The largest island off of California's coast, Santa Cruz Island is a must-visit location for every bird junkie in the state, if not the country. This is due to the fact that it happens to host a species of bird found nowhere else in the world - the Island Scrub-Jay. This boldly colored blue jay is very similar to the mainland Western Scrub-Jays only a twenty-odd miles away. However, they are a bit longer, heavier, bluer, with longer bills and longer legs than their mainland relatives. Islands are diversity hot-spots all over the world, chock-full of unique species isolated from the rest of the world by expanses of water, but this is the only such case of avian endemism off the coast of the mainland U.S.
Libby and I always approach boat trips with trepidation. After all, we both get carsick fairly easily, and everyone knows that sea sickness can really ruin your day! But, once again we lucked out. Our trip met with calm seas. There was a large swell, but the interval was really long, makings a nice, smooth ride. The big highlight on the way out was a large pod of Common Dolphins. There were probably over a hundred, and they came up to the boat and rode the waves after it slowed for the passengers to observe them. That was fantastic. My abilities with the camera were too poor, but I did get a short video you can see on Flickr.
We arrived on the island after about an hour. Only we, some of the crew and a single researcher got off on the boat's second stop - Prisoner's Harbor. This is the place birders always go to try and pick up the Scrub-Jay, and we weren't disappointed! We got the bird within the first few minutes of landing, assisted by the helpful boat crew.
Island Scrub-Jay
Check out the bill on this bird! This is one of a confiding pair that nests in the harbor area. We were able to watch and enjoy them from close up for a long time before they flitted off into the willows.
After that, we wandered around and enjoyed the exotic locale. There are some giant eucalyptus growing around a gravel stream, thick willow forests, a gravelly beach whose stones clattered solemnly as the surf drained out of them, and lots of sun-drenched chaparral.
On the way back we got to see some migrating Gray Whales really well, and the boat captain helped us find seabirds. We stood outside of the wheelhouse window and he would knock on it when something came into view. We had decent views of Common Murres, Rhinoceros and Cassin's Auklet, and a light-morph Jaeger that took off of the water right in front of that boat drew him out into the wind to shout it out in excitement. He guessed that it was a Pomarine, but since we couldn't identify it ourselves we're going to let it go as unidentified for now.
The Rhinoceros Auklets and Cassin's Auklets were lifers. We also had a few different alcids we couldn't identify - I think probably one Ancient Murrelet and one Xantu's Murrelet - but it was hard to tell. The thing is, you're shooting along at 20+ knots, and the boat is moving up and down, and the birds are distant , and are also moving up and down, and it's just hard to identify anything, especially if you don't have any experience with the birds.
Anyway, it was a great trip! We had a blast.
I put up a group of pictures on Flickr: Santa Cruz Island set. It includes video of dolphins, and some shots of interesting sights on and off of the island.
After that, we wandered around and enjoyed the exotic locale. There are some giant eucalyptus growing around a gravel stream, thick willow forests, a gravelly beach whose stones clattered solemnly as the surf drained out of them, and lots of sun-drenched chaparral.
On the way back we got to see some migrating Gray Whales really well, and the boat captain helped us find seabirds. We stood outside of the wheelhouse window and he would knock on it when something came into view. We had decent views of Common Murres, Rhinoceros and Cassin's Auklet, and a light-morph Jaeger that took off of the water right in front of that boat drew him out into the wind to shout it out in excitement. He guessed that it was a Pomarine, but since we couldn't identify it ourselves we're going to let it go as unidentified for now.
The Rhinoceros Auklets and Cassin's Auklets were lifers. We also had a few different alcids we couldn't identify - I think probably one Ancient Murrelet and one Xantu's Murrelet - but it was hard to tell. The thing is, you're shooting along at 20+ knots, and the boat is moving up and down, and the birds are distant , and are also moving up and down, and it's just hard to identify anything, especially if you don't have any experience with the birds.
Anyway, it was a great trip! We had a blast.
I put up a group of pictures on Flickr: Santa Cruz Island set. It includes video of dolphins, and some shots of interesting sights on and off of the island.
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