A Smattering of Updates – EBI

Hello once again from the Brothers! I am sure many of you are wondering how Reggie is doing with his harem of decoys. Well exciting news; the other day Reg was spotted presenting a nice big fish to a real live lady tern! Unfortunately having spent so long with the decoys Reg forgot his manners and was a little too insistent our new lady tern take his fish. She flew off, but not to worry, she was back the next day so Reg has an opportunity to try again.

An example of a chick who had a little too much rock gunnel.

In the area of guillemot chick checks we have chicks from two days old weighing in at 37g to Alfonso a tubby 27 day old chick at 345g. There is quite a size difference between some of our chicks which their parents do not seem to take that into account. In taking measurements on our two day old chicks we found that half of the size of the chick could be accounted for by its crop that was stuffed full of delicious nutritious rock gunnel. The poor chick looked as though he wished he would have stopped eating rock gunnel long before he had. We all feel for you little chick!

A Leach’s storm petrel, presented here as a popsicle bird.

We at the Brothers are very pleased to announce that we have a Leach’s storm petrel who has decided to take up residence on Western Brothers. The Leach’s Storm Petrel is nocturnal. We have heard them calling several times during the night but until now we have not been able to find if they have actually been nesting here. Our petrel was incubating a single egg deep inside a burrow of loose dirt. Storm petrel’s have a very distinctive odor which you may be able to smell at the entrance of the burrow if it is active. The odor is not entirely unpleasant as they smell very much like old books.

One last update for you. We have finally found some young Savannah sparrows. We had known that they were breeding here but we had not been able to find a successful nest until now. As you can see at this age they are almost perfect spheres with over-sized mouths. Adorable!

Savannah sparrow sphere with giant mouth.

~SK

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Alcid Burrow Checks on Petit Manan

A black guillemot chick grubbed from underneath the boardwalk

One of our most exciting endeavors on this lovely seabird island is monitoring the Alcid burrows around the perimeter of the island. Alcidae is a family of seabirds that includes Atlantic Puffins, Razorbills, and Black Guillemots, all of which breed here on Petit Manan. Unlike the terns that lay their eggs on the exposed ground, each of these species raise their chicks in a protective burrow. Razorbills and puffins always have one egg, while guillemots often have two.

Puffin chick!

Usually burrows are in the crevices between the pink granite rocks that border the island, but sometimes our Alcids choose some unconventional sites, like in the foundation of a fallen building, or under the boardwalk that stretches the length of the island from the boathouse to the lighthouse. In addition to rock burrows, puffins are able to dig burrows in the sod that can be over 6 feet long! Because Petit Manan is a tiny island with an incredible number of breeding birds, we also provide artificial burrows made from wooden boxes or overturned plastic buckets with tubes attached to the entrance so that the birds can crawl into a protected space like they would in their granite or sod burrows.

Alcids establish burrows in early May, around the time we arrive on the island. At the beginning of the season, once the birds have laid eggs, we do a survey of the burrows to determine which ones are active, peering in but trying not to disturb the birds while they are incubating. Later in the season (now!), once most of the chicks have hatched, we do another thorough investigation during which we “grub” the puffin, guillemot, and razorbill chicks and adults.

Applying metal identification bands to an adult puffin’s legs

We remove them from their burrows so that we can put small metal identification bands around their legs, each with unique number/letter combination so that we can resight individuals later and determine how often they return to the island and what other locations they might be visiting year-to-year. We also weigh chicks now and again at the end of the season to monitor their growth. Many of the puffin and guillemot chicks won’t fledge until after we’ve left the island in the middle of August.

Linda Welch (lead biologist) and Jordan (field tech) grubbing a razorbill chick.

“Grubbing” an Alcid can be quite a surprising experience, as it often involves reaching blindly into a dark, slimy crevice and feeling around until you find a fluffy little chick… or until your fingers meet the sharp vice grip of an adult puffin’s powerful bill!

So far this season we’ve noticed that the number of breeding guillemots on the island is on the rise, but there seem to be fewer breeding puffins this year than in years past. We have one confirmed Razorbill chick, and two more possible sites. We’ll keep you posted as we collect and analyze more data about our awesome Alcids!

Linda with a freshly grubbed razorbill chick that is nearly ready to fledge. While puffin chicks take up to 50 days to fledge, razorbills are ready to go in only 16-20 days!

When a razorbill chick is ready to fledge, its dad leads it out of the burrow under cover of night and takes it to the ocean.

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Spotlight Species: Black Guillemots

Adult Black Guillemot foraging near shore at Petit Manan Island. We often see them carrying rock gunnel (a red eel-looking fish) in their bills.

As you glance at a calendar organizing your plans for the rest of a glorious Maine Summer, it might escape your attention that today is a very special day.  Today is International Guillemot Appreciation Day!!  The predominant object of our daily attention here on Petit Manan is the tern colony and with just under 2,000 nest sites this year they do keep us busy.

Guillemot parent with chick in their granite nest site

In honor of the many other avian residents that call PMI their breeding home, we are very happy to honor this internationally recognized day specifically for this alcid.  Maine is the tip of their southern range, so we are the only state in the lower 48 to host them.

We have noted over 50 Black Guillemot nests here on the island and some chicks have begun to hatch.

Many mornings, during our twice daily lighthouse survey,  we count more than 200 of them in the waters surrounding the island, paddling around with their bright red feet.

Happy Guillemot Appreciation day to our feathered friends here in the Gulf of Maine!

Black Guillemot Chick

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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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Happy National Guillemot Appreciation Day!

Photograph by Brette Soucie.

A Black Guillemot takes off from its driftwood perch. Photograph by Brette Soucie.

Black Guillemots may be the most abundant alcid in Maine waters, but that doesn’t mean that they deserve any less attention than their charismatic cousin the Atlantic Puffin!  They are one of the few seabirds on the Maine coast year round.  Unlike other alcids most Black Guillemots are sedentary, and if they do migrate it is only short distances from their breeding colonies. Black Guillemots feed in mid to shallow waters, and often loaf on intertidal rocks or on the surface in between foraging dives.  These habits make them one of the more visible alcids from the mainland.  Breeding plumage is solid black with white wing patches.  This makes the species easy to identify at a distance, but up close you will notice the bright red legs and gape, which give these charming birds a splash of color.

A Black Guillemot about to crash land into driftwood pile. Photograph by Brette Soucie.

I wish we could get a good video of Guillemot behavior, if we watch them for too long we just break up laughing.   On land their movements are a combination of awkward waddles and hops.  Black Guillemots are wing propelled swimmers and require strong short wings to literally fly under the water while foraging.  High wing loading (mass vs. wing surface area) makes slowing down in aerial flight very difficult.   As a result these birds seem to crash land into just about anything to stop themselves.

Our next Guillemot check is coming right up so we hope to have some pictures of Guillemot chicks up for you soon!

*The incredible photography for this post was taken by Brette Soucie, Metinic Supervisor 2010.  Her patience and artistic eye are responsible for our ability to share such beautiful images with you.  Thank you Brette!  We hope you are taking tons of pictures on your recent adventures!

Always appreciative –The Metinic crew

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