Tuesday December 20th
At breakfast we saw the completion map of Sand Island
Today we were off to Eastern Island which is much smaller, a little shy of 350 acres. We were to meet at the harbor at 8am. Gil and I were a little early and got to see these frigate birds, roosting. We have them on Kauai too, but we only see them flying and have never seen a male who sports a large red inflated bulge under his beak when courting. One of these sleepy guys is partially inflated. A few minutes later they are awake and in the sky
Frigate birds - male on right, females have white chest
Greater Frigate birds with their classic split tail and an 8' wingspan
We are issued Coast Guard life jackets for the ten minute boat ride and take off after we stow all the packs, cases of paint, paint guns and water. Three teams went in two trips.
Jill is on board, paint guns are ready to load
Eastern is uninhabited and being allowed to return to nature, the whole island having been pretty much covered with runways under military control. The only hills on the island are man made, formed to hide guns behind during WWII. There are very few trees, otherwise it is low and flat sporting waist high or sometimes head high verbesina to wade through. The sector borders are set along old runways and roads. It is amazing how quickly it reverts. While there are virtually no burrows (no petrels), there is little shade and there is plenty of poke weed (tribulus) that produces ugly seed bearing thorns which Gil remembers calling devil heads as a kid.
Sand Island is in the background across the water
On Eastern as well as Midway, natural fresh water has been pumped to the surface in the form of a seep creating a wetland environment. When the Laysan Duck numbers were in such peril about 40 were moved to Midway as insurance populations. There are now several hundred of these ducks in the wild.
Laysan Ducks in the seep (see day 2 for close up of one)
The wonder of Eastern is all the other birds we see besides the two albatross we are counting. While we are concentrating on albatross nests, Breck, a seabird biologist, points out a Lesser Frigate flying over us (smaller) and not long after we see juveniles roosting in a low tree – also juvenile and very young boobies. We splurge on the time it takes to dig out a camera and snap these shots in the middle of a count!
Juvenile Lesser Frigates - the one on the left still has some down
Red Footed Boobies and typical Eastern Island terrain - 2 adults on left, juvenile on right
Our path is back and forth through the dry dead weeds, across old runways, going toward and then away from the beach. We see ocean debris in the middle of the island – all of it was nearly under water from the tsunami last March. One of the passes takes us near the dock and we retrieve our lunches. Our feet are taking a beating here – either shoes and socks full of sand from burrows or like today, just hot walking back and forth. I take a moment to stick my toes in the water – heaven.
Gil is resting his pups here
Gil catches me here enjoying my blue heaven
After lunch we hit it hard again. There are lots of Black Foot albatross mixed in with the Laysan just like on Sand Island. They are louder, more defensive with each other and with us. Where it is very dense, the non nesting birds get surprised by us in their midst and squawk and back up or run into the nesting birds who sit tight. The Laysans are sweeter in nature, both with each other and on their own. There are personality variations to be sure, some are upset by us coming through and others stand up and seem very proud of their egg!
The non nesters are in different stages of their courtship and some have paired up and practice. They exhibit many of the behaviors of breeding pairs such as grooming each other, talking as if to an egg, just adorable. Sometimes they build or take a nest that is empty for some reason. We are all here because they are so endearing. There are literally tons of plastic debris on all islands but this little character has adopted a blue plastic float to practice with.
Proud as can be of his/her little egg and we almost count it!
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