Week 3: June 18th - 24th
Happy Week 3 PIGU Team!
I finally managed to sync the Weekly Update with the first day of the survey week! It only took me two weeks to remember that we start on Sunday and not Monday!
Down here in the South Sound we've noticed that some colonies are starting off in a bit of a lull. We have a lot of birds on site and social activity on the water, but our burrow activity has slowed. Are you experiencing that where you are? We know that Mary Bonds up in Jefferson County is already seeing fish deliveries, but I’m not sure if that’s the norm?
I have a theory (and it's just my theory ) that while the PGs are getting ready in the early season—courting, apartment shopping/staking, settling territorial disputes, copulating, etc., there is a flurry of activity, both on the water, and on the bluff. Then, once the majority of nesting and incubating begins, there is a several week lull in activity. I know some worry that this lull signals a quiet season to come, but I wouldn’t bet on that yet! We may just have birds in the burrows, quietly tending eggs. Once the chicks hatch, we should see an uptick in burrow activity as they dutifully feed their little ones. Does anyone else have a theory for this observation of decreased activity?
Before I get to the fun stuff, I just want to remind everyone about data:
-I have begun tracking data entry. This is to give me an idea where everyone is at with our data entry goals and also to identify any issues I see early, so that I can help you get those corrected before they become more difficult to solve. I’m your biggest fan, so don’t see this as me being critical so much as me helping to support your success and trying to prevent extra work later. Our goal is to have our data as complete and as clean as possible at the end so that we can use it! For all of the dedication and effort put in by surveyors and team leads, this would be the ultimate reward for us all to realize.
And now, I have something so incredibly awesome to share with you! Hillary Smith sent me these amazing sketches made by Dale Dell’Ario, who drew them while in a Jefferson Land Trust Natural History course they were both attending. I just can’t get over how beautiful they are!! Dale has been gracious enough to give permission for me to share his sketches, but please don’t share them outside of this group. If you have an interest, I can probably pass along contact information through Hillary, so that you can get in touch.
Also, look who floated into my colony yesterday right as we finished our survey! Has anyone else seen birds in non-breeding plumage during the summer? Interestingly, this is the third year I have seen birds wearing white at this location during the breeding season, but it is definitely not typical.
One final thing I would like to share—I finished a more detailed map of SSGN Colony Locations. I have copied individual region maps from this one, so that you each will have your own separate map, and I just need to finish up labeling those for use. This one is an interactive Google map, so you can play around with it. For each region, I’ve updated the regional contact information. You can see your info by clicking on the shaded area or clicking on your survey area in the legend. This is basically building on the map that Brendan had made, except I created a new layer for each region with the colony sites also marked. I used the GPS coordinates from Survey123 to populate this. Please check your regions and contact info. and let me know if you’d like me to make any changes to the colony locations or contact information. Thanks!
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1F21XhoWfBBVG7xe2i__O33N6rnAgpnw&usp=share_link
I hope you all have a great week out on the beaches! Stay dry and have fun!!
— Shannon