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