Week 7: July 13th-19th

​Good morning, SSGN!

Prey deliveries, disturbances, synanthropy, and another PG in winter duds--that's what's going on in the world of Salish Sea PIGU this week!

If you were out on survey last week, you probably noticed the continued uptick in bluff interactions and prey deliveries at your colonies. We're up to 123 chick burrows and 311 recorded prey deliveries (so far) for week 6. It's such a striking (and exciting!) difference to the sleepiness we experienced just a few weeks ago! Who else feels like they need another set of eyes? This reminded me of the swiveling, bucket stools designed and built by the Shore Meadows (Whidbey) survey team. I think they might be onto something (photo from 2023 season)!  Perhaps they would be willing to share their construction plan? ;) ;)

​You may remember back in early June I wrote about a PG in non-breeding plumage at the Amsterdam Bay colony in the South Sound, well last week, another one was spotted at Shore Meadows on two occasions, by Anna and Steven Banks, during their COASST survey, and Lac Pope, while he was out for a stroll. It's hard to say what is happening here--is it a bird that has gone into winter plumage early, or one that failed to go into breeding plumage?? Either way, it shows us that, although it is not typical, it does occur from time to time!

Lac was also out at the Keystone Ferry colony and observed a PIGU displaying synanthropy, which occurs when wildlife adapts or leverages human activity or structures to their benefit. In this case, Lac spied a PG delivering a very red sculpin to a burrow within the riprap of the jetty. It seems crazy with the level of constant disturbance there, but the PIGU have been utilizing structures at this location for many seasons now. At the same colony, they've also taken advantage of the ferry counterweight and the gear on top of the old pier (which you may have seen me post about last season). It's really pretty amazing! ​

Technically, PIGU would be considered hemisynanthropic, because they're most often found in the wild, but do show adaptability and flexibility in their behaviors when breeding near human activity. This may partially explain why they've fared better than some of the other Salish Sea seabirds in the face of change. Synanthropy can be good and bad though. We must consider the additional risks the birds are exposed to when they choose to breed in close proximity to humans, such as exposure to pollutants, increased energy expenditures, or vulnerability to predators. Just one more reason continuing to monitor our birds both in the wild and at places like Keystone, is so important!

At Walnut Road we experienced a really interesting disturbance last week, It struck me as unusual, so I wanted to share. We had a large flock of common mergansers fly very low over the water, directly in front of the colony, in the nearshore. This caused quite an upheaval, and all  of our PIGU took flight. Normally, I would expect the PGs to fly out and almost immediately settle back into their usual guillemot behavior, but not so! Instead, they continued to fly as a flock in large circles, and this continued for around 10 minutes, even though the mergansers were long gone. We watched in awe! Check out this clip of the PIGU response, caught by Allen Acosta:

I think that is everything for now! Keep up the great work guillemoteers!! Thank you as always for your love, care, and dedication to the PIGU! 

Have a great week!

​Shannon