Hey everybody!
Long time, no post---sorry about that! At long last we have finally returned to blogging about the goings-on at Tern and French Frigate Shoals. We have a new blog/website, please find us at:
frenchfrigateshoals.org
Hopefully Paula's blog will remain available online for some time to come. It remains a great source of information and photos from Tern.
Thanks and see you at the new site!
Meg
French Frigate Shoals (Kānemilohaʻi):Tern Island Blog
Tern Island is located within French Frigate Shoals, part of the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge, Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, Hawaiʻi. French Frigate Shoals is home to many thousands of birds (albatross, boobies, terns, and more), Hawaiian monk seals, Hawaiian green sea turtles, and a few humans. Join us for adventures on a remote island.
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Monday, August 27, 2012
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Paula's very last blog post....
Aloha kakou!
I have had so much fun, and learned so much at Tern Island Field Station over the past three years. I send sincere thanks to all the people who have worked to improve the station, the quality and effectiveness of our work there during this time -- as well as the hundreds of others who have done so in the past. A particular special thanks to all the volunteers who have donated their time because of their passion for conservation and protecting our wildlife and refuges.
Mahalo nui loa!!!
As a parting message, I attach links to a couple of classic videos during my stay at Tern....
First Five Weeks at Tern (2012, by Abram Fleishman) (a vimeo link)
Albatross Hammer Time (2011, by Dan Rapp) (a youtube link)
and finally, a salute to TeamWork:
The Original Team Tern: a Well Oiled Machine
Above and beyond all of our hard work and efforts, thank you to all of the wildlife -- birds, seals, turtles, people, fish, invertebrates, and habitats marine and terrestrial. Without you, our life would have no joy.
paula
I have had so much fun, and learned so much at Tern Island Field Station over the past three years. I send sincere thanks to all the people who have worked to improve the station, the quality and effectiveness of our work there during this time -- as well as the hundreds of others who have done so in the past. A particular special thanks to all the volunteers who have donated their time because of their passion for conservation and protecting our wildlife and refuges.
Mahalo nui loa!!!
As a parting message, I attach links to a couple of classic videos during my stay at Tern....
First Five Weeks at Tern (2012, by Abram Fleishman) (a vimeo link)
Albatross Hammer Time (2011, by Dan Rapp) (a youtube link)
and finally, a salute to TeamWork:
The Original Team Tern: a Well Oiled Machine
Above and beyond all of our hard work and efforts, thank you to all of the wildlife -- birds, seals, turtles, people, fish, invertebrates, and habitats marine and terrestrial. Without you, our life would have no joy.
paula
Thursday, March 22, 2012
New Crew on Tern
Welcome to our new crew on Tern! The Kahana arrived on Monday with the new summer crew: Summer Manager Meg Duhr Schultz, and volunteers Catherine Fox, Ryan Potter, and Megan Juran. The new and old crew will work together over the next 10 days, passing the torch. The winter crew will be leaving when the Kahana comes through on its return trip to Honolulu, and Meg will be taking over the blog.
Offloading supplies and getting new crew: Left to right: Dan Rapp, Ryan Potter, Morgan Gilmour, and Abram Fleishman. Photo by Sarah Youngren. |
Basking honu on Tern Island |
The only bummer news for this week is that because Paula (the manager) has to go back to Honolulu to work in the office, and won't be staying or returning this summer, the benthic monitoring project we were planning to start this winter (but hadn't yet because we had no working boats) will not be carried out. Of course Paula is very sad to miss out on all the summer actvities (particularly the benthic plate project, as well as helping out the turtle and seal crews), but Meg will be carrying the torch high and proud, and all the other activities will carry on under her guidance.
Dakshina Marlier (USFWS), Abram Fleishman (USFWS), and Morgan Gilmour (UCSC and USFWS) will also be sadly returning to Honolulu, but they have great plans after that! Dakshina will be moving on to a summer biking position in Alaska, and Abram and Morgan have wildlife jobs in California. Morgan may be entering graduate school, and if she gets the permits, returning to Tern next winter to continue tagging albatross and boobies, and working on her dissertation tagging great frigatebirds!
More good news is that Sarah and Dan will be staying on at Tern to work on Paula's data quality project, funded by the USFWS Inventory and Monitoring Project, so we can get some of the 30 years of bird monitoring data. They'll also be able to complete their work on acoustics, plastics, burrowing seabird habitat, working alongside Meg, Megan, Catherine and Ryan. Yeah!!!
Neighbors. Snorkeling photos by Abram Fleishman. |
Dakshina Marlier, enjoying the sunset. Photo by Abram Fleishman. |
Manu o Kū (white tern) feeding its chick. Does anyone know if this is a mahi? |
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Hawaiʻi Academy of Arts & Science PCS Experiences Tern Island
On Monday, February 27, 2012 Tern Island came to Mrs. Randi Brennon's grade 7 & 8 science classroom...or at least it felt like that. |
Big Island resident, Erin Kawakami, volunteered as a wildlife monitor on Tern Island from June through December 2011; she shared her experiences while living on the small island. |
Erin learned to recognize the 4 different stages that Laysan Albatross chicks go through as they grow up: Downy, then Partly, then Mostly and finally Fully Feathered Chick |
Erin is teaching the HAAS PCS students how to write the chick stages in the data table. |
Students moved around the classroom to find every chick, identify its stage, and write the information in their data table. |
What stage do you think this Laysan Albatross chick is: DFC, PFC, MFC or FFC? |
This student is getting some help from an albatross hoaloha (friend). |
Looks like the Hawaiʻi Academy of Arts & Science PCS has a healthy colony of Laysan Albatross! |
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
#4 - Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program at French Frigate Shoals
Get ready for a sad picture, from the Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program's Facebook Page --
The tale of French Frigate Shoals continues. In 1984, in response to decreasing condition of young seals, small numbers of weaned, female pups were captured at FFS and transported to Oʻahu for captive care to increase their size and improve their condition and likelihood of survival. They were then reintroduced into the wild at Kure Atoll (in the NWHI). This photo shows an example of a young seal who is struggling to get enough food.
The tale of French Frigate Shoals continues. In 1984, in response to decreasing condition of young seals, small numbers of weaned, female pups were captured at FFS and transported to Oʻahu for captive care to increase their size and improve their condition and likelihood of survival. They were then reintroduced into the wild at Kure Atoll (in the NWHI). This photo shows an example of a young seal who is struggling to get enough food.
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