Sunday, November 30, 2008

Happy Late Thanksgiving

We had the usual Thanksgiving feast out here, including a 20 lb. turkey. We're still on leftovers, but now we're only down to turkey soup.
The day before that, we took a boat trip to Trig island to count the albatross nests and pick up marine debris. There are only a couple little portulaca plants on that island since it gets washed over fairly often. The birds are nesting on the high spot so I hope they'll make it there. The main reason we went is so I could find the way to get there, since when Dave leaves next week, I'll be left in charge. There's a small opening in the reef with little clearance, so it'll take some practice to not scrape anything.
After Trig Island, we went to LaPerouse Pinnacle to check which bird species are present. The peregrine falcon was there and no blue noddies, so it will probably take them a couple years to get going there again. There are also a lot of Brown boobies, White terns, and Great frigatebirds. The volunteers got to snorkel there and it looked like a great spot. It's from 10-20 ft. deep right around there so the coral and fish are a lot different than near Tern. I only got to look in the water next to the boat since we don't anchor there and someone has to drive.
This is our dining area. We had our T-dinner buffet style so that's why it looks skimpy.
This is Trig island. Lots of sand and a few birds. The picture is a little washed out because it's my little waterproof point and shoot instead of my nice camera.

LaPerouse Pinnacle up close.
It's not very wide. For being 120 ft. tall.

Here's the only Laysan/Blackfooted albatross hybrid on the island. It doesn't have any better luck with mates than the ones on Midway did.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad you're back "on the air".
You do a great job of reporting!

Mona & Nelson Klavitter

WS2000 said...

"There are also a lot of Brown boobies...." Really?

Pete Leary said...

Yes really! That's also the correct spelling, in case you were wondering.

Anonymous said...

Peter, miss the Tern Island Times. I have to read the "Comments" to get the "latest issue."

Surely there must be some great photo ops at least weekly!

Buzz