Johnston . D.
1964

1

9 April

10 Anr

,BL

11 Apr

In Honolulu et 4t20 p.r. Bob '’cFsrlane met me at the rlene, end we drove
tr> to a nearby state park before it got dark, Tha park overlooked the

university, city. Diamond Head, etc. In and around the park were sere

‘potted Hove, fhama , * nh Bad-billcd Lelothrix , Also saw a Cold an Clover ,
r er^i-rine he] con ■ and Cardinal . Talked with Chuck Ely th?t evening before

After breakfast we made a brief tour of Kuku oint area where a group of
C oo t y Terns was just beginning to lay eggs . Noted several hro^n Booby

nests on ground near the l&roon edgp; these contained either a single pale

tan egg or a lame whit** chick— as large as th^ parent, ’Inhere were

k riget e - bl rds nesting back in thp trees, but we didn*t have time to stop and

>

looV at than. AH along the road , the eir strip, brackish pond, etc.,
were scattered Oolden Plovers : a owe a peered to be in nearly c 'ir-plete
b ref •diner plumage e n‘. ; others ! n winter plume re. Koted 2 uddy Turns t ues
be«ide eir atrip end 2 due Vs too’? off from the pond. Few D otrtn on Koddi e ■»
were seen out on KuVu Point.

1 IV ph , end -eele errsnred In e B V" . 2.65 sq. miles of l £ nd, Wake having

2.14 sq. mi. Average elevation 12 feet. Dominant vegetation is Tree

10 Arr

,BL

11 Apr

of 27 ", Today it was quite windy * nd there we ’ a reriodic showers

2

Johnston . T>. V.

1964 ~

1? Apr Wake Island

Up before dawn . Went down to edge of ocean to look at intertidal

life — mostly corals, some tub e-building 1 worms, several kinds of snails

end for conchs, crebe , etc. nly an occasional '* oo r Tern flew overhead.

All this morning it w* 8 orrtly cloudy, about 80°, and a stiff K wind;

Went to the brackish pond ?t runway: rob noted 3 ducks end menaced to shoot

1. It -was » 8 oveier in 9 plum* ge with conspicuous orange-yellow legs,

feet, i nd bill, ’’olden Plovers were again everywhere, but rarely grouped

into a flock. On the edge of the lagoon there wa " *• single Wandering

Tattler , about 6 ?■ uddv 'urns tones , and innumerable fiddler crabs with

reddish chelae and black carapaces. One Uoddy flew over, in end ‘round

a concrete remains were 2 species of gecko and 1 skink.

#1828. Pluvial is dominies . c? 1 scentlRllv winter plumage — only a few

black spots on breast. Very sparse head, neck ?nd flank molt. Tnterfurcular

area not full of fat. Wing 156 mm. Testis 3 mm. 127.0 g.

#1829. luvla l ia dorr in ice . < ' ’Essentially breeding plumage— mostly black

underparts line above eye pure white. Appears to be somewhat fatter

than 1828. Wing 167 mm. Testis 7 mm. 146.9 g.

This afternoon we went back to the brackish water pond where there were some
15 A olden i lovers and 5-7 b uddy j nrristones . It was high tide at 45 30 so

water in the lagoon was high. Still, around its edges on the bare sand

•••

or mats of purslane ( Hesuvlum ) were numerous Golden -lovers „ a few Wandering
Tetti e rg ,. and a teal (sp.?). Of ell the plovers seen today, about 2 54
are In the neer^bree* In# pltwraee. 7n4 look like winter-plur^e^ed birds.

A *’t er " ? .ark about B p.m. we went out to Fuku Ft. On the way at
the *•! 1 d ~p&e Fuel Farm (lar#** storage tanks) we were erected by a moderate

3

Johnston. X>. v.

1964 ~ ~

IB Apr ''f’-'e Inland

sired flock of oty - arns flying over \.?s in the dart-. Jut out on
the point , there were thousand^ — sorr-e flying and call ins:, others sitting
or standing ell over the rood end field -like area. First we proceeded
to seek oat nests of drown boobies . These ver on the 1'- goon side of the
point, above high tide level, end roughly con-posed of old sticks. There was
absolutely no protection against sun, rein, cats or rets. The nests were
usually 25— SO* apart, but necaslona 11 y as close as 10’. Five nests held
two eggs , 8 others h*d « single egg or single chick. i he egg was as
lerge as a hen's egg end mn pale-tannlsh white with e king of light
bluish undercoat. Hale boobies of this species hive pale bluish bills,
females pale yellow— green. Some of the chicks were getting in brown
primaries, secondaries and rectrices; others were pure, downy white. The
adults gave a nonaraaicel " qwok . " At least 3 of the adults were molting
their rectrices. 9 of the brooding- or incubating adults were males. We
then literally waded into the booty T ern colony — g million birds?

Between us, by grabbing and catch 'ng any available bird on the round, we
bended 1000 adults in o*. 2 -A hrs. Many of these were incubating adults.

Only one nest thst I saw contained 2 eggs. The others were 18-24" apart on
the average, but occasionally 12" apart. Actually there is no nest, merely
® crude shallow scraping awey of debris. Tech egg wes ten-white with a
variety of chocolate brown spots especially at the large end. I .indged
that some 70% of the birds I caught were nesting but ob. thought this
figure was too high for the colony. In the dark it appeared as -though the
incubating bird was accompanied by the mate a few inches away. Usually the

4

Johns t on . D. W.

1964

13 Apr -s Wake Island

birds didn't fly too readily in the d&rk, but I doubt that we banded any-

wherr near l/lOO of the birds in the colony, -eppily, there were 9 bonded

birds in the trench— all banded last year ag adults in June or July on this

isl ? nd. his would suggest th.fet s om e of tne terns are on nearly a 10 month

cycle. Although one might literally be surrounded by terns all over the

around, as soon as you started picking them up to be bended, in spite of

the deafen in* roars, somehow or other the nearby birds on the ground would

gradually leave until, after banding 2—!* birds, there might then be none

in r each • I Just under if they didn't utter b particular alarm note when

bei^- caught, thus tending to frighten many of the others away. Certainly

the easiest to catch were the incubating adults, then their presumed nearby

m-tes. Pm simple dumbfounded by the fact that all Incubating adults that

we've hand led had 2 incubation patches, and yet only very rerely do the

bj.ro.$ here lay more than one egg . It 3s not unthinkable that under some

conditi on s— perhaps Pte nesting, a poor season, etc, — they could and

do lay 2 eggs more frequently. As on a previous visit we saw • feral house

cat ' t the edge of th^ colony, ?o-nd a rile of several tern wings. This

Is likely the only serious predatdr of the terns, since there is an active

rat control rroeram on Wake. Noted interesting symbiotic relationship

between Brown Booby nests and hermit crabs, he crabs, large end reddish,

gathered, in numbers from 1-5 at the edge of the nest© end consumed all or

P fe ~rts of th*' fish th t the boobies disgorged, Evidently the boobies will

disgorge fish even when not being frightened by men because on at least 1

occasion we found a 1 ft. fish i consumed, by the crabs.

Id Apr Flipper Point . Praia Is , , T # kc #

-^1830, ft erne fusee, t a . ad ?, fol, to 2 mm, oviduct somevh'-t enlarged.

Johnston . _.

19*4

5

ff

- »

>"11 pr-er Point . Fes Ip Is . ‘ ’eke Is .

Ho fst. Incubation patches r* feathering. Pic Fed up broken wing.

Went out to Clipper Point colony In morning . Here thousands of f ooti m
were on the ground especially s r onnd and under the tree heliotropes. 'any
of these terns had erf? a, but there were also freshly-hatched young and young
nearly fledged. C81y once did I see a nest with 2 eggs. Photographed birds
and' habitats. Found *n adult with f eshly broken wing, so It became a
akin. Cn the edge of the large Sooty Colony were scattered groups (3-5) of
Irf y-bacVed ferns. Hot only were their backs di f erent in color frotn the

SMkMwiAnMt wia n timm m m m » ■ .■aww i i* hi iw w.ims i * n»i i >s» »'

Booties but their eye lines were apparently longer end the cell note a

more melodious *coo-oo" instead of the 'ootids’ strident "cree-ck".

«

I ound & dead Grey - be cV ymm/r and one just beginning to fly* Over the water
were occasional rown Noddies and two email * ? *#-! Ian Roddies # it seeded
to me that this sooty colony covered more around and contained more birds

then the one visited last night on ^ilkes Is* no frigate-birds here

today. ^ long the ro d and even back em me the tree-heliotropes were
scattered /; -oide n lovers * Spent part of the afternoon sk inning the Booty
Tern and Ghoveler* Later in the afternoon we rode * long the road just next
to the mein runway * counting Golden Plovers, ^loxxg about 3 GOO ft. we
noted 8 Golden Plovers* All these right beside the road and fairly evenly
spaced outl Of these 1 war. in "high 11 plum age f one nearly “high”, **nd
the rest in winter plumage. After supper we went beck to KUVu Point* and
just at d ok watched the hordes of '"oo ty - erns mostly in the ?• ir* ( There
was also - large number in the air at the Fuel Farm.) Mostly these birds

re flying into the prevail in

Wn went to check the

wi n&s— * easterly.

14 Anr

«*

Johnston . D, W. r

1964

vsirs Islenfl

Brown 'ooby nests, but it was still too rsrly r nd most of the adults wouldn’t
permit capture, Did cetch % more however. One of these r & s the <? mete to
* 5 cf-ufht lest ni^ht. She wee lyin* beside the nest deed — e bedly injured
forehead — while the incubated the single e%e. Between 8 end 1? we bended
1500 more : ooty T r ms in the Kuku t. colony. tbia are® was completely
denuded of all ye^etetion but t h* eress and forbs are ^reduelly netting
underway in ®r cond^ry succession. (This would be a fascinating study all
by itself.) The :: oty Terns select for their nest in* erea.8 the b ; re,
sandy areas between plants. Occasionally they.* was e nest in or under e
l?r£e srrass clump. Tonight the nests seemed to be closer together, but
this m&y be just imagination. On one occasion I noted 2 nest- so close
to ether that the tail feathers of Incubating parents touched* Again,

I saw only one 2 egg clutch. Vfe caught 14 birds wMch had been bended on
Wake last June and July*

15 Apr father is rather monotonous here. ‘V'here is a constant > or 51 trade

wind, partly cloudy skies* and ana temp, in the 70 f s* Occasionally
there is a light , brief rain shower, but , so far, we ? ve been inside during
most of these. Isst night it did rain lightly on us while we were banding,
but it was of little consequence.

larly this morning (6:30) we got up somewhat wearily, soreand bruised
from last night, and drive out to the Flipper Point ternary. On some of the
projections, floats, etc. out in the water were at least 9 flreat, Frigate*
birds of both sexes and « few noddies. Hear the old seaplane r^mo fob
spotted a single lloddy nest about 20 ft. up in b tree-heliotrope* One
adult was standing in the nest which w~ s composed of a fairly loose mass

7

Johnston . D.

19^4

15 Apr of sticks. lob tnaturht it alrht be the “awsllsn ^oddv. This sveeies is

■ 1 mi t t m

smaller than the Common ^ oddy and ha ‘ a shorter, light gray tail. In the
large ternary on the point we were especially looking for Gray - backed Terns .
In all, we no r ed about 1 50 f always on the periphery of the ternary, though
we never sew any physical conflicts between the two species. We were
especially looking for nests of the grey-backs and succeeded in finding
at least 2 • They w c re located -ut under the trees in a tangle of low
branches on the ground. We found t Hem by watching carefully for a
gray-back working its way out of the tangle. 1 ach nest contained a
single egg which, in comparison with Sooty Fggs , appeared to be smaller,
leoo pointed (more ovate) and perhaps with a si 1 ^htly more tan background
color. In contrast to most sooti^s, these incubating gray- backs did not
sit tightly but rather flushed when we were 50* ewa^. Why aren f t more
grey-backs nesting?-- *ma.ny were just standing around out on the point and
very occasionally courting. Then, why were there some nearly fledged
chicks seen yesterday? Evidently this species is like the sooty n th^t
different individuals— at least in the Pliroer Po nt colony — ere In far-

. ,■ -vvv 4. V

removed different reproductive stages*

Johnston . D. ¥. R

1964

15 Apr About 10 e.ffi. we drove out beside the 9000 ulus ft. runway toward Euku Point.

•‘he weather was hot, sunny end windy; we? thermen predicted a high of
85 today. Beside the road end airstrip were 5-8 Golden Plovers . Pour
were shot with .23 pistol end ret shot.

#1831, Mu vial la dorp inice . 9 foil lees 1 mm, Essentially winter type
plumage with shout 3 do*, scattered snots in breast and abdomen, C-ome
body molt. v ing 159 mm. 146.7 g.

*1873. Pluvlalis dominies . testis 3 mm. About 7 4 breeding* plumage .

Wing's worn. Heavy molt. Wins* 166. 131.9 g.

*18 "7 . Pluvia 11s dominlca . <? testis 7 rm> , About 7/ 4 breeding* plume#*.

Win# 163 mm. Heavy molt. 145.6 g,

#1874. Muvirii g dom inlca <f testis 3 ssr>. i as ent tally brooding plume#®
with only a few scattered white abdominal features. Win# 165. i'oltina*.

. 151.2 e.

All. these birds a tpearwd to have heavy depots of int rape ri ton eel and
subcutaneous fat. subjectively, it sterns to me that the plovers are getting*
less common on the island, 'hit at Euku Ft. we parked the jeep beside the
lagoon. Water was at low tide. We waded through thigh-deep water to the
rocks on which Common Noddies nested 1? at year and on which there w4re
a dozen or more perched today. *here were eleven nests each with one
pale tsn eg*. Hast was a small (1.2" across) mass of sticks, very crudely
constructed. On oth r rocks nearby Bob found 2 more nests, on one
of which a Mown Booby was sitting. Intertidal life abounded with many
corals, few starfish, large (12 plus M ) black see cucumbers, parrot
fish, morays ( un to 2 * • ) , blennlen, flounder, etc.

#

This afternoon there was a noticeable decline In numbers of shcrebirds

Johnston, D. W # 9

1064

15 Apr Wake Island

on the island. Whereas P-" 7 days ago around the lagoon edge, especially
the S v end, we saw numerous Golden Plovers > turns tones . and a few
tattlers ^ today there were none of these to be seen at this point. In
fact, * search of a larger area showed only » couple dozen Golden Plovers
and very few ^urnst ones . Thus, at least t>v g* p. must be taking off on
their long overseas flight at this time molting heavl lv~ -see specimens
of tod?y*

One of the workmen told me today of the presence of sparrows on
the island, one of which he has seen (la t evening). According to his
story someone brought a pair (?) of “common sparrows* (“same as in
U*S # f{ ) on the island end released them recently. The one hr sew came to feed
at the Pan Am Club late last evening, and from his descri tion could have
been a female Housp Sparrow*

14 Apr Al8?g # Sul a lenc Piaster ad ?, fol. to 5 mm. Found dead at nest; injury

on forehead* Fe t , bill pale greenish-white. Very littler fat.

15 Apr Tonight Bob went out to the Flipper Point colon and bended 1000 Sooty Terns .

bout 45 Gray-backed Terns (ad. and yng.}* ?hen about 10 adult C ommon
K odd j es on the rocks at Kuku Pt . Also roosting on these rocks at night
were a few Thrown Boobies but they weren*t caught for banding*

16 Apr This morning I took a drive to sand flats of lagoon, then on around lagoon

edge *nd airstrip edge to the W end of th* 5 airstrip, back along the S
edge of airstrip to Peacock Pt. and return. On sand flats tide was going
out— saw scattered 25 Golden P lovers . 5 tendering Tattlers . and 2 .■ uddy
Turn. stones . A cf Great Frigate-bird flew directly overhead; It wan solid

Johnston , D.
1964

10

16 Apr

ke Igl? nd

black except for * brownish throat* A ong the l&goon edge I was Impressed
by the concentric sones of plants.

All alone* the airstrip end occasionally beside the road were scattered plovers.

Probably there err 150-P00 of these plovers on the island. 'Any are still

rather evenly spaced out &long the airstrip, as they c re apparently
all winter. Perhaps these constitute winter territories. At noon we
went back to Knku oint. Oyer the Fuel Far r we noted the usu 1 masses of

»- ooty Tarns overhead. hen some distance away and partly over the ocean

we saw some all-white birds, about 5 of them at first. These turned out,

(se« \ llfcitfaj-

to be 1 ed« - taile»" ? ro'hc 5 rds and at least 1 P ite - ta i l ed hr O', ic ! ird , ^ t
a little later on, tropicbirds numbered probably as many as 10 over the
point, but it was hard to count them because they wheeled and sailed so
far so fast. We got to the point at a /rood low tide and waded out to
the rocks where the Common Kiddies were nesting* here were 11 ne&ts
on the one roc % : birds were easily photographed and each, egg was measured.
Vent over £nd photographed ^rown 'boobies * In some cases one was incubating.
When I got too close one parent would seise a twig in its bill, s

11

Johnston .

1964

13

D w

♦ • •

Waka Island

disT>]©cerrent action. " has 'bluish 1 1 ny c to bill, 9 paler green. Came
b*?ck to -'o sty ?em colony and picked up 64 dead ones on the road --hit
by cars. ;bey are lo&ther to move fror* their stance when cars come
along:. { Illus tret ion II, previous m&e.) C^me back to tree heliotropes
containing Ted-footed Booby (3-4?) neats; some bed young — large gray-
brown* One adult i d white head with bluish cast to bill, pink forehead
and base of lower ©audible** Frigatebirds appeared to be mostly <f<f with
red gular" pouches inflated, but there were also 99 * nd 1©. On e immature
had £ white chest but red gular pouch. Drove back elon#* afrstrip trying
to yet Golden Plovers but they were extreme ly shy* Got only 2. Although
there were good numbers present, even sm*ll groups of 7, 16, 9 aa-i 9
on therunway, we wonder if these birds haven 1 1 come in since day before
yesterday because at that time there were very few out on the lagoon
flats* This afternoon th**re must have been 50 or more including a
Dunlin ini Mit iso re T-t tiers .

#1677. Pluviell s dorinica <f testis 7 mm. About 7/4 breeding plumage;
still seme white areas on Abdomen. Heavy molt. Wing 167* 152*6 g*

#1836* Fluvial is dominice fol greater then 1 mm. Essentially winter

ty • e plumage with cn. 8 spots on chest and abdomen. Wing 163 mm*

♦

Heavy body molt. 135.1 g.

Both birds appear to have much fet In end associated with abdomen,
botes te v en from F. ?. •’onb.r* 1 a 11 Jr get at ion and flora of Wf-Ve Island m .

Host of the atoll is covered with an open scrub forest, ssaihly
of Tcurne fort la argent ea . '’oils ere generally coral gravel or rubble or

of coral sand with sl'ght, sc-ttered t paces of humus

V egetat i on s f f edt ed

Johnston . B.
1964

13

16 Apr Wpkf I sland

by drou#frts end. typhoons; - Iso VeVe was nearly totally devastated by
militsfy activity between. 1941 and 1945.

Where the salinity Is too hi**h , Peierhls end "eauvitun form the normal
v e get at ion,

T onrnef or tie wood lend is f fairly stable stage; undisturbed it may rive
rise to risen 5a or Pi n on ir -Cordis forest. "ournefortic.: colonizes successfully
b£ re sand and gravel* so it may Immediately succeed itself if destroyed
by storms *

Home plants? s?-nd spar©. Be made ndcr*b preset r 4 soni* (PnVa-tJ?ee with
greenish flowers); Oesuvltup ooytnlaca^trnm (seaside purslane); dwarf
polnsettlal > es>.uhlg gcldula (tree or shrub with white floweret;

17 Apr In morning we went ut to Ifuku Point* Partly cloudy and intermittent rain

later on until early afternoon# ! ent into ' onrnefortlo: woodland looking
f or . ed -foote d Booby n Preet Frig r te-bird neets . Phare were 15 of the
booby nests in 5-0 irees , some trees containing m many as 3 nests* lEach
nest was a simple platform of stick© which you co-id see through from
below, Evidently each xscupied nest contained an eg- — adults were sitting
tightly. In one nest there was a l c rge» white downy young— differed from
rovn Booby young by having blackish bill. On adult Instead of being
essentially black md white, was of the dusty plum&ged color phase. Those
boobies generally set closer than did the frigate-birds but were less
prone to return once they had flown off. The adult came in and regurgitated
a fish for the yng. booby. All nine of the frigate-bird nests were in
2 trees, 10-12 feet off the ground. These trees were also occupiel by - 1

Johnston . £.
1964

14

17 - Apr

Wake I land

least 6 of the booby nests, end insofar as we could notice t here seeded to
be no conflict between the two suedes. The frigate-birds had an interesting
cell, one which closely resembles that of a screech owl. In rest instances
? frigate-birds were incubating though one subahult <f was also neon
incubating. '•> noted the presence of at, leas t 50 frigate-birds in the
air or roosting in the trees. Ibis included some adult males (solid
black ) , subedult <?d (red gul*r pouch but white chests), females
(bro n throat , while chest and f bAomen), end “immature" birds (white heads,
crest an abdomen ) • They re noticeable nest robbers. *s s on ec one

bird would fly off the nest, others won Id ctre end swipt the nesting
material by swooping down end tak lag sticks in flight. One ad. « set
tightly bacV under the tree about 7 ft. off the ground. We kept it from
flying dth s stick and cep turned the bird. Bob dissected It for smarm,
thm made a skeleton of It, It was surprising to see this amber of
frigate-birds at the “colony* 1 but bo few netts* Fven at a d J stance we
could easily see the louse flies crawling all over these birds: in fact
several flies lit on my arm* from this colony in the woodland* while Bob
was skeleton! ringr the frlgete**blrd t I waived out on fch* reef at low tide on

Tvvn at lo-' tide there was not much to be

seen In the tide tools —both black a nr brovn see cucumbers, numerous blennles
and other fish, an occasional small m or sy eel (one was banded ,tust like
*ome hytr 1 > water snakes)* m : ny crabs* including hermits, snails and other
mo Husks. At a point about 2(K> yds. from t v e M C orison Koduy rock 11 there

vrere some _._Qnraefort la trees growing above toe hljrh tide mark. 1 bar

17 Apr

Johns t ;>n « . Ji. !•*>

1964

Wske 1 3 Is- nd . ,

noticed 1 'ed-t'ilcd T rouicblrc's flying eronnd over heed and proceeded
to /ret out telei hoto lens. However, tony surprise fbout 100 feet from
me they lit on the ground near & clump of these trees. A- I approached,

I noted 7 birds sitting on the «?r und under the trees, one birds almost

under the roots. They made soev croaking 1 notes to eech other or toward me

but otherwise reclined on the ground. I even succeeded In easily catching

& bird which we brought back and bended. At least £ more wer<- seen

over ead, so ther were at least 5 birds here, f'ne the way back we s« 1

only J5 Molci en Plover s beside the ro d and no f oeks out on the runway . Started

to rain heavily.

#1878. fluvial is dominica . ’ testis

Psseailally In winter typ«*

t)

lumf&f* — ca. ° do . bl mf spots on chest and abdoiren. Heavy body *olt#

Inr if#l 157.6

*18 n 9* Pluvial!* dominie** « * testis 7 -p . •sscntislly br* edin« plum* m.

Bod olt 'ng 166* 162 el £.

Today, our observe t! one indicated fewer plovers on the Island than yesterday!
Hr call that yesterday we noted small floe Vs of plovers on the runway enr
well as goodly num ere on the lapoon, sand flats. But t day on the airstri
were onlv scattered n singles 11 , perhaps 20 birds In all. nd on thesand
fl^ts Bob aa 4 plovers, 4 turnstonee, and 4 tattlers. Thus, It appears
that ri-vht before our eyes plovers are mlftr&tiftff off this island, and it
is possible that J, ne / fl one s are ccsiny in almost daily from perhaus

in

ore southerly noints. It is also of Interest th r t these plovers are in

2 plumage type r full breeding or H winter** t pe. I just wonder

Johnston .

1964

16

1? Apr

Wake la lend

if the "winter" t pes don't constitute a subsdult bird. In the afternoon
despite the intermittent shower *ctiv‘ty we went beck to Kuku it, to look
for the tropic birds, Returning to the seme clump of -onmef ort la trees
we found 2 } rd-te.lled Tronic birds under the one tree. One bird was sitting
far beck under the tree on e single egg which was almost red-brown with
dark brown blotches. This *dult, f-9 we 1 ss the other adult and its
chic— some feet -way under the same tree— all these 3 were banded by
Bob. he chick was -11 whiteend had a black bill. All these three birds
grave menacing, raucous cries es they were being” caught, and the adults tried
to jab fiercely with their bills. We noted that the adults’ feet were
black and their terso-rcetatersi wer r gray. It Is possible that this is the
first recorded breeding: of this species on Wake Is. -bout 2- ft. in front
of the nes containing: theegg was s dead tro lebird -of this species. W©
suspect a cat had killed, it. It was nearly completely skeletonised, but
was too much broken up to save. Rein continued, occasionally heavily,
through the evening.

IB Apr i here was heavy rain and '-'ind all night long, -no threatening rain 'n the

mo ming.

Wing 166 mm. Sparse body molt. Fittest plover I’ve seen yet

•

|«h*iA wtWts

■Tohnaton. £.

17

19*4

18 A r Ial- nA

■pent iPo«t of the morning eett:n r nets , cole® , etc., reedy , but when

we tried to atr'-a" th nets over the brae’- ieh ws ter pond, it wr~ isnuopsible.
The wind wr r just too strong. Imwsdiat ely thereafter we gevc- out of gfs
j?n<l h*d to w&lk bRcV. I walked becV r-t the «dg« of end across cs-t of

the sand fists at the end of the h spoon. In so do J nt I srew no mo'e then 10

7, T- t tiers, end. 4 r ur stones

olden . lover

, until 1 noticed

et 7 p.ss. f mi, ; way s flocV of lfi -olden lovers rise from the sand fists

end, fly straight out of sight over the 1 KV corner of the lsgoon. They

did not circle but simply gained altitude straightway and disappeared from
my view. It seems quite likely th- t they were beginning their long ov* ra-

mi sitting quietly on an " island* of esnviurr out on the flats. It may
be ant ro’omorobic to state that they appeared to be resting — they weren't
feeding or <~ven waiving « round er single plovers were doing out on these
flat n or along the airstrip. v h^n I flushed these birds, they broke into
two email or flocks $n s * mol y flew farther out on the sand flat where they
settled dovn again. This groirp contained birds in severe! decrees of
breeding plumage— all the wey frorr M winter 11 type to full breeding type*
Just before derV we went out to band terns on Flipper Point. To
our surprise a. large "roup of 300 ties -ad come across the *drv tt islet
(aep&r&ting clipper Point fror Teal* Is.) over on Peal** They had
already started laying fresh on the c -rrl sand between the grass

cltr r ps end between the Tournefort la trees. These birds were most

unstable, however, probably because of the fresh eggs and co' Idn* t be

#

Johnston, 0* W«

1964

1R Apr h'f-ko Island

cpu -ht readily. We went on over to Flipper lolnt for bending. Bonded
1000 Booties, 9 ray-becked Terns (1 large chick), but bending to nicht
was not very good. This war, probably because of a moon glow through the
clouds, so th't. the terns could sko us easier end thus were more difficult
to catch. At, one point in the colony there were many newly hatched (today)
chicks, end here end there in the colony were older chic's running around
in the dark, ’’ostly, though, adults were sitting on their single eggs.

So far this year we have had 36 returns of ooty Terns . banded last veer
here Ws Ve , ? night we e*o * e couple that we bended over at Kuku ft ,

■VMs "ear. Vie both noted the ro re aggressive nature of the Booties
tonight— many adults not only dabbed with the bill or threatened with
open bill, cries, and spread wings but * ! lso reedily -t tacked the light
or our legs. Found at least h doe. dead chicks! also IP dead Booties on
the beech. Sounds like human visitors before us.

19 Apr Today the weather was superb*, pertly cloudy with ctueuIus clouds in a blue

sky, strong S"E winds, warm and sunny. In the morning ( unday) we went

out to the Flipper Point ternery. Yesterday I had moved an extra egg into

each of 20 nests, thus 2 eggs /neat instead of 1. Today none of these

sets was being incubated, but 1 suspect one of theressons was the fact

that the original egg (yesterday) was fresh and had been placed too

close to the rofd (greater disturbance from human traffic,/. Ye photo^

graphed birds in the colony, particularly looking for 0£S2-bs£kM 2£ES.

nests back under the trees. Found 2 such nests each with 1 egg end saw several

nearly-fledged yng. under the trees. The adults proved to be too wary

to be photographed.? they won * t sit tightly like the Booties. Around this

0

19 -‘"nr

Johnston . D. _> 19

54

i*'r. Pe Inland

hngre ternary "of ' perhaps 200,00" birds were p ISO ■ ’ rft v-ba c v v "ore
4-5 Brown g oddl es « the letter evidently not nesting here. Just es we

drove over the bridge we saw e single Felrv Tern flying slony. Got a good

\

look fit th# bird* Though It didnH gto<> anywhere* < n loki Point fish-

ermen. were briny* ny in large flounders, using fingerliny Bullet for belt.
#184-1* > X nvl ** 1 1 s do it in i ce * 9 fol. 1 mm. 166*3 A breeding plumage*

Winy

4T,.

n sent i r 1 ly breeding ■tolutnege*

151*5 g* In-^ 1 A 5 mm. r little molt. Tall 11

/TU .

Gold cn -lovers still present on Island In moderate numbers— 8 or 10
spaced out on either si^e of sirs trip, scattered bird” out on la.yoon

send fists, t^o bks 11 fl ocVs (7 end ^}, end others scattered around on the
island. Also noted 4 turost ones . 1 Tattler , end e dunlin , dust after
no an we sew a Mte-talled Tr uric bird f ly <r vr near the control tower. We
also -©turned to the Red-tailed Troolcbi rds * nests on KnVii Po^nt. This
time the r. m p adult as before was ineub&tin^r the ogm but a different unbanded
adult wa?- brooding the chick.

*"ad report of "the' 1 sparrow at Pan hr Club ca. 7:15 in evening. From
the description gi van me the bird we a apparently a 7 House "no tow .

In the evening we went out to KuVu Ft. to band terns, but it begfcn to rain
lightly end the moon was periodically too bright to catch the terns. We
therefore contented ourselves with ersdicst# 1 ^- cats from areas- sur«*
round in,y the ternary.

Johnston .

1964

30

20 Apr

Wake lal- mi

Today was beautiful weather; , indeed, t ie wind died .1 \m s m ewh? t about
noon end it v* s not i oeably hotter In the afternoon. Spent of rt of the
morning working on f ooty Tern hearts. bout 3 we rode out toward

Flipper roint. Near the bridge over the inlet into the leroon we noted
T 'hit e-ta ile.d Tronic birds . All 5 flew fei rly low over the trees then
wheeled high above ue for several minutes. From the tire wr reached

the bridge we could gee the swirling mass of footv 'TV no out toward
F ipper Point. I'r^v* to this colony. he one over the Point seemed to
contain many more just-hatched chicks. ?r.-ent the remainder of the
i f ternoon loo T ln;r et vegetation of Peel# Island— trees shrubs, end

her -s being i entified.

There were at least 2 plants which appeared not

to be in Fosberg's list. found severe! more nests of form on K oddv

ne?-r the old sc* plena ramp area. Two -./ere in Tpurnef ort la trees end five
ware being coos true ted atop sore old steel-end-eonorete beams— the remainder
of e n old building's upright wall.

Went out to Kuktt Ft. colony et about dark— banded 1500 tonight.

The birds *re more and more occupying the eastern side of he road, whereas
a week ago they were restricted to the western side. few hi rds sitting
on 2 eggs . I got 11 recoveries, ; nd Bob got some th:-t we banded on
Flipper Point this y«ar.

Status of Sooty Tern colonies on island today;

1. j u-u '■ pint

a. Western side of road — the older of the two on this point,.

Whether still growing? birds in constant low mass.

- b. Western side of ro‘d — never of the two, end still growing.

Probably density of nests is not et e uesk.

Johnston . U. d»
1964

20 Apr Wake Island

j-P.S.L -J IX? ♦ *• f varal thousand birds still in their vertical swirl.

No evidence yet of nesting.

^ • £lA,.P er ££!&£.• Oldest and perhaps largest colony, fontsins
fresh eggs, some incubated, new chicks, old chicks.

4 * kS L zls . Ifl.* mainland .lust across "inlet" from Flipper Point.

Crowing more and more, with more fresh ears each day. Here, birds
die not return to incubate the two-egg clutches.

I i ding back from Kuku Pt . about 1 a. a. we noted several Golden Plovers

bpside the road. Tvidently these birds roost at light out on these

arrass y olots beside the airstrip. In the morning we visited the Pesle

isle nd ternery ?nd 10 terns tor heart studies. later in the afternoon

we went into tne Clipper Point colony to band chicks, but to our surorise

there were relatively few. We banded only about 225, most of these being

newly hatched-- still in the nest. There were, in addition, some older

chic’-s running around in the colony; some of these could fly a little.

A they wandered e round they frequent 1- received sharp Jabs frw dults d

sitting on egg - , it w? 8 Quite hot, end adults were covering eggs or young

tenaciously. Also, the adults were most belligerent toward us. As we

rescued to band a chic 1 -'’, the parent would dart forward with sharp cries,

spread -wings, end a sharp bill. Several t’mes adults hit me in the head and

once, a bird even lit on my back in trying to defend its chick. Usually

the ehic v , after being banded and if it ’’ere dry, would “'eg in to run
sway from the nest.

About 4 p.ro. we were watch ■' n • birds over the sand flats at the lagoon.
At a: 30 we, saw about S Golden Plovers rise from the flats and as it gained
altitude the flock was Joined by about 15 others. These, then, began to

22

21 >-pr

Johnston* D. W,

1964

Wake Island

circle, picked ups nine other plovers until the flock numbered ah out 30. e
were looking directly westward* T e birds continued to wheel and circle
higher and higher above the lagoon. I watched them for about 5 minutes
until they were out of siarht* They were probably a mile hlyh and
P-2 ©lies away from me. I have no doubt that they were beginning* their
migratory flight. de then proceeded to look for Bolden klovers alon^:
the runway. On the h side we noted about 6, In various plumages end fairly
evenly spaced out. Over the entire sand flat there we e 25 Golden -lovers .
1 P-Unl in » 5 tattlers . and 4 tnrnstones . Thus, gradually it appears that
the plovers are th'nnia*' out on the island.

$1843. Haw ip I i q, dorr in ice. . 9 follicles 1 mm. 164.6 y. in#* 1^*4 ntm.

About breeding plumage. hea y molt, ^uter rectrices not bilateral.

Extremely fat.

- 1844 . 1 ; Invl a. 1 is do^lniea . c* testis 4 mm. Essentially breeding plumage*

ftill some white on throat. 155.7 g. Wing 170 mm. Moderate molt.

21 Apr

J arms t on . B._W. 23

1964

Wake Island

Collected 2 Common 6 eddies from old building wall on Pe*le Inland wher* s
this species wen constructing nests— about 5 of them — on the leeward
side of old steel beam.

1845. Anous stolidus . ° incubation patch* 1 collapsed follicle. Heart
wt. 2.05 g. #* 230.6 g. A little ft.

The otherHo&dy* e prepared by Boh weighed 199.2 g. Ht. wt. 2.15 g.
#1846. v ] uvlells d or 1 nice . testis 4 Abo t i breeding plumage.

Heavy molt. 132.1 g. Wing 159 mm.

#1847. Pluvial Is dominlca . c* testis 4 saa. Albost breeding plumage. Molt
moderate. 148.7 g. ' "dnr 160 mm. Tail not bilateral in its color pattern.
#1848. riuvlelis dominica 7 follicles 1 mm. With 1847. Nearly winter-
tyre plumage, with e&. 12 black rots on abdomen and breast. 122.6 g.

le^vy molt. Wing 165 rm. Till like #1846. S side airstrip.

This fternoon it v reared to ua th? t there were more 0 olden Plovers on the

island than were present yesterday. For example, as exposed to yesterday*

today there were (a) about 20 scattered along th edge of the airstrip*

(b) a flock of 9 on the airstrip, and (c) 73 scattered out on the sand flats
of the lagoon at high tide. Could it be that we are having a rather
constant turn-over of migrants; that is, mi rents arriving and leaving
perhaps dally 7 Also on the lagoon sand flats were 2 2 ms tones and 4
jw tt lers . On the brackish water pond were 2 plovers and a turns tone in
breeding plumage . The Golden lovers t oday appeared to be about k in
breeding plumage, ^ in essentially dn ter- type plumage, and f changing.

Se^r the control tower v?e saw 2 Pc iry Terns flying high* then drifting

Johns t on , jl
1964

2' : Apr Wake Island

out to sra. About 4 p .®. a Am Boeing 7 7 on landing here took a

s f er the plana was on the ground. Fst line ted damage was $700,000. Ingine

was replaced here, requiring some 7-p ho* rs delay.

^1849. h t erne fuscata . sex? t 1u^. Found dead in colony, downy chick.

#1850. S t or nr f v» s c a t ad* downy chick. ound dead in colony.

Went out to Flipper Pt. colony this rrorning about 9. leather was overcast,
but moderately ttrong wind. First, we banded chicks in one part of the colony
where they were just hatching. Adults guarding and brooding chicks were
egress ive— would readily reck hands end attack with wines spread. This
was also true of many adults it tine on eggs , and we preseumed that their
eggs were reedy to he tch. Saw some eggs just pinned . Iso thcusual 20-30
fledglings (near adult proportions but practically solid black in color) moving
about and occasionally flying in colony. Then we set about counting eggs
by using rectangular (100 1 X 10* ) transect string. This was marked off
at 1G 1 intervals, <• o that each transect yielded 10 100 s . ft. quadrants.

(/ o c A / 0 J

it * e

23 Apr This afternoon there were evidently only 8 olden lovers and 1 T ttler on

airstrip and on the lagoon san&flat

Mote sham reduction in numbers

from yesterday

146.3 g. Wing 171 mm.

4

24 Apr

J o hns ton . 2. V£.

25

Heavy molt* 172.3 fr. ‘.‘in* 166 rxr . jc. 11 liVr 4 1841 , N side air strip,

Fxces^ively fat.

The weather turned quite nasty late in the afternoon end evening—

overcast, li^-ht rein, 20 ®ph 1 or HI! wind. Ko tending tnnirht.
J aided ^-00 ! notv tm rns chicks :n all 5 t .-'l lunar i t. colony.

- iy . -v . •-

April

sunrise

sunse

5

0544

1908

10

0540

1910

15

0635

1911

20

0632

1913

25

0628

1914

30

0625

1916

.*! -A-VSt'

In morning weather was much better (as usual, pertly cloudy, sunny, 1
trade winds) than rain end wind during night. Prove around airstrip,
noting only 9 widely scattered 0 olden Plovers . On lagoon sandfl^ts were
2 (i olden Plovers . 1 Turnstone * and 4 Tattlers * Oft way out to Peal©
Island near bowling alley we noted. 3 Fa i r y Terns : same general area
where we saw one earlier. It looked like there was a pair that stayed
rather close together as they flow around plus one H odd man 11 . There was

some chasing among the birds. On two separate occasions they cease down
to sore T mimafort is tr r -es, fluttered among their branches, and briefly

26

Johnston . B. v.

1964

24 Apr >7 eke I sland

settled dowa. ' nether they are now nr ere «oln,y to nest, we do not know.

Went on out to Feele i s. ternary where I used a 25 ft. frame
as a quadrat to #et density of "oot Item nests . look 105 quadrats
and the average qpsts/25 2 or 32 .7 fatr!" is a greater density th&n we

/r

got in the Tit per Ft . colony yesterday.

*1853. Pluv l?p 1 i h d orrdn ica . testis 7 w*. 190.5 g. Essentially
breeding plumage. Wing 176 to, Molt nearly comulte.

^1854. Pin v iells d om in lea . 7 fol. less than 1 vm. 155.7 g. ing 166
mm. Essentially winter plumage with ca. 2 dos. “black spots on belly.

Heavy molt. Outer rectrices all solid gray-brown. & side air strip
Tonight it rained between 7—9, then the rnoon came out very bright so banding

terns was out of the question. We went out to the v ukn Pt . colony

/

about 10, though, and succeeded in killing 2 cats feed in g in or near
the colony. One the way out we saw at least 5 Golden ^lovers beside
the road; they w re wary and usually flew as the headlights hit them.
Density of Gnoty Terns on Peala Island c&^e out to be about 2 00 ,000
r birds. The area on Fealo occupied by these terns was about 45 X 700 yds

or 285,500 ft."

25 Apr Weather again ver' T pleasant in morning on way out to Kuku Point we saw

only one ^olden Plover beside the airstrip. At old submarine channel

there were 25 frigate-birds sitting on a wire between two w telephone roles*
but they flew readily as I approached. At huku Point £ ooty T ern colony

27

Johnston . B. W_.

1964

I counted number of nests In 100 25 ft.^ quadrats — 50 on west and 50 on
east side of road. The number of nests was greatly influenced by the

r. «*•

-• : ;

covering vegetation — the creator the nests the greater the exposed
area of coral sand. Or, the more the clumps of crqss and forbe, the
fewer the number of nests. A cursory glance st these data indicate an
average of about 6-7 nests/25 quadrat or 24-28 nests/100 ft^. Based
upon these data and the possible area occupied by th*> birds, there may
be as many as 300,0 0 birds in the one colony alone. mT e 8 great

many birds, both today and last night, sitting or standing st the edge
of the n esting area. In fact these standing birds appeared to be
denser than the nesting area, birds, -w perhaps they were the mates of the
birds currently ncubating eggs.

Went over to Flipper Ft. colony about 10:20. Located 2 Or ay-backed
Tern snests. each with single eg • end more ’under vegetation than many
Sooty Tern neats. he gray-back egg measured 44.4 X 32.7 and 43.0
X 33.2 mm.

1855. ettus <? 245-133-26. Bead in road beside coral rubble and
tree-heli otr oped .

Went out after lunch; it started to rain. Alone N side of airstrip I

"- t . -

saw only 2 Golden Clovers "but - short time later a flock of 6 went over.
Then* out on the lagoon raadflets there "&s a roving flock of about
25 Golden Plovers . these beiny M nervous 41 , flying around ^ fro od bit, and
calling more than usual. They eave evidence of beiny a migratory
flock, for certainly they were not present yesterday. && I tried to
stalk them it began to rri. n again an I mistakenly fired into a flock of

Johnston . D. j?.
1964

28

Wake Island

15 and .ring- -‘'at tiers (aot two of these, on? of which w o in breeding
plumeere). This was of considerable interest for it was the first
flock of ettlers seen here by us. Also, a flock of 10 Ruddy 'Turnstones
in breeding plunge flew over me end lit along- the ed^e of the send flat.
Except for the flock of plovers mentioned above, there are probably less
than 10 of these birds on the island.

#1856. Pluvial is dominies </ testis 5 mm. Breeding plumage. Some molt.

N side airstrip. 148.4 sr. lnj? 160 Em. Tail like “1844.

*1857. PI' •vial is dominica 7 follicles less than 1 mm. 165.0 gr.

Wing 164 mm. About ^ breeding- plumage. Heavy molt. K side airstrip.

Tail — outer 2 rectrices both essentially solid gray-brown.

r

#1858. Pluvial is doirinica . 7 follicles less than 1 mm. Essentially
winter-type plumage except for ce. 12 blacV spots on belly * nd breast.

S side airstrip. 167.3 g. ing 163 mm. Heavy rrolt . Tail li>e
#1857 .

We were particularly impressed by the fact that rr c ny of the plovers were
lying down or standing on on*> leg; few were actively feeding. Could they
be resting from an arduous migratory flight last night for certainly
they weren’t here yesterday They proved to be quite wary and I
managed to get only 2 by wing-shooting.

#1859. Pluvial is dominion . 7 fol. 2 mm. About i breeding plumage.

157.0 g. Ting 160 mm. Hr^vy molt. Outer rectrices both nearly solid gray-
brown.

#1860. Pluvial is dominica . ° fol. 1 mm. About f breeding plumage.

155.2 g. heavy molt.

ing 160 mm.

Outer rectrix solid gray-brown;

Johnston , JD. 29

1964

26 Apr >fa>e Island

next one barred with grey-brown on “dirty-white” .
he fact that there we c no plovers along the read or along the airstrip
where they have been on all prior days leads me to believe more firmly
that the flocV on th* san&flats was a migrating one, ne which probably
hadnH been here on the island more than a day.

Went out to Kukri Point in the afternoon to observe nesting rooty Tern s,
They are becoming more abundant, occupying daily more area between
VO-7AC and l^rroon.

Johnston . D. %
1964

DATE

18 April

19 ATjril

f

SEX

WEIGHT

BODY

HEART

RATIO

H/B

5 3 fol.

4 min.

213.4 #?.

2.2

1.03

<f testis 14

207,7

2.15

1.05

*4

211.8

1.9

0.90

2 1 collap-
sed fol.

236.3

2.15

0.90

9 •

195 . 5

1.85

0.95

9 «

261.7

2.5

0.95

9 *

171.3

1.8

1.05

? e^r in tor>

^ -■ ■

oviduct

229.4

2.1

0 . 92

9 1 col. fol.

192.3

1.75

0.91

test. 14

214.6

1.9

0.90

9 1 col.
fol.

214.5

1.7

0 . 80

14

253 . 1

S .1

0.83

H

229 . 8

2.0

0.90

2 fol to

5 OTP .

189.5

1.65

.90

14

264.1

2.45

0.93

<? test 11 mm*

204.7

2.05

1.0

9 fol 5 b®.

168.5

1.5

0.89

test 17 rm.

175.8

1.4

0.80

2 1 col.
fol.

180.1

1 . 85

1.0

9 fol to

4 BB1 .

186.?

1.5

0.81

30

sons

>> *>
g-g

r~i *H

o d
c u

*

$

>

$

o

d

*

&

r—i

•

*»

U

05

V<

0)

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e

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31

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Q> H
Oj <L* cv.

ffi d ft

21 April

< f t r et 12

194.4

1.9

0.98

31

*

Johnston* D.

1964

WEIGHT

RATIO

DATE

SEX

BODY

hfabt

H/B

SI April

test 10

19 Q .l

1.7

0.86

tf H 11

2 r 6 .7

1.8

0.88

9 1 col

194.4

1.75

0.90

-

fol.

c * test 14

204.0

1.7

0.83

2 fol to

4 mm.

221.5

2.15

0.97

t!

195 . 5

2.0

1.02

<f test 10

188.8

1.75

0.93

<r * li

192.7

1.7

0.88

<f H n

215.8

2.0

'.93

-gg April —

^ fol 4 mip *

182.5

1.8

0.99

a

182.0

1.6

0.88

9 fol 3 Ban.

189.0

1.65

'.87

9 1 col.

fol.

187.0

1.55

0.83

test 10

198 .7

1.95

0 . 98

test 12

214.0

2.05

0196

cf test 10

198.0

2.1

1 . 06

^ test 12

191.7

1.9

0.99

9 fol 5

204.1

1.6

0.78

tf test 17

2 0.4

1.85

0.92

24 April

<f test 17

_ 213.1

2 *0

0.94

test 13

217.1

1.85

0.85

0 egz in
ovMuct

216.0

1 .85

0.86

cf test 9

196.3

1.9

0.97

J test 12

209 . 0

2.05

0.98

NOTES

lr

•V.V-

At Peale Is. colony at noon. j Je.ken at Flipper Pt. colony

f any were Incubating at noon.

I

¥ -

Johnston. D. W.

1964

BATE

SEX

24 April

<? test

11

(f test

10

c* te>t

12

>■£

9 1 col

► #

fol.

if test

8

test

14

WF IGKT

BODY

HEAPT

PATIO

H/B

204.6

1.8

0.88

215.2

1.9

0.88

227 .7

2.7

1.01

185.0

1.65

0.89

211.4

1.75

0.87

182.1

1.8

0.99

72

9?

H

26

25

X

o . 97
0.91

•’xtr ernes
0 . 80 - 1.06
0.78-1.05

At Feele Is, colony b t

noon, Meny were

Incubating