Friday, October 14, 2011

Farallonathon Day 6

The score:

Yesterday's Total: 126
Dragonfly: 10 points
Fish: 2 points
Migrant bird: 1 point

Total points: 139

The weather just keeps improving, and our dispositions with it. Day six of the Farallonathon was a reflection on this slight upturn, the addition of some new arrivals added much needed points on the penultimate day. Our only migrant bird addition was a Flicker Intergrade (Red-shafted x Yellow-shafted), a common occurance where the two races overlap, but an uncommon bird for the Farallones. The big winner for the day was our first island record of a single Twelve-spotted Skimmer, confirmed from atop Lighthouse Hill, which added a whopping 10 points! The sun brought forth a Mola mola from the cold ocean depths, and was observed soaking in the much appreciated rays in Fisherman's Bay. Our final point for the day required a little extra work, combing the exposed tidal pools around East Landing in order to find a Calico Sculpin. Hopefully this warming trend will continue into tomorrow, to give us a final pulse of points for the 2011 Farallonathon.

(All photos copyright Dan Maxwell)

 The Flicker Intergrade perched upon a rather foreign substrate for a woodpecker.

 A Calico Sculpin, in its temporary holding container for identification purposes. It was returned to its pool unharmed.


The Mola mola, or Sunfish, surfaces to take in some rays.

1 comment:

Blake Mathys said...

This flicker has a red malar...doesn't that mean it isn't a Yellow-shafted?