Rachel Kippen, Our Ocean Backyard

Hannah Kanne, scientific illustrator, sketching on the island. (Oikonos/Contributed)

A rocky island shrouded in coastal fog, blanketed in breeding seabirds and the reverberating, cacophonous symphony of their calls combined with the barks from sea lions and the booming snorts of elephant seals – replete with a decaying and defunct lighthouse station and surrounded by white shark-infested waters – sounds like the setting of a chilling thriller novel.

For the vast majority of the public, Año Nuevo Island, 29 miles north of the city of Santa Cruz, is a bit of a mystery. It’s the goal of Santa Cruz based nonprofit Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge, better known as Oikonos, to change its perception. From 4-8 p.m. July 7, the organization will debut its free art exhibition, “The Winged Sentinels of Monterey Bay” at the Seymour Center, 100 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz.

The event features scientific illustrators who joined Oikonos’ research team this field season to shed light on the unique beauty and significance of Año Nuevo.

Año Nuevo Island is the largest seabird colony in Monterey Bay. Tucked only a half mile offshore, the 9 acre outcropping sits within Año Nuevo State Marine Conservation Area and adjacent to Greyhound Rock State Marine Conservation Area, two adjoining protected marine areas off the coast of Park. The island is owned by California Department of Parks and Recreation  and is a part of  the UC’s Natural Reserve system.

The island’s productive nearshore environment provides crucial habitat to eight species of local seabirds that have been the subject of research, restoration, and protection efforts by Oikonos as they tend to “threatened ecosystems by involving diverse communities through scientific and artistic collaborations.”

Danielle Devincenzi, ecologist with Oikonos and project leader for the Año Nuevo Island Seabird Program, describes the island as a “magnifying glass that reveals the large, ecosystem-scale health of California’s coastal and nearshore environment, including coastal islands.” She adds, “Oikonos has monitored seabird population, diet, and reproductive success for over a decade. We collect data and publish our results annually, and that data is utilized by partner agencies and researchers to better understand marine ecosystems and climate resiliency.” The eight species found on the island include two species of auklet (Rhinoceros and Cassin’s), two species of cormorants (Brandt’s and Pelagic), Black oystercatchers, Pigeon guillemots, Western gulls, and the California brown pelican. According to Devincenzi, all of the birds on the island are considered indicator species as top marine predators.

Oikonos’ presence on the island over time has shaped its conservation practices and interventions to support the birds. “The island functioned as an old Coast Guard lighthouse station from 1872 to 1948, and when that closed, introduced rabbits denuded all of the plants. Historically, the island was covered by coastal scrub and grasslands, but that was completely destroyed with the introduced rabbits,” says Devincenci. “The island ultimately joined the state park system and became protected. Later, the Luckenbach oil spill, a freighter that collided with another ship in 1953 and sank south of the Farallons, was linked to a Rhinoceros auklet that had been banded from Año Nuevo Island. This finding provided funding for seabird habitat restoration of the island in 2010. I always thought seabirds were neat, but boating across to the island for the first time, witnessing the sheer amount of animals, there’s just not a lot of places where you get such an abundance of individuals like you do there.”

The biggest threat to the island is coastal erosion, which is exacerbated by sea level rise. “The two auklet species are underground nesters which can be tricky as their burrows can easily erode or get crushed.”

Oikonos supports the auklets with large, artificial ceramic nest modules that mimic underground burrows. They are erosion-proof and have openings in the back so that ecologists can monitor the chicks’ growth.

Starting in 2010, the nonprofit enlisted ceramicist Nathan Lynch from the SF Art Institute to experiment with designs. “Nathan had a class dedicated to artificial nests. Students tried out all of these different designs. Overtime, we learned which designs worked best. Our modules now have holes in the bottom, for example, so that they drain out water to avoid flooding,” says Devincenzi. “The artificial nests keep cooler temperatures, which may be a useful climate adaptation now and in the future during extreme heat events.” Oikonos will display some of their early design variations at the Seymour Center exhibit.

“The Winged Sentinels of Monterey Bay” will also prominently feature artwork from four local scientific illustrators. Oikonos invited these artists to join its researchers on the island for three day trips. They created artwork from life that highlights seabird ecology and the intricacies of their life at the breeding colony. An added bonus, Devincenzi says, is that the artists helped the researchers with their expedition workload. “We get to the island via an inflatable zodiac. It’s very heavy and requires several people to help us land and carry it, as well as get our supplies to the station. The illustrators were able to help us safely reach our destination, and while we monitored the birds, they were busy observing and creating art.”

“These artists are bringing our work and the island’s story to our community. Art has long been part of our mission, and this exhibition ties it all back together,” says Devincenzi. “We want people to connect with these birds. Pigeon guillemots nest in a cove right next to Natural Bridges. Cormorants are on the ledges of West Cliff at Cowell Beach.  Año Nuevo’s story of erosion, recovery and ongoing efforts to protect seabirds is relevant to conservation efforts in the urban interface. Seabirds are stakeholders, too.”

The public is invited to “Winged Sentinels of Monterey Bay” on July 7 at the Seymour Center. For information about the event and artists, visit oikonos.org/blog.

Rachel Kippen is an ocean educator and sustainability advocate in Santa Cruz County and can be reached at [email protected].