Ludwig, James P., 1963-1964
Page 72
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Transcription
Ludwig, J. P. 1964 These roosts are, I believe, analogous to the "clubs" of Masked Boobies, Herring gulls and other birds. These "clubs" are not strict however, as on several occasions I watched birds alight on different clubs than their home club. However, when on a strange club the birds acted as though apprehensive and usually left after a short time - the threat of any bird resident on the club was enough to send the new arrival away. The Sooty Terns on Moku Manu again exhibited the phenomena of building up of their numbers over the island as evening approached. We estimated about 5000 breeding pairs on this island. There may actually be considerably more than this. We left the head approxi- mately 1850 after collecting one Booby with a broken wing. February 24, 1964 Noted cloud of 5000-10000 Sooty Terns off Manana Island. Not yet nesting February 26, 1964 After calling DC, King, Hoeman, Whitman, and I caught the 1300 plane for Kauai and left to band Boobies in the Kilauea Lighthouse Colony. Made reservations to get to Manu tomorrow evening and back to Oahu Sunday evening. Arrived at Kilauea Lighthouse Colony where we remained for about 75 minutes. I estimated about 170 adult pairs here. Most birds seem to be singles sitting on eggs or nest. Noted 3 dark phase birds, 7 immatures and subadults with an estimated 260 adults present. Wind was