14-October-2008

October 20, 2008

Light and variable winds with cloud cover overnight gave us hope for a wave day, but by morning we were in some pretty heavy fog. Since any migrating birds would have a hard time finding the island, we ended up only seeing a few new arrivals (flock of Cackling Geese flying over, Cassin’s Vireo, and Tree Swallow). We saw a few more pods of Risso’s Dolphins as well.

The other big island news is that the powerhouse roof/solar panel refurbishing was completed today. We are now back up and running on solar again.

The bird list follows.

Location: Southeast Farallon Island
Observation date: 10/14/08
Number of species: 48

Cackling Goose 34
Eared Grebe 24
Northern Fulmar 1
Pink-footed Shearwater 1
Buller’s Shearwater 21
Brown Pelican 501
Merlin 1
Peregrine Falcon 3
Killdeer 1
Wandering Tattler 1
Whimbrel 2
Black Turnstone 37
Black-legged Kittiwake 1
Heermann’s Gull 5
Western Gull X
California Gull 438
Herring Gull 2
Glaucous-winged Gull 1
Common Murre X
Burrowing Owl 1
Anna’s Hummingbird 1
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) 2
Black Phoebe 5
Say’s Phoebe 3
Western Kingbird 1
Cassin’s Vireo 1
Tree Swallow 3
Red-breasted Nuthatch 6
Rock Wren 2
House Wren 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 5
American Robin 2
American Pipit 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 4
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s) 11
Black-throated Gray Warbler 1
Palm Warbler 1
Spotted Towhee 1
Savannah Sparrow 1
Lincoln’s Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 2
White-crowned Sparrow 3
Golden-crowned Sparrow 2
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) 3
Red-winged Blackbird 1
Western Meadowlark 5
Pine Siskin 1