Showing posts with label macgillivray's warbler. Show all posts
Showing posts with label macgillivray's warbler. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Old Man Farallon Beard

I ended up missing the best bird yesterday.  A Virginia's Warbler was seen up at the Lighthouse while I was down the hill.  Sucks to be me...Life Is Pain.  in other news, we got our first Black-throated Gray Warblers for the fall, and banded the first MacGillivray's (a different individual than was featured yesterday).  Time to go see what Old Man Farallon has blown onto the Island for us today...hopefully something hecka sick.


A pair of HY male Black-throated Gray warblers caught yesterday.

Female MacGillivray's Warbler.  A HY as well.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Fun At The Lighthouse

We got quite a few new birds yesterday, as well as a few new Island residents.  Notable birds were Purple Martin, Blackpoll Warbler, ASY male American Redstart, Northern Waterthrush, and the continuing Painted Bunting.  Also, during my sharkwatch shift at the lighthouse, we got some good sharky action.

First of fall MacGillivray's Warbler with a little schmutz on breast.

This is usually as much of the shark as you're likely to see.  The smaller front fin you see is about halfway up the shark's back, so you can about double the distance between the fins for an idea at the true length of this animal.  What I failed to capture was the gigantic blood pool that forms after the initial attack.  The victim in this case was likely a Northern Elephant Seal.  I've been wondering if the pattern on this shark's tail fin makes it distinguishable from other individuals.  The oldschool shark researchers knew all of the resident Farallon sharks by their unique fin markings.