Experiencing San Nicolas Island

Island Journal - Summer 2008

Visiting California’s San Nicolas Island is a unique opportunity. This remote and wind-swept island is owned by the United States Navy. Friends of the Island Fox President, Pat Meyer, and I were fortunate to receive a special invitation for a short visit.

At first glance, the treeless slopes seem barren, but life here clings low to the ground to survive shifting wind. Delicate verbena flowers rise up from the sandy soil. Giant coreopsis, a species unique to the Channel Islands and the Southern California coast, stand like a forest of gray stick figures. This member of the daisy family grows several feet tall on a woody stem. In spring, the dried trunks come back to life and produce pompoms of lacy green topped with brilliant yellow flowers. (coreopsis photo)

Now, in July, the stems are dormant again, but the coreopsis forest is gradually spreading across 10% of the island. It is a clear sign that native plants are returning.

San Nicolas currently has the largest island fox population and the greatest number of foxes per square kilometer. We came hoping to see wild island foxes and the island didn’t disappoint us.

We were even lucky enough to see a litter of four pups born this spring. They were about 2 months old and bold little explorers. This is dad with one of the pups in the early morning fog.

Gazing across the dunes and scrub, it is hard to imagine there is enough cover to hide a fox, but the San Nicolas island foxes are tiny. The individuals we saw were slighter in weight and shorter, than the Catalina island foxes. It might seem impossible, but an island fox can emerge from the short grass along the roadside in a flash and be unseen until the instant it is in front of a car. Signs warning “Watch for Foxes” dot the few roads trying to alert unexpecting drivers. (road signs)

Most of the 12 island foxes we saw were wearing radio collars. Radio-collared foxes can be monitored by biologists and a new automated tracking system is being tested so that the movement of island foxes can be recorded in detail. The biologists are hoping this will provide greater understanding of island fox interactions and territories. Radio-collars also provide the first alert warning system for threats to island fox populations. (more on radio collars)

Dunes and grassland might seem inhospitable to a little fox, but it seems that sand fly larva may be providing an important food source for these foxes.

San Nicolas is a unique ecosystem and also home to endangered island night lizards and snowy plover. We saw one snowy plover and a number of other shore birds, including Western gull chicks. The beaches were busy with breeding California sea lions and resting immature elephant seals.

At night, sea lion barks hauntingly drifted up from the beaches. Fog streaked over the dry land. Here and there the wind would tear open a hole to expose the dark black sky with brilliant white stars.

San Nicolas Island is a wedge of sandstone cliffs carved by the waves of the Pacific Ocean. A unique landscape and home to the San Nicolas Island fox. - Keri Dearborn


Links to
Experiencing Santa Cruz Island
Experiencing Santa Rosa Island

Happy Birthday to Finnigan, The Island Fox

One of our favorite island foxes just turned 1 year old.

Finnigan, or Finn for short, was born last year at the Santa Barbara Zoo. Because his mother is an older fox, she did not nurse him and the Zoo staff had to hand raise him. See Finn's baby picture.

Fortunately this little island fox had the perfect personality to become an educational representative for all of his wild cousins. Finn makes guest appearances at special events at the Santa Barbara Zoo.

The Santa Barbara Zoo actively participates in island fox conservation and is the home of Finnigan, his parents, and two other island foxes. For more information on visiting the Santa Barbara Zoo and seeing the island foxes that live there.

Friends of the Island Fox sends our best wishes to a hard working island fox.

Happy, Healthy, First Birthday, Finnigan !

Island Romance - Island Fox Mating Season

Island Romance - Island Fox Mating Season

Are you contemplating romance and Valentine’s Day? So are the island foxes. The cold blustery days from December to February are the perfect season for California’s Channel Island foxes to pair up and settle down in a cozy den.

During autumn, island fox families tend to split up. The youngsters, now over six months old, head off on their own and the parents take a vacation from family life and each other. With the arrival of winter, the monogamous mates come back together. (About the island fox)

Island foxes make their dens in a sheltered location, sometimes underground, in a tree stump or in amongst dense undergrowth. The male and female establish a territory around their den site and settle down to finding food for a family.

A few island foxes born last spring, will also be out looking for a mate. Even though they are less than a year old, some will become parents this spring. Because population numbers are still far below normal on San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz and Santa Catalina Islands, island foxes are breeding younger and having more offspring than they usually would. The abundance of island deer mice and other food items makes it possible for a pair of island foxes to raise five pups instead of the typical two or three.

Valentine’s Day 2008 will be very special on San Miguel and Santa Cruz Islands. For the first time since emergency captive breeding began in 2000, ALL of the island foxes on these two islands are once again free-roaming and choosing their own mates.
(2007 fox release on San Miguel Island) (2007 fox release on Santa Cruz Island).

Captive breeding programs saved the island foxes from extinction on both of these islands, but human matchmakers are never as good as the foxes themselves. We can all hope that this year there will be an increased number of island fox pups born on San Miguel and Santa Cruz Islands.

Eleven of the island foxes released in Channel Islands National Park are wearing radio-tracking collars funded through donations to Friends of the Island Fox. (radio collars)

Pups born in the spring and foxes slated for release from the captive breeding facility on Santa Rosa Island will soon be needing there own radio tracking collars. Your donation to Friends of the Island Fox helps to provide radio tracking collars vital to monitoring the recovery of endangered island foxes. You can donate through the PayPal and Cause for Good buttons in the upper right .

This Valentine’s Day give a truly romantic gift.
Help support a solution.
Working together we can SAVE the island fox.

Island Foxes Released on Santa Cruz Island

October 8, 2007 was another landmark day in the ongoing recovery of our endangered island foxes on the California Channel Islands. Yesterday, 10 island fox pups, born as part of the captive breeding program on Santa Cruz Island, were released into the wild.

Due to the success of several conservation efforts the fortunes of these newly released foxes look hopeful. Since 2002, captive breeding on Santa Cruz has produced over 85 fox pups and the overall Santa Cruz Island fox population has increased to approximately 300. Golden eagles that nearly ate the foxes into extinction, have been almost completely removed from the island and bald eagles, that were reintroduced to the northern islands beginning in 2000, are now breeding successfully and repopulating their historic home. Currently, 40 bald eagles reside on the northern islands.

“Historically, fox populations on the island ranged between 1,500 and 3,000,” said Dr. Lotus Vermeer, The Nature Conservancy’s Santa Cruz Island Project Director. “After several successful breeding seasons and with golden eagle predation curtailed we’re optimistic that the foxes will continue this upward trend.”

The fox population on Santa Cruz Island has more than tripled since the island fox was listed as an endangered species just three years ago. If everything continues to go well, all of the remaining island foxes in the breeding facility on Santa Cruz will be released back into the wild before the end of 2007.

On this auspicious day, Russell E. Galipeau, Jr., Superintendent of Channel Islands National Park offered “Many thanks to our partners: Pacific West Regional Office, The Nature Conservancy, Fish and Game, Fish and Wildlife Service, Institute of Wildlife Studies, UC system, Friends of the Island Fox and special thanks for the professionalism and dedication of the entire [Channel Islands National Park] CHIS staff. Everyone has played a role in stealing the island fox from the grasp of extinction and all of you should feel proud. Island fox recovery is still going to be a long journey with many challenges, but ... [we] are making, and will continue to make far-reaching achievements in ecological restoration and what is most important to remember is that in a world of troubling times someone, somewhere must provide a ray of hope.”

You can help support that “ray of hope” and the island foxes being released into the wild.

Your donation of $250 puts a radio collar on an island fox so it can be monitored in the wild.

$100 helps pay for biological research into island fox diseases.

$50 funds materials to raise awareness about the island fox at a school visit or a community event.

With your help, Friends of the Island Fox is helping to make a difference. Working Together We Can Save the Island Fox and create a community that treasures our Channel Islands.

Island Fox Born at Santa Barbara Zoo

(photo courtesy of Santa Barbara Zoo)

Spring is pupping season for the endangered Channel island foxes and each birth is a celebration. While we are waiting to hear how many pups were born out on the islands, the Santa Barbara Zoo happily announced the birth of a new island fox.

The male pup was born April 12, 2007, to a pair of older parents from San Clemente Island. The mother was unable to nurse the tiny pup and therefore it is being handreared by the Santa Barbara Zoo staff.

Fitting in the palm of your hand, the pup weighed only two ounces at birth–less than 2 AA batteries. Staff members attended to feedings six times a day, 24 hours a day, and the pup quickly doubled its weight.

As of Thursday June 7, the latest update is...

“It seemed like he was perhaps premature when he was born and a bit undersized. But within a month or so, he caught up to where he needed to be. He now weighs 1.4 pounds. He still gets two bottles of formula a day but has teeth and is eating solids. He receives our omnivore diet, like the other Island foxes we have, which is a canine mix, sort of like dog chow. We supplement that with small chunks of various vegetables and with baby food (chicken and rice, vegetables with turkey, turkey dinner). We are happy that he’s doing so well and heading towards normal development. We will soon start giving him some time and exposure with our male fox whose mate died recently. Hopefully, they can be companions.”

Currently this brings the total number of island foxes in Zoos to 12. Where can you visit a zoo with island foxes.

Alan Varsik, Director of Animal Programs and Conservation at the Santa Barbara Zoo and FIF board member, adds “The birth of this pup will further enhance our ability to continue to tell the conservation story of the island fox and the unique and special habitat that it lives in.”

Captive breeding has played an important role is reestablishing island fox populations. What is captive breeding? Animal management protocol developed at the Santa Barbara Zoo and other zoo facilities has helped provide valuable information on how to keep island foxes safe and healthy in captive environments.

Working together zoos and conservation land managers are saving this endangered species. Friends of the Island Fox supports their efforts and works with them to educate the public about the island fox and its unique habitat, the Channel Islands.