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!!