Day 80: Guadalupe Version

Okay, we're on a roll with our storm-petrels. We netted again last night and caught yet another unusual visitor. This time it's a subspecies of the Leach's Storm-petrel. We catch Leach's here regularly and we know small numbers of them breed here. Leach's are distinguished from Ashy Storm-petrels by their white rump patch, longer wings, and larger head and bill. We were confused by this little one because it had the while rump of a Leach's but its wing was too short and its head, bill and overall size were smaller than an Ashy. After consulting our books we determined that this was in fact an individual from a subspecies of Leach's that breeds on Guadalupe Island in Mexico! This is the first time we have documented this subspecies on the island and the first time it's been seen this far north in California. Not a bad night!

Day 22: Night lights

 We had a brief break in the wind yesterday and the new moon is here which usually means one thing: Ashy Storm-petrel netting! This is one of my favorite activities. We set up a net once it's full dark, play the Storm-petrel call, and get ready to catch some of the coolest birds around. These little seabird are about the size of a swallow, spend most of their lives on the open ocean and can live to be 40+ years old! I was introduced to seabirds through Storm-petrels so I have a huge soft spot for them. Last night I set up my camera to try and capture this nighttime activity. The streaks of light you see are from our headlamps as we extract birds from the net and the glow from San Francisco city lights is on the horizon. To read more about Ashy netting and see what they look like, check out the Farallones blog post here.