tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77152043009527423592024-03-12T16:02:03.715-07:00Middleton Island, Gulf of AlaskaNews, general information and trivia about the island and its natural historyTim van Nushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03145810759803753643noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715204300952742359.post-87175536968164176902022-11-12T12:26:00.000-08:002022-11-12T12:26:09.735-08:00The Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) on Middleton Island in 2022<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Wx9D-MNsS7LpPpcoZSXHj1vg7MwyYbwsMmDYkfgUxzjzpoIO1ifHfTc9hk2xfGneFxMYEB0wBKGWaLNAi12S8NcP0gvJ87vxHS9dPGwYcCi2FNndq3cBzIHYLgj_TE7a8fW0vb0yRLo0PwGfVhWh9iqtVkAQ27T-9yh7rN3MsTO7gD_uqzlhAJKu/s1024/box5_mdo_7AUG2022_1.jpeg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6Wx9D-MNsS7LpPpcoZSXHj1vg7MwyYbwsMmDYkfgUxzjzpoIO1ifHfTc9hk2xfGneFxMYEB0wBKGWaLNAi12S8NcP0gvJ87vxHS9dPGwYcCi2FNndq3cBzIHYLgj_TE7a8fW0vb0yRLo0PwGfVhWh9iqtVkAQ27T-9yh7rN3MsTO7gD_uqzlhAJKu/w480-h640/box5_mdo_7AUG2022_1.jpeg" /></a><br /><br />2022 was the 14th year of the Middleton Island Tree Swallow (TRES) project. ISRC-crew members cleaned out the nest boxes in spring. After 5 additional boxes were installed last year, replacing some of the ones that were gone, another old wooden box (Box #1) didn't survive the winter, leaving 16 nest boxes available to the TRES this year. By the end of the summer, on August 7, al boxes were inspected again, cleaned out and photographed. Somewhat disappointingly; in 2022 only one pair of TRES nested on Middleton; the lowest number in the projects' history. <br /><br /><br /> 7-August-2022<br /><b>Swallow boxes check</b><br />Box 1: No Box<br />Box 2: No Box<br />Box 3: Good shape! Missing a nail, empty<br /> Box 4: Good shape, missing nail, empty<br /> Box 5: Perfect condition, full nest, poop inside nest<br /> Box 6: Good condition, empty<br />Box 7: Good shape, missing nail, empty.<br /> Box 8: Okay condition but rotting. Should be replaced in the nest 2 seasons. Empty.<br /> Box 9: Perfect condition, empty.<br />Box 10: Broken, needs to be replaced.<br /> Box 11: Perfect condition, empty.<br />Box 12: Good condition, slightly rotten, empty.<br /> Box 13: Good condition, back corner rotten but box feels sturdy. Empty.<br /> Box 14: Perfect condition, a few pieces of grass and 1 feather.<br /> Box 15: Good condition, starting to rot a little bit in the back and bottom. Empty.<br />Box 16: No box. Needs new one.<br />Box 17: Good condition! Empty<br /> Box 18: Perfect condition! Empty<br /> Box 19: Good condition. Post slightly angled. Empty<br /> Box 20: Good condition. Empty <br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWCjee8EInKkmIpUXh38RTWAp58m5rzkWqwfnYcJEqbsGEwBJrqLTn5tHcGX4FdqQSNOogTio9w5PR7gzXV27Yyu2hcaSMCAzG5LnuasiQJRgxj1AoklQXp1w0H1PEAV5XjX1MZpc24G_weGXqMwDO81Otm08no2Gnf7Yh6fVnCmSyozATy3ntONxm/s1024/box5_mdo_7AUG2022_2.jpeg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWCjee8EInKkmIpUXh38RTWAp58m5rzkWqwfnYcJEqbsGEwBJrqLTn5tHcGX4FdqQSNOogTio9w5PR7gzXV27Yyu2hcaSMCAzG5LnuasiQJRgxj1AoklQXp1w0H1PEAV5XjX1MZpc24G_weGXqMwDO81Otm08no2Gnf7Yh6fVnCmSyozATy3ntONxm/w480-h640/box5_mdo_7AUG2022_2.jpeg" /></a><br /><br />Remarkably, the only nest built this year, was found in box # 5; a green and relatively small prefabricated box, made from recycled plastic boards and 4 wooden blocks giving some strength to the structure. These are sold in Europe and are intented for House Sparrows <i>Passer domesticus</i>. Only the nest box entrance was enlarged to suit the TRES. <div> <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieUhIxKgvkGNupIjQ9q3S-kehHXDqTt3h3kmxwA3G9GgoRqhKJzK6BtTtv_74w4yjNyo80kV9_GRz4PCKdL-apHhKx9RicGCWDa1APfKMpCrLx5aXoa5P5gYu0y1JbI1Tluv2SaUGghLBapNcHQ950hkYVQ2pH4We64U6xyQt3jNhwk3eivilIMa8D/s720/TRES%20MAP%202022.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieUhIxKgvkGNupIjQ9q3S-kehHXDqTt3h3kmxwA3G9GgoRqhKJzK6BtTtv_74w4yjNyo80kV9_GRz4PCKdL-apHhKx9RicGCWDa1APfKMpCrLx5aXoa5P5gYu0y1JbI1Tluv2SaUGghLBapNcHQ950hkYVQ2pH4We64U6xyQt3jNhwk3eivilIMa8D/w528-h640/TRES%20MAP%202022.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWRd8v5U33DM1887zFb6fcbkGR5Bo72nZ031NWz3Ccr8gYRPSQKlonLrJNlYZoL__BNju9EwpB4nwg1Fg6sKahn2fdJ8Flfn_TRKQadP2DeyoTMnGDrlkrwFJ8WYZ1iZaj_CA2uG0tGT3yDt9D9sdFJd5cHFhmJtmSk09fiMXrslI-ehZO8Q9rTski/s820/Box%20occupation%202022.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWRd8v5U33DM1887zFb6fcbkGR5Bo72nZ031NWz3Ccr8gYRPSQKlonLrJNlYZoL__BNju9EwpB4nwg1Fg6sKahn2fdJ8Flfn_TRKQadP2DeyoTMnGDrlkrwFJ8WYZ1iZaj_CA2uG0tGT3yDt9D9sdFJd5cHFhmJtmSk09fiMXrslI-ehZO8Q9rTski/w640-h380/Box%20occupation%202022.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6X4XERULpig1Fyco22I7RVLfwg3C1nzuwvkWq2v5R53Wx3y34GabfdLBjqrsijCTtvYWDErSQYoOsj-kW5UnXd0FtkPAfUXFSWWiGHXBMi4yi3r1yCDHc0Z44qJgSEriMkvH4afQku4Yp2rTm-teK86FyGevbeQpUdO5FiqokSU2u8AhfZayB_KSj/s1104/TRES%20results%202009_2022.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6X4XERULpig1Fyco22I7RVLfwg3C1nzuwvkWq2v5R53Wx3y34GabfdLBjqrsijCTtvYWDErSQYoOsj-kW5UnXd0FtkPAfUXFSWWiGHXBMi4yi3r1yCDHc0Z44qJgSEriMkvH4afQku4Yp2rTm-teK86FyGevbeQpUdO5FiqokSU2u8AhfZayB_KSj/w640-h124/TRES%20results%202009_2022.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_HJYydiJCDpUGy4b5FrPkz6Jxv3LDd9SAtvazskj2B2f-XTZePvztGPFgAGvwdkOOKyikrrN4HxOz7zQC3gg-uoxroKodvz4PH7BwiWtLdR8IsS7uJk3zzSGuqpGAPXrYYx13GvhSAbt7Lq7ZlSBJg598BO-0JJ5M0i2I6rdw624Zxr0p7CxdyX9q/s1024/box10_mdo_7AUG2022_1.jpeg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_HJYydiJCDpUGy4b5FrPkz6Jxv3LDd9SAtvazskj2B2f-XTZePvztGPFgAGvwdkOOKyikrrN4HxOz7zQC3gg-uoxroKodvz4PH7BwiWtLdR8IsS7uJk3zzSGuqpGAPXrYYx13GvhSAbt7Lq7ZlSBJg598BO-0JJ5M0i2I6rdw624Zxr0p7CxdyX9q/w480-h640/box10_mdo_7AUG2022_1.jpeg" /></a><br /><br />With the ongoing decay of the wooden boxes, the search for the most "durable" nest box design continues. Here the remains of the first generation wooden box # 10. </div><div><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTO9ltrqqa0FnNYYKM4ThPlLvowJoqLO8KuKpF9MnN3A2bQtvoYv8FpHfFtwNXSxSlcMImyAjlOvbTkL5ul6gEu64cv9ZtIw6MLsbE39X4V5aZNnkMQk1h535x0Ud8ui6tqAEGGItWkXhc0AxE9xkpDg-h6NqKXOUyjE5-t45pDIWKVm10yRsJAZIm/s1024/box9_mdo_7AUG2022_1.jpeg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTO9ltrqqa0FnNYYKM4ThPlLvowJoqLO8KuKpF9MnN3A2bQtvoYv8FpHfFtwNXSxSlcMImyAjlOvbTkL5ul6gEu64cv9ZtIw6MLsbE39X4V5aZNnkMQk1h535x0Ud8ui6tqAEGGItWkXhc0AxE9xkpDg-h6NqKXOUyjE5-t45pDIWKVm10yRsJAZIm/w480-h640/box9_mdo_7AUG2022_1.jpeg" /></a><br /><br /></div><div>Two of the three new "Dutch-built partially recycled" nest boxes contained a bit of bird poop, but whether this came from a TRES or a migrant of a different species remains unknown. <br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZNrYa-xVAYqzSiEHTDMpnzGGaafTolWZDy9obnOzxXfcHlPYpj2Xqg3aQXOBbc9Z2pXqc4SG4bUAiepUmFEOiWMWN-REFNm0AVdszTdl9vk6CNC2K-AZPeDHUEXQyt7fMb-oMUxITEFMTbRvJ6J61xmS3l7qLytR7g0C4wOKgOLbC0Iv2KLFbIRN4/s1024/box9_mdo_7AUG2022_2.jpeg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZNrYa-xVAYqzSiEHTDMpnzGGaafTolWZDy9obnOzxXfcHlPYpj2Xqg3aQXOBbc9Z2pXqc4SG4bUAiepUmFEOiWMWN-REFNm0AVdszTdl9vk6CNC2K-AZPeDHUEXQyt7fMb-oMUxITEFMTbRvJ6J61xmS3l7qLytR7g0C4wOKgOLbC0Iv2KLFbIRN4/w480-h640/box9_mdo_7AUG2022_2.jpeg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr-WQrclH2hGdCyUajI9M3QKAXd66hi4upSWES1lBmOjEr1XgxBuQudDUQ3vi-6fAMxaMFYtZM_yuV_gIKKNXLG3F_9lVlrE5L8KZ6wQ1NeFYo9n9besP4vFofA7Oo_xMz2_JD0APmwxQvUo0Sxu4CRbs7Cp4dHT4gyshN-XY0JzLmHKGOCYlbGufG/s4032/box14_mdo_7AUG2022_1.jpeg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr-WQrclH2hGdCyUajI9M3QKAXd66hi4upSWES1lBmOjEr1XgxBuQudDUQ3vi-6fAMxaMFYtZM_yuV_gIKKNXLG3F_9lVlrE5L8KZ6wQ1NeFYo9n9besP4vFofA7Oo_xMz2_JD0APmwxQvUo0Sxu4CRbs7Cp4dHT4gyshN-XY0JzLmHKGOCYlbGufG/w480-h640/box14_mdo_7AUG2022_1.jpeg" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKhfqxz1wuHyPZ1SD_e5ntT3XHSqWX4pssZ-ASI45ao0BPF1DVuqa4Fku6RZLdJF3TDTskcsZWrc16jDbawuV3CWu6pOz4g5HLKgu1Yh628OwBQ1tG1tP0q3d7HHiZv4kVikYanM3mqwlT5CqbvhHYlevGwcHsP8f8hqgl0drwyL4DIYJyUsKTBdvR/s4032/box14_mdo_7AUG2022_2.jpeg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKhfqxz1wuHyPZ1SD_e5ntT3XHSqWX4pssZ-ASI45ao0BPF1DVuqa4Fku6RZLdJF3TDTskcsZWrc16jDbawuV3CWu6pOz4g5HLKgu1Yh628OwBQ1tG1tP0q3d7HHiZv4kVikYanM3mqwlT5CqbvhHYlevGwcHsP8f8hqgl0drwyL4DIYJyUsKTBdvR/w480-h640/box14_mdo_7AUG2022_2.jpeg" /></a><br /><br />The other one of the two green prefabicrated recycled nest boxes installed last year (box # 14) was still in perfect condition. It also appeared to have had the swallow's (short) interest, as it contained a few pieces of grass and a feather. Not enough to count as a nesting attempt, but perhaps an indication that the TRES has a preference for this model. More swallows will be needed to proof this. Hopefully next year a few more will make it to the island again. <br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><div> I thank ISRC-members Shannon, Stella, Sierra and Scott for monitoring the TRES on Middleton this year!<br /></div>Tim van Nushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03145810759803753643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715204300952742359.post-15485755427935307832022-04-28T09:06:00.007-07:002022-04-29T08:43:34.260-07:00The Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) on Middleton Island in 2021<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6gfqULmGcVRxkXH_ilmz10H_Fb3DBKzqV_rp3K-je8pjOITQSaLY2CnHJiZMVgQCrbVVayiJ8J66sfvQ4-A1WCVoJXoLxPOzK6NKWGXCzxSg_E_8YX--8vxrRA7gh6dIBRbuAMCe5MHeDpfCOs0Bm_v_KCTlCuEpa4XQKC5tcVepQDui22DasUCv0/w480-h640/20210419_152413.jpg"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6gfqULmGcVRxkXH_ilmz10H_Fb3DBKzqV_rp3K-je8pjOITQSaLY2CnHJiZMVgQCrbVVayiJ8J66sfvQ4-A1WCVoJXoLxPOzK6NKWGXCzxSg_E_8YX--8vxrRA7gh6dIBRbuAMCe5MHeDpfCOs0Bm_v_KCTlCuEpa4XQKC5tcVepQDui22DasUCv0/w480-h640/20210419_152413.jpg" width="480" /></a><br /><br />2021 was the 13th year of the Middleton Island Tree Swallow (TRES) project. The season started off with an inspection of the nest boxes by ISRC-members in April. Five new nest boxes were installed, replacing ones that had rotted away. Thanks to their efforts in 2021 17 boxes were available to the swallows:<br /><br /><br /><u>Swallow boxes check, conducted by ISRC personnel on April 19, 2021: </u><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Box 1: Good shape, slightly rotten but sturdy. Might need to replace in 2022/2023 <br /><br />Box 2: No more door present, wood very rotten. Needs to be replaced <br /><br />Box 3: Good shape! <br /><br />Box 4: Good shape! <br /><br />Box 5: Old box fell off and was no reparable. Replaced by new box (green one) in exact same location/orientation. <br /><br />Box 6: Old box replaced by new one (white one) in the exact same location. <br /><br />Box 7: Good shape! <br /><br />Box 8: Ok condition, should last through another season but would need to be replaced in 2022. <br /><br />Box 9: Old box replaced by new one (white one). Exact same location as previous box. <br /><br />Box 10: Broken (bottom and side panels missing). Needs to be replaced. <br /><br />Box 11: Replaced with new box (white one). Box on the angled post facing down and angle adjusted using washer to avoid having the box too tilted forward. New box slightly lower than old one as per recommendation. <br /><br />Box 12: Good condition, slightly rotten but sturdy. Consider changing in 2022/2023 <br /><br />Box 13: Good condition, back corner rotten but box feels sturdy. Nail for the door missing. <br /><br />Box 14: Box completely broken and rotten. Replaced by new box (green one). <br /><br />Box 15: Good condition, starting to rot a little bit. <br /><br />Box 16: No box. Needs new one. <br /><br />Box 17: Perfect condition! <br /><br />Box 18: Perfect condition! <br /><br />Box 19: Good condition. Post slightly angled <br /><br />Box 20: Unknown<br /></span><br /><br />Unfortunately, due to a lack of time the 2021 ISRC-crew did not manage to monitor the TRES during the breeding season, nor conduct a post-breeding season nest box inspection. The following inspection round could only take place in April 2022, during the start of the following ISRC-season. Details on the 2021 TRES-breeding season were derived from what was found in the nest boxes during this inspection:<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9uJBQVuXnPqkHRSVgqFvrDcehq_wMlm0HaFg1zaEndNGj0RXNqrA9ytL7-cA92bRYoclrPScPtBwztr6Kqku2BuIP6OYlobLsKG5saJlYEpt9NgQ0pBX7yYLQyEk-j999a7WZgze9Y2JKzKINp7d8e7wG217sWovSVVCK3mmOpUv3BvXBPe5aYexY/w640-h368/Nest%20box%20check%20spring%202022.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9uJBQVuXnPqkHRSVgqFvrDcehq_wMlm0HaFg1zaEndNGj0RXNqrA9ytL7-cA92bRYoclrPScPtBwztr6Kqku2BuIP6OYlobLsKG5saJlYEpt9NgQ0pBX7yYLQyEk-j999a7WZgze9Y2JKzKINp7d8e7wG217sWovSVVCK3mmOpUv3BvXBPe5aYexY/w640-h368/Nest%20box%20check%20spring%202022.JPG" /></a><br /><br />From this information it can be concluded that in 2021 five TRES-pairs nested in Middleton Island's nest box project.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzvhd_cLpPfMcFRMRX8Uy1w-clSFukUZZBiwZGAH2Wn-BEVX65VwXZhlNDepYpBwzbr87N7HxZPVwnLKQ44ZKI77HP-pxbV0IDkUKbkJpCatTmBSdOY1_lPWxWUQ2F7jPnSGMzaYzguFvR5S8mg8usAiwXmyBorQfqvPQ5PvVA8BrpWZfbBRLAGP04/s2060/MDO%20TRES%202009_2021%20enlarged.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="436" data-original-width="2060" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzvhd_cLpPfMcFRMRX8Uy1w-clSFukUZZBiwZGAH2Wn-BEVX65VwXZhlNDepYpBwzbr87N7HxZPVwnLKQ44ZKI77HP-pxbV0IDkUKbkJpCatTmBSdOY1_lPWxWUQ2F7jPnSGMzaYzguFvR5S8mg8usAiwXmyBorQfqvPQ5PvVA8BrpWZfbBRLAGP04/w640-h136/MDO%20TRES%202009_2021%20enlarged.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRUXuXwZNz3_bESGTGF02x30Cn7_n107Ocy8U2O4DUI9hJRatEPkH1d21EroHJMNMVXbJUbz_y82otWSAbAjdoMhLZR5nUytaQJqmVmDFvQ-Ztymy-ooyRcWxvDl8FaEj0n8GiKr8DFzbVQkTmt5CTOlE7UNlR_ijtOcTh5fJFxDwZePM2Nkh9Dly9/w493-h640/MDO%20TRES%202021%20map.jpg"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRUXuXwZNz3_bESGTGF02x30Cn7_n107Ocy8U2O4DUI9hJRatEPkH1d21EroHJMNMVXbJUbz_y82otWSAbAjdoMhLZR5nUytaQJqmVmDFvQ-Ztymy-ooyRcWxvDl8FaEj0n8GiKr8DFzbVQkTmt5CTOlE7UNlR_ijtOcTh5fJFxDwZePM2Nkh9Dly9/w493-h640/MDO%20TRES%202021%20map.jpg" width="493" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUHn5shLMgqQ_6na6Kc8YHxOi37Q4jKOM_pBbadjPOtFovUGGj3yyh0IUUXa5_mWw7tmq4Ngctu0wJoUUQxL4uNmQBpXAsrPctForkYN_W_IWlYnBDywpC8sS7IWnksPmIafof-J0LpocQv3KhkCWiNkXCB7uA7B1SOb-WgG9wy8hOa0SHLSw2Dkb2/w640-h415/MDO%20TRES%20box%20occupation%202009_2021.JPG"><img border="0" height="415" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUHn5shLMgqQ_6na6Kc8YHxOi37Q4jKOM_pBbadjPOtFovUGGj3yyh0IUUXa5_mWw7tmq4Ngctu0wJoUUQxL4uNmQBpXAsrPctForkYN_W_IWlYnBDywpC8sS7IWnksPmIafof-J0LpocQv3KhkCWiNkXCB7uA7B1SOb-WgG9wy8hOa0SHLSw2Dkb2/w640-h415/MDO%20TRES%20box%20occupation%202009_2021.JPG" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Notes on the 2021 breeding season (and looking ahead)</b><br />As for potential predators, a Peregrine Falcon was recorded on several occasions in spring, in April until May 11th, but not during the period the TRES were nesting on the island (data: ebird.org). The relative large number of dead eggs and chicks found in the nests may be the result of a long period of bad weather taking place at some point in June/early July.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3QFhaZfd2jwyMa0CpNU7qpKEGSo5etqzcV4NBI7VovNq86dE42Dh4VAJtBF9jX8vkoCrwL8bTOFHb1S_IAVDYUHq3hEVdM9fUkPWQERZUJ4UdgoRTz4HXCAqgtuFCv-o7YJdef3M97WkEPktBONulMIwe4f-Qlg-l3G6aRkDxkrgbKP5F61ZaOb1v/w480-h640/20210419_152150.jpg"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3QFhaZfd2jwyMa0CpNU7qpKEGSo5etqzcV4NBI7VovNq86dE42Dh4VAJtBF9jX8vkoCrwL8bTOFHb1S_IAVDYUHq3hEVdM9fUkPWQERZUJ4UdgoRTz4HXCAqgtuFCv-o7YJdef3M97WkEPktBONulMIwe4f-Qlg-l3G6aRkDxkrgbKP5F61ZaOb1v/w480-h640/20210419_152150.jpg" width="480" /></a><br /><br />Several of the nest boxes currently present on the island have been out in Middleton's harsh climate for 12 or 13 years now and underwent only a serious renovation (= complete checkup + new layers of paint) in 2016. It's inevitable that they will continue to decay and more and more boxes will be lost. To take care of this problem a number of boxes installed from 2016 onwards are (partially) made from recycled plastic or PVC:<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2lIJEbAf3-cgeqt6zYg0PHZRaVdWZla-Sql5OQiA6Uoe4VM5xmzIU1dHKE91r2EWX7RMmNMWOENiMAt38w0LhYT4W33FnUuxXJj1NveWQbSMBRgoxMhtPwE1N4P2nob_bC1vf0WC2tS5W91fVJqq4Hhpis9058QDxtWxHhTSayQV6v2AEM8FWG9YM/w480-h640/20210419_142412.jpg"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2lIJEbAf3-cgeqt6zYg0PHZRaVdWZla-Sql5OQiA6Uoe4VM5xmzIU1dHKE91r2EWX7RMmNMWOENiMAt38w0LhYT4W33FnUuxXJj1NveWQbSMBRgoxMhtPwE1N4P2nob_bC1vf0WC2tS5W91fVJqq4Hhpis9058QDxtWxHhTSayQV6v2AEM8FWG9YM/w480-h640/20210419_142412.jpg" width="480" /></a><br />Boxes # 18, 19 and 20 are made from white PVC-planks and were installed by the end of the 2016 summer. These have thus far never been used by the swallows (except for an occasional piece of nest material).<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJk8Bzd7iGzJH4SEnIi86mf2kOo5_LeU2cEkwATi3Q-GpGaAMBd84ylj8mG8kwigRubB176Re3-va4pktJTJgMx8kRWxhWGwuDT8kd01Iz4dn_P2GsGLVfwWlR0gob9JH4OZcJ-CChV8dLdIvUU3olFw6sh8tdb_L6SDqkKJQsGhK8WxLE-uyS7gkt/w480-h640/20210419_151454.jpg"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJk8Bzd7iGzJH4SEnIi86mf2kOo5_LeU2cEkwATi3Q-GpGaAMBd84ylj8mG8kwigRubB176Re3-va4pktJTJgMx8kRWxhWGwuDT8kd01Iz4dn_P2GsGLVfwWlR0gob9JH4OZcJ-CChV8dLdIvUU3olFw6sh8tdb_L6SDqkKJQsGhK8WxLE-uyS7gkt/w480-h640/20210419_151454.jpg" width="480" /></a><br /><br />In spring 2021, 3 boxes were installed to replace some of the most popular, but damaged ones (#'s 6, 9 and 11). These new boxes are made from wood and are similar in size to the remaining types constructed for the project, while adding a (recycled) plastic (dark colored) roof and an aluminum mounting bar. In their first year these did not get used, although a single piece of nest material was brought into box #9. <br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisn3cV9UOEu2l1ZRvReRNhpcnhS0GAodYZguLT8cD-cXujB0uULISpO6Sht7M-QE8IJCUSuRx_be9SUyduRiv3mtaZyNGeFWxMPqITfOyRpjsYImus5u4-IwrS2JFlR4GNKl-OFnJG8_jKNvYWr0H_hJjQmaLLC4VDffG4oLq5Yz-11Ge_HwnbQCtR/w480-h640/IMG_3625.jpg"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisn3cV9UOEu2l1ZRvReRNhpcnhS0GAodYZguLT8cD-cXujB0uULISpO6Sht7M-QE8IJCUSuRx_be9SUyduRiv3mtaZyNGeFWxMPqITfOyRpjsYImus5u4-IwrS2JFlR4GNKl-OFnJG8_jKNvYWr0H_hJjQmaLLC4VDffG4oLq5Yz-11Ge_HwnbQCtR/w480-h640/IMG_3625.jpg" width="480" /></a><br /><br />Two of the new boxes that were installed in spring 2021 (to replace #'s 5 and 14), were made entirely from recycled plastic panels. These boxes are green and have much smaller dimensions than a regular TRES nest box. They were already brought to the island in 2016, but were at that time deemed too small for the TRES to use (and too fragile to remain there in winter). These European nest boxes are designed for house sparrows, but have a slightly enlarged entrance. Surprisingly, in 2021 box 14 (the one on the photo above) was used by the TRES! It contained a nest with 3 dead chicks...<br /><br />With the ongoing decay of the wooden nest boxes in the project, in 2022 the TRES will find a relatively larger number of synthetic nest sites available to them. We will hopefully soon find out whether the TRES are willing to adapt to these boxes, so the amount of maintenance can be reduced significantly.<br /><br /><u>I thank the 2021 & 2022 ISRC-crew members for their help!</u><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Tim van Nushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03145810759803753643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715204300952742359.post-15353317603712333822020-10-04T02:50:00.001-07:002022-04-28T09:53:05.971-07:00The Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) on Middleton Island in 2020<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhziOHAbkXS8t4-qqSHV_Eu1BLEzUN7La7jzUPfjv-BpdD_aZTsjni0zjNjoXaWH4IncL40axbAXrY0cttN7EWyOm0D4HzwOplU3Q98-08Do1K0Un1GXBjg8V9BZlbuHUA4Xq_su2iiPiI/w640-h480/TRES+MDO+18+6+2020.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhziOHAbkXS8t4-qqSHV_Eu1BLEzUN7La7jzUPfjv-BpdD_aZTsjni0zjNjoXaWH4IncL40axbAXrY0cttN7EWyOm0D4HzwOplU3Q98-08Do1K0Un1GXBjg8V9BZlbuHUA4Xq_su2iiPiI/w640-h480/TRES+MDO+18+6+2020.JPG" width="640" /></a><br /><br />Tree Swallow perched above box 7 (facing the FAA weather camera). June 18, 2020. Photo by S. England (Ebird.org).<br /><br /><br />2020 was the 12th year of the Tree Swallow (TRES) nest box project on Middleton. This year again no data could be obtained during the breeding season, but thankfully Martha Hatch (part of the ISRC crew present in September) checked, photographed and cleaned out all nest boxes still present on the island:<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHQpf9ZLjhQJT0tVz43z-oyY-VI1bxjuLz9y98tF05LDU0WeiCGCctmzEh4yI_lLD1RMnGQ5jz4vE9Ta5EzyZKBXuC0HzrbTFw0gnagRfPMgMGzzDwwBYHQdnxPxUHLCDzIhTYlzjZEoo/s689/MDO+TRES+results+2020+Martha.JPG"><img border="0" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHQpf9ZLjhQJT0tVz43z-oyY-VI1bxjuLz9y98tF05LDU0WeiCGCctmzEh4yI_lLD1RMnGQ5jz4vE9Ta5EzyZKBXuC0HzrbTFw0gnagRfPMgMGzzDwwBYHQdnxPxUHLCDzIhTYlzjZEoo/w640-h486/MDO+TRES+results+2020+Martha.JPG" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRTb0P2TZDti4CvsRqo_YUr7yopVYzakho5ZGQgXQZWnVVx7y-o6SYJK3c_2kclwTUsFFxLN1t3fKXmuoYBTuOJW0DQsesfh6JN6msOfFrrgsQiL_xFBQez24WQw8W26cVgZ1GWO_JgnU/s986/MDO+TRES+2009_2020.jpg"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRTb0P2TZDti4CvsRqo_YUr7yopVYzakho5ZGQgXQZWnVVx7y-o6SYJK3c_2kclwTUsFFxLN1t3fKXmuoYBTuOJW0DQsesfh6JN6msOfFrrgsQiL_xFBQez24WQw8W26cVgZ1GWO_JgnU/w640-h152/MDO+TRES+2009_2020.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnnawAaC2CIrjyimZPr9fGuJ5bToOrA34DPCXeItVvCJ4nxTJ8SdVRGdpazZYvgE5-pYoJ1qxL4zu8PeMC6QkvzRDflj25qJblcenjmVkwgWKmbXcBddZtycjRIPWWwPvxERhVD3lHl_8/s1125/TRES+map+2020.jpg"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnnawAaC2CIrjyimZPr9fGuJ5bToOrA34DPCXeItVvCJ4nxTJ8SdVRGdpazZYvgE5-pYoJ1qxL4zu8PeMC6QkvzRDflj25qJblcenjmVkwgWKmbXcBddZtycjRIPWWwPvxERhVD3lHl_8/w478-h640/TRES+map+2020.jpg" width="478" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3qdlIa61h_4Oyz_Go-t4QqH7l_ldmSfX50wOBK5lv5X8OlGzkYqasHhISScMPusqc1i_trEjviSJIUzkoXcQ_W_UFIXDt4XrYKgBzMeaguqbIPJMQWUZEpli2iTcF4Am7-vinpmIRa34/s814/MDO+TRES+box+occupation+per+2020.JPG"><img border="0" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3qdlIa61h_4Oyz_Go-t4QqH7l_ldmSfX50wOBK5lv5X8OlGzkYqasHhISScMPusqc1i_trEjviSJIUzkoXcQ_W_UFIXDt4XrYKgBzMeaguqbIPJMQWUZEpli2iTcF4Am7-vinpmIRa34/w640-h420/MDO+TRES+box+occupation+per+2020.JPG" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><b>Notes on the 2020 breeding season:</b><div>- 16 nest boxes were available to the swallows. 4 were either gone or had become unuseable to the birds. 7 boxes currently are in such bad shape that these might not survive the coming winter. This would leave 9 boxes for the next breeding season. This is also the maximum number of occupied nest boxes (9, in 2013). Therefore, for proper continuation of the project, some replacement boxes will have to be installed.</div><div>- Instead of wood, nest boxes 18-20 were constructed from PVC planks. These have similar dimensions to the wooden ones, but are white on the inside. Thus far, these have never been used by the swallows. </div><div>- As far as potential predators go: a Peregrine Falcon got recorded on June 22, July 21 and July 22 (Ebird.org).</div><div> </div><div>Again, I thank Martha and Scott Hatch for their effort! <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDMaMDiS52PH3_XQ2A5Wtjh6XOQyGyTV-m40WTDphyphenhyphenkexB1gOUaju8dSP3YGzYMng4-jG4a0lKXLsiC28kriAGw01SYfRWgaA1F53n2dzmXSM0HU_17uW9-PuRVvE9t_mUw7ow75owOBw/s320/IMG_4839.JPG"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDMaMDiS52PH3_XQ2A5Wtjh6XOQyGyTV-m40WTDphyphenhyphenkexB1gOUaju8dSP3YGzYMng4-jG4a0lKXLsiC28kriAGw01SYfRWgaA1F53n2dzmXSM0HU_17uW9-PuRVvE9t_mUw7ow75owOBw/w480-h640/IMG_4839.JPG" width="480" /></a><br /><br /><a 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src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGvnk-253BsY2419Q1ozxm_HQtMM8YaTRmaTHJQ9ojCtPhzMlQY1jGX7bvCiRWPcSJubwSv1b_PIjt_6oN0PbhyGon6KMnYdguejharLznHPu3RtUST7-tEtF3MynoOiWOf0VLknsSKmA/w480-h640/IMG_4866.jpg" width="480" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpEfGRPSpIIabE62VpgtKpJKQZttOElanGUBvHDW82Vc0pqSlAhPfZkA8rNZWCBKVQfW1k9LoVknANwgDZrTMwD-4KXYmyguJnkBAX3nSTrYnGtYCJTzfxMI5Ag6589PG67wINsLkTcOQ/s320/IMG_4819.JPG"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpEfGRPSpIIabE62VpgtKpJKQZttOElanGUBvHDW82Vc0pqSlAhPfZkA8rNZWCBKVQfW1k9LoVknANwgDZrTMwD-4KXYmyguJnkBAX3nSTrYnGtYCJTzfxMI5Ag6589PG67wINsLkTcOQ/w480-h640/IMG_4819.JPG" width="480" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0uDyBTQxifOVmkzS_iGnPNJYRiC1IAKvCDYZSUo48Ra5EgSZhNjnhYEuraxHo1d-sinKlLZOlTS1gPCPujRNLEHLqZc6XH_cXw3hq4xOHu34hOlB7OUCUPWlcuEsSthKjIvPTZof34uM/s320/IMG_4822.jpg"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0uDyBTQxifOVmkzS_iGnPNJYRiC1IAKvCDYZSUo48Ra5EgSZhNjnhYEuraxHo1d-sinKlLZOlTS1gPCPujRNLEHLqZc6XH_cXw3hq4xOHu34hOlB7OUCUPWlcuEsSthKjIvPTZof34uM/w480-h640/IMG_4822.jpg" width="480" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCycVlpUWwGBh7hW2eiPOtXq1zZjVzZEGbv7y9hunnOenfHRmTF5QXTmuBq5UPIrWtODPyDUkmuHMsCunySH1AebXURApKT7nrSg0FH5xVN6v6AP-IMXoo2MN3WSM_v4MWWir_q7wyi0I/s320/IMG_4846.jpg"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCycVlpUWwGBh7hW2eiPOtXq1zZjVzZEGbv7y9hunnOenfHRmTF5QXTmuBq5UPIrWtODPyDUkmuHMsCunySH1AebXURApKT7nrSg0FH5xVN6v6AP-IMXoo2MN3WSM_v4MWWir_q7wyi0I/w480-h640/IMG_4846.jpg" width="480" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiUvuR-VIBV-VjNIRJQgRT2Web8RRW_WCaF7CbAGnJ8kSGnDLn-rzExnVL86uZadBMwkmMRZhUi4tTBlwV-0GlRzr0bE15SlfetKzHoWeo7LUq6vsn6vLOFMnzkbJcDdiBhuD_yuk9Wno/s320/IMG_4850.jpg"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiUvuR-VIBV-VjNIRJQgRT2Web8RRW_WCaF7CbAGnJ8kSGnDLn-rzExnVL86uZadBMwkmMRZhUi4tTBlwV-0GlRzr0bE15SlfetKzHoWeo7LUq6vsn6vLOFMnzkbJcDdiBhuD_yuk9Wno/w480-h640/IMG_4850.jpg" width="480" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSFBufZY3fM8st8fO0O2E_6GlOC-xq0bLbCslACFNsdZRgkEfKLuf0IEJP_W7mcPt2Ru81BbsiEum0EcNK0-4pCetupZCvY1aGGbarem2y_yb_ZVo3eiMXOEPqMQSoXSQ3CzNtsoNkzLw/s320/IMG_4835.jpg"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSFBufZY3fM8st8fO0O2E_6GlOC-xq0bLbCslACFNsdZRgkEfKLuf0IEJP_W7mcPt2Ru81BbsiEum0EcNK0-4pCetupZCvY1aGGbarem2y_yb_ZVo3eiMXOEPqMQSoXSQ3CzNtsoNkzLw/w640-h640/IMG_4835.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimB1sLFqJAJVCl8sLvkMikCbe6YySYLBQDZmEYqopjbFEBrF5axoU5wFIFpVxtMgrwSs-cKi6dujl2F1X9OXS6ElEyy0KyDRgM5TIYEzlZXf1bOTOo3FNxfRIotozR2y-ZjQwh1TYug3c/s320/IMG_4844.jpg"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimB1sLFqJAJVCl8sLvkMikCbe6YySYLBQDZmEYqopjbFEBrF5axoU5wFIFpVxtMgrwSs-cKi6dujl2F1X9OXS6ElEyy0KyDRgM5TIYEzlZXf1bOTOo3FNxfRIotozR2y-ZjQwh1TYug3c/w480-h640/IMG_4844.jpg" width="480" /></a><br /></div>Tim van Nushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03145810759803753643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715204300952742359.post-40324490147070547152020-04-26T03:26:00.000-07:002020-04-26T03:26:24.855-07:00The Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) on Middleton Island in 2019<div style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
2019 was the 11th year for the Tree Swallow (TRES) research project
out on the remote Middleton Island. Again, this summer the TRES-population did not get monitored during the breeding season, but thankfully Scott Hatch of the Institute for Seabird
Research and Conservation (ISRC) provided me with an overview of the nest boxes’
contents, as found on their annual inspection round after the
breeding season:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_PeP3NugttyWPT2sGxCnSeuqEMAIy_60N6xsM3UFZCU-3Tj77Q32Kd-uoaMw09SD__DcPDwFEdivz1d_SSw48RnMa9eo898zhW0BZA4AWHZNax_tkn9pBoU9vLiQP0VeZdu5kqKyMxGU/s1600/Results2019.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_PeP3NugttyWPT2sGxCnSeuqEMAIy_60N6xsM3UFZCU-3Tj77Q32Kd-uoaMw09SD__DcPDwFEdivz1d_SSw48RnMa9eo898zhW0BZA4AWHZNax_tkn9pBoU9vLiQP0VeZdu5kqKyMxGU/s640/Results2019.JPG" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Field map containing 2019's TRES results (ISRC). Middleton is approximately 7x2 km.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
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Based on this information I suspect that this year about 6 nesting pairs roamed the island, four of which laid eggs and produced one or more young.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1APJRI81qHMZOvQyP0pYATOS8GQ68-_nCYjDjhsSV_lCq1pDDWrxA-6s0X3-pzQ1vxHMnsyGLw_FNpU2KtZB-b8PRbHxB41HPExmxir2JNhQ7-Jag3I5QU9dbJXE6je1ElPdXk0ijl08/s1600/TRESmap2019.png"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1APJRI81qHMZOvQyP0pYATOS8GQ68-_nCYjDjhsSV_lCq1pDDWrxA-6s0X3-pzQ1vxHMnsyGLw_FNpU2KtZB-b8PRbHxB41HPExmxir2JNhQ7-Jag3I5QU9dbJXE6je1ElPdXk0ijl08/s640/TRESmap2019.png" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtBb01qni-q9fZwM3RHq80JgrlDBzGQcjchLWlR-hi1J3Imn5vjFgny0zB315X8yhedSyAgjK6pzl6mXXY95Ifwy3H3pnTuSBwwe4rOkgu1UWevpj6GUWg9bk7ADaBvdb3DbuKtIEycvY/s1600/TRES+2009_2019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="223" data-original-width="920" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtBb01qni-q9fZwM3RHq80JgrlDBzGQcjchLWlR-hi1J3Imn5vjFgny0zB315X8yhedSyAgjK6pzl6mXXY95Ifwy3H3pnTuSBwwe4rOkgu1UWevpj6GUWg9bk7ADaBvdb3DbuKtIEycvY/s640/TRES+2009_2019.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I took the time to organize box occupancy between 2009 - 2019...:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUicBvLRi5BTpLnXRf5kORZR5B6sROJQA0vK7W5ZLwY5Un9SpoeD7XfM7Taf-zl_ltEBsPJyOHwjemsH5vc9F8PcMG1ViNdDFJAAsx-y-4dM59SknRKL0ap-8sYHknvEKaZV30b0hzi9U/s1600/MDO_box_occupation_2009_2019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="669" height="502" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUicBvLRi5BTpLnXRf5kORZR5B6sROJQA0vK7W5ZLwY5Un9SpoeD7XfM7Taf-zl_ltEBsPJyOHwjemsH5vc9F8PcMG1ViNdDFJAAsx-y-4dM59SknRKL0ap-8sYHknvEKaZV30b0hzi9U/s640/MDO_box_occupation_2009_2019.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
Tim van Nushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03145810759803753643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715204300952742359.post-43020891488057394452018-09-06T06:41:00.000-07:002018-09-06T06:41:02.003-07:00The Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) on Middleton Island in 2018<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisbkfLmKcniejPGBxMxfDCH0W8qXTbgHfFXVLw1fWl9xmy3qSEdrM_HhfYHrQZ0azC7sP2av0rW1LSm81ekx2Y59qaXEBrGvgbA2DFJKUh1AkFgG2-YoqlltByqxLqdQifsjWm3Cp8EGE/s1600/DSC_7801.jpg"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisbkfLmKcniejPGBxMxfDCH0W8qXTbgHfFXVLw1fWl9xmy3qSEdrM_HhfYHrQZ0azC7sP2av0rW1LSm81ekx2Y59qaXEBrGvgbA2DFJKUh1AkFgG2-YoqlltByqxLqdQifsjWm3Cp8EGE/s640/DSC_7801.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br />2018 was the 10th year for the Tree Swallow nest box project out on the remote Middleton Island (for more information check the previous annual posts). Once again Martha Hatch was kind enough to inspect all 20 boxes shortly after the breeding season:<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCwL1uhRDg7hWHgfP6ezH9olLYozbJM8rIop4j_fhu1Sk64MQXXNs0gE3cRdDiRZVS2Qy6rIgAWKQ7hh5LUaItERmHp9SqxfIQdjPF9FngTnLczz0cpiufyOD-4iMg9mZeVYBnsyyK9RM/s1600/results+2018.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCwL1uhRDg7hWHgfP6ezH9olLYozbJM8rIop4j_fhu1Sk64MQXXNs0gE3cRdDiRZVS2Qy6rIgAWKQ7hh5LUaItERmHp9SqxfIQdjPF9FngTnLczz0cpiufyOD-4iMg9mZeVYBnsyyK9RM/s640/results+2018.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKAue831b1d3DhJ5hJhtFUwLiQ-hc4KYlT9-5jRJ5coiKMasLqnMRjYkfi_myTkHOn_kuaihFpD-MwxoObhUqyTGILuJs5AGs-3yte0gy8VqTNTPfCPDuDjVvFALEG_PuXpi_fHm1cdbA/s1600/MDO+TRES+2009_2018.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKAue831b1d3DhJ5hJhtFUwLiQ-hc4KYlT9-5jRJ5coiKMasLqnMRjYkfi_myTkHOn_kuaihFpD-MwxoObhUqyTGILuJs5AGs-3yte0gy8VqTNTPfCPDuDjVvFALEG_PuXpi_fHm1cdbA/s640/MDO+TRES+2009_2018.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo6390GKgxa8WUOESHrXNOGgYsMF8UvlO11QXMezZbGv_KIeBQpVAMymSPcIdsLMkeoN7zJX0oYgqeE6pYO-peZxmeIQ_IjS6v1Q2wfH3voW5QHhyz8Y3SM-pmzhWEe1cvJElakNOof3k/s1600/Map2018.png"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo6390GKgxa8WUOESHrXNOGgYsMF8UvlO11QXMezZbGv_KIeBQpVAMymSPcIdsLMkeoN7zJX0oYgqeE6pYO-peZxmeIQ_IjS6v1Q2wfH3voW5QHhyz8Y3SM-pmzhWEe1cvJElakNOof3k/s640/Map2018.png" /></a><br /><br />I thank the Hatch family and ISRC collaborators for keeping an eye out for these beautiful birds during their stay on Middleton, and Tony Rinaud for the photos included. <br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwLDvoLPLLtvMcvchws7DfLaSW-oqCzPR0wZD1LTub0KxQxyE73-uTQhCg5u9s0hJR4tsqUOLkqpK4M11iTKKPkom3ZDBp2F6_XLmT3h9g7ylWrDQhfcI8PpeJmxzPXOsf3SGWxhDlDxg/s1600/DSC_7800.jpg"><img border="0" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwLDvoLPLLtvMcvchws7DfLaSW-oqCzPR0wZD1LTub0KxQxyE73-uTQhCg5u9s0hJR4tsqUOLkqpK4M11iTKKPkom3ZDBp2F6_XLmT3h9g7ylWrDQhfcI8PpeJmxzPXOsf3SGWxhDlDxg/s640/DSC_7800.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><br />Let’s end this post with a text about the Tree Swallow on Middleton Island, copied and pasted from the very interesting publication BIRDS OF MIDDLETON ISLAND, A UNIQUE LANDFALL FOR MIGRANTS IN THE GULF OF ALASKA by Lucas H. DeCicco and others of the Fish and Wildlife Service and University of Alaska Museum (Western Birds, Volume 48, Number 4, 2017):<br /><br /> Tachycineta bicolor. Tree Swallow. Casual in fall, but local breeders remain into early Aug (e.g., 30+ from 31 Jul to 5 Aug 1983; PJG, DRN). One was notably late on 9 Sep 2012 (photos ML26887741 and 26887751, LHD, CWW) and the only one recorded after early Aug. The species’ occurrence as a migrant in late Jul and early Aug was difficult to assess because of its status as a local breeder. Uncommon in spring: Earliest dates 12 May (one, 2012; KHE) and 14 May (eight, 1981; DDG). Uncommon as a breeder in summer, when first reported nesting in “cavities in an old building” by Rausch (1958:237); nesting continued into the 2010s (TvN). As of spring 2009 the species had successfully bred in a small number of artificial nest boxes (TvN). Notes: Tree Swallows breed commonly in coastal s-c Alaska, typically departing there by mid-Aug (Isleib and Kessel 1973).Tim van Nushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03145810759803753643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715204300952742359.post-83512609926348779462017-09-28T06:57:00.000-07:002018-11-26T23:49:17.726-08:00The Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) on Middleton Island in 2017<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2rp5ckdWzs1OZ-gnkTVkvBtpx4KpQAa7iXUT0bpIbEVMKKgSPkQg64woJRY-zXIWvMTvjesQgyPePXjgQK7WulYcZ9b_-GUI9HEmGujk59X8QLzn7Q7ShjWIKPghQyQ1onnRVn_WTT18/s1600/treeswallow.jpg"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2rp5ckdWzs1OZ-gnkTVkvBtpx4KpQAa7iXUT0bpIbEVMKKgSPkQg64woJRY-zXIWvMTvjesQgyPePXjgQK7WulYcZ9b_-GUI9HEmGujk59X8QLzn7Q7ShjWIKPghQyQ1onnRVn_WTT18/s400/treeswallow.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />
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2017 was the ninth year for the Tree Swallow (TRES) research project out on the small (8x2km) and remote Middleton Island, located in the Gulf of Alaska (59°26′59″N 146°18′26″W). It’s one of the most isolated breeding populations and research sites (that’s thus far assumed to be largely predator free) for a beautiful bird that is considered a ‘model species’ in science. This year the Institute for Seabird Research and Conservation (ISRC) provided information on the TRES breeding season after a single nest box inspection (and cleanout) after the breeding season, of the 20 boxes currently present on the island. No in-depth study on their breeding biology this summer, but basic data on box occupancy and an indication for reproduction in 2017 instead. Some additional info and photos came from ISRC 2017 crew members. On 19 September Scott and Martha Hatch recorded the following nest box contents: <br />
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1. nothing<br />
2. nothing<br />
3. nothing<br />
4. complete feather-lined nest with feces<br />
5. nothing<br />
6. complete feather-lined nest (feces?)<br />
7. complete feather-lined nest with feces<br />
8. complete nest with 3 dead, nearly fledged chicks<br />
9. large straw nest base but no feather lining<br />
10. nothing<br />
11. complete nest with 5 dead, nearly fledged chicks<br />
12. nothing<br />
13. nothing<br />
14. complete nest with 1 unhatched egg, also feces<br />
15. nothing<br />
16. nothing<br />
17. nothing<br />
18. nothing<br />
19. nothing<br />
20. nothing<br />
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(Complete nests with feces are expected to have resulted in fledged young)<br />
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Besides these data, I received four photos and some opportunistically noted observations of the birds around their boxes, in particular box 7 (the one facing the FAA weather camera), from which chicks fledged, which seemed to get visited by a TRES as late as July 17 (also the last recorded sighting of a TRES that I received).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixeepoJ2xz9H9BM-pxlAxQmfy2Z-8AZhvFwfRv36w3jSKD48ny2L1VxPeseHUmoxX93-FZDKJRVsXO6glVSBm4oHqnRzcXqj-3aqsiVspcuZF5DgliV0qAchPIdbXUM3SeVZ9D8skxtxc/s1600/MDO+TRES+2009+2017.JPG"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixeepoJ2xz9H9BM-pxlAxQmfy2Z-8AZhvFwfRv36w3jSKD48ny2L1VxPeseHUmoxX93-FZDKJRVsXO6glVSBm4oHqnRzcXqj-3aqsiVspcuZF5DgliV0qAchPIdbXUM3SeVZ9D8skxtxc/s640/MDO+TRES+2009+2017.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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Another year added... (By the way, after analyzing the data again and for accuracy I adjusted the number of occupied boxes for 2013 from 10 to 9 (not counting a few straws as an occupied box anymore)).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc948EmXrC2vCsA81IRU1vnpoW74_xqcnFfRC2aqjCggkBHM5hD3mbg4NsJCalzmVEzcRjSNiq-Xui6IC00phVg3AgQHn5nHiCGbK9jT7Zi674WRiYRyzBwEweMHRYd3J_sMg1IYLtK8o/s1600/TRES+map+2017.jpg"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc948EmXrC2vCsA81IRU1vnpoW74_xqcnFfRC2aqjCggkBHM5hD3mbg4NsJCalzmVEzcRjSNiq-Xui6IC00phVg3AgQHn5nHiCGbK9jT7Zi674WRiYRyzBwEweMHRYd3J_sMg1IYLtK8o/s640/TRES+map+2017.jpg" width="476" /></a><br />
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Distribition of occupied nest boxes in which eggs were laid in 2017.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYO329gd0zwR-Pcy57jdJYbX1ghzac-Vgf67K1dnExt4Mknj0n2K254W-2gH0Z2cD9sRhzAw3LcNiJpnmFEqcEc3061LlelFFAsWJu-L4EcuoiKJ-VSw-UoAE2io2_tZa7Ca_6IqHmnOI/s1600/11564-150635168538525755.jpg"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYO329gd0zwR-Pcy57jdJYbX1ghzac-Vgf67K1dnExt4Mknj0n2K254W-2gH0Z2cD9sRhzAw3LcNiJpnmFEqcEc3061LlelFFAsWJu-L4EcuoiKJ-VSw-UoAE2io2_tZa7Ca_6IqHmnOI/s640/11564-150635168538525755.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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The FAA weather camera (http://avcams.faa.gov/) was offline throughout most of the summer, due to the installation of a new camera and further maintenance, but it’s up and running agian now and box # 7 is still visible.<br />
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<b>Discussion (& some serious speculation...)</b><br />
2017 was a relatively good year as far as the number of nesting TRES pairs goes. Total reproduction remains unknown, but was likely relatively low due to chick mortality occurring shortly before fledging. During the previous years of the project chick mortality has been low and dead TRES chicks were a rare sight, at least for me. The thought that came to mind among some was that perhaps a predator had been picking off the adults this summer, cutting off food supply to their young. Has predation become an issue for the largely predator free population? ISRC crew members observed a Peregrine Falcon <i>Falco peregrinus</i>, the first predator that would come to mind, on the island but only in May. Additionally, I suspect that an adult TRES would not be an easy prey for a falcon, while around the same time the island would be full with other, more easy prey types (i.e. young sparrows, snipe?) (But Peregrines will lose many larger prey items to the Bald Eagles<i> Haliaeetus leucocephalus</i> there, perhaps the reason they're not nesting there, and this could increase predation risk for the TRES(??)). But no Peregrine was seen in June and July, when the swallows have young.<br />
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Previously, on Middleton chick mortality only had a significant influence on reproduction in 2012. The chicks involved that year were also large and close to fledging. Bad weather (cutting off the adults from their food supply) was the obvious cause that year. When looking at the historic climatic data for 2017, the end of June/first half of July appears to be a good period for TRES (<a href="http://rp5.md/Weather_archive_in_Middleton_Island_%28airport%29">http://rp5.md/Weather_archive_in_Middleton_Island_%28airport%29</a>) Unfortunately data from this on site weather station appears to be incomplete again and therefore unreliable). The only significant change to bad weather seemed to occur around July 14 - 18 (complete days missing here), but it's the type of weather that I would expect to kill TRES chicks. During my stays, however, TRES chicks fledged by the end of June/first half of July, so were these boxes still occupied by the time real bad weather appeared? Perhaps they were, since the last sighting of a TRES made by the 2017 crew was on July 17, of a bird exiting box # 7. On Middleton, the TRES do not appear to visit their boxes after fledging (and box 7 resulted in fledged chicks). And when looking at the historical data of this project, first eggs can be laid as late as June (June 2, in 2012), which could indicate that boxes can still contain chicks during the second half of July. So, with only little data to support this wild speculation, 2017 was also a late breeding season. It would be interesting to compare these thoughts on the TRES breeding season again with whatever happened at Long Lake (the nearest TRES study site in Southeast Alaska) this summer, but unfortunately I don't seem to be able to get in touch with the responsible there.<br />
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Update 10-25: here's what Chris Gates (<a href="http://www.treeswallowprojects.com/">www.treeswallowprojects.com</a>) wrote me:<br />
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Hi Tim,<br />
<br />
Thanks for Middleton update. It's always nice to hear some of these hardy birds made it to the island and nested successfully. I put some of your information about the blog and links to it on the facebook group Tree Swallows, so others here in the US can learn of your efforts.<br />
<br />
I do have a comment regarding the possibility of predation on TRES by peregrines and other falcons. In eastern North America TRES form very large flocks after nesting, which usually stage for the summer months in and around large marshes. By late summer and autumn the flocks begin to migrate south with heavy concentrations along the Atlantic shore. Here, the swallow flocks are followed by falcons, peregrines and especially merlins, which apparently take them with relative ease. I've attached a photo of a merlin "packing a lunch." Although the swallow in the photo is an adult I expect hatch-year swallows are heavily targeted. Also, in one of my favorite books, "Curious Naturalists," Niko Tinbergen describes behaviors of hobbies hunting swallows along the North Sea coast. So I guess if peregrines or merlins happened to summer at Middleton some year they could be potential predators of both tree and bank swallows there.<br />
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Regards, and thanks again,<br />
<br />
Chris gates <br />
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(I've seen Merlins there regularly in spring, but never in summer. I recall installing two artificial stick-nests for the species in 2006, hoping to attrack a pair...) </div>
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_EHfuU1fVoPEOoCi-3LUQGHeGCPY_noGGP1mfYPl_Us9v6wKZDqXtxGX9j9WB7RR_bzYkAh_HSAwJAJ4MGyWQZRplbmS4eKFrenSfy8eATfyjone_X2KE69pp-FbMTTYje_HwCUyuHIY/s640/MerlinTRESWood.jpg" /><br />
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A Merlin taking a TRES... (photo supplied by Chris Gates)</div>
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<b>Update 2: Alexandra Rose informed me 2017 was the latest breeding season she's seen in 12 years of TRES monitoring at Long Lake...</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja9LTzS33T-mJ0HdxPywQ0Yort-kOLMTlHZTDdrj-3DTJ0Wm8C6iPc-R31OWVCngkWB1OuY4D7UK8vdw57GgS0lUTd7P2dZskVXIf_pTTbcZiKJwjY5f5gIS1pHcVEdqnZGj0m7aLwugg/s1600/treeswallow1.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja9LTzS33T-mJ0HdxPywQ0Yort-kOLMTlHZTDdrj-3DTJ0Wm8C6iPc-R31OWVCngkWB1OuY4D7UK8vdw57GgS0lUTd7P2dZskVXIf_pTTbcZiKJwjY5f5gIS1pHcVEdqnZGj0m7aLwugg/s640/treeswallow1.jpg" /></a><br />
<br />
A big thank you to Scott and Martha Hatch for their participation in the project, as well as to the 2017 crew members supplying some additional information and these photos of the 2017 MDO TRES breeding season!!</div>
Tim van Nushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03145810759803753643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715204300952742359.post-80588892560310452462016-10-10T11:42:00.000-07:002016-10-10T11:42:19.668-07:00The Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) on Middleton Island in 2016<img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBH3V42BfNs2Lf_zNvjqKvo7TQw9jfhXfeCIkOLOJt3A-mvZz-cAivXW2v9WIkLSXkgn8crhnA7vIkWyJw3TOQhGShq8YAWx9oIZEmmAu04Q9T42ALPY16WDIZkNa2VrQDnBmszbVEC_I/s640/IMG_1640.JPG" width="480" /><br /><br />2016 was the eighth year of the Tree Swallow (TRES) nest box project out on the small (8x2km) and remote Middleton Island, located in the Gulf of Alaska. It provides housing to one of the most isolated TRES breeding populations of North America. I myself had the privilege to monitor them this summer, during a stay on Middleton between May 15 – July 15, covering most of the TRES breeding season.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimxakr9bAMwzfzctwwKTdS4mNXjZcdQHlFG7XkIaVKFPl_7t0-tMvV7Uw-8nkvgZSd-W0p0bpZJaLkpe0VS9ydTX1Ka7hS6qqTc8OKZIxf8klU4W3JhnU1weZGzSyHTiOYkvPJVbEFXQk/s1600/IMG_1181.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimxakr9bAMwzfzctwwKTdS4mNXjZcdQHlFG7XkIaVKFPl_7t0-tMvV7Uw-8nkvgZSd-W0p0bpZJaLkpe0VS9ydTX1Ka7hS6qqTc8OKZIxf8klU4W3JhnU1weZGzSyHTiOYkvPJVbEFXQk/s640/IMG_1181.JPG" width="640" /></a><br /><br />The first TRES for 2016 was seen shortly before my arrival on May 14 (by employees of Alaska Fish & Game), at the central cluster of boxes near the Military pond. During a first round of nest box checks on May 22, it appeared that three pairs occupied three boxes, all containing nests (one unfinished and two finished)…<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcFpR_XmbhTtoxA-aAsZ9NIfPMTYBd3F9OGRiB8IHxSmeobVaLur1D-AYF9T0pHWyWx9QJ048s3N4yfxZ5Ngm0WTPxT2TgaipHQa5eWMMyw6MamUz8-4Pwo3lx5fgApvnMOFrHzNrO4AY/s1600/IMG_1658.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcFpR_XmbhTtoxA-aAsZ9NIfPMTYBd3F9OGRiB8IHxSmeobVaLur1D-AYF9T0pHWyWx9QJ048s3N4yfxZ5Ngm0WTPxT2TgaipHQa5eWMMyw6MamUz8-4Pwo3lx5fgApvnMOFrHzNrO4AY/s640/IMG_1658.JPG" width="640" /></a><br /><br />… and in box 6 also the first eggs for the season (a single 3-egg clutch). Back calculating (with a rate of one egg laid per day, usually laid in the AM) this would mean a first laying date of May 20. These 3 nests resulted in 3 clutches, all containing 6 eggs. Clutches in box 8 and 11 were initiated on May 25 and 29 respectively.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEAb9hgVuF8KQ7Wg5qOY5r6ouxN5LF9n9eTgfYEzK_8cqMENCOcwPkQzQ2fGWv_KXdX2vuRiKoLr-zGuLFXvUJyFfJgLFfisyyjh97yZumT6PQk51zwCpfX6bR-PZ_uJSVVR4Q2PYzgf4/s1600/IMG_1645.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEAb9hgVuF8KQ7Wg5qOY5r6ouxN5LF9n9eTgfYEzK_8cqMENCOcwPkQzQ2fGWv_KXdX2vuRiKoLr-zGuLFXvUJyFfJgLFfisyyjh97yZumT6PQk51zwCpfX6bR-PZ_uJSVVR4Q2PYzgf4/s640/IMG_1645.JPG" width="640" /></a><br /><br />All of these eggs hatched the following weeks…<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrSsDsEFG6SJMnGW9xr5iUrFdVxCfoGPSxH_nj7Tbf8DMSu63uN4atsts9t0CMrGk-bdRqh3X8CNOhOtF5zbZUYZVj1Vhzy9I845Fus7sRmJcFCnZCm78GAnepfnld5gqpq2lCMrWZdJs/s1600/IMG_1863.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrSsDsEFG6SJMnGW9xr5iUrFdVxCfoGPSxH_nj7Tbf8DMSu63uN4atsts9t0CMrGk-bdRqh3X8CNOhOtF5zbZUYZVj1Vhzy9I845Fus7sRmJcFCnZCm78GAnepfnld5gqpq2lCMrWZdJs/s640/IMG_1863.JPG" width="640" /></a><br /><br />… allowing to have banding of 18 circa 12 day old TRES-chicks take place between June 18 – 27... <br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOdODdQln6SGGCST1DLv6cLhJq51-eGZoikTnN6xxJIcjWgC-VQvy57AYMLhsc91yT1L6uy5UqjQOyJVjDCSH2sATLuuWReifsdFXuLsbTpPZRuBRD3vWPTkLifs4sC-H9-Oi7WeZN29k/s1600/IMG_1938.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOdODdQln6SGGCST1DLv6cLhJq51-eGZoikTnN6xxJIcjWgC-VQvy57AYMLhsc91yT1L6uy5UqjQOyJVjDCSH2sATLuuWReifsdFXuLsbTpPZRuBRD3vWPTkLifs4sC-H9-Oi7WeZN29k/s640/IMG_1938.JPG" width="640" /></a><br /><br />...under the watchful eyes of their parents, which during the operation found their entrance hole blocked by paper tissue. All 18 chicks fledged by the end of June/first half of July.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAyXS8otMWeAlmEKrWwwNxu9nOo8OkGHZzoWBgf-mRm60VRa7CgYBZHHD6ySpg2RxolisZgtbAUtwrc1MZ8kR47oZ702wz3UQf5r8Lc4kEMqoRyAWXY4_kLPWJrahfWjsesxPgditA0Os/s1600/IMG_1649.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAyXS8otMWeAlmEKrWwwNxu9nOo8OkGHZzoWBgf-mRm60VRa7CgYBZHHD6ySpg2RxolisZgtbAUtwrc1MZ8kR47oZ702wz3UQf5r8Lc4kEMqoRyAWXY4_kLPWJrahfWjsesxPgditA0Os/s640/IMG_1649.JPG" width="640" /></a><br /><br />But things didn’t go this easy for all TRES on the island. An additional number of lonely males (probably 3 - 4) occupied single or clusters of nest boxes. These birds spent most of their days perched on top of their box in the hopes of attracting a partner for the season. The male on the photo above occupied the northern box cluster. It must have gotten quite desperate, as it was observed displaying towards Bank Swallows on a few occasions during the second half of June. The opening photo of this post shows a male that spent most of its summer on top of box 7 (facing the FAA weather camera). It never found a mate, but none the less brought a 5 cm thick layer of white gull feathers into the box (which I don't record as nest). Other places where a lonely male was seen regularly were box 13 and the southern cluster (boxes 15 - 17).<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWDia3VuBcee7x6V2h9ITGzSoEAp9zSja9aiN2x9iN8_IIgIhC5QWxoS4_lGrzmK9iCvCUkv9ynTj2ku-IsOouutWNJQF9BxcHL86SruKBzBXBs2zg3y3tdQ9WYB-kHXPNArM97wyMyZY/s1600/IMG_1855.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWDia3VuBcee7x6V2h9ITGzSoEAp9zSja9aiN2x9iN8_IIgIhC5QWxoS4_lGrzmK9iCvCUkv9ynTj2ku-IsOouutWNJQF9BxcHL86SruKBzBXBs2zg3y3tdQ9WYB-kHXPNArM97wyMyZY/s640/IMG_1855.JPG" width="640" /></a><br /><br />The late appearance of a second calendar year female on the island, first recorded together with a male around box 14 on June 8 (not known to be occupied before that date), must have caused excitement among the lonely males on the island. The two birds would make up Middleton’s fourth and final nesting pair for 2016. On June 9 this female copulated on the box, which on that day contained some feathers as nest material. On June 16 their nests was finished, but instead of them, a total of 4 very noisy birds (including 3 adults and 1 2cy female, photo above) got recorded, harassing each other around the box. On June 20 the nest contained 3 eggs (first laying date: June 18), but the two birds present appeared to both be adults… When on June 27 3 cold eggs and no birds get recorded in or around box 14, the breeding attempt had apparently failed.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9mJ3EId1ukruWFA5sdB8rnKfAjSM29XwVv8DsQ7Mynq2PV-QSejlUcqeEnXQiW89TUW2jnJwVBFZjZYczeNqb9RkgsM_He4w1NmfWOY9TXfYA10d57rxAejNCHjASsI-_z9sL4M4rJzY/s1600/IMG_2323.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9mJ3EId1ukruWFA5sdB8rnKfAjSM29XwVv8DsQ7Mynq2PV-QSejlUcqeEnXQiW89TUW2jnJwVBFZjZYczeNqb9RkgsM_He4w1NmfWOY9TXfYA10d57rxAejNCHjASsI-_z9sL4M4rJzY/s640/IMG_2323.JPG" width="640" /></a><br /><br />What exactly made the pair from box 14 fail remains unknown, but when on July 8 the unoccupied box 15 (located 2 km from box 14) was opened for maintenance, the decomposing remains of an non-banded second calendar year (born in 2015) female TRES were found (thanks to Chris Gates for confirming the ID). Since this box hadn’t been opened since June 16, a time of death remains hard to determine, but the state of decomposition indicated that ‘weeks’ seems more likely than days, making it reasonable to assume that this was the young female from box 14 (last seen on June 16). Were it the lonely male TRES that harassed her to death?<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfLUETrnhaPTTVJUJH9nmxSh0IWkMQu75sK6xcLduCRGa1nI2wXmJqaA260U_r2NAQ5sjJF0wYsqpAatFJjvwvbxGTXG80jEr5L83J0tivseGiuP3-ALaM7oUjDsgmvPohEGv0BrCvPCM/s1600/Table.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfLUETrnhaPTTVJUJH9nmxSh0IWkMQu75sK6xcLduCRGa1nI2wXmJqaA260U_r2NAQ5sjJF0wYsqpAatFJjvwvbxGTXG80jEr5L83J0tivseGiuP3-ALaM7oUjDsgmvPohEGv0BrCvPCM/s640/Table.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRR-bUUkWuFZturYlZK_ltOxqeJIZtGYRUhARmndfcpK9xYYSrhCoVdysL8L-HuJ_MYURgoagKuyQ6HDU3_voMzgIUVkJGQD5jIjAQymkOxJyjryyr0whDR7_2RPDStyvGnXzG5fv90Is/s1600/IMG_1892.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRR-bUUkWuFZturYlZK_ltOxqeJIZtGYRUhARmndfcpK9xYYSrhCoVdysL8L-HuJ_MYURgoagKuyQ6HDU3_voMzgIUVkJGQD5jIjAQymkOxJyjryyr0whDR7_2RPDStyvGnXzG5fv90Is/s640/IMG_1892.JPG" width="640" /></a><br /><br />Bank Swallows <i>Riparia riparia</i> were abundant breeders this summer. In 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010 I counted the total number of nest holes, resulting in a varying amount per year (112, 48, 65 and 106, respectively). This summer a total of 203 holes was counted! In 1956 Robert Rausch recorded the species for a first time, with only a few pairs.<br />And many young Bank Swallows fledged this summer, which would often hang out together with the young TRES, making it very difficult to catch a glimpse of the young TRES in a brown mass of young swallows. I believe that among the swallows on this stick above the Military pond there´s at least a few young TRES… (or maybe all are?).<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8nMM1_t_x_-cpF03Dq-Z8cnEaok5vjz8o4xLEHf1RF4HRz87X1bTXZvAUPIQzLejkRYCls19GCxQdBwEHtS_Z6nij4PWOf5yFOXL1k0nBNZl2QEavTDEGPoOPyf87G9hQ6OVbho2gjRQ/s1600/IMG_2341.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8nMM1_t_x_-cpF03Dq-Z8cnEaok5vjz8o4xLEHf1RF4HRz87X1bTXZvAUPIQzLejkRYCls19GCxQdBwEHtS_Z6nij4PWOf5yFOXL1k0nBNZl2QEavTDEGPoOPyf87G9hQ6OVbho2gjRQ/s640/IMG_2341.JPG" width="640" /></a><br /><br />The 17 nest boxes withstood the 7 – 8 years of exposure to the Gulf’s extreme weather conditions quite well. But the scheduled maintenance of the project’s hardware took up an unexpected large amount of time. In the end all boxes got a fresh layer of paint, but two needed to be replaced, one repaired... <br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIWptO48v8_42FaVJMScxQJkkj4ywt-rYOJzIIm26fcwkEXiFvS7QWcHpi7rSvNLPLleRqz7q-m0-XTLHfHUuLoNEO1z-bmPAsyLVMXJRtfK931LsHZ2illvWfJ2Oou3PU9yKsEwwkgpk/s1600/IMG_1141.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIWptO48v8_42FaVJMScxQJkkj4ywt-rYOJzIIm26fcwkEXiFvS7QWcHpi7rSvNLPLleRqz7q-m0-XTLHfHUuLoNEO1z-bmPAsyLVMXJRtfK931LsHZ2illvWfJ2Oou3PU9yKsEwwkgpk/s640/IMG_1141.JPG" width="640" /></a><br /><br />…and several had to be provided with a new swallow perch (a bended metal pipe at the top), also a measure to keep eagles and gulls away from the boxes. In the absence of this device, this Glaucous-winged Gull <i>Larus glaucescens</i> managed to put its feet on wet paint… <br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOY2GeO-1tkJii4NMz4vbuQUqF7wamj2I8Bgn4Hd8HO1cUpEZPRJOvQ-hsZGmbYcp0leBi0j-31eWjnuD5T_A4vR8Ne6Jj7piTsrEvcpMMjXOMPoQ7874d7e-psUU-gSTMEGvbttn-S5k/s1600/IMG_2342.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOY2GeO-1tkJii4NMz4vbuQUqF7wamj2I8Bgn4Hd8HO1cUpEZPRJOvQ-hsZGmbYcp0leBi0j-31eWjnuD5T_A4vR8Ne6Jj7piTsrEvcpMMjXOMPoQ7874d7e-psUU-gSTMEGvbttn-S5k/s640/IMG_2342.JPG" width="640" /></a><br /><br />Three new boxes were added to the project this summer, including this one along the Dump Road, making a total of 20 nest boxes currently present on the island. As a tryout, two of these were constructed from white PVC planks, in order to see whether this material suits the TRES needs, and if it has a longer life span than wood. I thank Scott Hatch (ISRC) for providing the materials for this project!<div>
<br /><br /><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqelZsL-7EUIlJjJLDPxMR278VvBAgTpExVCSmp0hKALW0WDG_DEl4YX7ck7gu2x3S4PMHBS4cfa4RIEcngapBKE012yHEvslv5OYdRIAcHN5XB9YbLiTYP-FUWeD6WpTvAgGxBi76wGw/s640/TRESmap2016.jpg" width="478" /><br /><br />A new map of the new situation, and the boxes used by the four breeding pairs in 2016’s. Boxes 18 – 20 were placed later in the breeding season and were therefore not available to the birds.<br /><br />Now it's all set up and ready for a new season…</div>
Tim van Nushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03145810759803753643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715204300952742359.post-73766722519102565562016-08-26T08:52:00.000-07:002016-08-27T11:46:38.464-07:00On my own behalf: Middleton Island, Gulf of Alaska (May 15 - July 15, 2016)I recently spent some time on Middleton Island, a small (2x8km) and remote island in the Gulf of Alaska, in order to take care of some unfinished bussiness. It all went fairly well. This post contains an almost random selection of photos taken during my stay, as well as some words that touch the subjects of my work only slightly. More will come out eventually, but will need to be published on paper first…<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9YOMNcWCvWawQS7bvo_8TYQ-RXwkm5fa3r19-ZqkMgVJNtIIMrO9ZV4q290WY7NZj4b6SErI4Rt8VdNYzLbed04npVgh6SOY1PYfpPNovODvvhmlgbkDDxFwdj5wcQifCgLVRCAraTmG2/s1600/IMG_1007.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9YOMNcWCvWawQS7bvo_8TYQ-RXwkm5fa3r19-ZqkMgVJNtIIMrO9ZV4q290WY7NZj4b6SErI4Rt8VdNYzLbed04npVgh6SOY1PYfpPNovODvvhmlgbkDDxFwdj5wcQifCgLVRCAraTmG2/s640/IMG_1007.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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59°29’N, 146°28’W is our destination…<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY2IG2eZRUzhBHguUymrgFhgnPvPFko2LMhUWX5J3svjuOgAomKEGkfhrr0PlDt3QmCYQrNPkqnfwvf9DJQdUfbXlZ8oEbBq2IGvbG8TzInWUUQNwv0RVrppM7x_5nNBZoTww7ja8vggg8/s1600/IMG_1239.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY2IG2eZRUzhBHguUymrgFhgnPvPFko2LMhUWX5J3svjuOgAomKEGkfhrr0PlDt3QmCYQrNPkqnfwvf9DJQdUfbXlZ8oEbBq2IGvbG8TzInWUUQNwv0RVrppM7x_5nNBZoTww7ja8vggg8/s640/IMG_1239.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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The northern airstrip, facing south.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVAkDVUtbGbx-bDntNI8BEIrSkNkEXsbRBX6hQ3BFvL1PbVSpbWDfDLws4xO2NHHtqMaovdKIS_bR192YVFKJBrYnsSP3v4r4NjDMoB3I4J1ydQnXmiiNEessjYfabA9B28iWSB92c8ToP/s1600/IMG_1056.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVAkDVUtbGbx-bDntNI8BEIrSkNkEXsbRBX6hQ3BFvL1PbVSpbWDfDLws4xO2NHHtqMaovdKIS_bR192YVFKJBrYnsSP3v4r4NjDMoB3I4J1ydQnXmiiNEessjYfabA9B28iWSB92c8ToP/s640/IMG_1056.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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Sealions (mainly Northern Sea Lions <i>Eumetopias jubatus</i> and fewer California Sea Lions <i>Zalophus californianus</i> got recorded during my stay) made a comeback to the island a few years ago. Well, they try to make one, but regular human disturbance was likely the reason for them to abandon the north spit this summer and hang out on some smaller rocks offshore. This photo was taken during my single visit to the potential rookery, from larger distance than what was kept by most other island visitors… (perhaps time for some regulation here?)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzyGy66TNVP_mYrKL7XBChHn7iVaBU2Ngst4svcoqyfpC2cv1Jua38o6iQwkBO9RT9fCBF6hrGvsrMSsB5GPzB9j5FYDCPYpIlrAo4lhBPOG160iTYtR4rSnEAMWhIkvu4-QajVmvqu50h/s1600/IMG_1110.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzyGy66TNVP_mYrKL7XBChHn7iVaBU2Ngst4svcoqyfpC2cv1Jua38o6iQwkBO9RT9fCBF6hrGvsrMSsB5GPzB9j5FYDCPYpIlrAo4lhBPOG160iTYtR4rSnEAMWhIkvu4-QajVmvqu50h/s640/IMG_1110.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmLDD8DNyc-ZGZ2UFFGqkVuIkOisiW9DF28xWPm2ZcnuWMfk8yNax2Kvlg0s0SOLzQZAaN4MwJia4U5JeAR8OE-0M7UEvW34GayEfDigisSNd3txL491E2qD-nTl25pvQM5amCh4hKhUap/s1600/IMG_1101.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmLDD8DNyc-ZGZ2UFFGqkVuIkOisiW9DF28xWPm2ZcnuWMfk8yNax2Kvlg0s0SOLzQZAaN4MwJia4U5JeAR8OE-0M7UEvW34GayEfDigisSNd3txL491E2qD-nTl25pvQM5amCh4hKhUap/s640/IMG_1101.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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The cliffs and slopes continue to erode. The past few years several landslides occurred, one of which took this large Red-berried Elder <i>Sambucus racemosa</i> (a well-known specimen for the older generation of seabird researchers, it was the one in use as boundry marker during counts) from the cliff at the south end and deposited it in the current lowland, where it was found flowering.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKrfKYwr6ellMtxm6HU0b_ULya1Hqzo2KWCVvuGiydjw8Dumur0tkkDDR09z89PKZAwk0jW2R_U2dJ4V2TadME06VFqB2G5WRYXrkZd_MIOl2zzmNsGSlp0w9y7w69myx6fXeqnfV6MfNK/s1600/IMG_1170.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKrfKYwr6ellMtxm6HU0b_ULya1Hqzo2KWCVvuGiydjw8Dumur0tkkDDR09z89PKZAwk0jW2R_U2dJ4V2TadME06VFqB2G5WRYXrkZd_MIOl2zzmNsGSlp0w9y7w69myx6fXeqnfV6MfNK/s640/IMG_1170.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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Most of Middleton’s largest Sitka Spruces <i>Picea sitchensis</i> appeared to be in poor condition. The oldest generation (now around 120 years old) are decaying and regeneration did not seem to occur within the past years. The monumental tree at the FAA headquarters blew over last winter, but its currently being held up by ropes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY57dYxwz3_uqSBmqdW3EB_5Hg1rOhOgfn66mJMWTAnhM8xna1JfgV5FybDFHiEYdVqP7A8nA_3Boq2hSbk2xu3h4IkT28fvHaVvjdxOVp4uL4Ll1Ek-jJQHvqJxlcm1NghXEjC9mh0uip/s1600/IMG_2271.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY57dYxwz3_uqSBmqdW3EB_5Hg1rOhOgfn66mJMWTAnhM8xna1JfgV5FybDFHiEYdVqP7A8nA_3Boq2hSbk2xu3h4IkT28fvHaVvjdxOVp4uL4Ll1Ek-jJQHvqJxlcm1NghXEjC9mh0uip/s640/IMG_2271.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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The island’s Bald Eagle <i>Haliaeetus leucocephalus</i> population was booming; no fewer than seven pairs nested (six was the previous record). The platform pair raised three chicks this summer, while the NEXRAD radar on the left underwent major renovation. The first eagle pair nested on Middleton in the mid 1980's.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDU0B4acyKusg-zQ1nIO6NUEyamazFTjd3DJF4Vac-meEB0RNqMfDe0gTpnp_CRE6rbk9gDEydXkNLMzmq5cS4wQekxVQXhmIKRe0nvj5qim20bqXgkw3ccFgDUczSZQBDsWQbjUk2-3wY/s1600/IMG_1780.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDU0B4acyKusg-zQ1nIO6NUEyamazFTjd3DJF4Vac-meEB0RNqMfDe0gTpnp_CRE6rbk9gDEydXkNLMzmq5cS4wQekxVQXhmIKRe0nvj5qim20bqXgkw3ccFgDUczSZQBDsWQbjUk2-3wY/s640/IMG_1780.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd9nDP18Og94rF3fflkERn8XBz1_teVqiFpBK8z913WxPvf57shg9Ha6HE4g3FkFE3WrhWv5I-dOpNausO5yQpJjhdQFk09gXf3nVJ5ik7XPMWhewQYxE1pd4tc44KB6-fOvrsBYjuefyx/s1600/IMG_1773.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd9nDP18Og94rF3fflkERn8XBz1_teVqiFpBK8z913WxPvf57shg9Ha6HE4g3FkFE3WrhWv5I-dOpNausO5yQpJjhdQFk09gXf3nVJ5ik7XPMWhewQYxE1pd4tc44KB6-fOvrsBYjuefyx/s640/IMG_1773.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz4OOn_DU1eUVAWcUkhoq-ztZr9l1NEiF7lckibyMrkrQ7bRGRyCVzQXc8nmnCRd9P_-ceROb2sj8bcPmk6Hs2RUDbyme07sNSSizkQZDLLP1wNy8GlvS6nzfC6Gwg_5Fogo__j2UnUPCy/s1600/IMG_1298.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz4OOn_DU1eUVAWcUkhoq-ztZr9l1NEiF7lckibyMrkrQ7bRGRyCVzQXc8nmnCRd9P_-ceROb2sj8bcPmk6Hs2RUDbyme07sNSSizkQZDLLP1wNy8GlvS6nzfC6Gwg_5Fogo__j2UnUPCy/s640/IMG_1298.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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As usual, a few immature eagles remained on the island this summer, often harassing the kittiwakes in the former A.C.&W. station. There seems to be some movement among these birds, as some left and new ones appeared in the middle of the summer. I found one flying many miles offshore west of the island, eventually arriving to the island's north end. During the last days of June an adult bird arrived which was later seen battling with several of the breeding birds regularly, as it was trying to fight its way in the population.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUy7Edvudejant543GvB19dZwWN0t9Y1u2vnp9_OXhPe5bu99eL2w_GthLReB6xbQk9iBAQX4-WaTScgM4gmMgRt8CtewO_2qpWtAm8QE2KnN_aP3imYVvlneMx91X7KOG7v_wsuTbk1Hs/s1600/IMG_1614.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUy7Edvudejant543GvB19dZwWN0t9Y1u2vnp9_OXhPe5bu99eL2w_GthLReB6xbQk9iBAQX4-WaTScgM4gmMgRt8CtewO_2qpWtAm8QE2KnN_aP3imYVvlneMx91X7KOG7v_wsuTbk1Hs/s640/IMG_1614.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEnEaZ-iBG0jxrovfHhCvlgee3EPI-DhF_lVHzdUCzf8YvBf0I7t0SHSLklkf_M1i8xz-36QBfj1S0KC-zDEB1-VqPSxu0vnYcERmSf34_WHQgPjcp6hbiLnEZIMnwDhxeGkoipvpUUPWc/s1600/IMG_1853.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEnEaZ-iBG0jxrovfHhCvlgee3EPI-DhF_lVHzdUCzf8YvBf0I7t0SHSLklkf_M1i8xz-36QBfj1S0KC-zDEB1-VqPSxu0vnYcERmSf34_WHQgPjcp6hbiLnEZIMnwDhxeGkoipvpUUPWc/s640/IMG_1853.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbWr3JvtBtWD_R5H6U3ozyx56ZqcxZBGPdNHSCjZu_VbhAMVnpRsm-UzHTc0fYyUu76ZpfcDMEa7gaKuJb944FvKlrviRXffOWxanp2tJFrPLlaSyUREb59fh4ynHBW0gIZPqPk5vgCpdh/s1600/IMG_1657.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbWr3JvtBtWD_R5H6U3ozyx56ZqcxZBGPdNHSCjZu_VbhAMVnpRsm-UzHTc0fYyUu76ZpfcDMEa7gaKuJb944FvKlrviRXffOWxanp2tJFrPLlaSyUREb59fh4ynHBW0gIZPqPk5vgCpdh/s640/IMG_1657.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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If there’s one bird I can’t get enough of it’s the Tree Swallow <i>Tachycineta bicolor</i>… Only four pairs occupied the nest boxes this summer, fledging 18 banded chicks. Several unpaired males occupied boxes as well. There was still a lot to learn from those birds and a full report about the 2016 breeding season will appear on this blog hopefully this fall.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBgBg3wOty5r5V5-gY0qSZKl41o5rN0KdDZtUxhfURkPj1xZzyhj7YPRp2slE9YKVvKzl-XpYxg-zhIXGDZk_jmNvuFNl-0pjvt_812VD5j0Ia1lVmXdgDDzsfO0a3Krt87-q7wQtZaCzA/s1600/IMG_1846.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBgBg3wOty5r5V5-gY0qSZKl41o5rN0KdDZtUxhfURkPj1xZzyhj7YPRp2slE9YKVvKzl-XpYxg-zhIXGDZk_jmNvuFNl-0pjvt_812VD5j0Ia1lVmXdgDDzsfO0a3Krt87-q7wQtZaCzA/s640/IMG_1846.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjh30OrO-ivSUIFUbsRVVOPSns23XP9UjbuYfOuP7UjxOa-kLIdI6YQ-8efUX72p_9WTfuq5c-TVBdhpiJYzI4MPp7pozlivVUgpNrv6HjIT2_7fIrOZPCuhyEIXCm8CtDAGUWU3K-XT4V/s1600/IMG_1849.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjh30OrO-ivSUIFUbsRVVOPSns23XP9UjbuYfOuP7UjxOa-kLIdI6YQ-8efUX72p_9WTfuq5c-TVBdhpiJYzI4MPp7pozlivVUgpNrv6HjIT2_7fIrOZPCuhyEIXCm8CtDAGUWU3K-XT4V/s640/IMG_1849.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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View from the largest tower within the former A.C.&W. station, facing south...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheKM8WMEXFkcPr5C7FL2hRFeuwyuBVIZMKUgp3BHFkkuBeL_ryzz3mOBM6vuJj-K05wRbUFG1lC3f78Lmb274qdXMnOOmhvWFcQNvqdidiTtC4QHAkUz-P-khGU8uVgEyRi3TxHqLUA07B/s1600/IMG_1851.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheKM8WMEXFkcPr5C7FL2hRFeuwyuBVIZMKUgp3BHFkkuBeL_ryzz3mOBM6vuJj-K05wRbUFG1lC3f78Lmb274qdXMnOOmhvWFcQNvqdidiTtC4QHAkUz-P-khGU8uVgEyRi3TxHqLUA07B/s640/IMG_1851.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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Facing northeast.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikbRrz-sy_NKZ5ts3mL4NTTVx09hNp3Wz2ySQeGSSQEG7w1otd52aV4IZCxsA84BmW3SrPWGPOS1sgiI2_7ush1Y_BGVmEC766MYig7V0cqK6-3asl8vtYZQyBYtBsob1KjQfNIcw8l-uU/s1600/IMG_2009.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikbRrz-sy_NKZ5ts3mL4NTTVx09hNp3Wz2ySQeGSSQEG7w1otd52aV4IZCxsA84BmW3SrPWGPOS1sgiI2_7ush1Y_BGVmEC766MYig7V0cqK6-3asl8vtYZQyBYtBsob1KjQfNIcw8l-uU/s640/IMG_2009.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1BDOS-4OWVhqfsxOWuGQ718-gkppVsuswN-ZhYa57Fk-XcA122v65Zr-vY7sEfdIlXRp7EDsSqE8Me2uLQg0bqzeZ-81evxsrr9OFCNTyFggFwEcugIDITCIsOKllLOQN9xwOe-_2m9op/s1600/IMG_2019.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1BDOS-4OWVhqfsxOWuGQ718-gkppVsuswN-ZhYa57Fk-XcA122v65Zr-vY7sEfdIlXRp7EDsSqE8Me2uLQg0bqzeZ-81evxsrr9OFCNTyFggFwEcugIDITCIsOKllLOQN9xwOe-_2m9op/s640/IMG_2019.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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Middleton once held one of the largest Black-legged Kittiwake <i>Rissa tridactyla</i> colonies in the world. Their number dropped quite a bit during the past decades. On my last visit to the island in 2010, much of the southwest cliff was still occupied by them. This summer the few kittiwakes nesting on boulders in the lowlands exceeded the number nesting on the cliff.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhau5Hga0NEPfyR8AWbbY8-mASgSpFNaW0QyQ9KX82PBi-RWbrUruo-62k1ky7k-AwykDP9TBi8HdERZWHl2YLUg4V4YpjfZ4ftuUc_Lf0MtxaH3OuheIBIYufR4pnRmADVATbBWyflIMI2/s1600/IMG_1959.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhau5Hga0NEPfyR8AWbbY8-mASgSpFNaW0QyQ9KX82PBi-RWbrUruo-62k1ky7k-AwykDP9TBi8HdERZWHl2YLUg4V4YpjfZ4ftuUc_Lf0MtxaH3OuheIBIYufR4pnRmADVATbBWyflIMI2/s640/IMG_1959.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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A movie of this Wilson's snipe <i>Gallinago delicata</i> facing variable wind directions would have been a lot funnier, I guess…<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTB4FO33bgxJyj_7cVedF5h7gPV488dIpuapSDTwCeOZDhMQDlnj1jkcuSNvYP1PCe3eKiSKg0dCv-riiP_lzmjGpyk0eNIo1-DYu18QHfsMBXedO52twLvDDIt43oYrrUMr-UWRmeUXGx/s1600/IMG_1734.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTB4FO33bgxJyj_7cVedF5h7gPV488dIpuapSDTwCeOZDhMQDlnj1jkcuSNvYP1PCe3eKiSKg0dCv-riiP_lzmjGpyk0eNIo1-DYu18QHfsMBXedO52twLvDDIt43oYrrUMr-UWRmeUXGx/s640/IMG_1734.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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My best shot of a Killer Whale <i>Orcinus orca</i> (or Loch Ness Monster?) while it was on a hunt for seals.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3vauwIW3CsMKHNlSwpIFhYUNdmIOiQeVec3KrMb0y6oOSeFT70jyDGhW5oo4tWoSgUXCeWY9k7f2ZpKTTFQBxNGa5s2GoKeDuqfiXf8WBKga-UnZ_P2NYZszeOq2OLa8YJbWN2B4ZlYH3/s1600/IMG_1328.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3vauwIW3CsMKHNlSwpIFhYUNdmIOiQeVec3KrMb0y6oOSeFT70jyDGhW5oo4tWoSgUXCeWY9k7f2ZpKTTFQBxNGa5s2GoKeDuqfiXf8WBKga-UnZ_P2NYZszeOq2OLa8YJbWN2B4ZlYH3/s640/IMG_1328.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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I spent a lot of time scoping out >10.000 Glaucous-winged Gulls <i>Larus glaucescens</i> in their breeding habitat, suspecting there had to be a different species of gull in there somewhere (besides Mew Gulls). I wasted my time and found none.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP8wHo-X5XvbgcK2o_TfWI5ox3ifRDdh6VIIXunPf2mfSpIfc-WuBVbKvZ5hfFxYZhhDlB0jLnsEOejjAoUQsQvsEEhDOC6O2We3nHvfh6OdFDwFKhMtvaefKPUYSFfd3HncJ_nwFQmKZr/s1600/IMG_1952.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP8wHo-X5XvbgcK2o_TfWI5ox3ifRDdh6VIIXunPf2mfSpIfc-WuBVbKvZ5hfFxYZhhDlB0jLnsEOejjAoUQsQvsEEhDOC6O2We3nHvfh6OdFDwFKhMtvaefKPUYSFfd3HncJ_nwFQmKZr/s640/IMG_1952.JPG" /></a><br />
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Never did I see so many white feral rabbits on Middleton. In the first decades after their introduction in 1954, white remained one of the dominant colors. Natural selection probably changed something (in particular after the appearance of Bald Eagles in the 1980’s?). Strange to see so many, while at the same time the eagle population experienced a record high. This individual was taken care off by a Glaucous-winged Gull, who’s appetite for Middleton’s rabbits appeared larger than before.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKCqfK8pOX1u95_9rTc-0W7L9QoV6qLMuFl7v_xZwKFGu2KctwtXZu3xj7KyezJfjtxhBVPmckBwiCahL1A-ktTwveDkcUWSn_0xsThpAsVqB4i5DsyNvYA5SLHqywzyZbZcadpNDEt11d/s1600/IMG_1072.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKCqfK8pOX1u95_9rTc-0W7L9QoV6qLMuFl7v_xZwKFGu2KctwtXZu3xj7KyezJfjtxhBVPmckBwiCahL1A-ktTwveDkcUWSn_0xsThpAsVqB4i5DsyNvYA5SLHqywzyZbZcadpNDEt11d/s640/IMG_1072.JPG" /></a><br />
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3hZjJaBzCSp33MAiKrvGPMwaFGalR0rfNv-64lsR5rIcwmT2KMmxmBfTKHdzmkLsAludfQ-ZZXTH4bs2xlEQUolkG3wZlb-LIhNwHaCAPS66xnh_q6-1VuPsWPHReQ47_R-E3cTy4kiV3/s640/IMG_2139.JPG" /><br />
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It always seems like the whole world comes together in a Black Oystercatcher <i>Haematopus bachmani</i> nest. Every Zen garden should have one.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDuGubznG0K6GUQ7YK-m3tqAuicSAD1i6OuOQ6eZ8uQvTLpjKok6ZpQWeFjNd6m5f29REgGKAoCPhyI60xoHVL46w11yrePs_BPMiEJYnROtUIiufFx30zMsLWnPiGbJYJI8NVNNvzF3kp/s1600/IMG_1075.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDuGubznG0K6GUQ7YK-m3tqAuicSAD1i6OuOQ6eZ8uQvTLpjKok6ZpQWeFjNd6m5f29REgGKAoCPhyI60xoHVL46w11yrePs_BPMiEJYnROtUIiufFx30zMsLWnPiGbJYJI8NVNNvzF3kp/s640/IMG_1075.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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Presumed Japanese tsunami debris, providing a shelter for rainy moments after counting the island's entire oystercatcher population.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhonR040aKJUFRSy8ExaFW6uVLTig5thLI0UHZpFGRQV-1pVBq6QvSdMkKbSeBdzqW8ettfUTk9PgitZTe0ZiU31nMvs8ULMHXovemQmYNnc1DyrdRjTFqUR5f5lszSjHYyYFVsyjJ9TB5i/s1600/IMG_1215.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhonR040aKJUFRSy8ExaFW6uVLTig5thLI0UHZpFGRQV-1pVBq6QvSdMkKbSeBdzqW8ettfUTk9PgitZTe0ZiU31nMvs8ULMHXovemQmYNnc1DyrdRjTFqUR5f5lszSjHYyYFVsyjJ9TB5i/s640/IMG_1215.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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Every year a new boat washes up. This is the latest addition to the Middleton fleet. Fancy...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQSFxMYRmylDgiaZE4wnG10LfLEXNzKESm4iBiVGZDlkbC2e98Dmwd1GnLZMUq-yPSR4P6CxW-woizjvZsBZR_kinywn9jH11jPn5cXD292F6wQpulZUIOl3TZ4TclNKQlB3YFx_psmvag/s1600/IMG_1802.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQSFxMYRmylDgiaZE4wnG10LfLEXNzKESm4iBiVGZDlkbC2e98Dmwd1GnLZMUq-yPSR4P6CxW-woizjvZsBZR_kinywn9jH11jPn5cXD292F6wQpulZUIOl3TZ4TclNKQlB3YFx_psmvag/s640/IMG_1802.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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The rusty remains of the WWII era cargo ship U.S.S. Coldbrook are still holding up… Sydney, seen here from the back, maintained a blog about her experiences on the island (and will do so again next year?). Check out the link to that somewhere on the right. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5gBE4zeblME_Tp6p7E0sM2aEdObJIKAldqo1XWjCRnEpw6XJYT1_qsvgqJqSx__z74nY6zrEU79Enuo_adAuHiGu5j_LwG_GEm9uVIfNdNGT5lZpj6-jdQiAbzZqhxSnQ7D0adQhECz7t/s1600/IMG_2020.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5gBE4zeblME_Tp6p7E0sM2aEdObJIKAldqo1XWjCRnEpw6XJYT1_qsvgqJqSx__z74nY6zrEU79Enuo_adAuHiGu5j_LwG_GEm9uVIfNdNGT5lZpj6-jdQiAbzZqhxSnQ7D0adQhECz7t/s640/IMG_2020.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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The presence of a Bald Eagle nest on the Coldbrook’s mast detered many Common Murres <i>Uria aalge</i> and Pelagic Cormorants <i>Phalacrocorax pelagicus</i> from nesting on or inside the wreck. It was obvious that most of the 1000+ Common Murres present this summer did not breed due to regular eagle disturbance.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjQQWrwn2Q29dfQeO5Yw1K_GaRO0yT_aDhuMGVog23jj-1Ww4OWK6puh6QqvERUmUrMO7fXqISTYpjSrzjQ_cYuuy0_IAzw3V_R3CyA7f9dRVOuXAJKOnC8D_5iGKe80BTtCkCzp4dclUL/s1600/IMG_1810.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjQQWrwn2Q29dfQeO5Yw1K_GaRO0yT_aDhuMGVog23jj-1Ww4OWK6puh6QqvERUmUrMO7fXqISTYpjSrzjQ_cYuuy0_IAzw3V_R3CyA7f9dRVOuXAJKOnC8D_5iGKe80BTtCkCzp4dclUL/s640/IMG_1810.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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Inside the back of the ship an old Common Raven <i>Corvus corax </i>nest was found (center back in the photo, now containing kittiwakes). Ravens made their first appearance on Middleton during winter 2009/10. Two were present this summer, but no nest was found.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRHW6Pe8mHr3QThclik9YL10nMx9i5K4CWKrQQGjTWG920nt5yrl8xKB2Pc6Uddtz-iA7rmwxHs9egDqEw2OAdR4GFz01-GytUn28jdJk6J65T98b2k4CzQ-RAwg9-wUh3wRuiQQdgEQuM/s1600/IMG_2115.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRHW6Pe8mHr3QThclik9YL10nMx9i5K4CWKrQQGjTWG920nt5yrl8xKB2Pc6Uddtz-iA7rmwxHs9egDqEw2OAdR4GFz01-GytUn28jdJk6J65T98b2k4CzQ-RAwg9-wUh3wRuiQQdgEQuM/s640/IMG_2115.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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The South Spit<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTNXcMP_LPxe2E7Wg1cnWK82LPWYcOk8uID9WHsqF0u1yMtisKAlEqnnya9zQEZVQVcieexKqxYju3AgYGdTCAfRTTs1Pbs-gWNuYw9jfoL9fonZTB9pv_dUUaCIXYHehrr4jdSgINBg7A/s1600/IMG_1405.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTNXcMP_LPxe2E7Wg1cnWK82LPWYcOk8uID9WHsqF0u1yMtisKAlEqnnya9zQEZVQVcieexKqxYju3AgYGdTCAfRTTs1Pbs-gWNuYw9jfoL9fonZTB9pv_dUUaCIXYHehrr4jdSgINBg7A/s640/IMG_1405.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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A handful of Mew Gulls <i>Larus canus</i> nested on the spit. They’re easily distinguished from kittiwakes as they lack a soul.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMU7VOGXS16sCoCmymJrvNWdCpq1o8mWOIFe47TcPwq9TeQwAJroyl6Y7F3CSqUCuGkE_xGoDKJX1kRNGq2x1DlE7w_Lhhip0gC0CYcOpkMWtb9SGn8JWLhMT4apugHNCP2i-oH2xEGM8w/s1600/IMG_1394.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMU7VOGXS16sCoCmymJrvNWdCpq1o8mWOIFe47TcPwq9TeQwAJroyl6Y7F3CSqUCuGkE_xGoDKJX1kRNGq2x1DlE7w_Lhhip0gC0CYcOpkMWtb9SGn8JWLhMT4apugHNCP2i-oH2xEGM8w/s640/IMG_1394.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT8pF5rZK-k5ztae1_3XU6KHyp1_5zN3SoK4TS-_z0qtJFEYtZEexqyNIo194H7PWkQigqXgc4DYMb3adx_u15ERW6BDMbjmNpmEyrsFmW8H0mnzbjTI-hvbkX_ZrTO-g7SZoRrFXbRDWj/s1600/IMG_1220.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT8pF5rZK-k5ztae1_3XU6KHyp1_5zN3SoK4TS-_z0qtJFEYtZEexqyNIo194H7PWkQigqXgc4DYMb3adx_u15ERW6BDMbjmNpmEyrsFmW8H0mnzbjTI-hvbkX_ZrTO-g7SZoRrFXbRDWj/s640/IMG_1220.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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After a mild winter, Pacific Wrens <i>Troglodytes pacificus</i> were extremely abundant. It appeared that all available habitat was occupied this summer. On good wren-years, accumulated driftwood on the South Spit is known to hold a single territory (note the singing bird on the first photo). This year two males were singing there regularly. Numerous nests were found in the driftwood this year (incl.one inside the largest trunk on the second photo). I recall that after a cold winter, in 2006 only a few singing birds were heard. There are some unconfirmed reports of a die-off.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6n3nNkyPdM4I8SWiIMm2rIR_sd_1wvIMrXztVyM4_8tpzo4MxG0Uo4hU9cedROxpI8FJy1cWE2dKV778JP1uk7mQr4lApDEFYRuPyknYNU0_evQvR-CmeH27Rduzrr1w2YybX6f56aLq_/s1600/IMG_2393.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6n3nNkyPdM4I8SWiIMm2rIR_sd_1wvIMrXztVyM4_8tpzo4MxG0Uo4hU9cedROxpI8FJy1cWE2dKV778JP1uk7mQr4lApDEFYRuPyknYNU0_evQvR-CmeH27Rduzrr1w2YybX6f56aLq_/s640/IMG_2393.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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Part of the vegetation study I’m conducting are several exclosures, which are small fenced off squares allowing me to monitor the development of the vegetation in absence of the island’s herbivores. Previous winter several storms damaged the already rusty chicken wire, allowing some rabbits to enter. Thankfully this happened outside the growing season so no real harm was done to the project. Every summer a few uncommon plants grow within the exclosures. As in 2010, this Unalaska Paintbrush <i>Castilleja unalaschcensis</i> grew at the same place inside the same exclosure at the north end. The only other paintbrushes noticed in that area were the ones used by the contractors renovating the NEXRAD.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh85YeG89k6a2Q2IwOfNPpuXTl5p8BJosXbi7rQ1My7Ja5QrKJNsoIfTZi7asLDFICHIolB5c8fqwhFIDyFhglSuNAdQIOZei9kMOYLO8WD9mDfpV8uDotxP0DcVa9AKRsXV2sv5va51ieE/s1600/IMG_1303.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh85YeG89k6a2Q2IwOfNPpuXTl5p8BJosXbi7rQ1My7Ja5QrKJNsoIfTZi7asLDFICHIolB5c8fqwhFIDyFhglSuNAdQIOZei9kMOYLO8WD9mDfpV8uDotxP0DcVa9AKRsXV2sv5va51ieE/s640/IMG_1303.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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During summer the rabbits eat most of the island’s flowers. Besides growing within an exclosure, there are several other ways in which plants manage to remain present on the island. Some of them are simply too beautiful to get eaten, like these Few-flowered Shootingstars <i>Dodecatheon pulchellum…</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYXiIL1YIuj5l8g4FWe1Br0g_Zs9yncbKap8IIodJnBS7uV2P1_HQgWiFNbKvqgxQcnQEKNZ1ffBX1NEE0dk_9yxjJwnPd82h5IWKmh0SRK0HBAaVnj-Bp6bAp4dFUoF0KngNzfSKpl3vg/s1600/IMG_1721.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYXiIL1YIuj5l8g4FWe1Br0g_Zs9yncbKap8IIodJnBS7uV2P1_HQgWiFNbKvqgxQcnQEKNZ1ffBX1NEE0dk_9yxjJwnPd82h5IWKmh0SRK0HBAaVnj-Bp6bAp4dFUoF0KngNzfSKpl3vg/s640/IMG_1721.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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Wild-flag <i>Iris setosa</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjebwfg8M-dFDHdpWyqITHO9yXuHsyGjy28Eg9Rd3KooH8B1EU6UpYgKK_twgK18BwuxIAeZt767fV2Lc3njsoFjrm4X9-2s14ajrvwuMqKEY38tllTP3s45n6DA7AIx0ddIYM4S9MwAsIm/s1600/IMG_1237.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjebwfg8M-dFDHdpWyqITHO9yXuHsyGjy28Eg9Rd3KooH8B1EU6UpYgKK_twgK18BwuxIAeZt767fV2Lc3njsoFjrm4X9-2s14ajrvwuMqKEY38tllTP3s45n6DA7AIx0ddIYM4S9MwAsIm/s640/IMG_1237.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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Fischer's Orchid <i>Dactylorhiza aristata</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgo_PuKHFf0cvfglKFjqgMzlSn1Bm0WyQCpzZBOJTOZio3OGSPE1v84PpPWvgkYZAkSuKZWeKWkXYg6MOyIMXv8uu0kariy7W4HjIoySLE05-MInymb4iGC-xOBuqcxae4pg7nTOQX34f2/s1600/IMG_1611.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgo_PuKHFf0cvfglKFjqgMzlSn1Bm0WyQCpzZBOJTOZio3OGSPE1v84PpPWvgkYZAkSuKZWeKWkXYg6MOyIMXv8uu0kariy7W4HjIoySLE05-MInymb4iGC-xOBuqcxae4pg7nTOQX34f2/s640/IMG_1611.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiLPgaAGrO9_2PxJpoih6cCsG3PaaqRrxkXZsBQgo6Y4p8vd1oOQyTzXr_7UrSNTuEpGiqrux4B21c_fWf_F4NnXTKsE8WdGByZOmZwjjmpqJ0s9nymR16Hbt62DgRtnlmyr0aKQamKPw3/s1600/IMG_1606.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiLPgaAGrO9_2PxJpoih6cCsG3PaaqRrxkXZsBQgo6Y4p8vd1oOQyTzXr_7UrSNTuEpGiqrux4B21c_fWf_F4NnXTKsE8WdGByZOmZwjjmpqJ0s9nymR16Hbt62DgRtnlmyr0aKQamKPw3/s640/IMG_1606.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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Some plants fight back: the known patches of the carnivorous Round-leaved Sundew <i>Drosera rotundifolia</i>, just north from the Dwarf Forest, were still there (and increasing?)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE73rtx8Oi78uxF4ZykgJWF9ctO4EqokIudhs2c0wI0BZUqR44g1w1PLXNGeP6mh9nzAFNDdgAewlihpfHS2p2oElO3G-Hq3KZH1vpENpd84DFybdrW9L_s-baGgo_IqldXBXGaPT-CkDS/s1600/IMG_1167.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE73rtx8Oi78uxF4ZykgJWF9ctO4EqokIudhs2c0wI0BZUqR44g1w1PLXNGeP6mh9nzAFNDdgAewlihpfHS2p2oElO3G-Hq3KZH1vpENpd84DFybdrW9L_s-baGgo_IqldXBXGaPT-CkDS/s640/IMG_1167.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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I was hoping to put a bit more effort in social hygiene during my stay this time, by taking a plunge in some of the island’s fresh water. Too bad Leeches <i>Hirudenea sp</i>. recently found their way to Middleton (at least I never noticed them before). They now occur in pretty much all fresh water bodies present on the island.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNaCQKzwX4OwFeQJn9FfiRy-rRYFYfum37PpgcSJx0wze5wKsWzakUYOo4_cB03_WTbm4ebegDxN5yCg0vUT7tydYdVqUm70c5NjA7K25nTpRVJXXHldyVP0gNHKSj5L8JoJ8qJWFEzO7x/s1600/LLSP.jpg"><img border="0" height="490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNaCQKzwX4OwFeQJn9FfiRy-rRYFYfum37PpgcSJx0wze5wKsWzakUYOo4_cB03_WTbm4ebegDxN5yCg0vUT7tydYdVqUm70c5NjA7K25nTpRVJXXHldyVP0gNHKSj5L8JoJ8qJWFEzO7x/s640/LLSP.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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Lapland Longspurs <i>Calcarius lapponicus </i>are birds of the alpine tundra, but Middleton's north end still provides suitable breeding habitat to 8 – 9 pairs counted there this year. They were a bit more common during previous visits between 2005 - 2010, when territories were also found along the gravel roads further to the south.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgplzMhBwZu_q7y1WuG4zx0epkS6PTipQIAe9PqbEFaI-Zo59qyb0bil6NXUIf5hqpgEmaZfpM-LkLyKvfyT42fM29uTB3fYZCd84kY1Gc5XxRPLdnji2Kss66ceJBSPVIoLOxAujD9thpK/s1600/IMG_1775.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgplzMhBwZu_q7y1WuG4zx0epkS6PTipQIAe9PqbEFaI-Zo59qyb0bil6NXUIf5hqpgEmaZfpM-LkLyKvfyT42fM29uTB3fYZCd84kY1Gc5XxRPLdnji2Kss66ceJBSPVIoLOxAujD9thpK/s640/IMG_1775.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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This is as close as I wanted to get to the pair of Red-throated Loons <i>Gavia stellata</i> in the Loonpond. The first recorded nesting of this species took place here in 2005. In 2010 a second pair showed up along the east, in a pond at the end of the Dump Rd, but it did not nest. This summer no fewer than four pairs were present, at least three of which nested and these were all seen with chicks. Red-throated Loons are on Audubons’ 2016 Watchlist, so I informed them about this positive development.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu0ao_wTMSttMhJMqxJ9aWQ7FvpG_7SKav7akh3ra9tXQi_qAArOMRkTGmCnpxaE4rDLI_VUNZ1Wh8zxcPiAN-JL39tY6DaDN9cMnHLcjwL3CVTJ-H9m3uJZIkYO0iTrbwwytvFjVvqIGy/s1600/IMG_2484.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu0ao_wTMSttMhJMqxJ9aWQ7FvpG_7SKav7akh3ra9tXQi_qAArOMRkTGmCnpxaE4rDLI_VUNZ1Wh8zxcPiAN-JL39tY6DaDN9cMnHLcjwL3CVTJ-H9m3uJZIkYO0iTrbwwytvFjVvqIGy/s640/IMG_2484.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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Yellowlegs sp… <i>Tringa sp.</i> in the Military pond. I didn’t spend a lot of time looking for migratory species (the timing of my stay was well off for experiencing fall migration). However, I was informed that up north the ice melted early this spring, allowing many shorebirds and waders to move into and depart from their breeding areas relatively early this year. That may have been the reason why I still managed to get my share during the first half of July.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOeeDzN8EW32tYiy_MhQFZed1dzW0t_QpjgEzNRDXX_qdnuaGJ_SMeiZWx4jcstFrPzbtUiefdZvcsKeLLhT5t_6nCKHVj1i_218onSGezfRBK33Sphe70n4lxX9vbd43rZVjAgfAwEXOt/s1600/IMG_2249.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOeeDzN8EW32tYiy_MhQFZed1dzW0t_QpjgEzNRDXX_qdnuaGJ_SMeiZWx4jcstFrPzbtUiefdZvcsKeLLhT5t_6nCKHVj1i_218onSGezfRBK33Sphe70n4lxX9vbd43rZVjAgfAwEXOt/s640/IMG_2249.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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July 4: low tide 07:47 AM -98 cm (predicted), northeast intertidal area.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHm_OZqnjMCb5KqlHgcNLBz0nvpOYqb1omDcYJbYb9ZxYA9eggtD4KL1xVCnb_YGNXGkkSpIsXVE5E1DUFqFzkAEhkmp1TI7aOEaV290xjxwHGqfGg15izCd-teIEne2lSyLbglRZc6mRG/s1600/IMG_2265.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHm_OZqnjMCb5KqlHgcNLBz0nvpOYqb1omDcYJbYb9ZxYA9eggtD4KL1xVCnb_YGNXGkkSpIsXVE5E1DUFqFzkAEhkmp1TI7aOEaV290xjxwHGqfGg15izCd-teIEne2lSyLbglRZc6mRG/s640/IMG_2265.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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Whatever is left of one of the exposed fossil banks in the northeast, containing large numbers of marine shells. Only visible during the lower tides.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj29-bh-_wxpuajt64NMbT3lX2E_2_5LVZXrNs7qb3ZPdL5JKlTVk1vALp4IQvOeoStdLudKp3MVgUAByqNKJ9BbcaFmc0RlwbcxSyADKeQKdf0IARD58ynoeifG3GdoOeFni-2oBpIE7rh/s1600/IMG_2460.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj29-bh-_wxpuajt64NMbT3lX2E_2_5LVZXrNs7qb3ZPdL5JKlTVk1vALp4IQvOeoStdLudKp3MVgUAByqNKJ9BbcaFmc0RlwbcxSyADKeQKdf0IARD58ynoeifG3GdoOeFni-2oBpIE7rh/s640/IMG_2460.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcLCDMLSvTbVGPrQBSSfF_w5toeT8tXzpcNQwmvri7DDqCVw4A-oweUuM4-vnsoewwNurCzD8H40XZmSdkfeucYA-Dik3khLtJgeqpbK4FMY42NBppaGHdj6tRhONCvwbXcRLE1QBgpKbb/s1600/IMG_2461.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcLCDMLSvTbVGPrQBSSfF_w5toeT8tXzpcNQwmvri7DDqCVw4A-oweUuM4-vnsoewwNurCzD8H40XZmSdkfeucYA-Dik3khLtJgeqpbK4FMY42NBppaGHdj6tRhONCvwbXcRLE1QBgpKbb/s640/IMG_2461.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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Chamisso's Cotton-grass <i>Eriophorum chamissonis</i>, on a late summer evening.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9jS6fGjGwBTs-MAphl6BmB9wQ9PhvBmb1yza5-sL7pi-dC0NWDlHU9mamIRh9kE4ZPtmYK1xHd0aNpVaPoSviR29ef7LUuoXUPVL-rMLf_9zY1uQk5WLKpAuSbt-1osq5m8HaQ6xI458q/s1600/IMG_2436.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9jS6fGjGwBTs-MAphl6BmB9wQ9PhvBmb1yza5-sL7pi-dC0NWDlHU9mamIRh9kE4ZPtmYK1xHd0aNpVaPoSviR29ef7LUuoXUPVL-rMLf_9zY1uQk5WLKpAuSbt-1osq5m8HaQ6xI458q/s640/IMG_2436.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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It was a fantastic experience being able to connect with Middleton again this summer, to be able to observe how things change in nature and understand the different timescales on which it all takes place. And find a few new things along the way... It was also very nice to meet up with some old friends I hadn´t seen in years and make some new international contacts as well. Thank you all for making my time on Middleton an escapade I shall not forget. I hope I manage to get out there again at some point in the future.</div>
Tim van Nushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03145810759803753643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715204300952742359.post-25342449684604444842015-10-15T09:44:00.000-07:002015-10-15T13:27:42.668-07:00The Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) on Middleton Island in 2015<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmZnQbVuDQtHC0Qso7pP4433hFPXQu3oDz9j1Dsz4McQYrLxw1MsW_BmlOEVfFUWc5kZgtpb2U-aAs-8lDxwyJQRlDQ6yPKJDbs080PdwtHJGv0gMRtOJpwzM6jXi7RKpPQ8u3yJW0zn0/s640/P1280706.JPG" /> <br />
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<i>Tree Swallows near the military pond. Middleton Island, June 23 2015 (photo by Angelika Aleksieva).</i><br />
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2015 was the seventh year of the Tree swallow (TRES) nest box project on the remote Middleton Island. The first nest boxes were put up there in 2009, allowing the projects' first two breeding pairs to nest there successfully that same year. Before these boxes were placed the TRES nested on the island irregularly between the 1950’s and 2002 in abandoned buildings, probably no more than a single pair. All of these buildings got removed before 2006, leaving the swallows with no place to nest. From the first two occupied boxes in 2009, the TRES population gradually increased to 10 occupied boxes in 2013, but it subsequently dropped to five occupied boxes in 2014.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjUJRlcG7s44KsbbGcBGmlQAWsqrd7uDssDFCcyXIKlY2kIhV5j6HJJX9pn23Z0-QHlTDuF-2D0YCp6dF8GdkrqQXsqQCtY9iL-b8H-qFlPJC9woN9aeiUPgtbxNITmqtHgX83u259AYs/s1600/P1270501.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjUJRlcG7s44KsbbGcBGmlQAWsqrd7uDssDFCcyXIKlY2kIhV5j6HJJX9pn23Z0-QHlTDuF-2D0YCp6dF8GdkrqQXsqQCtY9iL-b8H-qFlPJC9woN9aeiUPgtbxNITmqtHgX83u259AYs/s640/P1270501.JPG" /></a><br />
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<i>Tree Swallow peeking out of nest box 7. Middleton Island, May 30 2015 (photo by Angelika Aleksieva).</i><br />
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During the breeding season of 2015 the boxes were not monitored (though I did finally receive some fantastic photos of the birds occupying them!), but thankfully by the end of the summer Scott and Martha Hatch inspected and cleaned out all of the 17 nest boxes and reported their findings to me (as they did last year). Their data show that in 2015 at least 7 boxes got occupied, 6 of which contained eggs and resulted in fledged young.<br />
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<i>Nest box contents as found by Scott and Martha after the breeding season (nests need to contain a feather-lined nest cup in order to count as being occupied by a pair).</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuvVe13WCVKk1y3ceiSREe_XZytEFej8E7MVkKopp4z7-MoBcZUTu74Z7R_aZ9f2MIGPv1XtQH-vWPDl4TKJbx3DhrxnhqIq3bi2iSOMhOvWIul872CN-kQkx7qFQ8sgNWmKXpJOqVotM/s1600/2015_box_contents.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuvVe13WCVKk1y3ceiSREe_XZytEFej8E7MVkKopp4z7-MoBcZUTu74Z7R_aZ9f2MIGPv1XtQH-vWPDl4TKJbx3DhrxnhqIq3bi2iSOMhOvWIul872CN-kQkx7qFQ8sgNWmKXpJOqVotM/s1600/2015_box_contents.JPG" /></a><br />
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Scott and Martha provided photos of each of the nest boxes’ contents, making it easier to distinguish the presence of true nesting pairs from boxes that were only temporarily occupied (often by a solitary male).<br />
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4SZHoItu2eRIvhI-G3TCg6qfNQbx0h4pY5Zbh2ePV5twxO3HLfrQZBwNO_OHmeXjJfY2k5q59B4YD-shRQLQzcjE8FRSscO2yWZaBFu1dSBYZXSyMnZ3cjhqUr19xdtAQ2ftOaRkSVUo/s640/20150824_175547.jpg" /><br />
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<i>An ‘unoccupied’ nest box: little nest material indicates this box was not in use by an established pair. Middleton Island, August 24 2015 (photo by Scott Hatch). </i><br />
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihEsotNe1ary0R677crZ-1PYPpbjhYTzL-GApN_J79uwLqCxe0bRgFBnDWH1FMaH1B0XOO71QFecNhShqwmIs-k4Ky5kkqs8r4jNVjkE5UNjGYiPoLzBjwsgBzJ9EL74_yRLdrRMDpX_s/s640/20150824_192059.jpg" /><br />
<i><br />Nests from which young fledged are characterized by the presence of feces. Middleton Island, August 24 2015 (photo by Scott Hatch).</i><br />
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<i>Distribution of used and unused TRES nest boxes on Middleton Island in 2015.</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipVCNOf-s8itvl8euU7pZTTL5zAficdB8ud3exEAun_f7eirgcy5MrqkBPXDDJp73MsTMY_wrduTEMudgPALoDo-LArQCOcM0TfeP3jL3x9WTZmNaxlNQ2Vga4ZorwlJTqKUfwrhoLRMs/s1600/MDO_TRES_map_2015.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipVCNOf-s8itvl8euU7pZTTL5zAficdB8ud3exEAun_f7eirgcy5MrqkBPXDDJp73MsTMY_wrduTEMudgPALoDo-LArQCOcM0TfeP3jL3x9WTZmNaxlNQ2Vga4ZorwlJTqKUfwrhoLRMs/s640/MDO_TRES_map_2015.jpg" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbN0NlKSe8peYPKeWd88shL11KP2N-iIqX-YAjAgZ30mhLbOlHPfYBxdCVagENFnujX0kZN-MPgXqhFtLwXNW4i2fpOKbxeZITOBrFbcP7BJqqYyi22SavFp8oTFvShYkEi96S0wug7ms/s1600/MDO_TRES_2009_2015.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbN0NlKSe8peYPKeWd88shL11KP2N-iIqX-YAjAgZ30mhLbOlHPfYBxdCVagENFnujX0kZN-MPgXqhFtLwXNW4i2fpOKbxeZITOBrFbcP7BJqqYyi22SavFp8oTFvShYkEi96S0wug7ms/s640/MDO_TRES_2009_2015.JPG" /></a><br />
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<b>Discussion</b> <br />
Unfortunately, due to the absence of nest box checks during the breeding season, no information is available on clutch - and brood sizes for 2015. However, the information gathered by Scott and Martha does show that the 2015 TRES population managed to recover from previous year’s low (as far as the number of breeding pairs goes). Although the numbers of eggs and fledged young remain unknown, the number of egg laying pairs and those fledging young in 2015 got close to the known record year (2013). <br />
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To what extend weather conditions were of influence on this breeding season remains unknown. Unfortunately, early in the season Middleton’s on site weather station stopped recording precipitation. This seems to be a reoccurring problem. For future analysis it would be useful to have access to correct climatic data for each breeding season.<br />
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Only time and continuing inspection efforts will tell how this remarkably remote and isolated TRES population will develop in the future. For this, the current 17 nest boxes will also need to stay available to the swallows. The photos that Scott and Martha took show that 6 – 7 years of Middleton’s harsh weather conditions have started to affect the boxes. In order to have them last for many more years, a paint job will become necessary in the near future. <br />
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Additionally, it could be questioned whether the number of nest boxes determines the maximum number of breeding pairs on the island. Although the boxes have been spaced by the recommended minimum of 100 feet (28 meters) from each other (with the exception of one or two boxes), a look at the maps of occupied boxes of the most successful years (2013 and 2015) indicates that these birds have a preference for nesting as far away from other pairs as possible. During my stays on the island I also noticed that some birds defended areas around their nest box much larger than the recommended 100 feet between two boxes. This could negatively influence the number of available nest sites and the total number of breeding pairs. Because of this, I doubt whether the 17 nest boxes will ever result in 17 nesting pairs. In order not to have nest box locations limit the number of breeding pairs, 2 – 3 additional boxes should be placed, away from the existing grids and solitary boxes (this would be preferred to replacing existing nest boxes). This might allow a possible further increase of the population to take place and be noticed more easily. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD05UMR-Tizsu4OojTJ4ITDm7hVCROYRECtk6sHElw1SYKhYdzqahHZ9TI2Ha4VeiuSQdb50sabyl3XcJ24htnaPQRm0uqYeYOI83ASnm_n-Z7dkAoHgogb1v6r8oo2GrrjDeu_vvQK5s/s1600/P1280697.JPG"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD05UMR-Tizsu4OojTJ4ITDm7hVCROYRECtk6sHElw1SYKhYdzqahHZ9TI2Ha4VeiuSQdb50sabyl3XcJ24htnaPQRm0uqYeYOI83ASnm_n-Z7dkAoHgogb1v6r8oo2GrrjDeu_vvQK5s/s640/P1280697.JPG" /></a><br />
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<i>Tree Swallow carrying insects for its young. Middleton Island, June 23 2015 (photo by Angelika Aleksieva).</i><br />
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<b>Acknowledgements </b><br />
I thank Scott and Martha Hatch for their help, as well as Angelika Aleksieva for the photos she sent me.Tim van Nushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03145810759803753643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715204300952742359.post-58527484637216593312015-01-14T11:48:00.000-08:002015-02-07T11:28:27.012-08:00The Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) on Middleton Island in 20142014 was the sixth year of the Tree swallow (TRES) nest box project on the remote Middleton Island. The first nest boxes were put up there in 2009, allowing the projects' first two breeding pairs to nest there successfully that same year. Until 2013, the presence of 17 nest boxes resulted in an annually increasing number of breeding pairs. For the past four years the boxes were monitored by volunteer - and professional ornithologists from the I.S.R.C. (formerly USGS) who visited the island as part of the ongoing seabird research that takes place on the island. Initially I was concerned not receiving any TRES data for this year, as Middleton did not get visited by researchers during the summer months. Luckily, several different people visited the island in April and August and these were nice enough to pass by the boxes and inspect these thoroughly for their contents. <br />
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<b>Prior to the swallow's arrival</b><br />
The presence of people in April allowed for a box cleanup before the first swallows would show up (last year these had not been cleaned by the end of the breeding season). This not only gave interesting additional information about the 2013 breeding season, but would also provide the 2014-birds with clean boxes. On April 19 and 21, all boxes were emptied out and cleaned. Old nests were removed and photographed.<br />
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<img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpH2csIi7FV6a_6CySOzwwD8Y90LpRMDNJOfUcrgej1-5SykmjfiO9P4HYRRorf5wZtAaULMo-yLDcehy83thq9svSKiWjozFog-oixRgaaSOv3Cw_dZ4Cwgi7k5tGLaNooVJ4g_qiceg/s1600/2013nests2.jpg" width="640" /><br />
<i>Old swallow nests from the 2013 season.</i><br />
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Together with the data collected in 2013, the data revealed that in that year a total of 12 boxes contained at least some nest material. Of these, 10 contained (beginnings of) nests, of which 7 contained eggs and 6-7 contained chicks (of which 22 got ringed last year, from 4 nests). No unhatched eggs or dead chicks were reported, making it seem likely that in 2013 a record number of up to 40 chicks fledged! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT3zyaBZ6Y6Yopz889BSGyPUpnvcWNsktgvqrqL4ivMoaV4Q_YHTH7dF6688fF4-iiAdfvaK7nsR2U_8ZfpW8OQUIvw5VGjJkJe83sYkfkhJtOKRWKU-AJ9LkamF5TLKwljwMp3IgAdL0/s1600/2014-05-04+16.22.47.png"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT3zyaBZ6Y6Yopz889BSGyPUpnvcWNsktgvqrqL4ivMoaV4Q_YHTH7dF6688fF4-iiAdfvaK7nsR2U_8ZfpW8OQUIvw5VGjJkJe83sYkfkhJtOKRWKU-AJ9LkamF5TLKwljwMp3IgAdL0/s1600/2014-05-04+16.22.47.png" width="331" /></a><br />
<i>One of the old nests which resulted in fledged chicks.</i><br />
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<img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzTQSYBuERYVRJbxQaZfP6joCnj0VqL0qX8HJGCisBgyGCfDYobfVV3byCO3KUNtuBbqWPu6T1xqSQ_E3AoDKyvNnIWuYfJRy39Dwnr1z_R7r3QEGRCiwhUaI8EEkPfnUinuL6AhH4FBc/s1600/20140419_121022.jpg" width="225" /><br />
<i>Box 17 during the April cleanup. The thin metal pipe is to provide a perch to the swallows and prevent Bald Eagles using the boxes as a perch at the same time.</i><br />
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The nest boxes appeared to be still in good condition. I was informed box #1 was missing a nail, but no further problems were reported. It seems they survive Middleton’s harsh conditions quite well. After the cleanup in April the boxes were ready for the upcoming breeding season.<br />
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<b>The 2014 breeding season...</b><br />
Nobody would inspect the nest boxes during the breeding season this year, so all I could do was occasionally check the status of box # 7, the nest box facing the FAA weather camera. Based on the regular nest box visits made by a few swallows, it got occupied. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhpGg-2EqIuLc-Gqv2Rj-n6XeXoUpM0y_k_-IzMfLwi68Tpa172OmcCdFxfNItDkLO3EuLSuISdOVegrwAK5EvkJIjaCuAcxHZysYEYTShH3Teds63o9jhzk_2kCYVPIgdVEBChTeQBcuq/s1600/36-476202.jpg"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhpGg-2EqIuLc-Gqv2Rj-n6XeXoUpM0y_k_-IzMfLwi68Tpa172OmcCdFxfNItDkLO3EuLSuISdOVegrwAK5EvkJIjaCuAcxHZysYEYTShH3Teds63o9jhzk_2kCYVPIgdVEBChTeQBcuq/s1600/36-476202.jpg" width="400" /> </a><br />
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Thankfully, in August Middleton got visited again by seabird researchers. On August 12, Martha Hatch inspected and cleaned out all 17 boxes. Box #7 indeed contained a nest from which young fledged, but further results were rather surprising: only 6 boxes contained at least some nest material. Of these five contained (beginnings of) nests (not just a bit of nest material). Of these three had contained eggs and chicks. Although two unhatched eggs were found, no dead chicks were reported, so most of these will probably have fledged. <br />
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Based on this data, it can be concluded that in 2014 the TRES on Middleton Island had a poor breeding season. Their breeding population decreased for a first time, with at least 50% compared to the previous breeding season. In numbers, the 2014 population was similar to 2011. Exactly how many chicks fledged remains unknown.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2lkvmixx_54Tmt7ZhF2sKdb7WfjjUPWS9bMgvpemKR4k9l1PCmsg0GTIJafp_b8YQgCYPabf-J0PxAGDFGNQx0CD_JWQ2sn2E286OS63VE5CaD8KZmhHJgNrkbojXmdL-D_TWHMGnQn4/s1600/2009_2014.JPG"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2lkvmixx_54Tmt7ZhF2sKdb7WfjjUPWS9bMgvpemKR4k9l1PCmsg0GTIJafp_b8YQgCYPabf-J0PxAGDFGNQx0CD_JWQ2sn2E286OS63VE5CaD8KZmhHJgNrkbojXmdL-D_TWHMGnQn4/s1600/2009_2014.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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<b>Discussion </b><br />
A possible explanation for this year's poor breeding results was given by Scott Hatch, who commented: "Lots of cool, wet weather which probably kept the insect supply down". I took a brief look at the historical data collected by the island's weather station (see the link for this elsewhere on this page). Strangely, during the period of the TRES' arrival and establishment (10 - 25 may) and the period in which the first eggs are laid (26 may - 2 June, based on data gathered during previous years) the average daily temperatures were higher than during the record TRES year 2013. At the same time the amount of daily precipitation in this period was lower or equal to that 2013. Did in spring the climate really prevented more TRES to start up their breeding cycle on Middleton Island? <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPz7sbxfyoclnigcu6azebdS4Q0QZKsD36OdrxvShE4lrbbQAJTN8UAZhMRDMomtg9VGj3o0bIY_hb9_AOnpYFbjCJUEMI6uVmGC2ys4PLmchku5ZqzeriPRW7qt0LzLwuBs3styC6Gyw/s1600/Rain_temp_graph.jpg"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPz7sbxfyoclnigcu6azebdS4Q0QZKsD36OdrxvShE4lrbbQAJTN8UAZhMRDMomtg9VGj3o0bIY_hb9_AOnpYFbjCJUEMI6uVmGC2ys4PLmchku5ZqzeriPRW7qt0LzLwuBs3styC6Gyw/s1600/Rain_temp_graph.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<i>A bit of an odd figure: daily average temperatures and precipitation totals on Middleton Island in 2013 and 2014. The yellow line indicates the period of arrival. The green line indicates the period during which the first eggs are laid, based on data from 2009 -2013 (read from right to left).</i><br />
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<br />
Alexandra Rose operates a TRES-project at Long Lake, almost exactly 100 miles northeast of Middleton Island. In 2012 chick mortality was very high at Middleton due to poor weather conditions and this was also the case at Long Lake that year. Alexandra informed me that in 2014 her swallows had a pretty good year, as far as the weather goes. They had a pretty mild summer with no real severe cold snaps. The past several summers had been terrible in terms of overall box occupancy there, but 2014 turned out to be a good year for the swallows. <br />
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Unfortunately, climate conditions consists of many more parameters that could have influenced the swallows on Middleton, like wind or fog, which I did not look at (although all of these should have been recorded by the island's weather station). Conditions prior to the bird's arrival may also be important, as these will be crucial for the startup of insect activity on the island. <br />
<br />
The direction of the wind may also be of influence, as this could determine how many swallows eventually end up on the island. Before this project started the number of TRES observed on the island annually during spring migration ranged from 0 - 8. Maybe the birds nesting on Middleton in 2014 were primarily the 'hard core' Middleton birds and no or hardly any 'floaters' found their way to the island? Were these swallows pushed more towards Long Lake this year?<br />
<br />
The number of unhatched eggs that Martha found in the boxes in August (2 among 3 nests, more than usual) indicates that poor weather conditions could have affected the early stages of egg-laying and breeding, but would this have resulted in the establishment of fewer birds?<br />
<br />
Besides climate, other factors such as winter mortality and predation could have been involved. High winter mortality, however, probably wouldn't allow for the high box occupancy recorded at Long Lake this summer. With the absence of ground predators and only an irregular occurrence of potential aerial predators (primarily Peregrine Falcons) in past years Middleton's swallow population has always been relatively free from predation. The fact that none of the nests found in August show clear signs of being aborted by the birds (the nests that were finished all resulted in fledged young) and the distribution of occupied boxes is similar to the first years of the project (they all used the central cluster of nest boxes and the one closest to this, the northern and southern nest box clusters were not used this year), however, indicates that predation probably was not an issue this year. I am very much getting the impression that in 2014 fewer birds found their way to Middleton Island, resulting in a smaller breeding population that year.<br />
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Unfortunately, without people present on the island, more constant ringing and ring-reading efforts, any questions will remain difficult to answer. I can only hope that during the upcoming breeding season the swallows get the attention they deserve.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCtpI7lybXQSKGL7gdtfMI5_4MEH6Qu9dePsbycr7lzv8L-IC1O3i_7a5VLNHnbmVOOHXQUUcSne43wTy7-IJleNRBpSr5ZbtEGI-3qtfSgi0hPip-MFEKcnQOnTJVczyfx_ry-co9c-c/s1600/20140419_131244.jpg"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCtpI7lybXQSKGL7gdtfMI5_4MEH6Qu9dePsbycr7lzv8L-IC1O3i_7a5VLNHnbmVOOHXQUUcSne43wTy7-IJleNRBpSr5ZbtEGI-3qtfSgi0hPip-MFEKcnQOnTJVczyfx_ry-co9c-c/s1600/20140419_131244.jpg" width="225" /></a><br />
<i>For the last 4 years, field work for this project has all been conducted on voluntary basis, not by me, but by seabird researchers that visited the island. Many of them I don’t even know personally. I must thank them all for their efforts!!</i>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9RfjmtpEFUHA9p4TCnIu0y0NxpFfAW_2weRpt0PGhty1TQqr1DzeSwIzarDZLbYaGbvC1TrMZfKPG0DrlNKi4wO6xE9Uu9g9ZqXmzVLaxt4wGFhc9UG66NnAeg7N8OGhH9MHRj9U7D2I/s1600/4_Nestkast6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9RfjmtpEFUHA9p4TCnIu0y0NxpFfAW_2weRpt0PGhty1TQqr1DzeSwIzarDZLbYaGbvC1TrMZfKPG0DrlNKi4wO6xE9Uu9g9ZqXmzVLaxt4wGFhc9UG66NnAeg7N8OGhH9MHRj9U7D2I/s640/4_Nestkast6.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<![endif]--><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">2013 was the fifth year of the
Middleton Island Tree Swallow (TRES) Project, after the first nest boxes were
put up there and got occupied by swallows in 2009. More about the history of
the TRES on Middleton Island and the earlier years of this project can be found
in a previous blog post:
http://www.middletonisland.blogspot.pt/2012/09/the-tree-swallows-tachycineta-bicolor.html</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Last year I wrote a short story
about the TRES on Middleton for the annual report of 'NESTKAST', a Dutch
network of amateur and professional nest box researchers. It's written in Dutch
and can be downloaded here:
https://www.sovon.nl/nl/content/nestkast-jaarverslag-broedseizoen-2012</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">My expectations for this breeding
season were not very high as, although the population has shown a gradual
increase during the first four years, during the previous year (2012), due to
poor weather conditions, only very few chicks fledged. This year again
volunteers of the Institute for Seabird Research and Conservation (ISRC;
formerly USGS) put effort in monitoring the nest boxes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">After receiving this year’s results
I was quite surprised. Based on the data they gathered I suspect that no fewer
than 10 boxes were occupied; double the number that was in use by swallows in
2012! Unfortunately, halfway the breeding season the attention of the
volunteers decreased and not all boxes got monitored. I suspect that they were
too busy with their seabird projects this year, and with an increasing number
of TRES there will also be a lot more time and effort required for this
project. Possibly because of this, the results that are shown below come with a
number of question marks. (Strangely, I did not get a reply on further
inquiries about the TRES work this year from any of them. And no photos from
this breeding season either… (Alan, Erica and Lorraine??)).</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAv6EuXDxCHY_ShdNPFh2y4yzVc7bmMWrTRU03Qe6rJa7QRgeImmXUzpgFmwru6980_r8qS9OBGevzmAA1rgYsZL_OmaVzkBJlJySvktBOrjn__xw2z9-1__oVYokmXOiGRc8xSupiyQw/s1600/MDOTRESresults2013perbox.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAv6EuXDxCHY_ShdNPFh2y4yzVc7bmMWrTRU03Qe6rJa7QRgeImmXUzpgFmwru6980_r8qS9OBGevzmAA1rgYsZL_OmaVzkBJlJySvktBOrjn__xw2z9-1__oVYokmXOiGRc8xSupiyQw/s400/MDOTRESresults2013perbox.JPG" width="398" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Thankfully the volunteers still
managed to band a total of 17 chicks from three boxes. Whether attempts of four
other pairs resulted in ‘bandable’ young or not, remains unknown. Unfortunately
also, this year by the end of the breeding season the nest boxes did not get
cleaned and old nests were not inspected for any unhatched eggs or deceased
chicks. Therefore it is difficult to say something about the TRES’ fledging and
productivity for 2013. Unfortunate also because when nest boxes are not cleaned
before the winter, the boxes' life expectancy gets several years shorter, which is
my experience.</span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I suspect that many young will have
fledged as the weather conditions during the end of June and early July were
not too bad, although not perfect either (I recently found a new website with
what seems to be a rather accurate (historical) weather report from Middleton:
http://rp5.md/Weather_archive_in_Middleton_Island_%28airport%29). I will try to
see if the nest boxes still can get inspected and cleaned before the winter
(preferably) or before the new breeding season starts.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi27WsE93bb3oepe0by2sQhXgUkhNicqIdD0HSSbpt8EzCTQq_s9lWLptsM9CFaMGmVQnCFLkG-GJZhfku68DLSwN4H-xpREAJ_rRs8LLKJFvzlccf9l2x6rfptiYO-miAdi5Oe1dQhv-A/s1600/MDOTRESmap2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi27WsE93bb3oepe0by2sQhXgUkhNicqIdD0HSSbpt8EzCTQq_s9lWLptsM9CFaMGmVQnCFLkG-GJZhfku68DLSwN4H-xpREAJ_rRs8LLKJFvzlccf9l2x6rfptiYO-miAdi5Oe1dQhv-A/s640/MDOTRESmap2013.jpg" width="478" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Recommendations for the following year(s)</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">With a continuously increasing
number of TRES utilizing nest boxes out on Middleton Island, the project could
be considered a success. However, still very little is known about the origin
of the swallows that nest there. As part of this project<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a total of 3 adult and 41 chicks have been banded there up till now (of which at least 7 chicks died before
fledging), but no (or barely any) effort has been put in resighting these birds
as possible nesters on Middleton. Therefore it remains unknown how the remote
Middleton Island population is made up and what the true value of this project
would be. A continuation of the banding effort is a must, but capturing and
resighting breeding birds has become equally important.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Additionally, with a rapidly
increasing number of occupied nest boxes out there, chances are that in the
very near future the number of present boxes will become a limiting factor for
the developing population. With 10 out of 17 boxes in use, the housing market
for TRES still appears to be open. It can be expected, however, that some pairs
will exclude birds from a neighboring box. This is visible on the map to some
extent, as the swallows appear to have a preference to nest away from each
other. It will probably be better not to wait until all of these 17 boxes in
use (which I doubt will ever happen). Several additional nest boxes will have
to be installed within the upcoming two years, I suspect.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">To
me it has become obvious that during the upcoming years <u>this project
deserves more attention, as well as effort being put into it.</u> There might
be a lot to learn from these little birds on Middleton Island.</span></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Acknowledgements:</span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
I’d like to thank the ISRC volunteers for putting effort in monitoring the TRES
population to the extent that they did, Kyle Elliot again for giving some valuable
instructions at the start of the summer, and Scott Hatch (ISRC) for allowing
the volunteers to be busy with something other than seabirds.</span></div>
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<br />Tim van Nushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03145810759803753643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715204300952742359.post-30112622325768279092013-09-12T09:17:00.000-07:002013-09-12T09:18:03.743-07:00Soccer Ball Lost in Japan Tsunami Surfaces in Alaska. Part 2: Dave in JapanDavid Baxter sent me this clip. Fantastic! Dave, did you return any of your glass floats?:)<br />
<br />
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<br />Tim van Nushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03145810759803753643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715204300952742359.post-45144418688147155472012-12-14T15:52:00.001-08:002012-12-14T15:52:26.034-08:00Soccer Ball Lost in Japan Tsunami Surfaces in Alaska<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span>While roaming the beach on Alaska’s
barren, largely uninhabited Middleton Island, radar station technician David
Baxter noticed a soccer ball floating off the shore. But it wasn’t until he
fished it out that Baxter realized how far the ball had traveled: some 3,000
miles, from its home in Japan, where a disastrous tsunami killed 19,000 people
and poured the belongings of thousands of others into the ocean more than a
year ago.</span></span><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: black;">
Read more: <a href="http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/04/24/soccer-ball-lost-in-japan-tsunami-surfaces-in-alaska/#ixzz2F4X6DMdP"><span style="color: #003399;">http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/04/24/soccer-ball-lost-in-japan-tsunami-surfaces-in-alaska/#ixzz2F4X6DMdP</span></a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Although this news item originates from April this year,
David Baxter recently informed me that a full documentary covering the story
can now be watched here: <span> </span><a href="http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:8598087" target="_blank">http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:8598087</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Unfortunately I am not able to view it from this part of the
world, so for the moment I’ll have to be satisfied with the trailer:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ahhhh… beachcombing on Middleton Island… David informed me
he will keep on going for another couple of years, in the hopes of finding that
one glass float... </span></span></div>
<br />
Tim van Nushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03145810759803753643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715204300952742359.post-43908035874037017312012-12-13T07:00:00.002-08:002012-12-13T08:01:28.250-08:00A few photos from Clark Pearson’s 2012 summer visit to Middleton Island & the NALEMP.<div style="text-align: justify;">
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</xml><![endif]--><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Clark Pearson is a ‘Native American Lands Environmental
Mitigation Project Manager’ for the Native Village of Eyak. I share with him a
strong interest in Middleton Island’s history and we met before out on the
island in the fall of 2009. The Native Village of Eyak is currently performing
environmental investigations on Middleton Island and Clark’s most recent visit
has been part of this investigation as well. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Alaska has been a mecca for military activity for over 100
years and many of the historical military sites, including those on Middleton Island,
have been heavily polluted while in operation. An environmental assessment
conducted on the island in 2009 revealed the presence of asbestos, diesel range
contaminants, and lead. The Native American Lands Environmental Mitigation
Program (NALEMP), overseen by the US Army Corps of Engineers and funds
remediation activities for former military sites on Native American lands,
allows Alaska Native and Native American tribes to investigate and remove
hazardous materials from their land and provides valuable employment and skills
training to tribal members.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">More about the NALEMP and details for Middleton Island can
be found here: http://www.eyakfish.com/nalemp.html</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Clark just sent me a few of the photos he took during his most
recent visit to Middleton during late August.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Clark Pearson standing in between
the poles that once held the “Middleton Island blue fox farm” sign (or whatever
is left of them). It would be great to get some proper GPS-coordinates of their
locations, before they’re completely gone. I’m pretty sure the farmers housing
was to the left of you, Clark, not the right..</span><span style="font-size: small;">:-)</span></span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Try
to find Clark, at the exact location of the former fox farmer’s housing. The
extensive growth of fireweed is an indication for the soil disturbance at the
site that occurred in the past.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">One of my favorite parts of the
island; the eastern lowlands. The wash of gravel and clay originates from a small water
stream that eventually leads to the ocean. Just to the right of the photo this
stream made a steep cut in the bedrock of the older and higher part of the
island. This little canyon is called ‘the military dump’, as it was used as a
dump site for a lot of material and pollutants in the past.</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The NALEMP is also inspecting the environmental impacts resulting from this old fuel pipe line, which runs from the north end all the way to the former A.C.&W. station in the center of the island.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">By late August 2012, and after a very successful breeding season
I believe, the Kittiwakes were still occupying the former radar tower.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Clark at the gravel beach in the north end, used as the most
regular barge landing site. At least some things haven’t changed…</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Thanks Clark!</span></span></div>
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Tim van Nushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03145810759803753643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715204300952742359.post-53007858071366553922012-10-19T14:55:00.000-07:002012-10-19T18:14:00.023-07:00Rabbits versus flowers on Middleton Island, Gulf of Alaska<!--[if !mso]>
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Middleton
Island is currently inhabited by an introduced European feral Rabbit <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oryctolagus cuniculus</i> population, which
originates from four domestic rabbits (3 females and 1 male) that were purposely
liberated on the island in the fall of 1954. An earlier (but unsuccessful)
introduction of feral rabbits took place during the fox farm era in the
beginning of the twentieth century. An interesting account of the first few
years of the successful establishment of the rabbits on Middleton has been
written by <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">O'Farrell (1965). </span>In
the present these rabbits are the only land mammals on the island and during my
four visits between 2005 and 2010 they were abundant. <span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">This blog entry presents and discusses a few of
the findings of a study that focuses on the effects the introduced rabbits have
on the remaining wildlife of Middleton Island. It was initiated by me in 2009.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuo0s3mpF13qeaRqtKW4iPPm7hMjoZIkUIfINLfREyQQpaqAth0Xegv1p4SeUOJa0Zpi1j86BCjval3T8kUHWdyjXDp2g4vLjah5ci1nSLAULyl3AiMud37VjF_91IT1YwtFR-nj_xQGY/s1600/MDOz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuo0s3mpF13qeaRqtKW4iPPm7hMjoZIkUIfINLfREyQQpaqAth0Xegv1p4SeUOJa0Zpi1j86BCjval3T8kUHWdyjXDp2g4vLjah5ci1nSLAULyl3AiMud37VjF_91IT1YwtFR-nj_xQGY/s400/MDOz.jpg" width="308" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"></span>Armand Biron (720th A.C.&W. Squadron) holding one of the
earliest of Middleton’s rabbits (photo: Armand Biron, 1960).</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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Introductions
of non-native species into island ecosystems are known to be a reason for
concern. The presence of Arctic Foxes on Middleton Island between 1890 and the
1930’s, for example, certainly was disastrous for the island’s wildlife, as it
clearly reduced the possibilities for many species. The effects of fox
introductions to Alaskan islands have been studied before (see i.e. Bailey 1993
for a review) and eradication projects, that have been taken place as part of
wildlife conservation and habitat restoration, have been very successful. Thus far, however, the effects of rabbit introductions on Alaskan islands have
been poorly studied. Currently, introduced rabbits occur only on a few Alaskan
islands, as most other introduction attempts in the past have been
unsuccessful. Only recently have people started to eradicate introduced rabbits
from an Alaskan island as an ideological way of nature conservation (<a href="http://alaskamaritime.fws.gov/rabbits.htm">http://alaskamaritime.fws.gov/rabbits.htm</a>).
This action’s proposal consisted of not a single scientific field study from
the relevant area, but was largely based on references from the southern
hemisphere (the other side of the world…).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
The reason
for me to investigate Middleton’s rabbit population has been that, during my
first few visits, I did not notice many negative effects of their presence on
the remaining wildlife. Instead, I noticed several what seem to be some positive
effects of their occurrence on the island. This made me very curious.</div>
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<br /></div>
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One of the
things I wanted to find out was how many rabbits were present on Middleton
during my stays. For this I conducted regular counts throughout the summer
(early April – end of August) in all of the different habitat types that can be
distinguished on Middleton, at different times of the day. The rabbits produce
litters usually from the end of April until the beginning of August, but their
timing depends on climatic conditions and can vary notably.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Preliminary
results indicate that in 2009 (after the species dealt with a relatively mild
winter) their population contained about 3000 individuals at the start of the
summer, and after 2 - 3 litters about 12,000 individuals inhabited the island by
the end of August (Van Nus, personal records; results of the following year’s
count (2010) still need to be analyzed). O’Farrell estimated the population to
be between 3,600 and 3,700 rabbits in February 1961 and noted that winter
mortality can be high (O’Farrell 1965). In 2006 and probably to an even greater
extend in 2012, it also seemed that a previous winter had taken its toll,
decreasing rabbit numbers to a large extend and resulting in temporary disappearance
of the rabbits from parts of the island.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I also
wanted to find out more about the interaction of the rabbits with other animals.
For example the influence of the introduced rabbits on the predators: which of
the present species feeds on rabbits and to what extend are these dependant on
them? And what other prey items do these particular predators feed on? For this,
I conducted several diet studies among the main predatory species, of which the
Bald Eagle <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Haliaeetus leucocephalus</i> and
the Snowy Owl <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bubo scandiacus</i> are the
most important, but a small number of other species is known to take rabbits on
Middleton (i.e. Roberts 1985 (for the Glaucous-winged Gull <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Larus glaucescens</i>) and Van Nus 2006 (for the Northern Harrier <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Circus cyaneus</i>) and these predators’ diets
were investigated as much as possible. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCfL5bIiuppxKbNo9lTSjTsAf3CCt0IN-Xeo7sFdSVrOufsonIxjT3rdEVsIfLIaKvBtOjTMtuO_g6GO5Tj1CinJ5PmKEBoSyXeACkHgcLnFzt6gn0_8e-4tPjCjkTSKuiRHnI9v1IuPw/s1600/MI_2009_I+050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCfL5bIiuppxKbNo9lTSjTsAf3CCt0IN-Xeo7sFdSVrOufsonIxjT3rdEVsIfLIaKvBtOjTMtuO_g6GO5Tj1CinJ5PmKEBoSyXeACkHgcLnFzt6gn0_8e-4tPjCjkTSKuiRHnI9v1IuPw/s640/MI_2009_I+050.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"></span></div>
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A poor photo of an immature Gyrfalcon <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Falco rusticolus</i> on its recently captured prey. It got flushed from
its prey by the photographer, revealing the remains of an adult rabbit (photo:
Tim van Nus, April 2009).</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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Preliminary
results show that predation makes up an important part of mortality, but also climatic
conditions during the winter are of large importance to the annual rabbit survival, probably even more important than predation. The island gets sometimes
visited by hunters that shoot an unknown number of rabbits and the impact of
their actions remains unknown. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Rabbits are
often accused of preventing some burrow-nesting seabird species from nesting on
the island, such as Storm-petrels <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oceanodroma
</i>sp. or Ancient Murrelets <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Synthliboramphus
antiquus</i> (i.e. see Audubon’s site description for Middleton Island: http://iba.audubon.org/iba/viewSiteProfile.do?siteId=3282&navSite=state).
However, there seems to be no scientific data to support this.</div>
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I am
studying this by using an extensive database of historical bird records, which
covers pretty much the whole of Middleton’s recorded history. In combination
with my recent inventory work and the work of others, by now I know relatively
well which species nest or have nested on the island, which are seen on or
around the island and when, and which are not seen. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Neither Storm-petrels nor Ancient Murrelets
are known to nest or have nested on Middleton but both have been recorded
irregularly around the island in summer. These species nest in extensive
colonies in the surrounding area of Middleton, and are abundant.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2pOjN2yD58ox3ORBN-AlmGt_qPjlDsX5p8xNDOTsJSU3aUFU_D99jSgjhUG-EzT1Xn72jv-8mi6x17tijSDkPL1ASbWdsdkgh2ito99tW1q9ZQrfPwozfldIC4KYx4kRVOtkMssHW53c/s1600/MDO16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="457" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2pOjN2yD58ox3ORBN-AlmGt_qPjlDsX5p8xNDOTsJSU3aUFU_D99jSgjhUG-EzT1Xn72jv-8mi6x17tijSDkPL1ASbWdsdkgh2ito99tW1q9ZQrfPwozfldIC4KYx4kRVOtkMssHW53c/s640/MDO16.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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A beached Ancient Murrelet in 1960. This is the second oldest
record of this species on or around Middleton that I could find (photo: Armand
Biron).</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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Besides
these aspects, there are several other things concerning Middleton’s rabbit
population that I’m studying, which I will not go into detail about here, except
for one. Introduced rabbits are often thought to cause habitat degradation and
negatively affect the indigenous flora, indirectly affecting other wildlife.
Therefore I took the opportunity to study the rabbit’s influence on the
island’s vegetation, which I thought would be interesting enough to present some
parts of in this post. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Middleton
Island’s vegetation has been studied before by Thomas (1957) who identified 116
plant species. Thomas’ study was part of the 1956 biological reconnaissance of
Middleton. Thomas conducted his study in June 1956, less than two years after
the introduction of the first four rabbits. Because of winter mortality, in the
spring of 1956 their population was reduced to five females and two males. The
summer population in 1956 was estimated at 200 animals (<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">O'Farrell 1965</span>).<b><span style="font-size: 9.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></b>I therefore suspect the
influence these rabbits had on the vegetation at that time was still minimal
and Thomas’ work still largely represents the pre-rabbit situation. </div>
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<br />
In 2010 I
conducted a vegetation inventory and managed to identify 105 plant species, excluding
a number of species (about 20) which up to this point have remained unidentified.
Now, this would seem to indicate that the rabbits grazing activity has probably
not decreased the island’s vegetational diversity, but unfortunately things are
a bit more complicated. Due to the island’s uplift during the 1964 Earthquake (which
created a whole new supra-tidal area around the island) a number of new species
can be expected to have shown up on the island during the following decades. At
the same time, the uplift may have influenced the vegetation of the older
island parts, as this got further out of the reach of the ocean. When not
taking into account the newly created formations, the number of species
identified on the pre-1964 parts of the island (98) is lower than was found by
Thomas in 1956. Some species that I could not relocate on the older formations,
however, were found in the post 1964 areas instead, indicating that ‘succession’
(or the uplift) may be an issue. Additionally, it appears that the number of
invasive species has increased during the recent decades. And finally, I must
point out that I probably was not carrying the same expertise as Thomas’ in
1956 (but certainly not unusual with vegetation inventories). None the less, at
this point I believe it would be safe to say that the rabbits have NOT caused
any serious decrease in the diversity of the vegetation of Middleton Island,
about 57 years after their introduction.</div>
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<br /></div>
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But what are
the effects of the rabbit’s grazing activity and what would the island look
like without them? In order to study this I erected several exclosures:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>small fenced off areas that are inaccessible
to the rabbits. The idea was (and still is) to keep the rabbits out for a
period of many years in order to be able to monitor vegetation development
without the presence of rabbits. These exclosures were made from metal poles
and 50 cm high chicken wire that was pinned into the ground, and they vary in
size from about 2 x 2 m for the single smallest, to about 4.5 x 4.5 m for the
largest. Three exclosures were erected in the summer of 2009 and another two
during the following summer. The exclosures are distributed over different vegetation
types and/or formations.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizCmzHG3jA560xyXz7OLkkojzLSwkPN2OG_-_WX_mgZ0amB7WxGwfC61eka_Fue7EnEwyMQsrCgv0TgFQQw9HOfKIYh2FZnDOjsclvHWmiw6TVwXnoxoyHt9iGtG9Qub_ASiB0SBC6cB8/s1600/DSC_0396.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizCmzHG3jA560xyXz7OLkkojzLSwkPN2OG_-_WX_mgZ0amB7WxGwfC61eka_Fue7EnEwyMQsrCgv0TgFQQw9HOfKIYh2FZnDOjsclvHWmiw6TVwXnoxoyHt9iGtG9Qub_ASiB0SBC6cB8/s640/DSC_0396.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
Exclosure 1 in the north-end of the island in the spring of its
fourth year in 2012 (photo: USGS crew 2012)</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Rabbits are
not the only herbivore on the island. There is a large population of Canada
Geese <i>Branta canadensis</i> present on the island throughout most of the year, numbering just over
2000 birds (adults and young) in late June 2008. After a fast increase from the 1970's, their population stabilized in the mid 1990's around this number (Petrula et al 2008). These
geese will also influence the vegetation, but could technically have access to the
vegetation within the exclosures if they want to (and they are allowed to). Due to the exclosures’ sizes, however, I doubt they ever did thus far. The geese are not very common around three of the five exclosures and I did not
see any signs that these had regularly been feeding in or in the vicinity of
the remaining two (no, or hardly any, fecal pellets of them were found there during
my visits).</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Already
within a year after the first exclosures had been placed it became notable that,
during the summer, the rabbit’s grazing activity was aimed primarily at flowers,
but also at seeds and fruits of the plants. At closer examination in 2010 it
appeared that all of the flowering plants that were found within the exclosures
could also be found elsewhere on the island. Some of them were very common and
others relatively rare.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2jX0NST4n__bllKY9oaF4yNj-_8sUAjrIkSwjoG2ryt3OTdH_DBNbK4LVn2VJgSqsrtud2r8end3rhGz78odd30vk-nrxodQuxOPxzoLg-8h2UpreqmMSgOVGejoJdMXhZbD6eu559cU/s1600/MDO+2010+7+077.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2jX0NST4n__bllKY9oaF4yNj-_8sUAjrIkSwjoG2ryt3OTdH_DBNbK4LVn2VJgSqsrtud2r8end3rhGz78odd30vk-nrxodQuxOPxzoLg-8h2UpreqmMSgOVGejoJdMXhZbD6eu559cU/s640/MDO+2010+7+077.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
An abundance of flowering Yellow Monkey-flowers <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mimulus guttatus</i> within exclosure 3. The
Yellow Monkey-flower grows abundant just around the exclosure too, but there
their flowers get eaten by rabbits (photo: Tim van Nus, June 2010).</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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Strangely, in
a few cases it got noticed that some of the plants that were found flowering
within the exclosures were only incidentally found flowering elsewhere, but notably
only in the middle of the area containing the highest rabbit density! This was
the case, for example, with a single Yellow Paintbrush
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Castilleja unalaschensis</i> growing in
exclosure 1 at the island’s north end. Though this species is stated as being fairly
common by Thomas (1957), this was only the second time I observed it on the
island. Remarkably, a few days after this finding, I also observed a small
stand (3 - 4 plants) growing in the center of the island, at a location where
rabbits are extremely abundant, and mainly feed on Annual Bluegrass <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Poa annua</i>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOVNtWlwMLaP312A6mo1vI5BQb7XwYj64ZLTpVImI0LlGcrFqPsrnK4SRW1cCNa7hWIy0rfXqNCKcs3p0jC4bcMEDJoLvfyJqiSy9m3xV_9Aa7hU_839cvt2waT2DnMzHMzDSQwqIwyVQ/s1600/P1020002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOVNtWlwMLaP312A6mo1vI5BQb7XwYj64ZLTpVImI0LlGcrFqPsrnK4SRW1cCNa7hWIy0rfXqNCKcs3p0jC4bcMEDJoLvfyJqiSy9m3xV_9Aa7hU_839cvt2waT2DnMzHMzDSQwqIwyVQ/s640/P1020002.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
Since the summer of 2010 there is a single Yellow Paintbrush to be found flowering in
the middle of exclosure 1 (photo: USGS crew 2012).</div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqdZWZGAXdB2CTWcDJsKEqyFhOisUOfT7bKUtpRv4B4OvBdZqJQM7eOBJVaBcwz2WV6IEZBU7PGOoImGdEGc2P24GVfYx5fPAnA8-go_KlQ2fC6qFCbT9HdDv3lAqK6R1qMINyQqXuyEs/s1600/MDO+2010+5+010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqdZWZGAXdB2CTWcDJsKEqyFhOisUOfT7bKUtpRv4B4OvBdZqJQM7eOBJVaBcwz2WV6IEZBU7PGOoImGdEGc2P24GVfYx5fPAnA8-go_KlQ2fC6qFCbT9HdDv3lAqK6R1qMINyQqXuyEs/s640/MDO+2010+5+010.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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In 2010 Yellow Paintbrush was also noticed growing in the A.C.&W. station, the area containing the island’s
highest rabbit density (photo: Tim van Nus, July 2010).</div>
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<br /></div>
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During 2011
and 2012, when I did not visit Middleton, the exclosures were monitored by
others, and a number of photos got taken of each exclosure, once during spring
and once during summer (the beginning of July). Thus far, not all the
exclosures have shown such a dramatic difference. Two exclosures placed in
areas with a relatively low rabbit density, up till now have shown only little
differences with their surrounding vegetation.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMMvWJu_48YcPYcweD0OiErqX9S8nLStpkEgcO7xgVktVftCqJdxTennV_KyDDmIsAEo2NOO5gIvTtDx8D_88bwFGhmNvnk20oNhGe_aiRFk0Rzg32QN0qyZJsoPzXcqpT2Bn0QfSWi0o/s1600/P1020088.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMMvWJu_48YcPYcweD0OiErqX9S8nLStpkEgcO7xgVktVftCqJdxTennV_KyDDmIsAEo2NOO5gIvTtDx8D_88bwFGhmNvnk20oNhGe_aiRFk0Rzg32QN0qyZJsoPzXcqpT2Bn0QfSWi0o/s640/P1020088.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Three years after its construction, the largest exclosure
(#5), in the southern upland of Middleton Island, still shows no clear difference in vegetation
structure compared to the surrounding vegetation (photo: USGS crew 2012).</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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After
analyzing these photos as much as possible, I noticed a similar pattern taking place as during the
first two growing seasons of the project. However, one thing that stands out at the moment is
the presence of a yet unidentified purple flower that appears to be growing
well within exclosure 3. Unfortunately, from the photos I can’t manage to
identify it, and I don’t know whether I’ve listed it before in a ‘non-flowering
state’.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHiY-vsWZ4Rb7AN084zDxx3uRWIjFNUhbCiepYi8NaxZ9tFRjR-C5EwOMfsLHoG4_QcmBqjJWpW1wtbsmGgFp8ZOKMaCwmubqnOEQp3okPjebMwiHE3anDSXjpJVqacA16RCYSyqGAw_Y/s1600/P1020106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHiY-vsWZ4Rb7AN084zDxx3uRWIjFNUhbCiepYi8NaxZ9tFRjR-C5EwOMfsLHoG4_QcmBqjJWpW1wtbsmGgFp8ZOKMaCwmubqnOEQp3okPjebMwiHE3anDSXjpJVqacA16RCYSyqGAw_Y/s640/P1020106.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
Suddenly there were these yet unidentified purple flowers
occurring in exclosure 3. A Shooting-star sp?? (photo: USGS crew 2012).</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
But, with
only four years after the first exclosures were placed, there are still new
developments expected to be taking place within them, so what is presented here
will be very preliminary. A continuation in monitoring the exclosures would be
very helpful, and so would a further increase in the number of exclosures be.
Thus far, the observations indicate that:</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span>Although already a colorful place, without the
presence of the rabbits Middleton would probably host a lot more flowers.</li>
<li>The rabbits’ occurrence probably changed
abundances of some plant species, but yet there is no clear evidence that
plant species disappeared due to the rabbits' presence.</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span>The rabbit’s grazing pressure varies along the
location and is absent in some locations.</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span>The rabbit’s grazing pressure varies between
years and is absent in some locations in some years (probably allowing some
plant species to flower irregularly or incidentally).</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span>Due to repeated grazing, a large number of plant
species occurs in a sort of ‘dwarf state’; they remain low and will never
flower, yet they can be very abundant.</li>
<li>Certain plant species are preferred by the
rabbits and when these are growing abundant they ignore certain other plants
that would readily be eaten in other locations on the island. </li>
</ul>
Throughout the summer the introduced Annual Bluegrass
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Poa annua</i> appeared to be the rabbits’
favored food item and the highest rabbit densities are found on and in the
vicinity of short grazed foraging patches containing this species, primarily on
and near the island’s infrastructure. These areas are also the place where the
highest winter survival occurs, possibly allowing the species to remain on
the island during the more severe winters. It remains unclear whether the establishment of humans on the island ultimately created a life-line for the rabbit population throughout the following decades, but
I am more and more getting that impression.<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ENyWqwcSENCfKmV4jV6LmaHF2GZ3XomB2_n1_uwjhxaRcn1iVlBPvZciDaLvoY8cl2w-dTCpRfKBFUeWbtthX4t_tAjcjCDl_G0H3Q-5phyjd6NKvlHcCF6UKFe_RUPcd1W2JpVpzbw/s1600/MDO+2010+19+042.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ENyWqwcSENCfKmV4jV6LmaHF2GZ3XomB2_n1_uwjhxaRcn1iVlBPvZciDaLvoY8cl2w-dTCpRfKBFUeWbtthX4t_tAjcjCDl_G0H3Q-5phyjd6NKvlHcCF6UKFe_RUPcd1W2JpVpzbw/s640/MDO+2010+19+042.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"></span><span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;"></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
Rabbits are most abundant on or near the island’s
infrastructure, where they maintain short-grazed foraging patches. Here they
are also most easily seen (photo: Tim van Nus, August 2009).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Now, does
this mean that the rabbits are causing habitat degradation and are negatively
affecting the indigenous flora? I don’t believe so. Thus far it seems their
presence results only in changes in the vegetation, and from a vegetational
point of view I believe these changes are not necessarily a bad thing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
And whether
the rabbits are indirectly affecting other wildlife… Yes, certainly they do! The
reduction of flowers, seeds and fruits will likely have an effect on the
island’s insect world and therefore indirectly affect food supply of some birds
species. According the Audubon the “Heavy grazing by the hares must also make
the island less attractive as nesting habitat for some shorebirds, such as
Short-billed Dowitchers <span class="st"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Limnodromus
griseus</i></span>” (http://iba.audubon.org/iba/viewSiteProfile.do?siteId=3282&navSite=state), but again I did not managed to find any scientific data
that can support this. (A single pair of this species is recorded to have
likely nested on Middleton Island for a period of several years during the late
1990’s (Van Nus, unpublished data)). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Whether the overall
effect of the rabbits’ grazing is negative remains yet to be seen; on Middleton
the locations with the highest rabbit densities coincide with the highest
densities (record densities!) of savannah sparrows, which, in combination with
the presence of juvenile rabbits in late summer, seems to allow a pair of
Northern Harriers to nest there irregularly (Van Nus 2006).</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
This blog
entry would get a bit too complex to present and discuss other findings, but I
can ensure you that, after examination, at this point for every negative aspect
of the rabbit’s occurrence I can come up with a positive. In my opinion, the
assumed but not proven absence of Storm-petrels and/or Ancient Murrelet on
Middleton, due to the presence of rabbits, gets easily compensated by the
remarkable appearance of Snowy Owls on Middleton. During each winter, a number
(1 – 35+) of these owls resides on Middleton and 99% of their diet consists of
rabbits (Rausch 1958, O’Farrell 1965, Van Nus,
unpublished data 2005 – 2006). Immature birds, usually 1 - 2, are resident to the island in the summer (well away from their breeding range), although irregularly. In 2005, 96% of the diet samples that were collected from
two immature individuals throughout the summer, contained the remains of only rabbits
(Van Nus 2006).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
I remember
that the birdwatchers that paid organized summer-day visits to the island during my stays were
all pretty excited about putting the Snowy Owl on their list. I believe that these owls
are one of the many things that make Middleton Island unique, and this could
also count for the rabbits, which certainly deserve more attention in the future,
and not from hunters but from scientists, before the opportunity is lost.</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
Thanks to the rabbits Middleton Island can contain a Snowy
Owl population year-round. Unique for southern Alaska! (photo: Brian Guzzetti,
May 2005).</div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Acknowledgements</b> </div>
I want to
thank everybody that helped out with constructing and placing the exclosures in
2009 and/or 2010, as well as the people that helped monitoring the exclosures
during the following two years. I thank Scott Hatch (USGS) for letting me use
the chicken wire and a few stakes, and the FAA for the leftover metal poles.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Literature</b><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Bailey, E.P. 1993. Introduction of foxes to
Alaskan Islands – History, effects on Avifauna, and eradication. United States
Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service. Resource publication
193. Washington DC.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">O'Farrell, T.P. 1965. The Rabbits of Middleton
Island, Alaska. Journal of Mammalogy, Vol. 46, No. 3, pp. 525-527.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Thomas, J.H. 1957. The vascular flora of Middleton
Island, Alaska Contributions from the Dudley Herbarium, 5:39-56.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Rausch R. 1958. The occurrence and distribution
of birds on Middleton Island, Alaska. The Condor 60: 227-241.</span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.5in;">
Roberts, B. 1985.
Glaucous-winged Gulls prey on feral rabbits on Middleton Island, Alaska.
Murrelet 66:24.<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Petrula, M.J., Rothe, T., Rosenberg, D. &
Crowley, D. 2008. Canada Goose Survey on Middleton Island – 2008. Alaska
Department of Fish & Game. Unpublished report.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -.5in;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Van Nus, T. 2006. The simple diet of a Northern
Harrier <i>Circus cyaneus hudsonius</i> pair at Middleton Island in the Gulf of
Alaska. De Takkeling 14: 68-77.</span></div>
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<![endif]-->Tim van Nushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03145810759803753643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715204300952742359.post-32329192317891876782012-09-11T09:46:00.000-07:002012-09-13T05:52:18.387-07:00The Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) of Middleton Island, Gulf of Alaska<div style="text-align: justify;">
The Tree Swallow (TRES)
is a migratory passerine bird that breeds in North America and winters
in southern U.S., Mexico,
Central America and the Caribbean. They're the species of choice for
many North American ornithologists pursuing songbird research. This blog
entry presents the results of the first four years of a pilot project
involving a TRES population and describes and discusses how these birds
established themselves on a remarkable location. It will also look in
the future of what possibly is one of the most isolated breeding
populations of this species in North America. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN9XwqIe4pcibvMzRAXsyVwuvfJT8tVeAtEHa565JsFTHcFPGEQtlPsCYXccZkB3bq_7uO3YNThe6_muNqyyZdxIcGmYLvNsBaLreco5LG5ZJoCn2hvpYCKWhqKjSdJRSRAwtDqZq0cSiz/s1600/IMG_45922.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN9XwqIe4pcibvMzRAXsyVwuvfJT8tVeAtEHa565JsFTHcFPGEQtlPsCYXccZkB3bq_7uO3YNThe6_muNqyyZdxIcGmYLvNsBaLreco5LG5ZJoCn2hvpYCKWhqKjSdJRSRAwtDqZq0cSiz/s640/IMG_45922.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tree Swallows (photo: Chris Gates)</td></tr>
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<br />
I first found out about the existence of
the TRES in the summer of 2005, when I worked abroad, volunteering in
the USGS seabird studies out on the small (2 x 7 km) and remote Middleton
Island (59°26’N, 146°20’W) located in the Gulf of Alaska. Middleton lies
about 110 km from the nearest mainland and 80 km southeast from the
nearest island, Montague, which forms the southern barrier of the Prince
William Sound. On May 26 of that year I observed three of these birds
flying around at the island’s north end. These birds did not stay and
the species did not breed on the island during that year, neither did
the few birds that were observed by the end of May during a following
stay
in 2006. I expected that this species was absent from the island as a
breeder due to a
lack of suitable nest habitat, as their name implies a strong
relationship
with ‘perennial woody plants of reasonable height’. Middleton, however,
is not completely
treeless; there are several solitary or clustered windblown spruces
scattered
around on the island. I doubted that any of these contained cavities
for these swallows to nest in. Apart from a lack of nest habitat, the
island would probably be an interesting place for them, as there are
many fresh or brackish ponds and plenty of flying insects, already
satisfying the needs of about 65 - 112 pairs of Bank Swallows (<i>Riparia riparia</i>) annually between 2005 and 2010 (Van Nus, personal records).</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Location of Middleton Island in the Gulf of Alaska (source: Google Earth)</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiesK5QtzsG_w3pWFhLVLO_PXMTeVpRddgS-7DoZn90WJBTUkE31A3_wJkbzZqmbufypdPv3Oqiq65c-kH4YD766Gnk5cRpmLH8tB9R77EONO2zJ7YhTbMmQU_t_BHP1dJ8F4XZqmzwbUgY/s1600/MDOaerial.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiesK5QtzsG_w3pWFhLVLO_PXMTeVpRddgS-7DoZn90WJBTUkE31A3_wJkbzZqmbufypdPv3Oqiq65c-kH4YD766Gnk5cRpmLH8tB9R77EONO2zJ7YhTbMmQU_t_BHP1dJ8F4XZqmzwbUgY/s640/MDOaerial.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Middleton Island is relatively low, flat, and has only a few trees (photo: Lauren Bessey)</td></tr>
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Surprisingly, Rausch (1958), who thus far published the only
complete breeding bird inventory for the island, mentions the TRES as a breeder in 1956,
as he observed a few of these birds nesting in the remains of a building. I
would later found out this building was a U.S. Coast Guard station located in the
center of the island, which was only operational for a few years during World War II.
This building got burned down in 1960, probably eliminating the
species from the island as a breeder during the following years.</div>
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The former U.S.C.G. buildings where TRES nested in 1956 (photo: Armand Biron). </div>
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<br /></div>
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With
an increasing interest in historical records of the breeding
species of Middleton Island (I've been working on an avifauna for the
island for a while now), I would later find out that during the
following
decades the TRES made irregular appearances as a breeder, with at least one
pair utilizing cavities in a building within an abandoned FAA settlement
in the north end of the island where it got recorded nesting
occasionally during 1976 - 2002. Unfortunately for these birds this
settlement
got removed during the summer of 2005, again leaving them
without a place to nest on the island.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Part of the former FAA settlement at the north end, removed in 2005<br />
(photo: Tim van Nus)</td></tr>
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It occurred to me during a stay in Maine (U.S. east coast),
after observing a so called ‘nest box grid’ made up of several dozens of
pole-mounted nest boxes placed in an open field, that the TRES on
Middleton could possibly be persuaded to nest on the island again. All I had to
do was place a few nest boxes! So, I gathered more information about the
species, nest box design and - placement. Especially Chris Gates’ website (<a href="http://www.treeswallowprojects.com/">http://www.treeswallowprojects.com</a>)
was of great help, as it describes in detail how to start up a TRES nest box project.</div>
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Shortly
after arrival on Middleton in early April 2009, I
constructed seven nest boxes. The dimensions used were those recommended by
the
Golondrinas project (an international community of biologists studying
swallows (http://golondrinas.cornell.edu)).
However, in order to survive Middleton’s stormy conditions year-round,
their
overall construction had to be a lot more robust than the boxes used
elsewhere
in the world. Five boxes were mounted on
existing wooden poles that hold a non-functional electricity wire in the
centre
of the island and another two were placed nearby and were mounted on
steel pipes. With the absence of ground predators on Middleton I did not
have to worry about predator guards.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq5p4dpzPQHwp63KgKaDhm0CiewYwtQjNDMufNwtMLh74id5MtCKxIfqn_mz_LafL2ECNxo6PhmWPFcbhu8LXuNUjZVcUKfz6qPMgNIK1wa2KxaYqQT19ZHk95X9nsmwdNfy-Aalnt-cM4/s1600/MI_2009_XXIV+084.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq5p4dpzPQHwp63KgKaDhm0CiewYwtQjNDMufNwtMLh74id5MtCKxIfqn_mz_LafL2ECNxo6PhmWPFcbhu8LXuNUjZVcUKfz6qPMgNIK1wa2KxaYqQT19ZHk95X9nsmwdNfy-Aalnt-cM4/s640/MI_2009_XXIV+084.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Box 1, 2 and 3 at an individual distance of about 30 meters<br />
(photo: Tim van Nus).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Instant success!</i> – In <b>2009</b>
the first TRES (three birds) were
seen on May 25. Two of these made up a pair and were highly interested
in
box 6. Both of these birds were in full adult plumage. A third adult
male showed interest in the other boxes, but this bird got accompanied
by a second year female only much later, on June 12. These two birds also paired and
occupied box 2. During
an inspection of box 6 on June 18 a nest was found containing six warm
eggs. These resulted in six
chicks, which all fledged around July 8. The couple nesting in box 2
laid a total of four eggs, which were observed on
June 28, and which resulted in the fledging of 4 chicks around July 21.
All these birds seemed to have left the island by the end of July. So,
during the first year of this project <u>two TRES pairs laid a total of 10 eggs, which resulted in 10 fledging chicks!</u></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA6aVdrU1OPGaJgCaBZUNKfqtu2U6IGmZGmrDkp15QCuvatICJl2nOAfgvuQkJ5DiHf_6MaX7W8M7EO2OVHkTicBqzcM7qPZBC3Wbf1KPLeCLkUYpQloPNMrO9pnyhvTV20xuX1dbJDD6t/s1600/MDO+2010+3+063.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA6aVdrU1OPGaJgCaBZUNKfqtu2U6IGmZGmrDkp15QCuvatICJl2nOAfgvuQkJ5DiHf_6MaX7W8M7EO2OVHkTicBqzcM7qPZBC3Wbf1KPLeCLkUYpQloPNMrO9pnyhvTV20xuX1dbJDD6t/s640/MDO+2010+3+063.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the birds from box 6 observing the observer (photo: Tim van Nus)</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbfZfd8mI0nDb3K80uS-DArhhcxVKsv50bpCIgOpIif3uoT0sqcQPhqm7urVv9HeTYo5RW-C5FDmtsOBlwV2vxzFcQDDri7j9wFjXJ-GbjTaAU70QrZ21IjCTCxFvJOQDD4lf6cmBF-gQ8/s1600/MI_2009_XIX+076.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbfZfd8mI0nDb3K80uS-DArhhcxVKsv50bpCIgOpIif3uoT0sqcQPhqm7urVv9HeTYo5RW-C5FDmtsOBlwV2vxzFcQDDri7j9wFjXJ-GbjTaAU70QrZ21IjCTCxFvJOQDD4lf6cmBF-gQ8/s640/MI_2009_XIX+076.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Box 6 containing six eggs and many feathers of waterfowl<br />
and Black-legged Kittiwakes (photo: Tim van Nus)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">2010</b>
– My expectations
for the following summer were high; I expected more birds to occupy the
boxes,
as some of the known breeders could return, as well as some of their
offspring
and maybe a few more 'floaters'. In order to provide enough nest sites
for the near future of the project I added another 10 boxes to the seven
that were already
there and had survived some severe winter storms seemingly without
problems. This made a total of 17 boxes present on the island in 2010
and these are all the project contains until the present day. All boxes
from this new series were painted white on
the outside for extra durability and were mounted on steel pipes, except
for one (box 8), which I mounted on one of two
existing slanted wooden poles. These two partly burned poles are the
only
visible remnant of a U.S. Coast Guard station that once contained
Middleton's first TRES nest in recorded history (Rausch 1958). Five
boxes (# 10 - 14) were placed along a small water stream in the north
end of the island where the former FAA station was located. Another
three boxes
(#15 - 17) were placed just south of the southern end of the island’s
infrastructure, making sure that the birds had the
opportunity to nest well away from each other, if they’d prefer. I ended
this
series by placing a box in front of an FAA weather camera; there are two
of these cameras located near the island's airstrip, and both take a
photo every 12 minutes to inform pilots about the local weather
conditions. The box (9) is facing the southwest camera. These
images can be viewed online, meaning that when not visiting the island,
the swallows could be viewed from any office
(http://akweathercams.faa.gov/sitelist.php). Coincidentally, the first
TRES for 2010 got recorded by the camera on May 10, when it perched at
the entrance hole of box 9. </div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmHPNreDi_VtZuQb6NCM-UJLtNVoAqHM6rn8vR_8CdbYJM7R23q5wGToN3z_z4m-ALF29O8mFbr98FpG8UaX4FOrh0Evqa_zs5Vlq4_tPmEWm8-G1VDCHV2xTf91QaJzHTTl4vGJmkrGpC/s1600/MDO+2010+14+008.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmHPNreDi_VtZuQb6NCM-UJLtNVoAqHM6rn8vR_8CdbYJM7R23q5wGToN3z_z4m-ALF29O8mFbr98FpG8UaX4FOrh0Evqa_zs5Vlq4_tPmEWm8-G1VDCHV2xTf91QaJzHTTl4vGJmkrGpC/s640/MDO+2010+14+008.JPG" width="504" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Box 9 facing the FAA weather camera (photo: Tim van Nus)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNPBGouZkX5DrdGEuzHq8jXo4Y8iC5bN_n09IouGu3HLQ1x8JdwlWCBbl70jemBVbwQPakkgdn3O2zIXXH1xwfinbutIMdgEYE2mAeZQE397NA_bQ4GV9FnYqmL1TotGb4LG4rYEYRvASU/s1600/36-43250.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNPBGouZkX5DrdGEuzHq8jXo4Y8iC5bN_n09IouGu3HLQ1x8JdwlWCBbl70jemBVbwQPakkgdn3O2zIXXH1xwfinbutIMdgEYE2mAeZQE397NA_bQ4GV9FnYqmL1TotGb4LG4rYEYRvASU/s640/36-43250.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first recorded Tree Swallow observation for 2010; the bird
is that tiny black spot against the front of the nest box.<br />
Only later
did I
find out that I'd better placed the box a bit closer to the camera...<br />
(Source: Federal Aviation administration/http://akweathercams.faa.gov/)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW-dTaCSdoRNrIP1NXDN3M3QLO3rNAffnnaXvEmhif81LSqJzAD5HGeFOvV2eqIXsEG0yOKqldibSGArRE0cTVIl5RIU7qH8Rm20K191r6_DHfxDLrQu479gf4DgSQjAkz2w47XbusZyLi/s1600/MDO_TRESboxes2010.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW-dTaCSdoRNrIP1NXDN3M3QLO3rNAffnnaXvEmhif81LSqJzAD5HGeFOvV2eqIXsEG0yOKqldibSGArRE0cTVIl5RIU7qH8Rm20K191r6_DHfxDLrQu479gf4DgSQjAkz2w47XbusZyLi/s640/MDO_TRESboxes2010.jpg" width="491" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Location of the 17 nest boxes on Middleton</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
After
the observation of the first swallow at box 9 on May 10, a second
individual was seen the same day. Eventually in 2010 three pairs were
present on the island, of which only two nested successfully. These birds, however,
decided not to use the box facing the camera. Instead one pair nested in
box 6 (same box as used in 2009) and had two eggs on May 28. The second
pair laid their first egg on May 30 in box 8. Both nesting attempts
resulted in six-egg clutches and six fledglings, which all left their boxes
during the first days of July. The presence of a third pair only got
recorded twice around box 4 on May 20 and 22. The female of this pair
was observed in several severe fights with the established female from
box 6 and was not seen afterwards for unknown reasons, but due to the
severity of their battles I suspect that she may have been killed by her
neighbor. At inspection, their box (# 4) contained only a few straws and
feathers, which for me is enough to count them in as the third pair for
this year. To summarize: <u>in 2010 three TRES pairs occupied the boxes, of which two produced a clutch of six eggs, resulting in 12 fledged chicks.</u><br />
<br /></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlYArYj67zGa39NFIOC2DoG9SN_vO-hNPVly9AjZvmDeWpxp5gS7HNeSyZ5zkrRnYC4YSmtxUV6d_kdo5wApS5Yu6E_w8tNy_rdXyVQdjDxj6YAXANTAp7XaaqaQJRyWw3VjwKj2fIEZ_d/s1600/MDO+2010+4+018.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlYArYj67zGa39NFIOC2DoG9SN_vO-hNPVly9AjZvmDeWpxp5gS7HNeSyZ5zkrRnYC4YSmtxUV6d_kdo5wApS5Yu6E_w8tNy_rdXyVQdjDxj6YAXANTAp7XaaqaQJRyWw3VjwKj2fIEZ_d/s640/MDO+2010+4+018.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After its partner disappeared, this lonely male occupied box 4<br />
for several weeks (photo: Tim van Nus)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRipD1Vkc56XE36SmxzWwwbhRPsYFUA-NNb3IPc3_H_6ZGWUBwEkEEaBu3vnPk_0kbmxLe_5qkeUeFuSbEHz8FYBDBlgYQU0MN4rnVH94nO0r9SCucwqRWqO1o1o-OE94ut4UU2pELTGmT/s1600/MDO+2010+4+019.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRipD1Vkc56XE36SmxzWwwbhRPsYFUA-NNb3IPc3_H_6ZGWUBwEkEEaBu3vnPk_0kbmxLe_5qkeUeFuSbEHz8FYBDBlgYQU0MN4rnVH94nO0r9SCucwqRWqO1o1o-OE94ut4UU2pELTGmT/s640/MDO+2010+4+019.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eventual contents of box 4 (photo: Tim van Nus)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i> </i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Banding -</i>
In 2010 all of the 12 chicks were given a small uniquely numbered
light-weight aluminum band before their fledging. These bands allow for
individual recognition of the birds. If these birds would ever be
re-caught or found dead, a lot of knowledge would be gained about the
dispersal and survival of TRES from Middleton. Christophe de Franceschi
and Kyle Elliot, both well experienced bird banders, helped out with the
banding of all of the 12 young on June 26. </div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3RhEvmRZrCVAC5mSRTkam0_IvMlcxp-7Cvag5Hf928hrgARNEIAyWGxX1gGCy7NGUO_TtCVKL1yOCl91beqdkXbuErlSxzkVKRRrvaOzKKSnfdnk0Ant3C2PwRfBYtVxqOskHSNMbKJBk/s1600/MDO+2010+5+075.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3RhEvmRZrCVAC5mSRTkam0_IvMlcxp-7Cvag5Hf928hrgARNEIAyWGxX1gGCy7NGUO_TtCVKL1yOCl91beqdkXbuErlSxzkVKRRrvaOzKKSnfdnk0Ant3C2PwRfBYtVxqOskHSNMbKJBk/s640/MDO+2010+5+075.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christophe (left) and Kyle (right) busy banding the chicks from box 8,<br />
under the careful eyes of the two breeding birds (photo: Tim van Nus).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaPl2GgsAhZwQRAOf0ck_fo6841BIzT3VzQYJ98LWnPgxYJjoleNNE5QUpMoh7K3KDPbME-VTD_bfcX2a5ySbv3IDEkuRwF95hu6xtOeFE6VlyjVOQNHuA6aixhaTvvjQVB8l8XDM_HzXm/s1600/MDO+2010+5+062.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaPl2GgsAhZwQRAOf0ck_fo6841BIzT3VzQYJ98LWnPgxYJjoleNNE5QUpMoh7K3KDPbME-VTD_bfcX2a5ySbv3IDEkuRwF95hu6xtOeFE6VlyjVOQNHuA6aixhaTvvjQVB8l8XDM_HzXm/s640/MDO+2010+5+062.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Banding in progress... (photo: Tim van Nus)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr5BN7Rs7xyNoSoDNGh8znK98d5pRtK_55zcYVA_Ry2Zt7QZqJBzNtNi-q5NOx_jfequppP5UtifyC9Fe7z-amyKF1W6rmvlwTzEiC-NMO9ZkWesa3hGLit_pNQt7Jnzxw0xZIIz8dNr1Q/s1600/MDO+2010+5+067.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="636" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr5BN7Rs7xyNoSoDNGh8znK98d5pRtK_55zcYVA_Ry2Zt7QZqJBzNtNi-q5NOx_jfequppP5UtifyC9Fe7z-amyKF1W6rmvlwTzEiC-NMO9ZkWesa3hGLit_pNQt7Jnzxw0xZIIz8dNr1Q/s640/MDO+2010+5+067.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chicks of box 8, at about 12 days old (photo: Tim van Nus)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
In <b>2011</b>
I did not visit Middleton due to other obligations, but prior to the
summer I asked
the USGS seabird volunteers to keep their eyes out on the TRES
development. Thankfully they did and by the end of the summer I was
pleased
to receive an overview of the results of their nest box inspections. It
appeared that seven boxes contained at
least some nest material, of which four boxes contained completed nests
on June
10. Three of these nests contained eggs on this day (box 2: five eggs; box
4: five
eggs; box 6: two eggs). During a second inspection on June 16, box 2 and 4
still
contained five eggs, box 6 contained six eggs and box 7 contained a completed
nest but
no eggs. On these dates some nest material was also found in box 1 ('few
straws'), 9 ('few straws') and 12
('cup with no bottom'), but these would not result in clutches, neither
did box 7. No inspections
were made during chick stage, but the boxes were all checked after chick
departure and their contents, as observed by them on August 3, gives good
information about the
TRES productivity for 2011: box 2 contained an empty nest, indicating
that five
chicks had probably fledged from this box. Box 4 contained an unhatched
egg and the comment that three chicks fledged from this box (which
leaves the fate of one egg unclear). Box 6 contained two dead chicks and
fledging for the other four was
assumed.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Based on these data I suspect that in 2011 <u>at least five TRES pairs occupied the boxes, of
which three produced eggs, resulting in a total of 16 eggs, and these birds fledged at least 12 out of 14 chicks</u>.
Unfortunately, no chicks could be banded in 2011. This year would be the first year that an unhatched egg and dead chicks were
found. </div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The<b> 2012 </b>season: <i>a good start, but a near total failure...<b> - </b></i>This year the TRES activity got monitored by Mark Baran and Kyle Elliot, who both visited Middleton as part of their seabird research out there. Kyle informed me the first TRES was seen on May 12. The first eggs were laid probably just after Kyle left the island for his mid summer break, but throughout the summer Mark did an excellent job in recording the development in and around the nest boxes and even managed to band the birds this season. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In 2012, five pairs laid eggs during the first two weeks of June. I assume the earliest laying date was June 2, as five eggs were found in box 8 on June 7 (the largest clutch on that date; they lay one egg a day, I believe). On this date box 1 contained one egg; box 6 contained three eggs, box 9 contained four eggs and box 17 also contained four eggs. During the following inspection on June 15 most nests were found to contain completed clutches: box 1: six eggs; box 6: six eggs; box 8: six eggs; box 17: seven eggs (the first seven-egg clutch recorded for this project!). Box 9, however, only contained three eggs and one broken egg. Mark noted that this box had been abandoned by the birds at this time.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
During the inspection of June 22 not much changed, but box 1 lost an egg (broken) and went back to five, box 8 contained the first (two) chicks for the season and one egg disappeared form the seven-egg clutch from box 17, which would later be found broken. A little bit of nest material showed up in box 4, but this would not result in a finished nest and was probably not the work of another pair. On this date Mark managed to capture three of the breeding birds from their nest for banding (from boxes 1, 6 and 8). With still four pairs, 21 eggs and two chicks on the list it would not appear to be a bad season.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Unfortunately, during the following chick stage the situation would turn very bad. Box 1 contained four chicks and one egg on June 30, but these chicks were all found dead on July 7 and the remaining egg would not hatch and was later found broken. By June 30, box 6 contained five chicks and an egg. Of these chicks four were still alive by July 3 and these were banded, but all were found dead in their nest by the end of the season and the remaining egg apparently never hatched. In box 8 five chicks were present on June 29, and these were all banded on July 3. During the final inspection on August 11, however, two of these chicks were found dead, resulting in three fledged chicks that left their box during the second half of July. On June 27, box 17 was found to contain five chicks and one egg (which would later be found broken in the nest). Of these chicks only three were still alive on July 7 and these were banded, but only two managed to fledge during the second half of July; the three dead chicks were removed from the nest box during the final and cleanup round on August 11. Based on this information,<u> in 2012, five pairs occupied the nest boxes and these laid a record number of 29 eggs, but these resulted in the fledging of only five chicks.</u><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--> Besides these breeding pairs, there may have been one or more lonely males
occupying nest boxes for a while, but without success.<br />
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<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw-Y4UZtPSYio_Pr6cPmUvr3VCmGwFBZmV1dFNmA1u7zOUGaquy5f9qmMcM6UnV6DwiuS0Cua-4TbikFEClXLzJTrqaVvbQHYxNb9MZg0FRLtAg_B7LfLizYcS6etZbLbOqx7jKkaSBeM/s1600/100_1003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw-Y4UZtPSYio_Pr6cPmUvr3VCmGwFBZmV1dFNmA1u7zOUGaquy5f9qmMcM6UnV6DwiuS0Cua-4TbikFEClXLzJTrqaVvbQHYxNb9MZg0FRLtAg_B7LfLizYcS6etZbLbOqx7jKkaSBeM/s640/100_1003.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Contents of Box 17 on July 7, 2012 (photo: Mark Baran)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieoLRafEPG3D6J_ibYOQiSdAlFsVtMtR2A9bhaf2SKaZ_5QMIdFJH1AKG939um4DcZfPZ2as2WrfKDxGJUUXMQcJYC012CRVYsKZlsud81KiOadW-Hu8y0msj5EIl0zNIfFDXsA0R05kw/s1600/100_1004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieoLRafEPG3D6J_ibYOQiSdAlFsVtMtR2A9bhaf2SKaZ_5QMIdFJH1AKG939um4DcZfPZ2as2WrfKDxGJUUXMQcJYC012CRVYsKZlsud81KiOadW-Hu8y0msj5EIl0zNIfFDXsA0R05kw/s640/100_1004.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Contents of box 17 on July 7, 2012: three live chicks and two dead; only two would fledge (photo: Mark Baran)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<i>Results - an overview (2009 - 2012):</i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>Discussion</b><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The first four years of this project have shown that, as throughout most of the
North American continent, on Middleton Island the TRES can easily be
persuaded to nest in nest boxes. Throughout Middleton’s recorded history, the TRES has shown to have a close relationship with human presence on the
island, as the species appears to be totally dependent on human constructions
for its nest sites. Without people’s activities, there most likely would not be
any TRES nesting there. So, why would I put effort in establishing a TRES population on Middleton if the species would not nest there
without the presence of man? Well, I could come up with several reasons:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
- History has shown that there are TRES that apparently want to nest on Middleton. I'd like to help them doing so. <br />
- As long as there is human activity on the island, I believe it’s good to
do something positive for the bird communities by increasing the island’s breeding
bird diversity. I expect the presence of a TRES breeding population to (thus far) be of
a minimal influence on the other bird species present out there.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
- Personally, after my first close encounter with this species in 2009, I
believe they’re one of the most enjoyable species around. I was very pleased to
see their playful flight and hear their friendly chattering calls above
Middleton’s grassy plains, which otherwise can be a bit boring. I hope other
people enjoy this too.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
- Due to the island’s isolated location, size and the presence of an onsite
weather station, Middleton Island would theoretically be a perfect place to study a TRES
population. I am hoping that by having a descent number of these birds nesting
there annually, monitoring these could make an interesting <span class="text">contribution
to scientific research in general, in order to find out more about the island’s bird
populations, as well learning more about the TRES itself.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
- And finally, I don’t like bugs very much. The TRES eats loads of bugs,
so as far as I’m concerned they’re welcome there.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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</xml><![endif]-->But what about the TRES itself? Is life good for a TRES on the remote Middleton
Island? At first sight, it seems that food appears to be widely
available to them and with the absence of ground predators, only an irregular
presence of almost only a single aerial predator species during the breeding
season (the Peregrine Falcon, Van Nus, personal records) and the absence of
competing species around their nest sites, a TRES can certainly have a good
time out there. However, although the first two
years of this study have shown that these birds can indeed have great breeding success,
hatching a good number of eggs and fledging an equally good number of young, the
results of this study’s third and especially its fourth year show that this is not always the
case.<br />
By now, the main cause of breeding failure seems
obvious: with the exception of a some rainy periods during my stays on the island
in 2009 and 2010, I suspect that continuing periods of bad weather that later
field crews had to endure determined the relatively poor breeding results of
the 2011 and 2012 seasons. After the almost disastrous 2012 season, both Mark
Baran and Kyle Elliot informed me that bad weather conditions
out there during the chick stage most likely were the cause of the poor breeding results
in that year (and I can’t recall seeing a single sunny day when checking the
FAA weather camera regularly throughout the 2012 summer). It seems obvious that eventually bad weather periods limited the foraging
opportunities for the adult birds, resulting in starvation of many of the
chicks. The relative large number of eggs that did not hatch in 2012 may also have been a result of the poor feeding conditions during an earlier stage of the breeding cycle. In 2012 the earliest egg laying date (June 2) was 7 days later than in 2010 (May 26), indicating that conditions were probably not very good at the start of the season. This is all not unique and apears to occur regularly among TRES populations elsewhere, i.e. Kyle informed me he noticed the same thing happening with the TRES nesting at the Long Point Bird Observatory in Canada and Alexandra Rose informed me she had a very bad 2012 season as well at Long Lake (almost exactly 100 miles northeast of Middleton), with massive nestling mortality. Unfortunately, only
current weather data from the island appears to be available online and I can’t
find a climate summery for any of these four summers anywhere, which would have been nice just to show you what the Middleton birds had to deal with during the first four years of this project.<br />
But has, thus far, life been really so bad for them? Throughout the first four years of this
study, the number of pairs laying eggs appeared to have gradually increased. Their eventual
success on Middleton Island will probably depend on the overall climate
conditions in summer. We can only hope for these birds that during future summers the
climatic conditions will be better than they were in 2012, but they certainly will not always be.<br />
<br />
Even with some very good breeding results and over the years still a good number of
young fledging, compared to mainland colonies, the population increase that occurred during the first four
years seems to be somewhat slow (I would love to compare this with data from the establishment years of other colonies, but I haven't managed to find this). Though the reason for the slow population growth has not been
studied, I speculate that thus far the following scenario may have taken place:<br />
Regardless of the bird’s breeding results in any previous year, the number
of birds that nest on the island largely depended on a number of breeding birds
from a previous year that managed to return to the island + an additional small number of ‘floaters’
(young, inexperienced birds) that shows up there in spring, usually late May. I do not know much about the annual survival of
the breeding birds, but based on the records of the number of TRES
that pass by the island in spring (before the establishment of this breeding
population) I think that these could well account for the additional number of
pairs that were found with each new year. I do not have many records of TRES observations in spring, simply because they were rarely seen, but because of the number of birds observed on
these occasions (0-8, mostly 2-4, Van Nus, personal data), as well as the timing of the majority of these birds (last week of May) in
relation to the initiation of nesting of the breeding pairs, I suspect that Middleton does not make part of the
normal flyway for this species in spring and TRES would only show up there irregularly. With a number of birds arriving relatively early during the later three
years of this project (May 10, May 12), I suspect that at least some of the
experienced breeding birds are aware of their destination and these were deliberately
heading to a Middleton Island nest box.<br />
Whatever happens to the young that are born on the Middleton Island, thus far remains a
mystery. As there appear to be no recorded
observations for this species on Middleton in the fall, I suspect that Tree
Swallows do not migrate above the Gulf of Alaska easily. I suspect it will not be easy for them to make their first fall
migration, as they may have to cross several hundreds of kilometers of ocean.
This makes me very uncertain about their survival, as well as their return rate
to the island during a following year.</div>
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<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
With the re-establishment of the TRES on Middleton, however, I am suspecting
that with a number of these birds flying around there in spring, this could be a
great attraction for floaters to the nest sites that are offered on the
island, which otherwise may have been overlooked by these birds. Singing
males will attract females, but possibly also other males. But again, these are
all speculations, and not the result of a scientific study. The only way to get
more insight in the way this remote population works is by continuing the TRES banding activities out there.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
At this point the only thing I’m pretty sure about is that slowly more and more
Tree Swallows are finding their way to Middleton Island and there are currently
more pairs nesting out there than ever before.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjESh274uZSbVcJmLr3anpPEMXDe7vt7hWLRCbhCA1Kuc9glQ90iDMnPDlKN9Fccn5Zf-iKxOu12UyzsRX0US1ngM-NRfwWv82GMsDwouddDdbtBOxluQDtTM3emFBPxBfQvvDR-SvXjmY/s1600/MDO_map_migration.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjESh274uZSbVcJmLr3anpPEMXDe7vt7hWLRCbhCA1Kuc9glQ90iDMnPDlKN9Fccn5Zf-iKxOu12UyzsRX0US1ngM-NRfwWv82GMsDwouddDdbtBOxluQDtTM3emFBPxBfQvvDR-SvXjmY/s640/MDO_map_migration.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The spring and fall migration routes that are used by Middleton's Tree Swallows remain unknown.<br />
Do they take the shortest way? Do they fly hundreds of kilometers over the North Pacific Ocean?<br />
Do the chicks all migrate south and find a watery grave?</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The future of this project and priorities
for further research<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
How many TRES pairs Middleton Island eventually can host remains unknown. The number of Bank Swallows nesting there (65
- 112 pairs (2005 - 2010)) could indicate that swallows may be able to hold large populations out there,
but as this is a different species, it will be hard to make a comparison. In fact, in 2009 the first two TRES pairs seemed to be doing very well, whereas during the same season the 65 pairs of Bank Swallows remained largely unproductive... (Van Nus, personal records)<br />
With
17 nest boxes still present and only a maximum of about seven boxes occupied (including
the non-breeding and lonely males) it seems that no new boxes need to be added yet.
The people who kept their eyes on the TRES during the previous year informed
me that the boxes are still in good shape and do not need to be
replaced yet. As a side note: as mentioned before, the current boxes have been
built by using the sizes recommended by the Golondrinas project. However,
except for one. Throughout the first four years of the Middleton Island project,
the swallows have occupied and laid eggs in seven of the 17 boxes (1 x
in box 1; 2 x in box 2; 1 x in box 4; 4 x in box 6; 2 x in box 8; 1 x in box 9
and 1 x in box 17). According to this information, nest box 6 (shown on a photo
above) has been the most popular box thus far, being used in every summer and producing more fledglings than any other box (16 fledglings in total). Box 6 was made about an inch less deep and the internal
sizes are about half an inch bigger than the others. I suspect the birds prefer
the dimensions of this box more than the others, which seems obvious for a secondary cavity nester, but it could all just have been a coincidence. In any way, these alternative sizes may be recommendable when adding an additional number of nest boxes in the future. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The presence of the onsite weather station is a bonus for this project. However, it would be very useful when the gathered climatic data would actually be stored somewhere and when this would become available online (at least I'd never managed to find this). </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Above all, it has become important that, in order to
continue to generate good quality data, in future years a standardized method
for monitoring the TRES population development on Middleton Island, in and
outside of their nest boxes, gets applied. In order to get to know more about
the structure of this population and the project’s future perspectives, during
the upcoming years banding of the chicks and (re)capturing and banding of the
adult breeding birds should be considered a priority. Middleton may be the
ideal study site for a number of reasons, but this has yet to be proven.</b></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwAOklGdcvDLoICwOZXn4a22zF5p_k5bNIj966viNy6OgXSPlMLnX0Ppo9JTZhMbt202-UlodJLNtbE-rCMbw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Short video footage of the swallows of Middleton Island in 2010.</div>
<br />
<br />
<b>Acknowledgements</b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: justify;">
I thank all the people that were involved and that helped me out with the TRES-project thus far. Thank you for either helping building and placing some boxes or helping me conducting nest box checks or ringing chicks of the few pairs in 2009 or 2010 (Veronique Frochot, Christophe de Franceschi, Lauren Bessey, Joel White, Paul Solis and Kyle Elliot). During 2011, Lena Agdere, Mike Johns, Sharon van den Eertwegh, Chris, Lucy (sorry, couldn't find your last names) and Thomas Merkling all did a great job monitoring the boxes. In 2012 Mark Baran did a great job too, monitoring and banding the swallows during his rainy stay and he got thoroughly instructed by Kyle Elliot. I'd like to thank Scott Hatch (USGS) for letting me use the necessary power tools to construct 17 nest boxes from scratch and also for supplying the TRES bands. I thank Chris Gates for supplying me with the required information about starting up a project involving this fascinating species. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<br />
<b>Literature</b><br />
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<![endif]-->Rausch R. 1958. The occurrence and distribution of birds on Middleton Island, Alaska. The Condor 60: 227-241.</div>
Tim van Nushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03145810759803753643noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715204300952742359.post-37519065601482621582012-07-30T16:40:00.002-07:002012-07-30T16:45:33.949-07:00The 1956 Biological Reconnaissance of Middleton Island. Part 1: Marine Shells of Middleton Island, Alaska.<br />
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As mentioned
in the previous blog entry, Middleton Island got the attention of science at a
relatively early point in time. Due to its unique location and well preserved
geological features, over the years the island attracted the attention of many
geological researchers. Middleton Island, located near the margin of the
continental shelf in the northern Gulf of Alaska, has emerged from the sea
during several major episodes of co-seismic uplift of about 7 m, 8 m, 6 m, 9 m
and 7.5 m, which are recorded by marine terraces. These uplifts have been dated
at roughly 4,300, 3,800, 3,100, 2,390 and 1,350 radiocarbon years before
present, respectively. The most recent uplift took place during the 1964 Alaska
Earthquake, when on March 27 the whole island got lifted up another 3.5 m on
average (Plafker & Rubin 1978).</div>
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In contrast
with the geological interest the island has received during previous decades,
the number of biological studies conducted on Middleton that have a clear
relationship with the island is relatively small. Thus far the most important
moment in the recorded natural history of Middleton took place in June 1956,
when a field party consisting of Dr. Norman J. Wilimovsky (U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service), Dr. John H. Thomas (Stanford University) and Robert Rausch (Arctic
Health Research Center, Public Health Service) undertook a biological
reconnaissance of Middleton Island. Their visit had been arranged because of
military activities on the island (at that time there was a large scale Cold
War radar station under construction) were likely going to cause imminent
disruption of the island’s natural relationships. This made it desirable to record
as much as possible of the island’s natural history before the opportunity was
lost. Their work was supported mainly by the Office of Naval Research and the
United States Air Force, but additional support was provided by the Arctic
Research Laboratory, Stanford University and the Arctic Health Research Center.
These studies were aided by a contract between the Office of Naval Research,
Department of the Navy, and the Arctic Institute of North America (Rausch 1958).</div>
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As far as I
could see the 1956 biological reconnaissance resulted in three publications.
Robert Rausch described the island’s avifauna in “The Condor” in 1958 and John
Thomas published his story about the island’s vegetation in “Contributions of
the Dudley Herbarium” in 1957. During their stay in 1956, the party also
assembled a small collection of mollusks from the intertidal area, which had
been submitted to the California Academy of Sciences for identification.
Eventually G. Dallas Hanna and Leo George Hertlein identified the marine shells
and these were listed and described in 1959 in “The Nautilus, The Pilsbry
quarterly devoted to the interests of conchologists marine shells”. </div>
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During my first
stay on Middleton Island in 2005, however, I noticed that during recent decades
little had been published about the general wildlife of the island and that the
available works about the vegetation and avifauna (Thomas 1957; Rausch 1958)
were largely outdated, especially due to some severe (a-)biotic changes that occurred
during the decades following these publications. For me this was a good reason
to start several studies on Middleton Island’s wildlife, focusing on the development
of both vegetation and avifauna, in particular breeding birds. These studies
started a year later and are keeping me pretty occupied up to the present day. </div>
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With this
blog entry, the first of a series of three, I want to focus on the results of
the 1956 biological reconnaissance of Middleton Island and share with you some
of my thoughts on these and maybe present some preliminary results of my own studies
in relation to these. </div>
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This first entry,
however, is about a subject I know very little about and I can’t write much
about either: the marine shells of Middleton Island. Now it already took me a
considerable amount of time and effort some years ago finding a copy of Thomas’
1957 vegetation study, I never managed to find a complete copy of Dallas Hanna’s
and Hertlein’s work on the identified marine shells of Middleton Island. Until
yesterday that is! The good news is that the whole edition of The Nautilus is now
freely available online<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7715204300952742359" name="google-navclient-highlight"></a>:</div>
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Dallas Hanna
and Hertlein write about the collected material: “Twenty-one species are
present in the lot and also one barnacle. To these may be added for reference
purposes, two additional species cited by Dall (1921, pp. 32, 107) from
Middleton Island. Thus the known marine mollusks from this island consist of 5
pelecypods, 14 gastropods, 3 chitons, 1 cephalopod and one barnacle. All, with
one possible exception, are known to occur in waters of this general region at
the present time. However, this one, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Littorina
arctica</i>, may have been cited in Alaskan literature under a different name.”
(Dallas Hanna and Hertlein 1959) </div>
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<br /></div>
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Now does
this mean that the subject has been studied enough by now? Certainly not!
Dallas Hanna and Hertlein already give two reasons why further study of the molluscan
fauna could be very interesting:</div>
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<br /></div>
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“A
geological investigation of the islands has been made by Don. J. Miller (1953),
of the U. S. Geological Survey. During the course of his work he obtained 20
species of mollusks (identified by F. Stearns MacNeil) from Pleistocene
sedimentary beds. Oddly enough, none of these species was found in the collection
being considered here. It is practically certain that the lists of both fossil
and recent species represent only a small portion of the total molluscan fauna
of the island and adjacent waters.” (Dallas Hanna and Hertlein 1959)</div>
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<br /></div>
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Now I can
come up with several more reasons to show some interest in the intertidal life
around Middleton Island:</div>
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<br /></div>
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- After the 1956 biological reconnaissance the
1964 Earthquake lifted up the whole island about 3.5 m on average, creating a
new and more extensive intertidal zone around the island. This meant that the area
that had initially been inspected by the 1956 field party currently makes up a
permanent part of the island and does not contain live marine mollusks anymore.
How did the new intertidal zone develop?</div>
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Intertidal area at the island's south end in 1960 (photo: Armand Biron)</div>
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</div>
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Intertidal
area in the upper east part of the island in 2005. No clear intertidal zone </div>
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could be identified here before the 1964 Earthquake (photo: T. van Nus).</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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- The island
remains under constant influence of seismic activity in the area, resulting in
a small but continuing uplift or tilt (Prescott, W.H. and Lisowski, M. 1977;
personal observations). It would be interesting to find out how over time this
uplift affects the occurrence of mollusk species in the area </div>
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<br /></div>
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- Personal
observations of the current intertidal zone indicate that this area can make up
about half of the total size of the island itself (which is about 2 x 7.5 km).
The new intertidal zone has become a majorly important foraging area for both
breeding birds as well as a large number of spring and fall migrants, in particular shore birds. Very
little is known what these birds find there and whether the availability of
food is a limiting factor for them.</div>
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<br /></div>
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</div>
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- Personal
observations also suggest that intertidal life can be diverse but there are
large annual changes occurring; in example the growth of kelp sp. varies a lot
among years. Sea Otters <span class="st">(<i>Enhydra lutris</i>) </span>established themselves for the first time in recorded
history in the winter of 2008/2009 (van Nus, personal records). What is going
on here?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Sea Urchins
were very common during my first visits to Middleton in 2005 but were not </div>
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seen often during
later visits. At the same time growth of Kelp appeared to increase </div>
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(photo:
T. van Nus).</div>
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<br /></div>
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Now I never
managed to find enough time to put effort into a study of the
intertidal life around Middleton Island and I believe the challenge is still
there, but it better needs to be done soon before another opportunity is lost..!</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Literature </b></div>
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<br />
Miller, D. J. 1953. Late cenozoic marine glacial sediments and marine terraces of Middleton Island, Alaska Journal of Geology, 61:17-40.<br />
<br />
Plafker,
George, and Rubin, Meyer, 1978, Uplift history and earthquake recurrence as deduced
from marine terraces on Middleton Island, Alaska, in Proceedings of Conference VI,
Methodology for identifying seismic gaps and soon-to-break gaps: U.S.
Geological Survey
Open-File Report 78-943, p. 687-721.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Prescott, W.H. and Lisowski, M. 1977. Deformation at
Middleton Island, Alaska, during the decade after the Alaska earthquake of 1964
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America June 1977 67:579-586</div>
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<br /></div>
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Rausch R.
1958. The occurrence and distribution of birds on Middleton Island, Alaska. The
Condor 60: 227-241.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
Shepard
Oldroyd, I. 1924 – 1927. The Marine Shells of the West Coast of North America.<br />
Four Volumes. Stanford, California. Stanford University. 1520 pp. illus. ISBN: 9780804709873<br />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></div>
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Thomas, J.
H. 1957. The vascular flora of Middleton Island, Alaska. Contrib. Dudley
Herbarium, 5:39-56.</div>
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Scattered boulders along the western shoreline (T. van Nus).</div>Tim van Nushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03145810759803753643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715204300952742359.post-38588717194515235112012-07-12T11:49:00.001-07:002012-07-12T14:13:13.502-07:00Location and remains of the former fox farmer's station on Middleton Island<br />
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<span lang="EN-GB">Between 1890 and the 1920’s Middleton Island
was leased and inhabited by several individuals who operated a fox farm on the
island. </span>During this time a maximum
of about 250 Arctic foxes <i>Vulpes lagopus</i> roamed freely about the island,<span lang="EN-GB"> living on whatever that was edible they
could find (i.e. seabirds and their eggs), but were provided additional food if
needed. Once a year a portion of their population got trapped by the farmers
and their skins were sold on the fur market. More about this practice on
Middleton has been written in several sources (i.e. Underwood 1913; Prichard
Parker 1923; Bailey 1993; Crawford Isto 2012). Though it was obvious that their
station over time had disappeared, as well as the foxes, for a long time the
location of their former housing and whatever would be left of it remained a
mystery.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">During 2004 – 2006 the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) funded a clean-up and restoration of an area in the north
end of the island, containing a small and abandoned CAA (</span><span class="st">Civil Aeronautics Administration)</span><span lang="EN-GB">/FAA settlement located on Chugach
Alaska Corporation land. Most of the buildings and other constructions within
this settlement were highly contaminated, many containing asbestos. Prior to
this cleanup, in June 2004, an archaeological survey was conducted in the area
of potential effect. The purpose of this visit was to determine if any
archaeological material was in the area of potential effect (Grover 2004). </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Grover (2004) writes about the fox farmers:
“Beginning in the 1890’s, Middleton Island was leased by fox farmers. A
National Geographic article, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Northern
Crusoe’s Island</i>, describes one such enterprise that began in 1918. The
unnamed couple that ran the farm found a horse on the island that had been left
by previous fox farmers. The article described the farm and its buildings, but
does not indicate where on the island they were located. The article states
that there was a small, single story bungalow with a metal roof, a wood fence,
at least one small outbuilding, rabbit houses, a root cellar, a tool shed, and
a “Middleton Island Blue Fox Farm” sign (Prichard Parker 1923) (Fig 1 & 2).
This is the only record found to date of the fox farming on the island.” </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">There has been, however a lot more written
about the fox farming on Middleton Island (see Crawford Isto 2012 for a review).
Grover (2004) did not find the location of the fox farmer’s station and as far
as I know, no other source mentions this. I got the impression that among
“insiders” it was thought that the site was “long gone”.</span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-GB">Figure 1: The fox farmer’s station on Middleton
Island </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(Fred C. Schiller, National Geographic Society / </i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Prichard Parker 1923</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">).</i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">
</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Figure 2: Middleton Island’s “Blue Fox Farm
sign” (Fred C. Schiller, National Geographic Society / </i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Prichard Parker 1923</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">).</i></div>
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I enjoyed reading Capps’ (1933) article “An Air Reconnaissance of
Middleton Island”. This is the first geological survey made of the island.
Capps writes: “In early May, 1932, the writer, while accompanying the Alaska
Survey Expedition of the United States Navy, was given the opportunity to fly
by plane from Seward to Middleton Island, in the hope that it would be possible
to land there and to make some study of its geology. Upon arrival, however, it
was found that although the sea appeared unusually smooth, a heavy surf was
breaking entirely around the island, and it was unsafe to land. The best that
could be done was to circle the island several times at various altitudes to
obtain as thorough an inspection of it as possible. An excellent set of
photographs was secured by the navy photographer, and the accompanying
illustrations are here published by courtesy of the Hydro-graphic Office, Navy
Department”. </div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">The article contains what probably are some of the
earliest aerial photos of Middleton Island and also mentions the fox farmer’s
station: “</span>At present it is
uninhabited, though for many years it was occupied as a fox ranch, and a few
frame buildings, in bad repair, are still standing”. <span lang="EN-GB"></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">During the 09/10 winter I was sent several historical
aerial photos (Fig 3 & 4), some of which originated from the series taken
during Capps’ flight in 1932, but these had not been included in this publication.
Surprisingly, two of these photos showed what appeared to be a building located
near the island’s north end. It occurred to me that, as there were no other
inhabitants of the island at that time, this building must have been the fox
farmer’s housing.</span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-GB">Figure 3: Previously
unpublished(?) 1932 aerial photo. The arrow indicates the location of the
suspected fox farmer’s station (source: unknown).</span></i></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-GB">Figure 4: Another
historical aerial photo of unknown origin, likely dating back to the 1930’s.
The arrow indicates the location of the suspected fox farmer’s station (source:
unknown).</span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">After careful examination of the photos and
comparison with more recent aerials I concluded that the particular location
had not been affected by extensive soil disturbance that came with the
construction of the CAA/FAA station in the north end during the 1940’s (Thomas
1957; Grover 2004). In fact, the location appeared to have been left virtually
undisturbed during the last century. On several of the more recent (colour) aerials
even some remains of the fox farmer’s station appeared to be visible, though I
suspect that most of the material or whatever was left after Capps flew over
the island had been raided by later visitors or CAA/FAA personnel (Fig 5 &
6).</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">The site was located just below the
north-western bluff on a low slope that extended towards the beach and was
adjacent to a small permanent drainage. The same drainage was later used by the
CAA/FAA to feed their water supply for several decades in the mid 20<sup>th</sup>
century. On the opposite side of this stream was located a large oil tank that
was part of the former CAA/FAA station. It had been removed during the 2005
cleanup but remained visible on old photos, making it easy to find the location
of the site. Somewhat remarkable was that the location was found right next to
an archaeological survey route used by Grover in 2004, but it had apparently been
missed (Grover 2004) (Fig 7).</span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-GB">Figure 5: A 1967 aerial
photo showing the former CAA/FAA station at the north end. The red circle
indicates the suspected location of the fox farmer’s station. Some debris may
still be visible as a dark spot. It seems likely that the diagonal ditch
visible to the southeast of the station had been dug out by the fox farmers to
drain the fields containing their crops (source: unknown). </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Figure 6: A 2002 aerial
photo, showing the former CAA/FAA station at the north end. The red circle
indicates the suspected location of the fox farmer’s station. Besides extensive
soil disturbance resulting from the construction of the former CAA/FAA station,
a lot more of Middleton’s history may be visible in the patterns visible in the
vegetation on these high resolution aerials (source: unknown). </span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Figure 7: Black &
white copy of the archaeological survey route used by Grover in 2004. The red
circle indicates the suspected location of the fox farmer’s station. Note the
survey route running right next to the suspected location (red lines of the
route are here shown in black and hard to see) (Grover 2004).</span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">At arrival on Middleton in early April 2010 I
was of course anxious to visit the location. It turned out to be easily
approachable from the gravel road that crosses the drainage. I was surprised I
had not set foot there before. The first notable thing was a large stand of Rugosa
Rose <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rosa rugosa</i>, or a subspecies
(Fig 8). This species has not been mentioned by Thomas (1957) and it was the
first time I observed it on the island. In my opinion this didn’t mean that it
only recently established itself on the island, but that the area rarely has
had any visitors and had likely been overlooked during Thomas’ vegetation
survey in 1956. I assume this plant was a clear remnant of the fox farmer’s
garden, as their berries would have produced a valuable amount of vitamin C,
quite necessary when being out there for a while (the fox farmers left the
island usually only once a year by boat to sell their goods on the mainland and
to refill their supplies). </span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB">Figure 8: The large
stand of Rugosa rose (Rosa rugosa) growing at the site (T. van Nus). </span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Straight through the site, however, ran an old
rusty metal pipe, which had been in use to bring oil from the north end to a
Cold War radar station located in the centre of the island. It had probably
been placed there during its construction in the late 1950’s, meaning at that
time visitors possibly have noticed remnants of the settlement. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Further investigation of the area revealed that
there was a lot of debris of the station hidden under the vegetation. Various
rusty metal objects, including a long (over 2 meters) saw blade, pieces of coloured glass, a metal bowl and
several other objects were collected and stored elsewhere on the island (Fig 9
& 10). Also visible were some remains of what appeared to be foundations of
a building. I suspected this area held the single story bungalow. I found no
remnants of the various sheds that had been there, but this particular area was
heavily overgrown with Salmonberry </span><span class="st"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rubus spectabilis</i></span><span lang="EN-GB">, making it difficult to find
anything.</span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-GB">Figure 9: One of two
rusty bowls that were found (T. van Nus).</span></i></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-GB">Figure 10: Remains of
a wood saw (T. van Nus).</span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">After walking a few meters further down the
slope some remnants of wooden poles became visible in the grassy vegetation.
Obviously these were century old fence posts. I continued walking in a north-westerly
direction, towards the shoreline on what I believe was once a trail that had
been used often by the owners of the property to get to the nearby sandy beach.
When approaching the sandy beach ridge my eyes were caught by remnants of two old
wooden poles sticking out of the sand. These were a bit heavier than the fence
posts found earlier and it immediately occurred to me that one hundred years
ago these held up a “Middleton Island Blue Fox Farm” sign (Fig 11). </span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-GB">Figure 11: The author of
this text in between the remains of the poles holding the “Middleton Island
Blue Fox Farm” sign. In the back the low vegetated slope that once supported
the fox farmer’s station (T. van Nus).</span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Shortly after the discovery I informed the </span>Alaskan Office of History and Archaeology (OHA) <span lang="EN-GB">about these findings by email.
I never received a reply from them, which unfortunately, did not leave me with
a very good impression of the archaeological community in this part of the
world. </span>For more than 200
years ‘soft gold’ brought many people to Alaska. Fur farming was Alaska’s third-largest
industry in the 1920s (Crawford Isto 2012) but a disaster for wildlife (Bailey
1993). <span lang="EN-GB">Due to the
island’s location and recorded history, the finding of the remains of the fox
farmer’s station on Middleton Islands deserves a bit more attention, in my
opinion. Oh well, at least I got a good story out of it.</span></div>
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<i>Acknowledgement:</i> I thank Armand Biron for reviewing this blog
entry and supplying me with some useful figures. Check out Armand’s impressive
website dedicated to Middleton Island’s history, containing rather sensational
historical photography: http://armandphotos.homestead.com/middleton1.html</div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Bailey, E.P. 1993. Introduction of foxes to Alaskan Islands – History,
effects on Avifauna, and eradication. United States Department of the Interior,
Fish and Wildlife Service. Resource publication 193. Washington DC.</span></div>
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Capps, S.R. 1933. An air
reconnaissance of Middleton Ialand, Alaska: Jour. Geology, v. 41, p.</div>
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728-736.</div>
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Crawford Isto, S. 2012. The Fur Farms of Alaska: Two Centuries of
History and a Forgotten Stampede. University of Alaska Press. 230 p.</div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Grover, M.A. 2004. Archaeological Survey of
Federal Aviation Administration Remediation, Middleton Island, Alaska. 16p.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Pritchard Parker, M. P. 1923. Northern Crusoe’s
Island: life on a fox farm off the coast of Alaska. National Geographic 44:
313-326.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Thomas, J.H. 1957. The vascular flora of Middleton
Island, Alaska Contributions from the Dudley Herbarium, 5:39-56.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">Underwood, </span>J.J. 1913. Alaska, an empire in the making. Dodd, Mead & Co., New
York. 440 pp. Ills.</div>
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<br /></div>Tim van Nushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03145810759803753643noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715204300952742359.post-10566060855101899212012-07-08T05:44:00.001-07:002012-07-08T14:35:45.908-07:00Dietary specialization among the Glaucous-winged Gulls (Larus glaucescens) on Middleton Island<br />
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On Middleton Island a number of Glaucous-winged
Gulls (Larus glaucescens) has specialized in taking alternative prey items. Some
gulls out there are known to catch and eat young European feral Rabbits (Oryctolagus
cuniculus) which were introduced to the island in 1954 (Roberts 1985; O'Farrell
1965). These two videos show how some Glaucous-winged Gulls try to catch a
fledged Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) chick and eat ripe
Salmonberries (Rubus spectabilis) respectively. Further information can be
found below the video on their individual Youtube pages.</div>
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It seems obvious that due to the island’s remote
location the large Glaucous-winged Gull population has only limited access to
terrestrial food items. Food shortage will therefore stimulate these birds more
to explore new dietary items on the island. I am certain that there will be several
more remarkable prey types utilized by them, and would very much appreciate it
when visitors would inform me when they detect this. </div>
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O'Farrell, T.P. 1965. The Rabbits of Middleton
Island, Alaska. Journal of Mammalogy, Vol. 46, No. 3, pp. 525-527</div>
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Roberts, B. 1985. Glaucous-winged Gulls prey on
feral rabbits on Middleton Island, Alaska. Murrelet 66:24.</div>Tim van Nushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03145810759803753643noreply@blogger.com0Verenigde Staten59.5343180010956 -146.0742187555.5587375010956 -156.18164074999999 63.5098985010956 -135.96679675000001tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715204300952742359.post-20268028804392401302012-07-07T15:43:00.002-07:002012-07-08T14:35:17.345-07:00A rough introduction to Middleton Island: 75 minutes of raw video footage<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The following video material was shot during a visit in the summer of 2005. It contains raw footage, unedited, shot with a Sony miniDV camera, which only survived one season out on the island. Enjoy!<br />
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<br />Tim van Nushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03145810759803753643noreply@blogger.com2Middleton Island59.321980540101968 -145.942382812558.273730540101965 -148.4692383125 60.370230540101971 -143.4155273125