Student banders thank donors

Last month, three Northern Essex Community College students were able to join us for a week of banding adult gulls on Appledore. The funding for their time with us came from the NECC Fund, the college’s annual fund, which draws donations from generous alumni, local corporations and foundations, and other institutions committed to giving NECC students the best experience they can possibly have. The three students who came out in May certainly appreciated it, and each one sent along a note of thanks.

Back row, from left: students Eric Lanouette, David Mesta, Nathan Kozlovski. Front row: NECC faculty member Sarah Courchesne (with sign), NECC alum Mary Everett.

Each of these three students were selected based on the strength of their application essays and the recommendations of faculty members who were impressed with their work. I can honestly say, this was the strongest, most well oiled team we have assembled in some time. Each member worked hard, maintained a positive attitude in the face of twisted ankles, bleeding hands, self-inflicted blows to the head, knees damp with the seeping feces of birds, and raised welts from red ant bites.

Eric Lanouette, whose exuberant energy and goofball aspect belie a remarkable work ethic, wanted me to pass along this note, “Thank you for the great opportunity to participate in the research going on at the Marine Research Lab at Appledore Island. During my time there I learned a lot more than I was expecting and was able to gain some experience in field research. I feel that this experience will be invaluable in the future to me. Thank you all!” Eric was referred to us by Dr. Mark Clements, who knows Eric from his biology class. I am very grateful to Mark for sending Eric my way–he proved utterly invaluable, and appeared to have a genuinely excellent time in the field.I have a photo here that demonstrates Eric’s approach to field work. He appropriated half of a corn hole game to use as a blind, peering out at his quarry through the peephole. Down the path, he had rigged a double trap of his own devising over the nest of a particularly wary gull. After many minutes of waiting around, I was packing up to leave when I heard Eric yell, “Got him!” and indeed he had. Persistence, ingenuity, and a positive attitude; Eric fairly well defines what I would look for in a field assistant.

Nathan Kozlovski was a known quantity to me, having been my student in an Honors class this past semester. I knew his thoughtfulness, intellectual curiosity, and incredibly strong writing skills before we ever set foot on the island. It is therefore fitting that I let Nathan do his own talking about the experience on Appledore:

To the Student Fund at Northern Essex Community College,

I was recently given the opportunity to participate in an on-going research project affiliated with the Shoals Marine Laboratory, on Appledore Island.  As I am still working on an associate degree in physical science, I had not yet had the opportunity to observe hands-on-research in the field, working with wild animals in a natural setting.  I am currently on a general geoscience track, with a focus on geology, yet my core interest is in the reconstruction of paleoecosystems and the stressors that can cause extinctions.  Due to the unique pathway I am currently set upon, the chance to work with the living is an incredibly valuable one, and much of my geology course work yet-to-come will have me focused on classwork away from animal habitats and the observation of animal behavior.

Professor Courchesne’s team was well-selected, with two summer interns, two busy-bodies, and one indispensable army guy.  We had much success in humanely capturing, blood sampling, and tagging the two species of seagulls on the island, and I learned much about the nuances of behavior that can widely separate two closely-related species cohabitating in close proximity.  I also learned a bit about general nesting behaviors, feeding habits, territorial competition, and some methods used for tracking the migratory patterns of seagulls.  In addition, the location’s facilities were well-maintained, the staff excellent, and the environment very conducive to learning.  As a geology guy, I even managed to learn a little about the island’s fascinating, and very ancient, geological history.  One could spend an entire summer studying that heavily-eroded and convoluted gniess and pegmatite!

The experience on the Isles of Shoals, for my part, was money well spent, and I wished to send an earnest note-of-thanks for the use of student resources for this opportunity!                                                                     Sincerely, Nathan Kozlovski

Finally, Cesar (David) Mesta, a student in the Lab Science program, rounding out the team. He writes,

“Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be a part of the research program in Shoal lab. In the week I spent in Appledore island I learned many skills, like patience and methodical approach. That can only be learn by working on the field and, especially with gulls! I will always remember this experience and can’t wait to one day go back.
Thank you again.

Sincerely, Cesar Mesta”

David was typically quiet, though he showed a wide-eyed excitement/alarm whenever gull feces came raining down in particularly close proximity to us. Perhaps because he is quiet by nature, David is a remarkably keen observer and quick study. Before I even knew what I needed, several times, it appeared at my elbow in the hands of David, who had anticipated what would be necessary for the work to run smoothly. By the end of our first half day on the island, he had engineered creative solutions for a few problems of missing equipment. That kind of adaptability is not natural to everyone, but is critical to success in the field. David told me he never expected to be chosen for this opportunity, and was very surprised to receive my email inviting him to join us. I certainly chose well, and his spot on our team was well deserved and well earned.

I close with my personal thanks to the NECC Fund and all who support it. I cannot fully describe the transformations I see occur in students who get the opportunity to come join us in the field. I know that it changes the course of people’s lives, and there is no way to replicate this kind of experience on campus. I am honored to have received this grant to bring these remarkable students out into the field, and I was most fortunate to work with them.

If you would like to give to the NECC Fund to support future students in opportunities like these, please visit this secure giving link, and accept my thanks!

 

“Crossed Slowly Seaward”

{One of our May gull team, Mary Everett, provided this post-banding reflection. I know you will all want to read it.}

When I was first informed of the Shoals Marine Lab gull banding program, it was described to me as a wild affair involving minimalist accommodations, transportation via boat, and bike helmets to protect one’s skull from the onslaught of birds hell-bent on ensuring their reproductive success. I was immediately intrigued.

We departed for Appledore Island and the Shoals Marine Lab from downtown Portsmouth in the late morning. The boat ride out was a sunny and pleasant one. Dr. Courchesne, our fearless leader and expert Gull wrangler, pointed out the other islands in the archipelago & some passing terns, we gawked at the massive mansions dotting the coast, and talked a bit about what to expect the first day. The Gull group very briefly acquainted ourselves with one another, just a few words here and there between taking in the sights or resting on the boat’s concrete deck. When we arrived at Appledore Island, all the passengers on the boat – the gull banding interns, the summer course students, instructors, and a few research interns – created a long human chain on the ramp leading up from the rocky inter tidal to the dirt and grass path where two small John Deere Gators waited to carry our decidedly light baggage to our equally modest bunks.

The walk to our bunks revealed a few things about the island: it was covered in gulls and a forest of poison ivy, somehow fire ants had made it there, yet despite or maybe because of all this, it was a beautiful place. Once we got our things settled, we headed to a brief orientation. All of the employees and researchers who spoke at that first meeting had a similar message about Appledore Island: this Island is unique, in its ecology and its research projects, and the time one spends here is doubly so. For the next 6 days, I myself came to know how true that was.

Our group assembled, finishing introductions and receiving some instruction on how to properly carry out our practices – trapping, restraining, bleeding, banding, measuring, and releasing Great Black Back & Herring Gulls – before Dr. Courchesne spotted an unbanded herring gull outside of the classroom, and had it captured in her bare hands within moments. It all seemed so simple and easy, with that capture. How naïve we all were!

Mary, possibly nursing ant bites, or some other typical island-induced injury, waits for a trap to be triggered.

For the week following, we learned what trapping gulls really takes, for us non-superhuman interns. Honestly, the seasoned skills of our leaders, both Dr. Courchesne and the program’s head, Dr. Julie Ellis, actually caused other ornithologists on the island to stop when passing and whisper to their students “Watch this, she’s the master. It looks easy…it is not.” It takes patience, in waiting for reluctant gulls to ignore giant metal ACME-style traps teetering over their nests and step inside. It takes strategy, in figuring our the best way to fit a sandwich-bag sized cloth sack over the business end of an angry gull armed with a 40mm + beak without suffering bodily harm. It takes a cool, calm demeanor to try and swiftly, safely, and quietly draw blood, measure, & weigh a terrified bird with a five-foot wingspan, and it takes a weird, only exhibited by Drs Courchesne and Ellis, wrist strength to actually get those unwieldy bands on the birds. Once those bands are on however, you have a bird that will (ideally) give back to the program. When someone 400 miles away in Jersey sees a Herring gull with a green field readable band, stealing a sandwich from a toddler, the program gets data – and that person gets something too. There is a unique type of excitement, being part of research in this way. While on the island, I found a few old bands, weathered and nearly unreadable. Being able to look these bands up and see that they were banded on the island years and years ago, seen in New York or Florida for a few years after that, back on the island to mate, was amazing.

I am passionate about making information regarding our environment accessible and relatable. Having experience in safe handling of wildlife, knowledge of local animals and their behavior, and an appreciation for the processes behind field science aids me immeasurably in being a better informed & more well-rounded resource, wherever I may end up. I am delighted that I had an opportunity to work under Dr. Courchesne and Dr. Julie Ellis. That I had the opportunity to meet and converse with them, to discuss ideas and even just listen in on others during meal times, was incredible. I met researchers and professors from all over, and the absolute nerd in me was a bit star-struck, I must admit. They’re like ornithology rock stars! Published! In journals! Science Friday on NPR featured them! When I told this to my husband in a rare and brief call home, I could tell that the silence that followed my exclamations was filled with a smirk on his end of the telephone. He barely kept himself from laughing as he said “I love you, Mary….” an I love you that clearly meant “My wife is the biggest dork in the whole world.”

The persistent and lone Herring Gull amidst the Black-backeds.

These gulls  return each year once mature, to mate and fledge their young. They return with an amazing fidelity. One brave Herring gull, nested among a particularly aggressive Black Back colony, had been banded in that same area, and sighted on that same location on the island ever since. It is amazing to be a part of this, to know this information because you were a part of it. And so, after a week of bracing ourselves against dive-bombing Black Backs, nursing fire ant bites and sunburns, we loaded our bags up into the hold of the boat. Looking back up the rocks at this now-familiar place, I felt exhausted and satisfied but hopeful that I, like these innately compelled gulls, might return some day.

Every July, R92 like clockwork

Last month, Margo Goetschkes and Steve Grinley, gull-spotting enthusiasts, wrote to report a sighting of R92 on Plum Island in Massachusetts. Bill Clark dredged up the scoop on this bird from the gull database, and tells us that it was banded as a chick on July 18th, 2012. The next time it was seen, as it turns out, was by yours truly (guest blogger Sarah Courchesne)! I find this inordinately exciting. Here is the bird as it looked when I saw it in July 2013 on Salisbury Beach, Massachusetts:

R92 on the right, strutting sassily.

Then, this July, as it was when Margo and Steve saw it:

Photo: M. Goetschkes/S. Grinley

We don’t have any wintertime sightings of this bird, but it seems to show some fidelity to this area in the summer, Salisbury Beach being just across the mouth of the Merrimack River from Plum Island. Hopefully, we will be seeing this bird back on Appledore to breed in another couple years, and possibly earlier than that to prospect and get beaten about by adult gulls.

We have another sighting to share as well: C17, dubbed in a previous post as “the local gull,” is proving the aptness of that title. This time, it was seen once again on Hampton Beach on July 12th by Michelle Brown. This bird was banded as a chick in 2005, making it nine years old now, and undoubtedly very savvy.

This bird looks extremely savvy, no? (Photo by M. Brown)

Resight report

Greetings, larophiles!

Sarah here again, with a few resights for you, one of them made by yours truly. While I was out on my survey for the SEANET project, looking for dead seabirds, I chanced upon a very much alive Y30, loitering near some likely looking beach goers. As I tried to get a good view of the band, a man in a beach chair called out, “C’mon! I bet you could catch him!” I laughed and said, “I think I already did, actually–he’s got a band on and I may well have been the one who placed it!” The man and his wife looked closely at the bird as if for the first time. “Wow!” the woman yelled, “Look at that! He is wearing a band!” It occurred to me that even when operating right under the noses of most humans, these birds are not ever really seen. A shame, since maybe if people understood them a little better, they would be less reviled. Sigh.

Anyway, here’s my poor cell phone photo of the bird on Salisbury Beach Riverside Reservation in Massachusetts on June 30.

It turns out that this bird was indeed banded last year in July, and since then has been seen again trailing behind a cod fishing boat off Rhode Island in October 2013. A resourceful little youngster, this.

The second sighting I have for you comes from New Jersey, where Renee Franklin spotted this amputee gull on June 30. The right foot is missing, though the leg appears healed from what I can see in this photo. It’s a bit hard to read the band, but we think it says R37. If that is correct, the bird was banded in 2012 as a chick, with both feet intact, and this is its first sighting since then. How it came to lose the foot is not clear, though it’s not the first time we’ve seen that. Whether banded or not, gulls have a remarkable capacity for getting themselves into trouble. I’ve seen fishing line entanglements, burns, gunshot wounds and a host of other unexplained wounds and injuries result in the loss of a foot in gulls. They seem to adapt to the loss very well, as R37 seems to have done. Perhaps we will see it back on Appledore to breed when the time comes. After all, there was, for a long time, a one footed gull nesting successfully outside one of the dorms. Hopefully this is not the last we’ll see or hear from R37, and thank you to Renee for the sighting!

Tagged gull at Point Pleasant, NJ. (Photo by Renee Franklin)

Banding with Carly: first hand report from a gull team member

This is Carly Emes, reporting back with the promised “gory details” of how we band the gulls! I’d like to describe the step-by-step process of catch and release; and also touch on the importance of various samples we collect from each individual gull.

Participating in field research is not glamorous. As many of you are aware, Great Black-backed Gulls and Herring Gulls will stop at nothing to defend their little patch of territory – especially when mates have invested so much energy into a clutch of eggs. This strong parental behavior is an important factor that we use to our advantage as we proceed with caution into the thick of the colony.

The colony of aware and vigilant parents.

This May, our team focused on banding Herring Gulls. Nowadays, scientific research typically uses the most specialized gadgets adapted to collect necessary data at the highest efficiency. However, our methods do not fall into that category. In fact, most of our techniques are quite comical and simplified (but nevertheless they are great at getting the job done).

Fully clad in our fashionable hat-underneath-helmet look paired with gull poop stained jackets, the team seeks for reasonably level terrain to set up several buckets of our more clinical tools for banding. Meanwhile, two or more members will branch off and look for unbanded Herring Gulls with a notably strong instinct to incubate their eggs. If the gull is dedicated to staying seated, then we can simply and safely pluck them off of the nest and into a gull-sized cloth bag. If not, then we have a choice of using two different traps.

Sean Jeffery and I attempting the tactile approach (as the wary mate above watches our every move).

Our trap of choice (based on the convenience of nest location this year) was the “Wiley trap.” Aptly nicknamed after Wiley Coyote, this trap is comprised of a box propped up by a stick attached to a string.

The classic cartoon trap positioned for our next prospect.

Once the gull is in custody, we bring them to basecamp to process them in a timely and quiet manner.

The first step is to obtain a blood sample. This is an important element of genetic analysis which can be useful for tracing breeding relationships among the returning population.

After bleeding, we place a federal band (USGS) on the right leg, and a field band on the left leg. This is a key component of Julie Ellis’ research which allows her to track where the gulls are located on a global scale, and if they are alive and well. Of course, this is made possible by the helpful citizens who report their sightings.

Next, we weigh the bird and take several different measurements including the length of the tarsus, back of the skull to the tip of the bill, and wing chord. At their adult stage, documenting body dimension is another useful piece of data that we like to keep in our bank of records. Lastly, In order to not further disorient this troubled bird, we must release him or her within the range of its own territory.

During our week stay, we try our best to complete this course of action as many times as possible. As you may imagine, these activities have left me with phantom binoculars and an irrational paranoia of dive-bombing gulls. Even with the scientific duties we performed as a team, at the end of the day I can only describe this experience as rowdy and rewarding.

Happy gulling and thanks for your time!

Reflections post-banding

I have traded the sound of gulls calling and stomping on the roof for the trill of tree frogs here at home in mainland New Hampshire, and, now that I am clean and somewhat rested, and the gull restraint bags are washed and drying on my clothesline, I thought I might write you all a line or two in summary of our banding week.

The final total was 39 adult Herring Gulls caught, bled and banded, and 5 Great Black-backed Gulls (caught on a day when we needed a dose of the instant gratification only Black-backed trapping can provide). Carly Emes, gull team member, has a post planned with all the gory details on how it’s done, so I will limit myself to generalities and mainly focus on praising the hard working team we assembled. Pictured in our official team photo: Bill Clark (kneeling), gull guru and stalwart supporter; North Shore Community College grad Sean Jeffery; yours truly, Sarah Courchesne; Sarah Chieng, soon to be official veterinary technician; Carly Emes, pondering graduate study; and Kristen “K-Cat” whom we poached from the songbird ranks for a day or so–thanks K-Cat!

 

F07, hybrid offspring of our resident LBBG was indeed seen again, and Lauren Kras has been kind enough to share her photo of this specimen. What do you think? Would you pick this bird out of a crowd as a hybrid?

F07 with a putative mate. (Photo by L. Kras)

Lauren also happened to take a photo of F07 back in 2011 when it was a callow youth alongside its dapper dad.

One day in July 2011. (Photo by L. Kras)

One final item of note: during the week on Appledore, I spent a few hours entering data from an observer who watches gulls visit his pile of deer carcasses and restaurant and butchery wastes. Bald Eagles and ravens also frequent the pile, but among the gulls are several who sport the bands of Appledore. In an odd coincidence, Davis Finch, the proprietor of the pile, lives half a mile from my house in East Kingston, New Hampshire. When I go running on unexpectedly warm winter days, when the pile has thawed a bit and is stinking, I have had occasion to curse Mr. Finch. And indeed, on hour three of data entry from his meticulous record keeping, I felt I had occasion again. But in truth, I am grateful. His sightings have shown us that some of these gulls are routinely making the commute from Appledore to East Kingston and back, a distance of almost 20 miles each way, as the gull flies. It’s a small pleasure to think that I might band a gull in the morning, and then that same bird, bands jangling, could fly right over the backyard where my kids are playing on its way to the infamous bone pile.

Now, I must go gather those gull bags from the line; the forecast promises rain overnight. This’ll be my last post for you all for the foreseeable future. Thanks for reading, and happy sighting!

Resight roundup

I’ll be posting more of a summary of our week’s final tallies, our banding successes and failures soon, but I also wanted to share with you some off-island resights that have come in over the past few months. After all, your usual Gull Team Captain, Julie Ellis, welcomed her own chick about a week ago when her second child was born! So, you’re stuck with me for a bit.

3U4 cruises over the waters of Lake Michigan. (Photo: A. Ayyash)

The first very cool sighting came from Amar Ayyash, who posted on his site anythinglarus, about GBBG 3U4 who’s made it all the way to Lake Michigan! Amar also had some very kind words for Julie’s project and our banding endeavors, so thank you, Amar; it means a lot when we are just finishing up the week and are four days without a shower and feces besmirched.

This next photo is of a gull bait closer to home–5T9 was spotted by Eric Labato at Sandy Point Reservation on Plum Island in Massachusetts. This bird was banded as a chick in 2011, and since then has been seen a handful of times, mainly at the very same beach where Eric spotted it.

Banded as chick in 2011, this 3 year old frequents Sandy Point. (Photo: Eric Labato)

Finally, David Baake wrote to tell us he’d seen 2E2 on Plum Island as well. Check out his post with the details and a lovely photo as well! 2E2 is currently nesting here on the island, a stone’s throw from where I sit typing right now. Tomorrow, I head back for the mainland in what will be, for me, an hour’s boat ride. We will undoubtedly watch many a gull speed past making the same trip in less time, but with far higher stakes. The chicks have started hatching, and provisions must be gathered.

As ever, keep your eyes peeled, larophiles! Thanks for your forbearance during Julie’s absence.

 

Better days for banding

Bill and Carly wait for bird deliveries.

Today was a great day for banding and resights; though the Herring Gulls continue to be sneaky and evasive, we got our hands on about nine more today. We’re now just leaping into the shrubbery trying to catch them without traps. We are having some success with this technique.
We also went on a resighting mission around some of the lesser visited parts of the island and detected several birds that have not been seen since they were banded in 2011, or in one notable case, 2009!

Sarah makes new friends.

A bird of particular interest showed up two days ago, but not since, much to our chagrin. One of the hybrid offspring of the Lesser Black-backed Gull (F05) and a Herring Gull mate turned up on the rocks not too distant from dear old dad. F07, a hybrid, was banded as a chick in 2011 and had not been seen since. We saw him/her standing beside a Herring Gull and gazing out to sea. Since that sighting, we have failed to find the bird again, and not for want of trying. Perhaps it’ll be back to try and nest in earnest next year.

Sean contemplates the sea (and waits for a bird to enter a trap.)

The weather should be favorable through the weekend, so we’re hoping for two more days of good banding before our departure on Monday.

The rains descend on Appledore

Yesterday, we caught a brief window of dry, though cool weather, and managed to band and draw blood from three adult Herring Gulls. Alas, at that point, the wind picked up, and later in the day we started to get some rain as well. We devoted a few hours to scouring the island for any banded gulls and appear to have picked up a few subadults who may be back for the first time since being banded as chicks. After lunch though, the weather drove us inside and we’ve been pinned down since. Now, we’re hunkered down, sheltering from a steady rain. But that means more time to blog for you all. We’ve had some interesting sightings lately, but more on those later.

Sarah Chieng and Sean Jeffery search for banded birds during our brief weather window.

For now, I introduce our May gull team: the intrepid Bill Clark is here of course, and your guest blogger (Sarah Courchesne still) and our student recruits: Carly Emes of SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry is back for another round; Sean Jeffery, who just graduated from North Shore Community College; and Sarah Chieng, who also just finished up at North Shore with a veterinary technician’s degree. We are looking forward to clearing skies and warmer temperatures in the coming days so we can go on a banding spree and search for ever more banded birds as well. We will keep you posted on our progress, and I’ll share any and all news while the weather keeps me rainbound.

We’ve made landfall on Appledore!

Sarah Courchesne here, updating you all this week. The gull banding and resighting team (May edition) arrived today and is now getting settled in. While out checking on F05, we encountered a dead bird that looked a bit different from the juvenile gulls to whose corpses we are fairly accustomed. Upon examining the bird, we determined that it was the mummified and skeletal remains of a Snowy Owl. The owls were seen hunting the island over the winter, and indeed, the muskrat population here has been decimated. Still, this owl met a bad end here somehow.

Later this week, we’ll have some actual gull related updates for you, but until then, here’s a pic of the owl we found today out among the Herring Gull nests. Another Snowy carcass was apparently spotted over on Smuttynose Island today too. What led to their demise? Much to my chagrin, there is nothing left to necropsy, so your guess is as good as mine.

Snowy Owl remains on Appledore.