Abe Borker

Scones Day on the Moks

Abe — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:05:23 +0000

I wrote this about a month ago, and finally have the time to get it up here with photos. I did eventually see all the island’s seabirds, and the giant storm cleared for a few awesome days of sunshine. I’ve got far too many photos for a single post, so you can expect more to come on just what we found out there.

All six of the island’s mammals are just keeping dry today, poorly adapted to island life, maybe we’re not meant to be here… The thousands of avian and reptilian residents are probably just as happy to have drenching rain and 30 knot gusts as calm sunshine, but it tends to throw a slight kink into our well oiled seabird research machine. Last night we checked the radar maps to see a large red/pink (meaning hellish) blob of weather headed our way. To affirm our tough reputation as seabird biologists, we spent a few hours in the rain looking for storm-petrel burrows, and looking for petrels but before long we were thoroughly drenched and Chris declared that the following day would be a “Scones Day”, one bit of kiwi English that needed no translation. Be it offshore islands in California or New Zealand, days like this aren’t fit for much other than baking, staying indoors, editing photos and writing. With any luck the storm should blow over by the end of today, leaving us with a few nice days for the rest of our trip.

I never did mention, just where is it that I am, but if I look around the bunkhouse, or “bach”, it could be almost any island seabird research station. There are walls littered with various old maps, photos and biological curiosities; a pile of seabird carcasses by the door, dilapidated furniture, more battery chargers than I can count, and importantly lots and lots of high calorie foods. While indoors, it can look a lot like the Farallones, outside at night presents a far different seabird soundscape. Just down the lighthouse path are Fluttering and Little Shearwater burrows deep in the vegetation, and if one walks a little farther, White-faced Storm-Petrels and Black Winged Petrels fill the sky. Hobbling around the ground like bizarre Cassin’s Auklets are Common Diving-petrels, and you must be super careful not to accidently step on the grass tussocks that seem alive with calls. There are a few burrows you could lose a leg in, and those belong to the Grey Faced Petrels I’m yet to see, but maybe I can find my friend from Monterey Bay one of these nights. Lastly, while confined to the lower slopes, I’d be a fool to forget the foul smelling, foul sounding Blue Penguins. A real good Kiwi seabird biologist already could tell you where I am by species assemblage, but for the rest; we’re camped out on Burgess Island in the Mokohinau Islands.

In the northern Hauraki Gulf, the Mokohinaus were one of the first islands in New Zealand to undergo rodent eradication, and the island has been rodent free for over 20 years. Today these islands support at least 12 breeding species of seabirds (including 7 procellarids!), endemic skinks, geckos and surely even more invertebrate and plant biodiversity than us bird-centric folks give credit to. I’m here with five other scientists on a multi-purpose trip to investigate how seabirds are faring out here, where they go, what they do, and how they interact in this environment. My own interest is in their nighttime acoustic interactions, and using automated recordings to measure seabird activity across these remote islands in complex multi-species colonies. By contrast, even at the species-rich Farallones, nighttime acoustic activity is generally restricted to four or five species of seabirds, while recordings here might have twice as many species vocalizing over the course of a single night. Both are a far cry from the single species tern colonies I started working in three years ago!

The trip out here was simple enough, luckily I had a day of rest ashore after a very lumpy weekend at sea, and despite more foul weather I held it together for the 3 hour ride out here. After unloading what seemed like a mountain of gear with two dinghies, and seeing off the five biologists hopping off the island, we set about our work. The first chore was getting everything from the beach to the “bach” (bunkhouse) about 305 vertical feet above us on the tippy top of Burgess Island. After a couple of exhausting trips up and down, we settled in and unpacked human fuel (food and booze), island fuel (petrol), and field gear. We were just in time to watch the NZ air force practice a supply drop (just some practice for them). One package of lemonade ended up “in the drink”. Thankfully the package with beer and rocky road settled in just a few meters from the precipice. I got to tour the north headland looking for the lost supply package, but we reckon it’s a goner.

When I returned Derek had already fixed up dinner, mince meat and sautéed veggies. Well fed we were ready to check out the nighttime visitors. One step out the door and we heard could hear petrels calling overhead, and after walking a few hundred meters we already encountered five species of tubenoses! Black-winged Petrels and White-faced Storm-petrels buzzed our heads as we stood on the ridge “War-whooping” (maybe more on that later). It was an incredible introduction to the island, and I slept well, fully “knackered” from the trips up and down from the beach.

Yesterday was our first full island day, in the morning I programmed our acoustic sensors and went about setting them around the island. I got to cross the “Chasm of Death” a couple times (I’ll get photos on a nicer day), and explored some of the farther parts of the island. Once the storm passes I hope to explore the smaller islands just to the south of Burgess, and maybe, just maybe we’ll be able to find some new and exciting species out there. A single NZ Storm-petrel was spot-lighted out here not long ago, and it’s been long suspected that they could breed here, fingers crossed!

New Zealand Storm-petrel!

Abe — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:45:53 +0000

Well I finally made it to New Zealand, and summertime! Of course we had 5 beautifully sunny days to sit inside during the Society of Conservation Biology meeting, and then rain and heavy winds set in just as the hordes of attendees (including myself) set out to explore the country.

The meeting itself was great, 1,000+ people from all over, and tons of interesting talks. I saw many old friends and made a few new ones. Our acoustic monitoring research was well received, one of these days we’ll get an acoustic monitoring session going instead of being spread all around the program. I had some harrowing nights of little sleep staying in the dorm-style backpackers downtown, and was eager by the meetings end to get out of the city.

Mostly I was looking forward to the post meeting birding adventures! We ducked out one morning for some shorebirding at Miranda and were not dissapointed, seeing ~30 Wrybill (the only laterally asymmetrical bird in the world!!!), NZ Dotterel, and the elusive Australasian Bittern. But that was only a warm up for a weekend of seabirding on the Hauraki Gulf.

On Saturday I joined folks from WCS and BirdLife to go see the recently re-discovered New Zealand Storm-petrel. This species was of course only recently found in 2003 and known from over 100 year old specimens. We went with Sav Saville one of the re-discoverers, and with a skipper who has seen perhaps more NZ stormies than anyone else alive. The seas were rough but we powered through tidal surge and ripping winds to 25knots out into the Gulf. On our very first chum slick we soon had plenty of Buller’s and Flesh Footed Shearwaters, Cook’s Petrels, Black Petrel, Fairy Prion, White faces Stormies and a couple Grey Faced Petrel. Before long a small “Wilson-y” type storm petrel came into the slick, and most of us screamed! As it banked we saw the streaked white belly and confirmed this rare sighting! It’s speculated that they breed on one of the islands here in the gulf, and have rebounded since pest eradication efforts on there still unknown breeding island.

With the edge off, we spent the rest of the day getting pummeled by swell on the way out to the Mokohinau Islands where we saw Grey Ternlets on small rock stacks, and then out to the shelf edge where we saw a single Black-browed type Albatross and one Royal Albatross. A couple of very stringy and hard to ID Pterodromas (Pycroft’s and Black-winged), and we called it a day. Most of the gang was happy to see shore, as few had managed to keep down their lunch. I for one am happy to have personally “regurged” a meal to the rare endangered storm-petrel!

Sunday I was out again, sick again, but also surrounded by birds again! Very much worth the occasional agony when hundreds of Pterodromas are cartwheeling around the boat. I can’t imagine how much worse I would have felt kicking myself staying on shore when such killer seabirds lurk offshore. Also added an actual Wilson’s Storm-petrel to my list and saw the many of the same birds again. I did get a bunch more photos, but a stupid card failure means you only get to see shots from the first day until I can pull some recovery magic (if at all).

Photos tagged 'nz'

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Tomorrow I head out again, but with a slightly different plan, we’re taking a one way trip to Burgess Island where I’m joining Department of Conservation researchers to study the island’s breeding seabirds. I’ll be back again after a week or so, with I’m sure loads of photos and new stories to tell! Until then, check out the photos from Saturday!

Seasonal Migration

Abe — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:03:41 +0000

Today I was the only person at work in shorts, and wearing flip-flops is starting to become a chilling endeavor. My only salvation is a plane ticket to the austral summer a week from now. I’m starting to consider the life of austral breeding seabirds like the Sooty Shearwater. Determined not to return until it’s nice again, I’ll bee-line for New Zealand for the winter and like the Sooties return to the northern hemisphere the spring (making obligatory stops in Fiji and Hawaii) to California.

Thanks to geo-locator tags, Scott Shaffer and colleagues found Sooty Shearwaters cover 64,037 +/- 9,779 kilometers during their long migrations. Some birds covered 910 +/- 186 kilometers on a single day! This research was conducted at UC-Santa Cruz. I’ll start off strong with a 10,000km flight to New Zealand, but by contrast cover only ~25,000 kilometers.

I got in one last pelagic trip to see the Sooties off, and score some of their brethren to the north, the Short-tailed Shearwater. Luckily it was a simple ID with Jon Dunn (author of the Nat Geo Field Guide) and Peter Pyle (author of the indispensable Identification Guide to N American Birds) on board. I finally got a decent image of the species:

Photos tagged 'novhmb'

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First up on the agenda is the Society of Conservation Biology meeting in Auckland, my first LARGE meeting, ten concurrent sessions! Hopefully a few of the thousands are keen for my session on restoration ecology and monitoring. Once the meeting in ends I’m headed to sea for two days, birding the Hauraki Gulf, and on the third getting dropped off with others on one of the gulf’s most remote and seabird rich islands. Then I’m back in Auckland and off to a more familiar island, Tiritiri Matangi where I spent a couple months in 2005. I can’t wait to see old friends, like the takahe and kokakos, and see some new introductions like Riflemen!

After that is a bit hazy, but the South Island and it’s crazy seabirds tempt me to make a run for Dunedin’s “mainland” albatross colony. If I’m down there I’d be crazy not to do some Kaikoura pelagics. A single two hour trip in ’05 was probably the highest tubenose day list I’ve ever tallied, and HUGE Royal Albatross all around.

Photos tagged 'kaikoura'

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After kicking around NZ for two months, it’s onto Fiji, home to a bunch of endemics, and a great friend of mine in the Peace Corps. I’m so excited for snorkeling, but alas a waterproof housing is out of the cards, so you’ll be settling for topside avian endemics. Why Fiji? It’s on the way to Hawaii, and the Pacific Seabird meeting. Tragic is the life of a seabird biologist trying to get in the head of trans-equatorial migrants…

Expect some killer photos over the next three months! I’ll attempt frequent updates.

Santa Cruz Salamandering

Abe — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 02:21:42 +0000

Known from only 11 populations in Santa Cruz and northern Monterey County the Santa Cruz Long-toed Salamander is perhaps the rarest of our local salamanders. Fall rains brought salamanders out in droves last week on campus and around the county. While it’s California Tiger Salamander that has long eluded me, instead we searched for these local favorites after a day of solid rain.

The Santa Cruz Long-toed Salamander was nearly lost to science, discovered in 1953 at Valencia Lagoon, half that area was lost to Route 1 in 1968. Luckily another population nearby discovered in 1956, and in 1974 under threat of devleopment, Ellicot Slough was acquired by California Fish & Game. It’s believed that this relict population was separated 10-12 thousand years ago from it’s close relatives in the pacific northwest by the last Pleistocene ice age. Like most “mole” salamanders, they depend on vernal pools like the seasonal Ellicot Slough. Adults breed in predator free ponds that larvae can grow up safely in until the pond dries up and larvae metamorphose into adults.

Despite federal and state endangered status, these salamanders do face significant risks. Habitat fragmentation and roads are particularly devastating on these small, relatively slow moving creatures. Drivers are rarely conscious of salamander movements, and measuring the full impact of road mortality is a challenge. One a night of cruising we saw far more dead than alive amphibians on the wet roads.

Photos tagged 'scltsal'

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Here’s a couple more resources

CalHerps
Don Roberson’s Website

Fall on the Farallones

Abe — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 22:13:18 +0000

Each fall I highly anticipate a return to the farallones. After waiting all summer, I get to collect my acoustic data from the seabird breeding season, and if I’m lucky get to see a shark and some rare birds. Southeast Farallon Island (SEFI) is a legendary fall migrant trap. The right conditions produce waves of rare birds and eastern vagrants. This trip the island was rather empty, just a dozen White-throated Sparrows and a few Palm Warblers. The highlight was non-feathers, viewing a Great White Shark as it investigated a research decoy nearby the island.

Mice are bouncing off the walls, it’s crazy out there. And the Burrowing Owls are also out in force.

Photos tagged 'sefioct'

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On a technical note, I’ve figured out how to host all my images in the cloud with Google, and pull them up for the website. I’m now deciding whether or not to delete the existing gallery structure and start a new. This would destroy the image links in most old posts. Alternatively I could leave it all in place, and just use google for new images. The downside is having to do two seperate searches, etc. Stay tuned for the outcome. Here’s a preview of the new gallery engine, thanks to PWA+PHP and Picasa Images,

Gallery2045 photos in 30 albums

A couple days birding the Kaikoura Canyon, South Island, New Zealand, a world class seabird destination.

Access: Public

Kaikoura, NZ 2012-01-13, 164 images

Burgess Island and around the Gulf

Access: Public

Hauraki Gulf, NZ 2011-12-11, 232 images

A late fall pelagic in Half Moon Bay

Location: Half Moon Bay, CA

Access: Public

Half Moon Bay 2011-11-23, 23 images

A 2 month visit in 2005.

Access: Public

New Zealand 2011-11-23, 105 images

Herps and Fungus come out to play after fall's first rain.

Location: Santa Cruz, CA

Access: Public

Fall Rain 2011-11-11, 7 images

Checking out fall raptors and camping in the Panoche Hills

Location: Panoche, CA

Access: Public

Panoche Valley Oct 2011 2011-11-07, 15 images

In 2009 I spent four weeks birding South Africa and saw over 500 species.

Access: Public

South Africa 2011-11-01, 56 images

Views of this nearshore island that is home to breeding birds, marine mammals, and a few dilapidated buildings.

Access: Public

Año Nuevo Island 2011-11-01, 53 images

A brief photo-assignment at Green Lakes State Park during central NY's frozen winter.

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Green Lakes State Park 2011-11-01, 17 images

Spring in Central New York

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Chittenango Falls 2011-11-01, 12 images

Photos from the south, a winter in eastern Arkansas and surroundings.

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Arkansas 2011-11-01, 15 images

Chasing North America's greatest Chickens, Spring 2009.

Access: Public

Chicken Run 2011-11-01, 17 images

Marine Mammals of Central California Included are some of the marine mammals hat can be seen off of Central Californ...

Location: Central California

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Marine Mammals 2011-10-18, 33 images

Abraham Borker is a photographer and biologist from Santa Cruz, California. His photography highlights seabirds and ...

Location: All over

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Portfolio 2011-10-18, 54 images

Half Moon Bay 2011-10-03, 8 images

California Favorites 2011-09-16, 11 images

A whole new ocean of discovery for me, a rare Atlantic Ocean pelagic trip. We saw a MEGA pod of Common Dolphin, Hamm...

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Cape May Pelagic 2011-09-11, 14 images

Four full days offshore fort bragg exploring canyons and seamounts

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Fort Bragg 2011-08-19, 32 images

Birds and mammals of Monterey Bay, my pelagic backyard!

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Monterey Bay 2011-08-12, 61 images

Surveying California salmon and seabirds with the NOAA Ocean Ecology Salmon team and the crew of the F/V Frosti.

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Frosti Cruise 2011-07-07, 97 images

An extended road trip to LA down the Big Sur coast and into the desert and the Salton Sea.

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SoCal Road Tripping 2011-05-28, 27 images

Images of the Farallones

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Southeast Farallon I... 2011-05-01, 113 images

One of the most pristine of the Channel Islands, I visited twice in 2011 to monitor rare songbirds.

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West Anacapa Island 2011-03-29, 49 images

Doing the county thing.

Location: Santa Cruz County

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Santa Cruz County 2011-02-02, 27 images

Surveying marine birds and mammals aboard the R/V MacArthur II

Location: Davidson Seamount, CA

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Davidson Seamount 2010-07-23, 79 images

My most recent work.

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Recent Work (Best of) 2006-05-28, 67 images

Birds and views from deep forests the world over.

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Forests (Best of) 2005-10-31, 101 images

Perspectives from the rich interface of water and land.

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Coasts (Best of) 2005-10-01, 282 images

Land's open habitats from coastal chapparral to arid grasslands.

Access: Public

Grasslands (Best of) 2005-01-27, 113 images

Images from the world's oceans, and it's vast array of marine wildlife.

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Oceans (Best of) 2005-01-01, 161 images

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