Point Blue

The Young and the Restless

The elephant seal season is now at its full peak. When we first arrived in early December, the majority of elephant seal haul-out sites were occupied by molting immature seals and resting sea lions. These animals soon made way for the arriving pregnant and cantankerous elephant seal cows and aggressive males which have been vying

Over the Hills and Far Far Away

Saturday December 3rd, 2011 Alarm goes off. It is 5:00 a.m. Rushing around to get the last minute items loaded into the van before the PRBO Conservation Science Farallon Program Winter crew heads to Southeast Farallon Island (SEFI) for 3.5 months. Five thirty in the morning rolls around and a phone call comes through. Fall

A Farallon Thanksgiving

A common misconception about living on an island is that you undoubtedly eat poorly. No grocery store? Military rations it is! Fortunately, that is not the case here on the Southeast Farallon Islands. Every two weeks we are resupplied with food by a group of volunteers who do a large shop for us, picking up

Spelunking for the Farallon Cave Cricket

In the early 1900’s, Milton Ray, a poet and scientist who visited the Farallones several times, described the Lost World Cave in the following poem: More strange the Lost World Cave. Ah me! How few have trod its rough dark floor, Where chambers weird in endless maze Far downward lead, through

First Island Records and other fun birds

Southeast Farallon Island has one of the largest species lists for such a small area at this northerly latitude. With over 40 years of ornithological scrutiny and a list of 418 species, adding a new one to the list has gotten increasingly difficult. Many of the species that are rare to California have been seen here already. However there are

First Short-tailed Albatross in 124 years!

On 6 November, 2011, PRBO biologists documented the first Short-tailed Albatross from the Farallon Islands in 124 years. This species used to be the most common albatross seen along California’s shoreline. Historical accounts mention that it was “numerous” in nearshore waters, including around the Farallon Islands. Short-tailed Albatrosses, however, did not breed on the Farallones

Farallonathon – The Final Score

The score: Yesterday’s Total: 139Migrant bird: 5 pointsShark sightings: 2 pointsCetaceans: 1 point 2011 Farallon Grand Total points: 147The final day of Farallonathon was a busy one. It was media day on the Farallones as we were visited by a group of reporters from a variety of local and national media outlets. Between the boat landings and all the

Farallonathon Day 6

The score: Yesterday’s Total: 126Dragonfly: 10 pointsFish: 2 pointsMigrant bird: 1 point Total points: 139 The weather just keeps improving, and our dispositions with it. Day six of the Farallonathon was a reflection on this slight upturn, the addition of some new arrivals added much needed points on the penultimate day. Our only migrant bird

Farallonathon Day 5

The Score:Yesterday’s total: 124Salamander: 1 pointFish: 1 pointTotal Points: 126 PointsWell, the weather got better but only slightly. The fog stuck around but the rain went away. Try as we might we were not able to get a single bird Farallonathon point. As dedicated Farallonathoners we did not give up and instead turned our attention to

Farallonathon Day 4

The Score:Yesterday’s total: 118 Migrant Birds: 1 Shark Attacks: 1 (5 points) Total Points: 124 Points Day four of Farallonathon was enveloped in heavy, soupy fog with periods of rain. Needless to say, it was a challenge to find any Farallonathon points today. Our first and only migrant bird point of the day was a Northern

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