Waiting for eggs…
Rachael and Abram are on St. George Island studying red-legged kittiwakes. Even though field biologists can be totally organized with all the details for camp-life, they can’t [...]
Back on St. George
The red-legged kittiwake research team are back on St. George Island. Here’s Rachael Orben’s update on the start of their field season: Abram and I arrived on [...]
Mercury
Mercury is one of the most toxic contaminants found in the environment. It is released naturally during volcanic eruptions, however, over the last 300 years, humans have [...]
Measuring light to track seabirds
When we track birds (measure their movements) over long periods of time, it is important to use small data loggers so that individuals don’t have to carry [...]
First Red-legged Kittiwake egg!
Update from Rachael and Abram on St. George Island We saw our first red-legged kittiwake egg today! Abram spotted the egg as we watched a bird we [...]
Before there were eggs!
Where do red-legged kittiwakes forage before they lay their eggs? No one really knew the answer to this question until Rachael Orben and team deployed GPS dataloggers [...]
Central Place Foraging
What is a central-place forging trip? Red-legged kittiwakes are birds and therefore they lay eggs to reproduce. And, an egg needs to be kept warm for the [...]
Kittiwake Highways and Traffic Patterns
St George Island is home to roughly half a million red-legged kittiwakes and the majority of these birds nest on the north facing cliffs of the island. [...]
What did the GPS loggers tell us?
Last summer, Rachael Orben and Abram Fleishman attached GPS loggers to red-legged kittiwakes on St. George Island to find out where they were finding food during both the [...]
Flashback…
Here’s a flashback to the 2015 field season studying red-legged kittiwakes breeding on St. George Island, by Rachael Orben: In early May (before the grass had really started to [...]
Field season is coming!
I had a great time talking with you all via Skype in April. Thanks for all your awesome questions, and to Ms. Kushin and Mr. Fay for [...]
Cold Feet?
Miron, a student on St. Paul Island, asks, “Why don’t kittiwakes get frostbite on their feet if their legs and feet are in the cold water all [...]
Red-legged Kittiwake Ecology
Red-legged kittiwake photo (above) by Caitlin Kroeger There are two species of kittiwake, the black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) and the red-legged kittiwake (Rissa brevirostris). The red-legged kittiwake is [...]
Meet the Team
Instead of working independently and alone, it is more and more common for a group of scientists to work together to figure out answers to a question [...]
Red-legged Kittiwake Behavior
The Pribilof Islands are an important site for many seabird species, including 70% of the world’s red-legged kittiwake population. The Refuge’s annual seabird monitoring program provides essential information [...]