HOWLAND I. 
A. Anderson 
1964 
10 October 1964 , (cont . ) 
After dark three of us banded sooties and the others, sooty terns. 
Practically all the nesting birds on the island have been banded already, 
while about 2/l0 of those roosting in clubs along the beach have bands. We 
found three major clubs of several hundred birds each, working one success- 
fully and totalling over 350 banded blu-faced in several hours. A few brown 
boobs were caught with several returns. One noddy was banded. 
Later observed morays, fishes, crabs, cowries, cucumbers etc. in action 
at 2 AM along a rock projection on the E side of Howland. 
11 October 1964 
Bounded up at and went banding lesser frigate chicks in the large 
colony on S end of island. We did 500 and collected 10 adults, five for 
skins and five for skeletons. Spent most of the day preparing these. Ship T s 
captain and crew came in after lunch to get sunburned and kindly brought us 
some lucky lager, ice cold. 
Another gray-back tern nest with two eggs has been found toward center 
of island in Tribulus . 
At five went after immature sooty terns and did 600 while seven adults 
were collected and blood samples were taken from adult and nestling frigates, 
blue-faced boobies and sooty terns. 
Observed the mysterious sooty behavior in which they fly out into the 
breakers, dip down, and take up water in their bill. It is uncertain whether 
they simply swallow it or take it back to the young; they seem to make for shore 
night after doing this. About 10 terns were doing this in any given hundred yds. 
One adult blue-faced sooty was collected. Turned in at 8. 
12 October 
Up at 2 AM. We agin split the party in half for banding boobies and 
sooty terns. 3100 sooties were banded by daybreak. At first light in the 
east, about 5: 30 AM, the birds became imperceptably more restless and flew more 
readily when about to be banded. By 5:50 AM most of those incubating were 
no longer sitting on their eggs but standing beside them and quite restless. 
Lines of 3-8 birds formed randomly in the nesting colony as birds stood side 
by side ready to take off. By 6 AM the birds were taking off in considerable 
numbers and were extremely difficult to catch. They flew about over the 
colony, not taking off to fish at once; the majority were still circling 
half an hour later* 
At 0615 made an activity study from the top of the lighthouse to find 
about 2,000 lesser frigates stacked up over the SW corner of the island to 
nearly 1,000 ft. and another 4,000 hovering within 100 of the resting colony 
at the S end. Most of the sooties in sight flew directly over the colony 
(est. 40,000 nests), but some were leaving the island westward and a few doz./ 
minute trickled off in other directions. 
At 7:15 -AM most of us went banding lesser frigate chicks, totalling 9^0 
by 9:30* Three birds were found to have decurved or laterally twisted bills, 
