Aloha kakahiaka kākou!
This has been an exciting week at Tern Island! (And please forgive all the formatting errors in this post -- Its giving me fits, but takes hours to upload.)
We witnessed four tiger sharks eating a sea turtle in the lagoon behind the barracks one morning this week. We do not know if the turtle was alive or dead when it was attacked, but the sharks showed no interest at all in healthy turtles swimming by, nor in albatross sitting on the water nearby -- even "Bob," a turtle with no front fins at all was fine nearby -- so we're guessing the turtle was probably dead to start off with. Although it may seem cruel on the sharks' part, they have to eat too.... That's their job.
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Still, it was pretty exciting to see some big sharks so excited in the water nearby. It was a bit of a relief to me see that the sharks really weren't interested in the live, healthy stuff -- and to know that they really must not be all that interested in us, or we would definitely be seeing more of them if they were.
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| Tiger sharks trying to break open a sea turtle carapace. The turtle was probably dead when they found it (although we don't know for sure), as the sharks were completely uninterested in the live turtles swimming around -- One turtle swam by within 20m of the sharks milling around, fully within sight and smell, and the sharks were not the least bit interested. They were definitely interested in the dead one, though!!! |
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| The crew watched four tiger sharks (and a curious white-tipped reef shark) from the roof of the barracks. We could have gotten better photos in the water, but strangely, no one offered to go diving that morning.... (The dark spot in the lower left is a turtle swimming by. The four dark spots in the middle are the tiger sharks.) |
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| Team Tern watches from the roof. Its really nice to have compatriots to share these experiences with. (And you can see all the hard work that Curt has gone to fixing our roof!!!) | | | | |
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| Lindsey Kramer and Sarah Youngren team up to band a Black-footed Albatross chick. A light cloth over the chick's eyes keeps it calmer. The hearing protection is necessary because of the ʻewaʻewa (sooty terns). |
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Bird with an attitude. ʻewaʻewa (sooty tern) are currently at about 2.5 birds per square meter on Tern -- very roughly about 115,000 ʻewaʻewa on island -- hence why hearing protection is needed. Photo by Paula L. Hartzell.
More on a turtle rescue....when the internet allows! |
Question about the sooty tern, do they quiet down in the evening and then start up at sunrise? Or do they cluck / chirp 24 hours a day? If you got time, thanks.
ReplyDeleteYep, they go 24 hours a day -- but it is a little quieter at night and during the middle of the day. They really hit their max around sunset.
ReplyDeleteIt sometimes seems like they trade off with the wedgies, who really get started around sunset and go on and on and on and on all night.
(But those with white tern chicks under their windows would disagree, and say the white terns are loudest at night.)
So..... Its not really ever quiet here. :-)