√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.

Faranoia, Redux

23 August

Many of you must remember our post back in 2014 detailing the condition known as 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).

   Particularly acute cases of this affliction are experienced by individuals who are not currently on the island but wish that they were.  The condition is made even more unbearable by the presence of one or more rare birds that the afflicted has missed.  Entire days may be spent wondering what else was missed or will be missed.  It is similar to hypochondriasis, but much, much, much worse.  If you are experiencing serious symptoms that you suspect are related to Faranoia, contact your physician.  Note, however, that the only known treatment is to not be not on the Farallones.

   Uppy the Upland Sandpiper stayed with us at least through the 23rd--and I promised you another portrait.  So here we have the Upland Sandpiper stalking beetles on the marine terrace:

And here's some more typical Western Gull parental care.  Don't we all wish that our parents were this generous?

Unplanned Sandpiper

  I will keep the August 21st TPAD brief and to the point.  Much suspense has been created regarding a rare bird found on Friday evening by Mr. Rob Rockly (after botching the ID of a Least Sandpiper--but re-identifying it and more-or-less redeeming himself).

Guesses were all over the map.  Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher?  No.  House Martin?  I wish.  Mississippi Kite?  Nope.  Bartramian Sandpiper?  Yes.

Upland Sandpiper.  Not a Tinamou.  Not a Plains Wanderer.

   This is the first record on SEFI since 2002 and the seventh for the island and the 31st record for California.  A good bird by any standard.  Perhaps it will stick around for Don Mastwell's arrival in two weeks?

And now we have this guest portrait from Jim Tietz:

Costume Party?  Western Gull wearing a Pigeon Guillemot.  Photograph by Jim Tietz.

Bad Parenting?

20 Aug 2015.

Here, dear readers, is a Western Gull chick: fluffy, adorable, innocent:

"Why?" you might ask, would the following have been written about such a creature:

"Much that is good and all that is evil has gathered itself up into the Western Gull [...]  the Western Gull is cruel of beak and bottomless of maw [...] Nothing in the life of the Farallons [sic] is more striking than the rapacity of the gulls and their determination to profit by any excitement which will frighten the peasantry."  --William Leon Dawson, in The Birds of California, 1923

A picture is worth a thousand words:

"Am I hungry?  Yes.  Can I get away with it?  I'll try."

And the eBird checklist for 20 August:  http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S24703382

SEFI 41.1

SCI   41

The Circle

The days are already blending seamlessly (when is it?) and the gulls are speaking in tongues (yes).

Few birds, more boat training, plenty of gulls, hordes of Sea Lions (so many sea lions)--but more birds lie in our future as has been prophesied by Gemini.

Some days (such as today) the island brings us things that are objectively beautiful, such as this Selasphorus hummingbird (probably a Rufous) attempting to subsist (successfully?) on Mallow:

Roger The Hummingbird

  Other days (such as today) the island brings gulls puking up large (too large?) fish into the mouths of babes.  All of this is part of The Circle.  Yes, even you.  Open wide:

 Today's eBird checklist brought to you by I didn't enter the eBird checklist yet but will soon.

The war goes on:
SEFI 41-point-something (to be explained later)
SCI 40

Wind, Wind, Wind.

Today was, again, wind.  No new birds graced us with their presence.  We await the forecasted south and southeast winds beginning Tuesday.  Tomorrow at 8am: the official beginning of shark watch season.  I sincerely hope to provide the world with more passerine portraits in the near future--but be prepared for a week or more of Elephant Seal faces.

This is a Pelagic Cormorant.  It may look ridiculous, but it is a Cormorant.

Western Gulls make yet another appearance (no, not the last)--black of heart and (here) body.

A Varbling Wireo and Gestern Wull Battle

Here is an attractive portrait of a Warbling Vireo, taken by the inimitable Dan Maxwell--he doesn't just band birds, folks--he also crushes them silly.

The bete noir of SEFI makes another appearance--and it will not be the last.  Endless annoyance and entertainment as well as moments of beauty (to be displayed later).  More passerines to come--we banded our second Least Flycatcher of the season today (found by the equally inimitable Rob Rockly.)

And now: ping pong (2-1, Mastwell v. Searoy)

Maxwell's Demon

This is a portrait of Dan Maxwell, hard at work inside the SEFI banding laboratory.  Note his signature bird-bag handling style; the mark of a professional.  He is about to band a bird--no one knows what species.  Not a Lesser Yellowlegs.  Not a Virginia Rail.  Beyond that, the possibilities are myriad (somewhere, a Lesser Yellowlegs just flushed).

I like this Western Gull photograph.  A lot.  Western Gulls frequently have things in their mouths--golf balls, sea stars, Cassin's Auklets; myriad (flush) things.  This gull might be reminiscing about the nesting season, or perhaps it is gearing up for next year.  We can't know what goes on inside the head of such a creature--and once we knew, we could never go back...

Progressive Portraiture

Good evening followers,

Here is a traditional portrait of a wonderfully attractive Pigeon Guillemot, parenting away on cliffs below the lighthouse.  A most eximious creature.  Pigeon Guillemots nest in holes and rocky crevices on the island--the young are brought food (fish) until they are ready to fledge--they then leave the nest and are independent from the time of fledging.  The Farallones have one of the largest breeding colonies of this species, numbering about 2,200 birds.

This is an untraditional portrait.  Any guesses as to the owner of these feet?  (Hint: there are at least 8,000 of these feet on the island).

Tomorrow's post will feature recent landbirds--so get ready.

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.

Number 1. And number 2.

Hello, global bird-watching and portrait-loving public.  Some of you might remember TPAD.  This is TPAD but different:  more plectra, better photographs, and all portraits.  That's right. Too Portraits a Day.

 A common resident--you will see many portraits of this, the bete noir of SEFI.

A lovely Hermit Warbler, jovially navigating the wastes of SEFI.