Back in the Mitten

Well, tomorrow will make one week since I made it home to Michigan (aka the Mitten state). Luckily, the Falklands are filled with breathtaking sights and wildlife that it makes the 6-plane, 4-day journey worth it. On Thursday, 28 March, I said goodbye to Saunders and the Pole-Evans, people who have become like a second family and ventured to Stanley. Of course, since I was the first stop on the FIGAS flight I got to "visit" Pebble Island, Darwin Island, and Goose Green before making it all the way back to Stanley. I joined Andy (from Falklands Conservation) and his family for lunch (aka dinner) and they offered for me to spend the next two nights at their house (which I thank them immensely for taking me in!). I walked around Stanley for most of the day, sorted out data, and then went to Andy's. On Friday, I spent more time walking around Stanley, visiting Bittersweet (delicious vanilla chai!), and then was given the opportunity to help clean an oiled Gentoo Penguin that FC had received the day before.

Me with a lucky, unhappy, adult Gentoo Penguin.

Since Gentoo Penguins are said to forage up to 16 mi (26 km) away from the shore it isn't hard to believe that they may run into some oil patches out at sea (NatGeo). Oil spills can happen when there is an equipment failure (or basic neglect)  such as the the ones most recently in Galveston, TX, Lake Michigan, and in the past, the devastating Gulf of Mexico (anyone notice a pattern with those catastrophes? BP). They also happen on a smaller scale when boats overfill their fuel tanks. 

After a bird is coated in oil, they will attempt to preen and clean their feathers to rid them of oil. If they left the oil on, penguins especially, are not able to regulate their body temperatures and stay warm. They also would not be able to float in the water. Both of these side effects do not allow them to go to sea and forage for food. Since penguins (and all birds) preen with their beaks they inadvertently consume and ingest the oil. The ingested oil can lead to ulcers and kidney failure, and if not treated, the bird will die. 

In the States, we all have seen the Dawn dish soap commercials where they usually use baby animals and show them in a bubble bath. Well, that isn't exactly a far-stretch from the truth. However, the animals are probably not as happy as they appear in those commercials. Being oiled is already a very stressful time for the bird (you're cold, hungry, away from other members of your species), so imagine being restrained and lathered with first vegetable oil (to loosen the oil from the feathers), then lathered with dish soap (in the Falklands its called Fairy Liquid), and finally you are rinsed with water. This process is repeated and repeated until the base of the feathers begin to turn white again. Doesn't sound fun, does it? Penguins also are said to have around 3,000 feather/square inch of their body! 

Even when the oil is mostly removed from the feathers, another problem develops. Dish soap is used because it can remove oil. Unfortunately, it also removes the bird's natural oils, which provide a natural waterproofing to them. This leaves the bird still susceptible to the cold and since penguins would not be able to be released right away, they have to stay in captivity until they are fully waterproof again. 

But enough about penguins and back to the bird this blog is meant for: the Johnny Rooks.

A Recap of the Late Summer 2014 Field Season 

• We visited 3 islands 
• Saunders
• Carcass
• Steeple Jason
• A total of 166 birds were banded
• 44 were banded on Saunders Island
• 40 were banded on Carcass Island
• 82 were banded on Steeple Jason
• Blood for determining the sex were taken on all 166 birds
• Blood was analyzed for lead concentration on 61 birds
• Morphometric measurements were taken on 152 birds
• 4 puzzles that have been tested with Keas and Crows were tested on the Johnny Rooks
• At least one Rook was able to figure out each puzzle
• The Rooks were filmed by BBC's Deadly: Pole-to-Pole with Steve Backshall
• 2 additional GPS transmitters were deployed

To Date

• 746 birds have been banded across 4 islands
• 303 lead analyses tests have been conducted
• Morphometric measurements have been taken on 266 birds
• 5 GPS transmitters are currently up and active
• 2 GPS transmitters are currently MIA

(click photo to make larger)

U3 White (fledgling)
Deployed: 25 Feb 2014 on CCI

M0 White (Juvenile)
Deployed 8 February 2014 on SDI

K8 Yellow (Juvenile)
Deployed 1 September 2013 on CCI

G0 Yellow (Adult)
Deployed 18 August 2013 on SDI

P5 Yellow (Subadult)
Deployed 15 August 2013 on SDI

What We Still Need
Help from You!

Whether, you have found this link via Facebook or by word-of-mouth, if you reading it and live in the Falklands or have visited the islands, we are asking you for help. Re-sightings of banded birds are critical data we need collected for this project. Suzan Pole-Evans has gone above-and-beyond the call of duty, and has provided us with over 4,000(!) re-sightings of banded Johnny Rooks that come to Saunders Island. We also have received some sightings from Dunbar Island. However, we are lacking sightings from the other outer islands. Even if they are of the same birds, day after day, this is still important. We want to determine if these birds move amongst islands based on their age, and we would also like to determine the sex-ratio for each island. These birds are highly curious so reading most bands is not difficult. On the ones that are, the color of the band and the leg the band is on are still important bits of information. So please, take a moment to record and report the bands to here, the Facebook page, to raptors@conservation.org.fk, or directly to me at melissa.bobowski@gmail.com. 

In the coming weeks, I will hopefully be posting links to the videos of the puzzles and other photos from the field. 

Thanks for reading and following along during this field season!

-Melissa Bobowski, MSc.