Time has flown by with fluffy energetic chicks, beautiful cavity nesters, and enthusiastic students and visitors...
For many nights now we have been finding Ancient Murrelet chicks at the end of our four funnels in Cabin Cove. Eager to complete their journey, these chicks bounce away in our cloth bags as we weigh them before taking them down to the water to send them off to their parents. The chicks hatch in burrows on land and must get to the ocean on their own to meet their parents, using the light of the water, gravity’s pull down slope, and their parents calls to help navigate. We have had many clear and calm nights, perfect for the chicks’ first journey out to sea...
The begining of our 25th year!
Welcome to another season of news as we begin our 25th year of research and monitoring on East Limestone Island. Stay tuned for our bi-monthly newsletters.
Camp Start-up
The 25th field season began on May 1st, when staff and volunteers took advantage of the good afternoon weather and headed out from Queen Charlotte in the ELI skiff and on the Kode Isle. The next afternoon's high tide saw us unloading the vast quantities of gear we tend to travel with, but the work went quickly with many helpful hands! The next few sunny days were spent getting the camp ready for the upcoming season.
Winter 2014 Newsletter
Our 2014 field season is quickly coming up! Starting May 2nd and ending July 11th, we are in for a great season of research, monitoring, conservation and education!
Summer is officially here!!!
Our wildlife tree monitoring program is now wrapping up with only one cavity nesting bird (a Chestnut-backed Chickadee) still in its nest. There were a total of 16 active wildlife trees this year: Red-breasted Sapsuckers (10), Red-breasted Nuthatches (2), Chestnut-backed Chickadee (1), Northern Flicker (1), Hairy Woodpecker (1) and Brown Creeper (1). The blowdown has definitely impacted the forest birds and the variety of birds seen on Limestone daily has now increased. To study the change in forest over time, we have set up six locations that we will photograph annually. We have already noticed a significant change in the past two years as a result of the open forest and the increase in light.
The end of night work, a trip to Gwaii Haanas, and dinner on the beach...
Our last murrelet chick came down the cabin-side funnels at 2:20 am on June 2. No chicks were captured in the two following nights, signaling the end of this season’s night work. The capture funnels have been taken down by this week’s hard working volunteers, and stored until next season.
The number of chicks departing this season was very positive: 136 chicks captured in funnels 5-8. This is the highest number recorded since 2007 when 166 chicks departed from these same funnels. Fewer chicks departed from Funnel 5 this season (2013 = 19, 2012 = 22), while the numbers at Funnel 6 increased somewhat (2013 = 66, 2012= 61) and funnels 7 and 8 accounted for most of the increase with a total of 51 chicks – up from 27 last season.
It’s been a busy two weeks with school groups, visitors, and chicks...
Ancient Murrelet chicks are still arriving every night, with staff and volunteers on Limestone Island counting and weighing chicks as they make their way to the ocean. We have had many clear nights with bright moonlight, giving everyone a good view of the chicks as they paddle away across the tide pool in front of camp. Ancient Murrelets use light to help them navigate which means we are not able to keep lights on when we release chicks. The moonlight made for special viewing of the chicks running down the beach and swimming out to sea to meet up with their parents
Our 24th field seasons begins!
On May 4th, the crew headed down to Limestone, transported by the M.V. Highlander and LBCS Director, Danny Robertson Thanks to many helpers who came along to assist in offloading all the gear! Most of the next week was spent unpacking gear, setting up the camp for the season and doing some general camp maintenance. The sun was out the entire week, so camp start-up was very enjoyable (especially in shorts!).
Night work began as usual on May 7th, although the first chicks did not arrive until May 13th. It came down funnel 6 just before midnight and weighed in at a healthy 33.5 grams. As of May 15th, there have been a total of 19 chicks from funnels 5-8.
Cavity Nesters and Cassin’s Auklets are Fledging
There are now 4 Cassin’s chicks in the nestboxes on Limestone that we continue to weigh every 5 days. One recently fledged and another is not far behind. We set up a Reconyx infrared camera in front of box 25 with the hopes of catching the bird in action. We managed to get pictures of both the chick and the adult visiting at night. Before Cassin’s fledge they spend some time at night outside their nests exercising their wings. The chick in box 25 is still pretty young, but hopefully we will get photos of it venturing out of its nest box before fledging
The end of another great season in Laskeek Bay
Week 9 was a busy one as we completed the second round of oystercatcher surveys in Gwaii Haanas. This oystercatcher monitoring program is one of several monitoring programs associated with Gwaii Haanas’ SGinXaana Sdiihltl’lxa: Night Birds Returning project. The weather on this survey was surprisingly cooperative and we completed all 123 km of shoreline surveys and visited 101 known territories in a five day period. In this survey we found mainly chicks, although eggs were still present at some locations.
In our last week we finished oystercatcher surveys in Laskeek Bay. Although we found several large chicks we noted that, as in Gwaii Haanas, there appeared to be fewer than average chicks this season; perhaps related to the wet and windy weather that has prevailed this spring.
Murrelet monitoring comes to a close with start of the first Oystercatcher Survey
The crew departed Limestone Island on June 2nd to complete the first of two Black Oystercatcher surveys in Gwaii Haanas. This five day survey (on contract with Gwaii Haanas) is completed twice during the season and takes us down the eastern side of Lyell Island, past Hotsprings Island and as far as Alder Island to the south of Juan Perez Sound. We thoroughly scan the shorelines of many islands, islets and rocks for oystercatcher breeding territories, and closely examine both new and old territories looking for eggs and chicks. Of approximately 100 territories that we visited in Gwaii Haanas, many of the birds had eggs but only one newly hatched chick was found. We had very favourable weather during this survey until on the last day, when a southeasterly wind picked up and prevented us from visiting the last three territories on the survey route. Unable to make it back across Laskeek Bay we were fortunately able to take refuge at the Moresby Explorers float camp where we waited out the weather and then returned to Limestone Island the following day.
Busy times with camp in full swing!
As of May 31, we have counted and weighed 106 chicks in the four cabin funnels. This is compared to 96 chicks as of this date last year. There were two peak nights this year (May 17 and 22) both with 14 chicks. The chicks are still coming down the funnels and the season is not over yet!
In April, director Jan Oord and trapper Len Morgan came to Limestone to monitor for raccoons. They did not find any sign of raccoons on Limestone, although they did see many on adjacent Vertical Point. To continue monitoring for raccoons throughout the ANMU season we set up two infrared cameras on Limestone, baited with sardines and cat food. These cameras, along with those from RGIS, continue to capture photos of deer, ravens, and deer mice, but thankfully no raccoons.
After the major blow-down events in 2010/11, we were unable to set up our funnels in the colony in North Cove. Last year we spent two nights in North Cove conducting point counts and listening for Ancient Murrelets, but none were heard. This year, volunteer and LBCS director Keith Moore spent two nights again listening for ANMU, but this time he heard both chicks and adults. We were excited by the possibility of ANMU burrow success here despite the blow-down and set up 2 partial funnels in North Cove with the infrared cameras at the mouths. Surprisingly, we caught six chicks on camera between the nights of May 20th and May 27th.
Thanks to the Habitat Stewardship Program for Species at Risk for funding our raccoon monitoring program and enabling us to purchase these cameras.
The 23rd Field Season Begins!
On May 4th, the LBCS crew was transported to Limestone Island on LBCS Director Danny Roberston’s new boat M.V. Highlander. It was a beautiful, calm day and the transport went smoothly. The BAMBI team, who have been working on deer projects in the area for a few years, were there to greet us, and kindly helped pack totes and gear across the jagged rocks in front of camp. Last winter was another eventful one for Limestone, with more blow-down and at least one tide high enough to wash underneath the new cabin and onto the trails! Luckily the cabins were fine, nothing was washed away, and the only casualty from falling trees was an old tent platform. The first few days in camp involved some clearing up of trees including one that had landed literally inches from the old cabin. Thanks to Mike Hennigan for volunteering to help with this!
Thanks also to everyone else who helped us get out of town and back onto the island
The great projects our Limestone Island field staff will be joining this fall.
This fall, our Camp Supervisor Jake Pattison will be working in the field with Project BAMBI, based out of the camp on Reef Island.
Project BAMBI is a 4 year study on the relationships between introduced Sitka Black-tailed Deer and the ecosystems they inhabit on Haida Gwaii. It is the continuation of a 15-year partnership between LBCS’ sister organization, Research Group on Introduced Species, and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). The CNRS component is headed by Jean-Louis Martin, who has been studying deer, plant and animal interactions on Haida Gwaii since the late 1980s. CNRS provides the scientific framework for the project; RGIS brings local expertise as well as community involvement, ensuring that the results of these studies are accessible to the public and are considered in local decision-making.
Wrapping up our 22nd field season
We were back in Gwaii Haanas June 25-29 to complete a second round of oystercatcher surveys. We revisited all known territories and also identified 10 new breeding territories. On this visit, many of the eggs that we had located previously had now hatched chicks were found hiding amongst the rocks at many of the territories. Oystercatchers feed their chicks a variety of hard-shelled invertebrates, mainly limpets, chitons and mussels. When present, we collected prey remains at the territories and counted the samples back at camp to quantify what hard-shelled prey the chicks were being fed. At one territory in the Bischofs we had the unique opportunity of observing chicks being fed by their parents.
The oystercatcher surveys that we conduct are helping gather baseline data for the Gwaii Haanas Night Birds Returning project. This project aims to restore seabird nesting habitat on several islands in Gwaii Haanas through the eradication of introduced Norway and Black Rats. Eradication will take place on the Bischof Islands and Arichika Isand this summer. One of our staff, Ainsley Brown, will be assisting with the Night Birds Returning project once the Limestone field season wraps up.
A busy week on Limestone and a great trip into Gwaii Haanas National Park
The last two murrelet chicks came down the funnels on 10 June, which is a week or so later than they have finished in recent years. A total of 106 chicks were captured this season from funnels 5, 6, 7 & 8. This represents a decrease from last season (121 chicks) but is slightly better than the 104 chicks captured in 2009 when a raccoon was present on the island. We have not seen any sign of raccoon activity in 2011. We also had the feeling that there were more prospecting birds visiting the Cabin Cove colony area this year, based on the number of calls that we were hearing at night–hopefully some of those birds will come back to breed next year.
Two Weeks of Good Weather and Lots of Late Nights!
As of 26-May we have caught 76 chicks in the four cabin funnels. This is lower than last year‟s 97 chicks, but the season is not over yet! The chicks keep coming down the funnels and we may well have a later peak night this year than last year. At this point it is hard to tell if the blowdown has affected the numbers at the cabin funnels. Fortunately, there has not been any sign of raccoon on the island so far.
The Ancient Murrelet social attraction project seems to be attracting young prospectors to the colony. For the past four nights there have been murrelets found sitting right beside the megaphone – apparently loving the evenings broadcast. One murrelet was sitting right inside the megaphone! To evaluate the success of this project we have set up knockdown sticks in 50 potential burrows within 40 metres of the megaphones. We have yet to look at the numbers, but overall there has been very little knockdown activity.
Another Field Season gets off the ground after a winter of wild weather.
Our arrival on Limestone this season, April 30, was uneventful and much the same as in previous seasons...lumber for camp maintenance and totes of supplies were unloaded on the high tide and we set about making ourselves at home. Unlike previous years we were not the first ones on the island–camp was occupied by the BAMBI team in March and April - and this meant many of the start up tasks had already been completed. We settled in and began getting familiar with what is now a very different island.
We complete another successful oystercatcher survey in Gwaii Haanas and say goodbye to the island for another season.
We were back in Gwaii Haanas June 27- July 1 for a second round of oystercatcher surveys. We were again fortunate to have very favourable weather (with the exception of one rainy morning!) which allowed the survey to proceed very smoothly. We again made the Bischof Islands our base and spent the following days revisiting shorelines in the surrounding area. Eggs had hatched at many of the territories that we had visited previously, adding the challenge of searching for well camouflaged chicks amongst the rocks. The task of locating the chicks was made easier if prey remains were present. Limpet, mussel and chiton shells get left behind as parents feed their young, and are a good clue to use when looking for chicks. Prey remains were collected during the survey and categorized back in camp in order to look at chicks diets...Limpets are still the most popular item by far, followed by mussels, chitons and small abalone. We in fact observed an oystercatcher pry loose an abalone only to have it snatched by an opportunistic gull that was sitting nearby...keeping the chicks fed might not always be as easy as it looks!
Two busy weeks here in Laskeek Bay...We make the most of good weather, even as the first days of summer bring SE gales!
Ancient Murrelet funnels have been taken down and packed up for the season. They are installed each year just before chicks beg in hatching and taken down soon after the breeding season finishes...removal this season was delayed somewhat by our Black Oystercatcher survey in Gwaii Haanas.
Most cavity nesting birds have fledged from the wildlife trees. There have been several new discoveries in the past week: Two Chest- nut-backed Chickadee nests and two Red-breasted Sap sucker nests. These new discoveries bring the season’s nest total up to 11 sapsuckers, 4 Brown Creepers, 3 Chestnut-backed Chickadees, and 1 Hairy Woodpecker...a productive year for cavity nesting birds! We are particularly surprised at the abundance of Brown Creepers this season. Creeper nests have only been found in nine years since 1990, and 1998 (2 nests located) was the only other year where more than one nest was found.
Ancient Murrelet season ends on a positive note...j ust in time for the crew to head out on the first round of Black Oystercatch er surveys in Gwaii Haanas.
The last pair of murrelet chicks came down the funnels on the night of June 2. Over the course of the season, a total of 164 chicks were caught at North Cove (funnels 1-4), and 121 at Cabin Cove (funnels 5-8), for an overall total of 285. There have been no chick captures in North Cove for the past 3 years, yet chick numbers have continued to decline in this part of the colony. On a brighter note, there was a rebound in chick numbers at Cabin Cove this season: The total for funnels 5&6 was 86, an increase from the 66 captured in 2009 when a raccoon was active on the island through the breeding season. Preliminary analysis of this year's data is encouraging in that it appears that our research activities are not implicated in the declining numbers in the colony, however predation in the colony by introduced raccoons remains a major threat. A cull of raccoons on the adjacent shoreline of Louise Island in March apparently kept raccoons off of Limestone Island this season, and continuing this program on a yearly basis will be essential in reversing the decline of this colony.