For work today, after monitoring our reproduction plots, we gave a banding demonstration for the Pacific Seabird Group, who are spending a week out here. Then we passed out some banding kits to them, so now they can go around the island and replace old worn bands that need to be swapped out. See, back in the day they used to band albatross with aluminum bands. These were nice cause aluminum is really soft and nice to work with, so the banding was super easy. The problem with these bands is that they wear easily. After about twenty years or so you can no longer read them. This is a problem for birds that can live to be sixty or more years old. Also, they can spread open, fall off, or get caught in things like fishing nets. So nowadays, we try to find them all and replace them with the much more durable stainless steel bands.
In closing, I'd like to wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day. I hope you are all spending it with someone special. Mahalo.
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| I decided that if I couldn't have my valentine with me today, this little guy should fill in. This is the only Fairy Tern chick I've seen during my stay out here. Almost as cute as my real valentine. The tiny branch you see him perched on is where his mother lays the egg, incubates it, broods her chick and everything. It's some sort of miracle that it never falls off through all of this. Amazing. |
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| A much more traditional nesting strategy: Hide in a clump of plants and build a cup out of sticks. This Canary chose a potted plant in front of one of the Thai houses. Much safer than a bare two inch limb. |
