Today's activities were centered around a spectacular visit to Isla Rasa. Although it is small in size (less than one square kilometer), Isla Rasa is home to nearly half a million birds during the breeding season. Far and away, the two dominant species are Heermann's gulls and elegant terns, which are attracted to this island because of the tremendous productivity of the waters surrounding it. Also of importance is the absence of predatory land mammals, a necessity to these ground nesting birds.
Between 90 and 95 percent of the world's population of Heermann's gulls and elegant terns flock to this island every spring to court, mate, lay eggs and raise their chicks before leaving for their winter grounds. Each of us experienced the thrill of standing among thousands of nesting Heermann's gulls and a sea of courting and breeding elegant terns, all with a continuous background music of deafening squawking and screaming.
