Birthday

We had cupcakes and other stuff this morning at work for Matt's birthday. It's not until tomorrow, but it was easiest to get everyone together at the office.

After cupcakes, we went and checked the red-tailed tropic birds. There was still only one nest so far on our plots. We also did a little greenhouse work after that. We cut down some more ironwoods today at Radar Hill. It was great to have help. We had 3 people chainsawing and 4 helpers, so we got a lot done.

Here's Matt, Barry, Greg, and Jen waiting for cupcakes.

Here's Elise, Dana, Lauren, and Kristin.

Dana is helping me check the tropic bird for a band.

Another Rainy Day

It's been raining most of the day today. Greg and I took the volunteers out to check the albatross plots and we needed our full rain gear. It was pretty windy too but I don't think any trees got blown over this time. We decided to clean up the greenhouse and get some bunch grass cloned. We were still getting rained on in there because the walls are mesh. I hope it clears up by tomorrow since it's supposed to be "Chainsaw Friday".

Tonight was a game night at Capt. Brooks'. We played spades and Taboo. It was a good time.

I haven't taken any pictures the last few days since it's been so rainy, so Ill have to dig up one from before.


Here's a Black-footed albatross with a Laysan albatross in the background.

Spray Day

Today the volunteers went over to Eastern Island for some petrel work with Janet and Jen. That gave Greg and I a chance to catch up on some spraying of verbesina. We also did a little work in our native plant garden. It was nice and sunny, but again, cool. It was a nice day to be outside. We had a volleyball game tonight at Capt. Brooks' for the first time in a while. Attendance is a lot better when it's warm though.


Here's an albatross chick picture taken with a wide angle semi-fish eye lens.

Cool, Busy Day

We cleared some more umbrella sedges from the ballfield seep today. The ducks were watching, catching any bugs that we scared up. They left the 6" centipedes alone though.
I worked with the volunteers today to clone some bunch grass, did computer training, and got my tetanus shot. So it was a fairly productive day.
It wasn't very warm today, so most people are wearing jackets today. At least it didn't rain.

The verbesina is starting to surround the birds. It will start to get a little harder for the adults to get to the chicks.

Nice Day, but More Rain

We're getting more rain tonight. At least it didn't start until work was over. It was nice while we were showing the new volunteers around. We had them do a little greenhouse work this morning, then showed them around the island and looked at the albatross plots. It's great to show new people around because they are so fascinated by everything. I'm used to it, but it still never gets old and the birds are always entertaining.

A chick and parent are surveying their flooded nest. At least the chicks are getting old enough to move a few feet if they have to.

Nice Day

The day was finally nice enough to go jump in the water at cargo pier. The water was the coolest that I've seen it here with our strong winds and storms lately. But it was sunny, so a good day for it.

There was also a small Navy plane that came last night. They came to pick up some some people that were here for a week. Today we loaded them up with a bunch of old scrap computers that they'll get rid of for us. We still have at least 10 times the amount that they could fit, but it helps.
An albatross walked over and started pecking at the seal

Another bird flew over to see what was going on. The seal didn't like being bothered so it snapped at them and they went off.

Jimmy is jumping off the pier.

More Albatross Rescue

Today was pretty interesting. This morning I was walking up on North Beach and I found another glass ball. Dana, one of the new volunteers, also found one (the rolling pin kind) on her first day here. The strong north wind has been bringing them in.

I went to check the LCM to make sure no albatrosses were stuck inside, but on my way past the seawall I found a hole about 2' X 6' that opened up to a big space about 5' X 18'. There were 4 albatrosses stuck down there and at least 20 dead ones (4 from this year and piles of feathers and bones). The hole wasn't really noticeable from anywhere, especially if the weeds were full grown. I just happened to walk by. I had to crawl down there and throw them out. Luckily, a group of people walked by doing a 5k and I could pass the birds to them. The only bad thing is now I have to get my tetanus shot again (it's been 11 years) since I got all scratched up by the rusty metal.

Tonight we're having a birthday party for Dana (a guy who works at the fuel farm, not the volunteer) and Jack (one of the Thai's that works at the power plant). The band is playing and there'll be cake.

I don't have any pictures of getting the stuck albatrosses out since I was in the hole. Our P.A., Mel, took some so maybe I'll get some later. I did take some duck pictures today so here's one. Jimmy is back on the island now so it's good to have the duck expert here to answer questions. He says this is a male that just happens to have a really white head. It normally gets whiter as they get older, but this is whiter than most.