Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Contributed by Smithsonian Institution Archives.
| www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
K. Amerman
1964
Jaluit Atoll, Marshall Islands
immatures?
There were about 200 Greater Frigatebirds
in the air when we arrived. It developed
that they roosted only in The Pemphio.
This is a more striking example of the
tendency encountered at Koypan for
Frigates and Red-foots to be somewhat
segregated.
At dusk we discovered several lesser
Frigates roosting with the Greaters. Larry
collected one male.
Upon our arrival a group of about 30
Booty Terns emerged from the underbrush
on the SW corner. Most of the day there
were up to 6 in the air above, but
none returned to the ground. Three were
shot and all had blood patches but as
eggs or chicks could be found, they may
have been just beginning the breeding cycle.
The natives report a colony of a few
dozens on one of the other islands at
Christmas last year.
We discovered 4-5 Common Noddies nests,
all with eggs, on a fallen tree and in
the "birds' rest" plant. Binion said he
saw a hermit crab destroy one of the
eggs.
Fairy Terns, like the Hawaiian Noddies,
were found in both Pemphio and Przina.