Where the Sidewalk Ends.: The Young and not yet Restless

19 January 2008

The Young and not yet Restless

Updated pictures of our birds were sent to me this morning and I thought I'd send them to you. You guys have been following the progress of the species out there while I was there. Let's follow together, as we are now both off island.

I know Mrs. Seale's class at Spring Valley Elementary in Hewitt, Texas were writing down possible dates, and eagerly awaiting (with me and my co-workers) the first albatross to land on Tern I. Now check this next picture out.

These pistures were not taken by me, and not attributed to any specified person on Tern, when sent to me.

Black-footed Albatross (Phoebastria nigripes) with new chick

I feel quite proud, really, when I first viewed these pictures this morning. How proud does the albatross seem? It's work has just begun.

Remember that early Red-tailed Tropicbird(Phaethon rubricauda) egg? Remember, on Christmas day, it was first seen as a successful hatch? I may have talked about how the" too early egg-then-chick "didn't survive last year. We discussed how, in comparison to these other open-ocean seabirds, that RTTR chick survivability was quite low.

Let's keep rooting the kid on, still going....still growing, too.....

Finally, here is a picture of a just hatched Laysan Albatross(Phoebastria immutabilis) chick, looks cold...

Its down will come in shortly. The beginnings you can already see

Hopefully I'll be sent updated pics as they grow.
Lets stay tuned.

Good Saturday morning.

peace.

-mwyork

No comments:

Post a Comment

Hawaiian Monk Seals

The most endangered seal in the U.S., with only around 1500 in existance. This animal has always had a fragile phenology due to the precarious transition from nursing pup - to weened pup. This species had its population lowered due to a number of factors including human harrassment, historical hunting among others. There are those in certain groups and agencies that have had the opinion that in order to help this animal, the culling of the Galapagos Shark, one of its main predators, from nearby waters that seals use as the way to bring the population back. An oceanic apex predator had nothing to due with the seals' population decline. Interesting how we humans immediately go to predator persecution in various aspects of wildlife management and conservation. The last shark crew on Tern I., not without effort, took all of zero Galapagos Sharks. Cunning, we as a species are sometimes. Anyhow, the outlook for the HI Monk Seal is not a rosy one, though many biologists are working extremely hard on its behalf. The world has already lost the Caribbean Monk Seal and the Mediterranean Monk Seal. Unfortunately these guys may be next. I felt absolutely honored and fortunate to have been able to see them during their extremely important restings on the shore, as well as the incredible experiences of being with them once in awhile snorkeling.

Tristram's Storm-petrel (Oceanodroma tristrami)

According to The Birds of NA, no.673, 2002; In the US this sp. breeds only on HI Archipelago, where it is the rarest and smallest breeding seabird, exact location for most colonies are still unknown.(we have them on Tern, and monitor the small population).The TRSP is one of the largest Storm-petrels. Breeding only in the remote NW HI Islands and small islands off Japan. It is considered threatened.(Birdlife International,2000) Because of the secretive habits and remoteness and/or inaccessibilty of their breeding sites, estimates of populations are out of date and inaccurate, making their protection difficult.**This guy was bumping our screen door last night. A tubenose, like shearwaters, petrels, even albatross. **For more about TRSP's, refer to the Nov. 4th entry entitled Nocturne.