From Pacific to Prairie and Pole to Pole

Although I was originally scheduled to leave from Sausalito on Saturday morning (early), I have been informed that, most likely, that will not occur.  The skipper for the Farallon Patrol who was supposed to deliver myself and one other intern to the island sold his boat only a few days ago, having recieved an offer he apparently could not refuse.  As a result, we are skipper-less and boat-less.  However, this is not necessarily a bad thing, since not leaving on Saturday has opened up the opportunity to leave on Sunday, on a whale-watching boat.  The whale-watching boat, a power boat, will cut the boatride from approximately six hours to approximately two.  In addition, my mom has been offered a spot on the boat, to come out and see the island, and then head back.  We will see what she decides to do. 

We have yet to solidify tha plans, and, should a skipper be found, we will still leave on Saturday.  I will keep you posted about my real departure date. 

To pass the time here in Petaluma, my mom and I visited the official Snoopy Museum, in Santa Rosa, only a few miles North of here.  (It should be noted that my mom DID say she was flying me out here because she loves me so much; having experienced the gift shop and gallery at the Snoopy museum, however, I am skeptical).   

Mom and Snoopy!

After the museum, we had dinner and went to the theater to see “Up,” which turned out to be a seriously delightful movie.  I highly recommend it. 

Anyway, I’m off to call my Dad, who is leaving for Poland tomorrow.  I’ll keep you posted on my island adventure.

Me in the Hotel

Best,

Eleanor

Daryl and Augie cleaning up the ocean one balloon at a time

What happens to all those balloons that escape into the sky? Many of them end up in the ocean. Unfortunately they are a hazard to ocean dwellers. Sea turtles eat them because when they are frayed husks of themselves in the water, they resemble jellyfish, a favorite food of turtles. Balloons can block their stomachs. The strings entangle seabirds. Mylar balloons cause intestinal blockages in marine mammals.

Reg with another balloon

Charlie with his balloon catch

The sinister aftermath of a party

After two more successful nights of spotlight captures in May, Daryl came up with a target: 100 banded Xantus’s murrelets in 2009. We banded birds in April, too, so those counted, as did the few captures Daryl, Harry, and others did on land. Nonetheless, on the last night, we had to band 22 new XAMU – recaptures and other species didn’t count!

Augie and his first Xantus's murrelet!

Our list of birds to catch. "Is there anything we can't catch?" said Daryl

Kristen and the 9th-to-last murrelet, named "Kristen", observing the list.

Some of our more extensive transects aboard the R/V Shearwater were over very deep water. While on these transects, we saw a number of different animals who specialize in life in the open ocean. Among the mammals we saw were Common dolphin, Risso’s dolphin, and a small group of Fin whales. Risso’s dolphins are identified by the large white scars that cover their bodies as a result of violent contact with other individuals in their pod. A much less majestic mammal sighting was the dead harbor seal we saw being picked at by a pair of Northern fulmars.

A couple of Norther Fulmars swimming around a dead Harbor seal

We spotted a couple of interesting fish as well, including a handful of lone Blue sharks swimming slowly at the surface. They were easily identifiable by their long slender bodies, long pectoral fins, and vibrant blue coloration. Blue sharks have been known to grow to almost four meters in length, but the ones we saw were probably closer to two meters long (still a big shark!). A single, unexpected tuna was also seen leaping and flipping out of the water about 100 meters from the R/V Shearwater.

A blue shark swims lazily off the stern of the R/V Shearwater

Though we were primarily focused on observing birds during these transects through the open sea, we kept out eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary.

 

Our wonderful vessel, the R/V Shearwater, is named after an equally wonderful seabird. Though there are many species of shearwaters, we saw two- Sooty Shearwaters (four letter species code= SOSH!) and Pink-footed Shearwaters. They weren’t too hard to tell apart- Sooties are much darker than their pink-footed cousins. Usually we would see one or two skimming along the waves, but sometime they would be in large flocks feeding on schools of fish or other prey.  The sooty shearwaters don’t breed on the Channel Islands, but they sevre as a handy lay-over during the shearwater’s migration from New Zealand to the Bering Sea!

The boat-version of the shearwater leaves the harbor after dropping us off.

A flock of shearwaters scatters in front of our ship. Anacapa in the background

A Sooty Shearwater soars over the sea

The birding crew on the flying bridge!

Because it was such great weather, we did all of our birds observations from the flying bridge! In April, we were confined to the regular bridge for a couple especially-rough transects. This upper deck had plenty of seats and was great for spotting birds, whales, mola molas and sharks! And scenery of course. It also had a handy GPS display, so we could enter all the necessary data for our bird observations. The flying bridge was also the most popular place for mid-station naps and eating saltines.

Heads poke up over the flying bridge rail. From left to right: Kristen, Augie, Annie, Harry, Daryl, Christie. Windows of the regular bridge are below.

Augie searching for a murrelet

Once again, we had a great team on the flying bridge.

From Left to right: Kristen (Pomona), Darryl Whitworth (California Institute of Environmental Studies), Augie (Pomona), Jen Boyce (NOAA, MSRP), Annie Little (Fish and Wildlife Service), Christie (Channel Islands Natl Park), Harry Carter (Carter Assoc.) Photo By: Nina Karnovsky (Pomona College).

The dowels the boundaries of our survey area along our transects. See previous post for more dowel info!

Santa Barbara Island looms in the background.

Our project makes up only a fraction of the Xantus’s murrelet and Santa Barbara Island restoration projects.  Many of the Channel Islands were disturbed by agriculture and ranching before they became protected. While the feral cats that preyed on the native, nesting seabirds are no longer there,  

 

The Santa Barbara greenhouse in May.

Laurie tending her plants.

The greenhouse even has a solar-powered irrigation system. Because it is on the island, there is no risk of invasive insects or seeds being transported from the mainland (that happened in an early-attempt). Laurie replants huge segments of the island with coreopsis, buckwheat, and other native species- often more than 1,000 seedlings are planted at a time! She is always looking for volunteers to help plant and water!

Baby coreopsis in the greenhouse.

A restoration site- complete with coreopsis, native grasses, and the R/V Shearwater in the background.

By replanting native plants, and getting rid of the evil ice plant and other invasive species, Laurie and her team are making the island more inhabitable for murrelets and other seabirds. Cassin’s auklets nest under these native plants, and cannot effectively burrow under the invasive species. SBI was once a thriving Cassin’s auklet colony, but for several years there have been no known nest sites. To encourage auklets to return to Santa Barbara, they have installed a sound system that plays Cassin’s auklet calls at night.  This year they have been attending sites on the island! Check back later for more about Cassin’s Auklets!

 

The auklet sound system. The car battery powers the CD player that is attached to a few camoflaged speakers on the hillside.