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

The Trip In

The new Tern crew loaded up -- along with SeeMore satellite technicians Konrad Schaad and Ralph Blancato, and Tern special volunteers Kathy Kawakami and Barbara Mayer -- on December 1st, for the three day trip out to French Frigate Shoals.

Women to Tern Island:  Morgan Gilmour, Sarah Youngren, Barbara Mayer, Dakshina Marlier, and Kathy Kawakami onboard the ship Kahana en route to French Frigate Shoals.

The first day at sea was pretty shaky, or at least most of the crew was. Things calmed down (both weatherwise and physically) after that, though. All of us enjoyed some great food onboard the ship Kahana, and some nice home-made music in the evening, courtesy of the Kahana's Nalu and our own volunteers.

A quiet moment as La Perouse comes into view. 

We arrived at Tern on Sunday, with a speedy offload due to good weather.   Come along on one of the small boat transfers from the good ship Kahana to the Island--



So much has changed since this summer!!!!  The crew on-island has built a tremendous amount of artificial habitat, experimenting with different materials and styles to see what the birds will accept for nesting.

Mōlī (above) and ka'upu nesting in runway.  Since some vegetation has returned to the runway, albatross are enjoying the extra room to nest.

The island is also green with winter.  As some vegetation starts to fill in the runway, both black-footed and Laysan albatross are moving nests into the green parts.  This will greatly expand their nesting area by about 30% -- a significant enlargement on one of two islands in the atoll that do not get washed over regularly.  The habitat is also important in that French Frigate Shoals is not as readily damaged by tsunami and storm waves as some other important seabird locations, such as Kure, Midway and Laysan, so provides an important refugia.

Albatross Love.  Photo by Ralph Blancato.

Manager Meg Duhr Schultz shows the crew around, and fills them in on all the rules.  We live happily on Tern Island -- but must always respect that this is the home of the wildlife first!

Manager Meg drills the troops (Dan Rapp, Dakshina Marlier, Barbara Mayer, and Abram Fleishman, L>R).

Meg leads the first entrapment walk -- All folks must participate in orientation when they arrive.  (Morgan Gilmour, Dakshina Marlier, Abram Fleishman, Meg Duhr Schultz)

Sarah Youngren and Abram Fleishman work on setting up acoustics equipment for monitoring seabirds at night.  Sarah is working with UCSC's Matthew McKown and Nexleaf in this first-ever deployment of this remote monitoring system totally-off-the-grid (as in no cell phone even).  This project is pretty exciting because if it works well, we can use it to monitor nocturnally active seabirds without tromping through their burrows.  It could also be used in remote places like Nihoa and other uninhabited islands, without people staying there.

Konrad Schaad repairing our satellite system....Yeesh!!!  We have him to thank for this blog being posted -- and for use of our turtle cam and email systems!

We also had our first off-island experience of the season, counting seabirds, seals and turtle while Konrad and Ralph worked on the turtle cam (East Island).  We were happy to see a whole lot of nesting albatross, as well as a lot of mostly healthy looking seals. 

First 'a maka'ele (masked booby) eggs of the season!!!  Photo by Sarah Youngren.

A juvenile 'iwa (great frigatebird) inspects Konrad's work at the top of a telephone pole.  Konrad is fixing the cameras used by sea turtle researcher George Balaz for monitoring East Island -- where roughly half of the entire species nests!  Konrad is a tall man:  check out how this young frigatebird's wingspan dwarfs him in perspective.  Photo by Ralph Blancato.

Silver bellied 'ilio o ke kai (Hawaiian monk seal) juvenile.  Photo by Paula Hartzell. 

We expect the Kahana to return from its trip up to Midway around December 13th.  We will have more bird and seal news coming all winter!

A mother-daughter team on Tern:  Kathy Kawakami and Erin Kawakami tackle native plant propagation on Tern Island.  We appreciate Kathy's experience and Erin's energy -- and the willingness of all our volunteers to give their time for wildlife conservation at this remote location.

Getting Ready to Go

Aloha kakou! 

The excitement mounts as Meg Duhr Schultz reports from Tern that ke ka'upu (the black-footed albatross) have laid almost 100 eggs so far, including at least one nest with two eggs!   The team currently on-island (Meg, Erin and Scott) are keeping very, very busy with albatross -- and with protecting their native out-plantings from these curious birds.  Meg also reports that the albatross appear very attracted to the areas the team has been revegetating -- which is great news.

Back in Honolulu, Team Tern II is beginning to gather in Honolulu for their deployment.  Abram Fleishman came from research in Baja California/Mexico. Dakshina Marlier flew in from her home island of Kaua'i, after some months of leading biking trips in southeast Alaska.  These two new-to-FWS volunteers arrived last week to participate in training, help buy and load supplies, and enjoy the last bit of civilization before heading out to Tern.

During this week, we've picked up almost $3,000 in dry foods, supplies for maintaining the buildings, tractors and boats (things like PVC, hand tools, carts, extra tires, ropes, sewage line, and boat tiller kits).  We've tested and packed equipment needed for biological monitoring (things like measuring tapes and calipers, a night-vision camera, rite-in-the-rain notebooks, and data loggers).  And we've had lots and lots of training:  an introduction to operations, training on banding safety, evacuation, medical safety, boating safety, team safety, lifting safety, cooking safety, mental health and safety, and of course, safety safety.  Our outreach expert Barbara Mayer joined us for an introduction to Biological Monitoring and the Common Species at French Frigate Shoals.

All this training, shopping, and packing can be tedious -- but it is extremely important for the crews to have a broad background and understanding of the purposes and methods before we get to the island.  Even before they arrive on-island, they should have a pretty good idea of what they will be doing, and able to identify all of the bird species.  We've even gone over the proper way to capture an albatross, albeit our practice albatross strongly resembles a pillow with a paper towel roll taped on the top. :-)  This training really provides the volunteers with enough background that they will know when they're missing information, and what questions to ask, once we hit the ground running with albatross monitoring once we arrive.

We've made a couple trips to the Northshore of O'ahu collecting naupaka cuttings for transplanting at Tern Island.  We're hoping this influx of new plants will result in a long-term increase in the number of shrubs at Tern, important for nesting habitat.

FWS Volunteer Dakshina Marlier (left) and staff Paula Hartzell (right) gather nau paka cuttings from the roadside on O'ahu. 
Photo by FWS Volunteer Abram Fleishman.

Abram's beautiful photography at work:  A naupaka blossom.  While Abram took these great shots, Dakshina enlightened us with a telling of the traditional Hawaiian story about naupaka.  Looks like we're really going to benefit from the talents of these two this winter!

The naupaka pruning gets serious... Tempers flare....

The crew, post cutting....  hmmmm.....All that shopping, packing, and pruning can be exhausting. :-)

We expect the rest of the crew -- Sarah Youngren, Dan Rapp, and Morgan Gilmour -- to show up this weekend, so we can finish preparing and take off to Kānemilohaʻi next week.  Yeah!!!!

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]

Aloha kakahiaka!

This has been a great seal week -- Some of the seals had a romantic Valentines Day (really!), and we are seeing lots of nice, fat females.  Nice fat females means nice fat babies, and enough fat for the moms to feed them throughout weaning. (The moms don't eat from the time they give birth, until after they wean, so lots of body fat is essential.)  Go fat seals!

This nice fat momma seal is 18 years old, and has had 7 pups so far.  Go Momma!

   It has been rain, rain, rain for quite a while now -- so we race out for a quick snorkel whenever possible.

Little toby guards his junk.

White-tipped reef shark at a distance.

We also had some water-based training with the Miller board.  This type of safety practice is very useful in figuring out what we can and cannot do - and so we all feel more comfortable handling this equipment when we actually need to evacuate a hurt or unconscious person in the water.


Water-based Miller board practice.  FWS Volunteers (clockwise) Kristina Dickson, Melinda Conners, Dan Rapp, and James Macaulay move scenario victim Sarah Youngren safety through the water towards shore.  La Perouse is visible in the background.



Oops!  Kinda got that one backwards.... Now her head is down...  Important lesson that we won't forget next time!



A successful rescue!!  Kristina (in wetsuit) demonstrates the proper way to lift, while the others demonstrate improper lifting technique.  Way to go, Team!  :-)

And last but not least... the Photo of the Week:

Joy on the runway.  Dan Rapp expresses his enthusiasm.  Photo by Sarah Youngren.

Rain, rain, rain...

The weather has been rain, rain, rain, but the Termites have been accomplishing a lot this week – both humans, birds and seals.

French Frigate Shoals was highlighted in newspaper articles from Honolulu to New York, after the release of information of the discovery of the Nantucket whaling ship Two Brothers by NOAA in 2008.  The ship wrecked off of Shark Island on February 11, 1812.  News reports are at these websites:

• The Honolulu Star-Advertiser: "1800s whaling ship found in isle waters"
• The New York Times: "No 'Moby-Dick': A Real Captain, Twice Doomed"
• Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument: article = "Lost Whaling Shipwreck..."and close-captioned video = "Two Brothers - Maritime Heritage"

A vagrant gull we’ve seen the past few weeks was identified by Peter Pyle/Bishop Museum as a Herring Gull, probably the Larus argentatus vegae subspecies from Siberia.  They will be using photos that Sarah Youngren took, with credit to FWS, for the Museum’s Herring Gull webpage.  This subspecies has been documented several times at Kure, Midway, and French Frigate Shoals in the past.  Go Sarah!

 

Fifteen seals were observed during this week’s seal walk.   This week’s identified seals were 1, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 12 years old – a really young age spread for FFS, which we’re delighted to see.

Gratuitous 'ilio holo i ka uaua photo

We finished checking the 2011 adult albatross monitoring data, and here’s what we got:  5,092 black-footed albatross nesters, 5, 166 Laysan albatross nesters, and 13,290 adult albatross total!!!  Considering we read each albatross' band twice, that was quite an effort.  This is good news; both species had modest increases in nesting attempts since last year.  Both species have been slowly increasing in numbers on Tern since the mid-1990s, albeit Laysan numbers are much more erratic from year to year than BFALs. 

 Okay, seriously – Try to deny this Laysan Albatross is the cutest thing you’ve ever seen.

The result of albatross nesting -- The albatross chicks are big enough that the parents are leaving them alone for short periods of time.  These little guys just hatched a month ago, and this little moli is sitting up 20 cm (8”) high already. 

A red-tailed tropicbird (koaʻe o Kū, or bird of Kū) on Tern Island.  Sufficiently shady nesting habitat has been reporting as the limiting factor for tropicbirds at other locations.  This species’ reproductive effort has dropped drastically over the past decade, perhaps due to reduced nesting sites as shrubs die off on Tern.  We’re currently working to increase the shrub cover on Tern.  (Photo by FWS Volunteer Sarah Youngren.)

Wednesday was ‘Cut Wires Day’ on Tern.  Once a month, we go around the island, cutting and removing wires that erode from the shoreline, removing entanglement hazards for wildlife.  The crew collected roughly 100 pounds of wire and related debris.  Among other things, the crew came back with the biggest, brassiest insulator we’ve ever seen.  Anyone know what this was used for? 

Kristina Dickson, with assistance from Jimmy Macaulay, painted some beautiful murals on the bedroom walls here at Tern -- The last person to do great wildlife murals here like this was Patrick Ching, when he served as a Tern volunteer.  Kristina has been fixing up the barracks rooms before additional volunteers arrive; her efforts are greatly appreciated by those living on Tern.  Of course, now we all want a mural in our rooms... They are truly amazing.

painting by Kristina Dickson

painting by Kristina Dickson

Kristina Dickson painting humu mural.  Photo by Melinda Conners.

Safety First!  Melinda taught us how to operate the HF radio, and then Team Tern practiced with the Miller Board.  I must say, they seem to be enjoying this a bit too much…   Clockwise from bottom left:  FWS Volunteers Melinda Conners, Kristina Dickson, James Macaulay, Sarah Youngren, and Dan Rapp.  FWS staff member Paula Hartzell tied to board.

Life on Tern.