CHAPTER VIII 



BIRDS OF SHORE AND SEA* 



Point Lobos Reserve is a veritable haven of refuge and an expansive 

 banquet table for the birds. At all times, they gather there in great num- 

 bers Some are year-round inhabitants, some are seasonal, and some are 

 merely wayfarers bound for more distant fields. The "through" migration 

 of land birds, however, is surprisingly weak. In the main, arrivals and 

 departures become evident only in spring and fall, and these movements 

 take place gradually over a period of many weeks. There is no migrational 

 "rush" at all. The winter and spring population is heavier than the sum- 

 mer population ; furthermore the birds seem to leave the Reserve after the 

 nesting season, before the food supply has been noticeably reduced. 



Birds occupy all the habitats of the Reserve. Of the 147 kinds of birds 

 noted by Grinnell and Linsdale, 28 percent of the species listed owe their 

 presence directly to the influence of the ocean. 



On the shore,' turnstones, oyster catchers, and other shorebirds, as well 

 as such land birds as Audubon warbler and black phoebe, forage regularly. 

 Pelagic cormorants roost and nest on certain nearly vertical, conglomerate 

 cliffs, as also do cliff swallows in large numbers, and occasionally black 

 phoebes and duck hawks. This use is evidently because of inaccessibility of 

 the sites from disturbance, and the suitability of the niches and shelves for 

 nests. Several islands support nesting colonies of Brandt and pelagic cor- 

 morants, and pigeon guillemots. The largest. Bird Island, near the southern 

 boundary of the Reserve, is permanent headquarters for a colony of brown 

 pelicans. Several pairs of black oyster catchers and many Western gulls 

 generally nest on the islands. 



OCEAN BIRDS 

 Brown Pelican 



Conspicuous among all the birds in the Reserve, the brown pelii'ans make 

 their home on Bird Island. Only known breeding colony of these birds 

 north of the Channel Islands, it is likely to remain the home site of large 

 numbers of them if left undisturbed by man. 



These large, peculiarly constructed birds are here the year around, 

 although during late winter and early spring there may be days when no 

 pelican is in sight. Probably 200 or more are permanent residents, but in 

 the early autumn the travel season begins with a great influx of pelicans 

 from colonies on islands of Lower California and the mainland of Mexico. 

 As many as 3,000 pelicans gather on these rocks by the late fall, probably 

 attracted by the resident birds, and the favorable roosting site. 



They are quite easily seen from shore as they tend to gather on the lee- 

 ward side of the rocks, where they are somewhat protected from the wind. 

 Particularlv is this true in winter. 



The breeding cycle of the pelicans has not been definitely determined, 

 because no one goes out to the rocks any more for fear of disturbing the 



• Based on a special report by Dr. J. Grinnell and Dr. Jean Linsdale, 1934-1935. 



( 61 ) 



