Here are some flowers I've seen on

Santa Cruz Island in the last 2 weeks.

Humbolt Lily

Island Tree Poppy

(Check out the super long seed pods)

Island Monkey Flower

Indian Pink

Fairy Lanterns

Thanks to all for the great birthday celebrations and well wishes this month. Evie and I had a great time celebrating our 5 year difference by behaving like five year olds, complete with face paint, pinata, and lots of beer!

About a month ago, a large group of us traveled into the Sand Counties of WI to watch a bunch of booming cocks. No, not that kind. We watched the males of Greater Prairie Chicken (cocks) and listened to their deep booming calls. Pretty amazing. Unfortunately the hens would have none of it, but they're not the colorful ones anyway.

Two weekends ago Lars, Paul, Brandon, (as ordered in the sled) and I decided to get in what might possibly be our last sledding adventure of the winter of 2008. It was indeed magnificent. While the hill was icy, there was just enough snow to cushion our falls, and the ice made us fly. After finally landing a jump on the sledding hill, we moved to a different slope to try our luck at some bigger jumps. Above is the mother of all jumps. Below is the mother of all landings.



The guys launched off the jump, upwards of 3 to 4 feet (higher depending on who's telling the story). This photo captures the split second before the landing, and the last time Paul's arm was in 1 piece. Yup, broke his radius right at his wrist. But the jump was epic. Guess that really was his last sledding adventure for the year

Having presented part of my research at the California Islands Symposium a little over a week ago now, I may have made my last trip to Southern California and the Channel Islands for quite some time. Then again, they seem to be a vortex that pulls me in so maybe I'll be out there next winter. I'm really hoping to get to stay in WI most of the summer, but getting paid is also always a nice perk too. Who knows what will happen.

I thought this was a fitting picture to mark my departure from the islands. Rocky and I found this Elk Rack and I just couldn't resist picking it up for a picture. I really wanted to tie it to the hood of the truck, but we thought better of it. Actually, Rocky thought better of it. In hindsight, I just should have done it. What were they going to do, kick me off the island?

A highlight of my January was finding this very rare, unassuming, and hard to photograph plant, Arabis hoffmannii. It had not been seen on the island for a long time until the 1990's when a few were found on a very isolated rock. That population was last seen living in 1998. This January while hiking behind Dirk to look at another rare plant, I found over 50 individuals. All the botanists around the park are cautiously excited, hoping that the final identification comes back positive for A. hoffmannii. I know it in my bones, having worked on a recovery project with it on Santa Cruz Island.

The weather the past 3 days has been great, warm with almost no wind. I may actually get a little tan before I return to WI. Otherwise, work as usual. Nothing too exciting that I can report so here's just a few shots.

Skunk Point with Santa Cruz Island in the background. We've been getting some good swells/waves over the last week. The surfers had their epic contest at Maverick's with 4-story waves. With little wind, I've been able to hear the surf breaking pretty much everywhere I've been working, a nice reminder I'm on an island.


Island Fox! They've slowly been released from their captive breeding program and now I'm starting to come across them on the island. The lighting wasn't great this day and I was a ways away, but you can see how cute they are. For a size reference, he/she is standing in a green swath from a tire track.

From Soledad Peak, west towards San Miguel Island. I couldn't resist the lighting at this time of day, and I spent about 30 minutes playing with all the settings on my camera to get this just right.

While I wasn't excited to leave the snowy winter of WI behind (no, really), I at least get to see some flowers and green leaves in CA, making up for missing it in WI this summer. It is still pretty early in the season for flowers, but below are a few I've seen so far. The wettest parts of the storm last week missed us for the most part, but we still managed to catch about 3" of rain. That means I'm traveling by foot mostly until the roads get a chance to dry off some. Otherwise, field work has been going well and the weather windy as usual.

Jepsonia malvifolia: Island Jepsonia. This little flower is endemic to the Channel Islands and Guadalupe Island (off Baja).

Isomeris arborea: Bladderpod. It has a very strong peppery smell on the mainland but is somewhat tempered on the islands. Could that have something to do with a lack of native herbivores on the island?


Dudleya greenei: Greene's Dudleya. I'm not 100% certain this is D. greenei and not D. candelabrum. It's not flowering yet, but the rosettes are just so darn cute. Plus, it doesn't shake and move all over in the wind while I'm trying to take close-ups, a definite bonus over the last few days.

I spent about 3 days around Ventura, slowly getting ready for my 3 weeks out on Santa Rosa. The sunsets have been amazing in part because of the Santa Ana winds blowing all the pollution and particulate matter out over the ocean. On the horizon is Anacapa Island as seen from the hills above the city.
Today while monitoring I came across this Jerusalem cricket out in the open. Usually I only see them while digging holes. They always startle me, mostly because they are so big. When they molt, their exoskeleton looks like a little fetus.

The recent rains on the islands means tick season has started and I was unfortunate enough to walk into a nest of some sort not once, but twice today. Can you say "tick check"?

The elephant seals are "pupping" right now, giving birth to their dark, tiny pups. This little one on the right at China Camp looks pretty new, given the spotting on the sand (left side)!