So I didn’t get a chance to write yesterday because it was a very busy day for me–it was my day to cook dinner. Around here, dinner is really important. Whoever’s turn it is gets a free pass on their evening work, so that they can work on a delicious feast. So I still had all of my morning responsibilities, but then in the early afternoon, we went out to weigh auklet chicks for a certain study. This involved a lot of banding, since many of the cassin’s auklet chicks are getting big enough to band, and so it took a long time. After that, I started dinner! I made lemon bars, spinach enchiladas (of Grey family fame!!), and calabacitas (a sort of squash/zucchini medley with cheese, corn, and chiles). I think it was a big hit, because there were no leftovers. But cooking for six people here is like cooking for ten anywhere else–working in the field all day makes you very very hungry.
After dinner, we went over to the Coast Guard house to watch a movie, and we picked “Young Frankenstein,” the Mel Brooks movie. They have quite a collection of movies over there, but Pete says he’s seen them all at least twice. Russ, however, had not seen Young Frankenstein, and so it was a natural pick. Since we eat dinner so late (around 8:30), we didn’t get back from the movie until around midnight, and everyone went to sleep right away.
Today was great. I performed my regular cormorant re-sights and all that, but I have also taken on a new species. Yesterday, and moreso today, I started working with the Pigeon Guillemot, and I think I have a new favorite bird. Perhaps, however, I will just avoid having favorite birds. However, just check this bird out! Does it get any better than the bright red mouth and feet??
Adult Pigeon Guillemot
Turns out, however, that it DOES get even better. Yesterday, I was simply watching these birds through my binoculars, trying to re-spot banded birds.
Today, however, I started work on a breeding study involving the PIGU’s (everything here has a four-letter abbreviation. Everything). For the breeding study, I have to literally scale cliffs (these birds nest in high, hard-to-reach crevices), check for eggs, check for chicks, etc. If there are chicks, I weigh them, and band them, etc.
So, aside from being really cool looking, they have the cutest chicks ever, hands down. I know I’ve said that before, but these really take the cake. I found three chicks today–they are covered in jet black down, and they are very small, only about forty grams. If there are two chicks, we spray paint patches on their sides to tell them apart. There are starting to be a lot of chicks running around with pink or orange rumps. I didn’t take my camera today, because I am still getting used to scrambling around on the rocks, but next time I will.
Scaling the rocks to find the PIGU’s, I actually got super warm today. It was sunny here all day, with almost fifty miles of visibility. Incredible. Aside from my PIGU work today, I also had to do my elephant seal resight. On the way out the door to do that, Russ pointed out two humpback whales, which had come into the bay and were breaching, repeatedly, and playing around. It was incredible–we watched them for almost half an hour through our binoculars, leaping almost all the way out of the water, and creating colossal splashes. Unfortunately, they were too far away to take pictures.
The elephant seals today were as large and smelly as ever. However, at one of my sites, I found a tiny harbor seal mixed in with them–he looked lost, but very cute:
Elephant Seals and Harbor Seal
I bet you can figure out for yourself which one is which, but it was super funny to see the little harbor seal, lying next to those enormous, smelly, belchy animals. I wonder if he’ll stick around.
One final piece of news! The hardhat-wearing has officially started. I got bonked in the head today pretty hard, and was therefore really glad that I had decided to wear my hardhat.
Me in My Hardhat (and check out what a BEAUTIFUL day it is)
There are many different personalities when it comes to gulls. Many of them will simply swoop at you, “decorating” you with guano as they pass. Some of them go for a different approach, scraping their feet against your head, and making a very distinct sound. Often, feet-scraping will escalate to head bonking, using their fairly substantial beaks.
The really mean gulls, however, go straight to the head bonking, and although they don’t cause serious damage, it can be painful if you’re not wearing the appropriate protective gear.
Well, time for me to go do my evening cormorant sightings. There is also a new murre chick living right under the blind that I am excited to see–hopefully I will get some pictures.
Best,
Eleanor