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.
