Winds, Wings, and… Runwaylings?
Aloha readers! Nick again with another update on camp life, environmental changes, and of course birds. Pretty exciting things are occurring weather wise, with lots of wind blowing this week. We had gusts up into the 40s which meant we closed our storm shutters as a precaution. I was excited, because I had a feeling the high winds would blow us some new shorebirds – more to come on this later. The high wind mixed with intermittent drizzle made this week feel a lot more like winter weather in the NWHI rather than mid-August.
Reporting on some fun, casual seabird monitoring – we have 56 Christmas Shearwater / ʻAoʻū nests marked on GPS which seems to be a reasonable sample size to gauge distribution on Kure – especially considering the sampling technique was just incidental during Verbesina transects. The chicks are growing steadily and Wedge-tailed Shearwaters / ‘Ua’u Kani are also tending to their newly hatched chicks. Gray-backed Terns / Pākalakala are almost all fledged. Qualitatively, I would say that they had relatively high success – as I’ve only observed one group abandon their nesting site. This would be an optimistic result, given that the low winds and high heat of July have certainly negatively affected some of the other colonial ground-nesting birds. Bonin Petrels / Nunulu have also started to return to Green Island. Unlike our other burrow-nesters, Bonin Petrels begin nesting in the winter to avoid competition with other Procellariids for the burrows. I’ve already begun to hear their calls being added to the normal nighttime cacophony of birdsong, mostly consisting of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters.
My final bird update is on the shorebird front! Our numbers of Pacific Golden-Plovers / Kolea reached a high of 80 this week, a dramatic increase from last. Ruddy Turnstones / ʻAkekeke continue to arrive as well as a solo Bristle-thighed Curlew / Kioea. Most notably, our first Sanderling / Hunakai of the season arrived this past week on the runway. I very cleverly said to myself “Sanderling, more like a Runwayling.” It was very funny and I’m sure everyone would have laughed if they were around. The Sooty Terns / ʻEwaʻewa found it funny. I’m sure more new shorebirds will be arriving soon! I suspect a Semipalmated Plover or Sharp-tailed Sandpiper will find its way next, or perhaps something outlandish like an Emperor Goose or cuckoo species. Only time and binoculars will tell.
I suppose I should touch on camp life given that birds typically make up >90% of my blogs. Everybody is happy, healthy, and smiling! We’ve been watching Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005 Nickelodeon Show) which in my experience seems to be an unofficial field camp must-watch. We’ve continued playing board games and have enjoyed playing “Take-off,” a favorite from Jordan’s childhood. There’s been a lot of singing accompanied by my mediocre Ukulele playing (or is it the other way around?). The eats have been so good as of late. I’d like to highlight Dwight’s Spanish rice/chicken dish and Kayla’s alfredo pasta. Jordan is currently making Minestrone which smells delish. I think that’s all for now. Until next time! Nick