Second Day: Elephant Seals, Birds, and Bishop Peak

We decided to drive north on the morning of our second full day in SLO county. We drove straight up to Piedras Blancas Light Station, in part to see the nearby elephant seal colony and in part to look for a crested caracara that had been reported there over the last couple of months. The last report came from the day before, but the birder who reported it said she had to try four times before she was successful, so I wasn't too hopeful. When we pulled up to the light station, there was hardly a bird in sight. I finally spotted something perched way in the distance, and though my brief hopes of it being the caracara were dashed, I was still thrilled to see it was a white-tailed kite (132).

We slowly drove back towards the elephant seal colony, and I scanned the hills as we went. I couldn't believe my eyes when right in the middle of a field sat the crested caracara (133). What a find! This is the first time I've seen this species in the United States - I saw them once before in Mexico, where it is far more likely to be encountered. As we sat and watched, the white-tailed kite came over and dive-bombed the caracara a couple of times (click to see a larger view):

Next, we stopped at the elephant seal colony. There were lots of males, females, and youngsters, which made for some interesting interactions to watch. Quite a few males were sizing each other up, but only one altercation reached this posturing stage:

The largest males were in the middle of the packs of lounging females, with the smaller and younger males around the periphery. Several smaller males in a row tried to pursue this female, who wasn't the least bit interested:

All the big male had to do was lift his head and look at the younger males, and they all turned tail and scampered back to the surf. The female rejoined her companions further up on the beach.

The males, with their large snouts and enormous size, look otherworldly. Most of them are battle scarred and not all that pretty to look at, but even they can look kinda cute when at rest:

Not as cute as the weaner pups, though:

The elephant seals weren't the only mammals around. I haven't mentioned some of the other mammals we've seen - while watching the kite and caracara I spotted a coyote running across the hills in the background. While on the train, I saw a jackrabbit. And the ground squirrels are everywhere around here:

The elephant seals were the main attraction, but of course I was looking at the birds, too. There were horned grebes, brown pelicans, surf scoters, and black oystercatchers nearby, but the highlight was a brandt's cormorant (134) in breeding plumage.

We didn't get too far south of the elephant seal colony when I had to pull over at a viewpoint after seeing a flock of large shorebirds come in to land on the beach. Some of them were whimbrel, but there were also about ten long-billed curlews (135) in the mix. Just before getting back on the road, Keith spotted a hawk in the distance on the other side of the road. It turned out to be a ferruginous hawk (136), only the second time I've ever seen this species.

After picking up and eating another picnic lunch, we went for a hike in Los Osos at the Elfin Forest Preserve. The best part of this walk were the overlooks of Morro Bay. The tide was low and the mudflats were FULL of birds - I can only imagine what all I would have seen if I'd had a scope! The birds close enough to ID were still impressive, including lots of green-winged teal, northern shovelers, willets, and American avocets (137). While scanning the flats I also heard my first marsh wren (138) of the year.

Next up was a climb to the top of Bishop Peak. We knew it would be a somewhat strenuous hike, and the view from the bottom didn't look too bad:

It turned out to be a bit more strenuous than I was anticipating! It was just over two miles more or less straight uphill for a 1500 elevation gain, with the middle stretch more like bouldering than hiking. Add the unaccustomed warm temperatures, and my heart was beating hard and the sweat was pouring. It was also a little disheartening to see some of the local college kids RUNNING up and down the hill for exercise (there were some others huffing and puffing along like me, though).

The near 360-degree view from the top was pretty darn impressive, though. Here's a three frame panorama that only captures a fraction of the view - click to see a larger version:

Here's Keith taking in the view well over halfway back down:

The rum and coke that awaited me at the hotel was well deserved after that excursion! 

So many great sightings and experiences in two days, but still another full day to go. Next up: more hiking, more exploring, and more birding.

Local, Regional, or Global Phenomenon?

This morning my dad forwarded me a discussion that has been going on via the e-mail listserv Oregon Birders Online regarding pelican distribution. It seems this year that American white pelicans are more widely distributed this time of year than usual, which has prompted the discussion. Someone else pointed out that maybe there is a more widespread phenomenon going on, as brown pelicans and magnificant frigatebirds (another member of the pelican family) are also being seen in more and different places this season.

That got me thinking about all the different marine mammal patterns we've been seeing this year in the San Juan Islands.

* The orcas, of course, were noticeably absent this spring, and didn't really fall into their "normal" summer traveling routes until maybe three weeks ago.

* The gray whales in Puget Sound are hanging around a lot later than usual this year.

* We had some humpback whale sightings in June - we usually don't see them until September/October.

* Dall's porpoise, formerly abundant, are almost non-existent this season, while harbor porpoise are far more abundant than in recent years.

* There have been more elephant seal sightings in the area, and even a sea otter sighting. (Sea otters and elephant seals were both hunted out of the area historically. Elephant seals have slowly been expanding their range north again and there is a reintroduced population of sea otters on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington, and we had several sightings in the summer of 2006. But elephant seals are uncommon and sea otters rare.)

* It seems like there are more minke whales around, or at least they are gathering in numbers of 5-10 at some of the feeding areas, instead of just seeing 1-2 at a time.

When I've tried to do some research into some of this - for instance, are changes in bait fish numbers influencing baleen whale and porpoise patterns? - there is often very little information. Bait fish aren't of commercial interest, so nobody even really knows what bait fish populations are doing. On one hand, I'm amazed at how little we know about the ocean and some of the largest creatures in it. On the other hand, it's clearly an amazingly complex system. So, whatever is going on with our local marine life, I have a feeling its all somehow connected and not just a random coincidence that we're seeing all these different sightings this year.

As my dad said this morning when he forwarded me that e-mail, "It takes folks from different disciplines to think a bit wider than their discipline to understand some of these things." Some birders might notice some odd bird sightings, and some whale-watchers some odd whale sightings, but unless we get a discussion going about what we're seeing and how all this could be related we have no chance of even getting an inkling of what is going on.

Elephant Seal

Back on the summer solstice, I heard about this molting elephant seal hauled out on a beach in American Camp along the south side of the island. Every summer elephant seals shed their thick layer of fur, and prefer to stay on land during this time. This seal was almost done molting, as you can see one of the last patches of winter fur on its side. Usually, elephant seals breed and molt off the California coast, but individuals who don't expect to breed in a given year (like this juvenile) often migrate as far north as Alaska to feed and beef up for next season. We only occasionally see solitary individuals in the San Juans, and rarely hauled out like this one was. This photo makes me think of the seal saying "feed me!" as it's been out of the water, and hence without food, for many days. (Really, though, it was yawning and stretching.)