Miniature pelicans

Post date: Jun 4, 2014 6:31:55 PM

It seems like just yesterday that the first chicks were hatching in our productivity plots, but, in fact, many of them are already about a month old and large enough to band. We only have a short window of opportunity for getting this done, since it's around this age that chicks begin leaving their nests and moving to different areas of the colony, where their parents will continue feeding them for several weeks before the chicks are able to fly.

Month-old chicks can preen and thermoregulate, and begin to look less like lizards

We banded our first round of nestlings on Chester Island last week, and both of us came away with our arms and faces covered in scratches. The nestlings weigh almost as much as adults at this stage, and their bills, though shorter, are just as sharp. Plus they're very agile. While adult pelicans are silent, pelican chicks are extremely vocal, making the whole process loud as well as hazardous.

Newly-banded chick TAK, with bill safely immobilized

Besides starting on chick banding, we've also been continuing productivity monitoring and behavioral observations, collecting lots of fish samples, and helping out with the annual censuses on Shamrock and Chester Islands.

A mate switch in progress (Chester Island)

Tricolored Heron chicks during the Chester Island census

Following the Shamrock census, we installed four new productivity plots on that island and captured five adults for transmitter attachment, which brings our total to 25 for the year (88 overall). We also spotted a juvenile Brown Booby on Shamrock. This pelican relative breeds in the Caribbean but rarely visits the United States, so it was a treat to see one here.

Banding a captured adult onboard the boat (Shamrock Island)

Brown Booby on the right, with some pelicans and Laughing Gulls for scale

Beautiful weather, light winds, great birds. We're living a charmed life in Texas!

The sun sets on Shamrock and our faithful Mako