Migrations
The Channel Islands Migration
Channel Islands · April–May 2027
Our cameras journey off the coast of Southern California to the Channel Islands, where eight islands lie amid an ocean of arrivals and departures. In spring, warming waters drive a massive fish migration and the ocean fills with gamefish; sea bass, yellowtail and bonito - and smaller baitfish; sardines, anchovies and mackerel.
Countless other species follow the fish. Dolphins surface and a quiet patch of water suddenly fills with glistening fins and airborne bodies. The backs of grey whales rise like low islands, their breath briefly whitening the air as mothers and calves journey north together. Above them, brown pelicans skim the swell in loose, undulating lines, each bird borrowing the lift of the wave.
On Santa Barbara Island, the ocean’s travelers become creatures of the land. A large colony of brown pelicans gathers for nesting season, scattering themselves across the slopes. We will follow them here, as they nest and rear their young.
Other birds make the islands a resting place along a much longer road: whimbrels, wandering tattlers, sanderlings. On the beaches, Northern elephant seals and Harbor seals come ashore to give birth and breed.
We will capture multiple migrations around these islands, where the search for food, the return to a breeding beach, the pause before another flight creates a landscape alive with passage.