Attention:

Dear Sturgis Elementary Mr. Wolbert’s 5^th graders,

It has come to my attention that you have been reading about my research and (hopefully) as a result have taken a special interest in the Johnny Rooks. If any of you have any questions or ideas for puzzles that we could test the Rooks with, I would love to hear them! Feel free to leave a comment below, or have your teacher email me (be sure to include your first name, please). I will try to reply to everyone, but Internet here is not the best so it may take a while. I can’t wait to hear from you!

-Melissa M. Bobowski and the Johnny Rooks

Mother Nature is Not Always on Our Side

Yesterday was a bust. Micky, Marc, and I went to the Neck of the Island again, but this time we were spending the night. It is kind of unbelievable how much stuff we have to bring with us each time we go. For example, there is…

1-Pelican case of puzzle equipment, which inside you would find, 2-dog enrichment toys converted into Johnny Rook intelligent testing devices secured to thick lead sheets (making the box extremely heavy). At least a dozen wooden slats painted white and black that go into the pipe puzzle. Extra Kevlar string, which make excellent bootlaces when your new Keen laces break, not that I would know from personal experience. 1-plastic hammer to help drive the steel stakes into the ground for either the trap or the meat we use as bait. 3-long pieces of ropes that have a snare knotted at the end used for trapping a specific bird. And 3-bags that we use to hold the Rooks after we catch them.

1-Pelican case for the lead analyzer. This is a small machine that we use to test a small amount of blood taken from each Johnny Rook to determine how much lead is within its bloodstream. Why is this important? Well, just as lead is harmful to humans, it is also harmful to birds. For example, a very miniscule amount can kill a Bald Eagle! Where do they get the lead? Our Rooks mainly get lead into their bodies after they eat a goose that was shot by a local farmer. When the bullet is shot, lead fragments disperse into the body of the goose. Back home, birds consume lead for similar reasons and can also consume lead by eating fish that may have had a lead weight attached to it after it broke the line of a fisherman. There are alternatives to using lead but unfortunately, sportsmen and women choose not to pay more for these alternatives. 

You can learn more about the alternatives here though: 

http://www.huntingwithnonlead.org/index.html 

You can also read about research that has been happening on Bald Eagles and lead in Iowa here: 

http://www.soarraptors.org/leadresearch.html 

1-Banding box, which is actually a toolbox converted into a banding box. Inside you would find everything from, banding pliers to Q-tips! However, the most important thing the box includes are the bands (aka “rings”). Originally, aluminum bands, which are used on most raptors, were placed on the Rooks. However, it became apparent they would not work well on our birds that like to dig in the sand and kelp beds looking for insects to eat. The bands become very scratched and extremely hard to read. Now we use a band made out of durable plastic called “Darvic”. They are made in Poland (yay, heritage!) and contain an alpha-numeric combination (example: A2 or C32). Each island we have a study site on has a special color. Saunders Island is yellow, Carcass is white, Steeple Jason is black, and New Island is green. With the help of citizen scientists, the bands allow us to track which islands these birds travel to. 

1-power drill, which is used to remove the old aluminum bands so we can replace them with new plastic ones.

1-long ruler to measure the bird’s longest feather on its wing. Biologists call this the birds “wing cord”.

Then we just have our personal belongings. For me that means a minimum of two bags, 1-camera bag and 1-personal bag. We also bring food for ourselves, and meat to lure the Rooks in with.

So needless to say, after we pack all of this, drive for an hour to the other side of the island on a very bumpy road, and are greeted with such strong winds that even the Rooks don’t want to fly, you will be left with 3 very disappointed biologists. We sat inside the cabin all day yesterday. As we listened to the cabin creak each time the steel cables strained to hold the cabin down against the brutal force of the wind, Marc played solitaire and graded some tests, Micky took a nap and fiddled around on his computer, and I finished organizing the master banding and lead lists. The master banding list has taken over a week to organize and has been a complete frustration from start to finish.

Advice to future biologists:

Although, it may take more time at the beginning to organize the data as you enter it, I promise you it will take far less time than it does later on when you find yourself having to go back through it. 

However, now with the list finished, it is known that a total of 614 Johnny Rooks have been banded in the Falkland Islands since 14 December 2010! Since we only band for an average of 4 months out of the year that is about 43.9 birds/month!

Around 18:00 Micky decided he was going to go for a walk to the other side of the Neck (~5 km/3.1 miles away). I happily tagged along after being stuck inside all day. We walked to “the pond”, which is an actual inland pond. There I added Black-necked Swans to my life list. Unfortunately, the wind was still quite strong and the lighting wasn’t the best so there aren’t many great pictures to show from it. We didn't get back until 21:15, which made Marc a little uneasy since it gets dark around 20:30. All three of us chipped in making dinner (steak and mashed potatoes), which we didn't eat until 23:00 (I hate eating so late)! After the boys did the dishes ;-) we all sat down and watched Taken 2 on my laptop. I definitely didn’t make it to the end though and went to sleep around midnight.

Black-necked Swan taking off without the rest of his family.

Today was a new day though, and we had until 12:30 to get some actual work done. At 7:30 there were Rooks at our window and running across the metal room of the cabin. Two birds had metal bands! Micky went out and attempted to trap them, but soon all the juvenile Rooks showed up at the bait causing the adults with the metal bands to become shy and stay away. Keith came on his ATV and dropped off the GPS-transmitters in case we could get a bird that was deemed worthy enough to carry one (i.e., a 1 year old juvenile banded by Micky on Carcass Island last year at/near its nest). Micky and I tried all morning to catch H2 White and failed. Around 11:00 it seemed like a lost cause and we packed up and I went to take pictures for the last hour. When I returned though, I was told that M0 White had shown up just as Marc and Micky were going to have their afternoon tea (have I mentioned I have grown to absolutely love the idea of tea time?). Micky caught him/her and they were able to put the transmitter on it. We are back up to having 4 birds flying around carrying small solar-powered transmitters on their backs like a backpack. Did I mention these birds are now worth $4000 each!? That is how much each transmitter costs and why it is so important for us to try to find them if they fall off. When it comes down to it…

Scientific research is not cheap.

(Care to donate to the Johnny Rook research cause?)

Tomorrow we fly to Carcass Island, which is located next to Saunders, so the plane ride should only be about 12 minutes, providing there is good weather. My access to Internet though is not as nice as it is here, and I have to buy data cards that cost 10 pounds each to get on! The worst part is that you never know how much time you have when you start, or during your session, before it just turns off (it is never very much time though when it comes down to it). Needless to say, I do not know if I will be able to update this blog in the next week.

Until next time though, wish us luck and good weather! Oh, and that I see my favorite bird, T2 Yellow, aka “Tetley” the one we imped feathers on last year, on Carcass! That would literally make my entire trip if I did.  

PS. Just found out that my first manuscript as first author has been accepted for publication! 

To Everything There is a Season...

It is amazing to see how different a season can make here. During my last visit in August 2013, it was winter.  The weather was cold (around freezing most days), the wind was strong and incessant, the clouds were thick and blanketed the sky, and it snowed at least once a day. However, the snow here is not normal snow (or at least I have yet to see “normal snow”). Instead of snowflakes, they have snow pellets (aka hail). When snow pellets mix with the strong winds your face is the first thing that takes a beating, your hands will be next if you ever think of taking your gloves off.

On this visit though, the weather has been mostly pleasant (however, any increase in temperature from the “polar vortex” and “polar plunge” that I left in Michigan would be considered pleasant). Some days, it is truly almost spring-like. The wind is still strong (as it is today), it has snowed once (when I was precariously perched on a rocky cliffside looking at an albatross and Rockhopper penguin colony), and it has rained almost everyday at least once, but what is different, is that you see the sun a lot more. Another nice thing about being outside in the Falklands is that the air is so clear and with the horizon being usually unobstructed. This allows for you to see an impending storm coming your way, which gives you a chance to find cover or realize the imminent “doom.” Most of the time you can also estimate how long a storm might be (you literally see the light at the end of the “tunnel”). Tomorrow the weather report said we will be sunny and at 20 degreesC! Let's hope!

Despite the weather changes between the two seasons, we also see behavioral and movement changes with the Johnny Rooks. With food resources being low in the winter (i.e., no nesting penguins) the Johnnies come more inland and the settlement becomes inundated with Johnny Rooks (mainly juveniles) who will feed on the scraps the farm provides. One important food scrap is the food for the pigs. Each day, around 15:45, Suzan feeds each pig a goose, a ritual the Johnnies quickly picked up on and in response, perch along the pig corral waiting for a chance to steal a piece of goose. This makes you wonder if this farm wasn’t here, if there were not pigs to feed each day, would this still be a “nursery” island where juveniles could (for the most part) grow up safely? Short answer, probably not. From this you can speculate (without a far-stretch of imagination) that the existence and growth of the Johnny Rook population could all come down to the existence of these pigs.

This was my favorite bird on "little pig" last August (he is now huge).
I say "was" because I am pretty sure she was shot on another island. RIP C1 White "Carcass"

Tell me, where in the world...

Our research is conducted on 4 of the outer islands off of West Falkland (i.e., Saunders, Carcass, Steeple Jason, and New). However, our main study area (and where I currently am) is located on Saunders Island. This island, owned by the Pole-Evans family, is 50 miles long and 8 miles wide and is a working farm.  This means they own about 6000 sheep, a number of cattle and goats, at least 10 horses, several dogs and cats, chickens (that lay the most delicious eggs), a few pigs, some geese, and some ducks.  

Besides the convenience of having Saunders Island as our main study island, we are also very fortunate to have the Pole-Evans on our team. For example, Suzan has documented and provided over 3,000 re-sightings of our banded birds since 16 May 2013! Her husband, David, is also an extremely valuable asset to our research. I don’t think there has ever been a time where we have asked for something and he has not been able to provide it. Most recently, on this trip, were the pipe puzzles. We had brought the PVC pipe and the wooden slats that are inserted into it down with us, but we still needed a stand. After showing a rough sketch of what we had potentially dreamed up, David had 2 versions within a couple of days! 

Suzan taking attendance at the Neck.

David with the superbly handcrafted pipe puzzles.

Another perk about Saunders are the delicious lamb chops!

Johnnies 15 Minutes of Fame

Yesterday, my Johnnies once-again became famous. I only told a handful of people before I left that the BBC film crew for the series called, “Deadly,” hosted by Steve Backshall, was planned to come to Saunders (mainly because I didn’t want to jinx it). But they did come and boy, did the Johnnies love being the center of attention.

Quiet on the set!

BBC "Deadly" crew; (L-R) Kiri, Johnny, Steve Backshall, Me, Ruth, Scott, and Nick

During the summer most of the Johnnies stay at “The Neck” of Saunders Island (about 10 miles away but takes over about an hour to get there by landrover). Here they will find 5 species of penguins nesting (i.e., King, Gentoo, Magellanic/Jackass, Rockhopper, and Macaroni), nesting Black-browed Albatross, and nesting cormorants. As you can tell the buffet for the Johnnies is prettied varied and very well stocked. A lot of tourists (even cruise ships) will come from December to March to see the wildlife here, which makes it hard for us to actually stay in the 8-person “cabin” that is there. To make up for this, we make day-trips with Suzan, David, or Carole when we can. We went the first day we were here (Sunday) and it was so good to see the Johnny Rooks again (not to mention I added Magellanic, Rockhopper, and Black-browed Albatross to my life list)! So yesterday we went back to the Neck with the Deadly crew. It was so interesting to me to see the behind-the-scenes aspect of how the documentaries that I watch are made.

We did make the Johnnies work for their 15 minutes of fame though. They were tested on how intelligent they are, and how quickly they could problem solve, when we presented two different puzzles (or as Steve referred to them, “deadly experiments”) to them. The first was a clear pvc pipe that had 4 slats inserted into it. Each slat had a Teflon string tied to one end. A piece of meat was dropped on top of the highest slat and we sat back and watched. If all went according to our plan, the Johnnies should pull on the strings to remove the slats, allowing the piece of meat to fall from slat-to-slat and finally drop out the bottom of the pipe. It took a total of 5 tries for it to work. The first try took about 18 minutes and ended with an adult finally realizing (and becoming brave enough) to stick its head into the pipe and pull the piece of meat out (I think Keith forgot how long their necks are when he had the puzzle made). Try two ended much as the first try did, except in much quicker time by the same adult. On try three, we decided to outsmart them and we placed the meat on second slat to start and placed a rock next to the pipe so that they could reach the second slat’s string. That ended with the meat getting too close to the slat opening and they were able to pull the meat through the slot. Onto try four. It ended much the same way. Try five finally worked with a juvenile removing most of the slats including the last one, which caused him to miss out on the food. It reminded me of kids hitting a piñata, whoever actually breaks it open never gets first dibs on the candy. He was not a happy camper and a lot of screaming and chasing ensued. On try six, all but the last slat was removed fairly quickly. Then it seemed like they all just waited around wanting someone else to remove the last slat so they would have a chance at getting the meat. Finally, one did, and more chasing and screaming ensued.

The second puzzle is originally made for dogs by Toys-R-Us, but I had bigger plans for it. It is circular with four flaps on top. Inside there are 8 circles where you place the treats (in our case, pieces of mutton). As if that wasn’t enough fun, this toy also spins so there is access to all 8 spots with the treats. The only problem I foresaw was that it is not clear (in fact, it is purple and lime green). After the first try, we learned that we should leave one flap open so they could see that there was meat inside. Three juveniles showed immediate interest, one of which was very dominant and aggressive. Kind of like a high school jock -- ready to show everyone how it’s done, but really has no idea what he (in this case probably a she) was doing, and definitely not going to tell anyone else that. Another was most likely a male and he learned fairly quickly that in order to get the meat he needed to first, step onto the toy, second, reach for the flap directly ahead of him, and finally, reach over the flap from behind while still holding it up with one foot, to get to the meat. The high school jock did not like this “bird-brain” and made it known with a lot of tail/back grabbing and biting. The aggressor was able to replicate the actions once, but sadly he opened it on a circle where a treat had already been eaten.

Bird-brain

The film crew also recorded Keith and I trapping and banding so the Johnnies may have to share the spotlight, however, I think that stuff might be the first to cut. Once I am home I will post videos of the puzzles in action. 

Until next time, cheers!

After all that work, this juvi helped himself to a coffee break.

P.S. Fun fact: I learned that you can get sunburned in the Falklands. I now possess weird hat and sleeve tan lines.

4 planes in 3 days down... and we still aren't there.

Many people often ask me why I stay so long in the Falklands and the answer is pretty simple. 

It takes forever to get here.

Okay, forever may be a slight exaggeration, but to put it in perspective, we started this journey on Thursday (actually I left Detroit for Hawk Mountain Sanctuary on Tuesday), it is now Saturday, and we still are not even in the Falklands yet. We are one flight away though! We are currently (or at least when I wrote this sentence) sitting in the Presidente Carlos Ibáñez del Campo International Airport in Punta Arenas, Chile. That's right, we left Santiago, Chile this morning only to come a little farther southeast and are still in Chile. Keith says that next time we will plan better, leave a day earlier, spend the night in Punta Arenas (instead of Santiago), rent a car and have a full day to spend in Punta Arenas before going to the islands. We already paid the reciprocity fee (I forgot how much it was) to actually enter and stay in Chile the first time we traveled to the Falklands, so we mine-as-well get our money’s worth. The little piece of paper that they put one staple through to “secure” it in your passport doesn’t expire until, a.) your passport expires, b.) you lose it, or c.) you travel so much that you run out of pages in your passport for countries to stamp and have to get a new one, as Keith found out. In case you are wondering, Chile isn’t the only country that charges this fee but the reason I don’t have one from every country we go to is because we are always considered “in transit” (or more magically put, “en transito”). Though, this can sometimes create a small nightmare at check-in, especially if there is a language barrier, as there was in Brazil. Since we stop at so many countries, it is also difficult to make sure our bags are scheduled to arrive where they are intended (I am most terrified of these two potential nightmares when I travel back alone).

Highlights from this trip so far have included:

-Bags (2 personal bags and 2 pelican boxes filled with supplies) arrived in Santiago.

Fingers crossed we will see them in Mount Pleasant.

-Being able to go into the VIP lounges in all but 1 airport (thanks, Keith!).

These provide more comfortable seating, access to free wifi, complimentary beverages, and some snacks. Even a shower at some if you so desire.

-Found a partially open row and moved during my flight from Santiago to Punta Arenas.

Slept almost the whole time.

-The food on South American flights is superb.

Minus breakfast on United. That one is a little weak… a croissant (delicious with jam) and previously, still partially, frozen fruit (composed of 2 pieces of honeydew, 1 piece of cantaloupe, and 3 grapes).

-Blankets on long LAN/TAM flights.

Orange fleecy goodness.

-Seeing the Andes in an opposite season.

Not as pretty as in the winter but sometimes pretty shades of browns and reds if the sun’s rays hit them right.

Less positive highlights have included:

-My bag being overweight at every airport (sometimes only by 5 pounds).

How do you pack for 2 months of mainly winter clothes lightly?! Also, in Santiago we were considered flying domestic so the weight allowance was even lighter than international travel (even though we are internationals… I still don’t understand it).

-The first 9.5 hour overnight flight from Newark to Brazil was pretty much miserable for me.

I never found a comfortable position during that entire flight and it was a packed plane, so I couldn’t try to find a seat with an empty space beside it. Needless to say, not a lot of sleep was had.

-Pillows on planes.

I don't know why they even provide those sacks filled with an ounce of fluffy fiber.

-Blankets on United.

Zero insulation provided.

Update and Quick Story:

We made it to Stanley and so did our luggage (including my dried fruit)! While having afternoon tea with Arlette (owner of the Lafone house) a man walks through her door saying that he has a guest for her (doorbells or knocking is just unnecessary here, I guess). He starts talking with us and at one point Keith says that he has read his papers. *Aha Moment* Could this elderly gentleman in front of me be thee Ian Strange? I introduce myself awkwardly very late in the conversation and it turns out it is! Right in front of me is the only other person who has studied the Johnny Rooks, ever! I don’t know if this happens with other biologists, but when you finally meet the author of several papers that you have read and/or cited, you kind of feel like you are almost meeting some sort of a celebrity? Or is it just me? Either way, I was quite excited, even though I do not agree with some of the conclusions he has made of these birds (e.g., banding them serves no purpose, if you band a fledgling the parent will kill it, you influence their foraging too easily, etc.). He is the operator of New Island (yes, that is its name, and no, it is not the newest island), which is one of the islands we conduct research on (aka getting on his good side is very important). Keith may have set up an appointment with him upon his return. However, I don't think he should hold his breath. Ian just seems to be one of those guys who likes to be alone. It would be beneficial to us if he did meet with Ian though, so fingers crossed!

Early flight tomorrow morning for Saunders Island aka where the Johnnies live! Oh, and add full English breakfast to the list of highlights, can't wait for that (I am sure Sara or Andrew know what I mean).