DID YOU KNOW? In San Francisco in the 1800s there was a massive economic scuffle over seabird eggs called the Egg Wars that basically wiped out a species of bird and the eggs were selling for $1 per egg. In old times money!! - ThreadSky

baddestmamajama.bsky.social • 13 days ago

DID YOU KNOW? In San Francisco in the 1800s there was a massive economic scuffle over seabird eggs called the Egg Wars that basically wiped out a species of bird and the eggs were selling for $1 per egg. In old times money!!

Reposted from Erin Biba

My BFF in the college buddy group chat is working out a get-rich-quick egg scheme.

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kraznyoktyabr.bsky.social•13 days ago

And the Egg War ended after a battle between the two rival egg-collecting groups that left two dead and four wounded (this was all happening while the Civil War was going on, mind you, the armed conflict happened on June 4, 1863.) The feds finally made the islands off limits in 1881.

erinbiba.bsky.social•13 days ago

Whoa

baddestmamajama.bsky.social•13 days ago

and I learned this from a 1980s documentary called Return of the Great Whales about humpback population recovery in the Bay Area which I watched so many times as a small child the title wore off the tape.

nefariousnautilus.bsky.social•13 days ago

I’ve worked on the Farallones, and can attest that the murres came back!!!

baddestmamajama.bsky.social•13 days ago

It’s incredible how resilient that area is. I wish they could get the otter populations to stick but so many sharkies.

baddestmamajama.bsky.social•13 days ago

Wait you worked ON the Farralones?? I’m wildly jealous. Did you see they’re not manning the research station year round for the first time since the 60s? Can you tell me everything about being there??

nefariousnautilus.bsky.social•13 days ago

Oh shit, really? That’s sad to hear. And yes! I volunteered for seabird season (May-August) in 2008. It is wild bc there are literally just 5-10 people on the island at any given time, between PRBO or USFWS researchers.

nefariousnautilus.bsky.social•13 days ago

There are two head biologists, and then the work is divided between them and the research assistants. There are multiple seabird colonies to keep track of. People have morning shifts to map and check the cormorant and murre colonies from bird blinds, checking for chicks.

nefariousnautilus.bsky.social•13 days ago

Right?? The otters have been hanging relatively stable but low for some time.

carwil.bsky.social•13 days ago

Learned of this via a places-in-SF book literally last Friday. They had to boat out to the Farralon islands to get the eggs.

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