Happy Paczki Day from Saunders!

It is easy to feel loved when you stay on Saunders Island. For example, Suzan made me the Falklands version of paczki called dough-fries after I told her that today was Paczki day.

Thank you, Suzan!

Last week we had a successful week on Carcass Island. We banded 41 new birds but captured a total of 52, I believe. Marc and Micky also deployed another satellite GPS transmitter on U3 White (a fledgling). Carcass Island is very different from Saunders Island because it possesses breeding and nesting adults. Some of these adults also exhibit cooperative breeding strategies. This means there are more than two adults acting like parents at one nest. When there are three adults we refer to them as “trios”, four adults are “quartets”. Micky has been able to find a few trio-nests on Steeple and Carcass. Marc said that cooperative breeding has been seen in raptors but it is hard to study with those species. Since the Johnny Rooks are easier to band than most raptors, they would be a good study species to examine this strategy with. I would love to make this my focus for my dissertation and include the possibility of possible mate-choice by color preference. When the Rooks reach maturity their skin turns yellow, their brown striation pattern becomes silvery-white and so does their beak, and their tail becomes black with white tips on it. However, the hue of yellow on their face and feet tends to differ between individuals. Some are pale yellow, some are what I call “Crayola yellow”, and others are almost orange. It would be interesting to see if females choose males based on their skin color because the color is nutrition based. This means, the hue should be determined by what they are eating. Better food may mean a brighter, darker yellow, thus a fit male who would be able to better provide for the female. Unfortunately, there are some logistical obstacles. One, Micky’s funding for the project ends in May 2015, that only allows for one more breeding season for him to collect data. And two, it would be more difficult for me to collect this data without him because this is during the busy tourist season, thus finding room and board is difficult for the length I would have to stay. I would also probably not be able to come down in October/November and then again in January/February because of school (if and when I ever find a school). Also, affording to stay for an extended period on the islands with nesting adults is extremely expensive and just not possible.

Hey, U3 White! You have something antenna-like coming out of your back!

The trio doing their team chant.

Equally unfortunate, we believe that some of our bands have started to break off. On Saunders I found one band (M0 Yellow) that was cracked and missing the piece that wraps around on the inside, luckily, it was still on the bird. Even luckier, we were able to catch the bird, take the broken one off and fit it with a new one (Z18 Yellow). On Carcass Island I noticed that one of the birds of the “trio” we banded at the end of our last trip was now missing his band. It took two days to catch him, but we were also able to place a new band on him (N3 white – his mates are T3 and M3 white, his possible offspring are also banded with 3’s). Micky fears the same sort of thing is happening on Steeple Jason. With over 650 birds banded, this is a little disconcerting (not to mention expensive, they cost $2.50 each!). For the most part, the birds do not mind their bands after we put them on. Some may bite at it for a few minutes, but usually that is the most that they do, so we don’t think they are actually taking their bands off. I personally believe the glue that we put on, as an extra precautionary measure, is the culprit. This glue is made for PVC pipes and since it actually can melt plastic I believe it is creating a weak spot on the band. I offered to run some tests on the bands while I am by myself for the next month, but Keith wanted to do them back at Hawk Mountain. Hopefully we will find out before the next time we return with more bands to put on.

Broken band.

In other news, Keith and Marc left on Saturday back for the States leaving me to return to Saunders Island alone. However, I haven’t felt too alone. The first night I was invited to dinner at Biffo’s with the Pole-Evans, and it was delicious! The second night 13 officers from MPA came to visit for the night. They were all around my age and really welcoming so it was fun to hang out with them for the day. And tomorrow Micky will re-join me on Saunders (providing the fog clears) until we leave for Carcass again to go to Steeple Jason on 16 March. The birds have still not made their way back to the settlement yet so trips to the neck are still required. Yesterday was beautiful and I was able to get a few sessions of puzzles in. Unfortunately the Rooks seem to get sleepy in the warm weather and like to take siesta midday, so some lost interest pretty early on.

H2 White about to sleep while on the job

I’ll end with some photos from the trip to Carcass. Some of the team photos make me laugh each and every time I look at them. Erin, there is also a photo of a Magellan or “Paraguayan” Snipe (Gallinago paraguaiae) for you! I also saw a Great Grebe but he was too far away to get a good photo of that vagrant.

Get it together, boys. ;)
(just kidding, those birds were not up for taking photos)

There we go.

Getting ready for takeoff! 

Fly safe!

"Here, snipe, clap, clap, clap."
(name the movie)

P.S. Mr. Wolbert’s class: I have received your questions and have started to answer them. I will be posting replies at the end of future entries. Please keep them coming!