this is a cute photo of a iddie biddie guille chick. alex and i couldn't help but make cutsie sounds at the chicks whenever we were holding them.

left to right; michael, me, alex, charlie, brian and linda. michael and linda were from a different office and there to help out for a bird census. brian and charlie were the two guys we interacted with the most. brian is metinic's island manager and charlie is the head honcho of the whole refuge island system for maine. great group of people.

ugly teenager stage. this chicklet however...is able to fly. it was pretty funny when we'd go into band...they couldn't decide quickly whether to try flying or running.

this was our blind that we did our observations from to view the birds. it gives you a good idea of what the terrain looked like...very easy walking, no rocks to climb over.

where's the chicklet? we had to be really careful walking on the cobble because of what you see in the photo. chicks would lay still hoping you didn't see them and try to "blend" in. i think the chicks simply thought "if i can't see you, you can't see me!"

i liked to put the smaller chicklets in my sleeve to keep them calm. i also think they have really cute little butts.

this is a picture of a roseate tern chick. we had two pairs nesting on the island this summer. this bird is endangered. i believe the chick is about 2 days old and ready for banding. i liked to call roseate chicks "punk chicks" because it looks like they have gel in their feathers.

we were hoping to see fireworks today, but that didn't happen because of the fog. this was my fourth of july. lots and lots of fog on the east coast this summer.

this was my first aid emergency that i talked about in one of my posts. alex had to have 22 stitches. we came close to having a real emergency...the cut missed his artery (on his wrist). it brought home how badly it could've turned being out on an isolated island and someone could've bled to death.

just another day coming out of the colony. the birds all flush up together or as many as possible as a defense against intruders. the eletric fence you see is to keep the sheep out of the colony.

i wonder how much money i have in my hands right now? a lobsterman friend of ours brought us some fresh lobster to eat. we did feel a little guilty dropping live lobster into boiling water. it was a very nice lunch that day.

alex and i both agreed that black guillemot chicks are much cuter than this puffin chick here. it is a cute little chickie...but doesn't hold a candle to the guille babies!

the lighthouse on matinicus rock. the island reminded me a lot of the white island where i lived several years ago doing the same thing this past summer. i much preferred the landing area of metinic island, not as rocky.

this picture doesn't give our landing on matinicus island justice...the sea swells were only 2-4 feet but it was still scary. brian (our island manager) had to time the landing of the boat on the ramp perfectly so that we wouldn't flip over when the water receded and left the boat stranded. i shouldn't have doubted our safety man.

here's a picture of alex and i at matinicus rock. we both were very excited to be there...ya'd think we didn't work with birds ourselves with all the pictures we took. we didn't know at this point we'd see a red-billed tropicbird...i think if we did we'd be doing a happy dance.

we were able to get to another island 12 more miles out into the atlantic ocean. metinicus island is home to puffins, razorbills, terns, and more. we were all very excited considering we didn't have all these different species on our little island. this is a group shot of some atlantic puffins.

i had to go to the outhouse one early morning and saw this beautiful sunrise. i had to grab my camera.

one of the things we had to do was to watch the parents and quickly look (with binoculars) for the species of fish they were bringing into the colony. the main species of fish was herring...unfortunately, the birds are in competition with the fishermen. seabirds are indicators for the health of the ocean and its fish. things aren't looking so good.

aren't they sooooo cute?! a couple of chicks waiting to be weighed and banded. the slight green circle on the left chicks' breast is for our feeding survey. this way we know who's older and who gets fed more often.

19th July

well…I leave this island in two days…the end is in sight. It’s been a good season overall…truthfully, but I’m ready to get off this island. The birds were great, one of the interns (alex) was fabulous, scenery excellent…love being around water again. In other words…the good far outweighs the bad. The bad being…shitty weather and a bizarre, makes me pull my hair out…bang my head against the wall, intern from Idaho. She is leaving a day before us and I can’t tell you how happy I am about that…I’m doing a happy dance…you just can’t see me.
The birds did most of the work, but I must take a little credit for our success out here on the island. We’ve doubled the amount of nests since last year AND our fledging success (baby birds making it to their day 15) is the record high for the island. Alex and I took a “no tolerance” attitude towards gulls. Any gull seen sitting near the colony was shot, regardless of the reason. I would like to think that’s why we have the record high for the tern chicks making it into their teens. The mighty hunter on the island though…is me. I shot 9 gulls and alex only shot 6…he’s ranting right now that he’ll get 4 more before the day is through…we’ll see. Considering the gull population has gone from 10,000 to 100,000 birds because of open landfills, etc...i don’t have a problem shooting gulls. When you witness a gull eating ducklings or tern chicks like they’re popcorn, you’d change your mind real quick about lethal removal. I don’t know what else to say…the pictures say it all.

Hey….i saw a red-billed tropicbird and you didn’t!!

4th July

I put my former training in first aid to good use yesterday. Alex (cool intern) had a spill on the rocks and sliced open his hand. It sounds like no big deal, but that wasn’t the case. He was trying to bring up a rock from the cobble…the rock (which was rather big) started to slide back towards him and he fell. When I looked at the cut…I was pretty grossed out. I could see things in it that I shouldn’t have been able to see…like nerves and tendons. I knew there was damage because of his thumb had lost sensation and it was tingling. So…I got the ball rolling to get people out here. To make a long story short, alex went to the hospital and got 22 stitches…he told me that the tendon, artery and main nerve were barely missed…barely. Thank god I didn’t have to deal with a cut artery! It could have been much worse than it was already. Hopefully this brings the point home to the refuge staff that at least one person out here should be certified in first aid. Alex will be back in a couple of days. I guess he’ll have to go back in on the 15th to remove the stitches.
The birds are doing okay. We’ve had a few deaths of chicks in our production plots. The production plots contain nests…surrounded by chicken wire, etc. so that the chicks can’t get out. This is how we determine the average number of chicks per nest, how many survive and so on. We have already pretty much lost one production plot…there were only 5 nests and 9 eggs…we’ve lost 4 chicks so far. More bad news…a lot of butterfish are coming into the colony. Butterfish are very round fish, like a coin, and it’s very difficult if not impossible for a chick to eat. So the sad this is…you may see a chick surrounded by fish and starve to death because the fish are butterfish and the chicks aren’t able to swallow them.
I spent my last day off with dr. bridges (director of the education program I’m in currently). She is originally from maine and spends her summers here. She was about an hour’s drive from the marina where we dock. She has an absolutely beautiful house, nicely decorated. I wish I had a little more time just to lounge on the couch in front of the fire. The treat for the evening was a clam bake and a lobster…my first for both. I thought the clams were pretty good actually. I’m not sure about the lobster…it was okay. I didn’t mind digging right in and ripping, tearing, crushing the poor thing apart. It was tasty, but I really don’t understand the big deal about lobster. I’d eat it again, but I won’t drool over it or anything. The next time I’m off the island will be the last day of work. Part of me is sad to know the end is near and the other part of me can’t wait to get off this f#@king island. The season would’ve been so much better if we hadn’t have had such bad weather. I think we’ve had more bad days than good. At least I had good company…for the most part…alex has a great sense of humor and carmen needs to get one. In other words, things aren’t any better with the new girl…there’s always something everyday.
Well…keep in touch. I hope everything is going well for everyone and you are all enjoying your summer. Until next time.

24th June

the chicks are finally here! The first chick was spotted on the 22nd of June…a full week later than last year. So far, we’ve only banded 4 chicks… bad weather has prevented us from going in and banding more. The chicks are so tiny and adorable…even alex (intern) is making cutsie baby noises while holding the chicks. I enjoyed working with the Caspian terns on the west coast…but damn…I missed the common terns! Our favorite nest is in plot 2 nest #1. we’ve affectionately named the parents the “Tern-ninators” after watching arnold’s schwarzeneggar’s T3 terminator movie. The parents don’t stop dive-bombing and pecking our heads the entire time we’re near them. Now, the tern-ninators simply bitch us out from a few feet away and as of a couple of days ago…they’re now sitting on my head and shoulders yelling at me while I’m weighing their babies. I’m determined to get a picture of one of the tern-ninators on my head.

My second and last day off for the season will be this week. I don’t mind at all really…I miss a few things I don’t have out here like hot showers and internet access…but I’ll survive. Hopefully this last day off the island will be a fantastic time. One of my professors spends her summers in maine and come to find out…she’s about 20 miles away. She’s invited me to come and spend my time off with her and other guests…and that’s what I plan on doing. I had told her on the last day of the class where I’ll be for the summer (I had known that she was originally from maine) and that’s how we got hooked up out here. She’d like to visit me out here on the island, so we’ll see what we can do to arrange it.

Things with the new girl are still sketchy…there’s always something everyday. There are lots of little stories I can talk about …everyone agrees she “different” but I won’t go into it. I did have to yell at her one time though because she went into the colony when she was told not to. She kept saying she thought she should do this and check that…let’s just say we’ve had more than one episode of her doing what she wants to do. Since the “chat” she hasn’t done anything like that again. There have been a few problems with her work performance, but nothing major…it’s mostly been personality problems. What do you say to a person that wants to analyze the deeper meaning of the movie “what about bob?” if any of you have seen the movie…you’ll understand better by what I mean with her being “different.”

Well…in less than a month…I’ll be off the island and away from the birds again. We’ll see what I end up doing next summer. I’m hoping to get into a banding station over in Vancouver. It’s a volunteer basis…so, I can’t afford to stay too long, but it would be great passerine banding experience. My plans change all the time, but what I’m thinking of doing is spending part of the summer over in Taiwan and a few weeks in late july/early august at the banding station (if I get accepted). Hopefully, I can arrange it to get some private lessons and make a little bit of money in taiwan while I’m there. Keep in touch and keep checking the blog for photos. I had trouble with the computer last time and I wasn’t able to do everything I wanted to do…like downloading photos. Until next time.

no chicks yet…I’m expecting them any day now. If I had to guess…I’d say we have 200-ish nesting terns in the main colony…14 pairs in the rock colony and only 2 in the hill colony. For whatever reason, the hill colony is just not taking this year. We had 4 nesting pairs at one time, but all the eggs were predated. I haven’t seen any signs of owls, minks or other predators…but we’re keeping our eyes open. This is the smallest colony I’ve ever worked in and I’m not…well, I wish I had been assigned to the larger colony. I had the choice between the two and I told my interviewer I didn’t care. There’s advantages and disadvantages to each island, but I wish I was a little more busy with the birds.

Things are going okay with the new girl. I had a talk with her and got some things out in the open. I don’t have too much of a problem with her work performance…but our personalities are vastly different. She still makes me pull my hair on occasion. She apologized for nagging and keeping “a tally.” She was all up in arms because alex (other intern) got to put a marker next to a nest and she didn’t. I told her she was being petty and to relax…her and alex will get an equal amount of time doing things during the season. I told her to quit keeping a tally and that things will all balance out in the end…she agreed to try. We had a problem however in dealing with a great black-back gull nest that contained two chicks. The chicks were out of the nest and I put a rock in the nest cup. She later removed it…I put it back again and told her not to touch it. She had a problem with that. I told her I have a problem with an over-populated species of gull that have been seen 3 times this season killing lambs and eating them…among other things. If you think about it…that’s a pretty damn big bird and bold…to kill a lamb…think about what they could do to a colony of little seabirds.

On a brighter note…the weather has been fantastic the last few days. We went for 12 days of rain before we got a break. Hopefully the weather will stay nice for a while. The high for those days was only 56 degrees…it’s nice to be basking in 70 degree weather. Another bright note is that we have a pair of roseate terns nesting in a production plot. Roseates are endangered…so to have a pair here is a big deal, let alone have one in a plot in which we do our studies. So, this season we get to include the roseates!!
I don’t regret at all taking this job…much more interesting here than staying at home back in Wisconsin…outside of hanging out with my friends. However, I’m looking forward to leaving the island and doing a little traveling…only 5 more weeks to go and then I’m off to niagra falls followed by Scotland and clare. It’s going to be a great time all around.