Anderson, Alan H., 1964
Page 9
Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Contributed by Smithsonian Institution Archives. | www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
A. Anderson 1964 in numbers of Sooty Shearwaters. Two Harcourt's (or Leach's) Petrels sighted. A Ruddy Turnstone was netted by a member of the crew after it had flown around the ship for several hours at times flying alongside at the same speed as the ship for up to 10 minutes. We plan to release it on Howland. Golden Plover captured yesterday still alive. Several more of the as yet unidentified "collared Petrels" were seen, one at very close range. Hope to collect several specimens, as light conditions at sea may be biasing our estimates of color patterns, etc. 8 October 1964 Last day before Howland. Extremely bright overcast most of the day; poor observing conditions. 9 October 1964 Party got up early to assemble gear on deck for landing on Howland. Released Turnstone which landed on ship two days before. First boat left LIPANat 9:10, set up tents; two more boatloads came in with remainder of gear. After squaring away gear and a short rest we spread out and covered the island, counting Blue-faced Booby nests and eggs and nestlings. They were scattered all over the island with concentration within 100' of the beach, especially at the N and S ends. The middle areas were relatively barren. Nestlings and some immatures were banded. A large concentration of Sooty Terns was located on a SE corner - there were two main groups, one with independent young and one with eggs. None if the young are ready for flight, but almost all were locals. Red-footed boobies were localized in a small area of dead Cordia trees on the S central part of the island. Eggs, chicks, and immatures were present in about equal numbers; less than 100 adults were observed. Lesser Frigates colonized in a large colony with great numbers of nestlings. They were thick in a band about 100' wide x 1000' long, packed every few feet. Several thousand adults hovered above them. Toward the middle of the afternoon we counted the lesser frigate nests in the Cordia trees, counted, banded, and marked the red-feet in the same area. 10 October 1964 Most noteworthy observation was 12 Common Noddies sitting on the bank along the beach; 9 in one group, 2 and 1 in other spots. One was collected, with several shorebirds. The curlews were all but one in a single flock; turnstones were most often in groups of 3-7, plovers most often from 5-15, tattlers 1-3. The brown boobies were almost all in one club. About 25 black-tipped sharks were seen near shore in 3-4 feet of water, cruising about and apparently feeding. Many 2' gray moray eels hid or swam slowly near shore. Three kinds of sea cucumber were near shore- one was sooner and about 2-3" x 10-14"; another, the most common, was 1' x 6" and black with algal covering; the third is long and snakelike (to 5') and dark purple or black.