Seabird Breeding Biology on the Farallon Islands

New Publication: Rhinoceros Auklet Diet Indicates Forage Fish Dynamics    >>Canadian Journal of Aquatic Sciences

MPA at the Farallones Click to learn about seabird foraging areas around the Farallon Islands, and how this information can be used to redesign the Marine Protected Area at the Farallones.

Farallon Blog - Los Farallones! - Learn about life, birds, and marine mammals on the Farallon Islands.  Note: Internet connectivity is intermittent on the Farallones, so it is not updated daily.

Start Date: 1971 - Present

Background: 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 three decades PRBO biologists have been protecting and studying, Farallon wildlife. Located 28 miles west of San Francisco, this group of islands constitutes the largest seabird breeding colony in the U.S., south of Alaska, with approximately 150,000 nesting seabirds belonging to twelve different species.

Objectives: To study the breeding biology, feeding ecology, and population dynamics of a seabird community in relation to naturally occurring and human-induced climate change.

Focal Species: Common Murre, Tufted Puffin, Rhinoceros Auklet, Cassin's Auklet, Pigeon Guillemot, Brandt's, Double-crested and Pelagic Cormorant, Black Oystercatcher, Western Gull, Leach's and Ashy Storm-petrel.

Habitat Type:
Marine - offshore island

Partners:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Contact: 
Russ Bradley
Peter Warzybok

Related Publications:
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