That’s all folks!

We are packing our gear and cleaning the cabin!  Jennie and I head back to the mainland today and we wanted to give you one last update on our season.

We crossed off each day after we finished the dinner dishes. Its wild to think that its all over for 2011...

Census

The Gulf of Maine Seabird Working Group (GOMSWG) census was started on June 17, 2011, and finished on June 20, 2011.  The Tern nest count for the census was 484, with a Lincoln Index of 1.029, resulting in a corrected total of 498 Tern nests on the North End of Metinic.  This represents about two thirds of last year’s population.  Common Tern nests were marked with a blue flag, while Arctic Tern nests were marked with a red flag.  On the NE Point we identified 307 of 498 nests (61% of NE Point colony).  We counted 122 ARTE, 185 COTE nests.  We estimated that the colony was comprised of 40% Common Terns, 60% Arctic Terns. The South End of the island is privately owned and was surveyed by boat, 2 pairs of Terns were present, but no nests were confirmed.

Productivity

Fledging/reproductive success was low this year for Arctic Terns (under the 1 chick/nest USFWS goal), but Common Tern productivity improved from last year and met this goal.  The Arctic Terns suffered from widespread predation events early in the season which resulted in the loss of many eggs and young chicks.

Provisioning

We were able to follow 6 Common tern and 8 Arctic Tern nests throughout the season, for a total of 96 observational hours and 599 feedings. COTEs fed at an average rate of 1.6 feedings/hour, while ARTEs fed at 0.7 feedings/hour.  Both Arctic and Common Terns delivered Atlantic Herring most frequently to their chicks consisting of about 55%and 30% of their diet respectively.  Butterfish was the next most frequent delivery for both species, making up about 30% of deliveries.  Herring deliveries gradually declined and butterfish deliveries gradually increased as the season progressed.  Feedings overall slowed considerably starting in the third week of July especially for Arctic Terns.

Guillemots

32 Guillemot nests were located with a hatch success of 62% and an egg depredation rate of 12.9%.  This data is not a complete set because of the number of guillemots incubating through all checks.  Three adults were still incubating at the end of July, so hatch success could be higher than calculated. 19 chicks were found and 14 were banded, weighed, and measured.

Petrels

53  Leach’s Storm-petrel burrows showed signs of activity (smell, fresh piled dirt, activity at night) early in the season, however only 7 were noted to have eggs or adults present at the end of July.  At the end of our field season, 17 burrows were no longer active and 29 still showed some activity yet nothing could be seen with the burrow scope.

Common Eider

Eider numbers were very low this year averaging only 50-100 eiders at each morning count. Previous years Eiders had averaged between 150 and 300 for morning counts.  Only 30 observations of eider crèches were documented (at least 4 separate crèches).  Five eiders were banded by USGS and MDIFW.

Incidental Sightings

Species highlights: Northern Gannett, American Oystercatcher, Razorbill, Atlantic Puffin, Whimbrel.

We had a tremendous amount of fun out here this summer, and we hope you all enjoyed being able to follow along!  If we peaked your intrest and you would like to get involved or support our efforts makes sure to check out the Friends of Maine Seabird Islands site: http://maineseabirds.org/html/home.html!

Signing off!

-The Metinic Crew

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Where have you been? Where will you go?

For how much information they can hold, the geolocators are very small!

As the Terns get ready to migrate south at the end of the season, it makes you wonder “where are they going?”  Last year on Metinic Island, refuge staff attached geolocators onto Arctic Terns in an effort to find out just that!  These particular geolocators work in an incredible way.  GPS or satellite tracking equipment is expensive and heavy.  These lightweight little units monitor time of sunrise and sunset instead, and from that data can give an approximate location on the globe.

This little device has tracked an almost 40,000 km round trip migration, we cant wait to see the map!

This year after a tremendous amount of searching, locating, and trapping, we were able to recover a few of the geolocators and are waiting to receive the data back from them.  Soon we will have a map of the flight paths of a few Terns nesting on Metinic, and we will know not only where they went after last year, but how they got there!

-The Metinic Crew

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Time Flies!

Almost all of the fluffy down has been replaced with feathers, and he has gained the black cap adult Terns are known for.

They grow up so fast!  We spotted one of our Tern chicks in flight yesterday.  It is really difficult to get a good picture of the little guy but as soon as we do we will post it! In the mean time here are two pictures of an Arctic Tern fledger we found while banding chicks across the island.  He must be a day or two away from flying, and is the closest we will get to having our hands on a flyer!

The flight feathers are now fully developed and any sign of sheaths has been preened out of the wing.

 

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Painting Purple Popsicles for the PMI Predator Project

Tern on an egg (through the spotting scope)!

Life and death unfolds at an alarming rate here on Petit Manan Island. Thousands of eggs hatch every summer. At the peak of the season, Common Terns, Arctic Terns, Atlantic Puffins, and Black Guillemots (just to name a few) can be found on almost every surface and in every crevice on the island. But a whole host of predators are fully aware of this phenomenon – in June, PMI is ripe with adult birds, chicks, and eggs all ready for the picking. Peregrine Falcons, Bald Eagles, Harriers, Greater Black-backed Gulls, Herring Gulls, and Laughing Gulls are just a few of the predators that have already found a few meals on PMI this summer.

The PMI Crew (minus Christa) painting popsicle sticks

In all this madness and mayhem, the research team is trying to get a gauge on the effects of predation on some of the species nesting on the island – especially Arctic and Common Terns. How many eggs are being laid and how many are being predated for each species? With several hundred nests already established, it’s a little difficult to keep track of such details! So over the years, the Refuge staff has devised a method of labeling nests with small wooden stakes – more commonly known as Popsicle sticks!

Stake indicating the nest number, species (COTE = Common Tern), date inserted and number of eggs, and the number of eggs at the check date

While observing the tern colony from the blinds scattered around the island, whenever we notice a nest we place a Popsicle stick (which we paint purple so that we can easily spot it on the ground) nearby that indicates the stake number, the date that the nest was discovered, the tern species, and the number of eggs in the nest. As that number changes (because more eggs are laid or because of a predation event), we update the stakes accordingly. At the end of the season we use this data to calculate success rates for each species.

Arctic tern on its nest, marked by a purple stake

The stakes will also come in handy when we do the big island-wide census, which is coming up soon! Check back for updates!

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Now it’s our Tern!

Metinic's first egg!

A pair of Arctic Terns between copulation attempts.

Finishing in a close second, we found our first egg this morning on Metinic! Petit Manan did a fantastic job discussing the Tern egg and its camouflage (see below), so we won’t bore you with repetition and instead highlight a few differences. This little gem belongs to an Arctic Tern, and here on Metinic they prefer to nest on the exposed granite ledges in the center of the colony.

On one of the many granite outcroppings, the egg has very little protection from the elements or predation.

Many times there is almost nothing to an Arctic Tern nest, and the eggs will just sit in a rocky depression.  Here the camouflage does very little for the egg’s protection, but being located in the center of the nesting area provides enough protection in itself.  Terns are aggressively territorial so most nest predation occurs on the colony fringes.  These Arctic Terns rely on a buffer from their even more aggressive Common Tern neighbors to chase off predators before getting to their eggs.

Looking forward to an Easter egg hunt as June begins!

Metinic Crew (Charlie Walsh, Jennie Wiacek, and special guests Courtney Viall, and Adrienne Leppold)

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