Richard Rowlett's Piedras Blancas, CA 2005 Whale Blog on morro-bay.com
(Note:  6-3-05 -- this archive is hidden and not linked to pending formal approvals)

BIRDS —

"Well...," as Travis ALWAYS starts out ‘his take' on the news on "the PIG" (KPYG 94.9FM) every weekday morning, 7, 8, and 9 (we imagine him as some hippy dude broadcasting from his yurt up in the hills above Santa Cruz somewhere with his barky little dog in the corner -- keep it up Travis, we love ‘ya), another season has come and gone here at Pt. Piedras Blancas.  It's been a slow mellow week as we close down our 12th season at the lighthouse observing, monitoring, and assessing the 2005 gray whale calf production in the Baja California lagoons as mother and calf pairs all pass by here northbound to Alaska.  It was windy with high seas and lethally higher swells at the start, then calming down giving way to a bit hazy/foggy and dead calm in the middle through the end apart from a little chilly afternoon wind tacked on by week's end beneath an otherwise hot burning late May sun.

Our primary coastal seabird migrants have mostly done come and gone and at least we can see the bottom of the ‘loony bin' (Pacific Loons) now as individuals, pairs, and small packs of 10-40 trickled through this week numbering a few hundred to 1500 or so early each morning.  Most of these early morning packs were comprised of immature birds and the very last dregs should continue coming through the first week of June before everything drys up for summer with only the summer lingerers remaining after about 10 June.  Is it just my subjective and perhaps less attentive impression, or are there less Pacific Loons than a decade ago?  I think I am still in tune with the loon pulse around here but the magnitude and lack of those huge hypnotically mesmerizing pulses in the mid 1990's seems to have declined in recent years with perhaps season totals two-thirds to even one half what we saw here 10 years ago.  Perhaps those years were anomalies and now maybe more Pacific Loons are wintering further north, or perhaps there really are fewer Pacific Loons.  A half-million Pacific Loons passing by here is still a lot of Pacific Loons, but even so, the flights are not as spectacular, concentrated, and sustained like a decade ago.

The very last Brant sighting was a single lonely flyby on Wednesday (5/25) and just a few straggler immature Surf Scoters and Red-breasted Mergansers were sighted this week apart from the few probably destined to linger for the summer.  Everything else is pretty much gone now.  No phalaropes apart from a half dozen Red-necked on Wednesday (5/25) out along a kelp patch, no Bonaparte's Gulls, and no terns apart from Caspian.

There were no out of the ordinary alcids; just the regulars including Common Murres, Rhinoceros Auklets, Cassin's Auklets, and the resident Pigeon Guillemots. Good mid to late afternoon northbound flights of Cassin's Auklets did suddenly kick on beginning Wednesday (5/25) and continued through Saturday (5/28) with several hundred to perhaps a few thousand cumulatively steadily passing by way far out there every few seconds as singles, pairs, and small flocks up to 30.  All of those wee little dark looking alcids you may see way out there but too far to see much detail are Cassin's Auklets.  One pair of ‘black & white' murrelets was noted on Friday (5/27) and there were probably others out too far or overlooked as well which most likely were Xantus's (last week of May is when they usually start showing up in significant numbers and almost always pairs) but I can't for sure rule out Ancient Murrelet although it is getting late for them now.

It's been an absolute bust for pelagic seabirds like albatross, shearwaters, jaegers, and Sabine's Gull.  There has never been such a dreadful no show for tubenose seabirds.  There was however, a light all day northbound trickle of Sooty Shearwaters on Wednesday (5/25) along the upwelling 1nmi out and I'd expect those numbers to increase by June and on through the summer.  When the Sooty Shearwaters are in close and just beyond the breaking surf, I usually can count on a Manx Shearwater now and then with up to a dozen sightings per season.  Needless to say, zero this season, and had I not done that Sunday morning dedicated 25X sea watch way back on 17 April, the one and only Pink-footed Shearwater of the season would have been missed all together!

Still, our highlight star visitor this season, the young adult female BROWN BOOBY continued on for another week right through to the very last day, Saturday (5/28).  She has been a devoted regular around here daily now since at least April 22.  As I pull out of here on Saturday (5/28), there won't be any more Brown Booby updates from this reporter, so it will be up to you all to watch out for her from time to time if ever so inclined and report your sightings to the county message board ("slocobirding").  For a quick drive-by look-see and not even get out of the car, just pull into the small obscure Vista Point just a quarter mile north of the big elephant seal viewing Vista Point, 1 mile south of the lighthouse, and scope the pair or rocks just offshore.  My last peek at her as I drive away and head for home was Saturday (5/28) at 0730hrs from that small Vista Point where she was alert and handsomely poised on the lower shelf and southeast face of the larger and closer of the two rocks.  That early morning viewing found the lower rock and where she's been spending most of her loafing/preening time completely carpeted with Brown Pelicans thus leaving little or no room for a wayward booby.

The adult male Harlequin Duck remains at the Vista Point on the rocky point on the curve (look for the little bushy clump of cypress) two miles south of the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse (one mile south of the big elephant seal viewing Vista Point), and continues to favor the same two previously described seaweed covered rocks especially at low tide, but not too low like those spectacular low tides this week where even a walk to those very same rocks was a dry one.  I had to look a little harder for him at 0700hrs Saturday (5/28) until he suddenly flew in from the southwest from the way far outside edge the kelp forest there and landed right next to the same favored seaweed covered roosting rock 50-75 meters off the northwest corner of the parking area.  A few seconds later, he clambered up on the rock to join his pal, an immature Surf Scoter.  The Harlequin Duck appears to be molting into post breeding eclipse plumage as some of those crisp features are beginning to fade.  That probably means he's there for the summer if not forever, and it's probably been there all along all season, and winter, and maybe even for a few years, and had Karen Clarke not mentioned it several weeks ago, I may have never gotten around to stopping by there at all.

Brown Pelicans continue a steady northward dispersal with squadrons most conspicuous and numerous during the morning hours and occasional ones after noon.  We were seeing 1000-1500 per day until Thursday & Friday (5/26-27) when the flyway turned strangely quiet and empty.  Saturday (5/28) they were back out in force all day along.  Echoing the pelicans on Saturday (5/28) was the first really noticeable movement of Heermann's Gulls drifting by in almost grey ghost like elegance unobtrusively winging by low over the water heading north.  One final adult Franklin's Gull went by on Tuesday (5/24) daring such elegance to be mixed in with a flock of 17 drab brownish immature California Gulls, thus bringing the season Franklin's Gull total observed here to 8 which is a little less than average but I doubtlessly missed a few.

The most unexpected if not bizarre sight of the week was a pair of BLACK SKIMMERS skimming by heading north on Wednesday (5/25) constituting the second ever Spring sighting here and just as startling as was the first several years ago, seemingly so totally incongruous and out of place along the rocky cold wind swept Central Coast shoreline.  Almost as startling was an absolute pure powder snow white immature large larid which went by on Friday (5/26) resembling a second year Glaucous Gull except it had a mostly uniform dark bill save for a touch of paleness at the base.  The build wasn't quite right for a Glaucous, nor a Glaucous-winged either, so it may have been a hybrid Glaucous-X-Glaucous-winged.  Speaking of Glaucous-winged Gulls which I have failed to mention at all this season, numbers do vary from year to year, but this Spring 2005, numbers were typical and average with at least a few going by virtually every day.

It was down to the wire and we crossed the wire with no absolute positive or visible evidence of fledgling Peregrines.  However, the ante was upped this week with a continually growing mountain of circumstantial evidence that there are in fact fledglings over there but agonizingly out of view on the north or west face of the Outer Rock.  Having made herself scarce and unobserved all Spring, the adult female finally made an appearance with the male on Wednesday (5/25) and both have been seen every day since flying about and perching together on the south side of the Outer Rock.  Also, unless this was just fun and games, another good sign that fledging may be soon, both adults have been quite vocal and making themselves busy periodically chasing and ‘clearing' the rock of loafing or perceived threatening Western Gulls and cormorants.  Anyway, the clock has run out for this observer and hopefully Brian Hatfield or one of our plant restoration volunteers like Carole Adams can eventually report back with good news and success.

As it so appears for most of the state of California including the traditional desert oases from Kern to Imperial Counties, so it seems here on the Central Coast to have been a rather lackluster Spring for passerine migration much less mention vagrants.  Reflecting back on that Townsend's Solitare pausing briefly here below the lighthouse late Monday afternoon (5/16), I can not help but wonder what the odds are that another coastal Townsend's Solitare reported on the San Diego message board and sighted in La Jolla four days earlier (5/12) might by some longshot chance be the same one.

Around the yard, all the feeders and seasonal bird baths are down now, cleaned and put away for another 9 months.  The little frog pond behind Quarters "A" remains a permanent spot of fresh water for catching a drink or bath and the three other bird baths still get cleaned and filled once in awhile by the plant restoration volunteers.  The yard bird residents are fully on their own and they are all making the adjustments quite well and in fact were already tending away from the free handouts a couple weeks before being cut off all together.  Save maybe for "Crow-Bob" ("Bob the crow") and "Jim-Crow" who had grown to become a nuisance, I think they too, both having been entirely cut off for more than a week now understand that the party is over.  Call it ‘tough love' if you want, "Bob" is even smart enough to instantly recognize the difference between a peanut in the hand and something potentially lethal like a rock in the hand.  I never had to throw it but he certainly could see it was no peanut and it definitely made him nervous ..."What?!? We're not friends anymore??!!"

The Allen's Hummingbird nest (errantly assumed and called an Anna's last week) is now the neat and tidy home to two tiny fledglings with the eggs having hatched sometime this week and so far evading detection from the opportunistic predatory blackbirds and crows.

Amongst some of the obscure yet ubiquitous terrestrial wildlife, our site local Western Fence and Alligator Lizards have been unusually conspicuous and amorous this week and frequently seen in courtship displays and copulation.  No less amorous to the point of being deadly, this week has seen a sudden burst of Long-tailed Weasel sightings.  Nearly blind as a bat, they are not blind to scent and this week the weasels have been out and about doing what they do most intently come mid to late May to the point that I have actually seen several road-kills on the highway just in five mile stretch between Arroyo de la Cruz and the Harlequin Duck Vista Point.  A dead Long-tailed Weasel in the road is always just a bit heartbreaking as the Central California coastal form is quite a handsome looking critter with it's white patchy facial markings in contrast to the long sleek slender body of light browns, warm yellowish tan, and little black beady eyes.

Gray Whales and other marine mammals —

disclaimer: "these counts of calves are preliminary, from unedited data, and have not been reviewed to account for sighting conditions or observer bias."

The 2005 Gray Whale cow/calf migration is a wrap for another year as we closed up shop at the 1900hrs on Friday (5/27).  Two pair came through on Monday (5/23) followed by zeros on Tuesday and Wednesday, then one more was finally ‘checker flagged' out on Thursday (5/26) followed of course by the imagined parade cleanup team of fire trucks and gray whale poop scoopers.  The parade is over, nothing more to see here, move along, go home.  The season total calves observed ends at a preliminary total of 341 sightings recorded during visual effort conducted six days a week, 12 hours a day (Mo-Sa) since 21 March.  From this subsample and later analysis, the actual estimated production can be estimated reasonably accurately and after analysis will likely total 900-1000 which is down a bit from last year but still in the very much normal and healthy range as a reflection upon the recovered Eastern Pacific gray whale population as a whole.  So, we're happy and so should you.

There were no gangbuster sideshows in the offshore outside sector this week unlike last.  There was a momentary hint of a recurrence which faded as quickly as it materialized with a pair of Blue Whales, a pair of Humpbacks, a large school of Risso's Dolphins (Grampus), and some way too far out to be specifically identified Common Dolphins on Thursday (5/27).  Otherwise, the ocean was still and empty of other Cetacea all week.

This last full week of May saw a massive exodus of the thousands of Elephant Seals which so inundated and carpeted all of the available beach space around here just last week and all the way back to mid April.  By mid week, numbers were easily halved from just a week before and by week's end fewer still.  There are still plenty around to satisfy most anyone's curiosity and fascination and they can of course be seen most easily from the big elephant seal viewing Vista Point along rt.1, one mile south of the Pt. Piedras Blancas Lighthouse.  There should always be at least a few around all summer and year round, but for the Spring 2005, the show is really over as the females, juvenile males, and weaners have molted into a new coat and head out to sea and forage, feed, and fatten up in the deeper distant pelagic waters off the coast here to as far far away as the Western Alaska Aleutians.

Epilogue —

It's been quite a hectic season, seemingly more so for some reason this time out.  Keeping up the weekly bird and whale reports has been a bit above and beyond the call of duty and has taken it's cumulative toll, especially when that's just something else piled on just keeping the field aspects of this project running smoothly.  Still, these narratives if to no one else, are important to me as it's a good way to consolidate and summarize notes and have a permanent written record of such somewhere.  If it can be shared without a lot outside objections, then we all win.  Communal living is a part of life, whether at sea on a ship or here in our temporary living quarters adjacent to the lighthouse.  However, we take this communal aspect to the next level with a  revolving door of one-weekers coming and going from the lab in La Jolla which makes for an as interesting and diverse experience as it is challenging and difficult sometimes to keep up and maintain a routine of rhythm and by the end, the passing season now seems like a blur.  Sorry, if I don't even remember who was here now, nor when, and I might not even recognize nor remember your name if we pass in the courtyard sometime some months from now.  But then, at least I have an excuse; I'm getting old, tired, and pushing 60.

I don't know what exactly the future holds in store with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)  currently in the throes of historical and vegetative restoration at the Pt. Piedras Blancas Light Station with the California State Parks system and in conjunction with some other organizations which has now acquired access and ownership from the Hearst Corporation of all but maybe three tiny parcels along the entire 13 mile coastal strip west of rt.1 from Pico Creek (San Simeon Motel strip) to Ragged Point (San Carporoforo Creek).  High on the agenda and good news for you all is to make the lighthouse area more open to public access to include an interpretive nature trail, observation decks, historical tours, etc.  The restoration process will be a long drawn out and ongoing affair that will take time and require a lot of money some of which now is coming from generous outside private contribution.  After 12 Spring seasons living nearly 135 weeks of my life here, then writing about it, ...THEN, having to say, "sorry, but you can't come here" is a constant unsettling conundrum.  Should I even be sharing accounts of the natural treasures which abound around here or just keep silent and let it pass?  I feel most deeply for the San Luis Obispo County birders who have right on their doorstep one of the most interesting, unique, beautiful, and rich birding and wildlife watching spots in the entire County, most of whom who have gone their whole lives knowing little and have never been here due to the site's previous long long standing closure and private ownership issues with the surrounding coastal lands.

Now, there is a glimmer that this may be about to change in some degree.  Piedras Blancas may never be thrown open to unbridled drive-in access any time to satisfy the instant gratification audience of today, but perhaps requiring a bit more effort as a hiking and hopefully handicapped friendly option.  In the interim, there are still two ways the site can be visited right now.  One is simple, the other requires a commitment of time, willing to do hard labor, and the love of just being here.  Neither however is an excuse just to come out and expect to watch birds and whales and other wildlife for a few hours. 

The first option are the once a month historical tours conducted by the folks at the Hearst Castle and manned here by the happy and vintage clothing clad volunteer docents who will be your most knowledgeable and for sure interesting guides.  The tours are usually conducted on the third weekend of the month, cost $15 per person, advance reservation required, and you meet at the Hearst Castle to be bused over much like when you go up to for a castle tour, only this time it's to the lighthouse.  Proceeds from those ventures are donated to the site's restoration.  Call or ‘google' the Hearst Castle for information.

The second option is the real kicker.  This place would not be anything like it has become right now without the absolute utter tireless dedication of a very special cadre of plant and site restoration volunteers who commit to a minimum of 10 hours a month, and many give much much more who with such love and devotion trek out here twice a week to indulge in the hard labor of "intense gardening 101."  That essentially means willing to spend the day crawling around on your hands and knees pulling by hand that ever so invasive iceplant and the constant seemingly never ending weeding out of those noxious ever present alien weeds.  This is not easy work but the cadre of volunteers are an easy going happy bunch bonded together by the same principles of love of the lighthouse, the site, and the very work they are doing.  THEY are making a difference.  And if you think you have a hard life or don't have the time, think again.  These volunteers committing themselves to something they believe in and the hard labor required are mostly RETIRED local folks from Cambria and surrounding areas of San Luis Obispo County.

When we first arrived here on the scene back in 1994, the carpet of iceplant was absolutely astonishing in it's thoroughly successful coverage.  Despite being a successful deterrent to wind erosion and blowing sand, it proved to be an even more successful and total deterrent to the native coastal plant community which includes a number of locally rare and endangered endemic species like the exceptionally exquisite and unique Cobweb Thistle for example.  Yikes, who could love a thistle?!?  This one is different, one of my personal favorites on the site, and now thrives here like nowhere else in the State of California.  Iceplant is a deterrent to the native birds, mammals, and herps as well and a dense carpet of iceplant is the absolute perfect storm for creating a sterile environment.  There is still a lot to be pulled and removed, but in the areas where it has, the succession of native flora filling the void is absolutely spectacular.  Where once stood a vast dense mat of iceplant, now returns the likes of Seaside Woolly Yarrow, Poppies, Daisies, and a vast assortment of others, and not one sprig of iceplant.

Most of these would never have gotten jump started at all had it not been for one of the most exceptional hard working, dedicated, diligent, devoted (the list goes on and on...) in the entire world, Carole Adams of Cambria.  Carole is the guiding force in getting the new plantlings started in the first place, a cutting here, a transplant there, until the number now is in the thousands.  When their survival is most critical and given the harsh environment here with relentless dry, sun, wind, salt, and sand, they need to be nurtured just a wee bit, but that wee bit meant spending many a day by her lonesome roaming the entire site with a sprinkling can in one hand, a weeding implement in the other, and pushing a wheel barrow with two gerry cans of water for refills.  When that's gone, back to the hydrant to get more.  The very idea of such a task is about as unimaginable as it gets.  What's the point?  The joy of being in such a special place, knowing that there is such wildlife show constantly going on all around her yet by looking down at the ground most of the time, seldom sees most of it, but just knowing that and the pride in seeing the spectacular fruits of one's artistic vision and labors is the very essence of life.  One such special case in point is the now native floral area that's come alive in bloom and stays alive in bloom along the walkway west of the lighthouse down to the nationally registered historic one of a kind lower fog signal building along which has incorporated a naturally occurring rock outcrop now resulting in a magnificent native floral rock garden that all blends in as if that's just the way it always was or was always intended naturally.  Good God!  In 1994, even 2000, we had NO IDEA such a walkway even existed much less even imagine walking that way since it had all so long long ago been so densely overgrown by iceplant and the constantly rapidly expanding leeward boughs of wind blown Monterey Cypress (the same grove now trimmed back harboring the recent Townsend's Solitare).  So, if you are bored with your life, maybe retired, have a grand love of nature, hard work, gardening, sharing some quality time with a group of like minded souls, and making a difference, then you might just be suitable to join this elite corp.  Who knows, you can always look up from time to time and maybe see a Peregrine, a whale, interesting passing birds, loads of seals and sea lions, and much much more.  For more information, the rules, the protocol, the dos, the don'ts, etc., etc., and if this sounds just the right therapy you need right now, please contact by email, Carole Adams pcadams@[remove]thegrid.net

****************************************************
Richard Rowlett
NOAA/NMFS Gray Whale Survey
Piedras Blancas Lighthouse
San Simeon, California
For more information about the Piedras Blancas Light Station & activities,
click on: Piedras Blancas Light Station
http://piedrasblancas.gov/

BIRDS —

The 2005 Spring migration is rapidly winding down.  The most obvious coastal seabird migrants, Pacific Loons continued strong early morning pulse flights with 2-5,000 during the first half of the week then abruptly tapered off to just a few hundred afterwards.  Most surprising, and for once not just a flyby was a subadult YELLOW-BILLED LOON sitting on the water 700 meters off the ‘point' from our gray whale study site through the early morning on Tuesday (5/17).  Presumably, this very same bird was noted again, same time, same place on Thursday (5/19).  Especially striking in the early morning sun, the solid uniform horn yellow bill seemingly tilted upward (straight culmen) gleamed.  Otherwise, this individual, a little small by Yellow-billed standards (sexual dimorphism maybe), had all the appearances of an immature molting into adult plumage with more extensive white on the back than a Common Loon.

There were no Brant sightings at all this week, and Surf Scoters (no other scoters) and Red-breasted Mergansers appeared to just be stragglers and non-migrants.  There remained a light sprinkling of Red and Red-necked Phalaropes now and then but no concentrations or flights of note.  Bonaparte's Gulls are long gone with no sightings.  Immature brown California Gulls continued daily flights in frequent loose little packs of a few to 100 or more.  There were two separate Franklin's Gull sightings, both on Monday (5/16), including one solitary adult, and another adult embedded with a loose flock of a dozen California Gulls.

Tubenose seabirds continue to elude the near shore coastal waters at a record distance and date, and the daily absence of even Sooty Shearwaters within coastal visual range at this date is quite surprising.  So, there aren't any shearwaters much, the Black-footed Albatross did finally make the season list roster with a single immature out about 2nmi in the midst of an utterly unprecedented cetaceological circus (see marine mammal account below) on Wednesday (5/18)   There were a few Cassin's Auklets noted on the two flat calm days we had this week (We-Th, 5/18-19) mostly offshore but no other alcids apart from the usual Common Murres, Rhinoceros Auklets, and Pigeon Guillemots.

"The Mexican Air Force" (i.e., Brown Pelicans) continued gaining momentum with squadrons of 10-35 dominating the near coastal flyway each morning to midmorning (200-300 per morning), then tapering off to a scattering for the rest of the day.  The echo northward dispersal flights of Heermann's Gulls began this week but still in smaller numbers than I expected but they are certainly around now to augment the scattering ‘semi-resident' individuals that just hang around.

That young female adult BROWN BOOBY locked in it's 4^th full week of lingering residency since she was first detected on April 22 with all sightings still confined to the same 2 mile near shore coastal stretch between the lighthouse and the ‘Harlequin Duck' Vista Point two miles south (yes, the adult male Harlequin Duck is still down there too) and on the pair of large rocks off the large elephant seal viewing Vista Point along rt.1.  The booby set a new benchmark "range extension" Friday (5/20) by finally and for the first time rounding the 'point' at straight up 1500hrs so close I couldn't even get my bins focused on her and appeared to settle on the long shelf on the west and back side of the "Outer Rock" (Peregrine rock) off the west point from the lighthouse.  Anyone who might have been in the area Friday could probably imagine why.  With the first day of huge swells in over a month generated from a powerful storm in the Gulf of Alaska slamming the pair of Piedras Blancas rocks off the elephant seal viewing Vista Point sending absolutely spectacular plumes of spray and water way up and way over the top of the larger 85 foot high rock, needless to say, there were no birds out on either of those rocks at all all day.  There were no birds on the lower rock either because there was no room as the sea lions were pushed up high and took over the parts where the cormorants, pelicans, gulls, and the booby usually loaf out. 

There was still a moderately high swell running on Saturday (5/21) but not so bad that the cormorants and gulls were not able to settle in again although we didn't happen to see the booby which was the only day we missed it this week.  Perhaps as things continue to settle, she will return to the usual pair of rocks although it would seem to me as I've curiously thought all along, the "Outer Rock" really ought to be more to her liking and maybe that's what will happen now.  Who knows?  Stay tuned.  The only place anyone can get a view of that westside shelf is a distant one from rt.1 about a half mile north of the Piedras Blancas entrance gate or by boat or kayak.  Another rock to search if there are still some unlucky or impatient souls or procrastinators around who haven't seen it yet and are still or just now really desperate is the big white lone cormorant covered one off the beach at Arroyo de la Cruz, about 3 miles north of the lighthouse, and if anyone is still really really desperate, try searching the coast and offshore rocks on up the highway another 4-5 miles to San Carpoforo and Ragged Point.  I will continue to post Brown Booby sighting updates as we happen to chance have them on the San Luis Obispo County birding message board ("slocobirding") http://www.sialia.com/s/calists.pl?rm=one_list;id=67

The closest thing to a ‘vagrant' passerine to turn up around here in a few years was a totally out of season out of place out of whack TOWNSEND'S SOLITARE on Monday (5/16) which I flushed out the cypress wind break along the sidewalk on the north side of the lighthouse during my ‘evening commute' (walk) home from the ‘office' (i.e., study site) at 1730hrs.  Despite the brutally brisk 25kt cold northerlies, I still managed to get to the house and back with the camera to snap off a few documentation digitals.  Since there aren't many places a passerine can fly off and hide in around here without me finding it, I had the solitare in my sights for a good half hour when I decided I had had enough of the late cold wind and decided to let it be to brave the elements by its lonesome self.  Scouring the area early Tuesday morning and no solitare suggested it had just paused out here on this isolated wind swept ‘point' for a breather and snack before moving on to maybe somewhere a little more hospitable.  The Townsend's Solitare is a first for Piedras Blancas and of course another new ‘yard' bird for the personal list.  Usually a mid wintering bird, the SLO County checklist (2002) shows no records after March and just casual at best even during March.

We remain on edge and hopeful that a happy resolution is near with respect to the nesting / nonnesting status of the resident Peregrines.  Even with still no absolutely positive sightings of a female, the male continues to be seen inbound from time to time clutching assorted feathered morsels in it's talons only to disappear around to the opposite (northwest) side of the "Outer Rock" often calling as he approaches and rounds the rock.  Two interesting sightings this week ramps up our optimism that fledging may be imminent.  On Tuesday (5/17), I spotted possibly the female inbound from the north bearing a heavy load in what appeared to be either an immature California or Heermann's Gull.  On Thursday evening (5/19), the male was observed dive bombing and chasing the Western Gulls for the first time this season.  Past years of observations, both of these events, the large prey items and gull chasing tactics to clear the flyway echo behaviors by the adult Peregrines a few days before the young take that first leap of faith to depart the "Outer Rock."

Another and so far, successful Anna's Hummingbird nest was located this week.  Nice and low and easy to check, the nest contains two miniature jelly bean sized eggs.  So far, the crows and blackbirds haven't found it yet and it managed to survive an elevated level of stress from some ongoing nearby construction including a large cement mixer truck parked and dumping fresh concrete right under to it on Wednesday (5/18).  Speaking of which, I could use one of those big rig cement mixers as a constantly mobile rock tumbling / polishing unit to manage and process my now staggering poundage of beach collected stones from around here; hot stuff like the endlessly diverse fancy jaspers, agates, and most exquisite of all, the gem quality jasp-agates, no two of anything alike, while just a little further up the road, jade.

As our 12^th season is winding down, this was the week to begin weaning the yard and site birds from their free handouts.  As the hummingbird feeders run dry, down they come to be washed up and stowed away for another year.  I started out with six, and three now remain which will run dry soon.  The hummingbirds are doing fine and won't miss them for long as there area plenty of hummingbird friendly flowers about like salvia and lupine in addition to loads of insects.  Activity at the goldfinch socks has declined considerably in the past two weeks so that they are hardly needed anymore.  Down at the study site, I'm seriously weaning "Crow-Bob" ("Bob the Crow") and "Jim-Crow" off their roasted peanuts.  Except early in the morning and late in the day when they get to be quite insistent, they manage to spend much of the days now, thankfully off site.  I still save a few chips for the White-crowned Sparrows when the crows aren't around and their recently fledged young have moved on to explore and forage on their own.

Our trio of Western Gulls, two females and a male ("Fred & Ethel," and "Peggy") continue to very politely hang out and keep us company.  They are not beggars at all like crows and ground squirrels, and just patiently and quietly bide their time.  These three Western Gulls have made for a very interesting long term study and have in fact been with us for all 12 seasons!  Of all the large larid gulls, our very own Western Gulls truly are the most handsome in addition to having some very interesting personality!  For all the seagulls one imagines at the seashore, there are never any interlopers and we are never bothered by an ever persistent bunch of aggressive, begging, and messy seagulls like you might find at some roadside park or eatery where people and gulls hang out together.  "Peggy" is particularly interesting and so named because she is missing the right foot (webbing) and gets around quite well on just the "peg".  She is a survivor and a scraper, yet polite and friendly.  She also knows her place in the trio's pecking order; third rung down next to the more but mildly dominant "Fred & Ethel."  Watch for "Peggy," the peg-legged Western Gull when doing the coast north of Cambria as I sometimes see her down as far away as the small overlook vista point and small parking area just south of the San Simeon Creek bridge, 13 miles to the south.

Gray Whales and other marine mammals —

disclaimer: "these counts of calves are preliminary, from unedited data, and have not been reviewed to account for sighting conditions or observer bias."

The Gray Whale cow/calf migration is just about a done deal for another season.  There were only six mothers with calves this week and those ones seemed to be in a hurry seemingly playing catch up with the rest of the herd some of which are by now already dining on the grand bottom buffet in Alaska's northern Bering and Chukchi Seas.  Lots of false cues out there this week; that little disturbance, a little blow, etc. that perk up our alert levels but turn out to be just another pack of California Sea Lions as they are pouring in and wandering around in ever increasing numbers to augment those already present year round.  The gray whale cow/calf count remains firmly in 5^th place for the 12 consecutive seasons now in which we have assessed calf production from the Baja lagoons at Pt. Piedras Blancas. Calving is usually cyclic with a high year followed by a lighter year.  This has been a lighter year but by no means should be interpreted that there is anything short of normal.  This upcoming and final week may feature only a straggler or two if any at all.

After a couple weeks of really flat line dead empty seas in the offshore sector, on Wednesday (5/18) the offshore sector erupted into an absolute unprecedented circus of Cetacea.  At times it was wall to wall from shore to the horizon with 9 species of whales and dolphins everywhere one looked all day long.  There were Blue, Minke, and Humpback Whales, a small pod of Killer Whales, hundreds of Risso's Dolphins (Grampus) in numerous subgroups all over the place, and other dolphins galore including Pacific White-sided, Common, and Northern Right Whale Dolphins, but as hard as we tried to make it an even 10, we couldn't come up with our usual little resident bunch of Bottlenose Dolphins.  Totally as amazing as it was mesmerizing, we smashed our old one day record by 4 species and added three to this year's cumulative list!  In addition to that, Wednesday (5/18) was the most spectacular full blown five star day I think we have ever had around here with perfect weather, no wind, calm seas, haze free, and comfortably warm all day long to way into the night thanks to the High Pressure blocking rain event which was dousing northern California from Santa Cruz northward.  Toss in dash of Brown Booby and our first, albeit tardy, Black-footed Albatross of the season just as gravy, a glass of fine SLO County wine overlooking the sea at sunset, and life just couldn't be better.

At least some of these whales and all of the dolphins came down from the north with the Killer Whales kicking off the show and soon followed by the swarms of Risso's Dolphins along with all the others.  This southbound movement essentially stopped down off San Simeon, where they milled about and turned around to slowly head back north and spread out inshore and offshore.  By late afternoon and evening, the Risso's Dolphins were all long gone but everything else including the Blue and Humpback Whales, three dolphin species, and sea lions had coalesced into a vast feeding frenzy focused on an enormous breezer of fish attended by hundreds of swarming birds (gulls, pelicans, cormorants but not a single shearwater!) that spread for miles and out to the horizon, and the dolphin aggregation easily numbered well into the four figures.

Just by chance Wednesday evening, Nancy Black who has studied Killer Whales and other Cetacea extensively in Monterey Bay for years called to check up on things here and our gray whale counts.  She sounded just a tad despondent after having been out all day up there scouring every nook and cranny of Monterey Bay during day and coming up stone dead empty, something that practically NEVER happens off Monterey.  Thus, it would seem that the Monterey Bay cetacean crowd decided to take a day off to "sight see" Big Sur and visit northern SLO County and Pt. Piedras Blancas.

The Risso's Dolphin has been our most frequently observed offshore dolphin species this year, but they usually stay well offshore where they are squid feeders and typically work along the shelf break which at it's closest point is due west off Pt. Piedras Blancas at about 3 nautical miles.  On Wednesday, they were way inshore and one little break away subgroup pod of 20 or so in an unprecedented manner worked themselves way far inshore to the south side of the larger of PB Rocks off the elephant seal viewing vista point and for a time it looked like they might actually pass around them in the channel on the inshore side.  After a few minutes, they turned themselves around and headed straight back offshore to more familiar environs.

We seldom see Northern Right Whale Dolphins from shore here but the numbers out there by late in the day numbered several hundred.  Right Whale Dolphins are one of our fanciest dolphins, sleek and glossy jet black with a streak of white on the belly and stubby beak, and the only dolphin which lacks a dorsal fin.  At a distance, the usually much more common near coastal dwelling California Sea Lions porpoising along in little packs can be easily mistaken as right whale dolphins.

****************************************************
Richard Rowlett
NOAA/NMFS Gray Whale Survey
Piedras Blancas Lighthouse
San Simeon, California
For more information about the Piedras Blancas Light Station & activities,
click on: Piedras Blancas Light Station
http://piedrasblancas.gov/

BIRDS —

The two or three pesky California Ground Squirrels have been served notice.  Pack up and get out, or else!  "Don't feed the ground squirrels(!)" I have to remind everyone every day.  Finding even just scraps on the ground, they decided this was a good spot to build a house, and so they did.  In less than three hours one morning, they excavated a huge burrow right out front and in the middle of a magnificent patch of seaside poppies which had been so painstakingly planted, watered, and tended by Carole Adams and the hardcore hardworking native plant restoration volunteers who devote so much of themselves around here so native vegetation would flourish where once did the invasive and alien iceplant and New Zealand spinach.  I was so mad, I could spit, so I just got depressed.  Since being served notice that their options may not be attractive, strangely enough, they made themselves a little more scarce Friday and Saturday.  Fascinating how humans seem to endear themselves to the assorted animals that seem to purvey "smiley" facial expressions like dolphins and GROUND SQUIRRELS.  They are NOT smiling; that's just the way they are!  Still, when you've got a little ground squirrel down around your feet standing on his tippy toes with quivering paws out stretched going "gime, gime, gime, please, please, please, pretty please," they are awful hard to resist.  One does them a greater disfavor in the long run by caving in to the temptation, and everyone has, but it's best to leave them be and let them manage on their own which they do very well without human assistance.

Gray Whales and other marine mammals —

disclaimer: "these counts of calves are preliminary, from unedited data, and have not been reviewed to account for sighting conditions or observer bias."

The Gray Whale cow/calf migration steadily slowed this week as we're sensing that the tail end isn't not too far down the line.  Where we had been logging 4-6 pair a day earlier in the week, the numbers dropped to only two pair both Friday and Saturday (5/13 & 5/14).  With 332 pair so far this season, we assured a 5^th place slot among the 12 seasons of monitoring and counting here since 1994.  This total number of course represents just those we have observed during our normal 0700-1900hr work day, six days a week.  From that subsample and data we have collected in past years during the hours of darkness (infrared heat detection devices and recorded on video), we firmly found that the whales never sleep, or at least don't alter their behavior at night or in bad weather.  Day or night, 24/7, it's all the same and they just keep moving through at precisely the same pace as during the daylight hours.  All total and including variables in observation conditions, post season analysis will result in an overall comprehensive and reasonably accurate assessment of the calving season in the Baja California lagoons.  Trust me, things are just hunky dory and the gray whale population is doing just fine. 

The outside offshore waters were largely empty this week of ancillary whales and dolphins unlike the previous two weeks when Humpback Whales were out there cavorting around.  One Blue Whale did make a close pass 600 meters (0.3nmi) out heading north on Saturday (5/14).  A Minke Whale was seen a bit further out heading south on Monday (5/09) and a small group of about 15 Risso's Dolphins ("Grampus") passed by a half mile out on Tuesday (5/10).  Amongst the usual common resident pinnipeds (elephant seals, harbor seals, California sea lions), and sea otters, there was an upsurge in numbers of Steller's Sea Lions (3-5) hauling out on the offshore rocks, especially the large lower rock in the pair of Piedras Blancas Rocks directly off the elephant seal Vista Point, and same rock which has been visited by the Brown Booby.

Good numbers of Elephant Seals continue to laze away the days and the nights at the easily accessible and very popular public Elephant Seal viewing Vista Point, one mile south of the lighthouse.  Little by little and day by day, the numbers are diminishing from the peak densities observed at the end of April, but there is still plenty of time to see, admire, and enjoy their slug like presence, the frequent practice sparing between juvenile males, and of course all that belching and farting that goes on incessantly.

****************************************************
Richard Rowlett
NOAA/NMFS Gray Whale Survey
Piedras Blancas Lighthouse
San Simeon, California
For more information about the Piedras Blancas Light Station & activities,
click on: Piedras Blancas Light Station
http://piedrasblancas.gov/

Piedras Blancas Light Station weekly sightings summary.
Week 4 of 10 ‑‑ 10 - 16 April 2005

BIRDS —
It's been a persistently windy week but a very active one and we haven't lost any survey time.  Mornings are sunny summer blazing HOT while afternoons are sunny winter windy COLD so we must always be prepared with the proper wardrobe for all occasions.

After our first three weeks of relative quiet along the coastal front, this week kicked off with the season's first major migration flight of loons, brant, and even at last, scoters.  Good to heavy flights of Pacific Loons were noted on Sunday and Monday (4/10-11) but Tuesday (4/12) and again Saturday (4/16) were real circus days around here with the flyway running full speed ahead all day long.  An estimated 12-15,000 northbound Pacific Loons screamed by the ‘Point' in the usual narrow 100 meter wide corridor 200-300 meters out between 0700-0800hrs alone on Tuesday and again Saturday at sustained rates measured for several minutes at a time at about 600 per minute passing a fixed point.  All total for each day, I estimate 25-35,000 Pacific Loons went by.  There was also a good mix of Red-throated Loons, as well as the season's first good flights of Common Loons (several hundred).  All total, an estimated 150,000 Pacific Loons (plus or minus 20K) have gone by this week.  Big flights should continue through the upcoming week then probably start to slowly taper off but still running in low thousands right up to the last week of May.  The party should abruptly end all together by the end of the first week of June leaving behind only the stragglers who've decided a warm summer in sunny California is preferable to braving the high Alaskan/Canadian Arctic cold ...and mosquitoes.

Loons as has been observed in previous seasons are usually distributed by stratification.  Pacific Loons form those dense packs to long sometimes seemingly endless narrow ribbons of thousands a few meters above the surface.  A few Red-throated Loons may be mixed in but most are usually seen as singles and loose aggregations just above on the upper Pacific Loon deck up to 100 feet or so.   Common Loons despite their namesake around here are certainly far less common than the abundant Pacific Loons and less abundant but common Red-throated.  Common Loons are all over the place but are often high to very high flyers from 100-500 or even a thousand feet up often seen strewn out in a more lateral formation in loose aggregations of 10-50 on those biggest days like Tuesday.  Pacific and Red-throated Loons, like Brandt's and Pelagic Cormorants, seldom fly over any land whatsoever and even go out of their way to avoid such.  Common Loons are scattered all over the sky and when they come in force, it's a pretty cool sight to see them coming up from the South especially when some are a bit inland high over the coast highway and Hearst pastures beyond with the coastal mountains as an inspirational and exhilarating backdrop and loosely stretching laterally across the sky and out over the ocean.

Also on Tuesday (4/12), Brant made their first significant flyby showing with perhaps 10,000 passing by in steady skiens of 50-500+.  Likewise, the season's best Surf Scoter flight was observed with perhaps about 5,000 even as most strings remain fairly small from just a few to perhaps 200.  First for the season was an adult male Black Scoter in one of those Surf Scoter strings and one female White-winged in another.  No other White-winged or Black Scoters were seen this week.  After Tuesday's big flight, the Brant ran out of steam and dropped back to none at all to 500-1000 or so per day and the scoters were back to their little dribs and drabs.  Brant did pick up nicely again Friday afternoon (4/15) with a steady passage every 15 minutes or so with flocks ranging from 100-300 and totaling perhaps 5,000.  Brant flights went flat again on Saturday (4/16) while loons, scoters, Bonaparte's Gulls, and newly arrived Red-necked Phalaropes maintained heavy sustained levels all day.

Most interesting this year is, at long last, the return of the Bonaparte's Gull.  This is actually the biggest and best real bird news of the season since there has been such a strange and inexplicable dearth of them in the past several years.  They've certainly been out there but slipping by at more distant ranges making them difficult to impossible to detect from shore.  This season, that's all turned around with the largest flights of Bonaparte's Gulls observed ‘this century' and probably in our now 12 consecutive seasons at Piedras Blancas going by all day long in flocks of a few to several hundred all week long.  I have no idea how many, doubtlessly in the few thousands Monday (4/11) and several thousands on Tuesday (4/12) and Friday (4/15) all day long. Flights Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday (4/13-14 & 16) were strictly late afternoon events but with numbers still in the low thousands.

Flocks of a few hundred to up to a thousand or more Bonaparte's Gulls have been routinely gathering during the late afternoons on the now Elephant Seal strewn beach and rafting on the water in the far northeast wind lee corner of the cove just east and below our onsite living quarters, pausing to rest for an hour or two before packing up en mass to resume the northbound migration.  If there was ever going to be a season when some precious little goodie like a Little Gull were to turn up in one of these Bonaparte's flocks, this is it.  I've gleaned through several thousand Bonaparte's this week, and a good solid 99% of these birds have been adults at varying stages of Spring dress with no heart stopping hint of anything ‘different' yet.  The handsome little Bonaparte's are a favorite of everyone around here as they loosely bound along in little flock after flock hugging the coastal shoreline, then like a blizzard in a frenzied whir of wings sweep low right over the ‘Point' a few feet over our heads or cut it short and sweep over the living quarters.  At the ‘Point,' they are abruptly hit by the relentless afternoon alongshore northwest winds and the mass of these delicate and handsome creatures are suddenly and invariably reduced to a disorganized gaggle of "blown-aparts" and sent backward some distance to a slighter calm where they can regroup and organize and try getting past the ‘Point' intact on the second try.

The season's first Franklin's Gull arrived pretty much right on schedule on Thursday (4/14) at 1729hrs ...and 43sec, exactly!  The single lone bird came along in maximum breeding adult brilliance complete with the lovely rosy blush on the breast and belly which was so exquisitely lit off by the late afternoon sun and literally skimmed right overhead and over our trailer on the ‘Point'.  Another gleaming rosy blushed adult Franklin's Gull came by on Saturday (4/16)   I have a special soft spot for the generally rare but predictably regular spring time Franklin's Gulls which are so instantly easy to pick out from all the grand parade other ‘seagulls' which pass by here.  From mid April onward, we usually average one or two a week through the end of May and all sightings are just pure serendipity.  Most are singles, occasionally pairs and by themselves with an occasional one tagging along with a flock of California Gulls but never with Bonaparte's.  Most hug the coastal front, come by low at eye level, and rise up only to pass overhead and over our study site trailer on the ‘Point'.  The only flock of sorts I've ever seen was several years ago when I was returning from Cambria right at sunset and spotted a flock of seven flying north between the highway and the beach between the Hearst Beach and the San Simeon motel strip.  I got back to the lighthouse and had kind of forgotten all about them but stepped outside to gaze over the ocean and admire the evening glow and magical calm over this place when low and behold, here came that same flock of seven which suddenly materialized shortcutting the ‘Point' and silent as ghosts, skimmed right overhead and rooftop of the house!

Marbled Murrelet sightings are becoming less frequent now with only one northbound flyby pair seen on Thursday (4/13) with nothing else out of the ordinary in the alcid department.  Forester's Terns and a few Red-necked Phalaropes were first detected this season amongst the storm of coastal migrants on Tuesday (4/13).  No subsequent phalarope sightings but small numbers of Forester's Terns continued to trickle by now and then each day.

Some shorebirds are making a good flyby showing now, especially Surfbirds, Black Turnstones, Short-billed Dowitchers, and Whimbrels, with an occasional tooting Wandering Tattler to be seen or heard day and night down amongst the rocks.  As is my usual routine being a ridiculously early riser, only I would have noticed the very heavy movement of shorebirds over the ‘Point' between 0300-0400hrs Saturday (4/16).  I have never heard such an incredible Spring time ‘twitter & chatter' around here in the dark of night as hundreds of Black Turnstones, dozens of Forester's Terns, and probably thousands of what I later determined were Red-necked Phalaropes once daylight revealed an enormous movement of them just off the ‘Point," all filling the star studded black as pitch nighttime sky passing overhead often momentarily lit off like sparks from a bonfire in the rotating lighthouse beams. After 0400hrs, the flight died out and the place returned to it's more typical early early morning quiet self with only the belching & snorting elephant seals, meowing baby sea otters, and croaking tree frogs to remind me where I am.

Small numbers of Red-necked Phalaropes began showing up this week with only a few small flocks each morning moving along the blue/green up welling line about a half mile off the ‘Point.'  After Saturday's predawn flight over the lighthouse, the flight exploded out there with countless tens of thousands leapfrogging along that color line all day long.  This seems a couple weeks earlier than most megaflights that I've witnessed here in the past when there have been days in late April when hundreds of thousands to millions may all be massed all over the place from deep in the cove to as far out as I can detect them.  Although scarcely seen at all some years, Red-necked Phalarope flights seem to be concentrated in those spectacular mind boggling numbers during a very short window of just day or two or three, then they are all gone.  There were a few Red Phalaropes mixed in Saturday's leapfrogging swarm but very few with one per every 1-5,000 Red-neckeds.

Since both Bonaparte's Gulls and phalaropes have been mysteriously and exceedingly scarce around here, literally since the turn of the century, hopefully this is a good sign that whatever nearshore oceanographic features which may have been influencing them into staying away has finally turned around and this year's abundance of such is a sign that things are returning to what I just assumed was "normal" back in the mid-1990's during our first several Spring seasons at Piedras Blancas.  Hopefully, this will also translate into a few jaegers now and then and those mid-90's predictable as clockwork late May late afternoon nearshore flights of Sabine's Gulls, and maybe some other surprises.  Stay tuned.

Sooty and/or ‘sooty type' Shearwaters sightings are gradually becoming more frequent and now almost daily, especially early in mornings and toward evening when the winds are cranked up to the daily max.  Most are still way far out in the ‘O-zone' and usually just tiny little dark shearwater shaped microdots is about all that can be seen and even then only by enhanced 25X vision as they sweep up and arc along out near the horizon.  It's hardly anything to get excited about but good to know they are around now and maybe working in a little closer.

Everything's the same amongst the yard and feeder bird menagerie with nothing out of the ordinary except for a Hermit Thrush I spotted in the birdbath outside my bedroom window just before sunrise on Friday (4/15).  Golden-crowned Sparrows continue in good numbers (15 or so) with adults now outnumbering immature 3:1 which seems a little odd.  The White-crowned and Song Sparrows continue under foot at the study site and become especially ravenous, bold, and downright demanding towards the end of the day when they seem to know their about to get cut off and the sun is going down.  The confiding little Song Sparrows haven't gained enough confidence to hop up on the table yet like the White-crowneds but when right underfoot and hungry, they look up at me in a most endearing pleading sort of way and start jumping up and down until I toss them a little peanut piece.  If they get a bigger one than can be handled on the spot, they dash off with it across the pavement like a little mouse disappearing into the coyotebush.  There were no adult male Rufous Hummingbirds this week but probably some of the female Selasphorus types were Rufous but it's too much trouble distinguishing female Rufous from female Allen's that I don't bother nor have that kind of patience, or care really.

"Bob" the crow continues his regular visits.  "Bob" as you may recall from previous seasons had a pal we called "Jim" and he showed up for the first time this season during my gray whale shift on Friday (4/15) to join "Bob" who was already on the scene.  Like each first of season get-togethers of these two, the greetings were exactly the same with a sudden outburst of loud raucous cawing and conversation as only "Bob & Jim" can do as if it's the first time they've seen each other in 9 months.  After that, they're both pretty quiet for the rest of the season with "Bob" the most dominant of the pair.  These two crows got their namesake in honor of a couple of our marine mammal scientist colleagues (names withheld in fear of lawsuits), but if you knew them, you'd at once see the remarkable similarity.  There was a third crow which occasionally joined the pair during the past two seasons but who was definitely way down on the pecking order, shy, and allowed only to have peanuts if directly fed by "Bob" apparently lost his head after we closed up last year.  Word on the street is that this one (we didn't dare name that one) made an apparent error in judgement and became an instant dinner for one of the resident Peregrines.  The remains now resides in Brian's fine collection of bird heads collected from around the site.  As for "Bob & Jim;" well, they're a bit more watchful too.

By the way, anyone lose a pigeon?  A very tame Rock Dove or Pigeon or whatever the AOU has decided to call these things now, turned up in the backyard on Tuesday (4/12) and stayed around all day.  After finding all the left over residual millet from the morning's feeding out there, it made it's way down to our study site, a very risky venture indeed, and remained underfoot until we closed up for the day.  Risky venture indeed and doubtful he survived.  The pigeon hasn't been seen since and most likely was just the right morsel the ever watchful Peregrine was looking for.  Most pigeon types that turn up out here are promptly devoured by the Peregrines.  Most are also racing pigeons from over Fresno way and have identifying leg bands which I used to find with amazing frequency amongst all the legs and beaks and other bird body parts left behind around the Peregrine's favored feeding rocks.  This pigeon had no bands and was just big and fat and looked like something that should be in a city park somewhere.  This reminds me of our one and only White-winged Dove record about 10 years ago which I spotted completing a loop around the lighthouse one lovely sunny calm morning, and just in the nick of time too!  As I was marveling at the dove in my bins, one of the Peregrines swooped in an instant later, the dove exploded, and all that was left was a gentle snowfall of feathers.  Tick! ... Poof! ... and gone just like that!

The Peregrines, or at least one male, is still around but the action remains very quiet to too quiet so I don't know whether we have nesting / incubating activity or not.  After four weeks, I have still not seen either male or female perched atop the lighthouse as has been the usual routine in all previous years.  I won't dare call it a failure yet.  The last time I did and wrote that, two, then three, then four new fledglings suddenly emerged on the tippy top of the Outer Rock the very next day!  A Merlin was seen perched briefly atop one of the piles of pulled iceplant on Monday (4/11) during my early morning 5-minute walking commute from the house to the study site.  If only everyone's commute to work could just be this easy, gas free, and always enjoyable....

Gray Whales and other marine mammals —

disclaimer: "these counts of calves are preliminary, from unedited data, and have not been reviewed to account for sighting conditions or observer bias."

The Gray Whale cow/calf migration phase is still plodding along and gradually gaining momentum while the offshore phase of the earlier adult males, pregnant females, and juveniles is all but over. The pace appears to be on track and comparable to last year as we continue to expect a productive season.  Most of the cow/calves are still south and yet to come.  The next three, maybe four weeks should be the big ones after which they will taper off to none by the end of May.

We will also be keeping our eyes peeled for the 18 cow/calf pairs where the mothers have been fitted with a satellite tracking tags in the Baja lagoons.  As of the end of Week 4, all 18 were still in the lagoons and being tracked so it may be another two or three weeks before they come by.  If we happen to spot any one of them, we hope to photograph those individuals to determine how the tags are holding up (or on) and how the attachment area is healing.  You can watch too and take photographs if you see one.  We'd love to hear about it and see the photos.  Some animals are tagged on the right side, some on the left.  Chances are, only those tagged on the right will be the most obvious since in migration, they are only traveling from south to north and the right side may be all you see.  The tags have a dark antenna with a small white disk at the base.  Don't waste your time scanning way far out to sea where you'd think most whales are most likely lurking.  Gray Whale cow/calves without exception along the Central Coast hug the coast usually from just outside the surf break to maybe a few hundred meters off.

If you're doing the awesome Big Sur Coast drive and can't take your eyes off the grand seascape vistas, you might be missing that Gray Whale cow/calf right below you cruising silently through the kelp.  "Grimes Point," between Julia Pheiffer Burns and Pheiffer-Big Sur State Parks (Monterey Co.), at the second and smallest of the two pullouts 1/4 mile north of the "Coast Gallery," is my personal favorite vista point overlook along the entire Big Sur which often affords astonishingly and aquarium-like full on sustained views of mother Gray Whales and their calves.  Just lean over the edge (carefully) and look straight down.  And while you're there, you might see a CALIFORNIA CONDOR as well as this particular vista point is the site of frequent sightings, even aggregations, especially when there's something dead like a sea lion down there on the rocky cobble strewn beach below.

Piedras Blancas Light Station weekly sightings summary
Week 2 of 10 ‑‑ 27 March ‑ 02 April 2005

Another belated weekly, sorry.  I'll still try to do better but there are so many little things not to mention the infinite distractions around here that best intentions can't always be accomplished on time.

Birds —

Simple and short really.  Coastal seabird migrations were really quite slow and scarcely noticeable at all, casually or otherwise.  Kind of strange really when quite significant numbers of Surf Scoters and Brant should by all accounts and records from previous years, be packing through daily.

John Roser commented on last weeks report: "Mexico had the lowest mid winter count ever and the flyway count is down pretty low, but these midwinter counts are somewhat sloppy.  The problems appear to be higher than normal arctic fox predation on the breeding grounds coupled with a probable increase in illegal native harvest of possibly both eggs and adults during the breeding season."  I think I also heard from someone that Baja's wintering Surf Scoters were down as well, so we'll soon see what happens.

The only good or even noticeable flight of Brant and Surf Scoters this week occurred on Saturday (4/02) which involved perhaps 2,500 of each.  One skein of Brant contained ~250 birds while most of the rest were in the 35‑150 range.  Likewise, there was one string of ~250 Surf Scoters while all the rest were in just numerous little dribs and drabs.  The season's first and only White‑winged Scoters so far were a group of 4 caboosed to one of the strings of Surfs.  No Black Scoters were seen nor any other 'interesting' sea ducks.  Even the Red‑breasted Mergansers which seemed unusually numerous during Week 1 dropped away to just an occasional individual or pair now and then.

The Pacific Loon migration kicked on right on schedule on April 1 to now dominate the loon family with little packs of 10‑20 every few minutes during the morning tapering off to a few now and then in the afternoon as usual.  Daily totals are still quite low and should peak (40,000+ per day on good days) mid to late April.

Bonaparte's Gulls are on the move now, some passing right over or around the 'Point' while most are a little further out following the upwelling/color line about a half mile offshore.  A single Royal Tern was seen on Tuesday (3/29).  No tubenose seabirds way out there this week again.  Alcids were light with a few Common Murres and Rhinoceros Auklets.  Ancient Murrelet sightings dropped off from week 1 with only one northbound flyby on Tuesday (3/29).  Marbled Murrelets continue to be seen almost daily with one or two northbound flyby singles or more commonly, pairs, and usually in the mornings.

Around the yard, the dozen or so Golden‑crowned Sparrows have spilling out their Spring song which is a nice addition to the cacophony of White‑crowned and Song, American Goldfinches, and House Finches.  During Week 1, all the Golden‑crowneds around here were immature while this week, I've started seeing a few adults in the mix and probably showing the slow coastal migration north.

Occasional adult male Rufous Hummingbirds and female Selasphorus hummers were being seen daily, especially during the afternoons, but in very low numbers much as has been noted just about everywhere else this Spring given the widespread flower bloom this Spring in response to the wide spread and bountiful winter rains over the entire region.  Is that the right word for this winter's SoCal rain dump ‑‑ bountiful, or should it be overkill?

Then, there's the one that got away.  A VERY LARGE female hummingbird was sighted on Monday (3/28) ever so briefly poking around one of the Monterey Cypress before it flew away never to be seen again.  A one moment wonder; literally, I "wonder" what it was.  Very familiar with the common resident Anna's which nest here and attend the feeders all day long, this bird seemed literally twice the size of even the largest Anna's and had a very long straight bill, MUCH longer than any ordinary Anna's.  At the very least, the bird was a good 1‑1/2 times larger, but in an awful lapse of timing, this sighting occurred during one of my very rare moments of life around here when I DIDN'T have my binos slung around my neck.  The bird did it's moment in the cypress and left.  Although seen reasonably well at about 20‑30 feet with a desperately squinting naked eye, the only candidate I can come up with, if not just an 'Anna's on steroids' might be a female Magnificent Hummingbird.  Anyway, it came, I wasn't ready, it went, and well, ...that's that, bye‑bye possible good bird record.

The resident pair of Peregrines remain very quiet and seldom seen.  Both are around now and then and the male usually announces his return to the Outer Rock with some delectable morsel but usually disappears with it around to the unobservable north side of the rock.  There have been no food exchanges observed nor have both adults been seen at the same time.  I am assuming for now that the eyrie is active but it may be located on the north windward side this year instead of the traditional little southeast facing cave.  They have nested on the north side only once in the twelve years that we've been monitoring their activities.

Gray Whales and other marine mammals —

The first pair of Humpbacks (adults) of the 2005 were seen about 2.5nm south of the 'Point' on Thursday (3/31) which just kind of nosed in then turned around and headed back south and out to sea.