#nestchecks

Today was my last nest check of the summer. 

I can't believe it either! This summer went by so quickly, and when I think about how many things we accomplished and saw and experienced and learned I am just amazed. 

I could not have asked for a better "last nest check" either. The weather was perfect. The sun was out, but every once in a while a breeze would fly by reminding you that you are on the coast and the ocean is a hop away. 

As I walked across Larus Ledge for the last time (at least for a while), took a few moments to stop, look around, and try to read bands of any of the fledged hatch-year GBBG chicks that are loafing around on the rockweed. My Binoculars spotted a chick with a blue poultry band: Eleanora! I couldn't believe it. I never thought I'd be able to spot her on her adventures, but there she was! She was standing next to a banded chick who, after some cross referencing, I discovered to be her brother, Edwin. They were playing together with a shell. I got to see their parent fly over with food for them, and I got to watch them fight over the morsel the parent brought back. 

I'm really going to miss sharing those almost-human moments with these birds, and all those times when the gulls really take your breath away.

...Or make you crazy. I will, believe it or not, miss those days when the parents won't give you a break, when the chicks test your observation skills, when you find the remains of a black-billed cuckoo around one of your bird's nests. 

I will miss the flash floods, crazy weather changes, and super thick, appledore fog. 

I will and already do miss the amazing people I have met out here. 

But the truth is, I am not sad to leave. I am excited to go back home and go back to Cornell and do whatever is in store for this year and beyond! I am excited to leave and come back one day and see how everything has changed or is exactly the same. 

These text posts are probably going to become more frequent because it is a lot easier to cover everything after long hiatuses. 

I am just going to quickly recap everything we have been up to since I had to delete the videos for consistency and editing purposes. 

I will be staying on Appledore Island at the Shoals Marine Lab until July 31 to spend a lot of quality time with the Herring and Great Black-backed gulls the come each year to nest on the Island. Last summer I was out monitoring Herring Gull nests but this Summer I am monitoring Black-backed nests as part of a grand study to look at eggshell color and background-matching in these gulls. This year's gull team consists of Dave, Sarah, Shailee, and Taylor, who is my fellow intern who will be out with me the whole summer. I will post "meet and greet" videos so you can get to know everyone on the team and learn a bit more about their experiences and interests. 

The first week we were on the Island, we had to pick up as many nests as we could find mark them, and measure the eggs in the nests. We also took pictures of the individual eggs and took measurements with a portable spectrophotometer to get standardized background color measurements. We also set up Taylor's nests in the HERG (Herring Gull) colonies that she will be monitoring for her project this summer.

Once the Field Ornithology class started on the Island, things got a little simpler. Cassie and I built a giant cage to put over nests so we could get good pictures of the nest without a parent trying to squeeze back over their eggs. The cage was absolutely epic (I put up a lot of pictures so you could find those). The only thing the pictures don't capture is the comic aspect of carrying a giant PVC cage around in the colonies. It must have been hilarious to watch Cassie and me trying to maneuver around the tripod in a 3x3 ft space to move eggs around in the nest, make sure the grey standard was in the right spot. A few hours later and we got stuck in a HUGE rainstorm and had to flee the cage to save the camera...ahh fieldwork. 

Bad weather put a damper on the photography, but nest checks continued and brought about my first GBBG (Great Black-backed Gull) family: 13G413. Elliot, Eleanora, and Edwin are now over 9 days old, and Eleanora and Edwin are doing very well. Unfortunately, we have not seen Elliot in a while. Chick's continue to hatch and I will continue updating you all on the chicks and the nest checks!