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 79: Cassin's in a box

Cassin's auklets are one of the few species that are still in the midst of breeding right now. We had a very high rate of double brooding this year. After pairs raised one chick they decided it was so much fun they wanted to do it again so they started over. Many of these second broods are now hatching, and young chicks need to be fed. This photo was taken around 10:30pm and this Cassin's probably just came in to feed its chick in the nest box and is now hanging out near the entrance tube. Cassin's are very vocal at night and socialize quite a bit outside their burrow and boxes. Their calls have been described as sounding like crickets on steroids.

Day 78: Fish food

We had our last night of Rhinoceros Auklet netting tonight.  That means we also processed our last fish. Rhinos bring in these fish to feed their chicks and we collect a sample of them to identify, measure and weigh. The species they bring back change every year and, in addition to the Murre and Guillemot diet data, gives us a good idea of what fish are available in the ocean in a given year. This year, Rhino's started out eating a lot of juvenile rockfish, a favorite seabird food, but then switched to Pacific Saury like the one Jen is measuring here. We have also seen a fair amount of squid.

Day 77: Tern around

I somehow missed yesterday's posting so you get two today. We were visited by some Elegant Terns yesterday. There was a small flock of them circling around just east of the island, making a ruckus. We are just now starting to see some more non-breeding species showing up so hopefully that trend continues. Our daily bird list has been woefully thin.

Day 76: Nighttime visitor

We had this unusual visitor show up in our net last night as we were netting for storm-petrels. Yes it's a storm-petrel but it's a species we've caught only a few times in 40 years, the last time was in 1992. As you bird folks may have guessed, it's a Fork-tailed Storm-petrel! We were super excited to get this guy. These birds typically breed much further north, from Washington to Alaska, but this bird did have bare brood patch. That is something breeding birds develop when they are incubating so perhaps this bird is breeding nearby? Non-breeders can have brood patches too so it's not definitive but it is intriguing.

7/29/11 Check out our latest Storm-petrel visitor here

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 74: Greenery

The island is in bloom again. All the late rain we've had means the island is surprisingly green for this time of year. Of course most of the plants currently blooming are not native to the island but the Farallon weed is making another go of it as well.