Wednesday, July 21, 2021
This afternoon of Seabird Camp was spent on the Ridge Wall/ Southwest Point side of the Island. We were able to meet with the members from the Tiglax crew and the biologist team on board. We broke up into 3 groups and shared VHF radios to listen to explanations of the work they are doing around St. Paul Island and in the Bering Sea. Here at St. Paul, they are primarily conducting surveys on the Red-faced Cormorants – population and nesting. We were also able to ask (lots) of questions: everything from what they have been observing, to cool wildlife they have been seeing, to what jobs could we grow up to have on the boat, to what happens if someone is seasick – they still must take their shift and work through it! Toward the end of the visit the campers turned their binoculars to the boat and noticed a Crested Auklet and a Kittiwake – two folks on board were wearing the papier-mache helmets we have used in prior camp plays. What great sports! Many thanks to Alexander (Old Man) Kushin and Jacob Merculief for lending us extra VHF radios.
After the boat needed to get back to work retrieving the skiff that had been running along the Ridge Wall, we broke up into even smaller groups to go observe the cliff birds. Campers saw almost all 11 nesting seabirds. The Northern Fulmar, Crested Auklet, and Least Auklets were hard to observe from here today. However, we did see chicks galore! Red-faced Cormorant chicks, Black-legged Kittiwake chicks, and even a Red-legged Kittiwake chick! Murres were present too. Some were sitting like they have eggs but there weren’t as many actual eggs for us to see as we had hoped for. Many thanks to Veronica Padula for another day of helping me with Seabird Camp. Thanks also to Andronika Emanoff, Jessica Bartman, Bianca Lestenkof, River (TGSPI Intern), Seabird Camp interns: Ashley Kushin and Cordell Merculief, and to the TDX Youth Hires: Henry Kushin and Shaun Lekanof Jr. for help me to keep everyone safe and engaged today. Also, thanks to ACSPI and Trident for lending us vans for transportation this week.
Just before camp let out at 4pm, we took a group shot with the Laysan Albatross that had washed up on the beach and been dissected earlier in camp. Check out the photo, the wings spread out to span multiple kids lined up shoulder to shoulder!
