We rope dragged again today, so we have two more days left. Then I get to band! There are some chicks starting to hatch already and many more on the way. Our major hatch date will be the 3rd and 4th of July, but nests will be hatching into late July. It is going to get very busy, very fast.

While in the field today, we had to rope drag through two Pomarine Jaeger nests. The first pair were very loud, but non-violent. The second pair were very loud and very violent! They kept hitting us on every pass. We had some fun with them and made some videos and pictures. Here is the non-violent pair calling above my head. I really like this picture.


The other highlight of the day was finding, or semi-finding a White-rumped Sandpiper nest. I was to check a Semipalmated Sandpiper nest to make sure it was still active. When I got there, I noticed a sandpiper with very odd behavior trying to distract me. It was flying very close to my face and almost landing on my head, circling me on the ground and making weird noises. I quickly realized it was a White-rumped and not a Semipalmated Sandpiper. Not everyone here is a birder, so some slight mistakes like this one are made. Easily fixable, though, and this is the only White-rumped nest on our plots, and the first in a few years!

I will try to update the rare bird section soon. Every day goes by so fast and there just is not enough time to do everything.

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