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Site Visits Part II: Texas

3/29/2013

 
North Deer Island, with the town of Tiki Island in the background.
We're considering four research sites in Texas, separated by about 200 miles, so the second part of our site visits trip involved a lot more driving than the Florida portion.  We flew into Houston, rented a car, and drove southeast to Texas City to meet up with Amanda Hackney.  Amanda coordinates the coastal waterbirds program for Texas Audubon, and she took us on a whirlwind boat tour of Galveston Bay's pelican strongholds, North Deer Island and the poetically-named Marker 52 Spoil Island.

Most of the oil entering or leaving the United States passes through Galveston Bay, so it's a pretty exciting place if you like oil.  It's also a pretty exciting place if you like waterbirds.  Amanda had put a yellow sign out on Marker 52 the day before, and already the pelican colony had assimilated it as a choice roosting spot.
We moved on down the coast to Sundown Island, which is located in Matagorda Bay about three hours south of Texas City.  We neglected to notify the island warden of our visit, so we had to be content with a hazy view from shore.  Port O'Connor is much more picturesque than Texas City, though, and we even managed to see a pelican without leaving dry land.
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Our final stop of the trip was Shamrock Island, another hour further south in Corpus Christi Bay.  The Nature Conservancy, which manages Shamrock, had hoped to bring us out to see the island, but weather and wind prevented the trip.  Instead, we discussed site access over an aerial photo in the cozy TNC office in Corpus Christi.  Not only is Shamrock Island the largest Reddish Egret breeding colony in Texas, but it also has rattlesnakes.

Working in such a huge variety of colonies will be a challenge, but it should make for an interesting summer.  I can't wait to get started!

Greetings from Texas
Greetings from Texas

Site Visits Part I: Florida

3/24/2013

 
Old bushes, new sand
In honor of Spring Break this week, Yvan and I headed south for an exploratory visit to some of the project research sites.  Our first stop: the Florida Panhandle, where we met up with Megan Lamb of Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve for a trip to Bird Island.

Created from dredge materials in 1995, the island is periodically refreshed with sand removed from the neighboring channel.  This winter, a fresh load buried the southern half of the island under two feet of new sand, but Megan made sure the dredgers left some brushy vegetation for the pelicans.  The island seems small, but its Brown Pelican colony has been growing by about 100 nests per year and last year hosted over 600 breeding pairs, along with a few pairs of Oystercatchers and Laughing Gulls.  Though things were silent during our visit, the island will be busy by the time we return in May.


Megan then showed us to the research dorm, a cozy 6-bedroom trailer in Apalachicola, and we explored the town a bit.  It's small but lively, with a strong fishing community. 

The next day, we borrowed a kayak and drove it up to Panama City, about an hour west of Apalachicola and the site of our second Florida colony.  In contrast to Apalachicola, Panama City is urban, and Audubon Island sits just alongside a busy shipping lane.  The island itself is buttressed by concrete blocks to prevent erosion, creating a little stone fortress covered with birds.  
There were plenty of pelicans and gulls on the island, but none had laid eggs yet.  The setting is nothing like the other seabird colonies I've worked in, which are typically located on offshore islands as far from civilization as possible.  Nevertheless, even a colony skirted by massive paving blocks and separated from the city by less than a quarter-mile of water can feel like another world.
We rounded off our trip with a visit to the beach, some key lime pie at Up the Creek, and a great view of the PANSTARRS comet from the boardwalk.  Although it's too soon to tell, I have a feeling that Apalachicola might win Best Field Site of the Summer.  We'll see.

More new field supplies

3/11/2013

 
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It's always a good day when field supplies arrive in the mail.  Clockwise from bottom left: teflon ribbon for harnesses, suede gloves for bite protection, Zip Kicker accelerant for drying superglue on harnesses, 60" wing rules (the longest available), Porzana pliers, and 5 kg Pesola spring scales (also the largest size available).  The only measurement supplies missing from the photo are a cloth measuring tape for culmen length, calipers for tarsus length, and a pillowcase for weighing.  We're almost ready to catch some pelicans!  Considering they're already starting to nest at one of the Texas sites, it's not a moment too soon.

(I do realize it's a little dorky to pose field supplies for group photos.  Am I going to stop?  Probably not.)

Pelican-sicles

3/4/2013

 
Experimental ponds at Mississippi State
My research assistant and I have attached tracking devices to a lot of birds, but neither of us has ever attached a harness to a pelican.  Harnesses are intended to stay on the bird for life-- or, at least, for the life of the transmitter, which can be up to six years-- so correct attachment is extremely important.  With this in mind, we set out for Mississippi State University last month to learn the tricks of the trade.

Our host was Tommy King of the USDA-- he's tagged more pelicans than anyone else (mostly Whites, a few Browns) and knows how to attach a harness in five minutes that can stay on for at least five years.  He also happens to have a freezer full of bird carcasses, which he collects post-mortem for study.  We had the chance to practice on a frozen American white pelican as well as several Double-crested cormorants.


Proper transmitter attachment
Although a frozen bird doesn't move nearly as much as a live one, this gave us the chance to see where the harness straps should sit on the bird in order to avoid restricting wing movements, how to tie and secure knots in the ribbon that forms the harness, and how to position the transmitter itself.  We still have some work ahead of us to reach Tommy's level, but we left feeling more confident in our ability to quickly and safely attach units to pelicans.  All that remains is to catch some non-frozen birds...
On the way back, we saw some Red-cockaded woodpeckers, a donkey, and a nice sunset.

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    Author(s)

    Juliet Lamb is the post-doc in charge of the project. You can check her website at julietlamb.weebly.com

    Rochelle Streker is a M.S. student with the project. She'll be contributing to the blog from her field base in Alabama.

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