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.

Winter Whales Linger On

While the winter season here at Southeast Farallon Island usually focuses on the soap-opera-esque, high stakes drama of elephant seal pupping and mating season, there are many other marine mammals that utilize the high productivity and unique location of the Farallon islands in their ocean travels.   These islands are a regular stopover for other seals and sea lions, as well as their larger ocean companions – whales and dolphins.  Many whale species are known for their great yearly migrations – humpbacks from Alaska to Hawaii, grays from the Arctic to Baja - moving from cold but nutrient-rich northern waters to temperate  (but less full of food) or tropical waters in the winter.  These whales make the trips for the same reason elephant seals return to the Farallones year after year – it’s a great place to raise a kid.  Warmer waters are better for newborn whales, and they nurse from mom long enough to build up a nice blubber layer before heading back up to the cold waters of the north. 

Most of these whale migrations start in late fall or early winter, as grays, blues, humpbacks, and more pass by our houses on Southeast Farallon, one at a time or in large groups with whale blows visible in every direction.  A few months later, the blows start showing up in the south, as the whales return to summer feeding grounds, this time often with a new calf in tow.  In the past few years, researchers here on SEFI have noticed a few of those whale blows in months when they shouldn’t be here.  Some “resident” gray whales – those that don’t migrate all the way south – settle in around the Farallones, probably taking advantage of the wonderful food supply provided by our proximity to the continental shelf.   This subset of “residents” may be younger whales that are not yet sexually mature, and do not need to complete the full migration to the calving and breeding grounds down south, so they decide the Farallones look like a good spot to stay for the winter.

 

Not a bad view...

We keep track of these resident whales, as well as the migrating ones and any dolphins who happen to pass our way, with our daily “Cetacean Watch.”  Twice a day, and sometimes more often if the weather and visibility cooperate, we climb the trail to the lighthouse, where visibility on a clear day is 40+ miles in all directions, and set up with our scope, binoculars, and an iPad.  The iPad is a new addition to our daily whale watches, not just because it’s easier to use its built-in GPS and compass when spotting whales, but because of a new app called “Spotter Pro,” by Conserve.IO.  This app (currently only for Apple’s iPad & iPhone) allows users to collect field data of animals, plants, and other environmental information, and provides a unique opportunity to participate in “citizen science.”  Recently, the app has been used to track and upload sightings of whales and dolphins off the California coast.  We use Spotter Pro to upload real-time information on the locations of these animals around the Farallones.  By providing information on where they are, the app helps to reduce the chances of whales being struck by large vessels when they’re in California shipping lanes. 

A gray whale passes close by SEFI

Ship strikes are one of the biggest threats to whales and dolphins, and often go unnoticed – dead animals often either sink out at sea or wash ashore too decomposed to determine the real cause of death.  Reducing the co-occurrence of whales and large boats (making sure they’re not in the same place at the same time) is the best way to prevent ship strikes, and using the Spotter Pro app to map the locations of whales and dolphins could be a simple, user-friendly and openly available way to prevent co-occurrence.  Recent changes in the size and locations of California’s shipping lanes were implemented with whale protection in mind, and with both researchers (like us on SEFI) and citizens out on boats or onshore uploading information on where they see whales, we can assess the effectiveness of these changes while preventing strikes from occurring. 

 

A screencap of Whale Alert (from iTunes app store)

From a recent SEFI cetacean survey

These shipping lanes pass close by SEFI, and while drinking a morning cup of coffee on the porch, it’s not unusual to see huge container ships cruising by on the horizon, along with 5 or 6 blows closer to shore, while looking in just one direction.  One of the main goals of Spotter Pro and its East coast sister app, Whale Alert, is to allow ship captains access to real-time location information, so they can either avoid areas with lots of whales or slow down while passing through them.  Our unique location in the midst of these shipping lanes and our ability to look for whales on a daily basis provides important information on their location – especially for the resident whales that decide to stick around.  The Farallones might be a great whale buffet, but they’re also in the middle of some heavy ship traffic, and providing daily information on whales in the area will help reduce their chances of being run over.  

It has been a banner year for whale watching off the California coast, and this season it seems they are sticking around longer than usual, a strange occurrence that only emphasizes the need to protect them from collisions.  Here at SEFI, we are seeing blue whales almost every day, unusual for this time of year, and we’ve had a few humpbacks also making a later trip down south, in additional to a few pods of Risso’s dolphins.  Last week, we caught a glimpse of a distinctly v-shaped blow among some southbound gray whales, which usually have bushy or heart-shaped blows.  Right whales, one of the most endangered species of marine mammals, have very prominent v-shaped blows, though some gray whales have also been seen with a larger divot in their blow, making it appear v-shaped.  Sightings of North Pacific right whales are extremely rare, and it is even more rare to see one this far south.   Two sightings occurred earlier this year off the coast of British Columbia, the first for that area in 62 years.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t confirm the identity of the whale with the v-shaped blow, but we alerted NOAA and other organizations further down the coast, hoping that the southbound whale would be seen and confirmed somewhere on its travels.

The v-shaped blow of a right whale (left) is notably more separated than the bushy, heart-shaped blow of a gray whale (right)

Our great gray whale migration is just starting to pick up, and I look forward to seeing more and more of their huge spouts passing us by every day (along with any other random whale and dolphins that may appear), while trying our best to conserve and protect them along with all the other wonderful creatures at SEFI – residents and visitors alike.

Island Entomology

Mike Valainis and Bret Robinson, SJSU Entomology students

My name is Bret Robinson and I am a graduate student at San Jose State University.  I have been taking multiple boat trips out to the bone, guano, and insect covered South East Farallon Island for almost a year now.  I, along with Mike Valainis - another San Jose State grad student, am investigating the insects of the island. Mike is concentrating on the endemic cricket species Farallones caverniculus. 

My thesis is more general and will provide a baseline for further entomological studies and identifications of Farallon insects. I collect, and then determine, what species are found throughout the year.  Seasonality is observed through frequent trips that last roughly two weeks.  I collect insects found on the island and those traveling to the island from the mainland.  I’m also examining the abundance and diversity of insects on the Farallones before potential proposed eradications of invasive plants and mice.

Farallon collections from spring 2013

So far, we have found a diverse array of multiple orders of insects on the island.  Three main orders seem to dominate the insect biodiversity. These are Diptera (Flies), Coleoptera (Beetles), and Lepidoptera (Moths/Butterflies).  

You wouldn't think that there were many different flies since throughout the year you are bombarded by the infamous "Corm" Fly, Fucelliinae thinobia, but so far it is the most diverse order. Many of these flies are mere millimeters in size.

Beetles are also a dominant species on the island. Two beetles in particular are the Darkling beetle, Eleodes planatus or the black beetle of the genus Coniontis. Any time you lift up a rock your chances of finding one of these are high.   

Farallon "Corm" Fly
Fucelliinae thinobia

Everyone loves Butterflies and this island’s got them.  Observations have determined that most butterflies are migrants and they are taking to the wind and making it all the way out to the island.  Two butterflies species have successfully set up a permanent residence here on the Farallones by taking a liking to the Mallow plants, Lavatera arborea and Malva neglecta.  These two butterflies are; painted lady, Vanessa cardui and the west coast lady, Vanessa annabella.  These butterflies will dance around you as you take a leisurely walk through the marine terrace on a warm sunny day.

West Coast Lady, Vanessa annabella

Butterflies are cool, however it is the other Lepidoptera group, moths, which excite me the most.  There are micro moths that take residence in the caves and just love feeding on that nutrient rich guano.  Among these you will find day and night a variety of larger moths that seem to appear during certain seasons.  With an ever-changing island of macro species, birds and pinnipeds,  there is right under our noses a diverse changing group of moth species throughout the year.    

Yellow Hindwing Moth, 

Noctua pronuba

All in all there is more out here on the island than we could ever dream.  Many specimens have been collected and now with the help of an academic community of experts such as Universities and organizations like Cal Academy we can identify these amazing creatures 

I can’t wait to get back on the Island in January for another insect expedition and to see those massive male elephant seal behemoths duke it out for love. 

Farallonathon Wrap-up

Day 2 (Oct 5th) - The day after our big wave, we awoke to fairly gusty east winds. Although east winds do not typically bring large numbers of birds, they can bring interesting birds that don't normally cross large bodies of water. So we were hoping for raptors, especially for a hawk or an eagle. A big chunk of our day, though, was devoted to getting our groceries from The Rainbow, a boat in the Farallon Patrol. The Farallon Patrol consists of several skippers that volunteer their time and boats to ferry people and supplies to and from the island. In addition to bringing us food, this boat brought out a new intern, Xeronimo Castaneda, and departed with Kristie Nelson. After The Rainbow departed, Dan Maxwell and Jim Tietz took our boat over to a massive flock of seabirds feeding off the east side of the island. Here we found our one-and-only Rhinoceros Auklet amongst the thousands of Common Murres. Back on the island, we found several other arrivals, including a Rufous Hummingbird, which was our first for the fall. Normally, we see these in late August and September, but we saw very few birds during those months, so we were happy to finally see one. We also found two Brewer's Sparrows, a Grasshopper Sparrow, a late Bullock's Oriole, and our first European Starlings of the fall (a flock of 30). East winds are also great for migrant insects, and we added several such as Painted Lady, Monarch butterflies, and four species of dragonflies: Blue-eyed Darner, Green Darner, Variegated Meadowhawk, and Black Saddlebags. Our final addition was from a pair of Harbor Porpoises that strayed far away from their typical near-shore local. The 17 additional points from this day, plus one for a Willow Flycatcher positively identified from a photo taken the previous day, brought our total up to 128.

Day 3 (Oct 6th) - Our third day started out just like the day before, with strong east winds, warm temperatures, and greater than 60 miles of visibility. Although these winds did not bring us a big bird wave, a few new arrivals visited us to keep the day interesting. Surprisingly, this weather brought out four Barn Owls, which were found roosting in the three trees around our houses. Historically, Barn Owls used to be quite rare, but their numbers have increased by 310%. in the past 15 years. During this increase, we have documented numerous Cassin's Auklets and other breeding seabirds that have been killed by the Barn Owls. Other western migrants included Tree Swallow, Pacific Wren, Vesper Sparrow, and Lark Sparrow. These winds also brought us our best day of the fall for East Coast warbler diversity, with just one Western Palm Warbler, one Blackpoll Warbler, and one Black-and-white Warbler. September typically brings us the East Coast warblers, but the wind and fog must have kept them away. A second Blue-footed Booby joined the one first seen on Day 1, which added another five points for being a CBRC bird. Our first shark point of the Farallonathon happened when Cameron Rutt spotted a shark surface off of Shubrick Point. At the end of the day our total had crept up to 145.

 

Day 4 (Oct 7th) - The winds switched to northwest today, starting out light, but then strengthening. Combined with 30 miles of visibility, these conditions bring few migrant birds. Once it became obvious that there were not many arrivals, Boo Curry and Jim Tietz visited West End Island to conduct a Northern Fur Seal count at their Indian Head colony and to look for tags. Before the 1850's, the Farallones had a Fur Seal rookery of a few hundred thousand individuals. Unfortunately, once Europeans discovered this, they set about to kill as many fur seals as they could and shipped the pelts to China for profit. After several years of exploitation, any remaining fur seals abandoned their colony on the Farallones and were not seen again on the islands until the 1970's when the occasional individual would haul out to rest. In 1996, a pup was discovered at Indian Head Beach on West End Island. Following this discovery, annual ground survey visits were made to the colony to document its growth. In 2006, we noted that the colony had dramatically increased in size, and we noted that there were several fur seals with tags on their fore flippers. Since tags can provide the known age and sex of each seal as well as its origin, we increased the frequency of trips to the colony to improve our understanding of this colony's demographics. So far, we have read over 100 tags at this colony. The vast majority of the seals with tags were tagged at the San Miguel Island colony, which is in the Channel Islands off southern California. However, we also found a tag that was from the Commander Islands off northeastern Russia. On this last trip, all the tags appeared to be from San Miguel Island, except for one that may be from another location. Now that the government shutdown is over, we may get an answer. At the end of our survey, we had counted 486 individuals on land, and we estimated that there were at least 100 in the water right off the colony. The colony still has a long ways to go to reach a hundred thousand. But so long as we continue to protect their rookery from human exploitation and disturbance and their feeding grounds in the California Current from over-fishing, they should continue to rebound.

Only four points were added this day from the following sightings: a pair of Blue Whales seen far to the south from the lighthouse during a cetacean survey, one Pomarine Jaeger seen during the afternoon seawatch, and one Rock Pigeon and one Least Flycatcher seen during an area search. These four points brought our total up 149.

Day 5 (Oct 8th) - Strong northwest winds and clear skies meant that many birds departed and few arrived. Only one bird arrived that gave us a new point, an Aleutian Cackling Goose. It showed up behind our house extremely thirsty. We gave it a little water which it gratefully accepted. This was our only point for the day, so our paltry sum increased to 150.

Day 6 (Oct 9th) - Even stronger northwest winds gave most of the birds that were still on the island a nice tailwind for departure. No points were added this day, so our total remained at 150. 

Day 7 (Oct 10th) - The dawn weather appeared more promising, with light winds out of  the west, and the visibility down to just 5 miles. Sadly there were not many birds about. But then during the AM area search, Cameron spotted a Great Crested Flycatcher. Although there were 11 previous records for the island, this was the first since 1989! In addition, this species is on the CBRC review list, so it counted for five Farallonathon points! Other species this day that were new for the week were Killdeer, Parasitic Jaeger, South Polar Skua, Lapland Longspur, Wilson's Snipe, and Short-eared Owl.

In addition to birds, we found two new species of insects, a Familiar Bluet, which is a kind of migratory damselfly, and a Farallon Cricket, the only endemic species on the Farallon Islands.

Our final point was found at 9:30 on this last night of Farallonathon. The Farallon crew set out to find the only salamander on the island. Ironically, the name of this species, which occurs on an island with just 4 introduced trees, is the Arboreal Salamander. It is uncertain how this salamander got to the island, but it's possible that it came across the ocean on a log as has been documented in the San Francisco Bay (fide, Peter Pyle), or perhaps it was assisted by humans on a boat, or the species may have persisted here ever since the islands split away from the mainland millions of years ago.

With the 11 bird points (6 regular + 1 CBRC), 2 insect points, and 1 salamander point, our final total stood at 164 points. Compared to the previous 21 years of Farallonathons, this year ranked 13th. Despite our auspicious first day, poor subsequent weather and zero shark attacks meant we were doomed to have a low score. We hope you enjoyed hearing about our Farallonathon and support our cause for conservation. If so, please consider giving to the Farallon program at the following website: 

http://birdathon.kintera.org/farallonathon