ATF No. 6 DRAFT 4. REPOPULATION OF BAKER ISLAND During the first four visits to Baker Island (March, July, October, 1963 and February 1964) only Noddy Terns nested on the island. The only other species present were wintering shorebirds and a few individual boobies and frigatebirds which roosted on the six telephone poles. In July 1964, when the cat population had been reduced from 30 plus to 4, Blue-faced Boobies (200 birds and 10 nests), Red-tailed Tropicbirds (10 birds and 1 nest), and Gray-backed Terns (3 nests) were nesting in addition to the Noddy Terns in the small lagoon. June-July is the peak nesting time for most species in the Phoenix Islands area and in October the number of nests is considerably below the July total. On Baker Island the reverse was true. In October 1964 both Blue-faced Boobies (400 birds and 25 nests) and Red-tailed Tropicbirds (5 nests) were commoner than in July. For the first time, Brown Boobies were roosting on the ground, a flock of Fairy Terns stopped on the island, and several Noddy Terns nested outside the small lagoon. Because of previous extensive banding of Blue-faced Boobies it is possible to trace the origin of this new population. The table below gives a breakdown of the birds captured on Baker Island in October 1964. Over 80 percent of the birds present were captured and approximately equal proportions of nesting and roosting birds were taken.