After returning from Tierra del Fuego I am often asked the question is it a beautiful place? It’s not an easy question to answer; my response, at least in my head, is to ask what makes a place beautiful? I wonder: must a place have obviously awe-inspiring features like a mighty mountain, or plunging, pristine waterfall to earn our respect? Or can we appreciate land like we do most people, not with a glance but with a relationship? Are there as many scales of beauty for land as there are among people?

The part of Tierra del Fuego in which we work shows beauty in a “normal” way. At times, golden sunlight on low, grassy hills, rolling down to the sea along the shore of Bahia Lomas or the Strait equals the beauty of any other seaside vista. That said, I believe the real beauty of this land lies in something not seen in a glance from the window of a car or airplane. It unfolds as you get to know it. For me, the beauty of this land lies buried within the very real organic connection of land, sea and sky.

Looking north at the Straits of Magellan from the low hills that give Bahia Lomas its name [Read more →]

Our Seventh Expedition to Tierra del Fuego: 1/20/07

Our Friday morning started by saying goodbye to Sergio and Gabriella, the veterinary students from University of Santo Thomas. Their major professor is Carmen Espoz. Carmen left the night before. We were sorry to see them go; they are hard working intelligent people who are always willing to lend a hand. Now we have a team of 7 people, small but adequate.

(Carmen with her daughter Antonia.)

While working on the catch of Magellanic Oystercatchers, Ricardo found a new roost for red knot, the oddest one we had ever encountered. Shorebird roosting sites are usually straightforward. Night roosts are usually far away from land and isolated by water to provide a defensible perimeter from ground predators. During the day they choose areas with good visibility to provide reasonable forewarning of approaching birds of prey. [Read more →]

Our Seventh Expedition to Tierra del Fuego: 1/18/07

Guy Morrison and Ken Ross carried out their recount but found no more knots than on their first aerial count of the bay. They plan to fly a third time to confirm the count but already it seems certain that the red knot population in Bahia Lomas has fallen by a further 30% over the past year. It’s premature to ask why, but along with declines in other wintering areas, it appears that the red knot population may be in greater danger than it was only a year ago.

In 2004, a paper published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society in Britain projected that the rufa subspecies of the red knot could become extinct by 2010. Stable numbers over the past few years have suggested that this prediction was unduly pessimistic. In light of this year’s surveys, however, extinction within a very few years seems quite possible. We will know more by the end of the expedition.

Our work goes well. On Tuesday the 15^th we set our net at a new site half way between our old camp along the extensive flats on the west side of the bay and Punta Espora where the Straits of Magellan become narrow. We named the site the Twin Hills minefield after the two small hills that bookend a fenced-off active minefield that borders the beach. The site had great promise (as long as we didn’t attempt to cross the fence!). Guy Morrison and Ken Ross saw knots and godwits there on their Sunday aerial survey flight and we found similar numbers on Monday, but on that occasion we arrived too late to set the cannon net so we decided to attempt a catch there on Tuesday. [Read more →]

Our Seventh Expedition to Tierra del Fuego: 1/14/07

Humphrey and I left Punta Arenas early to survey the area along the Strait of Magellan at high tide. We left our comfortable digs at the Hotel Noriega at 7.00 am, leaving the rest of the team to pull together all we would need for the first leg of our three week field trip. Fortunately Jorge Jordan and his staff lent us a hand, gathering equipment left since last year, helping to arrange hard-to-get supplies as well as organizing rooms at the hotel.

(Jorge Jordan and Mandy at Jorge’s Hotel Noriega)

On arriving on the Strait, we found far fewer red knots than we had seen last year. This may not mean much; after 7 years of fieldwork, we have grown used to frequent shifts in their roosting sites and feeding habitats. Last year we documented a significant new roost along the narrows, which was particularly suitable for cannon netting because of the steeply sloping beach. The knots feed on mussels, and move up to the roost site at high tide. The gentle gradient of the wide flats of Bahia Lomas, 6 km from high tide to low tide in some places, makes it very difficult to predict where the 30 ft high tide will ebb. The bay’s 60 mile waterfront creates a second dimension allowing birds to roost anywhere they want making cannon netting virtually impossible. [Read more →]

Our Seventh Expedition to Tierra del Fuego: 1/12/07

Our seventh expedition to Tierra del Fuego began with an early evening arrival at Punta Arenas Airport. This small city has either grown more attractive over the last 7 years or we have gradually awakened to its often subtle qualities. Chile has grown more integrated into the world economic system in the last seven years, even establishing a free trade agreement with the US. There are a few chain stores, but even those give a cosmopolitan feel as they are Chilean or European rather than US. I don’t remember coming across a McDonalds. Gone are the days we needed a satellite phone, cell phones are used widely and at least in Punta Arenas broadband internet access pops up everywhere. All of this has made the preparation for our expedition less difficult and our field work more comfortable.

(Looking out over the shore of the Strait of Magellan towards the Andes on our approach to Punta Arenas Airport) [Read more →]

Ghost Crab holes, and the sandy remains of excavation, on 80 Mile Beach

Our first catch at 80 Mile Beach, in the late afternoon, gave all of us a real sense of accomplishment. After two days of experimenting with small-mesh nets (setting one high and one low), the team leaders, Clive, Roz and Chris decided to go back to the same method that has proved successful in the past — two large-mesh nets set at the same level of the tide. It was a tough call for several reasons . . . . .

The small-mesh net, the standard on the Delaware Bay, is made of small mesh that prevents birds from getting entangled so extraction is relatively simple. On direction, the team first secures the sides of the net with sand or rocks so birds cannot escape, then at the water’s edge they lift the net so birds can walk up-beach to the back of the net. Afterward they are covered with shade cloth.

At water’s edge, the team begins to lift a small-mesh net to allow birds to walk up-beach to the back of the net after a capture on Roebuck Bay [Read more →]

Red knot flight feathers. Primary flight feathers (or “primaries”) are at the outer wing, secondary flight feathers (or “secondaries”) are at the inner wing. The 10 primaries point more toward the wing tip while the secondaries point more toward the body (you can see this difference below the bend of the wing).

If dealing with the effect of heat on bird and team is the first major lesson of trapping in northwest Australia, the complicated wing molt of tropical non-breeding waders is the second. The heat, sun and wind wear down everything. For example the engraved leg flags on red knots and other shorebirds in the Delaware Bay have lasted for 5 years without significant fading of the unique alpha-numeric characters that indicate an individual bird. Here in Roebuck Bay, flags can fade within a year. What the elements do to flags, they also do to feathers. The impact is a highly evolved system of molt that allows birds to replace worn feathers and migrate when they need to with maximum aerodynamic efficiency. [Read more →]

Oriental Plovers (foreground) and Grey-tailed Tattlers on 80 Mile Beach

We left Broome, successful to the extent that we had caught over a 1,000 birds, with sufficient samples of a number of species and few mortalities. It was a remarkable feat considering the heat. Clive, Chris and Roz along with Pru and Maureen helped the team members increase their skills while also making bold and decisive actions to catch then and care for all the birds.

As usual, success depends on persistence. One could look upon the thousands of shorebirds at Roebuck Bay and conclude that dropping a net anywhere will yield thousands of birds. Unfortunately, it was not that easy, and our last catch at Broome was a case in point. Several times we were close to firing only to have the flock fly off under the threat of a roving avian predator, a Brahminy Kite, a White-bellied Sea-eagle, harriers, Brown Falcons. If new to the experience of trapping birds, you would conclude it was impossible. But persistence paid off and we ended with a significant catch of Godwits.

Clive Holding a juvenile Bar-tailed Godwit showing distinctive wear pattern of juvenile plumage (scalloped tertials) [Read more →]