Weekly Update for 8/17 – 8/23/2009
8/18/09 ›
PIT tag recovery at piscivorous waterbird colonies on the Columbia Plateau completed; with the exception of surveys conducted on the lower Snake River to estimate abundance and diet of over-wintering double-crested cormorants, this completes field research on the Columbia Plateau for 2009
Weekly Update for 8/10 – 8/16/2009
8/10 – 8/16/09 ›
PIT tag recovery carried out at North Potholes cormorant colony, Three Mile Canyon Island gull colony, and Miller Rocks gull colony
Weekly Update for 8/3 – 8/9/2009
8/3 – 8/9/09 ›
PIT tag recovery carried out at Crescent Island tern and gull colonies and Foundation Island cormorant colony
Weekly Update for 7/27 – 8/2/2009
7/27/09 ›
Commencement of PIT tag recovery at various piscivorous waterbird colonies on the Columbia Plateau
Weekly Update for 7/20 – 7/26/2009
7/20 – 7/26/09 ›
The proportion of salmonids in the diet of Crescent Island Caspian terns was 27%, the lowest weekly percentage observed so far this breeding season; this was the first week this season when salmonids were not the predominant fish family in the diet (minnows [cyprinids] comprised 37% of the tern diet this week)
7/24/09 ›
Regular monitoring of fish-eating waterbird colonies on the Columbia Plateau ended for the 2009 breeding season
Weekly Update for 7/13 – 7/19/2009
7/13 – 7/19/09 ›
The proportion of salmonids in the diet of Crescent Island Caspian terns was 37%, the lowest weekly percentage observed so far this breeding season
7/13 – 7/19/09 ›
Numbers of Caspian terns on the Crescent Island colony continue to decline as young fledge and leave the island; for the second consecutive week high temperatures at Crescent Island reached over 100 °F
Weekly Update for 7/6 – 7/12/2009
7/6 – 7/12/09 ›
Numbers of Caspian terns on Crescent Island colony steadily declining as young fledge and leave the island; high temperatures at Crescent Island reached 101 °F; many of remaining Caspian tern chicks sought relief in shade under bushes at periphery of the colony
7/12/09 ›
Survey of Okanogan double-crested cormorant colony; 18 adult double-crested cormorants and 28 attended cormorant nests counted; cormorant fledglings observed
Weekly Update for 6/29 – 7/5/2009
6/29 – 7/5/09 ›
The proportion of salmonids in the diet of Crescent Island Caspian terns was 43%, the lowest weekly percentage observed so far this breeding season
7/4/09 ›
Conclusion of PIT-tagging efforts on steelhead smolts at Lower Monumental Dam on the Snake River; 8,299 steelhead PIT-tagged and scored for condition to investigate factors affecting avian predation on juvenile steelhead from the Snake River ESU
6/29 and 7/3/09 ›
Survey of Rock Island Caspian tern colony; colony site completely abandoned, while a ring-billed gull colony on same island still active, suggesting that failure of the Rock Island Caspian tern colony was not due to predation; the cause of the tern colony failure at Rock Island is still under investigation
Weekly Update for 6/22 – 6/28/2009
6/27/09 ›
141 Caspian tern chicks captured and banded at Goose Island-Potholes Reservoir tern colony; Heidi Newsome and Brian Greeves (both with the USFWS) assisted with chick banding
6/23 – 6/27/09 ›
Survey of Goose Island-Potholes Reservoir gull colony; areas of nesting ring-billed and California gulls mapped in order to estimate the number of nesting pairs of each species on the island
6/26/09 ›
152 Caspian tern chicks captured and banded at Crescent Island tern colony; Ben Sandford (NOAA Fisheries) assisted with chick banding
6/25/09 ›
First Caspian tern fledgling observed at Crescent Island tern colony
6/24/09 ›
Installed a new video monitoring system at the Crescent Island tern colony; testing the feasibility of capturing live streaming video from bird colonies that can be viewed from any computer with internet access
6/24/09 ›
Survey of Harper Island-Sprague Lake; areas of nesting ring-billed and California gulls mapped in order to estimate the number of nesting pairs of each species on the island; 9 Caspian terns counted on tern colony, no tern eggs or chicks observed; 35 double-crested cormorants counted on cormorant colony, with many cormorant chicks still in nests; the first cormorant fledgling was observed at the Harper Island-Sprague Lake cormorant colony
Weekly Update for 6/15 – 6/21/2009
6/20/09 ›
Conclusion of PIT-tagging efforts on steelhead smolts at Rock Island Dam on the mid-Columbia River; 7,119 steelhead PIT-tagged and scored for condition to investigate factors affecting avian predation on juvenile steelhead from the Upper Columbia River ESU
6/15/09 ›
First double-crested cormorant fledgling observed at Foundation Island cormorant colony
Weekly Update for 6/8 – 6/14/2009
6/8 – 6/14/09 ›
The proportion of salmonids in the diet of Crescent Island Caspian terns was 59%, a significant decline compared to the previous 7 weeks (average 79%); this decline was due to a drop in the proportion of Chinook, coho, and/or sockeye salmon smolts in the diet; the proportion of steelhead smolts in the diet increased this week (17.7%) compared to the previous 4 weeks (average 8.4%)
6/12/09 ›
Conclusion of PIT-tagging efforts on steelhead smolts at Ice Harbor Dam on the lower Snake River; 1,417 steelhead PIT-tagged and scored for condition to investigate factors affecting avian predation on juvenile steelhead from the Snake River ESU
6/12/09 ›
First double-crested cormorant fledgling observed at North Potholes cormorant colony
6/10/09 ›
Attended the 2009 Avian Predation Workshop (hosted by the USACE – Walla Walla District) in Kennewick, WA
6/9/09 ›
Tested feasibility of using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with a digital camera to take aerial photographs of piscivorous waterbird colonies for estimating colony size
6/9/09 ›
Survey of Rock Island Caspian tern colony – 37 Caspian terns counted, 18 of which were sitting on nest scrapes; incipient Caspian tern colony discovered last week near Rock Island (see below) no longer active
Weekly Update for 6/1 – 6/7/2009
6/1 – 6/7/09 ›
Gull kleptoparasitism rates on fish brought in as bill loads by Caspian terns nesting on Crescent Island was 19% this week, almost double the rate from last week (11%); there has been a sharp decline in 3-chick nests on the Crescent Island tern colony this week compared to the previous week, presumably a result of gull nest predation
6/4 – 6/5/09 ›
Aerial survey of mid-Columbia River, lower Snake River, and much of Columbia Plateau to locate new Caspian tern, double-crested cormorant, and gull colonies; checked sites of formerly active colonies of piscivorous waterbirds to determine occupancy
6/3/09 ›
Survey of Okanogan double-crested cormorant colony; 38 double-crested cormorants counted, 35 cormorants attending nests; cormorant chicks (14-20 days old) observed at colony
6/3/09 ›
Survey of Rock Island Caspian tern colony – 72 Caspian terns counted, 33 terns sitting on nest scrapes; incipient Caspian tern colony discovered on another island in the same group of islands, the Blalock Islands, that includes Rock island – 94 Caspian terns counted, of which 28 terns were sitting on nest scrapes
6/2/09 ›
John Trumbo (Tri-City Herald), Bob Brawdy (Tri-City Herald), Scott Dunmire (USACE) and Joe Saxon (USACE) visited the Crescent Island Caspian tern colony and the Foundation Island double-crested cormorant colony; newspaper article on these colonies will appear in the Tri-City Herald later this summer
Weekly Update for 5/25 – 5/31/2009
5/29/09 ›
Survey of Rock Island Caspian tern colony; 70 Caspian terns counted; 35 terns were sitting on nest scrapes; also on the island were 13 American white pelicans, 2 American crows, and one double-crested cormorant
5/28/09 ›
Survey of Harper Island in Sprague Lake; no Caspian terns were seen on island, although the old tern colony site was not visible from the boat; thousands of gulls (California and ring-billed) nesting on the island; one Caspian tern observed foraging near island
5/27/09 ›
Ben Sandford (NOAA Fisheries) visited the Crescent Island Caspian tern colony and the Foundation Island double-crested cormorant colony
5/26/09 ›
Survey of North Potholes double-crested cormorant colony; 824 double-crested cormorants counted, of which 625 cormorants were attending nests
5/26/09 ›
Thirteen members of the Chelan County PUD Habitat Conservation Planning Committee visited with our steelhead PIT-tagging crew at Rock Island Dam
Weekly Update for 5/18 – 5/24/2009
5/21/09 ›
Greg Carrington (Chelan Co. PUD) visited our steelhead PIT-tagging crew at Rock Island Dam
5/21/09 ›
Survey of Rock Island Caspian tern colony; 120 Caspian terns counted, 45 terns sitting on nest scrapes; also on island were 4 Forster’s terns, 3 double-crested cormorants, and one American white pelican
5/21/09 ›
Survey of Miller Rocks gull colony; areas of nesting ring-billed and California gulls mapped in order to estimate the number of nesting pairs of each species on the island
5/19/09 ›
First Caspian tern chick (1-2 days old) observed at Goose Island-Potholes Reservoir tern colony
5/19/09 ›
Survey of Banks Lake Caspian tern colony; 68 Caspian terns counted, of which 24 terns were sitting on nest scrapes
5/18/09 ›
Aerial photo census to estimate numbers of adult Caspian terns and gulls at colonies on the mid-Columbia River and on Potholes Reservoir
Weekly Update for 5/11 – 5/17/2009
5/16/09 ›
First Caspian tern chick observed on Crescent Island tern colony
5/15/09 ›
Aerial survey of mid-Columbia River, lower Snake River, and much of Columbia Plateau to locate new Caspian tern, double-crested cormorant, and gull colonies; checked sites of formerly active colonies of piscivorous waterbirds to determine occupancy
Weekly Update for 5/4 – 5/10/2009
5/9/09 ›
First double-crested cormorant chick (10-14 days old) observed on Foundation Island cormorant colony
5/9/09 ›
Caspian tern eggs collected at Crescent Island and double-crested cormorant eggs collected at Foundation Island, under permits, for contaminant studies; Eric Forsman (USFS) and Bill Price assisted with egg collection at Foundation Island cormorant colony
5/5/09 ›
Scott Dunmire (USACE) visited our steelhead PIT-tagging crew at Lower Monumental and Ice Harbor dams
Weekly Update for 4/27 – 5/3/2009
5/1/09 ›
Scott Dunmire (USACE) visited Crescent Island Caspian tern colony and Foundation Island double-crested cormorant colony
4/27/09 ›
First Caspian terns (17) observed on Goose Island-Potholes Reservoir tern colony
4/27/09 ›
First double-crested cormorant chick (10-14 days old) observed on North Potholes Reservoir cormorant colony
Weekly Update for 4/20 – 4/26/2009
4/21/09 ›
Commencement of PIT-tagging steelhead at Ice Harbor Dam on lower Snake River to investigate avian predation on juvenile steelhead from Snake River Evolutionarily Significant Unit
4/21/09 ›
Double-crested cormorants collected near the Foundation Island cormorant colony to determine diet composition
Weekly Update for 4/13 – 4/19/2009
4/18/09 ›
First Caspian tern eggs (3) observed on Crescent Island tern colony; California gulls depredated all three eggs following a disturbance of unknown cause to tern colony
4/17/09 ›
Video surveillance system installed at Crescent Island Caspian tern colony
4/16/09 ›
First Caspian terns (13) observed on Rock Island tern colony
4/13/09 ›
Completed colony preparations at Banks Lake Caspian tern colony; PIT tags sown for detection efficiency studies
Weekly Update for 4/6 – 4/12/2009
4/9/09 ›
Commencement of PIT-tagging steelhead at Rock Island Dam on Columbia River to investigate avian predation on juvenile steelhead from Upper Columbia River Evolutionarily Significant Unit
Weekly Update for 3/30 – 4/5/2009
4/5/09 ›
Commencement of PIT-tagging steelhead at Lower Monumental Dam on lower Snake River to investigate avian predation on juvenile steelhead from Snake River Evolutionarily Significant Unit
4/4/09 ›
First Caspian terns (28) observed on Crescent Island tern colony
4/1/09 ›
First Caspian tern observed flying near Goose Island-Potholes Reservoir tern colony
4/1/09 ›
Completed colony preparations at Goose Island-Potholes Reservoir Caspian tern colony; PIT tags sown for detection efficiency studies
4/1/09 ›
Double-crested cormorants (606) at North Potholes Reservoir cormorant colony; egg laying had commenced and nest predation by common raven observed
4/1/09 ›
Completed colony preparations at North Potholes Reservoir double-crested cormorant colony; PIT tags sown for detection efficiency studies
Weekly Update FOR 3/23 - 3/29/2009
3/28/09 ›
Double-crested cormorant loafing on Foundation Island nesting platform
3/28/09 ›
Completed construction of observation blind at Foundation Island double-crested cormorant colony
3/27/09 ›
Completed colony preparations at Miller Rocks gull colony; PIT tags sown for detection efficiency studies
3/27/09 ›
Completed colony preparations at Rock Island Caspian tern colony; PIT tags sown for detection efficiency studies
3/27/09 ›
First American white pelicans (5) observed at Badger Island colony
3/27/09 ›
Completed colony preparations at Crescent Island Caspian tern colony; PIT tags sown for detection efficiency studies
3/26/09 ›
Field crew began working on piscivorous waterbird colonies on Columbia Plateau
Weekly Update FOR 3/16 - 3/22/2009
3/21/09 ›
First Caspian tern sight record on Columbia Plateau in 2009, seen flying near Crescent Island
Weekly Update FOR 3/9 - 3/15/2009
3/12/09 ›
Nesting platform for double-crested cormorants erected on Foundation Island near existing cormorant colony
3/12/09 ›
PIT tags sown at the Foundation Island double-crested cormorant colony for detection efficiency studies
3/12/09 ›
First double-crested cormorants observed on Foundation Island cormorant colony