Strides of Blue

This week's adventure takes us to the beautiful Channel Islands for some in depth study on a part of the Santa Cruz Island I had never been....Prisoner's Harbor. I'll also have some updates for people who have been thinking about visiting these amazing islands. 

I was feeling trapped inside with this terrible Tucson heat over the past several months and I very much needed something new and different to study with friends Celeste and Cheroot.  Originally, I had planned to stay in Antigua, Guatemala during my fall break for a very much needed Spanish retreat at this sanctuary in the hills, but Covid changed that plan.  Instead, within a safe 6 hour drive from Tucson, we headed to Ventura for specific wildlife studies. 

Cheroot brought his squirrels.  We brought our coolers for day lunches out on the beaches and parks. We contacted Island Packers for a mini pelagic out to Santa Cruz Island.  I was hoping for some whale and dolphin action in much needed cooler weather.  It did not disappoint.  In fact, for most of our stay, we were on the water. 

The boat ride is a little under an hour and a half.  Birds were on our itinerary but really it was all about the whales. 

Every time I've gone over to those islands, we've seen something special like a pod of Orcas, dolphins and a variety of whales. This trek would be no exception.  On this day, we observed 3 incredible Blue Whales up close. I cannot describe the excitement that we felt by seeing this incredibly large sea creature.  In fact, it's the largest mammal on the planet. 

Then there's the beauty of birding around the islands. We caught up with birder Eric Heisey below who also had similar plans to bird in the cooler temps.

It is as magical as it looks.  Complete wilderness and now free of human developments.

Once we arrived at Prisoner's Harbor we began to hike uphill onto Nature Conservancy land to study vegetation, birds, lizards and insects.  In some parts it was rather steep, but the views overlooking the island and ocean were incredible. 

 Back in 2014, Micheal and I went to camp at Scorpion's Point which was on the other side of the island. A storm a couple years back destroyed the pier and since then, the campground has been shut down.  BUT I have good news!  It will finally be opened up this November.  I highly recommend this camping trek.  It's a lot of fun and quite different from the experience at Prisoner's Harbor. 

We are birders and for Celeste, she had never seen the Island Scrub-Jay, one of the endemics only found on this island. People say that Prisoner's Harbor is the best place for this jay and it was.  We had many birds right at the entrance of the port. For me it was a better opportunity to study them up close.  Their numbers have grown over this 27 mile stretch of island.  In fact, Channel Islands National Park is a success story in conservation. 

Since our visit back in 2014, the Island Fox, yet another endemic, had a small number of reintroduced fox around Scorpion's Point. Today, this species has succeeded in repopulating Santa Cruz Island. They now number in the thousands. At one point, they almost went extinct due to predation by Golden Eagles, but thanks to great conservation plans and practices, I'm happy to report that this fox is back in business.

Celeste was hoping we'd see one so we backtracked from the tourists when they weren't around.  After our little hike up Pelican's Point, we turned around and headed to the picnic area for lunch.  The secret to finding one of these foxes?  Find stupid tourists who leave their food out.  And find vacated areas were stupid tourists were eating.  Celeste was talking to me when I noticed that one of the foxes came from out of nowhere to check out a recently vacated picnic area. The look on Celeste's face was priceless.  Yes, these foxy foxes are one of the many reasons to explore Channel Islands National Park. 

Not happy with ANY of the leftover food choices, this fox decided to find their own. 

And not too far away, a fresh meal was waiting to be found. A mouse!  Yum!

Another species that doesn't mind human food is the clever Common Raven.  Number 62, more on that in a bit, was watching a couple stupid tourists who were distracted by yellowjackets. True they could have been stung, but 62 had his eye on the turkey sandwich in the flailing male's hand.  As the yellowjackets overcame this unsuspecting tourist man, the raven took the opportunity to snatch the sandwich out of his grasp.  He brought it back to his "friend" and together they shared THEIR turkey sandwich.  And we, the birders, secretly scored the match between raven and man.  Corvid 1 Man 0

Now onto a TAGGED COMMON RAVEN!!!!  This species of bird is plentiful.  So why tag a raven?  Well, they are studying how these Common Ravens interact with the rare nesting Ashy Storm-Petrels on these islands. These Storm-Petrels already have a small population with about 10,000 in the world.  Their nesting grounds, the Channel Islands, are home to at least 50 known breeding pairs.  They are nocturnal and can be difficult to find on a nest as they choose cracks and crevices.  The pic below is not mine but it's an artist's recreation of where this secretive Storm-Petrel hangs out. 

This pic is from a trek I did several years ago during a Storm-Petrel study out along the California Coast.  Within their limited range, they are quite common, but if there ever was an oil spill, etc, it could have a devastating impact on this species. 

Unfortunately, we didn't see any storm-petrels on this trek, but I did learn about how some Common Ravens can raid these storm-petrel's nests. Hence the tagging.  I reported the tag to the banders. You can read that information here. In fact, the Channel Islands are all about restoring balance.  At one point, the Island Foxes almost went extinct due to Golden Eagles hunting them.  There had been Bald Eagles on the island but when they died from DDT poisoning, the mammal hunting Golden Eagles took over.  Today, the fish and duck hunting Bald Eagles are back on the island and the Island Foxes are back:)  It has taken years for the Nature Conservancy and National Park system to restore the balance to these islands.  And to see them today in their full glory is really quite something!

We had a successful trek out and I didn't want the day to end.  I think the California Coast is full of so many amazing wildlife opportunities. 

All good things have to come to an end, but we have one more adventure coming up....the wineries of Los Olivos and a certain magpie. 

Until next time.....

Ocean Tides

Not social distancing.  The CDC recommends wearing a mask if you decide to get that close:)  

As the desert heat overtook Tucson, we made an escape to the much cooler California coast. 

Black Oystercatcher

We found some open and lovely spaces to keep away from the crowds. And when we encountered groups of people, we wore our masks. 

It was a much needed mental break from the day-to-day routine. It was also great to see that in many parts of Southern California that 90 percent of the people wore facial masks and observed social distancing.  It wasn't until we got closer to the Orange County border that we noticed more people not wearing them.  La Jolla was a great example of people NOT wearing masks or observing the 6 foot rule. 

I love it when people paint on the beach.  So nice to see. 

We sat in our chairs and watched the waves crash against the shore.  As the tide began to rise, the cold waters began to erase the footprints on the sand.  The waves hit the ending beach point of the nearby estuary.  Ocean waters rushed into the salt marsh with great vigor forcing the inland river to rise. Slowly the sand eroded around us and the beach disappeared. 

The Snowy Egret has yellow feet

Hundreds of terns flew over the "sweet spot" where the river and ocean met.  There, they collected tiny fish from the waters. 

California Sea Lions

The sun filtered through the clouds.  And often the clouds won their gray battles. 

the beaches of Torrey Pines

It was during that night of the ocean tides entering the salt marsh that I noticed a pair of Gull-billed Terns hunt over the tidal rivers of the marsh.  At one point, I saw a bird collecting nesting material. 

My only 2020 lifer so far, the Gull-billed Tern!

This has been such a strange year.  We have a fire on our mountain in Tucson. Then there's the George Floyd protests amid the rising number of covid cases in AZ.  And then my summer job was cancelled.  No summer school.  We don't even know how school will start up with the cases on the rise again.  My Panama trip was cancelled yet airlines want everyone to get back on a plane like it's okay when clearly it's not. There's a lot of mixed messaging happening. We talk about all lives having value and yet we are allowing our elderly to die at elevated rates over money. Basically, we're all on our own even when they annoyingly say, "We're all in this together." No we are not.  So watching terns at an estuary was a welcome mental retreat.  

California ground squirrel

You can see people wanting to get back to normal.  California state closed the parking lots to national and state parks making access to the beaches almost impossible.  I know little tricks to avoid the public craziness, but even I had challenges on this adventure. We figured it all out and had a great time. 

Snowy Plover

Snowy Plovers were in good numbers as were terns and other shorebirds.  It was a lot of fun doing some ocean birding and getting out of the Arizona heat.  I actually felt a spark of excitement on this trip after observing the tern.  The road is calling for me again.  In the next post, I'll cover ID points for terns and some other fun observations. 

Our first day on the beach was a welcome moment.  Like a mental sigh of relief. I didn't realize how much stress I have been carrying inside of me. Ocean breezes, cooler temps, awesome birds and lots of people watching.  Life finds a way to go on even during a pandemic.  Until next time....