The satellite tagged greater shearwaters in the South Atlantic are starting to begin their migration to the North Atlantic after spending time off Argentina preparing themselves for the long trip. Several birds are now off Brazil. http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/index.shtml?project_id=452
The northward migration of the greater shearwaters have never been tracked by satellite and it will be interesting to see the route, just as it was the first season our researcher, Rob Ronconi, placed the first satellite transmitters on shearwaters in 2006. Tracks for the three years of tracking greater shearwaters in the Bay of Fundy and their southward migration can be found at:
2006: http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/index.shtml?project_id=176
2008: http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/?project_id=311
2009: http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/index.shtml?project_id=436
In 2007, two sooty shearwaters were tracked: http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/index.shtml?project_id=237
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Strangely Located Callosities
Right whale #3760 with back and side callosities in addition to the callosities on the head
Right whales are known for their callosities on their face where facial hair is often found, eyebrows, mustache and chin whiskers and these are used to identify individuals. However, a right whale calf was born in 2007 with additional callosities on its back and right side, #3760, the calf of Derecha, #2360. First seen on June 2, 2007 as a tiny calf in the Great South Channel off Cape Cod, this calf hadn't been seen in the calving area off Florida and Georgia in the winter and is thought to have been a late birth.
Derecha is an unusual mother and seems to want to head south when she has a calf. In 2004 after being seen off Florida she was spotted off Texas in the Gulf of Mexico! She eventually turned around and was spotted in the Bay of Fundy in September. In 2007 after being spotted off Cape Cod with her tiny calf, the next sighting was in Florida on July 17! She turned up in the Bay of Fundy, again in September with her unusual calf. #3760 spent time in the Bay of Fundy last September (2009) when the photographs above were taken.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Antarctic Bound
One of our senior scientists, Dr. Andrew Westgate, is heading to the Antarctic as part of a team of scientists from the Duke Marine Lab. The expedition will take six weeks and a blog will be updated regularly.
Here is Andrew's email:
Hello family and friends!
Here is a link to a website that Duke has set up to document our upcoming Antarctic field trip. Postings are still up from the 2009 field season, but you can expect new updates soon. You can also see where the ship is on the map.
http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/nick-pro/antarctica/
Andrew
The southern hemisphere has been a popular spot for our researchers in the last year. Dr. Rob Ronconi, another of our senior scientists, spent three and a half months in the South Atlantic on Gough and Inaccessible Islands from September to December 2009 where he helped attach 22 satellite tags to greater shearwaters, among other research. Seventeen tags are still operational and we are waiting to see when the birds start their northward migration.
Rob is currently an observer on a research cruise on the vessel, CCGS Hudson, http://www.bio.gc.ca/vessels-navires/ccgs-hudson-eng.htm, on the Laurentian Fan off Nova Scotia and spotted a raft of sooty shearwaters that have already made it back to the North Atlantic from their southern breeding islands in the South Atlantic.
The movements of the greater shearwaters can be followed on the Sea Turtle website: http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/index.shtml?project_id=452.
Here is Andrew's email:
Hello family and friends!
Here is a link to a website that Duke has set up to document our upcoming Antarctic field trip. Postings are still up from the 2009 field season, but you can expect new updates soon. You can also see where the ship is on the map.
http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/nick-pro/antarctica/
Andrew
The southern hemisphere has been a popular spot for our researchers in the last year. Dr. Rob Ronconi, another of our senior scientists, spent three and a half months in the South Atlantic on Gough and Inaccessible Islands from September to December 2009 where he helped attach 22 satellite tags to greater shearwaters, among other research. Seventeen tags are still operational and we are waiting to see when the birds start their northward migration.
Rob is currently an observer on a research cruise on the vessel, CCGS Hudson, http://www.bio.gc.ca/vessels-navires/ccgs-hudson-eng.htm, on the Laurentian Fan off Nova Scotia and spotted a raft of sooty shearwaters that have already made it back to the North Atlantic from their southern breeding islands in the South Atlantic.
The movements of the greater shearwaters can be followed on the Sea Turtle website: http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/index.shtml?project_id=452.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Herring Gull Makes Round Trip
Who would have thought that herring gulls would be a harbinger of spring!?
One of the herring gulls tagged last spring on Kent Island, a small island off the coast of Grand Manan Island has completed a round trip from Kent Island to the Chesapeake Bay area and back. The bird was one of three that were fitted with satellite transmitters to follow their movements in the Bay of Fundy. The added benefit is that all three birds were migratory, spending the winter in Chesapeake Bay area. Normally this would be a great place for a herring gull but the area was plagues with severe winter storms this year. The other two birds have not returned yet and we wait to see if they will show site fidelity and nest again on Kent Island. the tracks of all three birds can be found at http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/index.shtml?project_id=428.
Of the nine greater shearwaters fitted with satellite tags last summer, only two remain transmitting, over 200 days of data. The failure of the tag is often the battery but sometimes the birds die. One tag transmitter for several weeks from Inaccessible Island in the South Atlantic where shearwaters nest. it is suspected that the bird was prey to a skua, a large predatory seabird, which patrol the nesting colonies. We also had a transmitter returned last year from a Brazilian fisherman who had caught the shearwater on longlines. Bycatch in fisheries can be a major factor in seabird mortality. The birds are attracted to the baited hooks and can not see the hook. Surface drift nets may also entangle large numbers of seabirds. There are efforts in some areas to reduce the bycatch but it is still a problem in some areas. The tracks of the greater shearwaters can be seen at http://www/seaturtle.org/tracking/?project_id=435
Rob Ronconi, one of our seabird biologists, spent three months in the South Atlantic last fall including time on both Gough and Inaccessible Islands. He helped tag 22 nesting or pre-nesting greater shearwaters. The birds have been wide ranging from South America to South Africa in the same areas that the birds we have tagged from the summer in the Bay of Fundy also range once they reach the South Atlantic. Although four tags have failed, it is hoped that the tags last long enough that the northward migration may be captured as well as the forging in the South Atlantic. These tracks can be viewed at http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/index.shtml?project_id=452
One of the herring gulls tagged last spring on Kent Island, a small island off the coast of Grand Manan Island has completed a round trip from Kent Island to the Chesapeake Bay area and back. The bird was one of three that were fitted with satellite transmitters to follow their movements in the Bay of Fundy. The added benefit is that all three birds were migratory, spending the winter in Chesapeake Bay area. Normally this would be a great place for a herring gull but the area was plagues with severe winter storms this year. The other two birds have not returned yet and we wait to see if they will show site fidelity and nest again on Kent Island. the tracks of all three birds can be found at http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/index.shtml?project_id=428.
Of the nine greater shearwaters fitted with satellite tags last summer, only two remain transmitting, over 200 days of data. The failure of the tag is often the battery but sometimes the birds die. One tag transmitter for several weeks from Inaccessible Island in the South Atlantic where shearwaters nest. it is suspected that the bird was prey to a skua, a large predatory seabird, which patrol the nesting colonies. We also had a transmitter returned last year from a Brazilian fisherman who had caught the shearwater on longlines. Bycatch in fisheries can be a major factor in seabird mortality. The birds are attracted to the baited hooks and can not see the hook. Surface drift nets may also entangle large numbers of seabirds. There are efforts in some areas to reduce the bycatch but it is still a problem in some areas. The tracks of the greater shearwaters can be seen at http://www/seaturtle.org/tracking/?project_id=435
Rob Ronconi, one of our seabird biologists, spent three months in the South Atlantic last fall including time on both Gough and Inaccessible Islands. He helped tag 22 nesting or pre-nesting greater shearwaters. The birds have been wide ranging from South America to South Africa in the same areas that the birds we have tagged from the summer in the Bay of Fundy also range once they reach the South Atlantic. Although four tags have failed, it is hoped that the tags last long enough that the northward migration may be captured as well as the forging in the South Atlantic. These tracks can be viewed at http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/index.shtml?project_id=452
Friday, December 25, 2009
Nesting Shearwaters
Dr. Rob Ronconi has returned from just over three months on two nesting islands for shearwaters and other pelagic seabirds in the South Atlantic (Tristan da Cunha island group including Gough and Inaccessible Islands). Pelagic seabirds are those that live on the ocean except when nesting. The greater shearwaters that come to the Bay of Fundy each year are some of the birds that make these islands their home.
This rare opportunity allowed Rob to experience many species of seabirds including albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters while helping with research programs, including removing alien plant and mammal species that have been introduced.
While there he also put on more satellite transmitters (22 in total). You can track these birds on the seaturtle.org website (http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/index.shtml?project_id=452). There is also a more detailed account of the project on this webpage. I'm looking forward to Rob's stories - I'm sure there will be many about the work he was doing.
This rare opportunity allowed Rob to experience many species of seabirds including albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters while helping with research programs, including removing alien plant and mammal species that have been introduced.
While there he also put on more satellite transmitters (22 in total). You can track these birds on the seaturtle.org website (http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/index.shtml?project_id=452). There is also a more detailed account of the project on this webpage. I'm looking forward to Rob's stories - I'm sure there will be many about the work he was doing.
Lobster Egg Collection
Drs. Heather Koopman and Andrew Westgate and their two dogs and one cat arrived at the research station for two weeks in December, Dec. 7-21. This is the second December they have been on Grand Manan, having experienced most months on the island with the exception of the coldest winter months.
Heather has been monitoring lobster egg production and viability in female lobsters of all sizes. This means she has to go out on lobster boats and when a berried female (a female carrying eggs on the underside of her tail) comes up in a trap, Heather measures and collects a few eggs for lab analysis of lipids or fats. The amount of lipid in an egg gives an indication of the fitness of the female, more lipid also means the egg has a better chance at survival because of more stored energy available to it during development. The berried female is carefully returned to the water with a notch on her tail, indicating if she is caught again, after releasing her eggs, that she was a berried female and will be released. The notch stays in the tail for several moults before growing back in. The reproductive cycle in lobsters is long - two years.
Heather put in some long days, often leaving the wharf at 4 AM and one day, not getting back until midnight. These are hours that lobster fishing often put in, 14+ hour days are not unusual. While there are more berried females in June in the traps, the December samples are important to the overall trends. She was pleasantly surprised by a large blue lobster, a rare colour in lobsters.
For a comical look at inshore lobster fishing (and also what a berried female lobster looks like), check out http://www.cbc.ca/mercerreport/video.html or http://www.youtube.com/mercerreport and look for the segment "Rick and Lobster Fishing".
Heather has been monitoring lobster egg production and viability in female lobsters of all sizes. This means she has to go out on lobster boats and when a berried female (a female carrying eggs on the underside of her tail) comes up in a trap, Heather measures and collects a few eggs for lab analysis of lipids or fats. The amount of lipid in an egg gives an indication of the fitness of the female, more lipid also means the egg has a better chance at survival because of more stored energy available to it during development. The berried female is carefully returned to the water with a notch on her tail, indicating if she is caught again, after releasing her eggs, that she was a berried female and will be released. The notch stays in the tail for several moults before growing back in. The reproductive cycle in lobsters is long - two years.
Heather put in some long days, often leaving the wharf at 4 AM and one day, not getting back until midnight. These are hours that lobster fishing often put in, 14+ hour days are not unusual. While there are more berried females in June in the traps, the December samples are important to the overall trends. She was pleasantly surprised by a large blue lobster, a rare colour in lobsters.
For a comical look at inshore lobster fishing (and also what a berried female lobster looks like), check out http://www.cbc.ca/mercerreport/video.html or http://www.youtube.com/mercerreport and look for the segment "Rick and Lobster Fishing".
Christmas Bird Count
On December 20 I again participated in the Christmas Bird Count for Grand Manan Island. I have a relatively easy route that takes in the shoreline from south of Seal Cove to Southern Head. The woods were very quiet but the shoreline was busy with one flock of common eiders numbering above 500 birds. There may have been more but unfortunately a raging snow storm started mid day, preventing much observation in the afternoon.
There has been an abundance of small herring or brit around the island this year and Seal Cove Sound and Southern Head were certainly showing signs by the bird activity. In fact I saw two different birds each bring a small herring to the surface. Another good indicator were three harbour porpoises working back and forth in an area just off Southern Head.
I saw 24 different species of birds, totalling more than 1200 individuals with only 3 species being "land birds", ravens, black-capped chickadees and a peregrine falcon. The rest were on or above the ocean, including five species of alcids (dovekies, black guillemots, razorbills, common murres and thick-billed murres). The only alcid missing were puffins and if I had been able to spend more time at Southern Head, would no doubt have seen a puffin as well. I also had five species of gulls (herring, greater black-backed, black-legged kittiwakes, Bonapartes and Iceland), common loons, red-breasted mergansers, red-necked grebes, buffleheads, long-tailed ducks, mallards, American black duck, common eiders, black and surf scoters and northern gannet.
During count week, there were also 44 Canada geese migrating south and a sharp-shinned hawk in my neighbourhood.
The Christmas Bird Count has become an important indicator of population trends and is an amazing organizational feat. Even if you aren't an experienced birder, it is a great way to try to improve your birding skills, particularly if you can be paired with someone with more experience.
There has been an abundance of small herring or brit around the island this year and Seal Cove Sound and Southern Head were certainly showing signs by the bird activity. In fact I saw two different birds each bring a small herring to the surface. Another good indicator were three harbour porpoises working back and forth in an area just off Southern Head.
I saw 24 different species of birds, totalling more than 1200 individuals with only 3 species being "land birds", ravens, black-capped chickadees and a peregrine falcon. The rest were on or above the ocean, including five species of alcids (dovekies, black guillemots, razorbills, common murres and thick-billed murres). The only alcid missing were puffins and if I had been able to spend more time at Southern Head, would no doubt have seen a puffin as well. I also had five species of gulls (herring, greater black-backed, black-legged kittiwakes, Bonapartes and Iceland), common loons, red-breasted mergansers, red-necked grebes, buffleheads, long-tailed ducks, mallards, American black duck, common eiders, black and surf scoters and northern gannet.
During count week, there were also 44 Canada geese migrating south and a sharp-shinned hawk in my neighbourhood.
The Christmas Bird Count has become an important indicator of population trends and is an amazing organizational feat. Even if you aren't an experienced birder, it is a great way to try to improve your birding skills, particularly if you can be paired with someone with more experience.
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