Birding at Sea #3 – Before Taking Off

Male Peregrine Falcon, Point Fermin Park

The next day was our scheduled departure on the Star Princess, but did that prevent us from birding in the morning? Oh, no …

We departed early for two locations in the Los Angeles area (we had driven down to San Pedro the night before). Our first stop – on a very foggy and gray morning – was Founders Park in Rancho Palos Verdes. Snuggled right behind a Trump International Golf Course (we parked in what may have been their lot), it’ s a small slice of land on a sea cliff. I am sure that Trump wanted to get his hands on it and deny access to folks like me, but, fortunately, he did not.

Founders Park

Our goal was the highly endangered California Gnatcatcher, which we found rather handily. Another Lifer!

Singing California Gnatcatcher, Founders Park

A bird that frequents dense coastal sage scrub growth, the non-migratory California Gnatcatcher lives in coastal Southern California south through Baja California and Baja California Sur. 

It was recently split from the similar Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, which lives in the Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts. Often solitary, it joins with other birds in winter flocks. We either saw one male several times or several males; I think the former. 

His cap was black rather than the dark blue-gray found on females. And, he was singing up a storm! The song sounds somewhat like a kitten; a rising and falling "zeeeeer, zeeeeer."

As its name would imply, the California Gnatcatcher's diet consists of small insects and spiders.

California Gnatcatcher, Founders Park

In the northern part of its range, the California Gnatcatcher was listed as Threatened by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 1993 due to increasing development in its coastal sage scrub habitat (hear that, Mr. Trump!). Current loss of coastal sage scrub in U.S is estimated at 70 to 90 percent.

California Gnatcatcher, Founders Park

Although some of its habitat has been saved in national forests and state parks, its population has been severely fragmented, leading to efforts to preserve more open land in southern California to help ensure that this species will not disappear from its former range. 

California Gnatcatcher, Founders Park

At Founders Park, we also had a few sightings of another Lifer for me: the Allen’s Hummingbird. We saw only females; most got away before I could photograph them, but this one – in the parking lot – preened and posed. You can see how wet it was from her feathers.

Female Allen's Hummingbird, Founders Park

The ground and a lot of the fenceposts in the Park was absolutely covered with beautiful and fairly large (1 1/2 inches across) Milk Snails. They all seemed to be on a mission – I am just not sure where they were “rushing” off to.

Milk Snail climbing a fence post, Founders Park

We also saw a number of rabbits that I assumed were Cottontails. However, when I looked up what kind of rabbit lives in that part of California, I discovered that the common one is the European Rabbit. So, I am going with that!

European Rabbit, Founders Park

Other birds spotted included a couple of Bushtits …

Bushtit, Founders Park

… the now ubiquitous California Towhee …

California Towhees, Founders Park

… and some Wilson’s and Yellow Warblers so buried in the scrub that no photo was possible. On the way out, we stopped, literally, to smell the flowers.

Founders Park

After exhaustively photographing that California Gnatcatcher (those pictures above are just the tip of the iceberg; ok, here's one more) ...

California Gnatcatcher, Founders Park

... we headed for Point Fermin Park in San Pedro. It is a very nice park, with big trees, an old lighthouse, flowers ...

Point Fermin Park

... and some lovely overlooks to the ocean ...

Views from Point Fermin Park

There were lots of birds, most playing hide and seek in the bushes. We did see a dark morph Rock Pigeon taking a bath …

Rock Pigeon, Point Fermin Park

… More California Towhees …

California Towhee, Point Fermin Park

… a cute little Pacific Slope Flycatcher …

Pacific Slope Flycatcher, Point Fermin Park

... and a variety of Warblers too shy to be seen. But, we had two BIG sightings.

First, we got a nice juxtaposition of Cormorants, when a Pelagic and a Brandt’s were sitting on a ledge with a group of Harbor Seals ...

Brandt's Cormorant and Harbor Seal, Point Fermin Park

... and, then, a Double-Crested Cormorant flew by. That sounds like a bad joke (a Pelagic, a Brandt's and a Double-Crested walk into a bar ...), but it was a good way to make comparisons.

Brandt's, Double-Crested and Pelagic Cormorants, Point Fermin Park

In fact, it was a great place to see Cormorants ...

Brandt's Cormorants, Point Fermin Park

Second, and this was the good one: Peregrine Falcons.

Female Peregrine Falcon, Point Fermin Park

At close range.

Really close!

A pair has been nesting for years under an overhang on the cliff. When we walked down to see what we could see, the female was sitting of the ledge above the nest, which we could not see. 

Chattering female

There was a small slot where you could see her clearly without any rocks or bushes in the way. Bryan and I got to the overlook first, so I took lots of nice shots before I had to cede my spot so that others could see. While we were photographing, the Peregrine began to chatter the way Bald Eagles do when a mate is approaching, so I knew something was up. 

She flew away (I missed the shot because someone else was in the “slot”) and, almost immediately her mate flew in and perched on another photographable ledge. 

It was incredible! They couldn’t have been more that 30 feet away! And, because we were slightly above the ledge, it was a great photo op!

Male Peregrine Falcon, Point Fermin Park

This wasn’t a Lifer, but it was a life-time plus for photos!

Poised on the edge

The Peregrine's breeding range includes land regions from the Arctic tundra to the tropics. 

It can be found nearly everywhere on Earth, except extreme polar regions, very high mountains and most tropical rainforests; the only major ice-free landmass from which it is entirely absent is New Zealand. 

The only land-based bird species found over a larger geographic area is the Rock Pigeon. But, unlike the Peregrine, the Pigeon has been introduced to many areas. Now Pigeons support many Peregrine populations as a prey species.

The Peregrine Falcon, often just called a Peregrine (and by some – probably Texans – a Duck Hawk) is renowned for its speed, reaching over 200 mph during its characteristic high-speed hunting dive (called a “stoop”). This makes the Peregrine both the fastest bird and animal in the world. 

See the bone?

The air pressure from such a dive could damage a bird's lungs, but small bony tubercles on a falcon's nostrils are theorized to guide the powerful airflow away from the nostrils, enabling the bird to breathe more easily while diving by reducing the change in air pressure. To protect their eyes, the falcons use their nictitating membranes (third eyelids) to spread tears and clear debris from their eyes while maintaining vision.

As is typical of bird-eating raptors, Peregrine Falcons are sexually dimorphic, with females being considerably larger than males (and, that’s how I knew which was which).

Scratching an itch

Both the English and scientific names of this species mean "wandering falcon," referring to the migratory habits of many northern populations. Experts recognize 17 to 19 subspecies, which vary in appearance and range; the ones in the U.S. are American Peregrines or, in northern Alaska, Tundra Peregrines.

While its diet consists almost exclusively of medium-sized birds, the Peregrine will occasionally hunt small mammals, small reptiles or insects. They mate for life and nest in a scrape, normally on cliff edges or, in recent times, on tall human-made structures, returning to the same nest every year. 

Female Peregrine Falcon, Point Fermin Park

Peregrine Falcons live mostly along mountain ranges, river valleys, coastlines and in cities. In mild-winter regions, they are usually permanent residents, and some individuals, especially adult males, will remain on the breeding territory. Only populations that breed in Arctic climates typically migrate great distances during the northern winter.

Amazing balance

The life span of peregrine falcons in the wild is up to 15.5 years. Mortality in the first year is up to 70 percent, declining to 25-32 percent annually in adults. 

The Peregrine’s major threats are collisions with cars, buildings or other man-made structures or predation by larger hawks and owls, such as Great Horned Owls.

The Peregrine Falcon, which eats a large variety of birds, hunts most often at dawn and dusk, when prey is most active, but also nocturnally in cities. 

They require open space to hunt, including open water, marshes, valleys, fields and tundra, searching for prey either from a high perch or from the air. The Peregrine typically strikes and captures its prey in mid-air with a clenched foot, stunning or killing it with the impact, then turning to catch it in mid-air. 

If the prey is too heavy to carry, the Peregrine will drop it to the ground and eat it there. If they miss the initial strike, Peregrines will chase their prey in a twisting flight. Occasionally, Peregrines use natural contours to surprise and ambush prey on the ground and there have been reports of prey being pursued on foot. In addition, Peregrines prey on chicks in nests, from birds such as Kittiwakes.

The Peregrine Falcon has been used in falconry for more than 3,000 years, beginning with nomads in central Asia. It is one of the easier falcons to train and has a natural flight style of circling and then performing a high-speed dive. Peregrine Falcons handled by falconers are occasionally used to scare away birds at airports to reduce the risk of bird-plane strikes. They were also used to intercept homing pigeons during World War II. Almost all falconry birds are bred in captivity, which became useful when wild birds were endangered.

The Art of Hunting with Birds,1240-1250, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II

See the leg bands

The Peregrine Falcon became an endangered species over much of its range because of the use of organochlorine pesticides, especially DDT, during the 1950s, 60s and 70s. 

Pesticide built up in the Falcons' fat tissues, reducing the amount of calcium in their eggshells. With thinner shells, fewer falcon eggs survived to hatching.

Since the ban on DDT from the early 1970s, populations have recovered, supported by large-scale protection of nesting places and releases to the wild. 

Peregrine Falcons were removed from the United States' endangered species list in 1999 after a successful recovery program aided by falconers in collaboration with The Peregrine Fund and state and federal agencies.They are still closely monitored; both the birds we saw had multiple bands.

After the excitement of seeing the Peregrines, we headed out to the harbor to board our ship and head out to sea.

To the sea!

Trip date: May 7-14, 2019

Birding at Sea #2 – Santa Cruz Island

Left, Santa Cruz island; right, Island Scrub-Jay

As I said, the trip to Santa Cruz Island was important to Sue because it is the ONLY place where you can see an Island Scrub Jay, one of her “must have” birds. She has been birding longer than me, so her target bird list is small. With only 551 birds on my Life List when we started out, I am pretty easy to please. Ironically, two birds Sue had wanted to see in California – the Ridgway’s Rail and the Spotted Dove – were not in the areas we visited, but are both birds I HAVE seen. Who would have figured?

Left, Ridgway's Rail, California; right, Spotted Dove, Hawai'i

Anyway, before we took got on the boat to Santa Cruz, we did a little exploring near the Harbor, where we saw some Cormorants, Pacific Brown Pelicans, Heerman’s Gulls, lots of Western Gulls.

A wide variety of birds can be found on the jetty

The beach was littered with these really cool jellies called By-the-Wind Sailors because they are designed like tiny sailboats and travel wherever the wind takes them (the ones on the beach were, unfortunately, taken to the beach). We did see some on the open water, but I got no photos.

By-the-Wind Sailors, Ventura Harbor

Our passage to Santa Cruz was with Island Packers, the same outfit Caty and I used when doing whale watches in Ventura in 2013. That was when we saw the Blue Whales. The boat we took this time was a taxi service rather than a sightseeing trip and we were moving so quickly that the boat was pounding the waves. On the way out, I took both my cameras on deck – long lens and wide angle – but was unable to get many picture because I had to hold on for dear life. It was even too rough to go back inside to put a camera away. 

Santa Cruz Island from Ventura (before it got bouncy!)

I just had to hold on and watch cool wildlife that I had no chance of photographing. A few times we slowed down and then the trip back was a bit gentler, so I got some shots, including California Sea Lions lounging (as they always do) on a buoy …

California Sea Lions, Ventura Harbor

Common Dolphins, putting on a show that was a bit too close to the boat for my long lens …

Common Dolphin, Santa Barbara Channel

Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins that did not put on much of a show …

Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins, Santa Barbara Channel

Black Oystercatchers playing in the spray on the jetty …

Black Oystercatchers

Pacific Brown Pelicans …

Pacific Brown Pelican, Santa Barbara Channel

Common Murres …

Common Murre, Santa Barbara Channel

Brandt’s Cormorants …

Brandt's Cormorant, Santa Barbara Channel

Grebes, Western and Clark's …

Western Grebe, Ventura Harbor

Pigeon Guillemots …

I love the Pigeon Guillemot's red feet, Santa Barbara Channel

I also picked up some Lifers crossing to and from Santa Cruz, including Surf Scoters (not a very satisfying photo; luckily I saw more at the end of the trip) …

Distant Surf Scoter, Prisoners Harbor

Sooty Shearwaters (the first – but best photos – of the most prolific bird on this trip) …

Sooty Shearwater, Santa Barbara Channel

And, my favorite, the adorable little Scripps’s Murrelets that always fly in pairs …

Scripps's Murrelets, Santa Barbara Channel

These guys are so cute – and so fast …

Is he watching me?

Although I saw some Cassin’s Auklets, another Lifer, I was not as successful with photos. In fact, during the trip, I saw dozens of them and got only a few very bad photos. They are skittish and can usually be seen flying rapidly in the other direction, looking a bit like small brown footballs with wings.

I missed the Least Terns (which would have been a Lifer) and the Forster’s Terns, which I have seen before. Did I mention that our guides have Eagle eyes?

But, about the island ...

Santa Cruz Island

Santa Cruz Island is the largest of California's Channel Islands with an area of 96 square miles. The island is a nature reserve; the eastern 24 percent is administered by the National Park Service as the part of the Channel Islands National Park and the rest is managed by the Nature Conservancy. Caty and I also visited Channel Islands National Park (Anacapa specifically) in 2013.

Anacapa island, 2013

Island Packers stopped first a Scorpion Anchorage, where it disgorged a number of hikers and campers. 

Scorpion Anchorage, Santa Cruz Island

We, and just a few other people, got off at Prisoners Harbor.

Prisoners Harbor, Santa Cruz Island

Aren’t those names appealing? It’s a surprise anyone visits.

The name of Prisoners Harbor commemorates a series of events in the early 1800s that almost transformed the island into a penal colony. The native Chumash had already been removed to the mainland (as if they were cattle, not people who had lived there for generation upon generation) and several attempts were made to unload a large number of prisoners on the island. 

One of the few structures on the Island

Although this never happened, a few did get released there to perform odd jobs. Then, 30 more convicts were taken to Prisoners Harbor with provisions supplied by the padres from a nearby Spanish Mission. 

About six months later, a fire destroyed the prisoners’ camp. The convicts built rafts from whatever material was at hand and headed, without sails or paddles, to the mainland. 

After a storm washed them ashore, local authorities rounded them up and put them back in prison, but eventually they were released and absorbed into society.

In the 1880s, the U.S. Army suggested exiling especially “troublesome” members of the Apache tribe to the island, but nothing ever came of that idea.

Despite its name, the area we visited was lovely. It had big oak trees ...

... a stream ... 

... lovely flowers ...

... and some great cliff views ...

Santa Cruz Island

Map: Wikipedia

Santa Cruz island is one of five islands that comprise Channel Islands National Park, which was officially designated in 1980. The other islands are Anacapa, which I mentioned, Santa Barbara, San Miguel and Santa Rosa. Although the islands are close to densely populated Southern California, their isolation has left them relatively undeveloped. 

The park covers 249,561 acres of which 79,019 acres are owned by the federal government. 

Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary encompasses the waters six nautical miles around Channel Islands National Park.

Chumash Village

Radiocarbon dating shows human habitation from at least 37,000 years ago on Santa Rosa Island. 

A burned mammoth bone was dated at more than 30,000 years old and a burned pygmy mammoth was dated to 12,500 years ago.

When Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo observed the islands in 1542, they were inhabited by an estimated 2,000-3,000 Chumash, with eleven villages on Santa Cruz, eight on Santa Rosa and two on San Miguel.

In 1969 an oil rig belonging to Union Oil experienced a blow-out six miles off the coast of California, resulting in the largest oil spill to occur in United States territorial waters up to that date (it still ranks #3 after the Deepwater Horizon and the Exxon Valdez oil spills). Crews took approximately 11 days to seal the rupture, during which approximately 200,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into the Pacific, creating an oil slick with an area of about 800 square miles. Following the spill, tides carried the oil onto the beaches of the Anacapa, San Miguel, Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz. The spill killed almost 4,00 seabirds and hundreds of seals, dolphins and other sea life.

The water is very clear now

The oil spill resulted in a 34,000 acres expansion of the Department of the Interior buffer zone in the channel and contributed to the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency (which, as we know, is now being degraded on a routine basis).

The islands are not strangers to oil; there are 29 natural oil seeps in the area including one off the west coast of San Miguel Island. Plus, the distinctive odor of the petroliferous Monterey Shale is evident on the eastern end of Santa Cruz Island. The Chumash used the tar and oil from these seeps for caulking and adhesives.

Aligned with the Santa Monica mountains, the Northern Channel Islands form a mountain system 130 miles long with major faults on Santa Cruz Island and Santa Rosa. The islands were originally formed by volcanoes. 

The Islands are characterized by steep sea cliffs

During the Late Pleistocene, all of the islands were connected to the mainland, and between 11,000 and 20,000 years ago, the islands remained connected to each other. 

Pygmy Mammoth excavation; Photo: NPS

This allowed the Pleistocene mammoths to reach as far west as San Miguel. However, the pygmy mammoth underwent dwarfing as the Channel Islands became isolated. 

Another now extinct species was the "giant" mouse.

Santa Cruz is quite different from Anacapa, which is covered with scrub and has little other vegetation. 

Anacapa has less vegetation; Photo: 2013

Of course, when Caty and I visited Anacapa, we climbed up to the top and looked down the cliffs to the ocean. At Santa Cruz, we were relatively low. We hiked a little way up the hill, but didn’t really have to travel far to see lots of birds and a few other critters.

Here's our group embarking upon our Santa Cruz adventure ...

Left to right: Bryan, Michelle, Rich, Cathy, Rick, me and Mike (Sue took the picture)

As I said, our objective here was the Island Scrub-Jay, a relative of a variety of Scrub-Jays found on the mainland.

We were not disappointed, we saw one almost immediately after stepping off the dock.

Our first Island Scrub-Jay

While related to other Scrub-Jays, the Island Scrub-Jay, also called the Santa Cruz Jay, is found ONLY on Santa Cruz Island. Of the more than 500 breeding bird species in the continental U.S. and Canada, it is also the ONLY insular endemic land bird species. 

See the large bill?

While most closely related to the California Scrub -ay found on the California mainland, the Island Scrub-Jay is larger, more brightly colored and has a much, much heavier bill. The large bill size is most likely related to the Jay's diet, which includes the thick-shelled acorns of the island oak. The Jays bury (cache) the acorns in the fall and eat them for the next few months. 

They also eat insects, spiders, snakes, lizards, mice and other birds' eggs and nestlings. 

Scrub-Jays were formerly considered as a single species, but full species status is now given to the Florida Scrub Jay, the California Scrub-Jay, the Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay, the Mexican Jay and, of course, the Island-Scrub Jay.

Island Scrub-Jay, Santa Cruz Island

Why is this bird endemic to Santa Cruz Island? Well, Scrub-Jays seem to be incapable of crossing significant bodies of water. Reliable historical records include only a single 1892 account of an Island Scrub-Jay traveling anywhere and that was to nearby Santa Rosa Island six miles away. There are no definite occurrences of a Scrub-Jay on any other of the Channel Islands, or on the Coronado Islands, only eight miles from the mainland.

Juvenile Island Scrub-Jay

DNA studies show that, although other island endemics such as the Island Fox (more on that later) and the Santa Cruz Mouse may have diverged from their mainland relatives around 10,000 years ago, the Island Scrub-Jay separated in a period of glaciation around 151,000 years ago. Up to about 11,000 years ago, the four northern Channel Islands were one large island, so the ancestral Island Scrub-Jay must have been present on all four islands initially, but became extinct on Santa Rosa, San Miguel and Anacapa after they were separated by rising sea levels. 

Island Scrub-Jay

The Island Scrub-Jay is classed as “Vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (UUCN) because its small range makes it potentially vulnerable to a catastrophic incident such as an epidemic, fire or severe storm.

The apparently stable population of at least 9,000 makes the Island Scrub-Jay fairly common on Santa Cruz (indeed, we saw quite a few). 

However, the establishment of West Nile Virus in southern California in 2003 may pose a threat if it crosses to Santa Cruz Island from the mainland.

In addition, a fire on Santa Cruz would be catastrophic because shrub cover has increased since the removal of Santa Cruz sheep in the late 1980s and feral pigs in the early 2000s.

The original inhabitants of the northern Channel Islands, the Chumash, may have eaten the Island Scrub-Jay or used its feathers for decoration. Human activities may have contributed to the presumed extinction of the Island Scrub-Jay from the smaller islands.

Island Scrub-Jay

But, the Island Scrub-Jay was not the only interesting thing on the island. More than 2,000 species of plants and animals can be found within the park, including three endemic mammals:  Deer Mouse, Spotted Skunks and a Gray Fox species called the Santa Cruz Islands Fox (also known as the Channel Islands Fox). We did not see the mouse or the skunk, but some of us got a brief glimpse of a Fox as it crossed through the picnic area. 

Santa Cruz Island Fox

We had been told that they show up in droves while you eat your lunch (brought with you because the island has no services and no water available), but that wasn’t the case. Unfortunately, not everyone got to see the one I photographed.

Just a quick walk-by

When we first arrived, we were treated to quite a show by the ubiquitous Western Gulls perched on the pier’s railings. 

Western Gulls, Santa Cruz Island

Nesting Western Gulls

When you combine the trip over, the time on the island and the trip back, we probably saw 500, including a pair tending their nest right by the dock at Scorpion. Although there are a variety of gulls in California, including the California Gull, by far the most common is the Western Gull. 

Identifying Western Gulls is tricky because they have so many colorations, including: First Winter, First Summer, Second Winter, Second Summer, Third Winter and Third Summer. That's why they look so different in different photos.

Don't ask me which summer this is

Just after we disembarked (which involved climbing up a ladder to the dock), we saw a lovely young California Sea Lion was sunning itself on the lower dock at Prisoners Harbor.

California Sea Lion, Santa Cruz Island

On the island, I finally saw – and photographed – a very cooperative Bewick’s Wren (we actually saw two) …

Bewick's Wren, Santa Cruz Island

A Hutton's Vireo …

Hutton's Vireo, Santa Cruz Island

So, that was three more Lifer birds. And, we saw quite a few Pacific-slope Flycatchers, including one industrious beauty building a nest …

Pacific Slope Flycatcher building a nest

Some Orange-crowned Warblers …

Orange-Crowned Warbler, Santa Cruz Island

Spotted Towhees …

Love the red eyes on a Spotted Towhee!

And, a Bald Eagle …

Soaring Bald Eagle, Santa Cruz Island

I won’t bore you with the other 6-10 birds I didn’t photograph, just a lot of the same ones we saw on the mainland.

And, I got a nice up-close look at some Pelagic Cormorants flying and floating close offshore ...

Pelagic Cormorants, Prisoners Harbor

The Island has flowers and butterflies.

Santa Cruz is lush

I saw four different types of butterfly, including a Gabb’s Checkerspot …

Gabb's Checkerspot Butterfly, Santa Cruz Island

Spring Azure …

Spring Azure Butterfly, Santa Cruz Island

Gray Hairstreak …

Gray Hairstreak Butterfly, Santa Cruz Island

And, Painted Lady …

Painted Lady Butterfly, Santa Cruz Island

Plus, some Water Striders …

Water Strider, Santa Cruz Island

Lots of Dragonflies and Damselflies …

California Dancer Damselfly, Santa Cruz Island

And, a Western Side-Blotched Lizard, posing quite nicely in the sun …

Western Side-Blotched Lizard, Santa Cruz Island

Dave,Tammy; Photo: Shearwater Journeys

On the way over, we met Tammy and Dave McQuade from Fort Myers, Florida, who were doing a U.S. “Big Year.” They were already at about 600 for the year and had a lot more trips planned.  They were delightful, so we were thrilled to find that they, too, would be sailing on the Star Princess for some Pelagic Birding. So, we left Santa Cruz ready for our next big adventure!

Santa Cruz Island: a beautiful place

Trip date: May 7-14, 2019