Rounding up Leopard Sharks

I was at Pillar Point Harbor today when a group of about 12 people showed up carrying some strange equipment including a small row boat and a very long specialized looking net. Since the bird activity was quiet I decided to watch this group and see what was up. They rowed the boat out into the harbor and about 6 or so people walked and swam in the water and guided the net in a semi-circle and started pulling it toward shore.

Leopard Shark and Researcher

Finally when it was all the way in, low and behold it contained 5 Leopard Sharks from about 1 foot to 3 feet long. They quickly measured them and did other test including sexing them and then released them. I did not talk to anyone as they seemed occupied in their tasks. When I got home, I noticed RTC Marine Ops on the back of one of the vests. Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies. Marine Operations supports San Francisco State University students, faculty, and staff in conducting marine research by providing research vessels, oceanographic sampling equipment, operator training and field logistics support.

Now I wished I had talked to them.

I’m amazed at what lies just below the surface invisible to most people. I’ve been out there for years and never saw a shark. Occasionally  I’ve seen a Bat Ray.

 

Side note: While attempting this post it's abundantly clear the Blogger interface is horrible.



RTC Researchers

 

 

Leopard Sharks Netted

Leopard Shark

Corporate and Local News

Yellow-rumped Warbler

CNN came into popularity during the first Iraq assault in 1990. I guess these type of events are very profitable for Corporate news outlets. So CNN, Fox New and MSNBC relish and may even help to create major events such as the Iraq War. Most of the main news anchors such as Wolf Blitzer were cheer leaders for the Bush administrations push for an invasion. I think perpetual wars and perpetual 24/7 news are closely intertwined. The two most commonly used phrases on cable news channels are "We'll be back after a short break" and "Breaking News". I've not done any research on this, but I would guess cable news has more advertisement time than any other channel. Breaking News is so over used as to be a joke.

I'm a news junkie type so I will scan TV stations and the Internet for legitimate news both nationally and internationally. Over the years cable news and network news have steered away from serious news in favor of more tabloid content ranging from celebrity ad nauseam to political drivel. This week has been a fine example as two non-stories have received much coverage, Beyonce's possibly lip-synced performance and the fake girl friend of a college football player.

On the local news front I estimate that there is actually about 5 minutes of interesting local news in any given day. Local news coverage begins about 6am and runs to about 9am and is covered here in the San Francisco area by 5 major news outlets. Most of the news time is taken up by some attractive weather person looking at a map and reading off temperatures that vary about 3 degrees. It goes something like this, humm Santa Rosa 51, Oakland 53, Kentfield 52 and burrr Berkeley 49. This is not made up!

I woke up to the local San Francisco news last week and the lead story was how some places in the SF Bay area had temperatures below freezing, like OMG 31 degrees. For 7 minutes they interviewed people complaining of cold hands and premature cold coffee. Despite 4 people murdered in Oakland the night before, the lead story is 31 degrees!
Yikes, these bozos really know how to waste time!!!!!

White-tailed Kite Vole Meal

White-tailed Kite swallowing vole whole!

Yesterday while checking the preparations for the Maverick contest down at Pillar Point I photographed this White-tailed Kite swallow a vole whole.
I always thought most raptors ate by ripping the prey into small bits.

King Tides

Surfer Beach Tide 6.4 feet swell 15 feet 1/22/12

King Tides are formed in the winter months of December-February are are caused by the position of the sun and moon. From my experience in the Half Moon Bay area, king tides are generally about 1 foot higher than normal high tides.
Surfers Beach is the closest that the ocean comes to highway 1 in the Half Moon Bay area.  This photo shows a swell 15 feet from the WNW at a 6.4 ft high tide. Surfers Beach faces SW.  Once I saw large pieces of driftwood on hwy 1 after a storm. I'm looking for the combination King Tide with large storm surge from the west . I believe under these conditions this would be a very dramatic scene.................I'm waiting!



I've been collecting the King Tide Photos for 3 years now and this year I've added some new places in Pacifica California.


King Tides Rockaway Beach Tide 6.9 Swell 13-15 WNW



Surfers Beach at low tide 1.1 feet 1/22/11

Fitzgerald Marine Reserve tide 6.7  looking S  121412

Fitzgerald Marine Reserve tide -1.4 looking S  121212

Fitzgerald Marine Reserve tide 6.7  looking N toward Moss Beach 121412

Fitzgerald Marine Reserve tide -1.4 looking N toward Moss Beach 121212

Tribute to Rich Stallcup



I was shocked to hear of Rich’s passing. He always seemed so healthy to me, both physically and mentally. I think everyone that knew him felt they were in the presence of a special gifted and unique individual. He will be greatly missed by so many people, a huge lose to all. I bet birds can sense his absence and are grieving as well!  I guess only a few select people knew of his illness. I sense that he had periods of great suffering. I’m really going to miss those bird walks, I’m glad I made as many as I did.



John Owen and Rich Stallcup

 I remember well the bird walk that Rich led for the Beach Watch people at Limantour Beach on October 24th 2009. Amanda Jobbins spotted a lone peep high up on the sand dunes. Rich immediately got excited; I and several other photographers shot as many photos as we could. Rich identified the bird as a rare Long-toed Stint. Immediately birders from all over Northern California descended on the site to get a look. Many doubted Rich’s ID and thought more than likely this was a Least Sandpiper. I’m not an expert birder, so technically I could not contribute any expertise to the controversy except two things. I’ve seen enough Least Sandpipers to be somewhat familiar with their behavior and this bird was exhibiting behavior not typical of a Least Sandpiper. Many people agreed on this point. Secondly Rich has so much experience and insight on birds; if he with confidence calls a bird, that’s what the bird is!  Last year on another bird walk with Rich, I asked him about the controversy surrounding the bird and he said, “there is no controversy; the bird is a Long-toed Stint!”  I knew that!

Long-toed Stint



 Rich was a person nobody can forget, so sad to see him leave, he touched everybody who knew him; me for sure!

View From Hawk Hill During Heat Wave Vanquishment

View From Hawk Hill During Heat Wave Vanquishment

Hawk Hill, Marin Headlands: Perhaps one of the most spectacular natural weather phenomenon is the rapid formation of fog along the west coast of the United States. When I arrived at Hawk Hill today it was about 70 degrees; it was mild, and no fog.  The last two days on the hill, the temperature had reached 99 degrees, quite extraordinary for this location. Of course on the hill, raptors are the main attraction. I saw two Broad-winged hawks at a distance as well as a juvenile Bald Eagle flying parallel to the Golden Gate Bridge and a Golden Eagle high over the eastern hills.
Most of the birds were pretty far away, some came in fairly close like the Red-winged hawks and Coopers. I was able to use some pointers on visual distinctions between sharpies and coops that a birding friend taught me. There were a good number of coops but only 2 or 3 sharpies; I could recognize some distinction.  It’s amazing how the veteran birders can call species, gender and age at what only appears as a spec in my bins!
At about 1230 the temperature started to drop and the wind picked up significantly and I saw the first finger of fog move over the Presidio toward the bridge.   The picture above was about 20 minutes later, and then in another 10 minutes the bridge and city vanished. Five minutes after that Hawk-Hill was totally engulfed and the hawkers started to pack-up. The fog never ceases to amaze me, what a wonderful gift; a heat wave is vanquished in about an hour! 

Laysan Albatross

Laysan Albatross 30 Miles SW of Half Moon Bay

Pelagic trip out of Half Moon Bay led by Alvaro Jaramillo August 25th 2012.

www.alvarosadventures.com

 A bird that's been on my list and today I saw 2 individuals on this trip.  This one has leg bands which I will show in additional photos. I added 5 birds to my Life List, Laysan Albatross, Wilson's Storm Petrel,Forked-tailed Storm Petrel, Hawaiian Petrel and Long-tailed Jaeger. The Hawaiian Petrel is very rare in this location actually so rare it's the first sighting ever in San Mateo County; it was the bird of the day for the birders on board. For me, the overcast conditions, the difficult boat photography yeilded no decent pictures for the smaller distant but exciting Petrels!




Laysan Albatross Banded Left Orange 3K1 Right Single Grey Band

Grey band on right leg, Orange 3K1 on left.

The boat trip was interesting and long, left 0700 returned 1800. The weather was heavy overcast and cold. I rarely use the word cold in reference to myself.  The good news is I was blessed with seeing my first Laysan Albatross,  actually I saw 2 separate individuals. One had bands see below. We encountered two large rafts of Petrels perhaps about 800 birds in all. Also new for me was a Long-tailed Jaeger, and a Pomarine Jaeger (I need to verify this with my photos). Also new was Forked-tail Storm Petrel, Hawaiian Petrel and a Wilson’s Storm Petrel. Also saw the usual Black-footed Albatross, the Sooty Shearwater, the Pink-footed Shearwater and the Buller’s Shearwater, plus the South Polar Skua, and a Blue Whale. Other Petrels was the Black Storm Petrel and the Ashy Storm Petrel.  All in all I was disappointed with the photos, especially the Petrels. I don’t know what I should expect considering these guys are not much larger than a Barn Swallow and rarely come close to the boat.

We traveled South-West out of HMB to deep water, a good 30 miles out. We hit warmer water, about 60 degrees and deep maybe 5000 ft. All week I had been checking the ocean and noticing the very calm waters around HMB. However over the deep water the swells get very large. This made photography very difficult and dangerous.

I think the combination of the swells and boat geometry made this the most difficult and strenuous time I’ve ever had trying to shoot pictures.  Just trying to keep your balance on such a heaving boat probably uses more calories than a half marathon…….really!