Ludwig, James P., 1963-1964

Dear Roger & Warren: Enclosed are the list of all those birds recovered on Midway and Kure. All are arranged on work sheets. All bands that Jim and Bill and Endicott received are listed here, however there is some overlap with the list you sent in with your first progress report and I have not attempted to add these or straighten them out. We have run out of the official substitute return sheets so we are using this rather satisfactory system. These sheets will be left on Kure for Bill to continue when he comes out. List returns even if less than 3 months since last one. Make sure to indicate incubating nesting birds and to distinguish Sand and Eastern Island. Hope you can get all the returns on these sheets without too much confusion or extra work. I have a duplicate set here but will not attempt to keep them up to date until all the data comes back in April or May. Have you been over to Midway lately to look for ducks? When Jim left there were still great numbers there all around, according to him, in weak condition.

59. of the western Glaucous Gull Race. IT was unquestionably a Glaucous gull. Wing was relatively short also. IT looked fat & in good shape, flying strongly. Took film to Photo Lab - To pick up the pictures Friday. Then back to BOQ to straighten out records, pack the trunks, and finish Recovery Reports. I am leaving to the plane officer 1) a small quantity of Bands - 300 #3, 100 #2, 100 #5, 126 #7B. - and a small Sample of Supplies to hold a Transient Project Member for 2-4 days. Rest is being returned to here. Then worked on the report till 10, and then had a drink at "O Club" Very Tired. Caught a petrel to photograph in AM in good light. 12-19-63 Up to take care of the myriad of little jobs that have to be done. Left musette Bag w few bands in the BOQ, took care of trunks & shipping. Then set to finishing the report, writing Chan. & Bill. Done by 11. 12-20-63 I AM GOING TO LEAVE this PLACE IN 8 HOURS. T. P. S. Saw Flock of 8 Br Thighed Curlew in grass area of Antenna field in front of AEW hanger.

James P. Ludwig 1963 Field notes Carder Honolulu, September 1, 1963 I was amazed to find a large flight of shorebirds (principally Golden and Black-bellied Plovers) foraging in the Punch-Bowl Crater several thousand feet above sea level. There were other species present numbering in total about 600 individuals: Most were the Golden Plover. Honolulu, September 4 Drove up the Tantalus trail and down the Round Top drive: Part way down the drive is a state park. Thre I found several small warbler-like birds with Red bills, legs, and secondaries, Yellow breasts, grayish, and grey-blue backs; I need a Peterson. Midway Island - September 6 Arrived here and was immediately impressed by the helping hand of all the naval personnel. Apparently the welcome mat is out for everybody that comes here, and it is damn-bit better than the callous treatment which the Army gives the civilians that deal with them. At happy-hour I met most everyone, received a dinner invitation, and was asked (collared?) into speaking to the Midway Chamber of Commerce; these people are so damn nice to me I can't say no! On arriving was impressed by Fairy terns and Red-tailed Tropicbirds which are still nesting and seem to be everywhere. At 2000I caught: my first Shearwaters - collected two banded ones and ended a long and satisfying day on a happy satisfying note. Midway Island, September 7 Went shopping at the Px and managed to piece together enough equipment to finish putting up the Shearwater skins: These were moulting heavily and were not (Thank God) too fat - hope they don't leak. Scouted much of the civilized part of the island and found Fairy Terns nesting in almost every Australian Pine: However, there is much that

James P. Ludwig 1963 2 isn't being used and something other than available nest sites must control their numbers. Red-tailed Tropicbirds were not observed about the island or attending to their chicks until 1000: The peak of Tropicbird activity occurred between 1300 and 1400 today and I captured several adults on the ground with chicks then. Went to the Bonin Petrel night roost at 1900; first Bonins overhead at 1908, their numbers increasing rapidly - perhaps 100 flying about by 1915; 1923 flying within 5 feet of their roosts; 1933, first Bonin on the ground, Bulk were on the ground by 1950 although some were still flying. In an hour I had captured 4 banded birds; three collected for skins. One was taken for a skeleton. Midway Island, September 8 Spent much of the morn ing finishing up the Shearwater skins. After lunch I walked around the island and saw a lot of things which I could not name. Again, I am in need of a Peterson. There are at least five kinds of terns and noddies here. Three Frigatebirds were seen. Many Tropicbirds as they are apparently in the height of their nesting now. Many Fairy Terns. Counted 31 Bristle-thighed Curlews, many Golden Plovers, and five other shorebirds which I did not recognize in their winter plumage. One Turnstone seen. One Shorebird caught alone at the end of the runway - wing on left side had been sheared off- saved for a skin (Golden Plover). Most of them at East end of the island in a trough to the right of the Navy Pier there. Most of the Terns were on the South end of the island. Albatross and Boobies were conspicuous by their absence. In the evening I stopped again to catch and watch the Petrels. Overhead 1905, flying lo w over ground at 1921, first on ground at 1931, bulk on the ground by 1950. This roost is located just behind the school where the grass is deep and underlain by sand. There were 60 birds on the location by 2050, and in 2 hours I caught about

James P. Ludwig 1963 43 forty with bare hands and stealth. Got six more returns for a total of 11 to date on this species. A listing of the returns with status follows: No. 623-45182 skinned September 7, 1963 No. 643-48706 skinned September 6, 1963 No. 643-48715 skinned September 7, 1963 No. 643-49098 skinned September 7, 1963 No. 643-74306 skinned September 6, 1963 No. 643-48355 trapped and released September 8, 1963 643-48811 trapped and released September 8, 1963 643-49083 trapped and released September 8, 1963 643-49086 trapped and released September 8, 1963 643-74306 trapped and released September 7, 1963 643-74309 trapped and released September 8, 1963 These crazy Petrels have territory at night. They fight when they come together and chase intruding Shearwaters away with their terrible moaning call (they remind me of trumpeting Herring Bulls after a successful territorial dispute.) They walk around in the grass groaning loudly, and will approach one another and fight. The victor groans the looser squeals, flies off and later settles on a new spot. These birds dig some also, although some just sit in the grass. Midway Island, September 9 Spent most of the morning doing odds and ends and making skeletons of a Fairy Tern and Tropicbird caught late last night after chasing the Shearwaters. Tropicbirds again absent until 0930 when they begin to appear over the island. Peak of their activity at 1300 today. Many adults on the ground sitting with chicks by 1500. However, most must return to sea as last evening I found only one adult with a very small chick at 2400 while locating 23 chicks beneath the brush. Most chicks are at the feathering-out stage of their development. No eggs or new chicks of any species yet found here. Got five letters in the mail and sat down to glut my scenses on news from home. Here endeth chapter one of the Epistle of Ludwig.

James P. Ludwig 1963 4 Wednesday, September 11, 1963 - Midway Island Got equipment out of storage and found most in good condition. Following are field notes for 10-9 and 10, 1963. September October 9, 1963 2000 - Few Bonin Petrels tonight. Caught only 1, saw 11. Set October 10, 1963 Arranged flights to Kure. Going Thursday again to equipment on Sunday. Navy very helpful. Asked for weather summaries also. Scouted main concentrations of Tropicbirds and found one patch of birds 100 yards to the north of the SAR hanger infected to some kind of tumor forming agent. Bulbous masses on rictus of bill, eyelids, rarely on the feet. Infection confined to this area and only in chicks. Several nearly blind. Found 2 adults on eggs. September October 11, 1963 Spent morning working on gear, odds and ends and trying to get permission to shoot shorebirds went to the old gravel pit to look for shorebirds. Bristle-thighed Curlews, lost of Golden Plovers, Turnsones, Several surf birds and three others. I could not identify. Banded 85 Tropicbirds (72 local, 13 adult) and took pictures of infected birds. Adult birds are covered with lice and mites, but none have the tumors on them suggesting an age-immunity factor. Infection confined to area near SAR hanger and occurs where birds are closest together. Most Tropicbirds found under bush cover or in the ground crotch of Australian pine trees. Three eggs, 75 young (3 dead, 12 with tumored eyes) found today. September October 12, 1963 Went to gravel pit with Com. Fry and shot a Bristle-thighed Curlew - bird of the year- spent a while estimating shorebirds. 1500 - 2000, mostly plovers. Nine Bristle-thighed Curlews. Skinned bird, arranged equipment. 2100 - few petrels. Bike swiped while banding petrels. Saw three White-rumped Sandpipers ?.

James P. Ludwig 1963 Sept. October 13, 1963 Flew to Kure on test flight of an "Albatross" SAR plane. Had trouble landing at Kure. Killed two tropicbirds on pass over runway. Talked to Lt. Jg. Goodwin and he knows nothing of our plans. Thanks to Deseret. Called Maryanna when back at Midway and finally got through to her. Called Goodwin back and told him of developments. Bill Wirtz arrived and went to "O" Club for dinner to Dr. Millet and to a movie. Sept. October 14, 1963 Out at 0630 to gun shorebirds. Got another Bristle-thighed Curlew and Sanderling ?. Missed a small peep. Skinned the two birds while Bill got some more equipment out of storage. Had the afternoon for Tropicbird banding and got 44 more. Found 7 chicks and 2 adults with the bill-tumor disease all in one place where birds are concentrated. Bill found chick to tumor on manus of wing. Bill found dead chick that looked like rats had eaten it. During banding found 6 dead chicks. Total data on Tropicbirds to date: Chicks Adults banded 115 banded 15 with bill disease 19 to bill disease 2 total dead 9 dead 1 dead to bill disease 4 dead to bill disease 0 Tried head light shorebirds-unsuccessful. Caught 5 Fairy Terns Total Bonin Petrels banded to date - 6 Total Fairy Terns banded to date - 8 Total all species banded - 144 Total number recoveries - 14 September 15 through 19, 1963 Spent most of this period banding birds (Total 762), making 76 recoveries in this period, and collecting numbers of birds and rats (Total 37 specimens). Spent one day on Eastern Island where

James P. Ludwig 1963 we saw Wedge-tails and Christmas Island Shearwaters flying at 9 a.m. and found chicks of both. Shot some miniature Teal at Sand as well as a Erolia Sand-piper. Saw a dowitcher also. September 20, 1963 Flew to Kure today. Joe Goodwin provided us with ample space, man power, and a very warm reception. By noon settled in 2 rooms and in the afternoon toured the island. Bill saw 26 seals. I collected a tattler and Nody, Frigates, 3 Boobies, Golden Plovers, tattlers, red turnstones, four Bristle-thighed Curlews, Hawaiian and Common Noddies, Sooty Terns, unidentified ("Forester's like") Tern, 5 Fairy Terns, Wedge-tails and Bonin seen. Collected 23 rats at night. September 21, 1963 Caught up on odds and ends, and rewrapped all the birds from Midway. Some suffered during the flight over. Went to a cook out for dinner and then out to collect. One Christmas Island Shearwater, 2 Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, one Bonin Petrel, and 2 Frigates collected. Bill got 26 rats. Lots of wedge-tails here. Guess 700 - 1000 present. They may be nesting. No idea how many Christmas Island Shearwaters here. September 22, 1963 Helped Bill tag seals today, total of 6 by day's end. Skinned 2 of the Shearwaters collected 9-21 and watched the evening flick. September 23, 1963 Skinned the frigate, made skeletons of Wedge-tail, Frigate, and Sooty Tern. Wrote letters in the p.m.

James P. Ludwig 1963 7 and in the evening went to band Masked and Brown Boobies, Wedgetails, and Bonins. Total of only 52, but made recoveries on 25 Masked Boobies. These (Masked Boobies) will attack anything, even their own chick, at night that approaches their roost. To bed by 12 p.m. September 24, 1963 Helped Bill set up his study area and outlined plans for 2 to 200 square foot Shearwater study areas, one adjunct to the 550 foot area, one to the South of the building complex. Masked Booby nestin in Bill's area has a 2 day chick (9-25-63) and apparently 2 pairs of Boobies share the duties with the chick. Will color and mark them tomorrow. September 26, 1963 Rained all day and worked inside on bird skins. Immature Blue-faced Booby made up well. Finished up a few odds and ends, worked briefly on equipment. Anxious to get a break in the weather to band some of the Wedge-tails. Out in the evening and saw two tiny land birds. One looked like a Waterthrush (Parulid ) and was collected and the other flew and called like Goldfinch. Shot a very dark Golden Plover. September 27, 1963 Very excited over the possibility of getting more stragglers. High northeast by north winds continued.

9 9-27-63 cont. all day and night with gusts to 30 Knots and a steady 20 Knot level. Spent all morning hunting for small land birds. However, saw none in the AM, but collected a Wandering Tattler and a Bristle-thighed Curlew. Curlew was one of eight in a flock: Previous to today there were a maximum of four seen at any one time. Saw at least 5 and perhaps 7 Tattlers. There is and abundance of turnstones and plovers here. Saw one very light colored Sanderling. In the afternoon went out again. Bill tagged two seals, and right behind the Station another tiny land bird (another Waterthrush? ) flew over out of ~12 shot range and I was unable to get a glimpse of him thereafter. At night skinned three of the shorebirds: Finally regaining some of the rusty bird skinning skills. 9-28-63 EXNE 15-23 Knots rain High winds and intermittent [illegible] is still continuing today as we are forced to work inside again. I finished all on my backlog of refrigerated birds and helped Bill on some of the rats. About 12 as I walked back to quarters I saw one of these tiny land birds fly by fast - gun locked up in Armory. Will try to get out today again. By this afternoon the wind let up and it cleared off by 1500. Went hunting at 1600 and saw two sparrows, both the same in a pair (perhaps Song sparrows? ) Very Dark in plumage. Couldn't get a shot at them. Also a Greater Yellowlegs which I was unable to get close enough to shoot. In the evening went banding, and met xi with some real difficulties. The Scaveola here is so very thick and continuous that it is nearly impossible to band numbers of the larger birds: Crashing through the brush alerts them and they are gone before we reach them. It will be particular hardto band the frigates, Red-footed Boobies and Noddies because of this. Tropicbirds also present a problem as do shearwater chicks that are found under the jungle like tangles. Our high hopes for large bandings may be unrealistic for this island. Some of this pro- blem may be eliminated if we can noose the roosting birds.

10 9-29-63 Went hunting today. Saw and collected one of the first immature ( bird-of-the-year ) Tattlers I have seen. All other tattlers collected before today were adults, moulting heavily. Also saw and shot a sparrow with white outer tailfeathers ( Vesper Sparrow ? ), but the bird fell into the morning-glory - Scaveola tangles by the runway and two hours of searching did not turn up the bird. A bitter disappointment. 9-30-63 Spent the morning skinning the immature Red-footed Booby. Bill still having trouble skinning fat rats. In the afternoon we laid out two shearwater study areas 200 x 200 feet, One tangent to the Rat study area, one across the side road from the buildings. In these two areas the roosting numbers of Wedgetails are highest. Relaxed in the evening, Joe saw a duck. Ex 10-1-63 Up early to look for the duck. Walked out the front door of the station and ( when the gun was not loaded ) there was the duck - the duck promptly left and I did not even get a shot off at him. There was not enough light to be sure, but I believe that this was a mallard female. Lately I am having the damndest luck hunting. Went out early in the afternoon to band boobys and tagged 24. Trying to catch Adult Brown, both immature and adult Red-feets, and Frigates during the day is pure folly. In distinguishing the immatures, and locating the nests of the birds, the following hints may help the novice. Masked boobies nest in the open, often on ant hills surrounded by grass, never higher cover. They are the largest booby weighing up to five pounds. Their chicks Have dark heads and necks, dark blue feet, and rarely run into the Scaveola for protection. Adult male Masked boobys have a very high pitched wheeze call when agitated, Adult females have a lower, more raucous call. Masked Chicks all sound like adult females. Brown boobys nest on the periphery of grass clearings often with the nest set under the first scaveola bushes. They construct a well defined nest, lined with grasses, weeds, and scaveola leaves. Brown Booby chicks have chrome to deep yellow colored feet. They are considerably smaller than Masked chicks ( 2 -3 pounds ) and

11 have a dusky brown belly as immatures: Once they loose their down they are easily distinguished from Masked Chicks. Red-footed Boobys nest in the Scaevola tops. Adults have bright red feet and weigh 2 to three pounds. Chicks remain in the scaevola, and are greyish in color with greyish to greyish-red feet. Caught up on the banding schedules and collected another masked booby immature with a broken wing. It seems as though broken wings ( from collisions with the Loran Tower guy-wires ? ) are a major cause of juvenile mortality in this species. Of 13 non-flying chicks alive in area to the north of the LORAN tower three have had broken wings. Since they will eventually have died without contributing any offspring to their species, I have collected all three. All breaks have occurred in the area of the wing from the distal end of the humerus to the middle of the radius and ulna indica- ting injuries during flight. 10-2-63 Surveyed and made maps of vegitation in the two shearwater study areas, and took a few pictures of the boobies nearby. Rain at 1000 and skinned booby in after- noon. Saw a dowitcher after dinner, but could not get close enough to collect it. 10-3-63 Heavy rain all night and until 1200 today - seems as though it will never stop. Skinned a booby this morning ( the third immature Masked with a broken wing ) and hunted in the afternoon, bagging a Short- billed Dowitcher in the process. There may also be a Phalarope here, but at 1900 when I saw him the light was too poor to be at all sure of this identification. In the evening we banded on the Shearwater plot 2, but found few birds above ground, although there were many moaning below ground. Apparently the bright light of the full moon and the wetness of the grass and ground kept them in their burrows. Bill caught a lizard of a sort that I have never seen: This thing has an immense tail.

12 10-4-63 Heavy rain again during night and most of the day overcast. Skinned bird in the AM and in the afternoon XXX went hunting. A few of the turnstones are very dark and I can see no traces of red in their plumages, and some of these may be Black Turnstones. Went looking, but saw no suspicious birds. Watched a rat feeding on puncture weed for ten minutes and then collected it. Later saw a Bristle-thighed Curlew feeding on the edge of the runway. It was picking a mouse up repeatedly, turning it end to end, and after several minutes of this and shaking, the curlew swallowed the mouse whole. I watched the performance from about 20 feet, and the rodent, a Polynesian Rat, was about 1.5-2 inches in body length: The Curlew had difficulty in swallowing it. On the way back saw another dowitcher fly by, and this one seemed larger (a Long-billed Dowitcher?) than the other one that I collected. Banded all the Masked Boobies on the island, color marking them with red paint XXX at the same time. I believe that we have handled 95-97 percent of all the masked boobies on this island now and that the population is virtually completely tagged. We also have color-marked and banded upwards of 50 Brown Boobies. In the evening after a tantalizing Ann-Margret Flick we went banding and tagged over 100 shearwaters and petrels. A successful day. 10-5-63 S lept in this morning and then up to skin a booby collected last evening. Booby banded and at least several years old in immature plumage: Aged immatures should help to fill in the holes in our knowledge of plumage sequences. Later went tagging seals and suprisingly got 15 more making seven recaptures. There may be 100 or more seals here. We weighed the smallest we've seen yet and it totaled 82 pounds. One giant of a ?, 112" long, 17.5 " high, and 31 inches wide I judged to be at least 700 pounds in weight. saw another sparrow fly overhead just before dark. Bill tried but couldn't find it to collect. Will try again tomorrow. Relaxed in the evening to write let- ters for tomorrow's flight. Work is settled into a rout- ine and I feel that we are beginning to see some fruit to our labors already.

13 10-6-63 Finished skinning the immature booby, and spent the balance of the day hunting the several oddity birds which we have seen. Three times today I saw a dark sparrow from too great a distance to shoot. Also the dowitcher. This is probably a Long-billed Dowitcher as it stands consider- ably higher than the other one collected, seems to have a longer bill, and is more chunky in overall appearance. This bird " sticks out" in a flock of Plovers, but the Short-billed did not. I keep trying to definitely see and collect a Black Turnstone. Collected two very dark Ruddy Turnstones, and did not see any others of note. In all (including the two collected ) I looked at 137 Ruddy Turnstones: No Blacks. Later in the day helped Bill put out his traps in the Rat study area. In the afternoon he saw another duck in immature or eclipse plumage, and while putting out his traps we saw at close range a Short-eared Owl. The black patch at the Metacarpals was very prominent and we had a two or three minute look at him. While hunting today I took special note of the numbers and placement of the Br. thighed Curlews here. I saw three and apparently the flock of eight seen about ten days ago was just passing through this way and has now gone on. For a week I have seen no more than three. The Wandering Tattlers remain fairly abundant. I saw one flock of seven today, and six individuals on the East beach. I have not seen the Yellowlegs in several days. There are at least 250 Golden Plovers here, and probably 500 Ruddy Turnstones at the moment. There are Common Noddies everywhere and I have found one chick by the runway whose primary feather shafts are just beginning to erupt: Other than this, all young noddies are flying. There are a few Frigates, and Red-footed Boobys that are not yet fledged, but for the most part they too are through with nesting. I believe that there are between 14 and 20 Fairy Terns present here, and I have seen none that I could positively identify as Birds-of-the- Year by brownish scapulars: This species because of the high populations of Red-footed Boobys and in particular Frigates may not be fareing well here. The two ground nesting boobys are still hatching young, and one Masked Booby with a new egg of four days ago has been recorded. There are Masked and Brown Booby young of all sized - Most seem to be well advanced in age, but there are a few of every age class. I have also noted

14 10-6-63 (cont.) a sizeable number on immature boobys of Masked and Red-footed species which are in intermediate plumage stages from I Birds-of-the-Year to Adults. I hope to obtain a series from this island where Chan Robbins has done so much tagging of these species in the past. I estimate now that there are 75 pairs of Brown Boobys here, 120 pairs of Masked Booby, and 800-1200 pairs of Red-footed Boobys nesting here. I would also judge between 600 and 900 pairs of Great Frigatebirds here. 10-7-63 This has been a good day. We began early when Bill got up before seven to work his study area for the first time. I set out to mark several Brown and Masked Booby Nests and to tag any other adults which we might have missed. I set up seven study nests, two Masked Booby and five Brown Booby. One Masked nest has a new egg, and two of the Brown nests have new eggs. Tagged several more Juvenal Masked, and a couple of Browns. Then Bill spotted a largem Shearwater-like bird which I collected. I believe that this is a Giant Petrel: All blackish-grey, short necked, very robust; Adult Female, ovary 1.3 x .7 mm. with largest ovum of 2 mm. ( suggesting a S. hemisphere bird with reversed breeding cycles to N. hemisphere birds ). The bird was very fat, weighing 405 grams. Skinned it and saved a partial skeleton. In the afternoon went hunting for a few minutes and promptly bagged a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper ( Erolia ), and saw what I believe to be a Black Turnstone, and a Dunlin. The Dunlin was at quite a distance and I make this guess at the bird's identity with reservation. Then went to help Bill with the resetting of his traps and rousted out a Skylark ( Alunda ) which was then collected. This bird is the "sparrow" which we have seen for the past two days, and is probably the same species that I shot at and lost about a week ago. The two birds flew the same, acted the same, and possessed white outer tail feathers. And, before the first bird was killed I had seen two birds flying together: After shooting the first bird and losing it I saw only one. Skinned the sandpiper in the evening.

15 10-8-63 We began early today as at 2:30 there was a tidal wave alert for the island which lasted until 445 hours. Then back to sleep until 1000.. Skinned out the sparrow which was really a mess - many many shot in him, and I had to sew the skin three times. Spent until 1300 fiddling with the equipment and then out to hunt and look at booby behavior. Saw nothing of note. At 1950 another finch flew over the buildings, so I have not eliminated the population yet. Helped Bill set his traps and then watched the flick. Concern Masked and Brown Booby behavior. Both of these boobys are very attentive to eggs and chicks. The egg is incubated constantly and the incubating bird cannot be flushed off the nest unless one moves it bodily or runs at it. Masked Boobys are even more attentive to chicks of the predown stage and will hold their ground against all attacks by people. If the bird is captured and removed from the nest and chick (especially if there is a chick) the bird on release moves quickly back to the nest and chick inspite of a person being within several feet of the nest. I believe now that each member of the pair normally incubates or broods for 4 to 6 hours at a stretch, rarely longer than six hours. Older Chicks (in the downy or feathered out stages of development) may be left alone all day by both parents, but the family group apparently reunites at dusk each evening until the chick is fledged and on his own. Males with their high pitched voices are distinguishable in every pair from the low-pitched voice of the females. Masked booby nests are always placed directly in the ground, and the two under observation now are unlined scrapes in the soil. Many of the observations on Masked Booby behavior are applicable to Brown Boobys. Brown booby nests are placed on the ground, but are lined with vegetation, and often partially or completely surrounded by bushes (here Scaevola) which Masked Booby nests never are close to. Brown Boobys while very attentive to their eggs and chicks can be easily flushed from their nests: As an matter of note, it is particularly difficult to capture Brown Boobys during the day, while Masked can be caught at any time. Brown boobys can take off either downwing (Masked cannot, and require about 50-75 feet of level ground, facing available wind to get off.) or into the wind, and get airborne very quickly. In a sense, it may be

10-8-63 ( cont. ) simply that Masked boobys, because they cannot easily escape are attentive, and defend the nest, eggs and chick with great vigor, while Browns being able to get airborne do so. I have the impression that both male Browns and Masked are more skittish than the females, and that the females are noticeably larger in both species. Brown Booby males also possess the hoarse voice; while female browns have the deep-full full throated call. While working in the colonies of these two species, I had occasion to note interspecific behavior on a number of occasions. If an adult of either species enters the territory of a family group of the other species, any member of the family group, ♂, ♀, or Chick recognizes and repels the intruder. It seems classically funny to watch a 2,200 gram ♀ Masked " run out of Brown Booby town " by an 800 gram, partially feathered and still downy Brown Chick. The members of family groups also recognize intruders of their own species and attack vigourously. This seems to be particularly true when there is a small chick in the Family group. However, in the Masked Booby I suspect that several pairs of adults may ( on occasion ) share the dutys of raising a single chick. It is too bad that there are not more new nests to test out this suspicion. Arrival behavior over the nesting colony is varied and colorful. A bird taking off ( Masked Booby ) gains altitude slowly and has to pass over nesting territories of other birds. If a defending bird is in the territory it squaks if the indi- vidual taking off is at an altitude below about 12 feet. If the " intruder " is low enough, he may receive a stout peck as sgrains for altitude, and once today I saw an immature ( Juv. ) Masked knocked off balance so as to crash in an undignified manner when he crossed the territory held by a female with a downy chick. Adults passing over often call, and I watched one marked male pass over a female several times, each time she would call as if recognizing him, and he usually responded with his call and soon he landed next to the female: Apparently they were a mated pair for there was no hostile behavior after he landed. Neither was there a recognizable greeting ceremony. I watched several fights on the ground today. One, where I identified from voice two males as the contestants; lasted several minutes. A preliminary to the actual fighting was a series of head shaking movements. The head is moved up and down rapidly ( about 5 -9 times per second ) which the neck is twisted from side to side in a slower cadence ( one complete movement left to right to left to begin again takes about 1 to 1.5 seconds ). Then suddenly the battle is joined

17 10-8-63 cont. with much vocalization and the bills of the contestants usually end up locked: Then there is tugging, pulling, and lots of noise. Then very quickly it is over with the contestants looking rather bewildered. The fight resumes when the head shaking on both sides begins again. The same head shaking movements are used when the young beg food from the adults. However, a different call accompanies this display, and the adults are usually silent. I have the distinct impression that some of the adults "know" that they are being "taken" from the expressions on their faces after disgorging food. The young's food call is a series of rapid yuk-yuk-yuk-yuk notes given in rhythm to the head movements. Young birds spent a lot of time begging food, and after an adult has been with the hungry waif for several hours and has no more food to give the chick, I believe that they may leave the territory and rest elsewhere to get away from the chick which as often as not follows the adult. 10-9-63 Began making temperature observations on the different microenvironments here and the birds that occupy them ( See Appendix 4 ). Worked at this most of the day and helped Bill set his traps again. Obtained 37 bird temperatures, and fifteen microenvironment temperatures. It seems as if the island is a heat reservoir at night, and lacks heat early in the day. The island seems to reach equilibrium each day at 0930 and 2045, when all environments have about the same temperature, about 27.3 degrees C at 0930, and about 25.1 degrees centigrade at 2045. This daily temperature cycle is, of course, a direct result of the daily weather pattern. However, the relatively d warm lagoon temperature and constant winds seem to keep the island in a very homogeneous temperature state. Except when there is rain, the daily Temperature cycle probably is no more than 7 - 10 degrees centigrade for most of the island where there is vegitation. Bare soil fluctuates more than that. Notes on Sub-Adult Masked Booby Plumages: I have now seen three Subadult Masked Boobys ( all banded, one specimen No. 667-70640 ) showing vestiges of immature plumage. In this plumage the coverts of the secondaries, tertials, upper tail coverts, and occasionally a few of the lower ( posterior ) back feathers show the mottling of black which is characteristic of most of the feathers in Juvenals. This reten- tion of the immature plumage apparently varies considerably with individuals. The iris of the eye is dusky yellow at this plumage also. It is perhaps significant that I have captured only females in this plumage thus far: It again suggests that ♂ birds are more skittish, and are less attached to the breeding grounds.

18 10-10-63 I spent most of the day in doors working on the odds and ends which have frayed out these last weeks. Had to replace battery and recalibrate the telethermometer, and got a rapid 75 minute haircut from one of the Coastguardsmen. Went hunting for about two hours: Saw the usual stuff plus one Lesser Yellowlegs which I could not get close to. Tagged a couple of boobys and spent the rest of the day gathering energy for a big banding push tomorrow night. Bill has asked that I prepare a report on projected and in progress ornithological projects, and I expect to spend much of tomorrow and the rest of tonight on that. 10-11-63 Raining when we got up this AM so set to work on the accumulated birds in the icebox for skinning. Discarded the two turnstones, one spoiled, one badly beaten up and leaking blood, but did skin the two plovers plus a bird-of-the-year ( fledged ) Red-footed Booby. Having trouble with the dermestids which have an ability to get into the drying skins inspite of moth balls and drying lights. Green Island at times seems to be a large dermestid incubator. Collected several grasshoppers. In then evening organized a group to band and take temperatures. We worked the two shearwater-petrel areas, and all of the Masked and Brown Boobys. I believe now that further night operations with these species of Boobys will be largely fruitless, and we expect now to change and work mostly on Red-footed Boobys and Frigates. I obtained an enough temperatures on the boobys to outline the diurnal-nocturnal temperature cycles for the two species, and the series on Bonins and Wedgetails should give a start there. I in the sack by 1030 hours. 10-12-63 Spent most of these two days working in doors on the report on active and proposed ornithological projects for Kure. I have some ideas for physiological research based on the availability of altricial species which to my eyes are dazzling. There is an opportunity here to add data on Standard Metabolic Rates, and Development of homiothermy in at least a dozen species. Unlike the other outposts where available electric power and supply bases are lacking, Kure with Midway's help represents the perfect place to set up a physiologists laboratory. The return of publishable important data from this program for a several thousand dollar investment could be staggering. Importantly, the bird species

19 have their breeding spread out, and there is a constant supply of chicks, juvenals and adult birds for such a laboratory. From having worked with avian physiology before I can say that the supply of birds here excels anything I have ever worked with or heard about. Skinned several birds in the afternoons, and hunted for an hour each day with no success. 10/4-63 Bill and I today began the whole-hearted construction of an observation platform on the Radar tower to the South-West of the buildings. Bill ( aliases the human fly ) clamored about at the top of the tower, while acrophobic me hoisted lumber et.al.up to his precarious perch. I admire his guts. The basics of the platform we completed before dinner and on the way in saw another Erolia which was then collected and turned out to be a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. In the evening in spite of some persistent showers and scaveola, with the help of the Coastguardsmen we went Frigate and Red-footed Booby banding. Although we had grave difficulties in the Scaveola we tagged over 140 of the larger birds and about 200 in total. While the moon is down we expect to get at it once again. 10-15-63 This AM we finished the Radar tower's platform just before the rains came. The platform now rests about 60 feet above the ground, and about 70 feet above the sea level. From it we can see the whole island, and with the spotting scope should be able to monitor bird activities over the whole atoll. I also should be able to get some excellent pictures of bird behavior with the 6x telephoto on the 16mm. Also, with the birds flying by very closely there will be opportunity to photograph in flight behavior. Skinned the Sharp-tail this AM also. In the afternoon while Bill presented an information lecture to the men on the station ( my turn in two weeks ) I repacked the skins in the trunk with plenty of moth balls, and fumigated them. After Bill was finished we went to North end of the island to work on a tower there: after an hour we were rained out, and so retired to recoup energy and spirits for the remainder of the day as it was already dinner time. The wind again shifted to the North East at 15 - 30 knots, and it looks like another siege of bleak weather. Perhaps we shall see some new accidentals brought on this storm.

20 10-16-63 It blew hard all night and with it raining in the morning we slept in a bit. Then spent most of the day working on the banding schedules: By following precisely the Manual's and Binions directives on reporting the bandings, it took me all day to work up the schedules, a job which in my own bandings has never taken more than an hour or two atmost for a similar number of birds. some the procedures that we are using are designed for the man who tags 200 birds a year, not in the thousands as the project does. Late in the PM we went seal tagging, and again after dinner: we got 14 new ones, and saw only 11 tagged ones. It is my impression that with over 60 animals tagged, we have marked less than half the animals using this atoll, and I believe that there are a lot of seals here that we will not see until the C&G. runabout is repairedand get over to Sand Island. We also caught several rats which we worked up in the evening. Bill hopes to get his backlog of frozen rats skinned and autopsyed before the weekend: With the bad weather imminent, we will probably accomplish this. In our travels today I noted no unusual birds, but that the Frigates and Red-footed Boobys in particular were soaring in the heavy winds. BANDING TOTALS FOR KURE ATOLL TO DATE - Masked Booby 71 Brown Booby 53 Red-footed Booby 141 Frigate-birds 52 Wedgetailed 154 Shearwaters Christmas Island 6 Shearwaters Bonin Id. Petrel 87 Red-tailed 22 Tropicbird Fairy Tern 2 Hawaiian Noddy 17 Common Noddy 40 -645 10-17-63 And the winds continue to blow. The High wind velocity of 20 to 30 knots is still up and has been all day with intermittent rain squalls also. Spent the AM making the final drawings for the vegitation maps of the shearwater petrel study areas, and all afternoon working on rat skins with Bill. We finally got the materials requested from S.I. today, and I spent quite

21 a bit of time working on the equipment. We also set up a dermes-tid colony, and began bugging rat skeletons. My bird skeletons are being individually bugged in their own plastic bags, and results are promising. Unfortunately, the wind played hell with a number of the skeletons which I had drying outside, and several were discarded after being completely dismembered. I noted the following birds soaring in todays wind: Frigates and Red-footed Boobys use the wind gracefully and easily. Brown Booby were not seen, but Masked Boobys were flying usually close to the ground. No tropicbirds and few noddys of either species were aloft. 10-18-63 Rain and high winds continued for most of the day and it finally cleared in the late afternoon for a bit. Went hunting and got thoroughly drenched. In the AM worked on Rat Skins with Bill, and late in the afternoon after supper went seal tagging, getting only a few. Apparently, many of the seals are out to sea at the present time in the storm. Many of what was here a few weeks ago seems to have left. 10-19-63 In the AM we moved our laboratory out into a breezeway to make way for the incoming work crew of tomorrow. Bill talked with Ammerman about bringing supplies out from Honolulu, and we got that business straight. I began work on the McBee cards and realized for the first time just how detailed a study of each specimen is desireable. I wish we had brought these with us when we came out. Late in the afternoon we went seal tagging again and got three more new ones: There were only eight seals on the island. I shot two noddies out of a flock which was feeding a little off shore, and saw another Erolia down by the dump. So far the albatross have not come back, but the SAR pilots from Midway spoke of seeing two back there on the 15th. The last adults left there about August 20, and so it has been nearly two full months since any were seen there. Yesterday I shot a Yellowlegs which fell into the lagoon and I could not reach it before the wind had swept it to sea. Bill saw another today. The Aythya sp. duck which I saw yesterday has not been seen since and I have been completely around the island twice. I presume that it has moved on. No passerines have been seen in several days although with a clearing of the weather, some may make themselves apparent. Saw a large Plover undoubtedly a Black-bellied.

22 10-20-63 After another tidal wave alert kept us up and active late last night we slept in this AM, and then got up to move our equipment into the breezeway to make room for an incoming con- struction crew. This sort of thing is difficult and upsets most of our routines of work: Unless we can get lab space to work in while this crew is here, we are going to have a lot of frozen birds and rats to send back to Washington, and damn lit- tle to do on the many rainy days. We need the prefab Laysan building badly. In the afternoon made a tour of the island in the truck and shot a Yellowlegs-like bird which turned out to be tattler in worn plumage. Tattler's call sounds very much like the Yellowlegs, and unless the ladder-back can be seen, a yellowlegs-like bird in size and voice and general color with yellowlegs is likely not a yellowlegs. The Ladderback is a good character, and we need a specimen to be absolutely positive that this birds is here. Also got a Noddy with a broken wing, and a dead Bonin Petrel on the beach: Skeletonized the petrel and skin- ned one of the several noddys collected in the last two days. 10-21-63 Up this AM to find that we had to again consolidate our equipment to make more room for the construction crew. In essence, we now have no lab space at all and the construction crew plans to be here at least a month - we now find out, and perhaps until Christmas. This is not a pleasing position. In the afternoon I spent nearly two hours lecturing the pilots and crew of the transport on the values of our work and showing them some of the birds here. They were very interested and hopefully will carry back some of ours' and their own enthusiasm to the headquarters of the 14 C.G. District in Honolulu. During the past two weeks I have been active skeletonizing by dermestids most of the skeletons that we have taken, and the results are good. The native dermestids here do every bit as good a job on these skeletons as do the ones which I have used in Ann Arbor, and I expect to ship back finished skeletons in December rather than the partly spoiled bodys which we would otherwise have to send in. We baited the Rat traps again in the afternoon to start Bill on his second period of weekly trapping. We also found a Golden Plover and an immature Brown Booby in the antenna fields with broken wings, apparently again from collisions with guy wires. I froze the booby, and amputated the gangrenous wing of the plover and released him: I expect the plover will survive here as a permanent resident, much in the same status

23 as Kure's famous monkey. I noted that two of my Booby study nests have been abandoned ( Hadx not checked them in 7 days ). The Frigates have an interesting activity pattern. During much of the day there are inactive, but about 1500 - 1600 many are in the air awaiting the arrival ( apparently) of fish-laden booby's and tropicbirds. The seem to be most successful in robbing Masked and immature Red-foots: Adult Red-foots I have yet to see pillaged for their food. Right now our work is a bit up in the air until we find out what is happening with this new work crew, and what we can do in reguard to lab space. We still need to get 50 rats for this month for Bills work, and I hope to mark every wedgetail burrow in the two shearwater-petrel study plots and to band in each plot once more. 10-22-63 Up very early to work in the rat study area, and there until almost 2 in the afternoon weighing each rat caught. The catch continues to be high ( about 120 animals )and Bill con- tinues to be quietly excited over the findings he makes each day in spite of the difficulties involved in handling the volume animals with which he is working. I have been examining the skeletons of all birds found in the antenna fields, and those which are intact with both wings usually have a break somewhere in one of the wings, indicating collisions with guy wires. I believe that from two to four birds each week on the average are killed this way: This estimate may be low. Thus far in our work we have found the following numbers of birds killed under the antenna. All had broken or sheared off wings. Masked Booby 3 I have also seen skeletons of Brown Booby 1 Frigates, both albatross, and Red-footed Booby 1 turnstones under the tower, and Wedgetailed Shear.l found several noddy skeletons on Bonin Id. Petrel 2 the beach which could have broken Golden Plover 2 their wings in collisions with R-t.Tropicbird 5 the otermost guys. Total 15 I believe that such collisions are a major cause of mortality in most of the species which frequent the island in large numbers, particularly those such as the booby's and petrels and shearwaters which nest directly under the circle of guy wires. The following observations on bird activity. Tropicbirds this morning were not seen flying until 0745 to 0800. Few birds were then aloft between 0800 and 0945. At 0945 I noted many adults apparently returning from feeding in the lagoon, and

24 soon the cries of chicks being fed were heard in many places. after this until about 1230 activity tapered off, and about 1400 a new peak of feeding activity was noted. After this many adults disappeared from the air and were apparently resting with their chicks for the rest of the day. Little tropicbird activity occurs after 1930 hours. I noted an adult tropic bird feeding its chick and the adult placed his bill with the food inside of the chicks gullet and slowly regurgitated semidigested food all the while the chick was calling incessantly. When the adult ceased to feed the chick, the chick continued begging, and call- ing more loudly. The chick was fully feathered. 10-23-63 Up early again to help Bill in his rat study and was busy weighing animals until 1215, and later before dinner helped him ba- bait the traps. In the interim and when not occupied with the weighing I took mental notes on the birds and spent two hours up in the radar tower. I noted today that Tropicbird chicks were being fed as early as 0800 in the rat study area. This is the earliest I have yet seen, and other than a few birds flying the main amount of Tropicbird activity did not begin until close to 1000 this AM. After that it was sporadic for the rest of the day. From the radar tower I noted Tropic- bird chicks beginning to exercise their wings. They clambor- ed out of their scaveola thickets into the open, and adults ( Often as many as six ) would fly and back-pedel in the air over the chick calling. The chick answered several times and flapped excitedly, but the several I watched failed to get airborne. However, yesterday Chief Reeves saw one take off and fly for apparently the first time. Nearly all of the tropic- bird chicks here are about ready to go, and I expect that within the next month all will be fledged. I was impressed today by the vast amount of time that roosting Frigates and Red-footed Boobys spend in preening. One frigate that I watched from the tower today spent 27 of 35 minutes at preening today, and with the 25x spotting scope I could see the hippoboscid ectoparasites flying about the bird as he preened, and reentering the plumage as soon as he stopped. The Red-foots spent a lot of time "grubbing" in their feathers for (apparently) mallophagans. They were not en- gaged in resuffling the plumage, or moving the feathers to make the barbs of the feathers repair damages received, but rather were probing deep to the skin the way a flea-bitten dog does: Some of the Red-foots and Frigates give one that exact impression. Over the last few days I have taken care to note the numbers of shore birds which are here. There have been increases in the numbers of both plovers and turnstones

25 here, and I have seen several more Erolia's, a Sanderling?, and several days ago counted 17 Tattlers. I also shot at a larger-than-Golden Plover which was undoubtedly a Black-bellied Plover. There are apparently also at least 4 Curlews here also (Br.-thighed): And they appear to have divided the island among themselves. One hangs out at the North End of the Island, and a second is seen regularly to the North of Bills Rat Study Area and we have flushed it several mornings, and I have seen it twice 100 feet North of the end of Row G. The third frequents the 100 yards to each side of the Radar tower on the West ( Lagoon ) beach, and I have seen as many as three in this local area at once. The fourth hangs out between 200 and 400 yards down the Western side of the Runway from the access road towards the south. Investigating these areas rarely fails to flush one or all of these birds. We see Sooty Terns regularly here, but they are always flying over, and I have not seen any on the ground: I saw close to 200 at the South end of the runway September 13 during my first trip here from Midway. They apparently nested here, but are now gone and were gone when we arrived here on September 20. 10-24-63 Up at 7 AM and since Bill did not need help this day with the Rat area, I went to the tower and began a long watch. On the way out saw an Erolia, and about 1140 saw a smallish dowitcher ( Probably a Short-billed ). Watched until 1430 (with a break to go get the shotgun) and then went down into the Scaveola to photograph the Frigates. Then helped Bill set the traps, had dinner, and began work on the reports and proposals for research that Bill asked for. A busy day. Also summarized the days observations for the daily activity study that Bill wants. In the evening one of the const. crew men came in to say that he had seen the first gooney. Went out and after a half hour caught the first Black-foot I have yet seen. They are simply magnificent birds. The crew also saw two others, but we could not find them in the evening. 10-25-63 Up early again and today circled the island again looking for arriving gooneys and accidentals, as well as noting seals and fresh seal hauls. Saw no gooneys all day, 11 seals on the beaches in the AM. Saw and shot another warbler, identi- cal to other which I tentatively identified as a waterthrush, and two more tattlers - The first I was not sure of when I shot it, and the second was very small and I thought might be a Polynes- ian Tattler: But both were apparently wandering tattlers. Caught Saw a Sanderling also

40 winks after lunch and after the UF arrived with the mail went up the Radar tower again until 1910 hours. For the past three days the weather has been identical, and now that we have worked out the bugs in the system, we will be able piece togeth- er data from days such as this to form the picture of activity for a particular kind of day at a particular time of year. One of the biggest problems in taking the data is standardizing the method of sampling, but I think that Bill and I have worked this out by taking counts every five minutes of every- thing aloft at that time, and noting in the meantime anything especial that occurs in the way of activity. This should elimin- ate the bias of the observer in taking readings when those birds which seem to him most active are up and flying. 10-26-63 After a long week of early risings we slept in and it felt damn good. Spent the late morning and early afternoon out in Petrel-Shearwater Study area A marking burrows. ( See Appendix 1, Page 1-D. ) I was very suprised to find out just how dense the nests are within this area: I had originally felt that there were 200-300 nests ( Active burrows ) in this area, but I think now that this is way low: In one-eighth of the area I located and marked 124 burrows, 79 of which had freshly thrown sand at their mouths indicating activity inside at the moment, and 28 surface ( Probably from roosting Bonin Petrels ) scrapes. From this sample, it would seem that within this area alone there must be 500 and 700 active burrows. This area is not, however, typical because I choose this as the place with the highest concentration of burrows on the island. Study area B is more typical of the whole island in terms of bird concen- trations. Nonetheless, there could be upwards of 10,000 pairs of Wedgetailed Shearwaters, 750 pairs of Christmas Island Shearwaters, and perhaps 4,000 pairs of Bonin Petrels on this island. If someone has suggested such numbers before today I would have suggested a straight jacket for him. But, now they seem reasonable and very possible estimates. Saw two Black-footed Albatross flying over the South-West end of the island at 1420, and from the surface of a fish regurg- itated by an Adult ♀ Brown Booby I recovered a ( larval ? ) nematode. Also, I checked the skeleton of the Tattler which I prepared yesterday, and found much to my consterna- tion that the rats had gotten to it and eaten all of the ribs, part of the skull, and most of the sternum. With no lab space, I hate to dry the skeletons in doors, but it looks as if that is the only tenable solution until we get some place to work once again.

27 Late in the afternoon I went hunting for a few minutes and noted a flock of Hawaiian Noddys feeding along the shore: I waited 10 minutes until they were done and then shot three, and this decision proved to be fortunate as I recovered 15 fish from two of them, and from one prepared as a skeleton I found 9 rather large stomach nematodes ( Probably Spiurids ) which resemble the North American Genus Physaloptera in many gross physical respects. Froze the other two, and Got the go ahead from Joe Goodwin to resume skinning at least during the bad weather. Late in the evening worked on the MeBee cards trying to catch up on the 50 or so specimens which I have not yet put on these cards. One measurement I do not understand is that of measuring the tail length rather that total body length: All the measuring schemes for bird skins that I have come across measure tip of bill to tip of tail feathers, and none do tail feather length. I would hope that this is a misprint on the cards, as I have been measuring total length instead. 10-27-63 Spent much of this day hunting: Saw little of note except a sanderling, and two more Erolia. Relaxed in the afternoon and met our new liason officer at Midway and it appears that our good relations there will be continued. Skinned several birds in the P.M. 10-28-63 Rained most of the AM today, and after it stopped Bill and I went to erect the tower on the North-West Beach. I did some more hunting and skinning today getting two turnstones when shooting at an Erolia. Apparently the Erolia's here are mostly Sharp-tails ( acuminata ) and they are reasonably abundant there being perhaps as many as 20 individuals on the island. 10-29-63 Up this AM and spent several hours in the North Tower observing that end of the island. In the afternoon I delivered an information lecture to the men, and then went hunting again as my watch was out of commission keeping me from the observation tower. We set up the mist nets and in the evening caught quite a number of plovers, one turnstone, and a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. In the evening I skinned three birds and began to weigh and measure each of the shorebirds caught: By weighing and measuring these small shorebirds we ought to gather a lot of information without having to kill the birds. Each bird has a MacBee card on which up to 20 recaptures can be noted. Soon we should have a marked population of these here .

28 In the afternoon's hunting I also saw a teal ( probably Green- winged ) but did not shoot him. In the evening Bill caught by hand a short squat " scoup-like " duck on the sidewalk which I think is also an asian variety. 10-30-63 Up at 7 and spent several hours working on the equipment and the balance of the morning on the skeletons which have been bugged. The dermestids do nearly as good a job as the ones in the U.S. colonys as we now have seven fully cleaned skeletons ready for shipment home. I inoculated several more skeletons with dermestid larvae also. In the afternoon I finished up the McBee Cards for the bird specimens taken thus far and also typed up the physiological research report and proposal for sending back to D.C. on the plane. Ken arrived in good health and spirits and was supprised to find the cooperation which we enjoy here: Apparently this was not true at Johnston, about 1600 we took ken around the island seeing one black-foot and two ducks, one of which was a green-winged teal and another of the same size and proportions of the one that Bill got yesterday. Couldn't get close enough to shoot. In the evening I skinned the duck from yesterday and showed Ken the problems and techniques of making bird skins. We should always have someone here who is able to make skins of unusual birds as freezing makes skinning of small and badly shot up birds doubly hard. In bed by 0030. 10-31-63 Slept in a bit this AM and then up to rearrange our equip- ment as the C.G. has given us a new set of shelves to put our equipment on. Finally our make-shift lab space is beginning to get uncluttered. In the afternoon I spent some time preparing one skeleton and completeing everything on the McBee Cards up through specimen 20152. I am afraid that I have not taken some of the measurements properly, in particular wing and tail. In taxonomic work with gulls which is the only experience of measuring which I have had, wing span and total length rather t than wing ( mamus to tip of primarvs ) and tail measurements were the important criteria. It was not until the McBee cards arrived here and I began filling them in that I realized this error: Fortunately, these two measurements can be completed on the skins. We again circled the island in the evening in search of newly arrived Black-feets and found five, and also tagged several seals. Some notes on the abundance of Erolia acuminata ( Sharp-tailed Sandpiper ): Today we saw two more and banded another. Apparently this sandpiper is a regualr

29 but in small numbers, member of this biological community. Good field marks for this species include the prominent rusty cap, white eyelime, and ruddish scapular feathers. The breast is buffy with fairly sharp division to a white belly. It feeds on lawns with the turnstones, but is slower of movement, usually fails to call when flushed and will let observers approach quite closely which the plovers and turnstones do not do. It flys straight and level when flushed and in a flock of turnstones ( where it is commonly found ) it is less robust of body and is easily overlooked. In the afternoon we also took Ken down through the antenna fields and the rat and petrol- shearwater study area A. I think that Ken in a bit amazed by the Coast Guard here, and how much we have been able to set up and operate. And, if we can get the building and manpower, we shall do much more. 11-1-63 Today Ken and I worked in the Shearwater-petrel Study area A, gridding it to 50 ft. intervals, and counting the numbers of burrows, and scrapes in each area. A total of 556 places were located where there were burrows or scrapes ( 233 Active burrows, 151 Inactive burrows, and 82 scrapes. Average density per plot of all places was 35, with maximum of 84 and a minimum of 8 in individual grids. The steel tape broke this morning and we attempted to substitute a 100 ft. piece of nylon rope, but this did not work well because of the tendency of nylon to stretch under stress: Use hemp rope for such a purpose. One of the Coastguardsmen with the construction crew managed to run through a mist net, ruining it, and I had to sew the bottom bar on another of the nets. Soon our Shorebird netting may come to a screeching halt if nets continue to be ruined in these manners. Concerning Erolia's, Ken and I spotted a group of three today, one of which was definitely a sharp-tail, and the other two may have been that also. Bill recaptured one, and any time four birds are seen, there are likely many more around. Late in the afternoon we went looking for Black-feets and seals, getting seven and four of each respectively, and seeing 14 at that time. The deluge of birds is being foreshadowed by a sizeable trickle. In the evening we went Banding and for the most part this proved to be completely abortive. The light intensity was very high ( probably several lumens ) and even if there was 100 percent cloud cover, the full moon lit up the beaches so that we did not need neadlights to find our way about the island. In three hours five men tagged 38 birds, a

30 pitifully small number. However, we did capture some interesting birds. One Brown Booby, Band No. 697-70680, was captured in a subadult plumage. Head, neck and back dark brown, a few under wing coverets and the whole belly a mottled brown. The plumage is essentially that of an adult with a sprinkling of brown on the belly, but much less brown than in the Juvenals. I also noted that all the booby were molting at the moment. Masked and Browns in particular are losing their flight and tail feathers. Brown Booby No. 597-83244 was captured, and of the seven tail feathers on each side of center, the Right first and Left third feather were the last to grow back, and growth was asymmetrical. Brown Booby No 697-24528 was growing in new primaries, and the alula and first primary were the last to grow in, and growth was symmetrical on both wings. I also noted that Red-feet have two less tail feathers than Browns (6 to a side as opposed to 7 to a side, 12 and 14 total.). Frigates are also molting heavily now with some adults missing as many as three primary feathers at once. 11-2-63 Slept in this AM and then up to look for Black-feet around the island and found only birds which we have already done: Only five birds were located on the island, and 10 seals were seen. Rained most of last night and it is still up to that sporadically today. Caught up on letters, notes, and some of the records and unfroze several of the birds for skinning tonight. 11-03-63 Spent today cleaning up odds and ends-- laundry, skinning a tattler, and working up several more skeletons which the dermestids had finished with. We now have eight completely cleaned skeletons ready for shipment back, and an equal number being cleaned. I gave Ken a lesson on Bird skinning and was gratified at the results: He did remarkably well for his first attempt, although it took him nearly four hours. Got x five more gooneys today, and again saw several unbanded sharp-tails. In our travels of the past few days we have not seen the two ducks; Neither have we seen any of the Laysan Albatross. With the lab back in operation we are able to pick away at the accumulation of skinning to be done, and now only three Boobys and a tropicbird remain frozen. Late in the afternoon we set the rat traps.

11-4-63 Up today to observe again in the Radar tower. After banding a plover, got aloft at 0800, and after lunch again at 1310. In general there was little activity today except for frigates which were enjoying soaring on the strength of a very steady 8 - 18 Kt. SE breeze that was being deflected by the East beach. A few Red-foot joined this activity. But today the big news was the first big return of Black-feet and the first Laysan. From the Radar tower I saw five land, seven in air (Black-feet). Other birds seemed to be just sitting, preen- ing and regenerating feathers. At 1600 we set th rat traps again and just before dinner repaired and reset the mist nets to new locations in the hopes of improving our shorebird catch. While up in the tower I got a good long look at the monkey who is doing fine. He was apparently feeding on the fruits of the Seaveola bushes and seemed in good pelage. In the evening we went banding goonays and got over 40 and one Laysan albatross as well as several Frigates and 10 Red-feet. I weighed one Red-foot Adult ( 1435 grams ) and one Black-foot ( 3542 ± 20 grams ). The Black-feet are roosting deep in the cuts of the seaveola, often as far back as the scales, and today I watched two birds billing, but the display went no further. Tonight I noted for the first time some birds with seemingly very thing lines of white on the forehead ( ?'s ? ), and perhaps things will pick up in this area. I have also seen several Black-feet sitting beside well constructed scrapes: In one case the scrape was made in the morning as I checked the bird before going on the radar tower and then before lunch. Most of the albatross arrived here today between 1500 and 1900. Concerning the boobys in the antenna fields: Moulting in the Masked and Browns has now become very pronounced. All adults of the Masked except the one pair with eggs are moulting heavily. One Red-foot caught tonight in immature plumage ( apparently in its first complete moult was found to be greyish-white where as a Juvenal he was grey, and others caught in another stage where the scapulars and some of the back feathers and upper-wing coverts retain the grey suggest that three years are required before the birds attain a complete adult plumage. However, only specimens of banded, known age birds, birds will give us that in- formation. Wirtz wants the typewriter.

32 11-05-63 Up today at 0630 and out on the North Tower by 0730 observing. Today was a day of relatively light bird activity for all species by frigates and the remaining Tropic-birds: These species were active all day, and the Frigates at 1500 had 37 birds in the air. Few albatross were seen from my station, but Wirtz saw one land on the North end of the island while he was watching seals there. Set the Rat traps at 1530, and then summarized the data for today's watching before supper. In the morning at 1030 I noted four seals cavorting within a few feet of shore. They were distinctly split into two pairs and in one with the telescope to bring me close I could see it was a male, and its partner a female. This pair rolled about the sun for 25 minutes, and then the female (who was a good 500-600 pounds) hauled up on the beach followed by the male who attempted to mount her. She refused several times and then beat the with flippers and bit him about the neck: The ♂ endured this several times, and then both retreated to the water where they resumed cavorting with much playful slapping of flippers, some grunts, and water splashing. Often the seals bodies contacted each other, but unless one tried to actually mount another, this contact elicited no defensive or hostile behavior. This may be the beginning of the mating season now, and the cavorting may serve to synchronize the breeding of individuals in this population: Besides that it looked like fun. In the evening we toured the island again looking for new goonies: 1 new Laysan, about 50 new Black-foot s, 10 Frigates, and 14 Red-foots. Began a new bottle of preserved Red-foot foods tonight. In bed by 1130. 11-06-63 Up early again and in the Radar tower observing by 0740. Today I was impressed by the soaring of the Frigates. Apparently this species uses the thermals for soaring produced by the heated up island during the midday. Today was virtually windless and very hot until 1400. From 1000 to 1400 the Frigates soared constantly and some were very high, I would estimate at least 4,000 feet, and perhaps as high as 6,500 feet up: It was often difficult to see the frigates with the 7x binoculars. A number of Black-foots left the island today in the morning. I watched seven take off and fly off to the SouthWest. Several came in from the South East after 1500. Noddys were virtually inactive today as were the shorebirds. In the evening we started out to band gooneys, but we were washed out before getting at it.

11-07-63 Although it was raining buckets, chilly and wind of 20-30 Kts., we went again to the observation towers this AM. I was amazed to find Masked and Brown Boobys very active, albatross soaring over the lagoon, and Frigates and Red-foots flying very well in the galestrom. But, the biggest suprise was the hyperactivity of the Hawaiian Noddys. In the 90 minutes I spent on the tower at least 200 of them troup'd by in a steady stream, bucking the winds about 15 Common Noddys did likewise. Two seals were again seen courting in the surf edge again as before: I guess there must be something to this common contention to bliss, sex and happiness: At least the seals like it. In the afternoon went up the towers again for several hours, and again the Red-foots were very active as were the Frigates, other boobys and noddys. Saw several albatross also. I also watched a group of four Black-foots dancing, and I am sure that if I had not inadvertently interrupted the group, that at least one pair would have copulated. All elements of their display were used except copulation. In the evening I skinned a Brown Booby that I had unfrozen when the bad weather hit again. Just before bed on the way back to quarters I saw a large rat and tried to catch it, but instead I smashed my head into a lowered shutter for the bad weather: Doc tells me that I will have one, maybe two scars on the forehead from it. Thank God my hard head is that thick. 11-08-63 Spent much of today resting as I have a disturbing headache and I think slight concussion from last evening's encounter with the shutter. Eyes are slightly dilated, and aspirin don't help. Managed to accomplish the reworking of the Rat skeletons, and provided each with a Whill-Pac and inoculation of dermestids: But, the fungus has gotten to some of them, and I am not sure if if the dermestids will now eat the partially destroyed flesh. Reinoculated several bird skeletons, and redried three which had become fungus cultures. Later I skinned a Red-footed Booby adult which had bled all over itself from a broken wing, and the damn thing made up into a terrible skin. I am ashamed of it. Bill and Ken got 172 albatross today and reported numbers Laysans for the first time. Tomorrow I will go out regardless of how my head feels.

34 11-09-63 Spent today doing odds and ends. Skinned a frozen Brown Booby, and in the afternoon went gooney catching with Bill and Ken. Got about 35 new birds. The Black-feets were displaying with high intensity in many places, and a sizable number of birds have already made scrapes. I saw several groups of four birds, and one with five all dancing together. A few of the Laysan's are paired as of today, and few have joined in with the Black-feets. One pair beneath the radar tower was screaming together and engaging in mutual preening. 11-10-63 Today we began to get all of our equipment and mater- ials which have become strewn over quite an area in to boxes and neat for the coming Western Area's Coast Guard inspection which is 11-12. In the afternoon we met seal i tagging, and took along Bill's "Rube Goldberg" weighing apparatus: Bill is not a Rube for the contraption failed, but to improvise we used a large rope harness affair that was tied around the chest and front flippers. It worked well for the first two animals, but on the third, it placed too great a strain on the bones of the chest cavity and crushed the lungs. We then spent the next nine hours frantically skinning and autopsying the 240 animal. Bills notes will cover the seal pretty well, and I will confine my comments to the examination of the Gastrointestinal tract for endoparasites. Proceeding from the esophagus to the anus - In the esophagus, probably regurgitated, were numbers of nematodes i and a small number of cestodes. In the stomach lining, sewn into distinct patches, were the bulk of the nematodes. Each patch contained from 3 to more than 50 worms, and about 200 patches were present on stomach wall's inside lining. Damage was superficial, but widespread. I estimate the nematode population of this seal to be 3,500 i 2,000 individuals, and I believe that this parasite niche was saturated. The cestode was a type with a large scolex and powerful suckers (Tetrabothriidae?) and was very motile attatching itself to the villus or sto- mach lining and contracting its length and repeating this movement ove and over. Some venturesome individuals had moved from the interior of the animal to the oral cavity in the six hours from death until this part of the autopsy was performed. Individual worms ranged in length from less than 1 mm. to at least 300 mm. when fully extended. The parasite was confined to the region from the beginning

35 of the large intestine anterior to the oral cavity. Proba- ly in life the cestode was confined to the small intestine. Balls of cestodes occluded portions of the intestine for about the anterior 30-35 feet ( Total length of small intes- tine about 50 feet, large intestine 3 - 4 feet ). Proceeding anterior from the large intestine, the first cestode forms encountered were tiny larval forms with the same enlarged scolex. These were motile, and the bulk were moving anter- iorly up to the ilium where the adult forms were present. Proceeding further anterior I noted in the space of eight feet of the lower small intestine that all the forms from larval pleuroceroids to adult egg producing forms were present. Further anterior was solid adult worms in balls occluding to all solid foods the lumen of the gut. About 60 percent of this 30-35 feet of gut were so occluded. There also may have been a second cestode present which emptied its segments into the fecal stream and had exceptionally wide segments: This suggests some kind of Pseudophyllidean, perhaps a Dibothriocephalid. However, without a dissecting scope and proper stains I cannot be sure of this. Total cestode population probably stood in the range 50,000 - 100,000 worms, about 2/3 of this being small larval forms. A small amount of damage to the intestinal villus was noted, there being a few hemorrhagic spots pre- sent, but the adjustment of parasite and host seemed well made. The cestode niche in this animal is also saturated. To bed by midnight. 11-11-63 It continues to rain today, and we finished securing our gear for the inspection, and stored all of the samples preserved from the seal autopsy. I skinned the last frozen booby today, and now only one tropicbird with a broken wing remains as backlog to be done. Still raining in the after- noon and this keeps us from work with the gooneys. 11-12-63 Began today feeling terrible - headache, no energy, and my left thumb that I cut when working on the seal skin two days past was swollen and inflamed badly by last night, and by this AM after a nearly sleepless night the length of the hot infection had extended the whole length of the thumb. Began taking a tetracycline antibiotic, TAO, every six hours. Bill decided with this and the continued blackening of my eyes from the shutter

J.P. Hudson 11-12-63 36 Incident that I ought to see the MD personn at Midway. Caught the plane for there in the afternoon with the return- ing inspectors. Saw Kebshell and picked up the message about the ticks and got off a return wire to Maryanna about the aborted inter-islands trip in December. Called on Dr. Millet for medical advice, and he recommended soaking both head and thumb and continuing the TAO. Walked about in the evening: There are lots of gooneys back, particu- larly Laysan albatross, all over the lawns and everywhere: They are very unconcerned with people. Unlike Kure where the Bonin population has suddenly and very noticeably dropped there seem to be about 70 percent of the roosting numbers at Midway that were there in September. Caught four birds and none were moulting. Took four aspirin after a glass CC in the O club and stumbled into bed. 11-13-63 Awoke this AM feeling much improved and got up at 600. After breakfast I examined the local gooneys. Laysans are mostly unpaired now, but many and perhaps the majority of Black-foot pairs are rejoined. Black-feet are very active in displaying and fighting, and I found the first egg seen on the island at the corner of the fuel farm and since I examined a pair here earlier last evening which had no egg, in the twelve hours from 1900 - 700 last evening the egg was laid. Bird on it very attentive. Found a fledgling Wedgetail asleep in the crotch of Casurina roots - he will be more careful next time. Counted 100 gooneys around the BQ and the edge of the fuel farm finding only 13 banded in this group: However, in front of the hospital in one of Chan Robbins study plots all but 2 or 3 birds were tagged in this area with a yellow leg band and FWS band. At the hospital they X-rayed the noggin five times examined the finger, charged me a buck, gave me a cup of coffee, and sent me out to find more shutters to run into: Apparently I have a clean bill of health and a thick head. Ran into Coast Guard Representative Riddle and he gave me a Special Delivery Registered letter for Bill: Bill's wife's letters, and those from my girl were mailed two days later, and arrived at Midway one day earlier than the super-cooper Post Office special. Letters sent by plain old Air Mail do just as well. Shopped for a few supplies spending $3.24 on odds and ends and then set out to survey the bird populations.

37 MIDWAY 11-13-63 The fairy tern population seems if anything a bit larger than in September, probably due to the fledging of all chicks. Two Common Noddy's were seen all day, and Four adult Tropicbirds were seen although I examined two freshly dead chicks, and one chick apparently weakened but not ( yet?) dead: It had the " bill disease " on the culmen, and the leading edge of the right wing. The wing part of the disease was nearly walled off as a cyst and apparently this is not necessarily fatal. But, the malforma- tion of the bill persisted. Hawaiian Noddy's were present in somewhat fewer numbers than September, perhaps 60 percent of the population being there. I can give no accurate esti- mates on the albatross populations. No frigates, boobys, or Christmas shearwaters were seen, and only one wedgetail. As mentioned previously, the bulk of the Bonin seem to still be there. Shorebirds: Two Br.thighed Curlers seen and Lt. Swanson of Security told me that at least 10 - 15 habitate the areas near the rifle range. Sanderlings are now common and I saw at least 40 in the overrun ponds at East end of the East-West Runway. Plovers and Turnstones are abundant and perhaps slightly more numerous than in September. Sharp-tailed Sandpipers are also common: In one spot at the over run ponds I counted 23 at once, and this all indicated with the data obtained at Kure that Sharp-tails are a regular member of this winter community. One small plover like white bird was seen, but this may have been an odd sanderling. I was amazed by the great numbers of singing introduced canarys: there were at least a hundred in the trees about the BOQ and Hospital. There was also a group of at least 12 ducks on the island - I counted that many at once, and perhaps there was as many 20 on the island. Because of the plethora of things that we should have collected, I contacted Lt. Cdr. Frye of Security and arranged to borrow a gun and some shells, and with Lt. Swanson who welcomed the change from office work I went to the over-run to get as much as possible. Total shooting bag for the day was 2 Green-winged teal, one ♀ Pintail, another Scaup-like duck of the same kind collected at Kure Oct. 29, 2 Sanderlings, 1 Plover, and 1 Sharp- tailed Sandpiper. In addition, a Skull-less, but otherwise complete skeleton of a small duck was located and collected as well as Fairy Tern and Bonin Petrel that were electrocu- ted on Hi-Voltage wires. I also found a Sooty ( ? ) Petrel that had been run over by a car about two weeks previously near the AEW hanger. 12 specimens in a day is not bad for

I also saw but did not hit [ 38 ] an adult ♂ ( ? ) Gadwall with the large very conspicuous speculum. a recuperating bird Killer: You all should see me when I'm in form and healthy. The corpses were frozen. About noon I called Bill at Kure and read him the message and told him of the situation on [illegible] Midway and hoped to make the plane back tomorrow. In the evening I took in the Sophia Loren flick at the O club and got cornered by the CO of the Coast Guard Inspectors who bought me enough CC to light the way home and I stumbled into bed about 12 PM after trying to see the petrel popu- lations once more: I couldn't manage it. 11-14-63 After an interesting ride over on the UF where I stoically cursed every bottle of CC ever made, I arrived home at 1000. The Navy today at Bill's suggestion provided us with a man and wide-angle lens camera to photograph the island vertically from the air. Spent the rest of the AM nursing the head and getting the birds collected at Midway and my gear in order. After lunch and a soaking of my thumb for an hour ( It acted up again today. ) we three trundled off to find gooneys. Three Black-foots had eggs, and one had fresh blood on it marking it as several hours old: Monday was the last time we worked this beach, and the oldest egg is no more than 72 hours laid. We had our difficulties today, not the least of which was my damn thumb that bothered me all day - especially when the gooneys clomped on it. We collected one adult female Laysan which apparently had been injured by some agent for it died when we handled it and on autopsy we found an otherwise normal body with a large contused left side. In the evening instead of watching the Gulls in Hitchcock's Psyco flick Ken and I played ghouls by skeletonizing her ( the albatross ) and performing a complete autopsy: Notes of interest from the autopsy were; 62 mm largest ovum ( How would that look on a warbler table? ), with the next two largest ova at 4 and 3.5 mm respectively: Weight 2997.8 gms; Moderate Fat; In the stomach were 6 Squid beaks and only liver bile and a stone; In the intestine which was devoid of food were two cestodes - One a very small one of the approximate size of the Mus bornes Hymenolepis nana ( Maximum length 60 mm, maximum width .5 mm, very small scolex ) was located from the stomach posterior for 16 - 18 inches; this cestode then gave way to a larger ( Maximum length 140 mm., Maximum Width 3 mm. ) more robust worm with a large scolex ( 1.5 x 2.0 mm. Approximated 10,000 of the small and 125-200 of larger worms were present in this host. The larger worms

39 small occupied the middle portion of the [illegible] intestine. The large intestine contained no parasites. The ovary, oviduct, and cestodes were saved in fixative and Whirl Pacs. The cloaca was dilated, and the bird had apparently been recently copulating. In bed by Midnight. 11-15-63 Spent much of today organizing materials for replacing worn our stakes, and the laying out of the new vegetation study plots. After an abortive try in the AM where we realized lots of holes in our supposed method, we reorganized and laid out 6 of the 10 in the afternoon. In walking through the antennal field I saw many unmarked albatross there where Bill and Ken handled 107 only 2 days ago. In the evening I wrote letters and spent some time merely organizing my thoughts - a difficult task. 11-16-63 Up today to find the thumb reswollen, and even larger than before. Soaked it for two hours, and began a regular treatment of aspirin, penicillin, and tetracycline. In the afternoon we chased after gooneys and got several hundred gooneys, mostly Laysans. After this excursion it is obvious that there are hundreds of new Laysans have come in during the last few days: Further, there are many more Laysans than Black-feet. In the evening I soaked the thumb again for 90 minutes and then relaxed at the flick. 11-17-63 Spent today working on the vegetation plots and staking albatross study nests. In the afternoon while setting traps in the study area I noted that there has been a marked decline of the vegetation there. The composit flowers have finished flowering and are now dying, scaveola is losing some leaves, and the grass seems to be static: It seems a little like fall out there. Many albatross there which are not tagged. Found ten black-feet on eggs on the west beach: No Laysan eggs as yet. 11-18-63 Up early today to work on the vegetation plots while Bill and Ken did the rats. Finished two loads of laundry and 4 of the five " rip-out " plots: The fifth should be finished with another 90 minutes of work tomorrow. Then we will finally have the plots all laid out. Staked out

two more black-foot study nests. In a few minutes this Am I watched a pair of Laysans copulate. For twenty minutes prior to copulation there a steady activity of mutual preening of the head and neck and rarely the breast. Occasionally this was accompanied by the call which seems to double as a threat call to trespassers in the territory. This call is not unlike that of babies which call to get attention: It is soft, but [illegible] sounds strained to my ear. After the long session of mutual preening, the male, with no apparent display simply mounted the female, and copulation took place. After copulation they immediately gave the same call clacked her bill several times ( ♂ also clacked ) and each set out to preen themselves and about ten minutes later they resumed the mutual preening. On several other occasions I have seen Laysans copulate or attempt copulations with little or no display and only this neck and head preening. After watching a number of pairs I believe that this courtship preening is very important in the maintainence of the pair bond. In defense behavior, a threaten Laysan's territory at this seems ill defined, but intruders are repulsed in a very typical fashion. The defender arches his neck placing the bill on the breast feathers and utters the strained call. The effect of the posture is to make the bird seem much larger than normal, while the call announces to the intruder that the territory is occupied. Laysans are not chivalrous sorts of birds and attack intruders when their backs are turned also. In cutting the vegetation study areas today I noted two communities which seem to be climax and stable in the ecological sense. The old high grass shock community seems to be a well defined association of saphrophytic organisms and insects ( sow bugs, cock-roaches etc. ). Young vigorous- ly growing shocks have fewer insects than old dying clumps. In the older dying clumps there is a rich humus created, and a very productive microenvironment for roaches and other associated insects. Under the scaveola clumps, and indeed the whole scaveola clump, appears to represent the vegeta- tion climax for this island. Soil under the scaveola is inordinately rich compared to the rest of the island and there are a large number of insects associated with this. The environment in terms of temperature and humidity under these bushes seems to be very constant, and there is a leaf litter and branch litter there often 2 -4 inches deep: This like the Beech-Maple forest floor provides a very rich environment for many saphrophytes and insects.

41 11-19-63 Up early again today, and in the AM finished the scaveola rip-out vegetation plot. The scaveola clump itself seems to be a single large interconnected series of plants. In the stable parts of this community there are clumps of trunks spaced regularly over the floor of the clump with interconnections between. While the growth does not seem to proceed by runners in colonization of new open spaces, the presence of interconnected groups of trunks in the stable "climax" areas of scaveola certainly suggests that the stable clump replaces the colonizing clump. Perhaps this is accomplished by fusion of adjacent roots from different clumps. In the PM I walked the whole beach affixing metal K - tags to the bamboo stakes, carrying the shotgun, and staking out new albatross study nests. I noted several sanderlings, nine Tattlers, one Yellowlegs (?), many turnstones and plovers, and one curlew in this juncket. Staked out 12 new Black-foot nests, and noted about 30 - 35 Black-foot eggs - No Laysan geese. The incubating Black-feets are so attentive as to allow me to touch them while sitting on the egg, and one bird got a five minute chin-scratching treatment - besides her own monogrammed nest stake. In the evening we caught rats for the ticks that Deseret wanted. In all from 63 rats we recovered 248 ticks. The rats were weighed and frozen for Bill's study. In looking today I found no ticks in the vegetation areas, neither on the beach nor under the driftwood. 11-20-63 Today started poorly: Up at 3 AM to find the thumb swollen and exceedingly painful once again, and did not get the needed sleep. Spent the AM soaking it, catching up on the field notes, and talking with Sundell down at Sand: Apparently Bushmann is there, so I relayed on the information that we had obtained 303 live ticks from over 100 dead rats along with the suggestions that such cannot be continued on a monthly basis and that bird populations should not be shipped from Kure. I hope that these suggestions can be impressed on the powers that be. In the afternoon after soaking the thumb for an hour I set the last of the K stakes and marked out the remaining Black-foot nests. In the evening I wrote letters and saw the flick - the thumb is still very swollen.

J.P. Ludwig 42 11-21-63 Up today with the thumb still inflamed. In the AM I took care of odds and ends in the bulidings, prepared a kit for tick collections at Midway, soaked the thumb, and had a long talk with Sundell and Bushmann at Sand via the Short Wave. I think that the talk with Bushmann straightened him out on some of our problems out here, and gave him first hand information on what is available to Deseret from this atoll. He seemed particularly interested in getting live Rats from Kure shipped back, and expressed interest in obtaining some of the albatross to be killed at Midway in January, and also an interest in obtaining live Bonin Petrels. We will have to talk with Chan about his work before getting many from Midway. In the afternoon we finally got a flight to Midway ( Bill and I ) taking the precious cargo of ticks along. Herb was very helpful when we arrived. In the evening we looked at the Bonin Population and saw even fewer than when I was at Midway last week. About 30 - 40 percent of the roosting numbers seem there now. 11-22-63 Today in the midst of a terrible rain I went to Eastern to look for ticks - No luck. While there I saw a water spout ( tornado over water ) go between the two islands, and the ominous day turned worse when news of President Kennedy's assassination reached me. While there I noted that the Frigate population is quitelow - Counted 43 soaring and 11 in the trees of Eastern, and the Red-footed Boobys were also very few in number. Saw only two. No Sooty terns. Turnstones, plovers, several tattlers, and one Br. thighed Curlew were the shorebirds seen. There is an immense population of albatross however. And, on the beach facing Sand Id. NONE are banded. I looked at at least 500 birds near the boat landing seeing only one ( unmated ? ) unmated bird with a band. This state of affairs is very annoying and leads me to ask the embarrassing question of what has Dr. Fisher been doing the past six years? The answer may be obvious. Back at Midway we began and finished the uncrating of the building in the afternoon while it deluged and turned much colder. In the evening it was Shrimp Creole at the O Club for a pleasant change. Also saw today Dr. Pettengill, my Biological Station professor, today who is photographing the gooneys here. A pleasant suprise.

43 11-23-63 Today I spent quite a bit of time simply wandering around looking to see what research programs can be best implemented here during the three weeks I spend here before heading back to the states. Certainly there will not be the opportunity to do much of the sophisticated work here that can be accomplished at Kure because of the fact that there are too many people here which will interfere with routines and destroy the naturalness of any investigations. Certainly banding and the collection of accidentals are the programs of emphasis, and on the South end of Eastern we should be able to establish areas of study nests, and a few vegetation plots. However, without the equipment available at Kure, much of this will of necessity be tenative work. In the AM visited the commissary to see about a Bolex Rex: The project should have a good movie camera available, and since I plan to buy this model, I thought it best to see about this here. In the afternoon after the soaking ritual of the thumb I got out and put on 100 gooney bands, finding only two banded birds: Again the question arises, where are the banded birds, and more importantly how many are banded on this atoll. From my own snooping about, probably less than one in 5 gooneys is tagged here. In the evening the fire chief shanghaied us for dinner and pleasuries. 11-24-63 Slept in today, and then up to find that the flights arrang- ed by Bill for getting the building to Kure were off: We were both annoyed, and to avoid stewing and cussing too much we went to look for some reported red-headed gooneys ( Which we must have tagged at Kure and painted there. ), and down into the over-run pond to look at the ducks and shorebirds there. While there we noted a large number of dead Laysan albatross ( apparently from aircraft collisions ). At least eight ducks were in the ponds - 3 of the small dark " scaup-like duck " of which we now have 2 specimens, 1 green-winged teal, 1 pintail ( Juvenile ? ), two ducks with a faint speculum, small and generally dark, and one large duck which was probably a Gadwall with a prominent speculum in flight. Many Sanderling, Plovers, Turnstones, and at least 6 Sharp-tailed sandpipers and one other Arolia ( a curlew sandpiper ? ) were seen. Quite a number of tattlers were present also. Two Curlew were seen. We then returned to the BOQ to find that the flight to Kure had been reinstated and then left to SAR hanger for that. While there and waiting for the plane, Bill talked the Air Ops officer into flying another flight back to back, and after the

44 dissapointment of the calling off of the flights, this comes as manna from the heavens: Bill could talk the pope out of his septer. On the flight to Kure we clobbere a gooney with the prop of the plane on takeoff, but the damage was minor. I now have a deeper appreciation of why the flyers don't like gooney birds. And thus the total for the day is one building and back home on Kure, land of TUM water.

45 11-25-63 With today the day of National mourning for President Kenne dedy, we accomplished little here. Bill was annoyed at not being able to get at the building, and so we cleaned up odds and ends. I packed up some of the supplies for Midway, organized the perpetual mess of equipment that comes with hurried use, and spent much of the day organizing my thoughts about the coming time to be spent at Midway. 11-26,27-63 We spent all of these two days erecting the building: By sunset the 27th it was all up and needed only to have the trim painted to be finished. The plane from Midway today brought the rest of the wood, and so we should get the benches, tables and rough furniture constructed tomorrow: By Sunday we may be moved in. Bill left on the plane today, and I will leave on Sunday's flight. Lately there has not been much time for birds, so tomorrow being thanksgiving we may rest by birding a bit. 11-28,29-63 We spent these two days working on the house, and by the evening of the 29th we had electricity installed on a "private" 20 Amp. line, all of the trim painted, door on, windows in, and the base of the building cemented in. In the evening of the 29th we packed up the next trunk of skins, etc. to be shipped back to D.C. Tomorrow we should get tables installed, and in the PM do the birding which needs to be done - I hope. 11-30-63 Today we finished the building by installing 40 sq. feet of shelving, painting the floor and cleaning up all of the tools that we had borrowed. In the evening I packed the gear for Midway and set to writing some long overdue letters. 12-1-63 to Up today to survey the beach before going on the Midway. Black-feets seem to all have their eggs now, and I found one bird with two eggs in the nest. Before we got to the west 'h beach the rains hit and canceled out further activities. In the morning we had a Laysan land on the lawn of the station. With the Black-foot egg as a stimulus I began to experiment with the lone bird as to his responses to the egg, and what was important to it to sit on the egg. I presented the egg to the bird at a distance of about 4 feet. As soon as I backed away, the albatross

Location Kure Atoll, Green Is. Observer Ludwig Date 12-1-63 Time to Weather SPECIES Abundance Breeding Remarks 1-10 10-100 100-1000 1000+ Nests Eggs Young Laysan Albatross 1000+ pairs Black-footed Albatross 350 + pairs Wedge-tailed Shearwater 400 birds Christmas I. Shearwater Audubon's Shearwater Bonin I. Petrel 600 birds (Rooting) Phoenix I. Petrel Bulwer's Petrel Sooty Petrel Red-tailed Tropicbird 150 young, 100 chicks? White-tailed Tropicbird Masked Booby 120 NEST Brown Booby 55 NEST Red-footed Booby 1300 & 600-yr, 700 FS. Great Frigatebird 300 pa. Golden Plover 700 Ruddy Turnstone 500 Wandering Tattler 8 Sanderling 10 Bristle-thighed Curlew 4 Sooty Tern 0 Gray-backed Tern 0 Brown-winged Tern 0 Common Noddy 2 Hawaiian Noddy 3 Blue-gray Noddy 0 Fairy Tern 10 Sharp-tailed Sparrow 40

Ludwig, James P. 1963 - 1 Dec 46 moved over to the egg and nibbled at it in typical fashion. After studying the strange egg for several minutes the bird sat down about 12 from it, but facing it. I then placed the egg in a crudely fashioned grass nest, and the bird, while interested, would still not sit on it. I then picked up the egg, touched the underside of the bird with it at the brood patch and set it down about a foot away; the bird then immediately tried to sit on the egg, but overshot the mark. I retreived the egg and presented it to the bird again by touching its underside with it and it then successfully sat on the egg. An hour later, the bird was standing over the egg, the egg between its feet. I believed that this bird is unmated and perhaps immature. Seals seen: No. 230 - stake 12 No. 249 - " K-17 " 210 " K-22 No. 263,285 " K-27 Arrived Midway in time for dinner and spent an interesting evening with Dr. H. Fisher and Dr. O. S. Pettengill, Jr. Chatting about problems of study. Tuesday a.m. I am to go with him over his study plots, and to discuss with him our general plans. Later I organized the paper work for Midway and readied everything for work. More Bonins back tonight, and some fighting observed. December 2--Up today to buy supplies for the boys at Kure, and to see all the important Navy people here. Purchased photo printing paper and a source book on Midway. In the p.m. went to the overrun ponds which are

Ludwig, James P. 1963 47 nearly dried up. There were at least twenty-five ducks there, five Mottled Ducks ("Scamp-like"), six Pintails, one ? Mallard ?, three Green-winged Teal (small, but N. Am.) and five of the Green-winged Teal which are very small (Formosan?), and one Gadwall ?. Many Sanderling, Plover Turnstones; estimate twenty-five Tattlers, sixty Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, and saw two Bristle-thighed Curlews. Caught by hand one of the "Mottled Ducks" and skinned it in the evening. Then wrote letters home. December 3--Up very early to go with Dr. Fisher to Eastern Island to compare notes and visit his study plot. After a long talk with Fisher and careful perusal of Eastern and a letter from Chan Robbins concerning his study plots on Eastern, I have decided to mark out two areas for our group to concentrate on, one on Eastern, one on Midway: These areas will occupy between four thousand and six thousand Albatross nests and will give us ample to do. According to Robbins scheme, these areas will be on Eastern I and J on his map. On Sand the area will be between Splintewille, the lagoon, fuel farm and "O" club. I expect to use up our supply of bands in these areas. In the P.M. I met R. Clapp at the terminal and took him around to meet the various naval officers with whom we deal. While on Eastern in the a. m. I collected a strange Black-foot adult ♂; very light bird showing signs of 1) hate moult, and 2) possible albinism hybridism. The bird was in an area where Laysan nests were in interspersed to Black-foot nests: The bird acted and sounded like a Black-foot. On examination I found it to be moulting heavily. In the evening I skinned and salted it.

Ludwig, James P. 1963 48 Tried egg removal experiments on some Laysan's today: If egg is out of nest or closer, bird will set on it. At a distance of 15 inches no bird sat on displaced egg, but in empty nestcup. 34 exp. on 21 birds. A bird sitting on empty nest is very disturbed. Late in the evening I banded eighty-nine Bonins and recovered six. Bonins are here in almost as great numbers as September 6. Many are fighting, and deep burrows are being dug. December 4--In the A.M. we tagged three hundred Laysan Albatross on Midway Sand Island plot and I caught up on paperwork. In P.M. went to overrun where we collected two American Widgeon ? skeletons, two Green-winged Teal, and another sick Mottled Duck. Also found a dead mottled duck which I put aside for future reference as a skeleton. we Saw two shoelers at close range, but got neither one. In the P.M. I worked on skins and skeletons and did more paper work. I need a secretary. Roger goes to Kure tomorrow. December 5--In A.M. while Roger took care of odds and ends and looked for a lost string of Bonin Bands, I did paper work and banded 176 albatross on study area on Sand Island. We now have 576 Bands on in this area and only a few recoveries. In the P.M. put Roger on plane to Kure, and walked down to overrun ponds. There saw at close range a Shoaler, a Widgeon, two Pintail, four Green-winged Teal. The ducks that I thought might have been Gadwalls previously were probably Widgeon: Had a long look at the one today. Caught a sick c Pintail that I skinned. Counted twelve Sharp-tails at once today. All the ducks here are dying now, and I'll try to get them as they do. Tomorrow its off to area I on Eastern to five hundred bands.

Ludwig, James P. 1963 49 December 6 --Up at 6 and caught the early boat to Eastern where in Areas I and J I put on five hundred bands. I believe that I could put on one thousand albatross bands a day--if I had them. Chose the places in area J for vegetation plots (three) which will all be rip- outs, or succession studies. In the P.M. caught up on paper work and caught up on paper work and got off a report to Bill. Then came happy hour. December 7--All morning it deluged, and I couldn't do a thing. In the P. M. it stopped long enough for me to use the last of the No. 7 Bands. Readied the strings for vegetation plot measurements and reorganized the disheveled equipment. In evening I banded sixty-six Bonins. Total banding Midway - December 1 through 7: 932 Laysan Albatross 687 Black-footed Albatross 221 Bonin Is. Petrels 1221 Total Recoveries 11 8 37 1 unknown 52 December 8--Wind still high today, and rain is intermittent. The ants have gotten into my duck skins and chewed out the rictus on the two teals. All of a sudden ants here by the millions. Dug up a heater, and I hope to dry skins quicker and then pack them in the trunks. Went to the overrun and collected another sick adult Pintail; saw four Green-winged Teal, two Widgeon, two Pintails, one Shoveler. All but the teal looked weak. Expect to get them all before leaving here December 20. Also saw definitely and at close range a lesser yellowlegs. The ladder back was very conspicuous. Also another different Erolia with white flanks, greyer than acuminata and smaller will try to get both of these on

Ludwig, James P. 1963 50 Tuesday or Wednesday. In the P.M. skinned Pintail and did paper work. December 9--Up early to Eastern to lay out two vegetation study plots. Plot 1 is located 200 yards down from the southwest beach from the docks in area J, and 50 yards in from water's edge. Plot 2 is located on the beach 400 yards southwest of docks in area I. Both were rip-out or vegetation--succession plots. Walked around Eastern, saw a number of Red and yellowlegs--banded gooneys--only one on an egg--and I got the impression that most of these were unpaired. Saw many plover and turnstones and the following are population estimates for today for Easter; Black-footed Albatross 3000 - 6000 pr. Laysan Albatross 16000 - 23000 pr. Red-tailed Tropicbird 3 pairs Hawaiian Noddy 2 Fairy Tern 2 Red-footed Booby 1 Frigate 3 Golden Plover 7-31-53 300--400 Turnstone 250 - 400 Tattler 19 Sanderling 25 Sharp-tailed Sandpiper 2 Bristle-thighed Curlew 2 The rat population is still depressed on Eastern. Caught one poisoned one that I skinned in the evening. Had another chat with Fisher in the P.M.. He intends to publish in 1965 after a complete year here.

Ludwig, James P. 1963 51 December 10--Today has been a damn poor day. In the A.M. I managed to take care of laundry, get some Formaldehyde fumigant for the skins, chat with Burke, and arrange to shoot in the overrun tomorrow. Then after an early lunch I walked around Sand Island, losing my glasses, and my watch stopped. Saw no tyotles, no seals or seal Gadils. Three Hawaiian Noddies, two (?) Common Noddies, sixteen Tattlers, many Sanderling, 18 - 50E, Turnstones and Plovers, eight Sharp-tails. A new shorebird record--Black Turnstone--was made as I saw one at very close range. Its black bill, legs, and darker appearance were clearly seen. Also four Pintails, five to seven Green-winged Teals, one Shoveller ?, and one Widgeon were seen. Fairy Terns are not abundant now, the population being an estimated three hundred to five hundred individuals, or about 10 to 20 %/o of the September level. Recovered two dead birds with bands today. In the evening I wrote letters home. Add to the population estimates four Red-tailed Tropicbirds and guesses of 20000 pair of Laysan and 9,000 pair of Black-footed Albatross for Sand. O Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, and 1300 - 2000 individual Bonin Island Petrels. The Petrels are increasing their resident numbers daily, and I believe will begin breeding by January 1. Canaries are still in full song here. December 11--Today a bit more reasonable. Up early to go to Eastern. Fisher went to Kure today and asked if I would help his ASST on Eastern for an hour in the A.M. Did so, and then came back to shop. Spent $148.00 on a Hi-Fi wedding gift for Ted and Barb. Spent the afternoon hunting in the overrun and got a very grey Erolia, and a Sanderling. Saw three Pintails; lone Widgeon, four Teal. Skinned birds in late P.M.

Ludwig, James P. 1963 52 and then Dr. Fisher returned from Kure as did Ken Amerman, Fisher brought us a dead seal. It died after he caught it. After dinner with headlights Ken and I skinned and roughly autopsied it. We saved skin (frozen and salted), partial skeleton, a sample of the stomach and intestinal worms, and both kidneys (in 10 % Formalin.). About 1230 we crawled in to bed, slightly adoriferous and very tired. Note:: the Helminth worm populations seemed to be similar to 20156. Cause of death also - crushed pleural cavity, ruptured stomach. December 12--In A. M. we finished with the seal. Froze the skin and salted it, and put the skeleton in a cage in the Casurina's by the overrun ponds. Also spoke with Burke. Herb to return December 17 and his eyes are A OK which is very good news. In the P.M. we collected insects on Sand Island and after catching up on paper work and accumulated menial tasks we retired tothe O Club for Happy hour. December 13--Today was a bit hectic. Rained until 10 A.M. and after a minor foul-up in Kens orders was straightened out we worked up the fifty or so skeletons Ken brought from Kure. Most all of the dumestids were dead. I believe that the cold weather prevents them from doing well. In the P.M. we spent several hours at the Photo Lab having pictures made up, copies of which Ken took with him. Ran in to Riddle and found out about the Freezer Chests so went and got the seal skin and sent it on with Ken. Put Ken on the LOG flight in a heady drizzle (Fisher, Pettingill and CO went today also).and after dinner began outlining the final report for Midway and wrote Christmas cards.

Ludwig, James P. 1963 53 December 14--It rained until 3 p.m. today so stayed in working on the report outlines and digesting the long letter from Bill. The news seems generally good, but D. C. apparently is yet a bit confused. Well, it all will be fixed soon! When the rain quit went to the overrun and saw: 2 Shoveller 7 Sharp-tails 2 Widgeon 18 Sanderling 1 Pintail 4 Tattler 4 Grey-winged Teal 50+ Plover 50+ Turnstones After dinner caught up on paper work and worked some more on the report outline and rough draft of parts of it. Then went Petrel banding getting 107 and 23 recoveries. Saw petrels copulating tonight, and many appeared to be paired. Other than fighting there seems to be little displaying in these birds. All are digging burrows. People have been killing lots of them--counted 58 dead birds around Hartley Field and the CPO club, many with heads twisted off. Surviving birds are very wary. In bed by 1 a.m. December 15--Slept in today and then filled out the Band recovery forms and itemized the Petrel recoveries (fifty-five in December) so that I won't be duplicating effort. Before we started this year Chan Robbin had managed to tag about 20 percent of this population: with our efforts, it should be close to 30 percent now. Caught plane to Kure at 1400 to get MCBEE cards from Roger, take Bill's letter and have a chat with him. Spent an hour talking over the changes to him and speaking to Joe. We stayed for dinner and then caught the

Ludwig, James P. 1963 54 plane out for Midway. I brought back the completed McBee cards. It was good to see the group once again. Spent the evening working on the report, writing, and reading. It rained again. December 16--Up today and rain until 1100. So worked on report some more and read Hall's accounts on the Erolia in an effort to identify what I have skinned. In the P.M. collected more insects, saw a seal at the harbour entrance (yearling, oiled, no tag.). Walked through the overrun. At least two strange Sandpipers there, three teal, two pintail, two Widgeon and one Shoveller. Counted thirteen Sharptails, twenty-eight Sanderlings, seventy-one Turnstones, 142 Plovers, two Grey Erolia and some other bird - half again larger than Sanderling, darker above but otherwise similarly colored. Black legs. Made arrangements to hunt at 8 a.m., Tuesday and tonight. Saw more Hawaiian Noddies today than in the past two weeks. Seemed to be numbers roosting in the Casarina at night, but few during day. They may be coming in at dusk or soon after to roost from the sea. I have been unable to count them on roosts at night but from their noise there must be plenty. Went Bonin banding but had little success (forty-seven birds, seven recoveries). The Bonins are very wary. Many have been killed. Rained out by 8:30. I did watch the whole precopulatory behavior in three pair of Bonins. No actual display, a very little moaning, BUT, the very same head pruning behavior I have seen as precopula for behavior in both the Albatross. The long session of preening three to seven minutes by the ♂ on the ♀'s head ends abruptly to no apparent signal and the ♂ simply

Ludwig, James P. 1963 waddles around the ♂, mounts and copulation occurs. Post copulatory display seems similar also to the albatross - (very little birds) some moaning and then both usually preen. Finished the paper work and in the sack by 10. December 17--Up today to hunt with little success. One Erolia acuminata- tail (shot off). Saw the same ducks in the overrun plus a large long billed sandpiper that looks like a short-billed Dowitcher--the Rump (white) Patch: something Siberian I expect. It had at least a 2 inch long bill, grey, chunky, 9 to 10 inches long, to a high pitched harsh call. Check arrived today from S. I. and now I can get off this God Damm Island. King did not come in on Log flight so I spent P.M. in Photo Lab, taking S. I. pictures, and skinning the Erolia. In the P. M. banded forty-seven Petrels. Found a dog killing petrels. Stoned the SOB but good. Probably why birds so shittish and why so many dead. In bed by 11 P.M., and glad of the sleep. December 18 Spent most of today on Eastern banding 304 Blackfoots (23 recoveries), taking pictures of all our study areas on Eastern, and the whole Island. and walking around it. Saw a gull today! The Lords BEST Birds are here-- Juvenal, with a very robust Body, Short stout bill, LARGE, and with the typical cream-grey plumage of the western Glaucous bull race. It was unquestionably a Glaucous gull. Wing was relatively shot also. It looked fat and in good shap, flying strongly. Took film to Photo Lab - to pick up the pictures Friday.

Ludwig, James P. 1965 56 Then back to BOQ to straighten out records, pack the trunks, and finish recovery reports. I am leaving to the plans officer 1) a small quantity of bands - 300 No. 3, 100 No. 2, 100 No. 5, 196 No. 7B. - and a small sample of supplies to hold a transient project member for two to four days. Rest is being returned to Kure. Then worked on the report 'til 10, and then had a drink at "O Club." Very tired. Caught a petrel to photograph in A.M. in good light. December 19--Up to take care of the myriad of little jobs that have to be done. Left musette bag with the few bands in the BOQ, took care of trunks and shipping. Then set to finishing the report, writing Chan, and Bill. Done by 11. December 20--I AM GOING TO LEAVE THIS PLACE 8 HOURS. T. P. S. Saw flock of eight Bristle-thighed Curlew in grass area of antenna field in front of AEW hanger.

Ludwig, J. P. 1964 Beginning January 1, 1964--Left Washington, D. C. - arrived Honolulu. January 2 - Preparation in Honolulu for Starbrite cruise. January 3 - 19 -- At sea on Starbrit: All field notes entered into daily log on bird observations. A total of 572 birds seen and twenty-two collected. January 20-25--Operating in and about Honolulu arranging the February Starbrite, Line Islands ATF trip, inventoried the materials in storage at Pearl City, and planned field trip to Maui. January 26--Maui: Flew here to Senator Ausai and was welcomed in home. In p.m. went to Iao needle - thought I saw two two White-tailed Tropicbirds near needle (at 3000 feet elevation). 730 Kihei Ponds - Many Black-crowned night Herons, Black-necked Stilts, 720; two Sanderlings. Kanaha Bird Sanctuary (one mile from airport) Shoveller ducks >100, Black-crowned night Heron >20, Coot >20, Black-necked Stilt >100. Shovellers here are resident ♂, ♀, and in all plumages. Yellow-orange feet etc. Birds seem to have unusually large bodies. Herons common and appear to be healthy. Stilts are numerous and at least some are in molt as their heads and necks seem "ratty" and missing feathers. Coots show little bright colors that are common in breeding. A number of immature herons in mixed plumages were noted. I saw no adults with the long breeding plumes over the head. This race seems to be grayer and perhaps shorter-winged than the race in Michigan.

Ludwig, James P. 1964 2 All of these birds are very skittish and they seem to act as if they were hunted extensively at one time. The call note of the started stilt is a harsh kree ... kree...kree. In flight the long legs hang far astern and in slow flight into a wind the legs are used as ballast. The head is hung far ahead of the bird in a "searching" attitude while the legs dangle straight out behind hanging out at least 5 inches beyond the extremity of the tail. The bird has a bowed appearance to its body. Feet Tail head Body Tail wing Head Gravitational Center Feet This arrangement places the center of gravity over the weight bearing wings. Unlike the herons which retract the neck to Balance weight over the wings, the stilt extends the neck. Senator Ansai, who has visited the Kilauea. Lighthouse Booby Colony on Kauai, donated two color pictures of the colony and its offshore island. Birds are present on both places. Three Red-footed Boobies (two chicks) are present in the picture, and in the background I believe that there is one Brown Booby. Ansai visited this area at approximately 1400 hours in August and believes that at least two hundred birds were Kilauea.

James P Ludwig 1964 3 On Maui, Ansai reports seeing white-tailed tropicbirds in many of the valleys on Maui, also he reports seeing this species in the Wiamea Canyon and other valleys on Kauai. Apparently these birds are common on both islands. On Kauai he has seen them in both the Waimea Canyon (8-63) and Kalalou Valley (7-63). January 27--First met Joe Medeiros of the Fish and Game Head man for Maui. He told me of the following concentrations of birds: Molokini Island, Bylwer's Petrels, Wedge-tailed Shearwaters; "Hana" Island (Alau) possibly wedgetails; and Dark-rumped Petrels breeding at 8000 feet in Haleakala for a one to two day trip, and for us to use the National Parks cabins: Joe suggested an April or May trip as he thinks Dark- rumps breed in the period February to July. The trip down the wet side to Maui was most fascinating. I noted tropicbirds near several of the deep valleys and Zosterops in many places. The Mynas were present everywhere at all altitudes and in all habitats. Also the doves - particularly the rock doves were abundant and there were numbers of Plovers on the wet side of the island there were no islands that seemed suitable for petrel-shearwater occupation. But there was a great deal of White-tailed Tropicbird areas - valleys--. Hana Island off the Hamoa Beach area has no boobies. Tropicbirds or frigates on it. It probably has shearwaters and petrels but I could not tell for sure. It is a high island with dangerous waters around. It lies about 500 yards off a beach area. To swim to it one should have a CO%2 inflatable Mae west on.--Carry equipment on an air mattress. It would be a very tough swim.

Ludwig, James P. 1964 Farther down from this area there were several beach areas with valleys preceding them. Saw Wedge-tailed Tropicbirds in several of these. Then on the leeward side the rain forest rather abruptly gave way to first semi-arid, then almost fully desert conditions. Cactus, century plants etc. It is my impression that the doves and sparrows here were lighter in plumage tone than on the windward side. A series of birds from each side would be very helpful. The desert side continues all the way to Kihei, although the last 10 miles before Kihei is damper. than the preceding areas. Cattle range over most of this area. I stopped again at the Kihei Pond area and counted 7 Herons, 3 Sanderlings and photographed a lone subadult glaucus gull sitting on the mud flats. Then I called it a day and went home to a luau at the Ansai's - very bushed. The ride round Maui is very rough and difficult. January 28, 1964 Today went around main-head, after a 0630-0700 watch at the 100 valley for leaving petrels this AM. But none were noted. In the trip around the head, no seabirds were seen. Several of the valley's were good reservoirs of area for White-tailed Tropicbirds, but none were seen. A great many Rock Doves were seen along the way, but few Chinese Doves, white-eyes, and Cardinals. This is a dry area most of the way, Lahina in particular.

Ludwig, J. P. 1964 Revisited Kihei Ponds again - 4 stilts, 27 Herons, 2 Sanderlings, 1 Plover, 1 glaucous gull. Then at 1300 I went back to home. I decided not to go up to Haleakala crater as it is 3 hr. drive, so I took off several hours to photograph flowers at Dr. Izumi's orchid gardens. Then spent several hours at the Kanaha Bird Sanctuary watching stilts. Counted 43 stilts, 3 Herons, 67 Shovellers, 8 Coots. Saw several other ducks also - 2 Scaups(?) and perhaps a ? mallard. Maderos said a Brant was there last week. I did not see any evidence of breeding in this sanctuary in any of the species - Several of the stilts looked to have some primaries missing and I suspect post muptial molt in a number of these birds. Returned to Kihei about 01730 and on the way home to Wailuku saw a "sperm whale" off the Kihei mud flats area. He was in very close and we watched his antics for 25 minutes. Watched for petrels coming in here, but saw none. Home for dinner. February 1, 1964 Went tonight with 6 others to the Mohapuu Point Booby Roost in the Kanehoe Marine Base. Banded 134 and recovered 4 Red-feets. Collected Red-foot which was quite unusual with the dark wings and back. Most of these birds were coming into breeding condition - bright colored facial patterns etc., and we found several nests, but no eggs. From nearby Moku-manu we could hear large numbers of Sooty Terns calling

Ludwig, J.P. 1964 7 and several times I thought that I heard Red-tailed Tropicbirds calling. About 800 boobies were present on the roost. Also collected 1 centipede on the hill. February 19-21, 1964 Arrived back in Honolulu after February Starbrite. Purchased supplies for March and worked with Wirtz on supplies for Midway. Provost Marshall for Kanehoe MAS No. 258-73631. OD for K. MAS No. 258-72181. Gate sentry - check in at gate. February 21, 1964 1600 - arrived Kanehoe Marine Air Station to begin a bird census and activity study at Mohapu Point and Moku manu. The total number of Red-feets on Mohapu Point now approximates 1,000 birds (Max. count on Roost 773) and an estimated 865 are fully adult, about 40 in 24 months (subadult) plumage, and 70 in a mixed plumage of approximately 12 months old. Age class breakdown as follows: Based on 1000 birds. Juvenile-Immature Subdaull Adult with traces Adult 12 months at 2.5 percent 36.5 percent at 7 percent at 4 percent at 2.5 percent 86.5 percent 70 birds 40 birds 25 t rds 86.5 birds One dark phase adult was noted. Eggs were present in about 10-25 percent of the nests. Many nests have been built, but the bulk of eggs are yet to be laid. Active courtship and hostility between unpaired

Ludwig, J. P. 1964 8 birds is common. Courtship: We noted a decided difference in facial colors of mated birds. Soliciting birds (♀?) always were the brighter of the pair with pink and green as well as blue and red. The ♂(?) is always redder and bluer in his face, the ♀(?) is always more orange and green. Soliciting postures (which may also function as aggressive advertisers of one's presence on territory) are done by the ♀(?) (green and orange faced birds) and are directed at the mate in a head up tail up both-wings- raised posture-schematically as: Wings are hunched forward. Voice: a thin throaty rasp, very low intensity of the same territorial rasp given on arriving at the roost or nest area. Several times I noted birds flying in high circles (m.p.p.) carry- ing nest materials. Materials were seen being gathered from the ground. Copulation was observed to take place on the nest (2 times) and next to (once) the nest. One killed (by mongoose) adult was found eaten. Activities: Maximum numbers were observed on roost at 1845. Most of behavior was fighting, courting. Flight: Today many birds were seen to be slipping wind. Of ten birds descended hundreds of feet in a few seconds this way. (m.p.p.).

Ludwig, J. P. 1964 Moku manu - p 9 An estimated maximum population of 5,500+- 2,000 sooty terns was estimated for this island. Some 600+- 200 pairs of Boobies at this date. 6 Brown Boobies were seen in the Channel, and 2 wedge-tailed Shearwaters NW of the island. Minimum numbers of both Sooties and Red-foots were noted at 1600 - Maximums of both at 1845. The Sooties congregated in larger and larger numbers between 1600 and 1845. I am unsure of the size of the population of sitting and roosting birds in this period, but I believe that more were present on the ground at 1845 than at 1600. A maximum of 11 Frigates were seen. For both areas, the following Total populations R.F Booby Frigate Sooty Tern Brown Booby Moku-Manu 1200+-400 p. 11-15 11000+-5000 p. 6(seen in channel) Mokapu Point 1000+-100 p. 0 0 Total of Individuals 2200+-500 11-15? 11000+-5000 6-? Est. nesting pairs 900 4 6000 ? Sunday, February 23, 1964 Kanehoe Marine Air Station - Arrived 1550 at Moka-pahu Head to begin further observations on the Moka pa Point and Moku Manu bird colonies. Bright, few clouds 2000-5000' high but quite clear - no haze. Wind 12-22 Kts Trades. Generally NE. Counted birds on the roosts and then went down into the roost to set up the blind and begin observations.

Mokapu Point Location: & Maku many Observer Ludwig, Haeman, Whitman Date Feb.21.1964 Time 1600 to 1850 Weather Clear, Bright, Few Clouds at 2000' - 10-18 KT. NE TRADES: 850 Abundance Breeding SPECIES 1-10 10-100 100-1000 + Nests Eggs Young Remarks Laysan Albatross Black-footed Albatross Wedge-tailed Shearwater Christmas I. Shearwater Audubon's Shearwater Bonin I. Petrel Phoenix I. Petrel Bulwer's Petrel Sooty Petrel Red-tailed Tropicbird White-tailed Tropicbird Masked Booby Brown Booby ✓ 6 Seen in Channel Red-footed Booby ✓✓✓ Est. 2200 ± 500 Great Frigatebird ✓ Est. 11-15 Golden Plover ✓ Saw 5 IN AREA Ruddy Turnstone Wandering Tattler ✓ | Seen at Marine Base Gate Sanderling Bristle-thighed Curlew Sooty Tern √2?2 EST 5,500 pr. ± 2000 pr. Gray-backed Tern Brown-winged Tern Common Noddy Hawaiian Noddy Blue-gray Noddy Fairy Tern Black-Necked Stilt ✓ 7 Seen on Marstat Gate

Molokai Point Location 11 Observer Ludwig, Hemen, Whitman Date 2-28-64 Time 1650 to Weather Bright - P. Cloudy - 12-22 KT. Trades. Abundance Breeding SPECIES <10 10-100 100-1000 + Nests Eggs Young ABBREVIATIONS. Laysan Albatross UH = ulupau HEAD Black-footed Albatross MM = moku manu Wedge-tailed Shearwater Remarks C = CHANNEL. Christmas I. Shearwater Audubon's Shearwater Bonin I. Petrel Phoenix I. Petrel Bulwer's Petrel Sooty Petrel Red-tailed Tropicbird White-tailed Tropicbird Masked Booby Brown Booby 2 seen in C. Red-footed Booby Great Frigatebird Golden Plover Ruddy Turnstone Wandering Tattler Sanderling Bristle-thighed Curlew Sooty Tern Gray-backed Tern Brown-winged Tern Common Noddy Hawaiian Noddy Blue-gray Noddy Fairy Tern PERIGRINE FALCON one seen over channel

Ludwig, J. P. 1964 Behavior: Aggressive behavior: Fighting, per se, is rare. This may be because territories are established. Actual contact was seen to occur only 3 times and each time the contact ended the aggressive behavior of both participants. In one case both birds immediately left the roost; once one bird left; and the third time both birds moved to a new place on the roost. I was able to distinguish 2 forms of hostile display. In the first case Boobies close together and already on the roost extend necks towards one another (sometimes only one bird does); if both birds extend necks the display ends after a short time with no contact. However, if one bird does not answer the threat by extending and facing, the other occasionally moves to attack. In all cases seen if the de- fending bird responds, this is enough to forstall or eliminate the incipient attack. Usually there is no voice. A second display is the Head-up-wings-lifted-tail-cocked display: This display is directed towards two classes of birds. a) Flying birds coming low over the roost showing signs of intending to land. Voice is a medium pitched reedy gurgle. It is directed towards the inflight bird and voice gets louder, wings raised more as the bird nears the roost (17 occasions). When given, the inflight bird always flew by the roost to come back later to try to land, often to be "warned away" several more times; b) towards birds already on the roost- voice- similar reedy gurgle, but lower pitched

Ludwig, J. P. 1964 and more melodious with tail cocked very high. Here I believe it to be a soliciting posture for the bird being "proposed" to often shows great interest (3 occasions). Once I watched a bird proposing to another - the second bird moved next to the proposing bird; then a third bird landed on the roost driving both birds away. Nest Building: Birds were seen to gather twigs and dried weed stems from other trees, other nests, and once from the ground. One bird was seen to bring a stick across the channel from Moku Manu to the Mokapu Point. Birds actively rob untended or deserted nests of materials and often individuals move from club roost to club roost robbing several different nests. When pairs of birds have eggs, a gathering bird brings a twig to the sitting bird who takes it with much vocalizing of the same reedy voice as in the other displays. A bird coming to the nest with a twig often announces his arrival 50-100' before arriving (3-5 seconds before alighting) with a continuous call. The arrival continues to call even after the twig is given to the sitter. In 49 minutes I watched a bird bring 4 sticks to the sitter - 3 were immediately put into the nest by the sitter, one was dropped, lodging some 18" below the nest. The arriving bird immediately retrieved it and presented it again to the sitter who then incorporated the twig successfully into the nest. In pairs with eggs the bringing of sticks to the completed nest may function to keep the pair bond strong and to insure the pre- sence of a high incubation drive in both birds. Several single birds were seen to carry the same stick to and from a nest sight a number of times. One bird flew about with the same stick 11 times in 46

Ludwig, J. P. 1964 minutes always returning to the same nest sight, and calling loudly each time it arrived on the nest sight. As far as I could tell no bird which engaged in this behavior was mated: 4 individuals were seen to do this. Flying with nesting material could serve as an advertising function also. Nest relief was noted twice. Both times the relieving or incoming bird arrived in a very excited state calling very loudly: one bird landed on the back of its mate, one bird landed on the rim of the nest. In both cases the arriving bird sat on the egg the moment the sitting bird rose to preen, or change position. Throughout this procedure both birds called with the same reedy gurgle, but the arriving bird always more intensely. In one case the relief took 2 minutes, once 6-7 minutes. General Colony Behavior: At 1600 the general appearance of the colony was very quiet. By 1800 there were more birds active and from then until 1850 the amount of noise and number of birds aloft was both high. Apparently this was due to 2 factors - 1) Birds settling on their normal night roost, and 2) Birds arriving in numbers from the sea. Once at 1831 I counted 62 birds in the air, most on short roost to roost hops. The Mokapu Point Colony is divided into a number of roosts - several are large trees in which 8-50 birds roost, three are stands of trees which accomodate up to 135+ birds; and two roosts are on pockets of trees jutting out of the steep cliff-like walls of the area.

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

Ludwig, J. P. 1964 high and little display was possible by the birds. However I noted again the head-up-tail-up -wings-lifted display (seen previously at Mokupu Point) directed at flying birds. Got very close to sitting birds taking a large number of photographs. We then moved on to Hanalei to the Hanalei Apartments which are good reasonably priced accomodations. On the way to the town we stopped at a Taro Patch area adjacent to the Hanalei River where we noted the following birds and their numbers. 48 Black-necked stilts, 43 American Coots, 1 Wandering Tattler, 1 Dowitcher, 1 Ruddy Turnstone, 4 Shoveller Ducks, 5 Black-crowned Night Herons, and 2 Koloa (Hawaiian Duck) A. wyll. The area is admirably suited for these birds there being many fish and cray fish in the irrigation waters of these areas. The dowitcher looked to me like a long-bill as he was wading very deep and probing the full length of his bill and white rump patch was clearly visible. We then followed the road to its end. Noted several rivers with Coots in them and one Wandering Tattler on a beach at the end of the road. Also noted 2 Meadow Larks, Cardinals, White-eyes, Chinese Thrush, (illegible), Doves, Chinese Spotted Dove, Golden Plovers, Indian Mynas, and one Hawaiian short-eared owl. At 2230 we returned to Kilouea Lighthouse for Bending, catching immediately one Wedge-tailed Shearwater adult. The bird seemed to have finished his mould, was heavy and fat to the touch: the bird was released unbanded. We then caught and banded 20 Adult Red-foots most of which were setting on eggs. We also noted 2 chicks - estimated age 2-3 weeks [wt. at 100-150 gms, down erupting, coordinated

Ludwig, J. P. 1964 17 enough to hold head erect and call weakly]: both were on the point of the colony and may represent precocious breeding of 2 birds as these nests were located within 10 feet of each other. We also estimated 500+- 50 Adults on the roost, and 15+-5 immatures; still noted only 3 dark-phase, but there may have been more unseen in the poor light. After our banding, the birds seemed to be settling readily back on their nests, although some fighting and confusion was apparent. On the way in to Hanalei from Kilauea we saw 2 Barn owls along the road. One bird was watched for about a minute as it flew from fence post to post along the road. All 3 owls were noted in a 5 mile stretch of highway, suggesting a high density of owls in this district. February 27, 1964 Up at 7 to return to the Booby colony. We stopped on the way at the Taro Patches near the Hanalei River there seeing the following birds: black-necked stilt, black-crowned Night Heron, Golden Plover, Wandering Tattler, American Coot, Ballimule, Shoveller Duck. After 40 minutes we moved on to the Booby Colony where we counted the following numbers of nests and eggs. Nests with Eggs - 50 Nests with Chicks - 3 Nests without Eggs or Chicks - 71 Inaccessible Nests - 67 TOTAL-191 Nests Probably some 200 nests will be made and used here before the end of the season. We also found many wedge-tailed Shearwaters (+Bulwer's Petrel?)burrows along this ridge.

18 NORTH # Coa-Tog Kawai to End of Road at Hanalei Location Kiluea Light-House Colony, Hawaii, Hawaii Observer Ludwig Date Feb 24, 1964 Time 1430 to 1900 Weather Clear (Partly Cloudy Intermittently) Wind - 15-25 KTS NE: SPECIES Abundance Breeding Remarks 1-10 10-100 100-1000 + 1000 Nests Eggs Young Laysan Albatross Black-footed Albatross Wedge-tailed Shearwater FOUND ONE AT 1230 Kilauea Lighthouse Christmas I. Shearwater Audubon's Shearwater Boni I. Petrel Phoenix I. Petrel Bulwer's Petrel Sooty Petrel Red-tailed Tropicbird White-tailed Tropicbird Masked Booby Brown Booby 1 Seen at Kilauea Red-footed Booby Est. 170 nests, 280 birds Great Frigatebird Golden Plover Ruddy Turnstone Wandering Tattler Sanderling Bristle-thighed Curlew Sooty Tern Gray-backed Tern Brown-winged Tern Common Noddy Hawaiian Noddy STOAT EARED OWL One Seen SMOOTH-HEADED BRUSH OWL Two Seen LITTLE TERN BLACK-NECKED STILT. 48 OFF HANALEI RIVER AMERICAN GOAT 43 " " " (Long-billed)? DOWITCHER 1 " " " SHOVELLER DUCK 4 (2PR) " " " Koloa Duck 2 " " " BLACK-CROWNED N. HERON 5 " " " WESTERN MEADOWLARK 2 Road beyond Hanalei JAPANESE WHITE-EYE 6 " " " Cardinal 4 " " " CHINESE THRUSH 2 AT KILAUEA LIGHT HOUSE BARRED DOVE 2 at Hanalei INDIAN MYNA EVERY WHERE.

Ludwig, J. P. 1964 Most birds this AM were quietly sitting on eggs, preening, or sitting on empty nests. When incubating, the bird often sleeps with head held erect and eyes shut, and rarely with head over back in- between wings. Unemployed birds always sleep with head over back. Sitting birds do not rework the nest or attempt to maintain it in any way unless the mate brings it materials for the nest. A bird gathering twigs brings these to a sitting bird which then takes the twig and weaves it into the nest. The arriving bird always calls, but the taking (sitting) bird may not. The placement of new materials in the nest is always done by the sitting bird, never by the arriving bird. Single birds were seen to gather sticks also, but on arriving at their nest sight they looked about and usually lost interest in continuing to build. It may be that 2 things are necessary for nest building - a pair, and in later an egg. The truth may be that each part of the behavior of these birds requires a releaser (C.F. Tinberger)- That is the presence of an egg releases incubation in one of a pair while the presence of that bird incubating stimulates the mate to gather more materials to complete the nest, these acts in turn cementing and in- suring the duration of the pair-bond when the incubator accepts the preferred stick or twig. I have the impression that a bird accepting a stick stimulates the offering bird greatly - A bird having an offered stick accepted simply "looks pleased." Copulatory behavior may be stimulated by the nest building activities. Once I watched a bird bring a stick to another sitting on the edge of an incomplete nest sans egg. The sitter accepted the stick and gurgled

20 Location Kauai, Li'Hue to Hanalei and The Kilauea LightHouse Observer Ludwig Date Feb. 27, 1964 Time 0630 to 1330 Weather Rain 0600-0800, Clear by 1000 - Wind 20-30KTS - North East. SPECIES Abundance Breeding Remarks 1-10 10-100 100-1000 1000+ Nests Eggs Young Laysan Albatross Black-footed Albatross Wedge-tailed Shearwater Christmas I. Shearwater Audubon's Shearwater Bonin I. Petrel Phoenix I. Petrel Bulwer's Petrel Sooty Petrel Red-tailed Tropicbird White-tailed Tropicbird ✓ / Seen on Wailei Valley Masked Booby Brown Booby Red-footed Booby ✓ about 280 in Kilauea Great Frigatebird ✓ | Seen at Kilauea Golden Plover ✓ Distributed over most of island Ruddy Turnstone Wandering Tattler ✓ 8 noted at marine control line Sanderling Bristle-thighed Curlew Sooty Tern Gray-backed Tern Brown-winged Tern Common Noddy Hawaiian Noddy Blue-gray Noddy Fairy Tern Black-crowned Night Heron ✓ 2 Seen at Hanalei River American Coot ✓ 30+ Seen " " " Gallinule ✓ 2 " " " " Shovel Duck ✓ 4 pairs " " " " Black-necked Stilt ✓ 30+ " " " " Western Meadowlark ✓ 1 heard near Hanalei Agts. Cardinal ✓ White-eye ✓ Barred Dove ✓ Chinese Spotted Dove Indian Myna ✓

Ludwig, J. P. 1964 several times while placing it in the nest. About 90 seconds later (I looked away to note another pair) I noted this pair copulating on the edge of the nest. A bout of preening followed copulation. Several times I watched the head-up-tail up-wing lifted display directed by one at the other bird of a pair. However, there was no response in the 3 occasions I observed. These red-foots preen for great stretches of time. I recorded one bird preening continuously (except for shifting its head's position) for 15 minutes 10 seconds. I would not be surprised to record bouts of preening of 25-40 minutes. I have also noted a behavior which suggests that hippoboscid fly or mallophagon bites stimulate a bout of preening. Often with no outward sign a roosting booby gives a startled squawk and then begins furious work on his plumage - usually a specific place is attacked by the bird and twice I watched hippoboscid flies leave the preened area to resettle elsewhere. This behavior is one of the most common sights in roosting of this Booby. King reported watching a ♂ dark phase mated with and copulating with a ♀ (light white) phase. As this occurred in a part of the colony not viewed yesterday, this brings the total to 4 dark phase in a population of 500 birds. I noted a dark phase sitting singly at a nest. About 1100 we began to move towards Lihue. We stopped at Malapan Beach seeing no birds of interest but a Class A beach. Later we noted a White-tailed Tropicbird in one of the valleys, and One Ad ♀ Great

Ludwig, JP 1964 22 Frigatebird was seen at Kilanea Lighthouse. I left Kauai at 1400 aboard an Aloah Aircraft arriving at Maui approximately 1600. Due to the lateness of the day I did not get a chance for further field work and spent the evening catching up on overdue Rest and Refueling. We stayed beyond Lahina at Napilee Beach at the Mauian Hotel - A ok. February 28, 1964 Maui, Kehei, Mud flats: About 1100-1245 accompanied by Dr. Fred Ludwig, I visited the Kehei Mud flats area. The flats were quite dried up compared to 4 weeks ago and the birds were mostly confined to the areas near the small river which feeds into the ocean here. There were definitely fewer stilts, but about the same numbers of Heron, Sanderling and Plovers. Increased numbers of Turnstones and Tattlers were noted. We photographed mostly today, but did note that the Stilts (seemed to be paired) were attached to a particular point of land. They seemed to already have staked out territory. However, only 3 stilts were seen all morning. The Herons represented all age-classes and I noted that each bird had its sacrosavent fishing territory which he defended against all comers. Age was not important so immatures defended successfully against adults as well as immatures. Approximately 50 percent of the birds are im- matures. Noted 2 Chuhais on the road to Kehei from Lahina. February 29, 1964 Maui, Kanaha Bird Sanctuary. This morning I visited the Sanctuary

MAP OF Kilauea Lighthouse Booby Colony February 27, 1964 N Coast Guard Establishment Parking Area Cliff Breakoff Edge of Point H/H = Red-footed Booby Nest. T. P. Ludwig

34 Location Maui, Ichei Mud Flats Area Observer Ludwig Date February 28, 1944 Time 1600 to 1700 Weather SPECIES Abundance Breeding Remarks 2-10 10-100 100-1000 + Nests Eggs Young Laysan Albatross Black-footed Albatross Wedge-tailed Shearwater Christmas I. Shearwater Audubon's Shearwater Bonin I. Petrel Phoenix I. Petrel Bulwer's Petrel Sooty Petrel Red-tailed Tropicbird White-tailed Tropicbird Masked Booby Brown Booby Red-footed Booby Great Frigatebird Golden Plover ✓ EST. 25 Ruddy Turnstone ✓ EST. 50 Wandering Tattler ✓ EST. 8 Sanderling ✓ EST 35 Bristle-thighed Curlew Sooty Tern Gray-backed Tern Brown-winged Tern Common Noddy Hawaiian Noddy Blue-gray Noddy Fairy Tern Black-Crowned Night Heron ✓ EST. 80-150 Birds Black-Necked Stilt ✓ EST 6 Birds. Barred Dove ✓ Chinese Dove ✓ White-eye ✓ Cardinal ✓ Brazilian Cardinal ✓ Indian Myna ✓ House Sparrow ✓

Ludwig, J.P. 1964 and counted the following numbers of birds: Black-necked Stilt - 116 American Coot - 17 Shoveller Duck - 250 (Count) (est. 325+- 30 birds) Sanderling - 6 Turnstone - 28 Plover - 5 Tattler - 2 I have the impression that there are fewer stilts here now than last month (saw no herons), also fewer Coots, but increases in the number of ducks, sanderlings and turnstones were apparent. March 2-17, 1964 Starbrite Cruise for March. Collected 1/4 of the 23 birds this month. March 20, 1964 Today I celebrated my 25 birthday by an extensive visit to Manana Island and spent most of the day there. The personnel of Sea Life Park have been most helpful in providing transportation and also in arranging for a reliable boatman. We were on the island by 11:00 and left approx. 1630. A total of 289 Wedge-tailed Shearwaters and 211 Sooty Terns were banded. No recoveries were made. 5 dark phase Wedge-tails were banded. Population estimates for the island in terms of Pairs of breeding birds are as follows: 40,000+-10,000 Sooty Terns (20 percent with eggs); 8,000+-3,500 Common Noddies; 1700+-500 Wedgetailed Shearwaters (1 egg located) [est. 70 percent of burrows dug in, 30-40 percent occupied during day, and approximately 1/3 of the birds present in burrows today were paired, i.e., 2 birds/burrow]. I checked the leg size of this population and decided that No. 4 size Bands were as suitable as 5's.

Ludwig, JP 1964 26 (In my opinion they are a more adequate size than No 5 size), and exhausted our field supply of 189 5's and 100 4's on the population. Today we could have banded at least 500 if we had brought the bands. The fact that no recoveries were made on birds banded last fall suggests strongly that the birds banded today will finish breeding by September. Sooty Tern Banding was very difficult - all birds were netted from the air and consequently the low number of 211. This population is separated into a number of well defined pockets and the nesting within these pockets is much less dense than at Johnston. My population estimates for this species and the others are accurate; I believe, to 25 percent or better. The criterion of 50 percent outlined in the Circular Letter No. 4 are inappropriate here. These estimates are not guesses but are based on careful estimates of the individual pockets of breeding. Not all of the birds are breeding yet and I expect 50-60 M pairs to be present by April 20. Only one other species was noted on Manana by me - a Sanderling on the rocky shore. 3 Rabbits were seen - 1 was killed. Behavioral Notes: Sooty Terns - Today I distinguished 4 voices used by this species, 1) the familiar "clatter" call, 2) A moaning given when being handled, 3) a rattle given when their nest was approached, and a soft grunting sound given when 2 birds were fighting. Common Noddies: Courtship Flight(?) - Begins low over either land or water. Phase 1 -

Ludwig, JP 27 1964 One bird leading another in a tight twisting climb with staccato pigeon- like flight, climbing as rapidly as possible (without aerodynamic stalling) to a height of 300-500 feet. Phase 2 - A circling or straight glide at high altitude, birds in formation. Phase 3 - A rapid descent to low over ground or water in a glide punctuated by rapid changes in flight direction. End of display: This entire process takes 25- 45 seconds, and always involves 2 birds. They fly in formation with the follower duplicating very precisely the movements of the leader. Often after Phase 3 the tails of both birds are wagged from side to side. I could not discern whether or not there were vocalizations involved. We arranged to get to Mohu Manu on Monday. March 20, 1964 Today at 1700 we made the 600 yard swim to Popoia Island in Kanehoe Bay. This swim is long and when going out one is facing a small current, and only people who are able to swim should go on such a trip. One of our party could not and the rest of us hauled him out on a raft. Popoia is a coral island, filled with depressions and holes: Extreme caution must be used here as it would be very easy to break legs. Some of the falls are more than five feet deep. At first on arriving we toured the whole island banding some 52 birds; later after dark we banded another 155 Wedgetails, bringing our banding total to 207 wedgetailed Shearwaters, 7 of which were dark-phased. No other petrels or shearwaters were seen, but several flocks of shorebirds were noted: Maximum counts on the shorebirds were 17 Ruddy Turnstones, 9

Ludwig, JP 1964 28 Plovers, 5 Wandering Tattlers, and 1 Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. Several of the Golden Plovers were coming into mptial plumage. My population estimate for Wedgetails for now runs to 450-50 pairs. There may be as many as 600 pairs here when all birds finally arrive. Several large clubs of 50-75 birds were noted and I presume that these birds are unpaired as yet. An estimated 40 percent of the birds were paired as of the date of visit. No eggs were found, and no band recoveries made. Because this island's population does not dig its burrows, the bands may last appreciably longer here than at other islands. March 25, 1964 After 4 days of incessant rain we finally got to an island, beyond Mokuaiaa & Laie on the S side of Oahu. We waded to this island and there banded 67 adult Wedgetails. I estimate approximately 140 pairs breeding here at maximum when all birds are in. This is a large island. Burrows are spread out, and population is low compared to Manana and Popoia. Few birds come in as darkness fell, but this may have been due to the prolonged seige of bad weather that preceded our visit. A number of burrows were begun but not completed or occupied at the time of our visit. My estimate of 140 pairs could be as much as 30 percent off. Rats were seen on this island, and the invertebrate life present in the tidal pools was very diverse and complete. Many crabs, fiddlers, small jellyfish, and a sea cucumber were among the forms noted in a cursory glance.

Ludwig, JP 1964 29 March 26, 1964 After a call to DC and noting that rain would again keep us off Moku Manu, I caught a flight for Kauai to work at Kilauea and to look for Newell's Shearwaters. Damn rain is really fouling up our offshore island work, and we are missing a good deal of important work because of it. Also the rest of the guys are getting nervous and a little tense at all of the waiting without being able to accomplish anything; the weather pattern looks bad enough that it seems silly to send more than one person to Kauai now: If it breaks and I find lots of work, I will send for them. Kilauea Lighthouse - 1400 Counted 294 Adults, 7 subadults, and 17 immature Red-footed Boobies. There are more than 200 nests now and building of new ones continues. Many many wedgetail burrows and numbers of adults in their burrows dur- ing the day, a few on ground surface. Rain began about 1500. Kilauea Lighthouse - 1830 At 1830 large numbers of wedgetails are flying about and many are already on the ground. Began banding and found that active burrows go all the way down to the spray line and extend from the tip of the point all the way back through the Booby colony into the Casuarinas. The leeward side and point have the heaviest concentrations of active burrows. The island just off the point, Mokuaeae, also has large numbers of wedgetails on it. Many birds were landing at dusk. Con- sidering both Kilauea and Mokuaeae as one colony, I estimate that at least 4000 pairs +- 30 percent of wedgetails, have burrows here.

Ludwig, JP 1964 30 The influx of wedgetails here is incredible. No eggs found. Wedge- tail courtship prior to copulation (3 observed) is virtually the same as in Bonin Petrels and similar to the Albatross Mutual Preening by both birds takes place; then the (♂?) Moulting bird preens the (♀?) mate very vigourously about the head and neck and then abruptly mounts for copulation. After copulation each bird preens itself. Burrows are vigourously defended and often a wide space about the mouth of the burrow. Fights are common now. A total of 202 Wedgetails were banded tonight; 7 were dark phased. The Booby Colony continues its progress. Approximately 170 eggs 230 nests or young and about 10 young (2 banded) hatched. This group looks very good. Counted 418 roosting birds and could not see lower roosts where at least 40 nests are. Probably close to 600 Boobies on this point now excluding chicks. I noticed an apparent increase in the number of hippoboscids/bird tonight. Is it the case that buds when not at sea give the ectoparasites more niche to reproduce on? And also is there a need for hippoboscids to change hosts and to breed with a number of other flys rather than a single genetic line? If so, yearly concentrations of birds for breeding could be necessary for the parasite to maintain itself. Some of the Boobies tonight looked mottled on head and neck from the large numbers of Hippoboscids there. March 27, 1964 Up late this AM. Proceeded up to Wiamea Canyon in heavy rains.

Ludwig, JP 1964 31 Even so, a large number of white-tailed Tropicbirds were active there, flying and courting in the air. All birds have the long tail plumes and I have the impression from watching these that they will soon have eggs. Then returned via Nowiliwili to Kilauea. Gerry Swedberg recommended that we look there on the Bishop Estate for Newell's Shearwaters. How- ever, since it was raining there I decided to work along the coast to- wards Kilauea for wedgetails. Checked Moaloe Beach and area finding none. Then moved to Kilauea at 1800. Swedberg also noted a concentra- tion of wedgetails on the Princeville Ranch west of Kilauea: Contact Mr. Conant for aid and direction at the ranch - Kilauea 1800: Counted 289 red-footed boobies (less the 2 lower roosts which could not be seen) here and estimated 390-425 at 1810. Wedgetails are already coming in from the sea. At least 25 individuals in the air as of 1815, a number (15-35) already on the ground. During banding tonight I followed all the way to base of cliff and wedgetail nests extend all the way to spray line. Wedgetail nests are spread over an area approximately 75-100 yards wide (from lip of slope to spray line) and close to 300 yards long. Burrows are densely packed in many placed and my estimate of 2000-2500 burrows on this point seems well founded. Fully 60 percent of these are inaccessible except by repelling down the edges of the cliff. Once tonight I fell 30-40' trying to reach some of these birds and to determine how far down they went. With a great effort probably 2000 birds could be banded here, but it would be dangerous. A total.

Ludwig, JP 1964. 32 of 102 wedgetails were banded. I did not attempt to work the boobies tonight - it may kill eggs to disturb them at an advanced stage in incubation. Also a tidal wave warning at 0900 brought my efforts to an abrupt close. Don't mind bending, but getting washed away is another thing. March 28 Slept overnight at Kilauea and noted Shearwater activity on ground until 0605; birds began leaving for sea at 0545, most were gone by 0610. Boobies began going to sea with first gray light but some were still leaving at 0730. Back in Honolulu and with the tremors still occuring in Alaska our off-shore island work comes to a halt. We set about preparing a report and banding summary from January 1 to March 31 which should be ready before April Starbrite.

Ludvig, James Pinson 1964 April 1 through May 7, 1964 April 1, 1964 through April 17, 1964 Starbrite's April cruise occupied this period and on it we set a new record of forty-three birds collected (18, JPL) two banded birds, and two new species. Weather was poor, but results of the trip good. April 21, 1964--1615 Whitman and I left for Kauai for work at Kilauea Light- house bird colonies. Weather at Lihue (1700) intermittent rain, 80 per cent cloud cover, to °F 82. Wind 2 from ESE. I immediately noted an increase in the bird population. After banding and observing the wedgetails (three hours) Doug and I agreed on an estimate of 5000± one thousand pairs. At 1830 a 6° Binocular field had between 65 and 95 birds - as far as could be seen in any seaward direction the numbers of wedgetails booked like an immense feeding flock so great were their numbers. We banded a total of 257 wedgetails tonight (eight dark phase). Boobies were also way up. Counted 1125± fifty on the roosts with an estimated 250± twenty-five subadult and immature birds. Banded one bird. Numbers of chicks present now. April 22--In a.m. most boobies left the colony, there being only about four hundred birds there at 1100. Doug and I apparently picked up a mild food poisoning and so heading home about 2 p.m. today instead of working here tomorrow. April 24--Dr. Berger and I flew to Maui today in spite of my troubles with the food poisoning. The flight over precipitated a high temperature and chills and while the Ansais welcomed Andy and I by treating us to Japanese cuisine. I could not eat any of it but sat by to shiver and sweat. This is like relapsing undulant fever. I'll never eat SPAM again, not even to keep up my strength for the S. I.

Ludwig, James P. 1964 2 March 25--Up after a damn poor bout with the food poisoning. Didn't sleep much at all. Sweated all night and was wringing wet at a.m. But went around Hana way via Kehii. Pond was very low. We stopped and checked a number of nests: 1. Mockingbird--three eggs. platform of Keawe sticks lined to grasses. (R.cardinalis) Sea level--eggs very spotted to red-brown on aquamarine. Second nest with three eggs, red-brown spots on white, nest plain cup to no base like mainland cardinal nest. 1200 feet elevation. 2. Large pendulous domed nest--six eggs, all white, very small--seven nests in 150 feet diameter. Thought Ricebird was flushed from it. 3. Suspended five cup nests (2) with three eggs each time. White with Brown spotting. 1500 feet Zosterops All nests were located in the Keawe trees beyond Kehéi on the connecting leg of RT 31 around the island. The journey around the rest of the island was quite uneventful except for seeing large flocks of Rice birds on the dry side. Only two White-tailed Tropicbirds seen on wet side in valleys (one over the ocean on dry side). At Alak Island (Hamoa Beach) we noted evidence of Shearwater occupations and could see thirty-seven burrows. One bird was seen at the entrance to a burrow. March 26--Went around Maui Head today. No Concentration of Shearwaters or petrels along this coast but at the west cliff of the Honokohau Valley 10 to 20 pr. W. T. tropicbird nesting (While the findings of the last two days indicate that the breeding population here is very low), I believe that a systematic study of the four thousand to six thousand

Location All of Maui Observer Ludwig Date April 24-26 Time - to - Weather SPECIES Abundance Breeding Remarks 1-5 10-100 100-1000 + 2000 Nesting Eggs Young Laysan Albatross Black-footed Albatross Wedge-tailed Shearwater Christmas I. Shearwater Audubon's Shearwater Bonin I. Petrel Phoenix I. Petrel Bulwer's Petrel Sooty Petrel Red-tailed Tropicbird White-tailed Tropicbird about 40 Seen in 3 days. Masked Booby Brown Booby Red-footed Booby Great Frigatebird Golden Plover Nearly all in Nuptial Plumage Ruddy Turnstone Wandering Tattler Sanderling Bristle-thighed Curlew Sooty Tern Gray-backed Tern Brown-winged Tern Common Noddy Hawaiian Noddy Blue-gray Noddy Fairy Tern Mockingbird Cardinal Brazilian Cardinal White-eye Mynah Spotted Dove Barred Dove RicedirA A NUMBER OF LARGE FLOCKS ON Waterbuck Dryside. Black-cr. Night Heron Both at Kanaha & Kehei Ponds. Black-Necked Stilt " " " " American Coot AT IGHANA Shoveller Duck " "

Ludwig, James P. 1964 3 foot levels here would show up many more birds. Unfortunately most of this is inaccessible by all means but hiking and mountain climbing.) Then proceeded through Lahina to Kehei and the large Keawe stands there to confirm our notes and observations of yesterday on the nesting of introduced birds. We flushed off the platform nest with lining (number one) a Mockingbird. Eggs three, Aquamarine with red-brown spots. Located for sure the nesting of Ricebirds in the domed nests, and confirmed that white-eyes are making the small suspended nest with three eggs. Found two R. cardinalis nests also. Saw five Gambel's Quail (four ♂), and a covey of Bobwhite? In this area also, March 27--Haleakala National Park. Dr. Berg⌖and I drove up the highway 57 or 377 to the park this morning. At the 4000 level Mynahs and doves largely disappeared and skylarks became abundant. At Hosmer's grove (6,500) which is located at the entrance to the park we stopped and noted Iiwi, 'A'ane, and Amakihi of Drepanididae. Also House Finch, House Sparrow, Leiothrix, and White-eyes. The grove is a garden of introduced species introduced (86,20 surviving) trees and Drepanidids were most abundant in the pines. We then moved on to Park Headquarters at 7030 feet and made arrangements to 1) Collect dark-rumped petrels in the park (a special national parks' permit is required) and to spend one night in the Kapalaloo Cabin (7,270 feet) and one in the Holua Cabin (7000 feet). We then proceeded to the 10,023 foot summit and then back down to 9700 feet to the sliding sands trail. In 2:35 we walked the 5.8 miles to Kapalaloa.

Ludwig, James P. 1964 The first section of the trail with its many switch-backs is barren and rough going. The first silver swords appeared about 8,500 feet. Vegetation appeared well established in areas below 8,000 feet and ferns made up one of the first pockets we located. The later portion of the trail after reaching the crater floor was easily covered. About 1995 we heard the first Dark rumps above us. By 2030 their activities of arriving and calling seemed to reach a peak and thereafter (until securing at 2200) we noted few calls except from flying birds. In an attempt to locate this species we first examined the slopes of Maile across the crater floor without success. We concluded that birds heard there were simply flying towards the cliffs of Kapalaloa. We then attempted a climb of the cliffs behind the cabin. We climbed about 3/5 of the way (800 feet ?) to the rim before realizing that the birds were located in the walls of the cliff another 500 to 600 feet up. So we climbed down frustrated, but with the idea that relatively few birds are here (est. 150± seventy-five pairs) and to get them, one would have to hike the rim to this area and climb down from there. The call of this petrel is rather Bonin Petrel like with the protracted growl, but a high pitched squeak (squeal) at the end. It is given most often in flight. Once on the ground, the birds were silent. This suggests that this colony has mostly eggs now. When young are present in petrel colonies, one can hear them begging for food. If the birds are just establishing territories and are mating, there are many vociferous fights and bedlam is the rule. Silence after landing suggests that one bird is relieving the other during incubation, for this process (if similar to albatross as it probably is) likely involves

Ludwig, James P. 1964 5 head preening (mutual) with little or no vocalization. To bed at 2300 very tired and frustrated. March 28--Up at 0615. No evidence of the dark-rumps at this hour.' However, we did hear many Pheasant, Chuckors and Zosterops; Zosterops ran up the crater walls behind Kapalalga to at least 8000 feet. On the trail at 0700 down to Paliku we noted 8 Chakars, one pheasant, and at the AA lava flow we saw the first skylark. Down the Palihu trail we noted more pheasants, chuckars, and many skylarks. At Palihu by 0820. We noted Amakiki, heard Iiwi, and Apapane, but nothing else of Drepanididae, Zosterops and Leiobrix were present. Hiking up from Paliku at 0905 we noted a flock of nine Golden Plover at 6700 feet, Ricebirds at 6,800 and 6,900 feet. Pheasants were particularly common between the 6600 and 7300 foot levels; Chuckar were also seen. At 6900 to 7300 foot between the 2 AA lava flows at this end of the crater is an extended ecological island made up of scrub (relative of Keawe ?) bushes bearing a yellow flower. Here we noted skylarks as very common and also saw six singing Mockingbirds. From the 7300 foot level saw where the floor of the crater becomes a plateau there is practically no avian life: However, there is a small ecological island on the southeast crater rim and skylarks were heard there. Many of the edges of the crater appear suitable for Dark-rumped Petrel nesting. The only way to investigate this properly is to hike the rim, not the floor.

Ludwig, James P. 1964 We arrived at Holua Cabin at 1230 and immediately sought out the beds after our 10 mile, five hour hike. By 1500 the cabin was largely socked in and it was raining steadily. The weather certainly has not been to our advantage. The cliffs behind this cabin will be accessible in dry weather, but tonight the rain will probably keep us off. March 29--The rain continued all night long and is still at it this morning. Last night I heard at 01955 light moaning of birds in their holes up the ridge (behind the cabin, and beyond (about 100 down the ridge to the west and up 200 yards). I did not hear any birds arriving. Apparently the Kona kept them from coming in. After checking the slope and finding it very slippery (the rain has loosened up many rocks) we decided to hike straight out. Damn weather. The hike out took two hours (0715 - 0915) and on it we noted at 7200 feet to 7400 foot level Apapane and Amahiki. There was no real tree cover, and few flowering bushes at this level. It rained most of the way out and we found the last 2.9 miles with a 1400 foot ascent fairly rough going. Stopped for a moment at the Park Headquarters, and then went down to lunch at Wailuku. In the afternoon we checked the Iao valley for White-tailed Tropicbirds and Drepanids, but found neither. It was raining there also. May 3, 1964--Presently I am enroute to Minneapolis via NW 70 and enjoying the flights immensely. There's real land down there. This Electra is the best of all possible planes and its very pleasing after the

Ludwig, James P. 1964 7 lackluster jets. The turbulence gives it character. But today as my tenure with the Smithsonian is drawing to a close I have a great many memories and thoughts about the past nine months. The experience and contacts I have made have been invaluable. One of the joys of this project has been the fine dedicated personnel I have met and exchanged ideas with. For my own sake I have learned a great deal more than twenty-five new species on my life list would indicate. Dealing with people has never (and may never) been one of my strong points: on the project I have made my share of mistakes in this realm, but I have also avoided some pitfalls. Prudence comes only with age and experience. For my future work I take home a goodly number of new techniques and ideas. My research work cannot but benefit from this opportunity and experience that I have been through. For this and much more, my thanks to the staff of the Division of Birds, Smithsonian Institution. James Pinson Ludwig