Another Year, Another Jaeger

So many updates for you all. First of all, the artificial nest project is doing fairly well, we don't have many surviving nests but it is a bit indicative of higher predation rates closer to infrastructure. Not the final analysis of course, just my observation from the last few times we have checked our nests. I have also observed that the predators appear to be very smart. They continually avoid preying on our camera nests so we do not capture them on "film." On the Haul Road transect we have a camera on two nests that are 680m apart and a nest without a camera in-between. Of course the nest in-between was depredated and the nests with cameras were fine.

Nests are being found on our rehab pads! Aside from the Semipalmated Plover and the goose nest I spoke of last, there have been a few other plover nests, and a Northern Pintail nest! Two eggs but when I checked it today, there were still only two eggs, one was cold and the female wasn't around. So I think she abandoned it. =(

Two lovely, but now lonely eggs. =(

The Parasitic Jaeger pair that nested by the rehab pad Kup 30 are back and have a nest again. I know that corvids have an ability to recognize faces, and I think that Jaegers may also. The pair were WAY more aggressive defending their nest against me this year than last. In fact, one of them even knocked my hat off when it was dive-bombing me as they do. Jie got some good video of it and, for those that are on Facebook, you can look at it there! There is also a video of me running towards the nest. A technique I've perfected to find nests: back off from the bird when they are behaving "nesty", spot where the bird "hunkers" down on the nest, keep your eye on the prize and just go for it!

This video is of a Red Phalarope, doing it's cute little Phalarope dance. I think there should be a verb based on this. Like, "Hey man, that dude has some mad moves. He's totally phalaroping!" Just a thought. Image quality on the video isn't great but you get the idea. Red-necked Phalaropes also do this little dance, and imagine 20 of them doing it around a Spectacled Eider to the music you would hear at a carnival or circus. Do it, you will be amused.

I also found an American Golden-Plover nest near the rehab pad Mob Kup Strip. The pictures I have of the chicks from last year were a pair that nested near the same site. They nest so out in the open, but in such pretty spots. Just look at that beautiful purple mountain saxifrage growing behind it! And how the eggs blend in so well with the vegetation! Beautiful!

Isn't it just the prettiest nest you ever did see?

Other fun pictures for today's post:

This is what it looks like to work on the tundra as an Arctic Ninja. It was cold and windy today, but really, I just forgot to put on sunscreen before going out and wanted to protect my skin.

Male Long-tailed duck in flight. May be a bit blurry, but I think it is neat. I now have to really work on my focusing with my lens because my camera's view-finder is all wonky from the little swim it took earlier this season. =(