BULLETIN
— OF THE —
Cooper Ornithological Club
A Bi-monthly Exponent of Californian Ornithology
A Night at Sea.
BY A. W. ANTHONY, TAYLORSVILLE, CAL.
[Read before the Northern Division of the Cooper Orn. Club, Sept. 2 1899.]
WHAT do the sea birds do at night? I have often heard the question asked and as often heard someone answer: "Oh, they all go to the islands to roost." Do they? Few naturalists care to spend the hours wandering about on land in hopes of discovering unpublished chapters in the life histories of our land birds, and on the water they are not only less inclined but opportunities are few and far between.
I have often passed the night with the birds off the California coast and enjoyed their company so much that I venture to give an account of one night's observations in hope that it may prove of some interest to readers of the Bulletin. It was late in April when a visit to the Coronado Islands was planned. and as it was desirable to spend several days about the islands, I did not care to take a large boat that would have to be anchored off the rocks. Therefore a fifteen-foot skiff was loaded with camp equipage and provisions and at dark I started—alone,—because, as some one said, no one was fool enough to go with me and at night. Since it is nearly always calm then off our Southern California Coast and with nearly the full moon, it was altogether the most enjoyable time for the twenty-two mile pull to the islands.
On each of the beacons which mark the channel up San Diego Bay were resting cormorants or herons. Two or three Great Blue Herons and one Egret were seen, some crowding so close to the red light as to seem to be seeking warmth from its rays. At Ballast Point I hauled the boat upon the beach to wait the turning of the tide. Out in the channel scores of Brown Pelicans were busily engaged fishing in a close flock. So fast did they plunge it seemed to rain pelicans. They were accompanied by the omnipresent Heermann's Gulls whose whining, cat-like cries were the only notes to be heard. Between midnight and one o'clock, the tide having turned, I launched the skiff and started sea-ward. A few Western Gulls were the first birds seen. They were passing from the bay toward the kelp beds two miles to the westward.
These vast reaches of thick kelp afford excellent resting places for the gulls, terns and cormorants, and even Great Blue Herons are often seen standing on the floating mass. One arose now as I approached and flew farther out with hoarse complaint. Skirting the edge of the kelp for some two or three miles, gulls were constantly startled from their roosting places, Western and Heermann's being easily recognized. At
