We’re Big Listers on a Little Island: Migrants Sighted around Petit Manan

A beautiful Magnolia Warbler sitting on top of a washed-up lobster trap

The Petit Manan 2012 Bird List!

Starting the day we arrived on the island, we have been keeping track of all the bird species that we’ve seen. In just over two weeks, our list has exceeded 50 different bird species! The majority of them are migrants—birds that are passing through on their way to their summer homes.Offshore islands provide valuable stopover points for migrating birds to rest and refuel during their long journeys to or from breeding grounds. Oftentimes birds also get blown off course by foul weather and will spend several days on PMI waiting out storms, high winds, or fog.

 

 

 

A Barn Swallow perched in the intertidal

Migration season is a fun and exciting time of year because it is possible to observe birds that might otherwise be difficult to spot (like the Brown Thrasher), birds that are outside their normal habitats (like the Red-Breasted Nuthatch), and birds flocking together during their travels that would not normally be in close association (like the White-throated and Chipping Sparrows).

 

 

 

A Brown Thrasher hanging out in front of one of our sheds

Red-breasted Nuthatches (right) are normally found in coniferous forests… on an island devoid of trees, our lighthouse sufficed for this little guy!

Three White-throated Sparrows and two Chipping Sparrows (can you spot all of them?)

 

 

 

Don’t let us make you think that PMI gets all the cool birds—keep an eye out on the mainland, even in your own backyard, for colorful and interesting migrants!

 

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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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Warblers Galore!

Petit Manan Island is a great place to watch spring migration as birds travel through the Gulf of Maine heading northward – many of them on their way to breeding grounds in boreal forest, taiga, and tundra habitats. We’ve sighted many exciting migrants in the past few weeks, especially warblers including: American Redstarts, Black-and-white, Yellow-rumped, Common Yellowthroat, Magnolia, Wilson’s, Yellow, Blackburnian, Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, Blackpoll, and Chestnut-sided Warblers. The fog has been heavy for the past few days, so many of the birds that stopped over on the island have delayed their departure, which means we have had extra time to view these distinct, colorful avian wonders. The Black-throated Blue Warbler pictured has been fastidiously feeding on insects at the north end of the island for at least three days now while waiting for the weather to break.  The migrating passerines have kept us on our toes and the binoculars glued to our faces. Stay tuned, we have a full season ahead!

Black-throated Blue Warbler fluffs his feathers

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