Where the Sidewalk Ends.: Update on an Update

11 February 2008

Update on an Update

from those still on Tern Island, French Frigate Shoals, NW Hawaiian Islands.

The albatross chicks are growing rapidly. Some of them are being abandoned by their adults though. They have been able to swap some chicks over to parents whose chick has died. This is done "as long as the chick is fairly small (b/c vocalizations aren't imprinted yet) and the foster parent feeds the newbie straight away."

This seems to work with Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) more than the Black-footed Albatross (P. nigripes) according to those who have been apart of this recently on the island.

They are going to try to put a transmitter (good luck..."Prius" was very shy and flighty when I was on island) on the Laysan X Black-footed hybrid. This in hopes of discovering whether this hybrid more like a LAAL or a BFAL. I must assume in the different lat-longs traversed. Although, these guys are both Northern Hemisphere, Pacific Ocean albatross species, covering pretty much the same range. Who knows? It should be interesting anyways to discover where this bird flies.

Picture of Prius, the hybrid, above.

Also in the update sent to me, the first Christmas Shearwater (Puffinus nativitatis) of the season has returned to the island.

photo by S. Luecht of Christchurch, NZ

There exists a subspecies of the nominate Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) that is an absolute stunner as an adult male. The brewsteri Brown Booby (S. l. brewsteri) is generally seen around the area of Pacific Ocean nearer to the Mexican coast and reaching, at times, off the coast of southern CA, and seldom inland to the U.S. Southwest.

Anyway, I had seen this guy on 3 seperate occasions during my stay on Tern Island. The NW Islands well west of where expected. I never saw him land. I did witness an attempt to land on a defunct weather data station that had long ago become a favorite roost of Red-footed Booby (S. sula) juveniles during the day. It didn't work out for him that time. One landing was reported by a co-worker of mine on the opposite end of Tern that I was on. By the time I ran down there, nothing. The reporting co-worker; a marathon runner. Me; not.
Anyhow, a picture was attached to this recent email update I received.

I restrain jealousy for only certain occasions.

This is one:

photo by S. Luecht of Christchurch, NZ

As for me, I should find myself meandering toward San Diego, California at some point tomorrow.

Good evening from Yuma, Arizona.

-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.