Field Notes Doug Bell June 10, 1988 On Red Rock Island with Michael Fawcett and Jim Roth from the UC Richmond Field Station. Weather is clear, sunny, medium wind. We drove 14' aluminum skiff w/25hp motor. Landed on the NE beach - which directly faces the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Very calm on this side since it is protected from the prevailing winds. About 40 gulls are resting in a "club" on the beach. Several nests w/eggs or chicks also on beach - right at high tide line. The gulls are surprisingly tame - they go back on their nests within 20' of us. I started exploring the island & counting gulls (see survey sheet next page. At NE end of island one can walk through a spall in the rocks to the north beach. The NE slope is steep, w/ mostly shrubs and poison oak. In contrast, the N + W slopes are sheer cliffs, about 40-80 feet in height. On ledges and grassy outcrops gulls also nesting. Counted 8 dead gull chicks at the base of the cliffs. In N face is a cave that leads deep into the rock. I followed it for 20 feet, but stopped after I couldn't see any more. Jim & Michael explored it with flashlight - they said it went back very far, opened up into a large cavern 15' high (3), and then dropped off steep. Bizarre? I think there may be white-throated swifts nesting in this and similar cliffs - saw at various times up to 8 swifts flying above the island. The NW slope is the sharent in cliffs - very nice. At SW + Slope there are many loose rock "washers". I clambered up one of these to to the top. The air literally filled with gulls. The top of Red Rock is quite spacious, and has variably-steep slopes on all sides. The W + NW slopes on top are open +