Wild Nights at Club Farallon
July 26, 2012
The last month or so on the Farallones has been our busiest time of year. For us that means 16 to 20 hour days and lots of night work. Many of the species that breed on the island spend their days foraging at sea and only return to the colony at night. This both maximizes
Northern Gannet at SEFI – Evidence of Climate Change?
April 28, 2012
The Farallon Islands are known for attracting rare and unusual vagrants. These have included songbirds more common to the east coast that have migrated up the wrong coast and birds from Asia that ended up on the wrong side of the Pacific. But this week we had an exceptionally rare visitor to the island. Northern
Musings from the Murre Blind
April 11, 2012
The view from the Murre Blind over Fisherman’s Bay We sit at observation post in the Murre Blind, with an open window view of Point Reyes, 17 miles beyond Fisherman’s Bay. We listen to some tunes while searching for a few uniquely color banded individual birds among the tens of thousands of murres chattering away
A Weaner's World
March 15, 2012
A young Northern elephant seal’s life is difficult from the start. At the very moment a pup emerges from the comfort of the mother’s womb, it is greeted by a harsh and violent world. Other mothers may threaten the newborn, often with their teeth, if it wanders or wobbles too close. A neighboring cow might
Clash of the Titans
March 14, 2012
The last of the elephant seal cows departed a week ago, leaving Sand Flat entirely to the weaned pups and some straggler males that are resting up before heading out to sea. The elephant seal breeding season is technically over. Before we get into telling you all about the lives of the weaners, we thought
Mandermonium with the Farallon Arboreal Salamander
March 10, 2012
Salamanders are known to be exceptional indicators of ecosystem health because they breathe through their skin making them susceptible to changes in water or air quality. A long-term project was started on SEFI in 2006 to monitor abundance and population trends of the endemic arboreal salamanders. Over 100 cover boards were placed at survey sites
There She Blows!
February 14, 2012
We have just had the height of the grey whale migration pass by our little rocky island where they are travelling 5,000- 6,800 miles from the cold Bering and Chukchi seas in the North to warm breeding grounds in Baja California. This is the longest migration recorded of any mammal. For the first few weeks
Ahoy There!
February 14, 2012
Boat landing days are great and we are extremely thankful to all of those involved. Outer Limits as the fog descends Firstly we would like to thank the skippers for volunteering to bring their boats laden with our supplies whatever the weather. Thanks to the boat ‘Sari Ann’ and her skippers Warren Sankey and Alan
The Young and the Restless
February 8, 2012
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
December 30, 2011
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
