2024 Limestone Log 3 (Whales, Nests, and Oystercatchers)
Activities in camp:
Another busy two weeks on East Limestone Island! As spring heads quickly towards summer there are many small changes on East Limestone Island (ELI), the salmonberries have turned from flowers to the first ripening berries and with them have come the first of the Swainson’s Thrushes. The forests have started to come alive with the soft incessant calling of hungry woodpecker chicks and the ever-present flurry of woodpecker parents trying to keep up with their demands. Many of the migrating seabirds are showing up less and less in our daily bird counts.
These past few weeks we have been lucky yet again to have an amazing crew in camp with Fred and Matt working as the camp lead and camp assistant and a truly all-star cast of volunteers. The first week volunteers were Mark Ogilvie and Jo-Anne Castillon. The second week volunteers were Fruin Pow and Alex Ross. A sincere thank you is in order to all the people of the last two weeks. The camp has been filled with laughter, delicious fresh seafood, the best camp espresso any of us have ever had, and a deep sense of wonder and friendship. The research projects have been riveting these last two weeks with projects ranging from at sea transect surveys to tree growth measurements in the blowdown and everything in between!
And as always, a huge thank you to everyone who continues to support all of us from afar!
Rian and crew download photos from the wildlife tree cavity camera.
Photo by Lori Waters.
Peeper Cams
Using the specialized gear that Elizabeth Gow and Bekah Persad left for the ELI crew in the second week of the field season, the crew has been following up with Cavity Camera checks on all the cavity nests that are accessible to the 15 meter extendable pole used for hoisting the cavity camera. So far the crew has been able to observe two Chestnut-backed Chickadee nests and two Red-breasted Sapsucker nests. It has been such a wonderful experience to witness the only parts of the young cavity nesting birds lives that the researchers on ELI have never been able to see during the regular wildlife tree monitoring program.
Red-breasted Sapsucker eggs in the tree cavity nest.
Sea watches and gathering ground counts
Some of the most consistent and important monitoring projects are our watches done with the spotting scopes. Either from right in camp every evening looking for Ancient Murrelets that are preparing to fly through are camp once the sun goes down or from our famous lookout blind above camp on Lookout Point where we spend an hour a few times per week looking for marine mammals. In the last two weeks our watches have been especially exciting with consistent Ancient Murrelets and several Humpback whales and Harbor Porpoises, and even a suspicious looking sailboat on the horizon that turned out to be the fin of a resting male Killer Whale!
Lookout Point Blind overlooking Laskeek Bay. Low Island can be seen on the left of the horizon, Reef and South Low Islands on the right.
Photo by Jo-Anne Castillon
Sea Survey
During the last two weeks the crew was lucky enough to have a good weather window that allowed for a sea survey. Sea surveys are always a highlight in the research schedule and this survey did not disappoint. The survey crew enjoyed close up views of adult Ancient Murrelets, several species of ducks, and even a few humpback whales.
Wildlife Tree Visits
To obtain accurate hatch and fledge dates of cavity nesting birds on ELI, wildlife tree surveys consist of visiting trees that have been occupied by birds in the last 5 years. This year we have 21 active trees out of 63 trees visited. Volunteers’ assistance in surveys has been crucial to our progress in wildlife tree monitoring. Thank you to everybody for your enthusiasm while watching trees in rain, wind or sun even when birds were not at home.
Red-Breasted Sapsuckers on wildlife tree.
Photo by Lori Waters.
PIGU Cameras
Thanks to many hours of hard work in the off season, almost all of the Smart Nestbox Cameras set up in the Pigeon Guillemot (PIGU) boxes on Lookout Point are working and downloading videos of the PIGUs navigating the challenges of making their gravel nests just right by shuffling around tiny rocks and laying their eggs. we are excited to see what happens next in the PIGU boxes, also known as our favorite camp tv show.
Above: Three Smart Nest Boxes tucked in the cliffs.
Photo by Jo-Anne Castillon
Chick Funnels
The Ancient Murrelet monitoring has been going very well this years with many chicks tumbling their way through our chick funnels, and jumping their way through our specially designed chick obstacle courses so we can get the clear photo that we need for our monitoring. So far we have recorded 11 tumbling chicks passing through our camera chutes.
Above: ANMU chick funnel and wildlife camera set-up.
Photo by Tessa Wissink.
Visitors
Over the last two weeks we have been kept busy with a diverse range of visitors to Limestone Island. We had the visit of 3 passionate and interested groups of Coast Mountain College students from Prince Rupert. Thank you to Josh, Karen and Tanya we had a very good time at each of your visits. The Centennial Christian school of Terrace also visited us with Jamie, Colin and Jake from Moresby Explorers and were happy too learn more about the invasive species on ELI and the chicks funnels. And finally Julian, Casey, Carley and Chelsea from Moresby Explorer visited us with their group with contagious enthusiasm!
Tree Measurements
As part of ongoing invasive species monitoring every year a few of each main species of trees are measured throughout the natural blowdown area on ELI. As the blowdown continues to regenerate the impact of the introduced deer on the young trees is assessed by measuring the overall height and the length of the longest lateral branch. This is no small task as the vegetation is filling in fast and some of the trees are now buried deep in very spiny young Spruce trees. In addition to measuring trees in the blowdown, 5 of each species of tree is also measured in the deer exclosures built in 2022. Although the exclosures are only a few years old the difference inside of the exclosure vs outside is already very drastic. Below is an example of the vegetation in the refuge of the exclosures.
Alex and Matt, working inside the exclosure in the blowdown.
Photo by Fruin.
Start of BLOY Surveys
In the very last portion the last two weeks the weather was looking like it would soon take a turn for the worse so the crew decided to get a start on the first round of Black Oystercatcher (BLOY) surveys while the winds were calm. The BLOY surveys consist of visiting each of the known Oystercatcher territories in Laskeek Bay and documenting egg numbers, egg mass and egg length and width. Each year the shoreline is also scanned for new BLOY territories and non territorial oystercatchers. It ended up being a fantastic day for BLOY surveys and the crew ended up visiting all the territories on Low Island and everyone got to observe the beautiful wildflower show of a deer-free island. After finishing the survey on Low Island the crew had just enough time to cruise along the north shoreline of Reef Island and visit the BLOY territories there as well. During the cruise along the Reef Island shoreline the crew got to see some fantastic intertidal life including some very exciting sea star observations.
Alex and Fred conducting surveys under the watchful gaze of a Black Oystercatcher in the foreground.
Photo by Fruin.
Daily Haikus
Daily Haiku’s, initiated in 2023 by Max Nishima as part of the daily narrative log on Limestone, neatly summarize Limestone team activities, flora and fauna, and events in nature. Enjoy the snapshot below, representing a couple of weeks of daily Haikus by the Limestone team’s biologist poets. More to come in future Limestone Logs!
6 May~
Enjoy all moments,
We already miss our friends,
And then there were three.
8 May~
Sharp-shinned hawk fly by.
Squirrels not showing themselves.
Watching PIGUS too.
11 May~
Some many Guillemots,
It’s good to be alive.
Cinnamon bun fun.
17 May~
YUM! Trash bag corndogs
Banana boats, NO relish!
Bean canon, anyone?
Answer to Vol. 2 Trivia question:
How many eggs can a Chestnut-backed Chickadee lay in one clutch?
Hint: more than the number of chicks in the photo below!
In British Columbia they have been known to lay up to 9 eggs in a single clutch!