COMU

Yesterday we had what seemed to be our first really big Murrenado. When it's windy out the Common Murres will sometimes come back to the island in masses, and there will be thousands either on land, in the water, or in the air. There seems to be a constant shift in where they are concentrated between those free places, making them pretty hard to actually count. When they are in the air they can create these Murrenados, where they fly in this large circular formation. Yesterday I counted over 7000. At one point there were two to three thousand in the air forming a huge Murrenado, at another point about 5 minutes later the mass had shifted to land, with over 4000 on the rocks.







Just a portion of the Murrenado (it's hard to capture on video)

Xantus's Murrelet

Today our USFWS friend Rob came and got the good stove up and running again! Now we can bake to stay warm! After dropping him off at his boat back to the mainland, Jim and I took a little detour over to our Murrelet friend to get some pictures and take a quick tour around the island. Twas wicked.

The murrelet!


Common Murre


Rhinoceros Auklet




Mew Gull

Pelagic (8)

Common murres


Three albatross around a northern fulmar


One of three glimpses of jaegers during the trip. This is a long-tailed jaegar.