Albatross Chick Banding

We started Albatross chick banding this week. We are attempting to band every Albatross chick on the island within 6 weeks. The estimation is that there are about 3,000 chicks in total. To band an Albatross you work in teams of 2. One person is the bander/recorder and the other is the catcher. To catch and Albatross you approach a chick, grab it by the back of the neck with one hand and then grab the bill with the other. While holding the bill shut you scope up the bird by placing your free hand around its far wing, under its bell, and pinning the wings to your chest and arms. You then turn your back to the wind. This is done to prevent a bird from breaking its wing in the case a wing wriggles free from your arms (the wing will be pushed forward by the wind instead of back). The bander then quickly but carefully puts a metal FWS band on the birds right leg and a field readable colored band on the birds left leg. The bird is then released gently and away from the Sooty Tern eggs that seem to cover the entire island. If the Sootys are lucky the Albatross will not panic too much and no eggs will get crushed. Although this under taking is a lot of work, it is extremely satisfying to walk the island and see all the Albatross chicks banded and only a few weeks away from flight.



The birds are losing there down and growing their adult feathers rapidly now. It is sad to see the really small, under fed chicks. Although a lot of the chicks will survive to fledging there are some that for one reason or another are not getting fed enough food to reach adult size, grow feathers, and eventually fly. A few of the reasons the chicks are malnourished are, inexperience of the parents, too much plastic ingested (they actually starve because they are full of plastic), or one or both of the parents has died. Sadly every year an alarming number of Albatross die on the long line hooks set by fisherman all over the oceans. To a bird that feeds on floating fish eggs, squid, and other readily available food floating on the surface of the sea, a baited floating hook has buffet written all over it. So if the hooks set by the fisherman don't sink quick enough, Albatross swoop down for and easy meal and end up hooked and dragged under to drown. This is a common occurrence that some fisherman alleviate by setting quicker sinking hooks, in combination with flying streamers and other objects that scare and distract the birds from what seems to them to be a free meal. With a little awareness on both the fisherman's side and the consumers side, the problem of catching Albatross should and could be remedied. More information can be found all over the Internet by simple typing the key words "Albatross and long lines" into a search engine. One website in particular that I found to have some good information on this problem is, www.surfbirds.com/news/albatross.html. Albatross are not the only animal affected by long lining practices. Other pelagic seabirds, sea turtles, seals and other (non targeted) fish, all fall victim to long lines.

As a consumer you can do your part by knowing the source of your seafood. This may not seem like an easy task but the Internet is a great tool for researching the types of seafood most directly related to these deaths. And remember, it wasn't too long ago that it was almost impossible to find organic and fair trade goods at your local grocery store and now even Walmart is catching on. The voice of the masses is usually heard, we just need to rally the masses. I will step off my soap box now. Hope all are well, miss you all.

Aloha, Tim.

Tide Station

The new tide station is in the works. Mike, the tide technician, had to take a plane out here and spend 3 weeks on island because the Coast Guard ship he was supposed to take here broke. Due to the restrictions of weight on the small double engine plane that ferries people to and from the island, Mike was not able to bring all his gear. He is awaiting its arrival on the Oscar Sette, a NOAA ship that is bringing the Monk Seal crew for the summer. So with little to do before his equipment arrives, he and I have surveyed the island's benchmarks, to determine shifts in the land height. Since the water levels that he collects are compared to the height of the land the station is affixed to it is important to determine if there has been any shifting or settling of the island. He has also installed a much needed outdoor shower so we can wash off the salt after our snorkel trips. Once his equipment arrives we will be installing and testing the new tide gauge.

We are gearing up to begin the banding of all the Albatross chicks on the island, roughly 3,000 in all. We are banding them with a FWS metal band consisting of a four number prefix and a five more numbers to determine the individual bird. To better study the Albatross in future years, while limiting the disturbance to the birds, we are also installing a field readable auxiliary color band that will be correspond to the FWS band. These bands will be yellow with black lettering and will consist of one letter followed by three numbers. We will be sweeping the island in teams of two and banding all the birds that meet the feather to down ratio requirements. The birds will begin fledging in late June and early July.

The Monk Seals and the Hawaiian Green Turtles are busy giving birth to pups and digging nest pits, respectively. We now have two seal pups on island and numerous turtle pits. The berms of the beaches look like we have been hit with mortar shells. Once there are seal pups on the island we have to be very careful to remain 100 m. from the pups and mother to insure that we do not disturbed the mother who is highly stressed at this point. I have had to stop doing one of my Albatross plots due to the seal pup.

Hope all are well.

Aloha, Tim.

Happy Mother's Day

The last scheduled plane landed safely on Tern Island on Friday the 11th. We were sad to say goodbye to Frans and our new friend E.H., who stayed with us for a week working on installing new batteries for our solar power system. But the plane did deliver us a few new friends, Angela (Refuge Manager), Monika (Volunteer) and Mike (tide station technician). All were happy to make it out to Tern. From now until a new flight contract goes through, our only contact with the outside word (and way off this island) will be by boat. The population of Tern is now up to 8 people with a high for the summer being 13 (of which 11 will be staying the entire summer). The barracks are big and you can still feel alone, especially on Sundays when everyone seems to disappear.

I got lucky with this new group of people, they all seem to have been born water babies, and I have no shortage of swimming and snorkeling buddies. On Friday we went for a snorkel off the north end of the island and had some good encounters with White-tip Reef Sharks, a Grey Reef Shark, 2 Spotted Eagle Rays, a monster of an Aluau(sp?), some Box jelly fish, numerous Green Turtles, Trumpet fish, and a Monk Seal, just to name the ones not seen every trip into the water.

Next week we begin the arduous yet fun task of trying to band every Albatross chick on the island. This is no small feat as it seems that they are everywhere. This all has to be done while trying to avoid stepping on the eggs of the 75,000 pairs of Sooty Terns that have invaded the island like a bad Hitchcock movie. The terns hold fast to their eggs and peck and bite your legs while their mates bomb you from above. Ear plugs, shoes and much patience is needed for the task at hand. But we are all looking forward to break from our normal routine out here. Loving my time here but also looking forward to seeing you all again soon back on the mainland.

Happy Mother's Day Mom, happy birthday Dad, and congrats on finishing your Junior year Karen. I love and miss you guys and hope the weather is making a turn for the best back on the Cape. Looking forward to seeing you and Jessica this summer Orrin. Hopefully we can work out something so we can all go to the Red Sox game in August.

Go SOX! Tim.

Serendiptiy

Hi all,
Since the last that I have posted we have had some changes here at Tern Island. Earlier today Laura a fellow volunteer left the island to head home to Montreal. She will be missed. On the up side the flight that she left on brought us fresh fruit and vegetables and letters from loved ones. Thanks to my family and Lindsay for sending along some letters and packages. Also arriving on the flight was an electrician to work on setting up a new bank of batteries to store the power from our solar panels. It is an ongoing struggle to maintain a field site as remote as this one.

Previously in the week we had the opportunity to take an outer island trip to Trig Island. After a quick bird survey and sighting the first Hawaiian Monk Seal pup for the season we weaved our way through a maze of shallow waters to reach Serendipity. A secluded area of coral well protected from the breakers, Serendipity lived up to its name. We snorkeled this beautiful spot until even the hardiest Canadians called it quits due to being cold. Hopefully we will be lucky enough to return to Serendipity later in the season.

Life on Tern has been plugging along. The Sooty Terns are here in full force and hardly a bare patch of ground remains. The sound coming in the open windows is loud enough to make even the loudest talkers have to yell to communicate efficiently. It is weird though, soon it all fades into background noise and becomes just life. A lot of Tristram's Petrels are starting to fledge. Just in time as it is getting almost impossible to work with the burrow cam around all the nesting Sooty Terns. The time has been going by fast but I do miss certain things, Scrappy, Beer, Red Sox games and Spice Cake.

Hope all are doing well, Tim.