Seabird plots

Today I finally finished one of my sets of plots. The one I finished today was for Red-tailed Tropicbird. It is actually 10 different areas scattered around the island that were established years ago and have been monitored for quite a few years. The one I did today must involve about 100 nests. I would have to count them in my field notebook to be sure. Finding the nests is the crux of the issue. There are hand drawn maps from the last volunteer and we all see space and describe it differently, especially when the vegetation changes as the season progresses. Once you look at the map and match it to the nest then the work is pretty straight forward. Tip the adult bird with a stick to check for egg, chick or failure. You accomplish this working bent over, or on your hands and knees in the guano, all the while protecting your feet and head from dive bombing birds that don't like your presence. I'm getting better at ignoring the distractions and am working more quickly.