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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.