Once on the beach, we had to walk to find the family of four. I had seen them close to the ATV road early that morning, so we hoped for a short walk. Eventually we spotted them farther north. The plan was to approach from the dune, at high tide, so the chicks would not have far to run. It turns out they can swim, and dive. Tim went off with a net for the first, which in turn ran straight for the water. Once it dove, Tim could only wade around the knee deep water and wait for it to surface. It eventually came up and Tim nabbed it. Steve, Andy, and I corralled the second chick. It slipped past my hands, but seconds later, Andy got it with the net. Now that we had both, it was time to get to work.
Steve and I each held a chick as Tim and Andy got to work recording band numbers, securing them on the legs of each chick, taking measurements of the beak and wings, as well as weight. The surprising thing with some birds, is that when on their backs, they remain still. Tim was able to lay them directly on the scale to get a weight. During the whole ordeal, the parents waited anxiously nearby, occasionally vocalizing. The chicks hated every minute, and would vocalize back. After it was all over, we released the chicks together.
A couple days later we learned that our timing was perfect. The larger chick successfully took flight meaning we would never be able to catch him or her (without a large net). After some recent scares lately about the missing Oystercatcher family, all seems well and the chicks appear healthy. I hope to hear good news from Tim in the future that Cu and Ct (their band IDs) are alive and well somewhere in Georgia.
No comments:
Post a Comment