Friday was beautiful weather. We had two pre-schoolers for the morning art session. We talked about puffins and red-legged kittiwakes, and then got creative with paper plates. Afterwards, we put on life-jackets and headed to the tide-pools. Lots of sea urchins, and a great insight into another world.
The intern job for the day was least auklet nest boxes. The Refuge monitors least auklet productivity on St. George, and nest boxes were put out 14yrs ago to provide nest sites that are easier to access and monitor.
The boxes have worked. But, over the years, rocks have shifted and the boxes either aren’t as easy or appealing for the least auklets to use.
We tried to think like a least auklet and assessed each box to make sure it was at the correct angle (rain water can’t run down the pipe into the box), and that the least auklets have a good landing rock and quick easy access into the pipe (to avoid getting eaten by a fox…). We had to carry new landing rocks from the top of the hill to avoid destroying any nearby least auklet-nesting habitat.
It was great having time at the colony on such a beautiful day, and slowing down to think about the details of each potential real estate. Thomas did a great job keeping track of the map and which boxes we’d done, and Maurice enjoyed assessing the risks of fox predation. A good field trip, and again, great team-work.
The day ended with Garden Club. We planted some swiss chard. Gillian watered the plants with her super-soaker, and the boys worked on some more soil. A happy end to a full day.
