Day 87: Finale

Well it's that time. Unfortunately, I am done for the season and leaving the island tomorrow. Farallon photo a day will be on permanent hiatus. I know I will be back at some point, but I will not be doing an entire seabird season next year. It's tough to leave knowing that but I know I'm incredibly lucky to have spent the last seven summers out here. I hope you have enjoyed the journey this year. Perhaps I will see you on some future adventure. Thanks for joining me!

Day 75: Gull pack

Most of the gulls are done breeding now. Unfortunately, most of them failed. We have very few chicks on the island right now. Once they've failed, most gulls suddenly revert to the mild mannered birds they usually are. They stop defending their territories and begin to gather in large flocks on the terrace.

Day 69: Close call

Murre chicks are fledging right now. "Fledging" typically refers to when chicks leave the nest or become independent. In the case of murres, chicks leave the colony with their dads and spend up to several months at sea with their parent, being fed and learning how to find food. The unusual part is that they do this before they are fully developed. Chicks are less than half grown and can't yet fly when they are led to sea by their fathers. This makes them vulnerable when they are in the process of fledging. They have to make their way through thousands of murres to the water's edge where they often have to jump off a cliff to make it to the water. It's one of the most amazing events to watch. The male parent solicitously leading its offspring to the edge, jumping in the water and calling to it's chick until it finally works up the courage to jump. Gulls are constantly on the look out for these unprotected chicks so they have to make up their minds quickly. Even in the water they are not out of danger. Although the chicks know instinctively how to dive, gulls still occasionally grab them off the surface. The chick above dove several times before this gull finally nabbed it by a foot. The parent gave chase though and the gull eventually dropped the chick. The reunited pair made their way very quickly away from the island.

Day 64: Soggy

More rain today to add to our record rainfall for June. Last time it rained though we didn't have any gull chicks. Today, there were many sad, soggy, gull chicks around the island. Most are too big to be incubated so they just had to suffer through it. And some didn't make it. We saw several chicks that looked like they had died from cold. Gulls are having a terrible year. Very few chicks are surviving and those that are still alive are probably in poor condition.  Getting totally soaked was just too much for some.

Day 63: "Cruel of Beak and bottomless of maw"

I found this at the back of the house this morning. The gull didn't even notice me open the door to take this picture because the wing of its victim is blocking its eye. As you can see, it's grisly on the island right now. Lots of death by gull, even more than usual.  The naturalist William Leon Dawson described the Western gull, and the destruction they wreak, much better than I can: 

"Much that is good and all that is evil has gathered itself up into the Western Gull. He is rather the handsomest of the blue-mantled Laridae, for the depth of color in the mantle, in sharp contrast with the snowy plumage of back and breast, gives him an appearance of sturdiness and quality which is not easily dispelled by subsequent knowledge of the black heart within. As a scavanger, the Western Gull is impeccable. Wielding the besom of hunger, he and his kind sweep the beaches clean and purge the water-front of all pollution. But a scavanger is not necessarily a good citizen. Call him a ghoul, rather, for the Western Gull is cruel of beak and bottomless of maw. Pity, with him, is a thing unknown; and when one of their own comrades dies, these feathered jackals fall upon him without compunction, a veritable Leichnamveranderungsgebrauchsgesellschaft. If he thus mistreats his own kind, be assured that this gull asks only two questions of any other living thing: First, 'Am I hungry?' (Ans., 'Yes,') Second, 'Can I get away with it?' (Ans., 'I'll try.')"

• William Leon Dawson, Birds of California, 1923

P.S. Bonus points if you can identify the bird going down the gullet

Day 52: Air raid

Does this picture need words?

Day 51: Moon wing

Today was National Nature Photography day (according to the North American Nature Photographers Association). Everyone was supposed to take a camera somewhere the could walk or bike to and take a picture. Fortunately, I happen to have some wildlife outside my door. It is a full moon tonight so I went out to catch the moonrise. This gull obligingly opened it's wings in front of the rising moon while I was shooting.

Day 45: Blending in

Ever feel like you stick out in a crowd? Desperately trying to blend in and go unnoticed? I bet that's what this Pelican feels like. I found this immature Brown Pelican hanging out on the water catchment pad (also known as the gull bachelor pad) with a crowd of gulls. It didn't seem to notice that it was about twice the size of it's neighbors. We've only recently started seeing pelicans cruising around again. They've all been down south breeding so showing up here means they must be finishing up.

Day 39: It's so fluffy

Just when we thought the island was loud, the gull chicks started to hatch. And the volume kicked up another notch. Even the gulls still on eggs take the cue and scream with increased urgency. The gull chicks are polka dot, very similar coloring to the eggs they just came out of, and they blend in surprisingly well. They are so cute at this stage that you can't help but melt a little whenever you see them. Still, it's a gull eat gull world out there (literally) and the earliest chicks often disappear quickly despite their camouflage.

Day 33: Gull frontal

I am aware that my blog about the Farallones is in danger of becoming a blog about Western gulls. But that fact is the gulls influence just about every activity we do outside this time of year. They make their presence felt. So naturally I tend to take a lot of photos of them. Today was a gull check day. Right now we are still checking our plots for new eggs although the majority of birds have laid by now. We may even have chicks soon.  As I may have mentioned before, they don't like to be messed with. Gull checks now require a rain coat for protection from the guano rain, and a hard hat to protect from a gull bill to the head. Amy here is checking a nest in her plot and is about to get hammered by the attending gull.

Day 31: Time out

Sometimes we get so busy out here it's hard to take time to enjoy the little things. Like a beautiful view. But even the gulls know when to pause for a good sunset.

Day 29: What's that you say?

Now that the gulls are on eggs, it's loud. Every few feet there is an extremely angry individual telling you what he thinks of you and your kind (you'll have to imagine the sound that is coming from this bird, it's not pretty). Makes it hard to hear yourself think, let alone someone speaking to you. Some individuals are so tenacious that when we check their nests we have to actually push the bird off to see it's eggs. You have to respect that kind of fearless determination.

Day 24: It's getting eggy

The gulls starting dropping eggs a few days ago and now they are showing up all over the island. The first eggs are easy to find, just follow the gull that is screaming twice as loud as its neighbors. There is a distinct increase in the volume when the gulls start laying. Right now it's still just a few on eggs but soon the entire island will be screaming. Something to look forward to. Western Gulls typically lay three eggs so these two will likely have a sibling in the next few days.

Day 20: Fine art

The gulls have turned this door into a work of art. This is the entrance to one of our study blinds. It's called the Sea Lion Cove blind and it was build just a few years ago to allow us monitor another Brandt's Cormorant colony and create easily accessible Murre habitat. There are ledges built on the sides of the bind that were designed for Common Murres to breed on. Every year, a few more birds begin breeding on these ledges. Eventually we hope to be able to capture birds from this blind for more in depth, hands on studies. But for right now, the blind provides to most intimate, close-up viewing opportunities of any blind on the island. And the gulls have decorated it's copper siding beautifully.

Day 15: Cruising

I thought it was time for another gull picture. The gulls are incredibly graceful in the air. When the wind picks up they cruise along effortlessly, hardly needing to flap, controlling their motion only using subtle adjustments of their wings. They seem completely at home and at ease. I was trying to capture that feeling of rapid gliding  with this shot.

Day 7: Gullduggery

Gull resighting is one of our primary activities this time of year. This involves going into the colony, looking for banded gulls, and reading their band number with our binoculars. Easier said than done. Gulls have a particular habit of always keeping the same side of their band towards you. As you circle around them to read the other digits, they turn with you so that you always see the same numbers you've already read. My favorite method of getting the necessary digits is to look away, pretend that I'm looking at another bird, then suddenly turn back taking the original bird by surprise. Before it has a chance to hide it's band number I've got it. I swear it works. We keep track of banded birds in the plots by painting white stakes with their recruit numbers. The stakes here are for two banded birds, 0305 and 9907, that are a happily bonded pair. This is me trying to trick 9907 into showing me it's band.

Day 1: Windy day gull

After a few days of nice weather, the wind returned today. The gulls are just beginning to hold down their breeding territories so they simply face into the wind and hunker down to ride it out. We always joke that you can tell wind speed by how closely the gulls hug the ground. Today's wind speed: moderate.