Posts Tagged ‘farallones’
Tuesday, May 8th, 2012
Check it, our very own Oceanic Society is kicking off annual Farallon Island whale watching season on May 26, 2012.
All the deets:
“WHALE WATCH/NATURE CRUISES TO FARALLON ISLANDS BEGIN MAY 26
San Francisco, California – Oceanic Society’s educational day long boat trips to the Farallon Islands, just 27 miles west of San Francisco, will operate May 26 through November 25, with departures available from San Francisco and Sausalito.
Blue whales (the largest animal to have ever lived on earth), Humpback whales, Pacific white-sided dolphins, Harbor porpoises, Risso’s dolphins and Northern right whale dolphins all may be encountered during the whale-watch cruises to the islands and the nearby continental shelf.
An exceptional wilderness area, the Farallon Islands National Wildlife Refuge is the largest seabird rookery in the eastern Pacific south of Alaska – including nesting Tufted puffins, Pigeon guillemots, Rhinoceros auklets, Common murres, Black oystercatchers and cormorants. The Islands are also a breeding haven and home to California sea lions, northern elephant seals, Steller sea lions, Harbor seals and fur seals.
Though only scientists are permitted on the islands, the abundance of wildlife may be closely observed and photographed from aboard the Salty Lady, Oceanic Society’s 56-foot, Coast Guard-certified vessel. The boat holds 48 passengers.
Experienced naturalists lead each excursion to help identify seabirds and locate whales and interpret their behavior. The naturalists also provide informal discussions on marine wildlife and on the history of the islands. Passengers also benefit from the presence of whale researchers from the Cascadia Research Collective, scientists who have studied these whales since the early 1990’s.
Oceanic Society trips to the Farallon Islands depart Saturdays, Sundays and select Fridays from the Marina Green in San Francisco. Trips begin at 8 a.m. and last about eight hours. Passengers also have the option of departing at 7:15 a.m. from the Sausalito Clipper Yacht Harbor. The minimum age is 10, and an adult must accompany children under 15. Participants supply their own food and beverages.
The fee is $125 per person, with special group rates available. The fee includes a copy of “The Farallon Islands: Past, Present, and Future,” a 42-minute DVD produced by the Oceanic Society in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The DVD offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the natural and human history of the Farallon Islands and provides a virtual land tour of the islands. (Additional DVDs cost $15.)
Founded in 1969, the mission of the Oceanic Society is to protect marine wildlife and oceanic biodiversity through an integrated program of scientific research and environmental education. An official partner of the Farallon National Wildlife Refuge, Oceanic Society has offered educational whale-watch cruises since 1984 and is the only nonprofit organization that offers whale-watch trips year round in the Bay Area.
Reservations for the Farallon Islands whale-watch trips are advised. Please call 415- 256-9941 or 800-326-7491 or register atwww.oceanicsociety.org. For recorded information on current wildlife sightings, call 415-258-8220.
Sea you there!
Tags: 2012, bay area, boat, california, dolphins, Farallon, farallones, Golden Gate Bridge, island, islands, pacific, per person, ride, San Francisco, seals, season, ship, tickets, watch, watching, whale, whales
Posted in Animals | No Comments »
Monday, October 17th, 2011
Obviously, non-targeted species will be affected when the Feds airbomb the Farallon Islands with rodenticide to kill all those mice.
Like this one. See it? Here’s the big version, via nature photographer Jenny Erbes.
But so what. What’s the deal?
This is one of the things that the feds do right.
Like, they were so effective up north not too long ago that Rat Island will need a new name after 229 years.
So, hurry up Feds, we’re waiting on you…
Tags: 2011, air, ashy storm, ashy storm petrel, bay area, birds, california, central subway, county, drop, eggers, eggs, Farallon, farallon islands, farallones, federal, fish, house, house mice, islands, Los Farallones, marin, mice, mouse, non-native, nonprofit, Oh Marin, OMYSC, petrel, petrels, poison, rat, rat island, resident, San Francisco, Solyndra, u. s., WildCare, WildCare Bay Area, wildlife, You So Crazy
Posted in Animals | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011
You see, the Feds had a plan to kill the famous rats of Rat Island, Alaska and they did that, with extreme prejudice, just a few years back.
See? No more Japanese rats from that shipwreck of the 18th century:
Click to expand
So why can’t the Feds do the same thing with our Farallon Islands?
Get cracking, Feds.
Tags: 2011, air, ashy storm, ashy storm petrel, bay area, birds, california, county, drop, eggers, eggs, Farallon, farallon islands, farallones, federal, fish, house, house mice, islands, Los Farallones, marin, mice, mouse, non-native, nonprofit, Oh Marin, OMYSC, petrel, petrels, poison, rat, rat island, resident, San Francisco, u. s., WildCare, WildCare Bay Area, wildlife, You So Crazy
Posted in parks | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 10th, 2011
You know, one of these days, I’ll start a half-assed non-profit, pay myself a six-figure salary, put the wife on staff, hire the kids too, put cute animal pictures on the homepage to keep the cash coming in – whew, good times.
Anyway, unrelated to that, srsly, comes now WildCare Bay Area to object to the Feds’ plans to airdrop a couple tons of poison on the Farallones (or Farallon Islands, (Spanish for pillars or “rocky outcrop,” see comments)) to kill the thousands of resident, non-native house mice what eat the eggs of endangered native birds.
Like this one. See it? Here’s the big version, via nature photographer Jenny Erbes.
Via Los Farallones
All right, enough of Marin, let’s hear from the people on the scene:
Dec 31, 2010
In general, however, it is known that owls are an opportunistic eater, feasting on the introduced house mice, but also preying upon songbirds, small seabirds (such as the ashy storm-petrel), beetles, and other terrestrial invertebrates …
May 25, 2010
While they rate very high on the cuteness quotient, overwintering Burrowing Owls are major predators of storm petrels during the spring, after abundant housemice have their seasonal population crash. Western Gulls also take many storm …
Feb 19, 2007
In 1969, south farallon was declared a national wildlife refuge. the lighthouse was automated in 1972, ending 117 years of continuous occupation. the last rabbit and cat were removed from the islands in 1974…
In closing, Marin, You So Crazy!
A relatively fog-free day in the Sunset District.
Through the tinted glass of the ginourmous windows of Yelp-rated Sava Pool
From a higher sperspective in the Twin Peaks area, on an exceptionally clear morning.
Can you see the lighthouse on the top of South East Farallon Island?
Noisy Canon 10D at 840mm, from Christmas Tree Point Road, a skosh more than 30 miles away…
Tags: 2011, air, ashy storm, ashy storm petrel, bay area, birds, california, county, drop, eggers, eggs, Farallon, farallon islands, farallones, federal, fish, house, house mice, islands, Los Farallones, marin, mice, mouse, non-native, nonprofit, Oh Marin, OMYSC, petrel, petrels, poison, rat, resident, San Francisco, u. s., WildCare, WildCare Bay Area, wildlife, You So Crazy
Posted in paranormal | 4 Comments »
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010
We’ve had more U.S.S. Independences than you can shake a stick at over the centuries, but this one is the one we had during the bulk of WWII. She came straight out of Joisey in ’42 and survived The Pacific War only to get blowed up with atomic bombs during testing at South Pacific locales like Bikini Atoll in 1946.
Before:
Then after, after the big atomic kaboom at Bikini. Ouch:
Anyway, instead of sinking, the Independence kept on floating so the Navy towed her right to Hunters Point in south San Francisco. Now, let’s let Lisa Davis(?) of SF Weekly take over – here’s her bit from all the way back in aught-one.
So there you go. Most likely, this old-school baby aircraft carrier is down there resting with a cargo of nuclear waste not too far from our Farallon Islands, radiating away.
Oh well.
Tags: 2010, bay area, Berkeley, bikini, california, contamination, cv-22, cv22, cvl-22, cvl22, Farallon, farallones, hunters point, islands, lab, mavy, radiation, San Francisco, sf weekly, test, testing, u. s., u.s. united states, uss independence
Posted in health, vessels | 3 Comments »
Monday, November 29th, 2010
Or maybe it’s just the Outer Sunset, the Outset, that’s “bleak?”
The view from Golden Gate Heights, more or less, after rain clears. Basically, it’s the Inner Sunset
Click to expand
Sugarloaf is whiter, so it shows up better than Southeast Farallon proper.
That big underwater nuclear waste dump is just to left of Southeast Farallon, the Big Island. From Hunters Point with love:
But we haven’t dumped 55 gallon drums there since 1970, so that’s good, right?
Anyway, at least the air is clean…
Tags: bleak, Brothers, clear, day, district, dump, Farallon, farallones, fog, foggy, golden gate heights, house, inner, inset, island, islands, ocean beach, outer, outset, radioactive, sugarloaf, sunset, view, waste
Posted in bay area | 1 Comment »
Monday, September 20th, 2010
This is the scene from five miles west of the Farallones.
Get the story of the whales right here.
Click to expand:
Via (nz)dave
Tags: 2010, bay area, california, Farallon, farallones, islands, ocean, pacific, San Francisco, sea lions, whales
Posted in Animals | No Comments »
Thursday, June 4th, 2009
They’re going all out at the California Academy of Sciences for World Oceans Day 2009, starting tonight.
Check out the schedule of activities over the next couple of weeks here, and below.
Giant Blue Whale skeleton, high above the patrons:
About World Oceans Day
Oceans cover more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface and are critically important to the health of our global ecosystem, yet they are some of the least explored and most threatened places on our planet.
In light of this, the United Nations has issued an official resolution designating June 8, 2009 as the first annual World Oceans Day.
The Academy is celebrating with a suite of special visitor programs. All programs are designed to help visitors explore and protect the amazing biodiversity of our marine habitats. They include sustainable seafood cooking demonstrations, a beach clean-up, costumed stilt-walkers, animal shows, lectures, and more. See details below.
NightLife Welcomes Plastiki, Thursday, June 4
6:00 – 10:00 pm
NightLife, featuring Plastiki and David de Rothschild »
This week, environmentalist David de Rothschild gives two lectures (at 7:30 pm and 8:30 pm) about his upcoming voyage across the Pacific. What makes it unique? He’s crossing the ocean in a 60-foot vessel constructed entirely of recycled materials, mostly plastic water bottles!
De Rothschild will share details of his itinerary, including his plan to navigate the Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch, a floating landfill and man-made disaster that’s twice the size of Texas.
World Oceans Day Festival & Weekend Activities
Saturday, June 6
9:30 am – 5:00 pm
World Oceans Day Festival »
Inside the Academy, a host of special activities are planned – from stilt-walkers dressed as giant jellyfish to research demonstrations presented by Academy scientists.
11:00 am
Teens Talk Books: Underwater Explorations »
Whether facing a great white shark, chasing orcas near Vancouver, or swimming with hordes of hammerheads in the Sea of Cortez, Peter Benchley (author of Jaws) shares his many underwater adventures in the book Shark Life: True Stories about Sharks and the Sea.
Sunday, June 7
10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Beach Clean-Up »
Join volunteers from the Academy, OceanHealth.Org, and Surfrider at Ocean Beach for the annual World Oceans Day beach cleanup.
2:00 – 3:30 pm
Banana Slugs String Band »
Join in the musical fun as the award-winning Banana Slug String Band – Doug Dirt, Airy Larry, Solar Steve and Marine Mark – bring out their latest collection of earth-loving songs about understanding and caring for our oceans and watersheds.
The Farallones Cam
Monday, June 8 – World Oceans Day
Experience the Wildlife of the Farallon Islands – Live!
Just in time for the first annual World Oceans Day, the first ever webcam on the Farallon National Wildlife Refuge. Catch a detailed look at the islands and follow the action of sea lions, seals, and the largest seabird colony in the continental United States. Brought to you by the California Academy of Sciences, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and PRBO Conservation Science.
The Festivities Continue…
Thursday, June 11
6:30 – 10:00 pm
NightLife, featuring SF Sustainable Seafood Alliance »
The Academy and its partners in the San Francisco Sustainable Seafood Alliance are pulling out all the stops to encourage visitors to make sustainable seafood choices.
Local celebrity chefs will whip up tasty treats during cooking demonstrations, industry experts will participate in panel discussions, and we’ll host a screening of “The End of the Line,” a new film about overfishing that received rave reviews at Sundance.
Tuesday, June 16
6:30 pm
Bookworms: Why Do Oceans Matter? »
The adult book group will discuss Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans by noted marine biologist Sylvia Earle.
Tags: 2009, academy, Aquarium, Banana Slugs, band, beach, bicentennial, california, california academy of science, California Academy of Sciences, CAS, Clean-Up, David de Rothschild, farallones, Festival, Foundation, golden gate park, herbst, Hubble, images, Kimball, march, Morrison, morrisson, museum, Museum of Natural History, nightlife, OceanHealth.Org, opening, penguins, Plastiki, president, San Francisco, science, sciences, Steinhart, String, surfrider, Telescope, theatre, thursday, webcam, weekend, world oceans day
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
Mark your calendar and get your popcorn – soon you’ll be able while away those lazy afternoons at work glued to the images you’ll see from the “FIRST EVER WEBCAM TO STREAM LIVE FOOTAGE FROM THE FARALLON NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE.”
“Just in time for the first annual World Oceans Day, the first ever webcam on the Farallon National Wildlife Refuge will go live on June 8 at http://www.calacademy.org/webcams/farallones/ Powered by solar energy and perched on a windswept lighthouse on top of Southeast Farallon Island, the webcam will provide an unprecedented view of the seabirds, seals, and possibly even sharks that call these isolated islands home.
“The live webcam feed will be accompanied by animal identification guides, Farallones history, and research and conservation information. This exciting new initiative is made possible through a cooperative partnership between the California Academy of Sciences, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and PRBO Conservation Science.”
It’s going to be mega.
See all them sharks and boids? Well, maybe not, but this is a relatively fog-free day in the Sunset District. Until the new webcam came along, this was as close as you could could get to the Farallones.
Through the tinted glass of the ginourmous windows of Yelp-rated Sava Pool
From a higher perspective in the Twin Peaks area, on an exceptionally clear morning.
Can you see the lighthouse on the top of South East Farallon Island? That’s the site of the new webcam:
Noisy Canon 10D at 840mm, from Christmas Tree Point Road, a skosh more than 30 miles away
That will have to do you until Monday.
Remember their promise: “possibly even sharks.”
FIRST EVER WEBCAM TO STREAM LIVE FOOTAGE FROM THE FARALLON NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
Cooperative partnership between California Academy of Sciences, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and PRBO Conservation Science allows Web users to follow the action on the largest seabird colony in the continental United States
SAN FRANCISCO (May 27, 2009) – Just in time for the first annual World Oceans Day, the first ever webcam on the Farallon National Wildlife Refuge will go live on June 8 at www.calacademy.org/webcams/farallones. Powered by solar energy and perched on a windswept lighthouse on top of Southeast Farallon Island, the webcam will provide an unprecedented view of the seabirds, seals, and possibly even sharks that call these isolated islands home. The live webcam feed will be accompanied by animal identification guides, Farallones history, and research and conservation information. This exciting new initiative is made possible through a cooperative partnership between the California Academy of Sciences, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and PRBO Conservation Science.
Located 27 miles west of San Francisco, the Farallon National Wildlife Refuge is composed of three island groups that are home to the largest seabird colony in the continental United States. Approximately 250,000 seabirds representing 13 species and five species of seals and sea lions use the islands. Gray whales, blue whales, and humpback whales migrate past the islands every year. The area is also an important feeding ground for great white sharks. The refuge was established in 1909 by President Theodore Roosevelt as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds.
More deets after the jump.
(more…)
Tags: 2009, academy of sciences, Animals, bird observatory, birds, cal academy, california, california academy of science, California Academy of Sciences, Conservation Science, Farallon, farallon islands, farallones, farrallon, farralon, farralones, federal, fish and wildlife, Fish and Wildlife Service, golden gate park, islands, june 8, live, observatory, point reyes, PRBO, PRBO Conservation Science, pt. reyes, San Francisco, seals, sharks, streaming, u. s., U.S., webcam, wildlife, world oceans day
Posted in Animals | Comments Off
Thursday, December 25th, 2008
If you’re going to fight a war, it might as well be over eggs, precious eggs.
The Sunset District and the South East Farralones:
click to expand.
Tags: 1863, egg, eggers, farallones, farralon, farralones, islands, precious, San Francisco, war
Posted in parks | 1 Comment »
