On Dasher &c.

9 Sep 2015

  Our eBird checklist might be too embarrassing to share so I'll sharen't.  I added (finally?) "subscribe" gadgets (look over there-->): I wouldn't but you're already here so something must be wrong.  Just roll with it.

  The Lead of Stahl has lessened but remains dense.  Weather forecasts have been difficult to assess, and migration activity on the island remains pitiful. At least we have each other. And an occasional bug. And harbor seals. Witness:

One of two Blue Dashers (Pachydiplax longipennis) who dropped by Twitville for a one-day visit, delighting all observers (not a common creature here).  They are a dainty and most attractive dragonfly.

Need I caption this photograph?  No, I needn't.

√144PAD

2-7 September

  I'm cheating and posting six days in one--a 12PAD.  It's never been done.  What might happen? We simply can't know.  I've fallen behind and this is the way things must be.

  Birds have been painfully slow but we've had plenty to do with shark watch (one seriously injured elephant seal is our only indication thus far of great white customers), whale surveys, pinniped surveys, shorebirds, gulls, sea-watch... etc. Winds looked real good for lots of bird movement this week but suddenly look not so good.  If you see any migrants please tell them we have many flies and a large forest within which they may live.  Please do high overcast dance.  Thank you.

  Current battle score:
SEFI: 73
SCI:   72

Banding a Cassin's Auklet--this little guy should have fledged by now and should be on its way to eating the same food as Blue Whales (and occasionally being incidental Blue Whale food).

This is a California Gull.

Striped shore crab (Pachygrapsus crassipes) in Jewel Cave

Aulon Islets at sunset: Sugarloaf is on the right and is the favored haunt of The Gannet and other Sulid folk (at present totalling eleven Brown and one Blue-footed Boobies)

Oh! the channel walls are high and steep!

And the channel waves are wild and deep,

And on, and on, they madly sweep,

By Aulone Isle of the Farallones!

On Aulone Isle, Milton S. Ray, late 1800s/early 1900s

The time we caught a MacGillavray's Warbler.

Dragonflies are difficult to remove from nets.  This dragon lady didn't make it.

Peregrines like to eat stuff--sometimes they eat Western Gulls (it didn't eat this Western Gull)

Cuteness incarnate.  This photograph is dedicated to Felonious Jive.

Getting late--this was one of the last Pigeon Guillemots still bringing food to chick(s)--they have mostly fledged or failed at this point and the island Alcid show has plummeted.

Paleo-portrait of Don Mastwell (L) who arrived on Saturday to reinforce us.  Yesterday he found a Mourning Dove.

"The gulls are the virtual rulers of birddom on the Farallones, and that they live on the best the islands afford, those long-suffering subjects, the murres, cormorants, and rabbits, will testify."

Western Gull species account, page 82 of The Farallones The Painted World and Other Poems of California, by Milton S. Ray

Western Gull?  Western Gull.

"And they, too, howl like dogs in the freezing storm,

turning and turning from it as if they thought

one naked side could keep the other warm."

Inferno, 3rd Circle

The Zalophus invasion continues.  They own the terrace.

The Internet Died

22 August

...but now it's back.  I will continue catching up on the 'PAD.

For all of you wonderers, yes the Upland Sandpiper is still here (and will be portraited again soon).

Until then, here's a portrait of a Red-breasted Nuthatch that we caught and banded, one of three that were hanging out between the lighthouse and cypresses:

And here is a Harbor Seal, one of my personal favorite pinnipeds.  There isn't much not to like when it comes to Harbor Seals.

I'm asleep. Stop taking my picture.

Pinnipeds and Faranoia

     Jim and I went to Main Top Island today.  This requires a decent amount of preparation and a decent chunk of time—time spent on a different island, with many fewer birds.  This leads to acute cases of Faranoia:

Faranoia (n.)

Pronunciation: /ˌferəˈnoiə  /

Syllabification: far·a·noi·a 

     A mental condition characterized by fear of missing rare birds due to distractions, WPWT, or a simple lack of attentiveness (e.g., looking at one's feet so as not to fall to one's death).

     Faranoia is a difficult condition to tolerate, and news from the mainland of such birds as Grace's Warbler and Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher are of no help.  Thankfully, the day was very slow for birds and no mega-vagrants were missed.  The focus of our visit to Main Top island, and the focus of this blog entry, was Pinnipeds.

The star of West End--the Northern Fur Seal.  Nearly wiped off the planet by fur hunters, this species is making a comeback.  They are hilarious sounding (clicks grunts screams and bleats) and are much more aggressive than other Pinnipeds.  Many adults and pups were seen (up close and personal) on our visit to their homeland.

Here we have a Harbor Seal, photographed in a gulch that I visit daily--this individual loves to haul out at the same spot each day.  Look at the pelage on this character--unbelievable.  Its beauty helps support Phoca vitulina's position at the top of the Pinnipedia ladder.

Flipper Sacks

Elephant Seals occasionally feign adorableness, especially during their aquatic life-stages.  But don't be fooled--they are disgusting creatures for the majority of their out-of-water existence.

 This is a commissioned family portrait of a loving and caring Western Gull with three chicks.  Light of heart with a maw that is bottomed.

 Harbor Seals are the most likable pinnipeds available.  Cute aquatic dog sausages.

These are California Sea Lions.  My good friend and fellow island-dweller, Don Mastwell, believes that sea lions are actually humans in a form of hell or purgatory--cursed to live within a burlap sack. With flippers.