One Second in Nature is a mirrored image again in time to a second of discovery as I explored the pure settings round me. By way of the sharing of this second, is my hope that readers will turn into motivated to study extra about our surroundings and its inhabitants, and turn into passionate advocates for conservation. One Second in Nature is a Reflections of the Pure World Weblog Publish Sequence by Jim Acquire
THE MOMENT
Granted that almost all avid birders are cringing at using “A Flock of Seagulls” in my title, however it’s simply an homage to the well-known 80s new wave band from Liverpool. I’ve all the time felt that Sabine’s Gulls are one of the placing members of the Laridae household of birds. We ocassionally discover these birds inland (typically immature birds), however they’re normally discovered effectively offshore as they migrate between the excessive arctic and the coastal-upwelling zones off western South America. On this explicit day (2023-08-15), I used to be heading out on an offshore pelagic birding journey to the Monterey Submarine Canyon with Alvaro Jaramillo (Alvaro’s Adventures).
Earlier than we even cleared the seawall we had been handled to a really cooperative Crimson-footed Booby that had been hanging across the Monterey Harbor.
After about an hour of observing the standard seabirds as we headed out the decision went out, “Flock of Sabine’s Gulls flying from 12:00 in direction of the left, low over the water!” Upon listening to the decision, “I Ran” to the bow (see what I did there?), and began taking pictures.
At first, they had been flying away from us (typical), however they finally angled extra in direction of the strict and gave us good sideways views.
Somewhat later we encountered one other flock with fewer people, however this time we had been in a position to get a bit of nearer.
AND. THEN. IT. JUST. GOT. CRAZY!!!
Over the course of the 8-hour pelagic we tallied 864 Sabine’s Gull ticks over 9 separate eBird checklists! eBird Journey Report Hyperlink
ABOUT THE SPECIES
Distribution and Abundance: Sabine’s gulls breed within the Arctic, with a near-circumpolar distribution throughout northernmost North America and Eurasia. They migrate south to the Southern Hemisphere in autumn, overlaying as much as 32,000–39,000 km per yr, the longest migration of any gull.
Conservation Standing: This species has an especially massive vary and a really massive inhabitants and therefore doesn’t strategy the thresholds for Weak below the vary and inhabitants measurement criterions.
ABOUT THE AREA
Monterey Canyon, or Monterey Submarine Canyon, is a submarine canyon in Monterey Bay, California with steep canyon partitions measuring a full 1 mile (1.6 km) in top from backside to high, which top/depth rivals the depth of the Grand Canyon itself. It’s the largest such submarine canyon alongside the West coast of the North American continent, and was fashioned by the underwater erosion course of often called turbidity present erosion.
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