37 
MIDWAY 11-13-63 
The fed. ry tern population seems if anything a bit 
larger than i n September, probably due to the fledging 
of all chicks* Two Common Noddys were seen all day, and 
Four adult Tropicbirds were seen although I examined two 
,„.freshly dead chicks, and one chick apparently weakened but 
not ( yet?) dead: It fcad the n bill disease " on the 
culmen, and the leading edge of the right wing. The wing 
part of the disease was nearly walled off as a cyst and 
r-ooarently this is not necessarily fatal. But, the malforma¬ 
tion of the bill persisted. Hawaiian Noddys were present 
in somewhat fewer numbers than September, perhaps 60 percent 
of the population being there. I can give no accurate esti¬ 
mates on the albatross populations. No frigates, boobys, 
or Christmas shearwaters were seen, and only one wedgetail. 
As mentioned previously, the bulk of the Bonin seem to 
still be there. Shorebirds: Two Br.thighed Curlews seen 
and Lt 0 Swanson of Security told me that at least 10 - 15 
habituate the areas near the rifle range. Sanderlings are 
now common and ~ saw at least 40 in the overrun ponds at 
East end of the East-West Runway. Plovers and Turnstones 
are abundant and perhaps slightly more numerous that in 
/.. September. Sharp-tailed Sandpipers are also common: In 
[ ~ mmmmtm rnmm m mmm mat#****m*** ***»mmm m u im mrnrni mt* ; r>«in n wx m** **** ***** 
1 one spot at the over run ponds 2 counted 23 at once, and 
this all indicated with the data’obtained at Kure that 
Sharp-tails are a regular member of this winter community. 
One small plover like white bird was seen, but this may 
have been an odd sanderling . I was amazed by the great 
numbers of singing introduced canarys: there were at least 
a hundred in the trees about the BQQ and Hospital. 
There was also a group of at least 12 ducks on the island — 
I counted that many at once, and perhaps there was as many 
20 on the island. Because of the plethora of things that 
we should have collected, I contacted Lt. Cdr. Frye of 
Security and arranged to borrow a gun and some shells, and 
with Lt. Swanson who welcomed the change from office w&rk 
I went Co the over-run to get as much as possible. Total 
shooting bag for the day was 2 Green-winged teal, one ? 
Pintail, another Scaup-like duck of the same kind collected 
at KUre Oct. 29, 2 Sanderlings, 1 Plover, and 1 Sharp- 
tailed Sandpiper. In addition, a Ckull-ldss, but otherwise 
complete skeleton of a small duck was located and collected 
as well a£ Fairy Tern and — Bonin Petrel that were electrocuA 
ted on Hi-Voltage wires. I also found a Sooty £ ? ) Petrel 
that had been run over by a car about two weeks previously 
near the AEW hanger. 12 specimens in a day ia not bad for 
r 
N 
