Underwater Adventures

Wave crashing from underwater perspective

The weather has been nice so we had the opportunity to go snorkeling. The waves looked like ripples from the island but when we swam out to the reef they were actually very large. Makes me wonder how massive the waves must really be on large swell days. The whales are starting to arrive and we have seen several breaches from the island. It would be incredible to see one while snorkeling. Enjoy the pictures!

Pictures

Sharks and Seals

We have been enjoying the warm sunny weather these past couple days. We went snorkeling the other day and saw several green sea turtles and white tip reef sharks. While patrolling the island for entrapped animals a curious seal was spying on us through the seawall.

Wet Chicks

Funny Video!

We thought it would be a fun idea to put the camera underneath a few dancing albatross' the other day, and the first video is the result. It did manage to mess up my lens a bit but perhaps it was worth it. 

Sunny days before the storms came in

Sunset from the roof

Sunrise

The shark to the left was stalking the waterlogged frigate bird

Black Noddy on the seawall

Chubs that Jimmy and I rescued from the shallow tidal pools inside the seawall

Red-Footed Boobies watching the large surf

Proud parent

Here are a couple pictures from the past couple weeks (before it started storming). Hopefully the sun will come out again soon so we can spend more time outside!

Here are a couple pictures from the past couple weeks (before it started storming). Hopefully the sun will come out again soon so we can spend more time outside!

More Rain, More Wind, More Maintenance!

Before

After!

Humuhumunukunukuapua'a

Before

After

Whale shark in progress

We have been stuck inside for several days now because of all the rain. When it is raining we do not work with the birds because they get waterlogged. So instead of working outside we do maintenance and safety trainings. Jimmy and I have been painting the bedrooms in the barracks since they were looking pretty rough. I will include a few of the before and after pictures.

1000 Views!

King Cake!

The Red-Tailed Tropic Bird looks deceptively peaceful

A young albatross decided Jimmy needed to be preened while we worked

We recently reached 1000 views! We were surprised to find that people from 9 different countries have visited our page. Feel free to comment and let us know if there is anything in particular that you would like to see.  Thanks for keeping up with our blog! 

The weather this week has remained extremely windy and rainy. We have had several inches of rain and the runway looks like a small lake. The birds seem to be happy that the weather is cooler and the wind is up making flying easier. The albatross enjoy opening their bills to catch the water droplets as they fall. We were able to do one day of Red-Tailed Tropic Bird mark recaptures, but the rain has kept us from doing them the rest of the week. 

On super bowl Sunday we attempted to watch the game through a webcam and we made king cake to celebrate the  Mardi Gras season.

Cold and Rainy

Nesting Red-Tailed Tropic bird pair

Red-Tailed Tropic bird (RTTR)

RTTR

Wedge-tailed Shearwater

Gray-back Terns

The past couple days have been cold (mid 60's) and rainy with high winds. The rain is probably good because it was sunny and dry for over a month before the rain came. We have been finished with albatross sweeps for about a week now and have been proofing all of our data while the weather is miserable outside. Before it started raining so much we began a mark recapture study of Red-Tailed Tropic Birds. This requires excellent bird wrangling skills since they like to nest in the very middle of dense bushes. Here are a few pictures; more to come when the weather improves.