Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Photos for April showers...

I tell you what, blogging has been a bit frustrating lately. Here are some pics I wanted to post in the last entry, but they didn't line up as prettily as they usually do.


Cute sooty - one in a million


Red-tailed tropicbird + chick


Stamping out cheeseweed, one weed at a time

Me, with a wedgie, ha ha

Bulwer's petrel

April showers...

I know that my postings have been sporadic lately. I have to admit that I've been a little lazy in getting to my blog, mostly because I've been so relaxed with the hot Hawaiian sun beating on me and the cool Pacific inviting me in for a refreshing dip. The times that I have tried to log on have been unsuccessful until now, 11:00 p.m. Hawaiian time on this cloudy, starless Wednesday night. Since I was actually allowed onto my blog, I will post a little something. Hopefully, this thing will work tonight.

The last 2 and a half weeks have been eventful... Tern Island style. What I mean by that is that most of what has been going on has been the same old, same old bird stuff, which nonetheless is exciting to me and the rest of the people on this little island.

I am in love with a new bird, even though the albatrosses will always be my first love. The Bulwer's petrel is a little black bird, almost a cross between a Tristram's storm-petrel and a Christmas shearwater. Bulwer's have the cutest little feet that look way too small for their bodies. Their call is unusual -- it's like a little dog "woof." No joke. Amongst all the screechings and cawings, to hear the "woof! woof! woof!" is a bit out of place.

We have been mark-recapturing wedge-tailed shearwaters for the last 3 weeks. When you go out wedgie catching, you have to wear thick leather gloves and long sleeves so that they can't easily bite you. And they try really hard to find a chink in the armor. The first night we were out catching, the one I was holding let his cute little head bob backwards onto my hand. How sweet! I thought. Dave quickly corrected me. "Um, he's trying to find a place to bite you." Those little guys bite pretty hard -- I got bit on the cheek last week. It's healing up fine, but still. Not the face!
We've been doing a ton of cheeseweeding and rock hauling the last couple of weeks. Specifically, we've been concentrating on clearing out the major rocks from Shell Beach so that sea turtles will have a smoother place to lay their eggs when the season comes (sometime in May). I tell you what, my skin is about as dark as I think God intended -- spending all day in the sun will do that I suppose.

I reached the 600 mark on my red-tailed tropicbird mark-recapture! I am very pleased! But I miss working with those birds. When you spend so much of your time catching, banding, observing, holding, interacting with the birds, it's hard not to get a little attached. I still see the tropicbirds on the island, and as I see them, I give a salute. They were fun to work with.

The sooty terns have landed in full force on the island. They are absolutely everywhere. On every square inch of open space the other birds have left available there is a sooty tern. Even under bushes, the poor tropicbirds have to sqwak just to get an offending sooty out of their personal space. When we do our plots or weed, the sooties peck at our toes and hands if we get too close. They hover right over the ground, like a living fog, screeching at their own kind, at other birds, at us. It's a little overwhelming. Today I was a little ways off the runway, in a little patch of grass not too populated by sooties. As soon as they started yelling at me, I almost teared up -- "I can't take this anymore today," I thought, and booked it out of there. Yes, a bird made me think twice about my plans, I admit it. But you would too if you got screeched at, stabbed, and bombarded by these little mites all day.

I love it here.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Finally! Back by popular demand...

A curious Black foot

Yeah, the last 2 weeks have been Google's fault. But we're back on schedule now. Ready to go.

I've had to scan through my travel journal to remember/ recollect what has happened these last two weeks, because, let me tell you, the days tend to run together here. So much happens that I want to talk about, but not all of it would be amusing to someone that's not me. It gets to be a process when choosing what to write about. So, here are the highlights from March 30 - April 13 on Tern Island, FFS.

March 30th was the day we said goodbye to Melinda and Josh as they boarded the Kahana bound for Honolulu. March 31st I saw my first masked booby chick. Not cute at all -- a skinny, naked, pink, bug-eyed mole rat looking thing (see photo below). April 1st I cooked my first loaf of sourdough bread! And it was actually good! I also saw my first whales that day. When Dave and Cindy saw the spouts they told the rest of us, and we rushed up to the roof and looked to the north. We strained our eyes for a bit, and then we saw the puffs of vaporized water shoot into the air. The spouts happened so fast, one right after the other. I didn't get my binoculars up in time to see the backs of the humpbacks that were traveling that day, or last Saturday when we saw even more spouts (Therese saw one of them breach before I got out there). Whales hold an aura of mystery for me -- these gigantic living monoliths lumbering out in the vastness of the sea. They are so big and yet rarely seen. I am so glad I got to see them show off a bit as they travel up to their summer homes.

Masked booby chicks - I told you...

The last two weeks, the albatross chicks are all of a sudden developing their adult feathers. From downy fluffy chicks to partially feathered chicks. My babies are growing so fast! I think we start banding them at the beginning of May, right before I leave. I'm excited to get to do that -- it'll be like finishing a project or seeing a kid off to college, sort of.

The white and dark brown feathers are showing through the down!

Now one of the highlights of my time here, thus far. Friday, April 3rd was hot and we were off a little early, so Adam, Whitney and I decide to jump off the dolphin into the crystal blue, cold water. Therese catches up with us, and although she doesn't want to get in the water, she decides to stand on the shore and watch the ocean. So Adam goes first and I watch him, trying to get up the courage to jump off the 9 foot tall platform. Then I see a couple of big silver fish dart from the shadows into the shallow water where Adam had just landed. I'm amused so I keep looking at them, and then I see 2 other shapes, that look a little bigger and a little like sharks. Because they were sharks. I start telling Adam to get out of the water and Therese says she sees something too. Adam gets out, the sharks swim towards where he had been and then swim out of sight. Uh yeah. I was freaked out. They weren't big (maybe 4 - 5 feet) but man, watching them swim was eerie. By then everyone is standing where I am and we are all scanning the water for those sharks. 20 minutes roll by and it's hot. That water looks good. No sharks. Yup, they're gone. So I jump in, Whitney and Adam right after. Therese is our lookout. All is right with the world. As I'm headed towards the exit point, Therese points nonchalantly "Oh, there's a shark. And another one." I jump out of that water so fast, and look back down to where Whitney's getting out, and see 3 slinky swimming sharks right underneath her. Adam is still in the water, cut off from land by water and sharks. The sharks swim out of sight and he takes his chance in getting out. As soon as he touches land, the sharks come back, searching for those 3 lovely pieces of meat they had just missed. That, my friends, is a true story. But it didn't stop me from jumping off the dolphin again on Saturday. This time the water was shark free -- we all made absolute sure of it this time.

The view while walking up the dolphin

April 8th I helped Cindy band Tristram's storm-petrels. These guys are the size of a man's fist, black, and with a relatively large holed tube on the tops of their beaks. During the day, the chicks stay in underground burrows, and the parents bring them food at night. We had to keep them shaded from the sun -- they literally never see the light of day. A Laysan wandered into the bunkhouse Saturday. His feet slap-slapped the ground as he explored the common room and took his time heading out the front door. Sunday was Easter (look up Titus 3:5 – 7) and Whitney and I cooked a marvelous Easter feast. Several of us also went snorkeling. I saw several Picasso triggerfish, or the Humuhumunukunukuapua’a (Hawaii’s state fish). Yeah, it’s a mouthful, but it is a beautiful fish.

Me with a Tristram's storm-petrel chick

The Laysan in the bunkhouse

So there you have it. The last 2 weeks summarized.