Tomorrow is the first day of school. My summer whirlwind of juggling work and home responsibilities, packing and traveling and participating in an amazing research project are coming to an end and a new year is beginning. It is a strange transition in many ways. I've traded in my bulky cold weather gear for shorts and a t-shirt. My shifts on the cliff watches have given way to hours of work in the yard. It's been an incredible journey that really began well before I first stepped off of the plane onto St. Paul Island.
ATVs were the way we got around on the island, they were lots of fun!
Catching up on yard work
Just over a year ago, Tracy, Jake and I took our first ever trip to Alaska. This was a place that I'd always dreamed of visiting, but never had managed to make the trip...
As I had mentioned in one of my earlier journal entries, I had to miss one of the summer center programs that I normally teach since the session got underway right around the time that I needed to leave for the Pribilofs. The participants in the Maryland Summer Center for Aquatic Research demonstrate a strong interest in environmental science and go on to develop final projects about their summer research that are top-notch.
On St. Paul Island I had a chance to meet up with students participating in a similar program with a focus on the marine science of the Pribilofs. The students ranged in age from 10-17 years old and spent about a week exploring the tide pools, salt lagoon, and the general ecology of the island. The camp is timed in part, to coincide with the subsistence seal harvest...
My father kindled my interest in birds when I was a boy. He would take my brothers and me up to the local hawk watch site on Hook Mountain in the lower Hudson Valley of New York State. We'd see red-tailed hawks, kestrels and lots of turkey vultures passing overhead on their southward migration. As I got a bit older, I would join him on Christmas Bird Counts, hiking up a mountain path in the pre-dawn darkness, hooting up great horned owls in the pine grove near the top of the hill. My Dad is gone now, but I know that he'd be tickled at the experience that I've had here on St. Paul Island and marvel at the birds that I've had the chance to see. I believe that my interest in birds helped to strengthen my teacher application for this PolarTREC assignment, so in a way, I have my father to...
High above the sea on the cliffs at Zapadni Dip or as we call it "Zap Dip", we get to observe the ebb and flow of life around the edge of the southern Bering Sea. Each day that we come out on our watches at the murre colony our job is to record data about the feeding by the parent birds to their hungry offspring.As the days have turned into weeks, we have seen some of these chicks grow and develop and leave the nest. Others are not so fortunate. A turn of events that to our eyes, seems so random as a squabble by two neighboring birds that results in a chick or an egg getting knocked from the narrow ledge to the pile of rocks below. The invariable result? A meal for the Arctic Foxes that patrol the rock piles waiting for just such an event to occur.
An Arctic fox looks for...
Sitting, just sitting still in a natural area for an extended period of time offers one a glimpse into the natural world that goes completely unobserved when a person is in motion, no matter how fast or how slow you are walking. Hunters know this. My brother is a hunter and has told me stories of birds, even birds of prey, landing a short distance from his tree stand in the forest, not because he is camouflaged or otherwise hidden, but because he is quiet, because he remains still.I believe that two factors are at work during this type of watching of the natural world. I think that when we walk through a natural place, our motions, the sounds we make, our very presence is disruptive to the wild inhabitants. They freeze in place, they hide, they move on ahead of our perception of them...
One of the unexpected pleasures of this experience has been the opportunity to work with so many people that are engaged in important research projects here on St. Paul Island. While I am here to work with kittiwakes and murres, I have had opportunities to connect with people doing research on Northern Fur Seals, Least Auklets, Crested Auklets and other species as well. Today, one of those opportunities presented itself and I was able to expand my experience just a bit more back at Tsamana Beach, this time with Red-faced Cormorants.
Cormorants are an interesting group of birds. They are in the same bird family as the pelicans and have a small pouch of skin beneath their bill as do the pelicans. As a group, cormorants are wide spread throughout the world, with some forms like the Red-...
We do a lot of things to study these birds. I've discussed how we deploy technological tools to track their movements; that we set up observation posts to look at their time both at and away from the nest; how we examine at their diet samples to see what the birds are feeding upon and even sample their blood to obtain a host of information about the birds and their interactions with the ecosystem.
The proper bander's grip
For decades, bird banders have contributed to ornithology by gathering information about the physical structure of the birds that they have captured. Prior to placing a uniquely numbered aluminum band on the leg of the birds that they have caught, bird banders gather data sets that when compiled over many years, become a useful tool in understanding bird growth,...
The kittiwake season has ended. The last of the GPS units was collected today, tracks were recorded and the winter data loggers have been left attached to their legs. The devices will record the travels of these gulls as they flap their way through the frigid months of the northern winter. For the team, it's time to change gears and to switch to the other species of interest in the telemetry study, the Thick-billed Murre!
Thick-billed Murre
We're getting ready to attach data loggers, GPS units, observe the birds at the nesting site to try to identify the fish species that they are providing to their chicks. But first, we had to shoot them.
Here was the assignment, the team wanted to be able to identify individual murres and record their time at sea and the time spent attending their...
Several years ago, I had the good fortune to be hired on as an Instructor for a few summers, at the National Audubon Society's Ecology Camp on Hog Island near Bremen, Maine. We would bring students out on field excursions into tide pools, teach about coastal geology, dredge up some marine creatures and generally explore the natural history of the Maine coast. The highlight of the camp for the students and for me was our boat trip out to Eastern Egg Rock, a very small island in Muscongus Bay. This little rock outcrop is home to a restored colony of Atlantic Puffins. The puffins in Maine were wiped out in the late 1800s by egg hunting, hence the name "Egg Rock". Some forward thinking ornithologists in the early 1970s worked to bring the Atlantic Puffins back to Eastern Egg...
The team working on Crested Auklets needed an extra hand today and asked if I'd be willing to help out. Of course, I jumped at the chance! Although Crested Auklets are fairly common breeders on St. Paul Island, the places on the island that I've been working have only offered somewhat distant views of these interesting birds.I met Thibaut Vergoz at the seabird house around 9:30 this morning and we took off in the Arctic Cat for Zapadni, fairly close to where the Least Auklet study site is located. The Crested Auklets nest much higher up on the cliff face than the Least Auklets, so we had a bit of a climb to get to the study site. Of course we're hauling all manner of sampling equipment, nets, poles, and our own gear over the steep rocky slope, hopping from rock to rock like mountain...
While on the beach today working on the Black-legged Kittiwake project, I was truly struck by the number of seabirds that went streaming on by. Several years ago, I drove down to Virginia Beach, VA in January, paid a bunch of money to go on a boat out into the Atlantic Ocean to look for seabirds. We did see some, but I'd be willing to bet that I far saw more in 10 minutes while standing on the beach here on St. Paul Island, than we saw in twelve hours on that boat. Why are all of these birds here?
For one thing, the Bering Sea is an extremely rich marine environment. Those who have followed the PolarTREC teachers on the Healy or the Knorr, have read their wonderful descriptions of just how productive this environment really can be. Blooms of phytoplankton provide food for larger...
As I've mentioned in earlier journal entries, most of our seabird work here in the Pribilofs is with the Black-legged Kittiwake and Thick-billed Murres. These birds share this island with many other seabird varieties. Some, like the murres are rather large, while others can be tiny, like the Least Auklet.
A group of Least Auklets perched on a rock at Zapadni
In terms of size, the auklet is about the same length as a sparrow, though a good bit heavier. Today I had the opportunity to join Ine Dorresteijn and Thibaut Vergoz who are conducting research on auklets and other species of seabird on St. Paul Island through the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.
I asked the project leader Ine, a bit about the study and about Least Auklets. Here is what she had to say...
In my last journal entry, I discussed how early our day can begin with the seabird telemetry project. Today we were operating at the other end of the schedule, working late into the nighttime hours. We wrapped up on the beach near midnight and still had the long ride back to the house for a late dinner and the stowing of gear.By any measure, today was a great day. The weather patterns have finally started to swing our way, 43 degrees, windy and raining is not conducive to catching birds or to standing around on the beaches that are currently our research sites. Today wasn't much warmer, but the winds were mild and every now and again the sun would peak through the clouds and we actually felt hot beneath of layers of clothing and heavy-duty rain gear (we wear the rain suits whenever...
I pulled the early shift for the seabird project today. Early, as in arrive at the study site, a 50 minute drive by ATV, BEFORE sunrise. Not a problem, I like the early morning hours, especially when making a contribution to a study as important and exciting as this one.
Rachael watches the kittiwakes above the Bering Sea
In addition to the high tech gadgetry that is being deployed, part of our work involves making straightforward observations of the birds. It has been a very tough year for Black-legged Kittiwakes. Many of the birds that have tried to nest this year have failed. This means that birds have either not attempted to nest, nests have been abandoned or their chicks have died. This is probably connected to the lack of the availability of food in the surrounding area....
The Pribilofs are home not only to millions of seabirds and seals, but also to two other native land mammals, the Arctic Fox and the Pribilof Shrew. The shrew, is a tiny little insectivore (Students: what does the word insectivore mean?) that lives nowhere else in the world but here on St. Paul Island. The shrews are hard to find, spending their time in the maritime tundra searching for insects and any other tiny animal that they can consume.
The foxes are a different story. As soon as you take a walk around town you're likely to find an Arctic Fox. They are quite used to people and tolerate our presence fairly well. That might be because they likely get most of their food by scavenging from humans. There is much in the way of scraps from the fishing industry out here and the...
Even by Pribilof Islands weather standards , today was a nasty day. All day long we experienced rainy, windy and cold conditions. In fact, the seabird team stayed home from the field today to catch up on some of the data recording, maintenance of ATVs and prepping of equipment for the project that are all part of running a smooth research program.That gave me a little bit of time to check out the City of St. Paul. The town is fairly small, so it's easy to walk around and take in the sights. I went over to the school administrative office to introduce myself. I am trying to work out an opportunity to connect some of the seabird research that we are doing with local students that will be participating in the St. Paul Summer Marine Science Camp. The folks that I particularly needed to...
While the main focus of this expedition is life science, I think that there are numerous subjects that can be connected to this project. I've already discussed a bit about some of the technology that is used in this project and of course there is the cultural component of the people of St. Paul Island that I will explore in some future journal entries.I think an obvious connection to the project is geography, I broke down my trip to St. Paul Island over several journal entries. I thought that some people might be interested in watching a video clip using Google Earth of my trip out to St. Paul, including all of the stops on the way. You'll need to have Google Earth on your computer to view this clip. If you don't have Google Earth, you really ought to download it for your computer, it...
First full day on St. Paul! I woke up early, eager to take in the experience of being on an island so far out in the Bering Sea. Walking from my house down to the lagoon, I spy a couple of new birds for the trip, Semi-palmated plover and Lapland longspur. In Maryland, the plover is reasonably common at the right time of year, the longspur only occasionally during the winter months and never in the spectacular breeding plumage sported by these birds.After an hour or so in the field, I stopped by the seabird house to check on the plan for the day. I met, for the first time our team leader, Rachael Orben, a biologist preparing to begin her Master's degree in Oceanography at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Rachael had been out until after midnight on the night that I'd arrived...
Hopeful for a successful flight, I woke up early and took advantage of the exercise room at my hotel to get in a short workout. This may well be my last opportunity to run in shorts for a long while! After breakfast, I took another walk around to take in the sights. One doesn't need to go too far here to see some fantastic scenery!
A stand of fireweed
When I arrived at the PenAir counter, the situation seemed more promising today, with the placard marked "on-time" under the sign for the flight to St. Paul. Boarding the plane on-time was an even more positive signal that we'd get out of Anchorage today.The plane is a Saab 340 turbo-prop plane (my friend and colleague Mr. Muffley from Plum Point Middle School was quite interested in what I'd be flying out to St. Paul). The ride in the...
"Well, I guess the key is to stay flexible and be ready for anything". I think that was my response to Project Manager, Kristin Timm's question during my PolarTREC interview about how I would deal with situations that suddenly change, like getting stranded somewhere because of a canceled flight or some other missed connection. Naturally, I assumed that all of my connections would work out and that my next journal entry would be about my first impressions of St. Paul Island. When working in an extreme environment such as the Pribilofs, it's probably best to be prepared for those situations that suddenly change.
While waiting for my flight to the island yesterday, that kept getting pushed back and back and finally was canceled due to the weather conditions on the...
My first full day in Alaska! Staying up late to work on journal entries helped me to acclimate to the four hour time difference between Maryland and Alaska. I decided to do some morning birding around my hotel while I waited for my noon departure to St. Paul Island.My hotel sat near Lake Hood which purports to be the busiest seaplane base in the world. It's not hard to believe as I watched these small floatplanes come and go all morning. Apparently many of these planes are transporting sport fishermen to remote locations for the salmon fishing which is kicking into high gear right now.
These planes ringed the entire lake, the busiest seaplane base in the world!
I took a short video clip of one of these planes as it took off from Lake Hood...
"Southern Avenue, last stop in southern Prince George's County" announced the operator of the Metro train, as we pulled in to the stop just outside of the Washington, DC line. I took a last look around at the lush vegetation present even in this rather urbanized region of my home county. A bright sun illuminated the sweetgum, tulip poplar, white oaks and black locust trees making for a brilliant green landscape, quite a contrast to the land that I will be soon be visiting to do my seabird research.
After goodbyes this morning to my wife Tracy and eight-year old son Jake, I took the Metro, the DC area's mass transit system to National Airport in Arlington, Virginia. I connected through Detroit on my way to Anchorage, Alaska. This will be my overnight stopping point before my...
It's hard for me to believe that my PolarTREC expedition is a mere three weeks away. I've watched the "Seabird Ecology in the Bering Sea" link inch its way up the list on the Upcoming Expeditions section of the PolarTREC website as my colleagues from the "Class of '09-‘10" have completed their projects. I can only hope to do as good a job as those fantastic teachers as they reported back the details of their trips from the far reaches of the Bering Sea, Siberia, Greenland, Finland, and Barrow, Alaska.
Some of my seabird team members are already on the islands or will arrive soon, and the research is already getting underway. I'm looking forward to meeting them out there soon, but there still is a lot for me to do here to get ready.
Right now, I'm in the middle of...
The spectacle of millions of seabirds wheeling about the rocky crags above the Bering Sea are only part of the draw for birders visiting the Pribilofs. While the breeding birds include species with interesting names like parakeet auklet, red-legged kittiwake, northern fulmar, and tufted puffin, the real draw for many birders are those Asian species that wander east from Siberia. Birders keep "life lists", which is a tally of species seen throughout a lifetime of searching. An important list for many birders is the birds that are sighted within North America (north of the border with Mexico). There are currently 914 species of birds that have been reported within this region. The paradox of birding is that those with the highest level of skill and experience, often add the...
Here in Maryland, the days are getting longer and a bit warmer, things are starting to green up and the birds are starting to return from their wintering grounds. The migration of birds and other animals has always held a fascination for me. When the first neo-tropical migrants (birds that migrate to the North American tropics) arrive in my backyard, I always wonder how those tiny little bundle of feathers could have made such an incredible journey in a matter of a few weeks! Traveling over land and sea, the songbirds run a gauntlet of obstacles, including hungry predators and other hazards. After nesting and raising their brood of young, these long distance travelers begin to fatten up on caterpillars and other insects before beginning the process again, this time in reverse,...
