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.....

An Ocean Between Us

Each year, Las Aventuras decides to spend the holidays somewhere strange and mysterious.  I needed to jump start this big 2014 year with lots of new discoveries.  And thus it was decided.....a camping trip to Santa Cruz Island off of the coast of Southern California.  My heart lately has been drawn to the great mysteries of the ocean.  I needed a break from the desert and a change of pace.  It is now time to leave my beloved Arizona and discover more of the US.

We took a trek across the Pacific Ocean to find the Island Scrub-Jay on Santa Cruz Island.  The only place in the world to find the Island Scrub-Jay.  With our gear packed and batteries charged, we crossed over to Channel Islands National park where we would spend two days exploring part of the nearly 22 mile long island.

Western Gull

And so we left the beaches of Ventura, California and headed away from the overpopulated coastal cities of LA towards the isolated and quiet islands of this fantastic national park!  Had it not been for the Island Scrub-Jay, I may have never known about this place!  The lure of an endemic bird is very attractive, but one doesn't need to twist my arm to head towards the great and vast ocean.

As we left port, we prepared for the pelagic part of our trip.....that is......searching for birds only found in the ocean. What an amazing show!  So many life birds were found on that day!  As we approached shore, we prepared our gear for set up.  And so the tent went up.  The food locked up.  Santa Cruz is home to its' own endemic island fox.  It didn't take long before these cat sized animals found their way into our campsite at Scorpion Ranch Campground.

I have to tell you the story of the Island Fox because I think it will make you smile.  It's not often we hear success stories in the wild so I'd like to share something positive for a change.  In the 90's, this fox almost went extinct.  I know I know....it doesn't sound like a happy story, but give me a chance to explain:)

In the 70's, DDT had been wiping out birds to near extinction.  This chemical got into the water supply poisoning fish and other creatures. The birds ate the fish which made bird egg shells very brittle. When the parent birds sat on the nest, the eggs were often destroyed.  Bald Eagles were once a common bird on this island until DDT wiped out the entire population.  When these fish eating eagles disappeared, the Golden Eagle took over the areas that the Bald Eagles used to inhabit. And the Golden Eagles eat small mammals.  The fox became prey and their populations were almost wiped out.

An intervention happened with the fox in the late 90's to save it from extinction.  The remaining few were then captured and captive breed.  DDT by this time was banned in the US and the Golden Eagles relocated. With the threat eliminated, the fox was released back into the wild.  Today their population numbers are healthy and growing. And so are the Bald Eagles:)  However, the fox is not shy around people.  People are not supposed to feed the wildlife, but I saw a person throwing food into another person's campsite to take pictures!!!!  I wonder how he'd like it if someone put food around his tent?!!!

The hiking around the island is epic with sweeping landscapes and wonderful trails.  But we still couldn't find our Jay!!!  When I asked Park Rangers if they had seen the Island Scrub-Jay around Scorpion Ranch, they all just shook their heads.  Even the guides told us that it was unlikely we'd find the Jays around the campground.  I was a little frustrated.  We had gone all that way to find this bird!  But with all the birding experience now, my eyes have gotten better at spotting critters.  I had to believe that we could find this bird even with impossible odds. I'll leave specific tips below this photo essay at the end of my report in case you are interested in visiting this amazing island.

We hiked into a grove of Blue Gum Eucs.  The smell was wonderful.  The trees full of Allen's Hummingbirds and Townsend's Warblers. The white flowers were so calming as they swayed in the ocean breeze.

We walked in the shadow of the great Eucs along a dry wash.  The guides told me the Jay was secretive and liked to hang in the shadows.  So I kept my eyes open for any slight movement.  Of course this could have been all so much easier had we gone to Prisoner's Camp for the day trip 16 miles away.  Apparently they are very easy to spot in this location with their brilliant blue feathers along the picnic tables. But somehow this felt much more exciting......

Townsend's Warbler

From the corner of my eye, high up in the shadows of a Euc, I spotted something watching us from behind a branch.  American Robins, Fox Sparrows and Yellow-rumped Warblers were everywhere! Even a Sage Thrasher!  But this bird was acting differently.  The moment we spotted the bird, the Island Scrub-Jay revealed itself from the shadows and dazzled us with a brief and brilliant blue sparkle in the sunlight......much brighter in color than the Western Scrub-Jays. I cannot describe in words how brilliant that blue was in the sunlight other than....wow.  The picture does not do justice because as you can see, the Jay went back into the shadows.

Island Scrub-Jay

It was a high five moment for both of us as we achieved what seemed the impossible.  We were not successful locating the bird again during the last part of our stay.  Luckily, we spotted the bird early on during our island trip that we could explore other canyon areas and overlooks.  We climbed a steep hill and watched the whale migration from the cliffs.

While most of the US was/is under a freeze, we were able to enjoy the beautiful California sun.

On our trek back to Ventura, we spotted these amazing Orcas(CA 51 Matriline-the mammal eating kind:) It was incredibly cool to watch these creatures chase after a pod of dolphins.

This group had 5 individuals.  There was a mother with two calves.  Unfortunately I could not ID the other two.  I posted these shots on Facebook and a researcher excitedly contacted me on our sightings.  She gave me the family history and I could feel her emotion in the email.  That was very special and I'm glad I could help out the people protecting these beautiful creatures.

But like all good things........
With vacation almost over and my job starting up, it was time to grow up and settle down again until our next big adventure.  For my AZ birder friends, I will put some info below that hopefully will help with this trip if you are interested.

Information for the Island Scrub-Jay

Island Packers is the company you need in order to visit Santa Cruz Island from Ventura Harbor. The people were great and the boat trip was a one hour ride full of Cormorants, Murres, Shearwaters, Northern Fulmars, Jaegers, Grebes and Auklets!  We stayed overnight the night before our trip around the Ventura Harbor finding lots of great birds like the Black Oystercatchers, Willets, Marbled Godwits, Plovers(Snowy and Black-bellied), Sanderlings, Brown and American White Pelicans, a million Gulls (Western, CA, Ring-billed, Heerman's) and finally Whimbrels to name a few!) The road trip from Phoenix or Tucson is relatively quick.  It was full of active driving.  I liked this trip much better than the one to Bosque Del Apache in New Mexico because there was lots on the road to keep the mind active:)

Finding the Island Scrub-Jay.  This is a great trip to take with your other half.  If you are interested in just a day trip and an almost guaranteed sighting of the Jay, Prisoner's Harbor is where you need to go as they are quite common there.  If you want to camp(highly recommend!), reserve a campsite at Scorpion Ranch Camground.  It's super quiet after the day trippers leave and the campground wasn't full which made it even more special.  A reservation has to be made online for 15 dollars but there is no charge once you are at the campground.  Everything is packed in and out.  Bring a lock to protect your food from the Island Fox. Lock boxes are provided.  The fox got into everything. The camping option is great because there are a lot of amazing birds around the campground.....especially along the dry wash! It is there that we spotted one, possibly two, Jays. They are a little more difficult to find. There are pit toilets stocked with lots of toilet paper and excellent clean running water.  Happy birding!