Ellen, Assistant Director of CWP, wrote today’s blog as we close out 2010. She recounts her incredible experience 120 miles offshore in the middle of the north Atlantic on Sable Island, Nova Scotia!
On July 29, 2010, I received an email from Julie McKnight, biologist at Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) with Environment Canada. Amongst other items we were discussing for our collaborative Roseate Tern research, Julie wrote “I have a seat available on my trip to Sable Island if anyone is interested in tagging along?” This is something I did not have to think about. Kind of like looking at five birds and knowing it’s five without having to count them. Going to Sable was something I had wanted to do all my life—well at least since I’ve known of its existence. My fascination with barrier beaches and their ecology began while working at Monomoy 10 years ago—I distinctly remember my friend Shannon, who I worked for at the time, calling me over to look at a computer program called “Terra-server” (think old-school Google Earth) and she said “Look at this, it looks just like Monomoy!” We both tried to imagine what it was like on the ground: a 32 mile barrier beach, 120 miles offshore, without any development except for a few buildings, and of course with wild ponies that have been there for hundreds of years.
Coming in to land at Sable Island, view above western portion of the island. Photo by E. Jedrey
So in truth, going to Sable was a real dream come true for me, as hokey as that may sound, and despite the fact that this trip was part of my job. That’s one of the benefits of doing what you love. Not to mention the information we stood to gain regarding Roseate, Common and Arctic Tern use of the site during the post-breeding period was also a really big deal too!
So, thanks to CWS, Mass Audubon, and Parks Canada, Julie, Sarah Chisholm and I arrived on Sable Island via a small twin-engine aircraft-landing on the beach after flying 120 miles over the ocean at a few thousand feet - what an experience that was, particularly for someone who now completely hates to fly - but I did love being up there despite the feeling of complete nausea most of the way. In total, we had five amazing days on Sable Island, and what we found caused me to do an embarrassing, involuntary happy dance on the very first site visit, August 20 at 5:30 pm: a colorbanded adult Roseate Tern known to have bred on Ram Island, Mattapoisett, MA in 2010 and Bird Island, Marion, MA in 2009! It was one out of only four adult Roseate Terns and one fledgling Roseate seen amongst a group of 500 terns, which were on the far western end of Sable Island.
Jeff Spendelow (from USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, who banded the bird), Becky and our crew had seen this bird many times in 2009 on Cape Cod, the first year it was banded when it bred on Bird Island, Marion. It was seen on the outer Cape on seven different days at a total of five different sites over a period of 57 days, from July 20 – September 16, 2009.
Flock of terns and gray seals at the west end of Sable Island. Photo by E. Jedrey
We saw the colorbanded adult again three times over the next four days at Sable; and I immediately wrote to Jeff that he owed me a bag of rootbeer barrels (we had made a bet about whether I’d see any colorbanded Rosies out there). So, our big question: was this adult Roseate Tern doing something very different during 2009 compared to 2010 in the post-breeding season? Unfortunately we don’t know whether the bird was on Cape Cod much during the 2010 season because we didn’t have the full army of post-breeding staff out there. BUT, we do know that was seen twice on July 9th on Nantucket AND it made a journey of at least 565 miles to the northeast from its breeding site to Sable, prior to the time when it would depart for a roughly 4000 mile journey south to the coast of Brazil. Why would this tern fly so far north before departing to the south? A strong sustained SW wind was indicated by the northeast channel buoy on August 17-18; could this have played a part? Was it here for the food? Was it just “lost” or wandering, or did it grow tired along the way? And were there other Roseate Terns here, perhaps earlier, that we just missed? For example, once again, the first sightings of the colorbanded fledglings from Country Island, Nova Scotia, appeared on Cape Cod on Aug 14, just after the first sustained NE wind in many months. Or, is it possible that Sable Island represents an important resting location for birds that travel many miles to find good foraging habitat?
The really big question isn’t so much why we saw one bird in two locations that were far apart in human terms (but perhaps not for a bird) and however “cool” that might be to us; it’s the understanding of migratory patterns that is essential to better protect and conserve these birds for the future. Roseates are declining throughout their range in the northwest Atlantic, at a rate of -8% year, and we don’t know why. Jeff’s data have shown that it’s probably not something that is going on at the breeding sites—instead, it’s during migration or the wintering season. Seeing this bird at Sable, and the fact that it may have made a significant change in its behavior in 2010, or that it could be making 565 mi transits while “staging” on Cape Cod—either way, it’s a significant use of energy and could mean a few different things: terns are traveling long distances to find good foraging habitat and spending a lot of energy to do so, terns can get lost and/or tired when they’re out to sea and Sable could be an important resting location for the weary, or perhaps 2010 was just a “fluke” and maybe this was this tern’s only visit to Sable in its lifetime. Hopefully next year, after further analysis of our data, we will have more to share with you.
Julie and Ellen scanning a flock of Common, Roseate and Arctic Terns on Sable Island. Photo by Sarah Chisholm.
One last note, another “cool” observation though we don’t completely understand the meaning—we saw a juvenile Arctic Tern banded by our colleagues at Project Puffin in the Gulf of Maine, from Seal Island NWR, 430 miles directly west of Sable Island.
Banded juvenile Arctic Tern seen at the west end of Sable Island, that hatched in 2010 on Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge, Vinalhaven, ME. Photo by E. Jedrey.
Looking across from north to south on the middle of Sable Island, from on top of one of the highest dunes on the site. Photo by Sarah Chisholm.
A flock of terns (over 2000) comes in at sunset; though we heard Roseates, we were unable to see well enough to tell if any were banded. E. Jedrey photo.
The Sable Island ponies. Photo by Julie McKnight.
Ellen’s idea of the perfect place: east tip of Sable Island. Photo by Julie McKnight.
