Christmas Bird Count

Yesterday, we conducted the Christmas Bird Count
on Tern I. In the past, they have conducted this count including the outer islands of the atoll. This year the count was limited to Tern Island only. So on this 37-acre coral rock, the following numbers were recorded.







Black Noddy (Anous minutus) 3,441








Brown Noddy (Anous stolidus) 54









Black-footed Albatross (Diomedea nigripes) 2, 983









Laysan Albatross (Diomedea immutabilis) 3,369









White Tern (Gygis alba) 82










Masked Booby (Sula dactylatra) 86











Red-footed Booby (Sula sula) 1,435








Great Frigatebird (Fregata minor) 758










Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) 437








Pacific Golden-Plover (Pluvialis fulva) 127







Wandering Tattler (Heteroscelus incanus) 1







Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) 1








Grey-backed Tern (Sterna lunata) 1










Wedge-tailed Shearwater (Puffinus pacificus) 1









Red-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda)








Lesser Frigatebird (Fregata ariel) 1









Sooty Tern (Sterna fuscata) 1






Sanderling (Calidris alba) 5







Tristram's Storm-petrel (Oceanodroma tristrami) 16









Bonin Petrel (Pterodroma hypoleuca) 19





The last two species species are nocturnal. We had a brilliant Full Moon on a beautifully clear Winter Solstice night.

There were a few species we were disappointed not to get. Nazca Booby still hasn't shown back up. The rare Black-footed x Laysan albatross hybrid, Prius, has been absent for awhile. I suppose it found nobody to dance with, no partner. Still a walker after all these years.

**Addendum** 2 spp.(one actual species, and one more countable bird) were added as part of Christmas Bird Count's Count Week

Gray Noddy(Procelsterna cerulea) alias Blue-Gray Noddy, alias Blue-gray Fairy-Tern, alias Blue Ternlet, alias William H. Bonney, alias Necker Island Tern










and "Prius", the BFAL x LAAL hybrid stopped by in time.






Good morning.

-mwy