Just got back from eight days on Guam with a side trip to Rota. Special
thanks to all who responded to my request for contacts. They led to a
great individual, Gary Wiles, birder and naturalist.

I thought many would be interested in the following article which
appeared in the Pacific Daily News on Super Bowl Monday (de facto school
and business holiday), January 26, entitled "Supertyphoon Claims
Feathered Victims"

"For an entire month after Supertyphoon Paka, hundreds of Guam's birds
were missing.

"Researchers, bird watchers, and beachgoers noticed the void, but there
were only a few dead bodies to account for the disappearances.'There were
few reports of birds killed in the storm,' said Gary Wiles, a wildlife
biologist with the Department's Division of Aquatic and Wildlife
Resources. 'Usually after a typhoon we get calls about dead birds. A few
yellow bittern babies were found dead at Naval Station. And I found a
dead tern that was blown against a chain link fence.'

"The Marianas Audubon Society counted only one brown noddy tern two weeks
after the typhoon, compared to 187 counted last year, according to a
report by the society. However, Wiles said some noddy terns have been
spotted on the bouys and rocks at Apra Harbor in the past two weeks.
'They are back now. Ordinarily that means that some of them went where
the fish are located,' Wiles said, adding that researchers are not
certain where the birds hide during the storms. The Marianas Audubon
Society also reported that after Paka, the number of tree sparrows
dropped by nearly 1,000 this year and the Pacific Golden Plover by 200.

"Of the 100 Guam Rails kept in cages outside the Division of Aquatic and
Wildlife, two adults died as a result of the trauma from being moved
indoors, said Wiles. Other birds, however, like Guam's residents, are
more resilient. Two of the only 16 Marianas Crows on Guam, for instance,
had been seen breeding on Anderson Air Force Base before the storm. Both
the nest and the tree were destroyed by the storm. Within two weeks after
the storm, the rebuilt,' said Wiles."

****

Some personal notes...

Spent some time trying to locate Yellow Bitterns without success until
waiting for the plane to depart this morning. Three made three fly-by's
within fifty feet of the large airport windows.

On a 24 hour trip to Rota, had one of those unforgetable birding
occasionally brings out way. I drove to the viewpoint at the bird
sanctuary at first light to watch an incredible sunrise. Looking down on
over 200 Red-Footed Boobies nesting in the tops of trees, I watched a
dazzling aerial display by both Red-Tailed and White-Tailed Tropicbirds
flying in the same airspace. Stunning!

Walking through a privately owned nature trail, there was a complete
absence of small birds. The proprietor indicated that they had not
returned since the typhoon on December 19.

Met a researcher on Rota working with Wiles who was radio tracking Guam
Rails transplanted there to try to save the species after being virtually
eradicated by the Brown Tree Snakes on Guam. He had located one bird that
morning, but indicated that the released birds are apparently not
reproducing.

While on Rota, I saw many previously recorded birds and seven lifers.

Grant Hendrickson
Redmond, WA
grant at brigadoon.com