Sutil Island facts for kids

Sutil Island as seen from Santa Barbara Island

Sutil Island, once called Gull Island, is a small, rocky island that's part of the amazing Channel Islands National Park. It's only about 13 acres big, which is like 10 football fields! This tiny island is named after a ship from a Spanish exploration trip in 1792.

Sutil Island is located just a short distance (about 0.4 miles) southwest of Santa Barbara Island. It stands tall, reaching about 300 feet high, which is roughly the height of a 30-story building! Even though it's small, Sutil Island is super important for many different kinds of wildlife, especially seabirds.

Why Sutil Island is Special for Wildlife

Sutil Island is like a busy apartment building for birds! Many seabirds come here to build their nests and raise their young because it's a safe place away from predators found on larger islands or the mainland.

Bird Life on Sutil Island

• Brandt's Cormorant: This island is a very important nesting spot for the Brandt's cormorant, a type of seabird known for its deep-diving skills to catch fish.
• Guadalupe Murrelet: You can also find the endangered Guadalupe murrelet here. These small, dark seabirds are quite rare, and Sutil Island provides a crucial safe haven for them to breed.
• Black Storm Petrel: Sutil Island is the ONLY place on the entire Pacific coast of the United States where the black storm petrel comes to breed! These small, dark birds spend most of their lives out at sea, only coming to land to lay their eggs.

The Island Night Lizard

Besides birds, Sutil Island is also home to a special reptile called the island night lizard. This lizard is quite unique because it's only found on a few islands: Sutil Island, Santa Barbara Island, San Nicolas Island, and San Clemente Island. It's a small, flat lizard that hides under rocks and in crevices during the day and comes out at night to hunt for insects.

Exploring the Channel Islands National Park

Sutil Island is just one of the eight islands that make up the Channel Islands, often called "North America's Galapagos" because of their unique plants and animals. Five of these islands, including Sutil and Santa Barbara, are part of the Channel Islands National Park. This park helps protect these special places and the amazing wildlife that lives there.

Visitors can explore some of the larger islands in the park, but Sutil Island itself is usually off-limits to protect its sensitive bird nesting sites. However, you can often see it from Santa Barbara Island, getting a glimpse of this important wildlife sanctuary.