Oct. 9-13, 1964 ——SIBLEY SUMMARY: 
N y 
f 
11 Estimated 44,000 chicks & eggs (ratio 5/l). 820C 
adults & 2000 nestlings banded. 1 return. 4 collected for skins, 5 
for skeletons. 72 adults & 19 nestlings blood sampled. Estimated 
100,000 birds, 0 nestlings collected." 
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL NOT FORMERLY EXTRACTED 
(RBC) 6/10/65 
SOOTY TERN 
\ 
ROWLAND ISLAND 
Birds - Annotated List 
Oetober 10, 1964 -- Hackman — (Remakring on Sooty Terns in 
feeding floci offshore ) "The Sooty Terns were wheeling in 
from a height of 40 feet or more. They pitched in sharply 
and then leveled out abruptly splashing the water (apparently) 
with only their bills and breasts (and perhaps with their 
feet) See also Lesser Frigate. 
ix Banded Sooty Terns until midnight. Found four instances 
of Sooty Terns incubating two eggs. One (egg?) was broken 
open and there was a fresh egg and a heavily incubated 
one. All eggs that were unavoidably stepped upon were 
checked and then covered with sand to prevent the birds 
from sitting on broken eggs. This chick revelaed that all 
but a few eggs were heavily incubated, " 
Ky 
October 11, 1964 - Hackman — "Sooty Tern .... nestlings 
still regurgitating large quantities of fresh squid.:" 
Observations probably made between 1200 N and 1500) 
October 12, 1964 ---- Hackman -- "Throughout the morning there 
was an enormous feeding flock of Sooty Terns working about 
miles oitshore. This flock stretched north and south 
iOr 2/jrds o;. the length of the island. Very few frigates, 
v'.iich seem to prerer feeding close inshore, were observed 
,with this flock. " 
October 10, 1964 —— Merrill — 
observed incubating two eggs 
U 
One adult Sooty Tern was 
Also while picking up the 
adults the very ;young chicks would come along with them 
as if they were being held by the adult. One small chick 
was being carried off by a hermit crab. The crab was urged 
to desist. " 
M 
Ticks were found in the Sooty Tern colony but only in one 
area within the colony. The adults and even the tiniest 
cnicks were infested with them, MMrM 11 ("They were greenish 
in color while others, probably those which had eaten 
were red 
it 
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