Adopt an Auklet!!

Would you like to get involved with the Farallones and help support our conservation efforts? Well now's your chance!

Los Farallones proudly introduces Adopt an Auklet!

Cassin's auklet chick about 10 days after hatching

The seabird breeding season is about to get underway on the Farallones and we are asking for your help with supporting our long-term monitoring studies of Cassin's auklets. Regular readers of this blog know that Cassin's auklets are one of the 13 species of seabirds that breed on the Farallon Islands. They return every spring to lay their eggs in underground burrows, crevices and artificial nest boxes. Farallon biologists have been monitoring their survival, nesting phenology, breeding success and chick growth rates continuously since 1972.  But we need your help!

Typical Cassin's auklet nest box and auklets within

By adopting an auklet for the season you help to protect the Farallon Island colony, increase and improve artificial nesting habitat, monitor birds at their nest throughout the breeding season and enable us to learn from Cassin’s about the health of our local marine ecosystem. 

Watch the video for an introduction to the Adopt an Auklet program by Russ Bradley, Farallon Program Manager.

What do you get when you adopt?

When you Adopt an Auklet, you are leasing a nest box on the Farallon Islands and adopting a Cassin’s auklet family for one year.  For your donation, you will receive:

• a personalized adoption certificate
• a photo of your auklet nest box
• regular updates about Cassin's auklet activity on the Farallones throughout the seabird breeding season (March through August) from our Farallon biologists
• a personalized summary of what happened in your box at the end of the seabird breeding season including which birds breed there, when they were banded, how long they’ve been together in that nest, when they lay an egg, when the chick hatched and the ultimate fate of the chick.

We have a limited number of auklet boxes available for adoption. So Hurry! Adopt an auklet today!

All donations go directly towards helping to support our research efforts and to restore the Farallon Islands, for generations to come. For more information, go to the Point Blue website.

Thank you for helping to support our work on the Farallones. And auklets!

The Farallon Gallery

The Farallon Gallery

        Peruse the archive of this blog and you'll quickly realize the importance of the research done by Point Blue, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and their partners here at Farallon National Wildlife Refuge.  Like everyone lucky enough to visit the Farallones, I am continually awestruck by the abundance of wildlife here and the island’s intense beauty, as well as the commitment and expertise of the people who work and have worked to keep it pristine.  Biologists on the Farallones are certainly experienced and capable, but we are not data-hungry robots living in a cold and unadorned field station. The artistic creativity of Farallon residents, both past and present, is apparent when you step inside the old light keeper’s house where we live. Inside the house there are paintings, photographs, sketches, poems, and doodles that communicate, celebrate, and at times lampoon the wild world just outside our door. The end result is a homey, comfortable place to live—snug not Spartan.   So, below is a snapshot, a smattering of what can be seen at the Farallon Gallery today. I suggest checking out previous Los Farallones blogs featuring the photographs of Ron LeValley (see Farallones 40 Years Later), several of which hang on the wall, and Sophie Webb's sketches (see Drawing on the Rock).   

Disclaimer: I've included the name of the artist where possible. If anyone wish's for me to add your name to your art, remove a photo of your art, or remove your name from this blog I'm more than happy to do so.

Watercolor: A.  Landscape in reclaimed redwood frame , B. Immature Female Calliope Hummer seen on the Farallones in 1986 by Kieth Hansen. C. Tufted Puffins

 

 

 Acrylic: A. Large Farallon Arboreal Salamander banner, B. Pirate Peregrine Falcon, C. and D. Common Murre and Brandt's Cormorant Paintings in one of of the Island's Observation Blinds by Illana Nimz (see The Observation Blind: A Farallon Biologist's Home Away From Home.)

 Birds Everywhere: A. Kinetic hummingbirds, B. Paintings of eggs on glass,  C.   Ice Cream Cartons, Pun Flavored

Windows and Doors. Window sealife decorations,  Copper Murre and Sally Door Art

Kitchen: A. Seabird and Orca Napkin Holders, B. Rockfish tapestry, C. Our dinner table with redwood inlay design of island by Dan Maxwell.

Poetry: A. The Edge of Down by Cleo Griffith. B. Los Farallones de los Frayales by Michael Whitt. C. Stairway to the Stanzas. D. Gull Poetry. E. Compost, a philosophy by Emma Kelsey, Jen Aragon, and Erica Lander.

Whimsey: A. Island-themed Rubix Cube. B. Cormorant and Western Gull hand puppets, guano not included. C. Sir Mirounga McCartney

Journal Birds

 Journal Dreams: The Farallon Journal (see It's Journal Time Out Here on the Island) has a place where we share and write down island-related dreams (see Island Dreams ). Sometimes it seems, words are not enough.

        Here are a few of my own sketches and paintings from my stay here. I will be leaving the Farallones tomorrow, taking with me new friendships, a lot of great memories, and hopefully some good ideas for more art. Cheers!

Sketches and paintings by Jared Zimmerman.

Blog written by winter research assistant Jared Zimmerman.

Going Pro with Pinnipeds

To me, it seems unfair to only experience the elephant seal world while they are hauled out on land. They spend the majority of their life in a completely different medium: water. While on land, elephant seals seem awkward, clunky, bulky, strange, sluggish, and silly, but in the water they are beautiful and possess a certain gracefulness that can’t be fully appreciated while they are bound to land. I was interested in entering the pinniped world (the group that includes seals, sea lions and walruses), but I wanted to remain non-invasive. After a short brainstorming session and some mild construction with Ryan Berger (the lead winter biologist), we created the “GoPro on a stick”. It’s essentially a GroPro camera jerry-rigged and mounted onto a five-foot long PVC pipe. On calm days with good visibility I would simply lower the GoPro into large tide pools or calm gulches. The juvenile elephant seals were particularly interested in the ridiculous contraption we had created, and invited themselves to check it out. Some behaviors included rubbing their vibrissae (whiskers) on the lens, swimming up and inspecting the GoPro for a closer view, and occasionally a little nibble. This video is the result of a few days using the GoPro on a stick in exploration of these magnificently well-adapted pinnipeds in their underwater domain. I hope these kinds of glimpses into the lives of these creatures enlighten, inspire, and create an awareness of how astonishing these animals are.

SEFI VIDEO from Claire Nasr on Vimeo.