Albatross Chicks and the BBC

Aloha,

Since last posting we have banded over 1,000 additional Albatross chicks. We are now complete with our intense banding and only have a few stragglers that we missed the first couple times around the island to band. We have to be very patient and courteous when banding in the vicinity of endangered Hawaiian Monk Seals that come ashore to rest. Rules state that we must maintain a minimum distance of 50 meters from a lone seal and 150 meters from a mom and pup. This makes banding the albatross that hang out on the beach a small problem. But after 3 of 4 circuits around the island all the birds should be banded. In addition to banding birds we have to keep a close eye out for dead banded chicks, so we can remove the bands and keep a tally of reproductive success and fledge rates for the 2 species. We also pick up bolus' that grade school kids back in HI will dissect to learn about the consequences of our plastic pollution. A bolus is a mass of all the stuff that an Albatross cannot digest. In a perfect world the bolus will contain mostly squid beaks and a few pumice rocks. But in reality these are all to often packed with plastic and other man made floating marine debris. When plastic is deposited in to the sea it floats around and fish lay their eggs onto it. This is then spotted by an adult Albatross flying above and is swallowed. If they have a chick to feed this plastic will then get fed to the chick. In some real bad cases chicks will actually die due to a belly full of plastic. The plastic stuffs the belly leaving little or no room for the food, and though well fed they will starve to death.

On a lighter but still grim note, a BBC film crew has arrived in the Atoll to film and photograph Tiger Sharks hunting and eating fledged Albatross in a lagoon off of East Island, just south of Tern. The Albatross fledglings will line up on the windward side of the island to stretch and test their wings for flight. Once wing control is gained some birds will make their first and often last flight into the lagoon on the east side of the island. Tiger Sharks have keyed in on this behavior and begin showing up in the lagoon in conjunction with the fledging Albatross chicks. The BBC crew has set up a filming platform in the lagoon and has positioned divers in the water to try to film this action as it takes place. The documentary they are in the process of making focuses on the South Pacific. Tomorrow Angela and I will make a trip over to East to swap out the Turtle Techs and hopefully we will be able to witness the Tigers looking for a snack!

Hope all are well, Tim

Turtle Camp and Spinner Dolphins

Aloha,
Sorry for not posting in a while but since we have started the Albatross chick banding we have been working early in the morning and late in the evenings. We band when it is cooler so as not to stress out the birds in the heat of the day. As of Saturday we have banded 1259 Black Footed Albatross and 692 Laysan Albatross. The Black Foots tend to fledge a little earlier than the Laysans, so that is why we have been focusing our attention more on them. The work is long and tiring but walking the island an seeing all the chicks banded makes it all worth while.

Peak turtle laying has begun and following closely behind are the two turtle technicians. They arrived on island on the 2nd of June and after a brief orientation and preparation we set there camp up on a smaller more remote island within the atoll. East Island is am 11 acre island that lacks some of the more developed vegetation that Tern has. So Wednesday of last week we filled 2 boats with all their gear and spent a day setting up the camp. On the way we were lucky to spot a pod of about 50 Spinner Dolphins feeding. What a thrill! The camp will be occupied by one or the other techs until late in July. They are nocturnal (as this is when the turtles lay eggs) and they do circuits of the island, pit tag the turtles, etch numbers into their backs, and drop a data logger into the nest pit. The data logger records temperature and will be retrieved at a later date and the data will be downloaded and the temperature will tell them if the nest produce male turtles or females (as the sex of the hatchlings are determined by temperature). So for the remainder of my time out here, twice a week I will ride with either Angela (Refuge Manager) or Dave (Assistant Manager) out to East Island to swap out the techs. During this time i will hopefully get to witness Tiger Sharks stalking the lagoon looking for an easy snack of an Albatross fledgling that lands in the water. I will be sure to write if and when this occurs!

Hope all are well.
Aloha. Tim