So, I felt pretty bad about the depressing, negative vibe from the last entry, but, then again, we’re all feeling pretty depressed here about the dismal murre breeding season. However, the last few days HAVE seen some good things, so it’s time to write about them!
First of all, no, we didn’t get any time off for the 4th of July. Also, no fireworks or sparklers can be set off here, it’s a wildlife refuge, and I can’t even imagine the chaos explosions would cause among the birds here. (Unfortunately, one “party boat” that came out here on the 4th did throw a few firecrackers in the water…we reported them to the Coast Guard.)
4th of July Cake!
For us, the 4th was a boat day! Pete came back to the island, bringing with him Meghan (an intern a few years back, who is just filling in for two weeks), and Annie and Russ left for their two-week break. Boat days are always good days, because we get so much fresh food! Because the 4th was a boat day, Jordan and I were able to make a 4th of July cake using fresh berries (berries last a REALLY short amount of time out here…they usually start to mold within a couple of days). Don’t be fooled by the cake’s appearance–it was a chocolate cake, with chocolate frosting, too. Very decadent. We didn’t, however, have much a 4th of July celebration, because that night saw us starting our next round of Rhino netting, which will go for four nights, and then stop again for sixth (tonight is going to be the third night). I didn’t make a very big cake, however, because Caitie and I got so many care packages full of delicious items, that we’re going to be stuffing ourselves for a long time. I got a fantastic care package from Rachel Grey’s family, which everyone has already started to devour.
Cookies From Mom
I also got this fantastic-looking assortment of cookies, sent to me by my mom, and created at a bakery in Albuquerque. They are tonight’s featured dessert, so I will let you know how they are, but everyone is pretty excited to get to eat them finally.
The morning after the 4th, Sunday, ended up being a really relaxed day for everyone, so we watched the entire Wimbledon Men’s Championship, which went for four hours. It felt incredibly indulgent watching TV on a Sunday morning AND having brunch (whole grain pancakes with cinnamon/maple syrup/apple topping. YUM), but everyone still got their work done, so no harm done.
So, that concludes the good news about food. Now for the good news about birds! During our last couple of five-day Cassin’s Auklet checks, we’ve discovered the first double broods of the season.
Adult Cassin's Auklet
Double broods are when a pair of Cassin’s lays an egg and successfully rears and fledges a chick, and then lays a SECOND egg, all in one season. Considering how the other species on the island are doing, discovering double broods this year was kind of incredible. We’ve also found a couple of re-lays, where a pair whose previous chick failed is trying again. It remains to be seen how successful these second attempts are, but it’s heartening to see it regardless.
This picture is of an adult Cassin’s. Notice the eye, which in an adult is a white or very pale blue color (getting whiter with age). Fledgling and chick cassin’s auklets have dark brown eyes, and they’re very cute.
Rhino Chick
The Rhinocerous Auklet chicks, though small in number, also seem to be doing well, gaining healthy amounts of weight, and, as you can see, growing profuse amounts of down. The rhino chicks appear bigger than all of the other chicks, because of the incredibly thick layer of down they grow, but really don’t weigh much more than the other chicks at this point in time. They are incredibly soft, though, and one has to wonder why they find it necessary to grow so many downy feathers. A correction from a previous entry though, Rhinos are NOT tubenoses–the horn they grow is specially for the breeding season (whoops!).
Western Gull Chick
Finally, those Western gull chicks that are left are starting to grow a new layer of feathers, which appears as sort of a mottled brown layer. Juvenile Western Gulls do have this darker brown coloration, so these chicks are on their way! In addition, we are starting to see more and more WEGU chicks attempting to fly–they can’t yet, of course, but the hopping maneuver they do is pretty cute, and some of them can even get a few inches in the air. I have now banded six chicks in my gull plot, and hopefully they will all survive!
Well, more rhino netting tonight. Night work leaves me pretty tired, so I’m going to go nap. More later!
Best,
Eleanor