Birds From The Last Few Days

My days were winding down on SEFI and the hopes of grandeur dwindled---less days left meant less chances of some crazy mega-vagrant flitting into the Rixford Tree or scrounging for micro-bugs at the lighthouse. The days went by and very few birds showed up. I was happy with the birds that did and ecstatic for the one special seabird that showed up, so it wasn't too bad bird-wise at the end of the season.

One of my favorite birds from the Eastern Sierra (they are all over, but I grew to love them there), the Warbling Vireo.

The Vireo takes off.

A rare island migrant, a Green-tailed Towhee. This bird stayed for at least a week.

A Western Flycatcher noms a beetle in the Coast Guard Tree.

Same bird, extra curious.

One of the few dozen Black Turnstones.

A terrible photo of a Blue Grosbeak through a window with a screen on it. If it hadn't been for the window it could have been a delicious crush.

On the Thursday before I left, the seabird we'd all been waiting for finally showed up on the island. There had been reports of Blue-footed Boobies up and down the California coast (and inland, the first sighting was in August at Mono Lake, and there are at least a dozen BFBOs seen at the Salton Sea) and we knew one had to show up on the island at some point. No one had ever seen a Blue-footed Booby on the Farallones before, so it was an exciting thing to anticipate. We all had Booby fever, constantly scanning every rock perch and feeding flock for this sub-tropical Sulid. After days and days of tiring anticipation, one arrived in the late afternoon, perched on Saddle Rock and preened for 30 minutes. We all rushed out with scopes and cameras and watched the first island record Blue-footed Booby preen amongst the Cormorants. It was too far for great photos, but here is one I got from far away, and one I "tried" to digiscope...looks more like an abstract painting.

Back on the Rock

As I stepped off the Safe Boat and walked up the familiar cart path on the island I spent 9 weeks on last fall, it almost felt like a different island was staring me down. When I left Southeast Farallon Island (SEFI from now on) on December 8, 2012, it was lush green, devoid of most birds, and just barely beginning to be overthrown by breeding Elephant Seals. Now, in mid-August, it is the end of the seabird breeding season and the island has been literally jam-packed with nests and chicks and guano for the past 5-6 months. All the emerald grass has shriveled to nothing and blown away or been used for nesting material. Looking out over the Marine Terrace feels like seeing in sepia tones (it also might be a side-effect of the fog).

The cart path in December 2012.

The cart path in August 2013.

Everything, I mean everything, is covered in green-white-brown gull shit. The gulls are screaming constantly but that is something I am very used to, almost comforted by, thanks to working on the California Gull colony at Mono Lake. Our Area Searches are turning up nothing but three Eurasian Collared-doves. The first day we were here there were two Western Flycatchers, but must've high-tailed it to the mainland as soon as the fog lifted for a moment. I am incredibly happy to be here, fog and all.

Blurry Western Flycatcher, first photo I took on the island this year, in the Coast Guard Tree.