Lightning Strikes Twice. So Rare.

I was treated to a second Island Record of Ruff today.  Which is actually even rarer than a first island record bird if you think about it, because it's like lightning striking twice in the same spot.  This is a phenomenon describable only using Bradian Statistics.  Also, there are a bunch of E-seals that you all forgot about since last year.

Hope you're ready for the last installment of TPAD.  Hopefully it's a doozy.

Killer Sea Cow.  In Art black and white.

Ruff.  Like lightning.  Hopefully this bird will stick and I'll get better shots of it.  

Gannet: We Meet Again

After tonight there will be only two more TPADs.  I know this will upset some people.  Some will be elated.  Most people won't actually notice.  In any case, I'm currently looking for new blog ideas.  Any thoughts?  I only ask that it's not half as much work as TPAD.

Today on the Island was the same again.  Except that the Glorious Northern Gannet reappeared.  It is so awesome.  It is one of the greatest birds to ever live.  If it were a pop song, it would top the charts for 50 years.

PIGU not carrying stuff.  This goes against my whole idea I had yesterday. 

I finally got to see this bird fly today.  It proved to me that it is not a Cape Gannet.  Or some other ridiculous species that I have never heard of...

Grayscale Is Not Just A Disease In Westeros

Yesterday was basically the same as the one before that out here on the Island.  Poor weather and no birds.  It is still very exciting to be back.  It feels very much like home.

Quiz Bird.

I might start a series titled:  PIGUs carrying stuff.  This would be my 2nd entry.

From Carolina To Farallonia

It sunk in that I was really back here during my first hike up to the lighthouse.  The weather isn't great, so there aren't really any migrants here, but the breeders are mostly still hanging around.  That's always fun.  Hecka fish being carried around to various burrows and hungry mouths.

I realize I haven't TPADed in the last few days.  Tonight will be a 6PAD.  This is a pretty rare event.  I wil start with Carolinas and finish here.  On South East Farallon Island (SEFI).  My one true home.

Forgot to tell y'all I seen gators down there.

Halloween Pennants, Caw Caw.

Apparently this is my only Mississippi Kite photo.

Now we are on the Farallones.  PIGU eating a Gunnel.

Least Sandpiper, one of the few migrants I saw today.

Elephant Seal cow and Brown-headed Cowbird, pondering each other.

Sleep When You're Dead

Let me sleep.  Here are two more from the Gannet Extravaganza.

Everybody loves puffins 

There was a constant stream of murres bringing fish back to the island.

Back To Real Life

I am now in Mainland San Francisco.  I'm about to go look for a Philadelphia Vireo and Yellow-throated Warbler that have been seen downtown.  I managed to take a few fotos yesterday during my partial day on the Island.  Goodbye SEFI, I'll miss you.

 A Northern Harrier  paid me a visit during my last sharkwatch yesterday.

Saying byebye.

Here We Come To The End Of The Road...

...Still I Can't Let Go.  Well boys and girls, the end of another SEFI Fall has come for Daniel Maxwell.  I will be getting on a boat in a few hours and heading back to do some hard time in Real Life.  On the Island, there is a certain amount of superstition that goes with boat days like today.  Some people believe that the best birds always show up on boat days.  It certainly happened last year.  On my last day, birds seen were Summer Tanager, Ancient Murrelet, and (1 hour after I departed) a first Island Record Smith's Longspur.  Life was pain that day.  I'm hoping to not repeat that day.  Here are the 2 PADs from yesterday.  It was mostly slow, but there were a few birds here and there.

My favorite resident of Southeast Farallon Island, Common Raven.  This guy has been over on the mainland for the entire Fall.  He made a reappearance yesterday, just in time for me to see him before leaving.  He promptly began murdering mice out on the Marine Terrace.  

My last SEFI suset.  Goodbye gulls.  Goodbye rock.  Goodbye sharks.  Goodbye Lighthouse.

Watch for Raptors On Days Like This...

...They Like To Fly In From The South.  The rarest bird yesterday was a White-tailed Kite that made a brief appearance at the lighthouse during my sharkwatch.  Believe it or not, this kite was rarer than the Tennessee Warbler or the Black-throated Blue Warbler also seen on the Island yesterday.  Today is my last full day here on Southeast Farallon Island for the year 2011.  I have mixed feelings.  Both stoked and bummed to be moving on to the next adventure.  I don't know where TPAD is headed, but I will try to keep up on it for as long as I can.  

The super rare White-tailed Kite, coming in from the South.

I eventually caught the female Black-throated Blue Warbler.  This is the same bird that I posted a few days ago

Don't You Have Anything Better To Do?

Very slow yesterday until Mark and Liz radioed that they were seeing a Connecticut Warbler down at the Carp Shop.  This happened at about 6 PM as it was getting dark.  I managed to get a decent look at it, and one (maybe identifiable) photo of it.  As everyone of course knows, Connecticut Warblers are the sneakiest of all creatures.  They lurk about.  They walk on the ground through bushes.  They frustrate birdwatchers everywhere they go.  In any case, it is now light again outside and I'm going out to look for it.  Here's my epic CONW photo:

A very cute mouse.  This is the most closely related species to Connecticut Warbler.  They are little, sneaky, and hard to see.

Connecticut Warbler.  Can you tell?

Party's Over.

Yesterday was sad after such a nice Tuesday.  I slept up at the lighthouse again, and found no birds upon wakeup call.  It was a nice night, though.  Very clear.  I could see the lights of SF and there were lots of Cassin's Auklets and Burrowing Owls flying around.  

We caught a Merlin on Tuesday night, too.  Which is nice.

Female Black-throated Blue Warbler.  She stuck around since Tuesday, and is still here this morning as I write this.

Early Summer

Summer Tanager was the BOTD yesterday.  We had an oven specialist come out to fix our Wolf oven, which is now awesome and works perfectly.  Previously, we've been operating it using a screwdriver.  I awoke to fog today, much like yesterday.   Hopefully it will lift and the day will be hecka sick.  


October is time to start thinking about the future.  Today is the 18th, which means that I have five more nights on the Island.  This is making me desperate to find The Bird before I leave.  So far, we have had zero Asian Vagrants.  This must change.  In the next five days. 


I have recently landed another internship on yet another desert island.  In mid November, Dan and TPAD will be following in the footsteps of its forefathers, Felonious Jive and BB&B.  I will be taking up residence on Midway Atoll.  Albatrosses will be banded.  Monk Seals will be fondled.  Faces will be melted.  If you're curious to see what Midway is all about, check out: 


http://peteatmidway.blogspot.com/


Or you can go to FJ's blog - Bourbon, Bastards & Birds - found here:


http://seagullsteve.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html


He was out there for several months, and the photos are fully legit, so go over there and look at what I'll be doing this winter.


Here are yesterday's photos.

Summer Tanager, at Spooky Cave.

Varied Thrush, in "Mark on a Rock's" hand.

I only discovered yesterday that Mark used to keep a blog while out here on the Island.  It's sick, and gives all the history a few Falls past.  Check it out: 

http://www.markonarock.blogspot.com/

Duckyducky

Yesterday was full of potential.  Weather was very nice.  There was a massive fallout of Yellow-rumped warblers.  A full on maelstrom of at least twenty birds.  The sky was raining little yellow and gray raindrops down on our heads.  It was overwhelming.  They mostly stayed up at the lighthouse most of the day, so we were not able to band them.  Most notably, there were over a hundred ducks flying around the Island in the morning.  We were able to pick out a few Northern Shovelers and American Wigeon (very good bird out here) among the many Northern Pintail.  Also, these were here:

Orange-crowned Warbler (lutescens)

Green-winged Teal.  This duck has been living on the Island for a few weeks.  It just hangs out in the small rancid puddles near the shore.  Seems to like it just fine, though.

My Cissel Has a First Name

I baked six pizzas last night, and we ate them while watching Hunt For Red October.  It was pretty sweet.  Commies suck!  We also saw a Dickcissel.  Only the second I've seen.  There were a few more birds around, like Tennessee Warbler, White-throated Sparrows, and some dark swifts that flew by MB's head at the lighthouse.  The Island was featured in a few news stories, of varying quality.  The new movie The Big Year came out, and the birding world is abuzz about whether or not it is good, sticks to the book, accurately identifies birds, etc.  Nerd Town.

Northern Fur-seal Pup at Boiler cove.  These guys are cute.  And they are the biggest victims of exploitation by humans.  Every last one was killed (hundreds of thousands) in the 1800's.  This year, over 400 were counted in one day.  This is the highest total observed since their extirpation over a century ago.  Could be good news for Fur-seals.

Bird Of The Day.  Dickcissel.  Funny name, I know.

Black Blue and Gray

Sunny skies again yesterday.  Massive crews from the media descended on the Island.  Cameramen, newspaper people, PR folks, and scientists were to be found in abundance.  I believe it was a great success.  Mostly I steered clear of all of the cameras.  By doing this, I lucked into a Black-throated Blue Warbler.  A male, and the only one so far this fall.  

Media Blitz!  They are all photographing an Ashy Storm-petrel chick.

Black-throated Blue Warbler.  Very nice, how much?

A Brief Break From Fog

The fog lifted yesterday.  Thank the lord.  It was accompanied by strong Northwesterlies.  Frown.  We still managed to get a few arrivals.  An intergrade Northern Flicker was the Bird of the Day. 

Brewer's Blackbird

Intergrade Northern Flicker

Day 2 of Fog a thon was a huge success.  The fog was so thick, we couldn't see our hands in front of our faces! I still managed to take a few photos, since I am a very talented photographer.


Not to worry, the fog seems to have lifted today, and the vagrants should soon be raining down upon us.

California Gull, oh face, Sea Pigeon Point.

Here is what happens to watermelons when you forget about them. : (

Birdless.

Fog.  It's the worst.  It has the power to ruin any good time.  It can sink ships.  It can crash airplanes.  On the Island, the fog causes a massive dirth of birds.  This happened yesterday.  It looks like it's happening again today.  So much for Farallonathon.

This is a Traditional Canadian Thanksgiving Dinner.  Which is, of course, tradition.  By the way, if you haven't seen the  South Park where the Canadian Royal Princess is kidnapped from the Royal Wedding, I ask that you do so.  It's worth it.

A Tundrius Peregrine Falcon from two days ago.  I took zero photos of birds yesterday.  It was impossible.  This is one of many young Peregrines that will visit the Island, only to be viciously attacked by the resident pair.  The chases and dogfights usually last for a few hours until the intruding youngster flees back to the mainland, 30 miles away.

Another mini wave occurred yesterday, bringing with it a Band-tailed Pigeon, Magnolia warbler, and a handful of sparrows (all three Zonotrichia, Clay-colored, Lark, and Savannah).  We added a few points for Farallonathon. I think we are somewhere up around 118 after yesterday.  We had Beef Stroganoff for dinner and watched the South Park where the Canadian Royal Family comes under attack and the Princess is abducted.  Here are some birds I banded yesterday with my bare hands.

Magnolia Warbler

Orange-crowned Warbler

Oh Lord Won't You Buy Me A Light SE Breeze

It was another sharky day yesterday.  Hopefully, all these shark attacks will pull us through Farallonathon with our pride still intact(we get five Farallonathon points per attack).  The attacks yesterday were both very close to shore, and lasted quite a long time.  The attack in the afternoon was the most up close and personal that I've ever seen.  


As far as birds go, things really slowed down yesterday.  Nearly all of the previous day's birds left, but we had a few arrivals, including an American Kestrel, Say's Phoebe, and FOF House Finch.

Lesser Goldfinch

Whitey, taking a chunk of Elephant Seal.

High Hopes

There was an inexplicable mini bird wave yesterday.  Our first Golden-crowned Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, and Chimney Swifts were seen.  We decided to start Farallonathon, as it is getting quite late in the season, and we don't know if we are going to get any mega wave at all this fall.  Farallonathon is a fundraiser where people donate a certain amount of money for every species that we see out here.  I'm thinking of donating 20 cents/species, since I am a rich Wildlife Biologist.  If you want to follow along with Farallonathon, try the Island blog:  <losfarallones.blogspot.com>

White-throated Sparrow 

Fox Sparrow