Island Journal - A Visit to San Miguel Island

A visit to San Miguel Island is a rare opportunity. Island foxes are few and the land is windswept. Experience a firsthand trip to this remote Channel Island.
 

Island Journal - San Miguel Island 

San Miguel Island lies at the top of the Southern California Bight, 26 miles from Point Conception. The western most of the Channel Islands, San Miguel receives the full force of the cold California current sweeping past its shores.

Recently, I went on a rarely offered day trip to San Miguel to observe firsthand how the island is recovering from years of ranching and to get a feeling of what island life must endure to survive there. 

After a night of light rain and distant thunder, the morning was overcast, but dry. On the boat trip out, the winds were light as was the swell.  The crossing was direct to San Miguel, approximately a 3-hour trip. About an hour out of Ventura, we spotted the blow of a Humpback whale.  The Islander Packers' boat took time to observe the mighty cetacean feeding in the channel.  A few minutes later, we observed 2 more blows further out.

Santa Cruz Island and Santa Rosa Island slowly passed by on our port side. Eventually, San Miguel came into view. 
 
There is no pier on San Miguel which means we landed by skiff. It's common to have large breakers at the beach on Miguel, which can easily swamp a skiff. Fortunately, the seas remained uncharacteristically calm. We arrived on schedule at 11:15 with 110 people on-board and 2 skiffs. Each skiff  holds 6 passengers. It took approximately 30 minutes to get everyone ashore. Once on the island we had  the mandatory island briefing by the National Park Service (NPS) naturalist.

San Miguel island is owned by the US Navy and managed by the NPS.  During WWII and through to the 1970s, San Miguel was used as a Navy bombing range. To protect visitors from any hazards that might still exist (the Navy did a complete survey in 2016 and found no unexploded ordnance), and to protect the natural resources, visitors must hike in escorted groups. However, you can freely explore the mile-long beach at Cuyler Harbor and hike up to the nearby ranger station and campground. 

coreopsis

To access the island interior, we hiked from the beach up the steep Nidever Canyon for approximately a half mile, gaining 600 feet in the process. The canyon is a great example of how the island is recovering. There is an incredible display of native vegetation; very healthy coastal sagebrush and coastal bluff scrub plant communities with coreopsis, buckwheat, and dudleya. Once on top, we were afforded terrific views of Cuyler Harbor. 

Our instructions were to be back on the beach by 2:30 to begin the skiffing process back to the boat for a 3:30 departure back to Ventura, which didn’t leave much time for exploring. I decided to check out the Cabrillo Monument and wander near the ranger station.

At the ranger station, I ran into one of the fox biologists that I know, so wandering became gabbing about fox whiskers and how ice plant travels the digestive system of the fox much like celery travels ours. Perhaps TMI, but hey...that’s what we talk about and that’s one way information gets passed on.

Talking scat passes the time quickly and I had to head back to the beach. On the beach, a juvenile elephant seal was thermoregulating. They're one of the pinniped species which call San Miguel Island home.

The route back to Ventura Harbor took us along the north side of Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz Islands with a stop in Painted Cave, one of the largest sea caves in the world. The winds remained light and sea was like glass.

We were treated to numerous pods of common dolphins, numbering in the thousands, as well as two minke whales, the smallest of the great whales.

We also spotted the same humpback whale, very close to where we spotted it in the morning. (Humpbacks can be identified by the markings on their tail flukes). The Santa Barbara channel did not disappoint! 

No fox sightings to report, but I did see the tell-tale signs of their presence, chiefly scat, littered about in typical fox fashion. 

The day to San Miguel didn’t become the island exploration I first believed it would, but instead became a time to develop a deeper appreciation for the whole ecosystem that encompasses the Channel Islands. An ecosystem where the tiniest zooplankton feeds the mightiest whales. An ecosystem where man’s impact can have a profound negative impact or bring a species back from the brink of extinction. - Mike Watling, FIF Advisory Board

Tracking Island Foxes with Mike 

More on San Miguel Island 

Video from San Miguel Island  by the fox biologist Mike mentions

More on the Whisker Research and Scat

Island Journal - Sometimes You See Where A Fox Has Been

The opportunity to visit Channel Island foxes in their natural environment is part of the success of saving island foxes from extinction. Friends of the Island Fox loves to highlight individual experiences. On Santa Cruz Island there are locations where you almost always see island foxes (Scorpion Campground and Prisoners Harbor). Guest writer Michael Lawshe has a different story from Santa Rosa Island.

Island Journal: Santa Rosa Island, June 16, 2018

We took an 8 am boat out of Ventura, with Island Packers, directly to Santa Rosa Island. The sky was overcast and the sea was remarkably flat. We crossed the channel, passing Anacapa and Santa Cruz Islands to...

Taking a hike, we noticed dozens of great little caves and crevices in the hillsides. 

Perfect for a fox!

Sometimes you see a fox, sometimes you see where they have been! 





Here is a path to a secluded fox resting place.

Do you see the little footprints in the sand?

They're a little bigger across than the size of a quarter. 

We didn't see the island fox, but we are pretty sure they were watching us. It was a great day. - Michael Lawshe

More on: 
reading island fox tracks
seeing island foxes
Experiencing Santa Rosa Island
A Day with Biologists On Santa Rosa 

Visiting the Island Fox on Santa Cruz Island

What is like to visit the island fox at home? Walk along with our guest blogger - Douglas E. Welch

Island Journal - My First Visit to Santa Cruz Island

It took me over 25 years living in California to make my first visit to Santa Cruz Island. The Channel Islands have always intrigued me, but they seemed so difficult to visit.

Finally, the day arrived when our entire family boarded a boat for Santa Cruz Island. This was a trip sponsored by the Friends of the Island Fox. They took care of organizing our transport and acted as interpreters for all we hoped to see that day. The sun was shining brightly when we left Ventura Harbor, but as we got closer to the island a deep fog set in. Santa Cruz had to be out there somewhere, but we also could have been in the middle of the Pacific for all we knew. It was only by looking at my gps position on my iPhone that I knew we had to be close.

Suddenly a pier faded into view and then a shoreline and then Santa Cruz Island’s mountains. Within a few minutes, we were on dry land again and beginning our exploration of this very wild portion of California.

Because of the island’s isolation, everything looked familiar–but different. Of course, the island foxes only inhabit the Channel Island; they were completely new to me. It was amazing to see something so rare (and so darn cute) up close. They are smart, too. One fox even tried to raid a backpack while its owner napped nearby. Something you always need to be on-guard about when you visit the islands.

The flora and bird life were slightly different too. The giant coreopsis takes on huge proportions when compared to their mainland counterparts. What looked similar to a mainland scrub-jay turned out to be an island scrub-jay, also endemic to the islands. Again, familiar–but different.

For me, another unique feature of the island was the sound the cobbled rocks made as the surf washed them first onshore and then retreated. The stones rolled back and forth clinking and clunking like a stone xylophone. I watched and listen to that sound for quite a long time as we waited to board our boat home. I was amazed at its musicality.

Listen to the sounds of rocks and surf from Santa Cruz Island

Since this visit, I now take every opportunity to visit the Channel Islands. It is always an amazing day of unique flora and fauna and striking scenic vistas that seem to faraway, but are right here in our own backyard. - Douglas E. Welch  

Other Island Journal entries:

Santa Cruz Island in spring

Island Fox Numbers Increasing 2009

Santa Cruz Prisoner's Harbor

San Nicolas Island

Santa Rosa Island

 

 

 

A Day on Santa Cruz Island

Saturday, June 1 Friends of the Island Fox led an adventurous day trip to Santa Cruz Island and the endangered Channel Island fox made 56 new friends!

Island Journal - Santa Cruz Island

Would you believe the boat is still at the end of the dock?

The fog was thick as we arrived at Prisoner's Harbor on Santa Cruz Island, but it helped keep the day moderate in temperature. 

It was fascinating to see how much the native plants in the restored wetland had grown in a year. (Santa Cruz wetland in 2012) Gone were the green and yellow flags marking the newly planted vegetation. In their place were blooming Santa Cruz Island buckwheat, leggy willows and a melange of wetland plants. 

Looking across the planted wetland toward the dead snag

 Despite the low rainfall this year, two ponds were attracting a variety of insects and birds including the rare island scrub jay (Aphelocoma insularis). 

We had hardly stepped off the pier when we had our first view of the scrub jay flying overhead. Throughout the day we saw numerous individuals; some carrying food to nests on the hillsides.

Everyone was keeping an eye open for an island fox. In the early afternoon a male island fox came to investigate the lower area near the barn and picnic tables. He appeared several times, sniffing through the vegetation, marking his territory and eventually climbing up the hillside. 

Photo courtesy of Michael Lawshe

It was a great day. We were able to see both of Santa Cruz Island's unique creatures in one afternoon. A huge thank you to all of the people that came out with Friends of the Island Fox. Through their participation in this event, each person helped fund a microchip for an endangered island fox this coming fall.

Keri Dearborn - Education Director, FIF

Take a virtual trip to Santa Cruz through the photos of Douglas Welch and Michael Lawshe.

You can visit the island fox in its natural habitat too. Now that all populations of endangered island foxes are recovering, visitors to the Channel Islands have a good opportunity to see this rare species in the wild. You can see island foxes in the wild at Channel Islands National Park and Santa Catalina Island. What to remember when visiting the island fox.

Interested in Joining Us on a trip to the islands? Subscribe to our e-newsletter and be the first to know about upcoming trips.

Other Island Journals from Santa Cruz Island

Santa Cruz in Spring 2012
Student Returns to Santa Cruz

Channel Island Fox and Biodiversity

Across the islands female Channel Island foxes are getting ready to have their pups. 

At first glance, the Channel Islands may appear barren, but a closer look reveals a rich diversity of plants and animals. Many of these species, like the island fox, are endemic and found no where else in the world. 
Join Friends of the Island Fox in a Trip to Santa Cruz Island

What can you see on Santa Cruz Island in just a few hours? 

Island Journal - Santa Cruz Island, March 29, 2012

giant coreopsis

Pat Meyer, Michael Lawshe and I went out to Prisoner's Harbor on Santa Cruz Island to investigate the restoration work on the wetland area. Winter rains came late this year, but the hillsides were in bloom with giant coreopsis (the island's strange species of bush daisy, a favorite food of island deer mice), blue dick, island morning glory, scarlet and bush monkey flower and lemonade berry, which provides important food for birds and island foxes. 

bramble-green hair streak; a new species for us

Western swallowtail, painted lady and several species of blue and hair streak butterflies were busy visiting the flowers. Island fence lizards and a side-blotched lizard were out enjoying the sunshine and snacking on the insects.

Insects were also on the menu for a black phoebe, Say's phoebe and barn swallows flying over the restored wetland. In the willows we even spotted a warbling vireo and the rare island scrub-jay.

In all we noted 25 plant species (many of them island endemics), 33 species of birds (including over 1000 migrating western grebes, an osprey and the Channel Island subspecies of Allen's hummingbird and Bewick's wren). Full Bird List.

Then just before we boarded the boat for home, a group of school children spotted an island fox!

Channel Island fox

This is the first island fox we have seen in part of the island and shows how the population recovery is once again making island foxes plentiful across all of Santa Cruz Island.

bottlenose dolphin with calf

When you add this to the common and bottlenose dolphins, and the migrating gray whales we saw during the crossing, it was a fantastic day! (More on the wetland restoration, later) 
- Keri Dearborn, FIF Education Director

You can spend a day on Santa Cruz Island too! 
FIF Trip to Santa Cruz Island, April 6, 2013.

Across the Channel Islands, female island foxes, like Tani and the one seen at Prisoner's Harbor, are separating themselves from their diverse island world and going into the shelter of their dens to prepare for giving birth. The recent spring rains may help support the island biodiversity that the Channel Island fox needs to survive. We can all hope that new pups will help to continue the recovery of the endangered populations.

Island Journal - Santa Cruz Island 
Visiting Island Foxes on Santa Cruz Island
Restoring Habitat on Santa Cruz Island, 2012 
Island Fox Releases on Santa Cruz Island, 2007

Return to Santa Cruz Island

In 2005, Kevin Pease encouraged his school to become the first Island Fox Ambassador School and they raised funds for one of Friends of the Island Fox's first radio collars.

During the summer of 2006, Kevin and his family went to Santa Cruz Island and he sent us his Island Journal complete with an island fox photo.

Santa Cruz Island 2006

Kevin returned to Santa Cruz Island again this summer and sent us the following update:

Santa Cruz Island Journal - Summer 2009

Not even after 5 minutes of having been on Santa Cruz Island did I see an island fox, casually strolling through the campgrounds. This reoccured every day for the seven days I was out there. Some days there would be multiple foxes together, looking for food or picking a fight with the skunks. I would have to say though the last night there was the best. Venturing out at around 10 PM for a night hike, I came across two adults and about three pups. The pups were curious, running up and sitting in front of my feet staring up at me, it was a wonderful experience. What was remarkable and joyous about this trip was the difference in population. On the first trip to the islands I saw few foxes but now, they are all over the place. The hard efforts to help these foxes is really showing! - Kevin

In 2007 the island foxes on Santa Cruz Island were all returned to the wild. Recovery Milestone in 2007

A major factor in the rapid recovery of the endangered island fox has been the active participation of school children and community members in island fox conservation efforts.

You can help support island fox conservation by contributing to Friends of the Island Fox.

During Fall health checks, funds are needed to vaccinate wild island foxes against rabies and distemper. Funds are also needed to radio collar island foxes to monitor the health of the population.