Monday January 2
Hard to believe it is one-two, one-two. Our trip to Eastern was canceled due to continuing high winds and the weather report indicates we may not get to finish the last part of the remaining sector.
So close and yet so far! Half of Sector 10 on Eastern would be pretty quick.
We regroup instead and Gil and I and Susan join another team to knock out sector 31 along the harbor.
Most of the long narrow plot is continuous burrows and
a huge sand dune with more burrows off to the right
a huge sand dune with more burrows off to the right
Gil did the section between the road and harbor by himself (on left above). He claimed later he was isolated not because of his weight vs. burrows but because of his humor. Naw! Susan and I did the center section starting at the cross while Jill & Jenny took the dune.
The long road through sector 31
Frank and Gary took the area across from Gil at this end and eventually met up with Susan and I among the buildings. Those of us in pairs lined up and counted visually across and between each other. Jill painted a line between the hill and the flat for us to follow and she literally had to crawl in places. But we had very minimal damage and completed it. We all finished about the same time.
Gil came across this beautiful hybrid in his lonely travels and photographed it. It is barely gray. Apparently there is some discussion distinguishing hybrids from just major color variations among the Black Foot. We will try to scout out the paper written on the subject later.
A very pale hybrid
This is what I call an opportunist - what a lovely nest!
We finished out the day right across from Charlie barracks (Bravo barracks is now abandoned). We looked out a second story window for the yellow stake that marks the nest of Wisdom, the celebrated female albatross known to be over 60 years old and still nesting. Her chick last year even survived the tsunami.
We are not sure if this is Wisdom or her mate - but it is her nest
Wisdom rocks! And sometimes it is good for Dad to be isolated....He-he. Less than two months and we can talk about your trip n person.
ReplyDeleteDoes Wisdom eat while she is on Midway or does she fly back back to Alaska for her favorite squid take-out? Does Dad do any shopping for her or does he take a turn on the nest?
ReplyDeleteIan - looking forward to seeing you in Feb/Mar. Your Dad can respond to your joking in person! hugs
ReplyDeleteBill -
ReplyDeleteOnce Wisdom lays the egg the male will relieve her so she can go eat, likely all the way north or the first place she can get good nutrition. Then they trade off on the nest until it hatches - last week of Jan, first week of Feb. They continue to take turns and the adult sits on the chick until it is too big to sit on - a funny time to observe, with the little head sticking out back, perhaps saying, MOM!! Once the chick is out of danger in terms of temperature (thermoreulated)then it begins to wander from the nest, from a few inches to a few feet, really cute to see them venture. The parents may be allowed to both be gone for stretches, feeding themselves and bringing yummy high oil content nutrients back to the chick. Sadly, this is where the plastic in their diet comes into play. What the chick is able to regurgitate is what we find near nests (both old and new). What they are unable to regurge is what eventually kills them, directly or indirectly.