating Anemone underwater. Note the juvenile anemones attached to this parent's basal collumn.
One Aggregating Anemone becoming two!We were lucky to get the above picture of one Aggregating Anemone (Anthopleura elegantissima) in the process of becoming two! These individuals can divide by fission, sometimes creating huge colonies of identical clones from a single individual. When colonies of two different individuals meet, these anemones wage war by stinging each other with specialized, clustered stinging cells, often killing whole individuals and resulting in a line of bare rock between colonies.
The Sea Lemon or Monterey DoridLike many other nudibranchs, the Sea Lemon or Monterey Dorid (Achidoris montereyensis), gets its hue at least in part from what it eats. Sea Lemons feed on yellow Crumb-of-bread Sponge (Halichondria panacea) and other sponges. Depending upon their diet, their backs can be bright yellow to deeper orange.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Winter rain, spring flowers
The most common plant on SEFI is maritime goldfields (Lasthenia maritime), also known as "Farallon weed." This native spreading annual blankets the entire island, from the edge of the marine terrace to the lighthouse, with vivid green leaves and bright yellow flowers. It even grows on West End Island. Cassin's auklets dig their burrows underneath its canopy.
Other common native plants include fiddleneck (Amsinckia spectabilis), with small, yellow, trumpet-shaped flowers that grow along a stalk like its namesake; miner's lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata), with tiny pale pink flowers in the center of a circular, glossy leaf; red maids (Calandrinia ciliata), whose flowers are a gorgeous deep purply red; and common chickweed (Stellaria media), a spreading, low-growing plant with a cluster of little white flowers. Another favorite is sticky sand spurry (Spergularia macrotheca), a succulent with fleshy thin linear leaves and purple or white flowers.
Non-native wildflowers grow on SEFI as well, including scarlet pimpernel (Anagalils arvensis), dwarf nettle (Urtica urens), goosefoot (Chenopodium murale), storksbill (Erodium moschatum and E. cicutarium), New Zealand spinach (Tetragonia expansa), and plantain (Plantago coronopus). One of the most common non-native plants is umbrella mallow (Malva neglecta), which sports a beautiful purple flower and big leaves. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been working to control both Malva and New Zealand spinach for 20 years, but the tenacious plants seem to have a strong foothold here.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Action on the Beach
as shown in the above photo of an attempted copulation by Mauricio on Sand Flat.
towards other males. Dominant alpha bull Rusty, above, only needs to bellow and all other males retreat.
Finally, for those of you who can just never
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Powered by the Sun
This past week, Mike McGoey of the company NexGen returned to SEFI to replace the batteries. The 48 extremely heavy batteries (300 lbs. each) were carried to the island by two Pave Hawk helicopters from the California Air National Guard's 129th Air Rescue Wing. They also removed the 12 old batteries (1500 lbs. each). It took 7 trips, but all the new batteries were delivered safely, and we are so grateful for their assistance.
Mendel Stewart, the manager of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's entire San Francisco Bay Wildlife Refuge complex - of which the Farallon Island Wildlife Refuge is just one part - visited SEFI to oversee the delivery of the batteries. Derek Lee, PRBO's winter Farallones biologist, showed Mendel the main northern elephant seal breeding beaches and Steller sea lion haulouts. After all, the wildlife is what we are out here to monitor and protect. Thanks to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NexGen, and the California Air National Guard, PRBO scientists are able to continue conducting research into one of the world's most productive and important marine environments, powered by the sun!
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Weaner City 2009
Weaners will now remain on the island for the next month, sleeping and playing with each other, and molting their black pup fur until their new pelt is a smooth silver-gray. They will live off their (considerable) blubber for the month, before leaving land and inshore waters for the first time and swimming out into the deep sea to forage for fish and squid. It likely will be the most difficult year of their lives, dodging sharks and searching for food using nothing but their instincts. Ocean climate conditions such as El Niño Southern Oscillation and Pacific Decadal Oscillation play a large part in whether they survive. We wish them luck and hope to see them back on SEFI next year.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
West End Excursion
Today, SEFI biologists made a special, all-day excursion over Jordan Channel to
April and Ari with Pastel Cave and the edge of Great Arch in the background.
PRBO Biologist Derek Lee and intern Monica Bond in front of beautiful granite rock formations.
On this trip we found 10 elephant seal cows and 10 pups at Pastel Cave Highlands, and 11 cows and 11 pups and 3 weaned pups on
A bull elephant seal weighs about 5,000 pounds - much more than this "little" 150-pound pup! The blood on the bull's neck is from a fight with another bull for dominance of the harem.
To our delight, we also spotted a group of 24 northern fur seals on Indian Head Beach. Some had been tagged at the Channel Islands in southern California. We read the tags and enjoyed watching and photographing their antics. These sweet-looking but rather aggressive seals were extirpated from the Farallon Islands by Russian and Yankee fur traders a century ago, and are only recently making a comeback here. Fur seals first returned to West End Island in 1995, when 4 individuals were counted. Last year the population had grown to nearly 200 including pups.
Monday, January 05, 2009
Elephant Seal Update
After kicking off smaller Mauricio, Rusty (above) has settled in as alpha bull on the Sand Flat, historically the largest harem on SEFI. A large chunk is missing from his nose, and Don Quixote (left) has been spotted in the gulches with some gaping wounds on his own nose and back. We suspect there may have been a fight between these two massive, 5,000-pound males. Today we counted 8 subadult males lurking on the outskirts of the Sand Flat harem, so Rusty will have his work cut out to keep them away from "his" cows.
Gimli has been guarding an empty Marine Terrace Sand Flat for the past 10 days. Today he was rewarded for his patience. A pregnant cow just arrived, the first 2009 breeding female for this relatively new harem. Gimli is sporting some impressive scars on his nose and cheek from last year’s big fight with Bedlam Boy. Note in the picture on the right that part of his nose is missing!
Due to the
Finally, Bubba is moving between Garbage Gulch and North Landing, where cows have been arriving but then leaving after just a couple of days. Garbage Gulch typically supports a handful of breeding cows, but thus far no cows have remained there. Bubba, too, has some fresh wounds. Time will tell where this big bull will end up.
The gulches and breeding beaches are still full of immature elephant seals, but they are leaving by the day. Based on the color of their flipper tags, we have seen young seals born on San Nicolas Island, San Miguel Island, Point Reyes, and – best of all – we spotted an immature from Año Nuevo with a satellite tracking device glued to its head. This device allows researchers to track where this young seal is foraging at sea.
Monday, December 15, 2008
The Battles Have Begun

With the arrival of the first (and so far, the only) pregnant elephant seal cow on Sand Flat – Drip, a 16-year-old cow born on SEFI in 1992 (see photo below of Drip with some amorous young subadults pining after her) – the battles between the males have started.
Mauricio was the first bull to arrive. He lost a brief fight to Salvatore (see photo above; Mauricio is on the left) and is hanging out on the marine terrace. Rusty started off in
We also have resighted 2 of last year’s weaners that survived their first difficult year at sea. This immature below was born on the marine terrace of Sand Flat last year, and has returned for the fall haulout.
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Sea Lions on Mirounga Beach
It is one of the many success stories of the
The first priority of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Farallon Wildlife Refuge is the protection of wildlife. Therefore, the presence of sea lions, especially federally threatened Steller sea lions, on SEFI’s main elephant seal breeding beaches means that PRBO biologists had to modify traditional research protocols. Sea lions here are sensitive to people and easily scared into the water. Thus, instead of walking amongst the elephant seals and stamping them with bleach numbers, we are watching from afar through scopes, reading tags and trying to identify as many individuals as possible by their unique scars. We also census all the age classes twice a day. Although we won’t be able to identify most individual cows, we can still monitor overall reproduction and population size.
It will be a different year for the elephant seal research program. But we can all celebrate in the thriving wildlife populations of the
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
4-November-2008
In bird news we had a few new migrant arrivals, including a flock of 9 American Pipits and a Lapland Longspur. The windy weather was favorable for pelagic species and the seawatches were productive. A trio of geese (2 Cackling and 1 Greater White-fronted) have been hanging around on the marine terrace for several days now. They are a welcome addition to an otherwise slim list of migrants.
Location: Southeast Farallon Island
Observation date: 11/4/08
Number of species: 34
Greater White-fronted Goose 1
Cackling Goose 2
Pacific Loon 4
Eared Grebe 57
Pink-footed Shearwater 23
Buller's Shearwater 2
Sooty Shearwater 1
Black-vented Shearwater 1
Brown Pelican 73
Brandt's Cormorant X
Pelagic Cormorant X
Peregrine Falcon 4
Black Oystercatcher 29
Wandering Tattler 1
Willet 1
Whimbrel 3
Black Turnstone 56
Black-legged Kittiwake 2
Western Gull X
California Gull 104
Herring Gull 5
Thayer's Gull 1
Glaucous-winged Gull 2
Pomarine Jaeger 2
Common Murre X
Burrowing Owl 2
Black Phoebe 10
Say's Phoebe 3
Rock Wren 2
European Starling 24
American Pipit 9
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 2
White-throated Sparrow 1
Lapland Longspur 1













































