it's good to be back!

Z8 White was a well-behaved bird.

I can't believe I am already back with the Johnny Rooks. After this trip, I will have spent 1/3 of 2014 in the Falklands! Micky and I arrived to Carcass Island yesterday and we got right down to banding. Unfortunately, there was some issues with the equipment that was originally used to mass the birds so we are left with the large issue of re-catching, re-measuring, and re-massing. Surprisingly, there are not a lot of birds around for us to catch. This could be because of 4 very dominant adult birds (the "quartet" as we call them) that are actively defending their territory, which includes all of the settlement. The quartet consists of N7 Yellow, N2 White, S4 White (all believed to be males), and an unbanded female. Cooperative breeding might be happening? We have seen trios in the past actively fledge young from one nest, and it has been noted in Red-throated Caracaras (McCann) before. I would love to look at this for my project, but unfortunately, not everyone thinks it is important. 

Tomorrow, Micky and I are off on the "Condor" (boat) to Dunbar Island where we will hopefully find K8 Yellow's missing GPS unit. Fingers crossed, because they cost ~$4000! We only have until Friday to trap and band as many Rooks as we can here on Carcass because then we will be off to Steeple Jason Island (a 5-hour boat ride away) for two weeks. As a result, i fear that I will not be able to update this blog as often as I usually do because you see, my only connection to the outside world on Steeple is a satellite phone for emergencies. I will promise to provide an update upon my return to the States! 

Since it is a 7am boat ride to Dunbar, I should probably get some sleep. 

Oh, and there might be some positive things happening on my journey of finding a university. I am trying to not get too hopeful, so if you want to send some positive thoughts my way, I wouldn't turn them down!