"The world needs to know the truth about seals" -Russ Bradley
February 6, 2013
(Never mind he was referring to their tendencies to roll around in their own filth). It’s not likely that the elephant seals here on Southeast Farallon Island have ever heard of Socrates, Plato or Aristotle. They must have had to figure a few things out on their own, including fasting as a means to rid
Not just seals
January 21, 2013
Although our main study efforts during the winter season on Southeast Farallon Island (SEFI) revolve around the Northern elephant seals and their breeding season, there are a number of other long-term monitoring studies that garner our attention. These range from bi-monthly arboreal salamander surveys, weekly cricket and burrowing owl pellet surveys, daily bird monitoring for
Bringing in the New Year – Farallone Style
January 7, 2013
Happy 2013 from all of us at SEFI! We have been celebrating the holidays and the new year with surprising style for being located in a remote field camp. Our original scheduled boat day to bring us resupplies and food on Saturday December 22nd had to be canceled due to foul weather, leaving us with
SEFI Apocalyptic!
December 23, 2012
Dream big. We woke up early on the island – 0430 or was it 0330? It didn’t matter because it was apparently already the end of the world. Nick, Kathy, Erin and I walk around the island blindly. There was an eerie calm to the air. No seal lion barks, no Western Gull calls and
From Mundane to Mega
November 17, 2012
Grasshopper Sparrow, Southeast Farallon Island, 10/24/2012. A lot has happened since our last post, though certainly things have begun to slow way down since our peak migration in early to mid October. This has been one of the best falls in the past several years in terms of diversity and numbers of birds, and despite
Many More Migrants!!!
October 26, 2012
Since the Farallonathon, we have been quite busy counting and banding good numbers of migrant birds. On Oct 5th, this juvenile tundrius Peregrine Falcon rested briefly on the island before continuing south. On the 7th, we captured an apparently pure Yellow-shafted Flicker female and at the same time a male Flicker Intergrade. On the Farallones, pure
Farallonathon Results
October 14, 2012
With a promising weather forecast calling for light south winds, we eagerly anticipated the final two days of our Farallonathon – a week-long fundraiser that helps fund our study of the island’s wildlife. DAY 6 – The winds were perfectly southeast and light, but the visibility was too far, so the great landbird wave must
The Farallonathon has Begun
October 4, 2012
On Sept 28th, we started our annual fundraiser that we call the Farallonathon! Initiated in 1992, the Farallonathon was created to recognize the truly unique elements of the Farallones, while at the same time participating in PRBO’s Annual Bird-A-Thon. The Farallonathon consists of a one week bio-blitz where we identify as many species of wildlife
Lighthouses and Migrants
September 25, 2012
For the first few decades that PRBO worked on the Farallones, a powerful rotating light on the lighthouse acted as a beacon to lost ships, birds, and bats. An analysis of 38 years of hoary bat arrivals on the island revealed that nights during the dark phases of the moon had a greater likelihood of
The Waves Keep Rolling In
September 16, 2012
Migration usually happens in waves and is not just one steady phenomenon. These waves tend to follow the weather patterns as high and low pressure systems slide past from west to east. Interestingly, on the East Coast fall migration tends to pick up after a low pressure system passes because lows spin counter-clockwise, which create
