Q: Who is a Murre's favorite baseball player?
A: Justin Murre-neau of the Murre-nesota Twins.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Farallon Pastoral
In honor of the Farallon pastoral.
I really have been fortunate to see the island in such a lush green stage. The winter and spring apparently had a number of storms come through bringing rain. Further in the last six weeks, we've had a fair amount of additional water too. Which has meant lots of various flowers and grasses. Pictured here is one of the most common native flowers and plants on the island, maritime goldfields.
In honor of walking in the shoes of various biologists who did the same work out here as I am doing now, I took a number of sepia-esque colored images through my other lenses. Since 1965 PRBO has been studying and monitoring the islands. Which, is remarkable given that seabirds are in general very long lived creatures and I'm currently studying and monitoring the same birds. Although perhaps the ocean wilderness around the Farallones is not typically considered pastoral, there is a certain radiating beauty surrounding the island's many flora and fauna.
Certainly Elephant Seals and Western Gulls would be emblematic of the continuity here. Even with changing management regimes from the Navy, to the Coast Guard, to the Fish and Wildlife Service, these animals have persisted. In fact, they have thrived.
The houses here have been around since 1878 and 1880 (some modifications of course). Not ancient, as far as culture is concerned, however for a wind and swell beaten island, certainly impressive.
I really have been fortunate to see the island in such a lush green stage. The winter and spring apparently had a number of storms come through bringing rain. Further in the last six weeks, we've had a fair amount of additional water too. Which has meant lots of various flowers and grasses. Pictured here is one of the most common native flowers and plants on the island, maritime goldfields.
In honor of walking in the shoes of various biologists who did the same work out here as I am doing now, I took a number of sepia-esque colored images through my other lenses. Since 1965 PRBO has been studying and monitoring the islands. Which, is remarkable given that seabirds are in general very long lived creatures and I'm currently studying and monitoring the same birds. Although perhaps the ocean wilderness around the Farallones is not typically considered pastoral, there is a certain radiating beauty surrounding the island's many flora and fauna.
Certainly Elephant Seals and Western Gulls would be emblematic of the continuity here. Even with changing management regimes from the Navy, to the Coast Guard, to the Fish and Wildlife Service, these animals have persisted. In fact, they have thrived.
The houses here have been around since 1878 and 1880 (some modifications of course). Not ancient, as far as culture is concerned, however for a wind and swell beaten island, certainly impressive.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Close-up California Sea Lion
I was working near the North Landing and noted this guy posing rather amazingly.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Puffin
Caught sight of this Tufted Puffin, while I was resighting murres yesterday. There were two amazingly close to the bird blind I was in. Same viewing spot as the last whale video I posted. In any case, pretty frequently now I've been seeing these football sized birds flying around the islands. They are much stockier and more football shaped than the murres, which might be roughly similar in size. My guess is that Brett Favre could wing one pretty good.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Additonal Gray Whale to the day
Last but not least, whale video number two from the island. Again, I was able to capture a likely migrating Gray Whale during work today. This whale came pretty close to land while I was resighting murres in the later morning.*
*The noise in the background is the murre colony. = ) They are very noisy, to say the least. Although perhaps not as loud or harsh as the local gulls.
*The noise in the background is the murre colony. = ) They are very noisy, to say the least. Although perhaps not as loud or harsh as the local gulls.
Sunrise to Sunset
Amazing day on the island. We started the day at the crack of dawn and finished as the sun set. Definitely one of those amazing days on the island. Very busy of course, but also very exciting. My apologies for any major grammatical errors, alas I am a bit tired. In any case, my day today was as follows.
To start the day, we tried our luck on some more pigeon guillemot banding at the same spot as before. In this case we were able to capture four birds and one was a recapture from earlier this week. Still, it seems to be a good start to be able to better understand how the guillemots are doing on the island year to year.
Photo-op, right before releasing one of the birds. The technique, (as seen in an earlier picture) is to give the birds a toss out towards the water and thus allow them time to fly away to sea.
Most commonly, my days start with resighting Common Murres in a specific study plot and noting attendance and eventually not chick raising success. Murre mornings, as I call them. Also, a wellspring of bad murre jokes and puns. (Q: What do you call a Murre colony in the Gobi desert. A: A Murre-age)
Every three days I'm also involved in checking elephant seals to see who is tagged and who is around. Specifically I note where on their fliiper they have a tag and depending on the color and number, I can note where the animal was tagged and who they are. In the case of the photo above. The seal was tagged near Big Sur, California. "X408" As it follows, today was a third day to check tags and this afternoon we systematically looked around the island for elephant seals.
Last but not least. Every day is ended at the lighthouse, conducting a survey for visiting sea gulls. Although it sounded very daunting at first, it actually is fairly easy and straightforward. I only have to look around intertidal zones, the Western Gull is dominant everywhere else. Also, only two or three other gull species are commonly seen. In any case, one of the perks, is afterward watching the sun set. Pretty nice view from my office. Feet up too.
To start the day, we tried our luck on some more pigeon guillemot banding at the same spot as before. In this case we were able to capture four birds and one was a recapture from earlier this week. Still, it seems to be a good start to be able to better understand how the guillemots are doing on the island year to year.
Photo-op, right before releasing one of the birds. The technique, (as seen in an earlier picture) is to give the birds a toss out towards the water and thus allow them time to fly away to sea.
Most commonly, my days start with resighting Common Murres in a specific study plot and noting attendance and eventually not chick raising success. Murre mornings, as I call them. Also, a wellspring of bad murre jokes and puns. (Q: What do you call a Murre colony in the Gobi desert. A: A Murre-age)
Every three days I'm also involved in checking elephant seals to see who is tagged and who is around. Specifically I note where on their fliiper they have a tag and depending on the color and number, I can note where the animal was tagged and who they are. In the case of the photo above. The seal was tagged near Big Sur, California. "X408" As it follows, today was a third day to check tags and this afternoon we systematically looked around the island for elephant seals.
Last but not least. Every day is ended at the lighthouse, conducting a survey for visiting sea gulls. Although it sounded very daunting at first, it actually is fairly easy and straightforward. I only have to look around intertidal zones, the Western Gull is dominant everywhere else. Also, only two or three other gull species are commonly seen. In any case, one of the perks, is afterward watching the sun set. Pretty nice view from my office. Feet up too.
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