Townsend Cromwell
TC9903 March 17, 1999 write-up
TC9903 Marine Mammal Research Program Field Camp DeploymentMarch 6-March 18, 1999
March 14-16, 1999 The TOWNSEND CROMWELL is still steaming toward Honolulu and we're hoping to arrive on the 18th. We have been fighting a 15-20 knot head wind, so our speed has only been about 8.5 knots (around 10 mph). As not much has been going on during this 4 day transit, (just fire drills and catching up on paper work), Michelle Reynolds of the U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Research Division (USGS/BRD), who is returning with us from Laysan, wrote the following about studies on the Laysan Duck.
Since March of 1998, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) have been involved in a new cooperative research project on the Endangered Laysan duck (left). The TOWNSEND CROMWELL has been essential to this project by delivering researchers, equipment and supplies to Laysan Island (upper right). The Laysan duck (Anas laysanensis) has one of the most restricted ranges of any waterfowl. This unique little duck is now restricted to Laysan Island, but previously lived on many of the Hawaiian Islands including Oahu, Maui, Kauai, the Big Island and Lisianski. It's likely the ducks disappeared from these islands after the widespread introduction of mammalian predators (such as the mongoose and rats). For the last 5 months, researchers have been living on Laysan Island, studying the food habits of the ducks over the winter. Laysan ducks eat many invertebrates, algae, grass seeds and love flies
In addition to feeding behaviors, we have also been trying to determine the population size by putting bands on their legs. The ducks are difficult to count as they are mostly nocturnal (active at night) and hide in Laysan's bunch grasses by day. There are only about 300 Laysan Ducks in the wild population.
To monitor their breeding success this year, we glued small radio transmitters on some ducks enabling us to track them. Last year was very dry and only four ducklings survived. This year however, two broods of ducklings have been seen and 4 new nests are known. Two of these nests are close to our camp and our new research assistant, Rebecca Woodworth, should be able to monitor the ducklings from her kitchen tent!
It is our hope that the Laysan ducks can be restored to some of the islands where they previously lived. We hope learning about the duck's ecology on Laysan will help guide habitat restoration on other islands.
Winter Laysan Duck Crew:
Michelle Reynolds, USGS/BRD Project Coordinator
Mark Vekasy, USGS/USFWS Field Biologist
Yesterdays cruise write-ups for TC-99-03