Isla Rasa, Baja California Sur, Mexico
Knowing that you are watching almost 100% of the breeding population of the Heermann Gulls in the world is fantastic. This is Isla Rasa, in the midriff of the Gulf of California, declared a sanctuary in 1964. We saw today around 260,000 Heermann gulls and 200,000 elegant terns in a very small island, all screaming and fluttering. Thousands flew by overhead, as chicks of the gulls walked among us. Dr. Enriqueta Velarde has been taking a census and studying these animals for the last twenty years, to study the biology of the animals and the impact commercial fishing has on their populations. Cameras clicked and whirred as we all tried to impress these sights forever on film or electronics. The photograph shows the thousands of elegant terns in the small surface in the background.
The waters of this ocean are extremely rich, to be able to sustain bird populations of this size. And marine mammals. Common and bottlenose dolphins were seen today, as well as different species of the large whales, such as fin whales and the ever interesting sperm whales. These are present in large numbers owing to the great availability of big Humboldt squid, as well as other species. The sperm whales rely also on big fish. Good numbers of these animals kept us attentive to the waters at all times.
Knowing that you are watching almost 100% of the breeding population of the Heermann Gulls in the world is fantastic. This is Isla Rasa, in the midriff of the Gulf of California, declared a sanctuary in 1964. We saw today around 260,000 Heermann gulls and 200,000 elegant terns in a very small island, all screaming and fluttering. Thousands flew by overhead, as chicks of the gulls walked among us. Dr. Enriqueta Velarde has been taking a census and studying these animals for the last twenty years, to study the biology of the animals and the impact commercial fishing has on their populations. Cameras clicked and whirred as we all tried to impress these sights forever on film or electronics. The photograph shows the thousands of elegant terns in the small surface in the background.
The waters of this ocean are extremely rich, to be able to sustain bird populations of this size. And marine mammals. Common and bottlenose dolphins were seen today, as well as different species of the large whales, such as fin whales and the ever interesting sperm whales. These are present in large numbers owing to the great availability of big Humboldt squid, as well as other species. The sperm whales rely also on big fish. Good numbers of these animals kept us attentive to the waters at all times.
