Fledging Albatross, Baby Seals, and Immersion Suits

"I'm flying!!!"  Well, almost.  The kaʻupu chicks have started to fledge this week -- We've seen several taking off from Tern and Trig Islands.  They'll continue fledging over the next month.  The mōlī (Laysan albatross) will start fledging in the next couple weeks as well.  These birds will spend the next several years at sea, not returning to land until they are ready to start learning how to be parents.  Most of these birds will return directly to Tern.  Its been very exciting watching them grow up!  Photo by Paula L. Hartzell.

Team Tern on East:  From left to right, Dan Rapp, Sarah Youngren, Kristina Dickson and James Macaulay banding black-footed albatross (ka'ula) chicks on East Island.  We are excited about banding on the outer islands of the atoll, because this information will help us better understand how these birds adapt to changes in island geomorphology, storm events and tsunamis.

An ʻilio o ke kai mom and pup move up on land to sleep for the night.  A healthy mom will stay with her pup throughout the nursing season, never leaving the pup to feed.  A fat mom is a good mom, because she births fatter pups and nurses them longer.  Attentive moms are also more successful at protecting their pups from sharks.  Photo, with La Perouse Pinnacle in the background, by NMFS crew Mark Sullivan.

View of Gin Island from Little Gin Island.  The NMFS crew has been camping on Gin for two weeks straight, in an attempt to monitor and protect pups on that island. Can you imagine staying on such a small low island overnight by yourself?!?  Photo by Paula Hartzell.

Lindsey Kramer and James Macaulay cheerfully pump gas into -- and back out of -- the Spam.  Sometimes you think you're going somewhere, sometimes not.... But they kept a smile on their faces regardless.  You never know what the conditions or challenges will be, so you have to be willing to roll with the punches...

Safety Training!!! The team practices with immersion suits... Kinda funny on a tropical island!!!  We need to know how to use the suits, though, if we have to evacuate via boat for long periods of time, or at night, when hypothermia is a real possibility.  Still, it was pretty funny to see the honu swimming up to check out the bright orange people....  Here the team practices making a raft with their bodies, for an ʻinjuredʻ person to rest on top, out of the water.  Practice makes perfect -- especially when you need to be able to rescue yourself, even when the situation is scary.  It is very important to be knowledgeable and practiced at emergency procedure when youʻre this far out at sea.

Sarah demonstrates relaxing in an immersion suit...a tricky proposition at best.  :-)  

Beauty and the Beast:  Fratricide in the MABO world.  Masked boobies, ʻA makaʻele, have two eggs as insurance in case they lose one.  If both eggs hatch, either the parent or the other chick will most often kick the weak one out of the nest to die (and hence why twins are rare).  Mark Sullivan caught this event on camera -- Nature is often incredibly beautify, and horribly harsh at the same time.

Dancing with Manta Rays.  Kristina Dickson and a manta ray enjoy underwater ballet.  Gorgeous photo by Sarah Youngren.

Me!

Happy seal pup.  Photo by Mark Sullivan.

"Give me your ankle!!!" [Sooty Tern, ʻEwaʻewa]

Who is the buddhahead?!?

Aloha kakou!  There's good news, and bad news.

THE BAD NEWS:
What we want to know on Tern is....WHO is the buddhahead who keeps putting zip ties and fishing line, tied around the feet of albatross?!?  This is something that has been going on for years -- we find them on Tern, Midway, and even Ka'ena Point.  We find around 10 birds a year like this, just on Tern.  Poor albatross, with zip ties or fishing line tied around their legs -- probably someone trying to keep them as a pet, although a few could potentially be by accident -- ends up cutting off the circulation to their legs, cutting into them, and probably killing many of them.  Can't be fun for anyone.

Melinda Conners is holding an albatross we found with the regular metal band (above, with room to spare), and a zip tie around its leg.  The zip tie is cutting into the birds leg, and had we not removed it, eventually caused the leg to lose circulation, possibly rot off, and cause death to the bird.  Not so good.

This is the same bird as above, with the zip tie removed.  This bird will heal now, and get along fine.  There are probably many others that aren't so lucky.  Let people know that this is NOT an okay thing to do!  Notice that the metal band (under melinda's thumb) is still round, has extra room, no sharp edges, and is not squeezing the bird's leg.  We spend a lot of time training, and making sure the band is the right size, shape and material, not to cut into the bird's leg.


BUT THERE'S GOOD NEWS!!!
The albatross -- and the other species here -- are doing well, and enjoying this nesting season.  Lots of happy birds (and volunteers!)

A Laysan albatross on her nest.  Albatross nest on the ground, piling up sand, rocks, shells, sticks, grass -- whatever is handy -- into a mound.  It rained lately, so they have built their nests up higher to protect from any flooding rain water.

Gotta check and make sure that egg is still there.... Really, this Laysan is talking to its egg.  Albatross chicks are born knowing their parents' voices, because the parents sing to them the whole time they're in the egg.




Trish with a friend, Tern Island, Dec 2010.



Another beautiful sunrise on Tern.  Photo by FWS Volunteer Patricia Jackson

 p.s.  For the Hawaiian monk seal fans out there, counted 17 seals on Tern this week, including the new weaner (PN3).  The shark-bit pup (T148) has taken off for greener pastures.  Hopefully we'll see him again in the summer!