10-October-2008
October 20, 2008
Our third straight day of very high NW winds was relected in our low species total. We only had 10 individual passerines of 7 species. A tough day for all of the biologists. The “list” is below. Location: Southeast Farallon IslandObservation date: 10/10/08Number of species: 20 Pacific Loon 4Eared Grebe 18Pink-footed Shearwater 25Buller’s Shearwater 25Sooty
Playing catch-up
October 16, 2008
The internet connection has been very spotty and so we haven’t been able to get the bird lists up in a timely fashion. For the 6th-9th of October the winds started out moderate and increased to heavy from the NW. The bird lists reflect that by not having many new birds and decreasing diversity as
Farallonathon Postscript
October 8, 2008
During this year’s dismal Farallonathon, which we knew could be the worst on record, we looked back into past journals to determine what the lowest total had ever been. We found that 1992 was the first year of the Farallonathon. From 1993-1995 they called it the Farallon Research Week, but continued with the same point
5-October-2008
October 8, 2008
****FARALLONATHON DAY 7****The last day of Farallonathon was somewhat eventful….though, much less than we had hoped for. The winds were light out of the SSW, but visibility was good enough that we (and the birds) could see the mainland. We added 11 points, making this the lowest final total (129 points) for the history of
4-October-2008
October 8, 2008
****FARALLONATHON DAY 6****Absolutely no new birds arrived on the island, allowing us to delve deeply into the fun-filled world of data entry!!! Even though we were not socked in with fog today, the light westerly winds must have pushed the birds towards the mainland. Although there were no birds to look at today, the White
3-October-2008
October 8, 2008
****FARALLONATHON DAY 5****Today was a major boat day, with 14 people arriving on the Island. Most were contractors that began work on refurbishing our solar panel system. Amazingly, virtually everything on the Island is powered entirely by 30 solar panels on the roof of the Power House. We derive all of the power we need
2-October-2008
October 8, 2008
****FARALLONATHON DAY 4****Farallonathon Day 4 was very quiet and yielded only a couple of new additions to our list. The winds were light out of the SSW, which is not bad, but a thick fog settled in making it difficult for birds to find the island. A shark attack on a California Seal Lion just
1-October-2008
October 3, 2008
****FARALLONATHON DAY 3**** We keep hoping that the winds will turn southeast, but they maintained their westerly flow for yet another day. At least they were light, but the excellent visibility meant that most birds that found themselves over the ocean could choose to fly back to the mainland where there would be more food
September 30th
October 2, 2008
****FARALLONATHON DAY 2****This was the 2nd day of the “Farallonathon”, the annual fall fundraising event for all of PRBO’s ongoing studies on Southeast Farallon Island. Yesterday, (29 Sept.) was a good day for us to start “Farallonathon”, with the interesting arrivals noted in that day’s blog. But today didn’t continue that trend since the island
September 29th
October 1, 2008
****FARALLONATHON DAY 1**** Today brought more new arrivals as the southerly winds continued. Visibility was a bit better than we would have liked, as many birds likely saw the mainland and headed there instead of the island. Later in the day as we started seeing reports from Point Reyes, it was obvious that’s what had
