Pau (Done)

I was thinking yesterday that we would have a full day of counting today. However our directive was to finish sectors 1 and 6 by lunch time. To get to these sectors by bicycle would have taken a long time due to head winds so we took the limos (8 seater golf carts one for each team). There is just something fun about riding around in a golf cart. This year we took a new attack with sector 1. This sector has a large amount of naupaka and the birds manage to walk under it to the darnedest places to nest. The whole sector was carved into about 5 smaller sections with pathways that lead to the beach. Each team took a section and we split the team in half and gradually worked from the beach and the runway to meet up with each other in the middle. This really worked quite well. The Verbesina Team has cut pathways perpendicular to our paths which also made getting to the center of the naupaka a lot easier. I found a monk seal at the end of one of my passes. Luckily I didn’t disturb his/her sleep.

Young monk seal resting on Frigate Point

Sector 6 was divided into 3 pieces and each team took a chunk of it. Our part was a long strip of beach with naupaka on the other boundary. Not a lot of birds in this area but you still have to look. I did find some White Terns that were willing to be photographed.

White tern

Gunilla from Sweden and White Terns

The Wandering Totalers L-R MK, Gunilla, Hob, Char, Jill, and Betty.

As we finished, we looked at our watches and saw that it was 11:25. We got it all done before lunch and had the rest of the day off. So I got a little domestic and did laundry and helped Jill inventory and put away the gear. It was a nice easy going afternoon. Tomorrow is a free day and Monday and Tuesday we will help FWS with what ever they need us to do. Could be anything.