A Pleasure Trip to The Farallones

12-13 September 2015

Another multi-pad, dominated by furred things for lack of feathers. My days grow short but I remain busy with non-blogging.  I apologize to you all: I have not forgotten.

Weather has not smiled kindly upon us: the birds aren't here. September remains in a veritable avian-drought. Fog and strong winds have kept most birds from finding our small and insufficient refuge. Siren-songs from Mastwell and Rockly are belched to no avail. Our near-constant Sulid companions remain a small bright light in this shadowy world as we anxiously await the flood. Will the sparkling hordes arrive before Rob must take his leave?

I won't look like these guys on my return trip.  I just won't do it.

Don Mastwell loves Zalophus, especially this one (Steve). This portrait was commissioned by Don to illustrate his love for the California Sea Lion.

Fact of the day: Northern Elephant Seals are punishingly adorable.

Martin Sheen? Hippo? Wet Elephant Seal.

SCI:   89
SEFI: 86

This list is no way to win a war:
September 12th eBird checklist

At least this one's a bit better:
September 13th eBird checklist

Zalophus Tango

1 September

  The drought worsens.  Land birds are dwindling, winds are increasing, and minimal reprieve is in sight.  San Clemente Island has pulled into the lead.  We are desperate for reinforcements.

  Here I present a portrait of Zalophus.  They are battling (mock-battle? play?) over sleeping space on the marine terrace.  Bizarre and amusing creatures:

  And one of very few land birds on the island this day was another Least Flycatcher.  This is a difficult bird to see on the mainland but they occur here with alarming frequency.  This is the 4th found by yours truly.  I think my GBRS score must be trickling up.

eBird checklist

SCI:   67
SEFI: 63

Milton

Friday, 28th August

  Milton S. Ray collected many an egg from the Farallones and elsewhere in the west.  He also took photographs and wrote poems, including many about this island.  Below is a caption from The Farallones The Painted World and Other Poems of California, Vol. 2.  The photograph is of adult and young Western Gulls perched beside the rocky shore on West End:

"...the dreary solitude

Where towering cliffs ever sullen brood

Beside a barren, desolate sea,

Whose rough surf roars monotonously..."

--excerpted from the poem Destiny

  We must disagree with his assertion that the sea around the Farallones is barren--perhaps "...beside a fecund, desolate sea..."  Less fecund, though, than during Milton's days. Overexploitation and environmental change threaten to make true Ray's poem--the seas filled with plastic and devoid of fish, the skies barren.  A prosaic future.  A foregone future?  One can certainly hope not.

  I'll be adding more poems from Milton Ray over the next few weeks on the island--and not all so bleak!

  Until then, here is a portrait of a Common Yellowthroat:

A young male Common Yellowthroat.  What route did this bird take to get here?  Where is it from?  I wish that we could know.

And here's a commissioned portrait of a bull California sea lion:

"I own North Landing."

The drought worsens...here's our eBird checklist of only 27 species.

SEFI: 63
SCI:   54

Die Brücke Nach Nirgendwo

Thursday, 27th August

Here we have a favorite Zalophus (California sea lion) perch:

Representative Ted Stevens (R-Farallonia) helped secure funding for this bridge

  They fight over it and it's nearly always occupied.  Why do Zalophus like bridging to nowhere? Difficult to say but perhaps it will be easy to say once I finish reading The Natural History and Behavior of the California Sea Lion by Richard S. Peterson and George A. Bartholomew.

Here are some scientists working with a Cassin's Auklet chick:

Boo Curry(L), Cassin's Auklet(M), and Eva Gruber(R) performing the science

  They are weighing him/her to track rate of growth (= are its parents finding enough food?) and placing a leg band to allow tracking of future reproductive success, longevity, etc. Monitoring breeding success and survival by marking birds in this way is fundamental to our understanding of the basic biology and life history of birds--and allows us to track changes that result from changing climate.

  The nesting seabird season is just about to wrap up with only a handful of Alcid nests and Ashy Storm-Petrel nests still being monitored--and we will soon lose Eva Gondwana and gain one Don Mastwell.  A worthy trade?  Too early to tell.

eBird checklist--not too shabby but the drought approacheth...

Battle Score...
SEFI: 63
SCI:   54

Neighbors

Wednesday, 26 August

Yet another tardy-PAD.  Remiss in my duties, as per usual.

  SEFI is currently covered with California sea lions.  They are on the terraces, north and east landing, and sometimes the main path across the island. We avoid disturbing them as we go about our daily tasks (and avoid areas that they have been frequenting--the stench is bold, to say the least) but occasionally our jobs bring us near enough to catch some fun or adorable behaviors.  For example, here is a sea-lion napping atop two elephant seals--and nuzzling continuously (and adorably) until the elephant seal put its flipper over the sea lion (adorably, but not caught on film):

Napmate portrait.

  And here is a portrait of a bird--before the bird drought really set in (it's currently blasting 25-30 knots outside--poor weather for migration.  Good weather for waffles).

Punch a Wilson's Warbler and it'll pop right back up again

The current Island Battle score:  

SEFI 63

SCI 50

26 Aug eBird checklist