g_heaton's Favorites

Wow. First picked up this bird more or less in the dark at about 6:15 swimming directly below me just off the south edge of the pier. Was unsure of ID for a few minutes thanks to the birds fairly tattered appearance, poor top down view, and lack of light. As the minutes wore on typical features for this species became apparent such as the gray mantle and back, scalloped gray flanks, distinctive dark collar and mask, and pale bill became apparent. I was able to alert the listserv at about 6:30. I watched the bird for some time as it swam around the pier. It preened, sometimes flapped it's wings, and also dived on occasion (a very cool thing to see from a top down perspective). I watched the bird slowly drift out to the south to a distance of a couple hundred feet before slowly floating back towards the end of the pier. The first other birders to arrive were Loren Wright and Cynthia Case, who showed up at about 7:25. They just got on the bird as it dove and rather unfortunately went after a baited hook that one of the fisherman had let down. The fisherman pulled the bird out of the water and I rushed over to help remove the hook. We could see that the hook was stuck into the top third of the upper mandible, but thankfully not that far, not even making it to the barb. We were able to remove it more or less without incident. It was only after this scramble that I had realized I suddenly ended up with an Ancient Murrelet in my hands. Certainly not something I could have predicted when I woke up in the morning... Thankfully the bird seemed to be in good condition as it was squawking and struggling to get free. After a bit of debate of what to do next (and a few quick pictures) we decided to just release the bird further down the pier away from the fisherman as to hopefully avoid a repeat incident. We released it off the side of the pier thinking it was going to book it and get as far away from us as possible. To our surprise the bird decided to just sit and preen for a little while. It eventually dove a couple of times and began to swim and forage as if nothing had happened. As more people began to show up the bird began to swim towards shore just north of the pier. We watched it swim within just feet of some surfers and swimmers seemingly without a care. As the bird went into the surf the group that had gathered relocated to the sandy beach to get closer eye-level views of it. My photography instincts kicked in and I waded out into the surf and was able to get some pretty stunning views as it dove and foraged around within 10-15 feet of me at times. After a little while of foraging in the surf the bird then began to float back out towards the end of the pier, so the group relocated once more. While watching it back up on the pier we watched it go down for a particularly long dive and come back up with a fish probably at least half it's body length. Although we were all a bit skeptical he managed to get it down and continued foraging. The bird eventually floated out beyond the pier where it eventually grew quite distant. We left about 9AM, with our final views of this spectacular individual a couple hundred yards out off the end of the pier looking into the sun. So great to get such "soul satisfying" views of such a rare (especially seasonally and this close to shore) bird.

@g_heaton This is from the subpopulation you found. Since they fenced the area off, ones like this have been popping up towards the margins, of the former trail and along the ledge, presumably because now nobody's stepping on them anymore

Facing off with an island fox! While were sitting at a picnic table under a grove of eucalyptus trees, watching the fox nosing around, we were surprised to see this snake drop out of a tree and land right between us and the fox! Even though the snake was pretty big, we still expected it to be an easy meal for the fox. The snake realized the danger immediately and curled into a defensive position, tracking the fox with its head as the fox circled around it, and hissing audibly. The fox was cautious and kept its distance for its first several times around the circle, but it eventually dared to move in and take a tentative swipe at the snake before backing away. It repeated this several times, often with the snake striking back at the fox, but it was quite a while before the fox moved in and actually made significant contact with the snake, flipping it up a short distance into the air. Once the fox grew that bold, we really expected it to be over for the snake in short order—but during this whole time, the snake had been inching toward the nearest bushes, and the fox’s window of opportunity was running out. Indeed, the fox’s seemingly easy meal eventually slipped away, as the snake finally made a break for it and disappeared into the bushes before the fox could stop it. The fox followed it into the bushes, but the snake must have escaped down a hole, as we saw the fox nosing and pawing around in the leaf litter under these bushes for several minutes without success. A thrilling and surprising predator-prey interaction to see at such close range! Perhaps the strangest part was how it began—I wouldn’t have expected a gopher snake to be up in a tree at all, and I didn’t see any obvious reason for it to have fallen, such as another predator it was escaping. Maybe it was just taking a shortcut to the ground. It also was interesting how tentative the fox was, given that the snake seemingly would have been a large and valuable meal, and seemingly would have been pretty easy to kill with one quick bite. I wonder if the fox, consciously or instinctively, was accounting for the possibility that the snake might be venomous, even though there are no venomous snakes on this island, as I understand it. I suppose a bite from this nonvenomous snake might still be pretty nasty, though—maybe I underestimate the danger of that, especially for a relatively small animal like the fox. Maybe it’s easy enough for the fox to catch mice and lizards that it wasn’t worth bothering with such a large and unusual prey item.

First 5 photos of this Leucistic Hummingbird are from June 28, 2017, first sighting in Palm Desert, CA. The last 4 photos are from August 16, 2017. This gorgeous creature is so friendly with a huge personality. It comes when called and eats one gnat after another with so much to say! I feel he/she likes the yard because the concrete walls and house are painted bright white making this hummer feel protected. Keep in mind there are no feeders on the property. 1. Can you please help me identify the type of Leucistic this is. 2. Male or female? 3. Does this Hummingbird look healthy? I've noticed possible missing feathers on its wings. I'm not sure if it has worsened over time.Thank you :) all photos are mine and taken by me, Nicole Campanaro