Battleship and Butterfly

I sat on a ledge of a canyon. Listening.

Listening to an unseen female shrike faintly calling.

A begging, part of her species ritual. Every year at this time.

A soft begging call, as the male brings her food.

Oh, she is quite capable, and does forage on her own.

But still, the call of the female shrike;

Calling to the other.

A dance as old in days and generations as is her species.

Ah..., listen to her.

Where is she?

Shhh...

listen.

BAM!!!

The soundwave weaves, spiderweb-like;

coursing through the acoustics provided by this many canyoned island side.

Quickly travelling through mine.

The soft, ancient call of the shrike in another early spring

So quietly.

Ah, she's on the far ridge.

See?

See?

Well perhaps she'll call again.

BAM!!! Echo...Echo...Echo...a distant BOOOoooooommm

The Sun has been more consistant lately in her warming

of the clear March, Pacific air.

Like my spirit at this moment, at this time of year

Butterflies lift and dance among the wildflowers

and water-carved walls.

The call of the spring shrike.

A fritillary flutters by like orange confetti paper.

A tiny blue stops on a nearby grass

Opening its wings, warmth is upon us again.

It stops just long enough to make eye-contact

And then flutters away, like a kiss blown by Earth herself.

BAM!!! Echo...Echo...Echo...a distant BOOOoooooommm

The shrike calls to her other.

The butterfly, aided by the wind, floats over the deep. Over where echos live.

The battleship, in the marine-layer haze, smokes.

Species and their rituals.

Lupine Blue (Plubejus lupinus)

©-mwyork, 5 Mar 2008

So When Are You Going to Update The Site???

Alright already.

Man.
_________________

Seriously (the previous lines and title being somewhat tongue-in-cheek...somewhat), I have less blogging-convenient internet access 70 miles off the coast of southernmost CA than I did 600 miles NW of Honolulu, HI. With that said, it may be that we both have to transition abit. Perhaps not. But for the moment it would seem that I won't be able to post the musings, observations, and mastications on life and lives as often via this medium on San Clemente Island as I had in the NW Island Chain of HI. There I would wake hrs earlier than others during a workday, morning being a time when I focus more accutely and generally work in a better fashion than later on, and write(type) on this forum.

It would appear at the moment that timing will be different with this gig than the previous. But, adjustments will eventually be made. So lets work together until this transition takes place into some resemblence of a routine. It will happen. It always does.

Hopefully this blog won't be a victim of its previous success during my stay at Tern I.

"It's going to be alright." - anonymous 21st century poetess

Patience is a ...., how did that go again? Patience is...; well its something I suppose.

So, I post this on the afternoon of one of my days off. I'm a little tired. The morning coffee has worn off, the brainpower is in a bit of a mellow herbal tea haze, and so the gentle musings might be gentler than we are used to. They might be non-existant.

Nevertheless, I have pictures. Plus, we need to "get the ball rolling" on this stage of this particular life's trekkings.

I believe I have somewhat explained in previous postings my current job and location. Regardless, I am newly serving as Avian Field Biologist for the San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike Monitoring Program for a private company that works on San Clemente Island, the southern-most channel island, a chain off the coast of southern California.

I should say I work at Naval Auxilliary Landing Field - San Clemente Island.

This place is owned and operated by the U.S. Navy. It's employer, the Federal Government, also requires by law the protection of species native to the United States that it has listed Endangered or Threatened.

Thus, the endangered San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike (LOSH).

But the company I work for isn't the only agency involved in this effort. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Point Reyes Bird Observatory, as well as the Zoological Society of San Diego.

The highest point on San Clemente Island, Mt. Thirst, rises to 1965 feet above sea level. The mountain range is surrounded by canyons of various lengths and depths.

It is in these canyons where the handful of people that make up the monitoring crew spend much of their time, as the LOSH tend to prefer the vegetation association in these drainage bottoms as habitat for the breeding season.

If it looks like a long ways down in these photos, that is due in large part to the fact that it is.

We backpack around, descend into, ascend out of, and generally orient ourselves to the optimum vantage point that can be (sometimes) reasonably reached to view LOSH's, once they have been seen in the partcular area.

Most of the shrikes have been banded, as fledglings either captive or wild bred, from previous years. Each bird has a uniques combination of four different colored leg bands, two bands per leg. This gives the bird an identity and lineage that can be traced back. As LOSH's are sexually monomorphic, meaning both male and female bird generally look alike, the color combination data set also let us know male from female. After awhile, birds become known to the biologist. Personalities come out, and favorites are sometimes expressed from the biologists.

It is through observation that we monitor LOSH behaviours to determine several stages that are important to know at this time of year. We look for birds that are solitary; single birds that seem not to have a mate, not perching with another bird, and generally foraging by itself. These birds, color-banded, are always noteworthy as they may have had a mate in years past. So where is the other bird? Has it found a better location, a more "suitable" mate? Has it died? Remember there are only 100 of these birds in the wild.

We certainly note when a bird is seen with another bird. Knowing that a pair bond has been documented, and the two individuals documented by determing colorband combination is an important stage. The PR, the pair. General courtship is most often noted when a bird is heard "begging", that would be the female, and the male brings her food.

Another stage looked for is NB, or Nest Building.

It is always an important moment when both birds of a pair are seen entering a spot of vegetation at the same time for the first time. Now we know that something is certainly going on, and it is further illustrated when a bird is seen carrying nesting material to that point. Neither bird spends a particularly long time inside the vegetation. They are both seen flying out only a few moments after.

The next stage looked for is Egg Laying. Egg laying is noted when the female is observed flying into the previously noted nest site and does not come out for awhile. Sometimes she is heard "begging." At times, the male is observed bringing in food. Still, she doesn't stay in there for long, and will forage for herself periodically.

When the female is noticed to have stayed in the nest site for longer periods of time, it is assumed that the pair has reached the Incubation stage. This is also roughly calculated to an expected date after the egg-laying. The female will only occasionally leave the nest site. The male is seen bringing food toward the particular point of vegetation.

Following stages paid close attention to are ofcourse nestling and fledglings stages.

Early mornings and arduous hikes don't always get us to canyon vantage points that are needed. The slope gradient is too steep. Early mornings don't change I suppose, but sometimes in life you have to start from the bottom.

One day out of the week, the Navy takes us around on a little boat and drops us off in an even smaller boat of ours (well, inflatable raft) and we paddle in to certain canyons. Some might ask, "Isn't the water frigid this time of year?"

I would reply.

"Yes."

____________________

Let this serve as the send-off into this leg of our journey together. It is, as always, my hope...my intent that you and I will learn more about ourselves, about the world around us, about those we share it with and the greater interactions that happen. Those that happen well beyond self and pride and ambitions for power and self-proclaimed granduer that only really exist on paper, if they exist at all. Sometimes all we really need to shake off those apparitions is a pair of boots to hike a steep gradient in, or a snorkel and fins to fight a strong current in or be escorted out of deeper waters by those who belong there.

I thank you, my readership, for your interest in this little cyber-experiment of mine. SCI and the subsequent online scribing of philosophy, musings, opinions, questions that have answers and those that don't will most certainly be different from the Tern Island segment. But in time, it should take on its own shape. One that I hope touches all previous bases, and perhaps more.

So, lets keep our hands and feet inside the car, and make sure our safety harnesses are locked in the upright position.

At first, this ride will be a steep climb.

Good evening,

-mwyork

They Are Just Seagulls.

Just?

I arrived in San Diego yesterday. I took a road north of the interstate in order to drive through the mountains. They were absolutely beautiful. The habitat and vegetation associations that changed as I ascended and then descended in elevation promise some incredible areas to explore and take in during off days from the island. From desert scrub mountains with Bighorn sheep up to areas of Ponderosa Pine stands with the Acorn Woodpeckers flying about. Certain hillshades still containing bits of packed snow. Such a familiar welcoming to the county. Thoughts of my time in the Davis Mountains and Big Bend area of far West Texas immediately came to mind. I will be back.

Later in the day I went on down to the ocean. There she was. The Pacific. The Blue. A warm embrace from a Provider, a Confidant, a Protector, a Constant reminder of nothing and everything.

I've returned to you.

Now, the La Jolla beach area of San Diego is not exactly a 30+ acre atoll over 500 miles away from civilization. It is ofcourse quite developed with condos, hotels, shopping, and people. But through the cacophony of human activity, the familiar hum, that siren song of the Pacific draws the gaze, the senses, the being back to her attention.

California Harbor Seals



Newness brings various emotions; excitement, nervousness, anxiety, enthusiasm. Different thoughts for different people I suppose. Undoubtedly we do share many of them though.

Seagull are new to me... again. Seagulls (Larus spp.) largely frequent coastal waters or inland wetlands and lakes. During my near month between jobs, I spent time in Waco and Central Texas. There we did/do have some Ring-billed Gulls (L. delawarensis) and large numbers of the quite lovely Bonaparte's Gull (L. philadephia).

Still when most people generally think of gulls they think of coasts. Its part of the visual, the audio remembrances we all have where continent meets water.


A common question, and a good one, that I was asked about my time in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands was "Where were the seagulls?" One would think that the Hawaiian archipelago would be full of them. Not a single bird. Once in awhile perhaps, and those would be vagrants that perhaps a storm blew over.


Seagulls inhabit continental coastal areas rather than waters off remote islands due to the key factor of food. Seagulls' food sources comes from the comparably "shallow" water of the continental shelf, rather than the water of the deep ocean.

Seagulls. What comes to mind? Common noises. Commonly being fed as if pigeons by humans. Common birds.

Common.

Sometimes in life we just need to take a closer look.

Amongst the numerous California Gulls (L. californicus), there were these standouts:

Heermann's Gull (L. heermanni)


From San Diego, at the moment, good morning.


-mwyork

Update on an Update

from those still on Tern Island, French Frigate Shoals, NW Hawaiian Islands.

The albatross chicks are growing rapidly. Some of them are being abandoned by their adults though. They have been able to swap some chicks over to parents whose chick has died. This is done "as long as the chick is fairly small (b/c vocalizations aren't imprinted yet) and the foster parent feeds the newbie straight away."

This seems to work with Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) more than the Black-footed Albatross (P. nigripes) according to those who have been apart of this recently on the island.


They are going to try to put a transmitter (good luck..."Prius" was very shy and flighty when I was on island) on the Laysan X Black-footed hybrid. This in hopes of discovering whether this hybrid more like a LAAL or a BFAL. I must assume in the different lat-longs traversed. Although, these guys are both Northern Hemisphere, Pacific Ocean albatross species, covering pretty much the same range. Who knows? It should be interesting anyways to discover where this bird flies.

Picture of Prius, the hybrid, above.


Also in the update sent to me, the first Christmas Shearwater (Puffinus nativitatis) of the season has returned to the island.


photo by S. Luecht of Christchurch, NZ

There exists a subspecies of the nominate Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) that is an absolute stunner as an adult male. The brewsteri Brown Booby (S. l. brewsteri) is generally seen around the area of Pacific Ocean nearer to the Mexican coast and reaching, at times, off the coast of southern CA, and seldom inland to the U.S. Southwest.

Anyway, I had seen this guy on 3 seperate occasions during my stay on Tern Island. The NW Islands well west of where expected. I never saw him land. I did witness an attempt to land on a defunct weather data station that had long ago become a favorite roost of Red-footed Booby (S. sula) juveniles during the day. It didn't work out for him that time. One landing was reported by a co-worker of mine on the opposite end of Tern that I was on. By the time I ran down there, nothing. The reporting co-worker; a marathon runner. Me; not.
Anyhow, a picture was attached to this recent email update I received.

I restrain jealousy for only certain occasions.

This is one:

photo by S. Luecht of Christchurch, NZ

As for me, I should find myself meandering toward San Diego, California at some point tomorrow.

Good evening from Yuma, Arizona.

-mwyork

Vlad the Impaler

Family Laniidae

Shrikes

We all have moments in our lives when we wonder "Am I doing what I am supposed to be doing?" or "I wonder if I could be something else, choose another career, make some life changes?" or perhaps "I know I could be good at this. How do I get started?"

I certainly have had many moments wondering if I am going in the right direction, making the right decisions, taking the correct steps.

At some point, though, I think we just have to go. Do so, or suffer a sort of paralysis where we overthink things and make no move, take no step.

Just be who you are. As the Nike commercials of the past had stated, "Just do it."

At some point in the past, a songbird whose song was a soft catbird-like mew, whistles, warbles and twitters came to be a predator. A predator not of insects exclusively, but of mice, bats, lizards, and even other birds.

This songbird.......The Shrike.

*These pictures circulated around the bird/ornithology world a while back. I did not get the photographer's name or affiliation. I did not take them*

Superficially, one might say the Shrike, specifically in our case the Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus), resembles a Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) on steroids. I don't know, perhaps it was also named in Jose Canseco's book. If so, I still put alot of blame on current(how is he still...) Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig for being a part of, and allowing others to be a part of, the self-ruin of the great game of baseball at its highest level. I'm becoming quite the minor-league fan these days.

NEVERTHELESS...

The Shrikes' physical characteristics are of raptor-like, carnivorous prey-capture design. The wings are broad. In combination with a long tail, it is built for speed and sharper maneuverability. A powerful hooked bill enables it to snap the necks of their prey and carry them off.

One morphological exception though: the Shrike is a songbird (shhhh, don't say anything to it), and has the legs and feet of a songbird.

Although it sometimes is able to carry small prey with its feet, the majority of the time it can not. It must impale the prey item on sharp objects to feed upon it, store it, and perhaps use it to mark territory.

The differences of shrikes compared to other birds has made their place within the passerine order (songbirds) a difficult one. In the past they had been placed between Starlings and Waxwings, a little more recently they have been placed in a position between Flycatchers and Vireos. There is no consensus.

What I particularly like about these two pictures is that the Loggerhead Shrike, a native sp. to North America, has killed and is feeding upon the gregarious, wide-spread, non-native sp., the House Sparrow(Passer domesticus).

Quickly on the recognizable House Sparrow. The one in the picture slightly less recognizable.

This bird is perhaps more closely associated with human activity than any other North American exotic species. Introduced to this continent in New York City back in 1851, the "Old English" House Sparrow is abundant year-round in cities, farms, and other human-transformed environments. It aggressively defends nest cavities, quite possibly to the detriment of native cavity nesting species such as wrens of the Troglodytes Genus, and Bluebirds (Sialia spp.) to name just a couple of examples.

Back to Shrikes..

The subspecies I'll be working with, the "San Clemente" Loggerhead Shrike (L. l. mearnsi), as touched upon in the previous posting, is an endangered subspecies that occurs only on San Clemente Island.

I certainly look forward to learning more of the Shrikes' lives in the next 6 months.

Be who you are; even if you know how to sing.

Good morning.

-mwyork

And Its One More Day Up in the Canyons...

...and it's one more night in Hollywood.
If you think that you might come to California;

I think you should. - Counting Crows, Recovering the Satellites
___________________________________________

My next position will be as Avian Field Biologist for the San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike monitoring program. This work will take place on San Clemente Island, the southern most island of the Channel Islands chain off the coast of southern California.


San Clemente Island is owned and operated by the United States Navy as a training facility.

It lies ~55 nautical miles south of Long Beach, and 68 nautical miles west of San Diego. The island is ~ 21 nautical miles long and 4.5 nautical miles at its widest point.

satellite image of San Clemente I.

The topography, in part, consists of a mountain range that runs down the southern two-thirds of the island. It has a maximum elevation of 599 meters (1965 ft.). Within, exists canyons, waterfalls at certain times of the yr, and riparian areas. The rest of the island consists of Coastal and Upper Marine Terraces, an eastern escarpment, and sand dunes.

The Channel Islands are part of one of the richest marine biospheres in the world. Many unique species and subspecies are endemic to the islands; including Island Fox ( Urocyon littoralis), Channel Islands Spotted Skunk (Spilogale gracilis amphiala), Island Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma insularis), Ashy Storm-petrel (Oceanodroma homochroa), Island Night Lizard (Xantusia riversiana), San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus mearnsi) and the San Clemente Sage Sparrow (Amphispiza belli clementeae). The aforementioned just some of what going on above, not mentioning any of the great organisms living below the water.

Briefly about two of these endemics:

The critically endagered Island Fox is native to six of the eight Channel Islands of California. It is the smallest fox species in the United States. "Roughly the size of a house cat."

There are six subspecies of Island Fox, each native to a specific Channel Island, including San Clemente Island.

photo from Wikimedia

The bird I'll be working with.

The SCI Loggerhead Shrike is an endangered subspecies of the Loggerhead Shrike.

This monitoring project has been going on for about 10 years. There are now 100 adults of the SCI shrike, that is ~ 40 to 50 nesting pairs.

photo from scisland.org

Shrikes are quite interesting aves. More about Shrikes (Family Laniidae) later.

In the near future, we can touch on island ecology such as allopatric speciation, island endemism, and other points of unique floral and faunal evolution brought on by natural selection and geographic separation/isolation.

Good morning.

peace,

mwyork

The Young and not yet Restless

Updated pictures of our birds were sent to me this morning and I thought I'd send them to you. You guys have been following the progress of the species out there while I was there. Let's follow together, as we are now both off island.

I know Mrs. Seale's class at Spring Valley Elementary in Hewitt, Texas were writing down possible dates, and eagerly awaiting (with me and my co-workers) the first albatross to land on Tern I. Now check this next picture out.

These pistures were not taken by me, and not attributed to any specified person on Tern, when sent to me.

Black-footed Albatross (Phoebastria nigripes) with new chick

I feel quite proud, really, when I first viewed these pictures this morning. How proud does the albatross seem? It's work has just begun.

Remember that early Red-tailed Tropicbird(Phaethon rubricauda) egg? Remember, on Christmas day, it was first seen as a successful hatch? I may have talked about how the" too early egg-then-chick "didn't survive last year. We discussed how, in comparison to these other open-ocean seabirds, that RTTR chick survivability was quite low.

Let's keep rooting the kid on, still going....still growing, too.....

Finally, here is a picture of a just hatched Laysan Albatross(Phoebastria immutabilis) chick, looks cold...

Its down will come in shortly. The beginnings you can already see

Hopefully I'll be sent updated pics as they grow.
Lets stay tuned.

Good Saturday morning.

peace.

-mwyork