More photos of the STAL

As a mid-week break, here's some photos by Abram Fleishman, of the short-tailed albatross that visited us for a couple days on Tern:


Look how small the other albatross look around the STAL.

And my favorite....

Here's what Ian Jones tells us about the 2002 sightings of STAL on Tern:

"Congratulations on your January 31 Short-tailed Albatross. In relation to the 2002 bird, I saw a nearly full adult plumaged individual Short-tailed Albatross (STAL) three times on widely scattered days over several weeks in February 2002 (presumed to be the same bird) ...  The bird was only seen flying, making repeated passes over the island near the barracks and warehouse and checking out groups of LAALs and BFALs on the runway verges. To encourage the bird to land, I constructed six STAL decoys (in a variety of poses similar to the decoys on Midway) using paint and materials scavenged at Tern and set these up on rebar supports opposite the barracks."

Thanks, Ian!  I wasn't aware of this history, so we really appreciate the info.  We are considering deploying decoys again here soon -- probably should be sooner than later, since they've been seen here multiple years in February!

Although we haven't seen our friend after the first two days, we're hoping he/she'll come back for a longer stay.  Hopefully we'll have more STAL news soon -- We'll keep you posted.

Be sure to check out the news on the nesting STAL on the Midway blog as well!

Albatross News -- STAL on Tern!!!

We're definitely in albatross season now!  Chicks are everywhere, and growing like mad.  And this morning, while I was writing this blog, Morgan Gilmour found a short-tailed albatross on Tern!!!!  These endangered birds have only been seen in FFS once in February 1994, and Februrary 2002 -- so this is a special sighting!

Short tailed albatross on Tern today!!  Photo by Dakshina Marlier (above), and Sarah Youngren (below). 
(We'll have better pictures later, but we dont want to disturb him/her.)

Along with our previous O'ahu moli visitor, and a current nesting moli on Tern, banded on Kaua’i in 2008 -- French Frigate Shoals is turning into quite the metropolitan place to nest!

Morgan Gilmour is working on a project tagging albatrosses at Tern Island, for the Tagging of Pacific Pelagics program (University of California, Santa Cruz).  She is using both satellite and GPS tracking to monitor where the adults find food during incubation and chick-rearing.  This will tell us something both interesting, and useful if we need to protect an area or resource, or if we are impacting these resources.

Below is a GPS track of a female ka’upu (black-footed albatross) that was originally banded as a nesting adult in 1998.  During her month-long foraging trip, she traveled very near to Vancouver Island and then Haida Gwaii (formerly Queen Charlotte Island) in British Columbia.  Unlike the mōlī (Laysan albatross), that tend to forage more in the central Northern Pacific, ke ka’upu seem to prefer foraging up the West Coast of North America.  The amount of plastic floating around in these areas also shows up in their chicks – a lot more in the mōlī, who forage closer to the “garbage dump.”

Satellite track of a ka'upu (photo below) heading up the West Coast, looking for food before returning to its nest. 

It seems that this bird encountered stormy weather near Alaska, because when she arrived back on Tern, the GPS tag was water-logged.  Only the first half of the trip data was recorded, as you can see on the map.  What a long way to go just for dinner!!!   After she returns to the nest, her mate will take off on a similar foraging trip.  This long trip appears to have been successful because the egg hatched two weeks after the bird returned to Tern Island, and the chick is doing well.

This is the very bird who was tracked heading up the West Coast (above), with its chick.  Photo by Morgan Gilmour.

In addition to the satellite and GPS tracking, Scott Shaffer (UCSC) and David Hyrenbach (HPU) have agreed to let us combine part of our monitoring program efforts with part of theirs – so we can study where not only where the parent’s go, but how that affects chick growth.  We may also be able to match up the plastic ingested by chicks with where their parents’ foraged.   This kind of partner cooperation makes the whole much larger than the sum of its parts.  Thanks to David and Scott for agreeing to be so cooperative, and thanks to Morgan and Abram for getting the work done!  (It takes a team to do great science!)

Above:  Measuring the tarsus.  Below:  Drawing blood samples.  Abram Fleishman is holding the ka’upu.  Morgan Gilmour is taking measurements and samples.  This information will tell us a lot about the health of the bird.

And some other assorted news and photos:

Dan and Sarah saw a ka'upu with a 'streamer', and tracked it down.  The bird had a hand-braided nylon line wrapped twice around its uper leg, knotted twice, and with a bolen-loop on the other end.  It looked awfully like someone had tied this bird up, and it escaped.  Luckily the crew removed it before much damage was done -- the bird is scarred, but won't lose its leg.  Nice job, crew!

Female turtle on South Beach.  We see mostly males and juveniles in the winter, but there's always exceptions.

Tern Island 'new' runway from the East end.  We're glad to see birds nesting in this area.

Paula Hartzell and Dan Rapp releasing a small honu out of the double seawall.  Turtles get stuck behind the seawall after they washed over by high waves, then can't get back out.  This one was particularly tricky because it was swimming around in hip-deep water.  We waited for low tide so the waves wouldn't bash us, and so the turtle had time to calm down and go to sleep, then Sarah herded it to us.  We had to hand-pass the turtle to a wide enough opening, because the bottom of the wall is lined with broken rusty barrels facing up -- like tires on a football field, only rusty and jagged.  :-)  Everyone was careful, and the turtle was released healthy and unharmed.

This week at Tern - 18Jan11

Aloha kakou!  Internet has been really, really slow this week (and non-existent most of the time), so we can't post things as often as we'd like.  Facebook is about the only thing that loads when its that slow.  I will upload small fuzzy versions of pictures so they have time to upload....so please be patient!

Our big news:  the black-footed albatross chicks started hatching this week!

First ka'upu chick on Tern Island this year!!!

Range of temperature:  66 to 78ºF. Only 0.88” rainfall accumulated this week.  Average wind velocity was 11.7 knots, with gusts to 23.3 kts on 12Jan11.  

We did not get the tremendous winds experienced on Midway and Laysan this week -- they had winds over 60 knots! -- although it was enough to stop bird monitoring for several days.  (Birds can be injured if flushed when the wind is >20 knots.)  A large south swell made using the (south-facing) dock unsafe for small boats, and resulted in no Kahana stop on their way back to Honolulu.... so that means we couldn't send back our boat parts for repair. 

ʻĀ wāwae (red-footed boobies) hunker down in 20 knot wind this week.

In addition, we can't have any planes fly in if there is any moisture on the runway, so we likely won't be having too many flights in before March -- and then, since there are so many sooty terns, our flights are limited as well.  Ah, the vagaries of island logistics!!!  It's all good, though, because we do, in fact, live on a remote island.  If it was easy to get to, it wouldn't be remote.  :-)

Dan Rapp playing guitar on the back lanai.  Music is an important part of island life. 

We have a special project on Tern.  Helly Hansen (she prefers to be called 'Hansen'), a Laysan albatross that has been studying mechanics under Paula's direction, wants to pursue a technical degree in small engine repair.  There are very few albatross with college degrees of any kind, so we would really like to encourage her.  Because she doesn't have much money -- few of the albatross really do -- we are looking for scholarship opportunities for Hansen. 

Helly Hansen waiting patiently in the boathouse for her next lesson.

Helly Hansen assisting in removal of the lower units from the SAFEboat outboards. 

Finally, NEWS FROM MIDWAY ISLAND:  The first short-tailed albatross chick (EVER!) was born on Midway Island this week!!! This is truly phenomenal news.  This bubble-gum beaked species was considered extinct in the 1950's, after it had been hunted out for its feathers.  It made a come-back, but only has nested on two islands in Japan -- making it extremely vulnerable to true extinction.  Having a new breeding site buys the short-tailed albatross a lot of insurance, in case one or the other gets wiped out (by natural disaster, disease or whatever).  Check out some of the info online -- A very interesting creature!

First short-tailed albatross chick born in the NWHI!!!  Photo at Midway, taken by Pete Leary.