Photo of Rhinoceros Auklet from cs.birdwatchingdaily.com
Right now, northern elephant seal mating season is in full swing at Ano Nuevo State Reserve, a wildlife hotspot about a one-hour drive south of Fitzgerald Marine Reserve. The seals are the loudest, largest, and most obvious beneficiaries of that reserve’s protected status, but the island just offshore provides critical breeding habitat to a number of seabird species.
Of special interest is the rhinoceros auklet, a puffin-like bird that grows a distinctive horn on its bill during mating season. The species ranges around the Pacific rim from Japan to California, but because it nests in burrows, it needs a place like Ano Nuevo Island, which is free of animals (bobcats, foxes, coyotes, and their domesticated kin) that prey on nestlings. In fact, Ano Nuevo Island and the Farallon Islands are the only spots in California where these birds breed, which makes it a “species of special concern” to the California Department of Fish and Game. (more…)