Hello folks who wonder when whales return from their migration if they have a "whale-come" party,

In the previous post, we explored the marine mammals that are squatting on the Farallon Islands. Northern Elephant seals, California sea lions, and harbor seals are plentiful on and around the islands, enjoying the perks of living rent-free in the Bay Area.

Can you folks please stop fighting and act civilized please?

Another resident takes over vast areas of the island between April and August during breeding season. This bird is often described as resembling a flying penguin, but a more budget-friendly version - as if someone had tried to buy a penguin but could only afford a trip to the dollar store.

To see these birds returning from work, one must wake up just as the sun is beginning its daily shift.

Every morning, these birds return to the island in massive numbers - not just hundreds or thousands, but hundreds of thousands. The researchers I spoke to estimate that during the breeding season, the island is occupied by around 300,000 Common Murres.

They have evolved to nest on the narrow cliff edges of the island, which are in short supply. This leads to extremely dense clustering, where one can easily observe 20 pairs of murres incubating their eggs within just one square meter of space.

When I visited the island, the murres had not yet laid their eggs, but they had already claimed the spots where they would raise their families for the season. This is how dense it looks like on the cliffs.

One advantage of murres raising their young in densely populated colonies is the collective vigilance they maintain. However, this collective behavior can pose challenges for researchers: If one murre becomes alarmed by a researcher's presence, it can trigger a chain reaction. This may lead to multiple birds abandoning their nesting spots. To mitigate this issue, researchers use concealed observation structures called "blinds."

Blinds provide researchers with a close, unobstructed view of the birds' breeding, feeding, and social behaviors. This setup allows them to spend hours taking notes, making recordings, and collecting data on the Common Murres without disturbing them. As a result, the birds remain unaware of the researchers' presence, ensuring that their natural behaviors are not altered.

Below is one blind on top of a hill.

Some debates can become quite heated, especially when it comes to the age-old question: which is better, soft shell or hard shell tacos? I say, why fight? With Taco Bell's combo deals, you can easily order one of each along with a large cup of soda as part of their new $7 Luxe Cravings Box.

*stop shilling for Taco Bell, Karan.

Another scene you might catch is their preening behavior. This activity between couples not only helps strengthen their bonds but also reduces the need for filters on their Instagram photo of the day!

You might even witness a couple in the act. It's a bit like what it must feel like to be that creep who sets up hidden cameras in hotel rooms, watching these murres from these blinds.

Here is how dense their breeding colonies can get. It is really hard to capture that scene without each bird resembling just a pixel on the screen, like what people do when they capture photos of the moon on their smartphones. But at least I tried.

I even had the chance to witness an instance of "mugging" in one of these colonies. It felt like the Wild West on the island!

In the next post, we will look at some inhabitants that sneak into the island at night.