Hi everyone!
I am writing this from the confines of the cabin because it has been a rainy end of week/weekend. Unfortunately, when it is rainy out, we are unable to work in the colony so I have been on the computer all day entering data and writing this blog. Being stuck in the cabin might not be the worst thing though, we do have a lot of data to enter.
Storm front. The beginning of Thursday evening rain storms
Sarah and I have been busy banding chicks this week so there are lots of fun chick photos to share. The eggs productivity plots are almost all hatched which means we have had a lot of practice handling and banding chicks. We also spent some time trapping and banding adult Terns before any eggs started to hatch. I personally enjoy handling the chicks better than the adults as I am used to passerines and hummingbirds. Sarah on the other hand, prefers the adults so we compliment each other well while banding birds.
(L): Placing a band on an adult tern; (R): adult tern after banding
To band the adults, we placed a walk-in trap over the nest that closed when they walked into it. We then brought the bird to the banding area, weighed the bird, measured the wing length and placed a band on the leg. Once all of those things were completed, the bird was released. This process does not take very long, for Sarah and I, we completed it in 5 minutes or less per bird. In the left image, you can see me holding a pair of pliers, these are used to secure the band to the birds leg, the bad is essentially a bracelet. In total Sarah and I banded a total of 30 adult terns.
(L, C): First chick in the nest with the unhatched eggs; (R): Chick Pile!
When the chicks first hatch, they don’t move far from the nest. This makes it easier for us to see what chicks go with a specific nest. Sometimes multiple eggs in a nest hatch on the same day, sometimes they hatch a few days apart. All of the Common Tern chicks are spotted and camouflage very well with the ground and other eggs in the nest.
One of the chicks in a productivity plot
Both images above are the same chick in one of our productivity plots. Once hatched, we band these chicks 24-48 hours after they hatch. The banding process is the same as adults except we hand capture the chicks rather than use a trap. The chicks get the same size band as the adults, their legs don’t grow in diameter after they hatch. In the productivity plots, we weigh and measure each chick every other day to make sure they are still gaining weight and getting bigger.
Chick growing primary feathers
As the chicks get older, they begin to lose their down feathers and grow primaries. Our oldest chick is 8 days old and is already growing its primaries and as of 6/20, it weighed 54 grams! This chick is doing very well and growing in a positive direction. It was 22 grams when we first weighed it so it is doing a good job gaining weight.
Bonus photo of Eider creche
That is all that is happening with the chicks this week. They will continue to grow and we will continue to monitor them. Enjoy the cute chick photos!
Until next time,
Bridget
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