The Farallon Islands is a National Wildlife Refuge managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and inhabited year-round by scientists from PRBO.  In cooperation with USFWS, PRBO established a permanent research station on the Farallon Islands in 1968.  For over four decades PRBO biologists have been protecting and studying Farallon wildlife.  Located 27 miles west of San Francisco, this group of islands constitutes the largest seabird breeding colony in the U.S., south of Alaska, with over 300,000 nesting seabirds belonging to thirteen different species.  This unique, long-term dataset gives us a unique ability to examine trends over multiple time scales and look at variability in the context of long-term patterns and trends.

Live Farallon Webcam!

View the 2011 Farallon Seabird Report (pdf) here.

PROJECT GOALS

Our goals are to study the breeding biology, feeding ecology, and population dynamics of the seabird community in relation to naturally occurring and human-induced climate change in order to advance both scientific discovery and conservation efforts.

Science Goals:

• Monitor long-term trends in seabird populations
• Examine seabird responses and their prey to changing climate and ocean conditions
• Integrate individual level data from long-term studies to assess responses to climate change
• Develop indicators of environmental change

Management Goals:

• Inform direct management of actions on the islands
• Help guide management of waters surrounding the island
• Contribute to management actions in a wide range of species
• Contribute to ecosystem-based management by developing ecosystem indicators

FOCAL SPECIES

Pigeon Guillemot	Tufted Puffin	Rhinoceros Auklet	Cassin's Auklet
Common Murre	Brandt's Cormorant	Double-crested Cormorant	Pelagic Cormorant
Black Oystercatcher	Western Gull	California Gull	Ashy Storm-Petrel

NEW & OF INTEREST

PRBO's Farallon Islands Program is featured on CBS's "Eye On The Bay"   Check out the two-part feature story at the links below! Farallon Islands Part 1 and Part 2

2011 Farallon Seabird Report (pdf) View a pdf of the 2011 report to USFWS.

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New webcam on the Farallon Islands!   In partnership with The California Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, PRBO has launched a live streaming webcam of the Farallon Islands from atop the lighthouse.

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Farallon Blog - Los Farallones! Learn about life, birds, and marine mammals on the Farallon Islands, directly from the resident biologists' point of view! It's Seabird season on the Farallones!

Listen to the NPR story on climate change on the Farallones.

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View and explore data!  Where are the Birds and Marine Mammals around the Farallones? Online maps of seabird and marine mammal feeding areas around the Farallon Islands, as well as fact sheets about the Farallon Islands.

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MEDIA & OUTREACH

"No Normal for Coastal Waters"
Bay Nature magazine article featuring PRBO marine ecologists Sara Acosta and Russ Bradley.  (Oct. - Dec. 2009)

Farallon National Wildlife Refuge Management Plan Update
PRBO's public comment on the current update on the Farallon Comprehensive Conservation Plan (Feb. 2009)

Salmon, Seabirds, and the State of the Ocean
The link between salmon and seabirds (Mar. 2008)

MORE SCIENCE

Technical Briefs:

Record seabird breeding on Farallon Islands in 2010
Cassin's Auklet will decline with climate change
New assessment of Ashy Storm-Petrels on Farallon Islands

Seabird season internships are offered on Southeast Farallon Island during the spring/summer season (March - August).  All internships on Southeast Farallon Island are volunteer positions, though excellent food and housing are provided.  The minimum duration of internships is 8 weeks.  All interns are required to conduct rigorous fieldwork, often in poor weather. All interns will assist in maintenance of field camp and data entry and proofing.

Click here to find current internships.

PRODCUTS

Rhinoceros Auklet Diet Indicates Forage Fish Dynamics

Climate change, reproductive performance and diet composition of marine birds in the southern California Current system, 1969–1997

Effects of age, breeding experience, mate fidelity and site fidelity on breeding performance in a declining population of Cassin’s Auklets

Trophic Relationships Among Seabirds in Central California

PARTNERS

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The California Academy of Sciences