In The Channel Islands of California (1910), Charles Frederick Holder says of Anacapa: Ecology Anacapa Island, located only about from the urbanized coast of Southern California, provides critical habitat for seabirds, pinnipeds such as California sea lions, and several endemic plants and animals. Great white sharks, feeding on pinnipeds, are found in the waters of the Channel Islands, including Anacapa. The island has a somewhat diverse flora, including around 150 native plants, including 16 endemics (two of which are unique to the island) plus many introduced species. Birds Anacapa has around 69 species of birds. The island's steep lava rock cliffs incorporate numerous caves and crevices that are particularly important for the increasingly rare seabird Scripps's murrelet (a threatened species known as Xantus's murrelet until 2012). The cliffs are also an important location for the ashy storm-petrel. The largest breeding colony of the California brown pelican in the United States, and one of the only two in California, also occurs on Anacapa Island. This is where the brown pelican has been able to recover so dramatically from near extinction in the 1970s. The islets of Anacapa also host the largest breeding colony of western gull in the world. Western gulls begin their nesting efforts at the end of April, sometimes making their shallow nests just inches from trails. Fluffy chicks hatch in May and June and fly away from the nests in July. Mammals, reptiles and amphibians The only native land mammal on the island is a unique subspecies of deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus anacapae) which occurs on all three islets, but nowhere else. (San Clemente Island in the southern Channel Islands also has an endemic subspecies of deer mouse.) Anacapa has two native reptiles: an endemic form of the side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana hesperis); and the less-common California alligator lizard (Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata). There is one amphibian, the Channel Islands slender salamander (Batrachoseps pacificus). Marine mammals and other marine life abound on Anacapa. Vegetation Anacapa's prolific and dense vegetation was once dominated by the showy giant coreopsis (Leptosyne gigantea) previously named Coreopsis gigantea, an erect, shrubby perennial with a stout, succulent trunk growing to some tall. The main trunk grows up to thick and often resembles a small tree. During its blooming season, March to May, it bursts forth with a mass of showy, bright yellow flowers and green leaves. Giant coreopsis provided shelter and perches for seabirds and