This document contains information about various endemic species found on California's Channel Islands, including myths, legends, and interesting facts. It describes the Island Fox, Ashy Storm-Petrel, Island Night Lizard, California Brown Pelican, and Island Scrub-Jay. For each species, it provides details about their diet, habitat, behaviors, threats, and interesting evolutionary adaptations they developed due to island isolation.

1. Island Myths &
Legends
{ …and ACTION!

2.  an explanation for something
 a symbolic narrative
 Usually involves a moral or
lesson learned
 the events are symbolic rather
than just the way it happened
A myth…

3.  a story which is told as if
it were a historical event
 may or may not be an
elaborated version of a
historical event
 Robin Hood, Johnny
Appleseed, Zorro
A legend

4.  unique to a defined geographic location, such
as an island, nation or other defined zone, or
habitat type
 It’s so special it only exists in that one location!
 More special if that one location is small (like
Prisoner’s Harbor on Santa Cruz island.)
An endemic species

5. DIET: summer holly, cholla cactus, rose, sumac,
nightshade, native deer mice, ground-nesting birds and
occasionally grasshoppers and crickets.
HABITAT: Valley and foothill grasslands, coastal dunes,
coastal bluffs, coastal sage scrub, woodland, and coastal
marsh.
INTERESTING FACTS:
 Descendants of the larger mainland gray fox.
 Foxes pair-bond for life.
 The first foxes are believed to have come to the
islands more than 18,000 years ago by floating from Why is it smaller than
the mainland on storm-generated debris. its mainland cousins?
 Genetically distinct subspecies of foxes evolved on
six of the Channels Islands-San Miguel, Santa Rosa,
Santa Cruz, San Nicholas, San Clemente and
Catalina.
 Island foxes are the smallest North American canidae
and occur only on the Channel Islands.
 The average weight for an adult male is 5-6 lbs, about
the size of a house cat.
Island Fox
Urocyon littoralis santacruzae

6.  HABITAT: Open ocean, nests on rocky islands.
Breeds in protected rock crevices and burrows in
colonies on offshore islands. Does not travel far
from colonies after breeding season.
 DIET: The larvae of spiny lobsters, plankton, and
algae.
 VOICE: Twittering and squeaking notes given near
nest burrow.
 INTERESTING FACTS:
 Ejects a musky orange oil when disturbed
 Nest on only a few islands off the West Coast, usually
in colonies of several hundred or a few thousand pairs.
 Half of the world’s population of Ashy Storm-Petrels
occur in Channel Islands National Park.
 THREATS: Pollution in foraging areas, bright lights.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, researchers found
evidence of thinning eggshells caused by pesticides.
Due to its restricted range and very small population
size, the status of the species requires continue
monitoring.
Why does it eject an
orange oil?
Ashy Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma homochroa)

7. DIET: Wide variety of spiders, insects, pillbugs, moth
larvae, a ground beetle and ants. They also eat an
unusually large amount of plant material for a small
lizard.
HABITAT: Boxthorn, prickly pear cactus, cracks and
crevices in and around rock outcrops, surface boulders
that provide protections from predators. Native to Santa
Barbara Island, San Nicolas, and San Clemente Islands.
BEHAVIOR: Very sedentary, and have small home
ranges, averaging about 183 sq. ft (17sq meters). Most
active midday.
THREATS: Numbers reduced due to farming, grazing,
fire and introduction of nonnative animals and plants.
Listed as threatened in 1977, the night lizard population
has rebounded since then.
 INTERESTING FACTS:
 These lizards can live up to 20 years or more
 Once established in a territory they generally remain
within a 3-meter radius their entire lives.
 Much larger than their cousins in the genus, the desert
night lizards of southern CA.
Why are they night
lizards if they are most
Island Night Lizard active midday with such
a small range?
(Xantusia riversiana)

8. DIET: Pacific mackerel, Pacific sardines, and northern
anchovies. Anchovies are 90% of their diet during the
breeding season.
HABITAT: Sandy coastal beaches nesting on the ground
or cliffs of islands.
BEHAVIOR: Pelicans are social birds. They fly in a single
file low over the water (or in a V called a “squadron”.
They usev heir keen eyesight to spot fish which they catch
by plunge-diving at a shallow angle as they skim over the
water or by diving at steep angles from heights of 6-18 m
(20-60 ft) in the air. The dives are forceful enough to stun
fish 2 m (6 ft) underwater. Once prey is captured, pelicans
point their bills downward to drain water, then tip them
up to swallow the fish headfirst, repositioning the fish if
necessary by tossing it in the air and catching it again.
INTERESTING FACTS:
• The brown pelican is a conservation success story. Why does it have a
Classified as endangered in 1970, after the banning of light blue eye during
DDT in 1972 populations have recovered. breeding season?
• Look for a light blue eye during breeding season.
California Brown Pelican
(Pelecanus occidentalis californicus)

9. DIET: Insects, spiders, snakes, lizards,
mice, and other birds’ eggs. They also eat How did it come to be
the thick-shelled acorns of the Island oaks, larger than the CA
and will bury acorns to eat, sniffing them Scrub-Jay?
out months later.
HABITAT: Endemic to Santa Cruz Island.
Prefers coast live-oak woodland or
chaparral dominated by scrub oak.
INTERESTING FACTS:
 Larger, more brightly colored, and has a
larger bill compared to its mainland
cousin, the California Scrub-Jay
Island Scrub-Jay
(Aphelocoma insularis)