A Good Story of Marine Debris

When we visited East Island in mid May we saw a turtle that was entangled in line and netting with a white plastic bottle trailing along on the surface. We waited for quite a time for it to come up on the beach so we could cut it free but had no success. A number of weeks later the seal researchers found that same turtle on the beach and were able to cut it free from the trailing line and bleach bottle. More weeks passed and the story resumed. I was in need of a mesh bag for my snorkel gear and found one on the debris pile that collects at Tern. It was in need of repair and I spent several hours stitching it into a serviceable bag. Last week when I went out on the boat with Derek and Mark I mentioned my new found bag and Derek said that it was part of the debris that he had cut loose from the entangled turtle. Few turtles are lucky enough to be freed alive from plastic and mesh debris and few people have a snorkel bag with as good a story as mine.

Reef Debris

One of the jobs that we occasionally get involved with is collecting derelict fishing gear from the reefs. The seal researchers spend more time in the boats so they perform this task more often than the FWS volunteers. When I went out with the Monk Seal researchers we found this wad of line and other fishing gear, cut it loose from the reef and loaded it onto our boat. This kind of gear goes right on trapping fish, birds, and reef organisms long after it is lost so it is good to remove it whenever it's found. Derek is on the left and I'm on the right. The picture was taken by Mark Sullivan

Red-footed Booby Chick

Black-footed Albatross Chick

East Island Turtle Camp

Last Wednesday we changed the turtle techs again and I was finally in a spot where I could watch and take pictures instead of working. We put out a stern anchor, drift in close to the beach, and one person holds the bow line while the rest wade back and forth carrying water and supplies. Most days there are fewer people involved but this was an outing that involved everyone on Tern going to see the Tiger Sharks that congregate when the albatross fledge. One picture shows the camp from offshore a ways and the rest show the movement of gear back and forth to the beach. The pole is left from the Coast Guard days and has a web cam that is monitored over the internet.

Seal Census

I had an interesting afternoon of wandering the northern end of the atoll with 2 of the seal researchers today. We left about lunch time and took the small boat to Shark Island. We motored into shallow water and Mark jumped off and waded into the Island. Derek and I motored out a 1/4 mile and anchored while Mark did the seal census work on the island. When he was finished we went in and picked him up and left for Trig Island. We went on past Trig and stopped in several places for some snorkeling. We then went back to Trig, anchored, and all of us went onshore. Derek and Mark did their census work and I watched and wandered the parts of the island I could walk without disturbing seals or turtles. We then got back in the boat and motored home to Tern. Much of this travel is in among the coral heads which require wandering left and right to get where you are going. The snorkeling was good and we saw many interesting fish and invertebrates.

18 Year old Albatross

One of my tasks recently has been to find dead albatross chicks and remove the bands that we just installed. The paper trail behind the newly installed bands will be more useful if the dead bands are shown. On Saturday I took a band off a dead adult Black-footed Albatross (BFAL) that I found during this task. This afternoon I was completing the paperwork and discovered that the dead BFAL I found had been banded here at Tern Island on June 5, 1990. The bird was 18 years old and a couple of months. That is far from a record age but it is still pretty amazing! These birds travel many thousands of miles searching for food each time they raise a chick, so that band may have traveled 300,000 or 400,000 miles across the north Pacific on the leg of an albatross! These are not exaggerated numbers. It could have traveled considerably farther. (The picture is not the same bird I found dead. It shows an adult BFAL and its chick just to illustrate the kind of bird I'm talking about.)

Alpha Codes

Biology has its own language much like other disciplines. One of the shortcuts that is used to talk about birds, especially in print, are known as alpha codes. I don't know the exact rules but all birds have an alpha code. Here are a few of the codes that I deal with everyday here on Tern. Great Frigatebird-GRFR Masked Booby-MABO Red-footed Booby-RFBO Laysan Albatross- LAAL
Black-footed Albatross-BFAL Red-tailed Tropicbird-RTTR Sooty Tern-SOTE White Tern-WHTE You do begin to see patterns in how they are produced but some of the uncommon ones I still have to look up. The common ones, that I have memorized well, help to shorten the time that I spend on some of my data entry paperwork.

Frigatebird and Booby

Here are several more pictures of the mismatched nest. Notice the shape of the beak on the chick and the adult. The Great Frigatebird has a large hooked beak and the Red-footed Booby chick has a beak that is nearly straight.

Adults and Chicks

Look carefully at the pictures that acompany this post. The adult sitting on this nest is a male Great Fgigatebird and the chick is a Red-footed Booby. No one is sure how this exchange took place but the chick seems to be doing fine. We have watched this nest for several weeks and the chick is thriving. Both adult Frigatebirds are seen on the nest.

White Buckets

White plastic buckets are used for everything on Tern Island. They seal and unseal easily so are used to store all of our dried food. The pantry has shelves that are built to fit. They are also used for luggage. Several of the researchers arrived on the island with 2 or 3 white plastic buckets and a backpack. They are used for carrying supplies on small boat journeys on the atoll, again, because they seal and unseal easily and will keep cameras and paperwork dry. If you need a tool box, there is one handy in almost every common room on the island. We used one full of water to prime the cistern pump after working on it. When pulling invasive weeds the buckets come in handy again. Maybe its most important use is as a stool. Most mornings, as the sun rises, I eat my breakfast and drink my morning coffee on the porch while sitting on an upturned bucket.

Trig Island

I visited Trig Island this afternoon with Mark and Shawn, 2 of the seal researchers. Trig is only a couple miles to the east of Tern Island and is less than 1/2 the size of Tern. It is a coral sand island that is only a few feet above the tides and is washed over regularly by winter storms. It has no vegetation except for 1 small spreading plant that will be washed away this winter. Trig has 3 nesting bird species, Laysan Albatross, Black-footed Albatross, and Masked Booby. Today it also had dozens of Green Sea Turtles hauled out on the sand and a handful of Hawaiian Monk Seals. Trig is only a couple miles to the east of Tern but we must have traveled twice that distance following the twisting channel through the coral heads to approach the island. It was a wet ride over traveling against the wind and the chop, but drier coming back downwind. I'm always happy to see new parts of the atoll and to see a new view of Tern Island.

Masked Booby Chick

This one is the size of a chicken at this point in its development.

The Crew

From the left: Gary, Steve, Laura, & Marie. Tern Island is in the background.

Tern Island Sunsets

After Dinner at Tern Island

Nearly everyday, here on Tern, a group of 5 or 6 or more ends up on the front porch of the barracks after dinner to watch the sunset or to comment on what is happening in the world. For several days the Frigatebirds were preying on Sooty Tern chicks and that was the topic of conversation. On a clear night everyone will wait for the green flash that shows just as the sun dips below the horizon. There may be talk about rainbows or clouds or the above normal rainfall we are receiving. Recently the conversation includes the albatross chicks and which one is doing well with its flight practice. Unfortunately, it also may include which favorite chick, in a prominent spot, has died or is not thriving. We may watch squadrons of boobies flying onto the island after fishing at sea to feed their chicks or we may talk about some particularly engaging newly hatched Tern chick in view from the porch. The conversation is wide ranging but almost always centers on the natural world. The natural world, the birds and the seals and turtles in particular, are the common thread that brought us all to this outpost in the Pacific.

Commando Biology

Commando biology is what Steve calls our work on some of the outer islands. We get suited up and put our counters and notebooks in a dry bag and slip into the water for a quiet approach. It does add some extra interest to tasks that we do most days on Tern by walking out our front door.

Ginn Island & Little Ginn Island

Yesterday we spent much of the day traveling around the northern 2/3 of the atoll by small boat. We left Tern about 9 a.m. and went o East Island to switch the turtle techs. We stayed there about an hour doing several bird censuses and giving the techs some time to discuss their exchange of duty. We then left East and went on to the Ginns. Officially called, Ginn Island and Little Ginn Island. They are both low sand islands with no vegetation but good populations of several ground nesting seabirds. We got ashore by anchoring the boat, leaving Steve in the boat, and swimming in through the surf. We did several censuses there and sat on the beach and enjoyed the wild surroundings for a minute. The picture of me walking was on Little Ginn. I was walking out a spit of sand that was submerged and had small breakers coming from both sides. It felt like, and is, a very wild spot. From the Ginns we went back to East Island and dropped Tammy off to begin her 3 day shift. We then moved on to La Perouse Pinnacle and sorkeled for a little while. It was too rough to be much fun so most of us snoozed in the boat and a couple people snorkeled. From there we motored back to Tern and our home away from home.

Frigatebird Predation

I have written about Frigatebirds in earlier posts and they are taking center stage in the show from our porch. The Sooty Tern chicks nearest our door are mostly less than a week old so are nearly defenseless. The Frigatebirds are fierce predators of chicks and they are patrolling the colonies looking for unprotected chicks. Sometimes they snatch chicks without touching the ground. Other times they actually land in the colony and will pick up and swallow whole as many as 4 or 5 chicks. The Sooty Terns are much smaller and screech and claw at the frigates but it does little good. It is one of those sights that is hard to watch but also hard to ignore when it happens right next to the porch.

Albatross Bolus

A bolus is a collection of indigestible materials that is coughed up by some birds. An albatross bolus may be 2 inches or more in diameter and 5 or 6 inches long. They are made up of squid beaks and other natural materials that cannot be digested and for some reason lots of plastic bits. Most of them the size of a quarter or smaller but they also include things like disposable lighters and toothbrush handles. Unfortunately our oceans are full of this kind of trash and the albatross pick up large amounts of these plastics and some are fed to their chicks. They have very little smell, as nearly all the digestible parts are gone. By picking through a bolus scientists can see very clearly what albatross are eating. A bolus can also be a powerful educational tool. A child picking apart a bolus can see first hand what an albatross eats and the problems created by plastic trash. This explanation brings me to this afternoon's job. I picked up 60 bolus, (boli?) put them in zip lock bags and labeled the exact location where they were found, the date, and who found them. They will be used in educational outreach programs in the main Hawaiian Islands. The educational programs never have enough of this material as Albatross Bolus Collector is a rare occupation.

East Island Turtle Camp

I was mistaken in my post last week about the time the turtle techs spend on East Island before coming back to Tern Island. The techs work a 4 day and then a 3 day rotation. So for one trip to the camp they will spend 4 days and on their next trip, will spend 3 days. The techs work dusk to dawn because that is when the turtles are nesting I still don't have many pictures of the camp because the change is a busy time. Just like when we set up the camp we anchored in waist deep water and all the gear is carried through the water to the beach. For this change only a stern anchor was placed and I held the bow of the boat while Steve,Tammy and Irene ferried loads through the water. This saves the time of setting a second anchor but it doesn't leave much time for picture taking. The trip to East is interesting with shoals and breakers always visible and La Perouse Pinnacle in the distance.

East Island Turtle Camp

One picture shows leaving Tern Island this morning and the other shows Irene standing on the beach at East Island as we are headed back to Tern.

Film Team

Last week we had a National Geographic film crew on the island for a short time. They came on the NOAA vessel,Hi'ialakai, and were on Tern Island one afternoon and the next morning. Just like when guests are coming at home we cleaned and straightened the place in preparation for their arrival. The film team knew how to get close to our hearts. They brought 30 or 40 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables for us. That kind of gift is much like Christmas morning for a child after you eat out of cans and boxes and the freezer for weeks at a time. They were most interested in filming the Monk Seals and the Green Sea Turtles. Our manager Steve B. spent time showing them around and trying to get the best camera angles possible. They spent several more days in the atoll taking underwater shots while scuba diving. We could see the ship and the small boat that the divers worked from for several days after they left the island.

Black-footed Albatross Practice Flight

A Day Off on Tern Island

(The picture shows Tern Island from the small boat. The boat house on the left, the barracks on the right.)
Last night about 2:30 a.m. I was awakened by thunder and lightning. I opened my eyes and there was lightning flashing every few seconds. Today is a day off so I actually got up and watched the lightning for a short while. It was the first lightning I've seen here. I got up about 7:30, had some breakfast and went for a slow picture taking stroll down the island. I saw 2 Monk Seals on the berm above South Beach and about 40 Green Sea Turtles on East Beach, including one that has a radio locater glued to it carapace. The radio gear was installed in the main islands sometime this Spring. I was thinking about a bike ride but the bike had a flat, so I patched the tube and put the bike in order for a ride this afternoon. As I returned to the barracks a snorkel trip was in the planning so I joined in. The water was very murky so nobody was very enthusiastic about the swim. When we got near the beach where we started an adult Monk Seal started investigating us. It swam slow circles around us about 20 feet away. We work hard 6 days a week and days off are fun and varied but everyone seems more at ease on work days.

Adults on the Nest

From the top: Brown Noddy, Masked Booby, & Red-footed Booby

Adults & Chicks

Clockwise from the upper left: Sooty Tern, Red-footed Booby, Laysan Albatross

Red-tailed Tropicbird Adult & Chick

Flight Practice

The albatross chicks are very close to fledging. The healthiest chicks now weigh more than their parents and the adult birds will soon stop feeding them. Many of the chicks are standing in open areas, extending their wings, and flapping. All of them still have some down, so some of them look like shaking a feather duster. This is all in preparation for their first flight. After the parents stop feeding them, they get hungry and lose weight and eventually will make their first flight away from the island. They instinctively know that they must fly away from land to get their food. These first flights are dangerous and many birds drown or are eaten by predators just beyond the surf line. The first chicks will make this flight within a week or 10 days and the last will be gone by mid August. The island will be much different without them.

Refuge Manager

This is my boss Steve B.

More Albatross Banding

That's a Sooty Tern on my hat and a Black-footed Albatross chick in my arms.

East Island Turtle Camp Set up

I haven't been back to East Island since the camp was set up but here are some shots of the tent being put up.

Busy Times

We are still madly banding albatross chicks because some are very close to fledging. Much of our other work can't be ignored so it makes for long tiring days. I will be back and forth occasionally to the East Island turtle camp and will get some pictures of the camp and the island once the albatross banding is complete.

East Island Turtle Camp

This morning about 8 a.m. most of the people on the island started moving gear for the turtle camp down to the boat dock. We loaded gear and 2 people in one boat and more gear and 4 people in another small boat. We left Tern about 9 a.m. and about 30 minutes later were threading the reef to get into East Island. We anchored both boats and one person from each boat carried a second anchor up the beach and placed it carefully. We then stretched the boats between the 2 anchors and pulled them close enough to shore so we could wade about waist deep to get to the boats and started carrying loads up the beach to the camp site. With 6 of us working we emptied the boats in about 30 minutes. There is a permanent wooden platform for a tent on the island so for the next 2 hours we helped Irene and Tammy get their tent and camp set up. The 2 women will alternate 48 hour shifts in the camp, working nights, to study the large nesting Green Sea Turtle population. Every 48 hours a boat from Tern will make the run to East Island to pick up one researcher and drop off the other. The camp will also be kept supplied with fresh water and food at the same time. After our part in the set up was complete, Steve, the refuge manager, and myself did a count of the albatross on the island. There were nearly a 1,000 albatross of 2 species. A busy but interesting morning.

Masked Booby Color Variant

We found this unusually colored Masked Booby Chick on an incubation count several days ago. The chick with the darker beak is the normal coloration.