sic #19 
PRELIMINARY REPORT 
HOWLAND ISLAND 
( 
by 
Roger B. Clapp 
Field Trip Personnel : Roger B. Clapp, Richard S. Crossin, C. Douglas 
Hackman 
Support Vessel : U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Planetree (WAGL 3 O 7 ) 
Captain Myron Gordon. 
s 0 
Itinerary : 1800 16 July 1968 - Field party arrives Howland 
0900 18 July 1968 - Field party departs Hovland 
POBSP Man-days Spent on Hovland : 4-.9 
In July 1968 Hovland vas much drier than on almost all earlier visits. 
Most of the formerly rampant grovth of Digitaria vas dead, or nearly so, 
and almost all parts of the interior of the island were much more open 
than vas usually the case* The area of dead Cordia in the center of the 
island that had a luxuriant undergrovth of Tribulus in July 1966 had so 
little vegetation that almost all tropicbird nests in the area could be 
easily counted. 
The notable information obtained vas the rediscovery of a Wedge¬ 
tailed Shearvater colony and the interisland return of a tropicbird that had 
formerly bred on Baker and a Lesser Frigatebird that had been banded on 
Phoenix. 
Our visit vas all too brief and did not permit adequate surveys of 
all species. Most of our time vas spent in obtaining sample nest counts 
and returns of breeding birds. It is recommended that in the future 
banding and return vork be confined to a fev species and to specific areas 
of the island to maximize the number of times the same birds are returned 
as breeders. One area vhich vould be particularly good for such studies 
is the southwest corner of the island, south of the lighthouse, where most 
of the Brown Boobies and a high density of Blue-faced Boobies nest. 
Future visits, particularly in the fall, winter, and early spring, should 
make an especial effort to check the status of the Wedge-tailed Shearwater- 
colony. 
Complete handling of the Red-tailed Tropicbirds in the rocks along 
the vest shore (where nests vere re-noted this trip) should also-be stressed 
so that data of maximal biological significance can be obtained. It might 
also be worthwhile to return and band as many breeding Red-footed Boobies 
as possible in order to document the level of turnover and any failure in 
the nesting population, (this island appears to be far more disturbed than 
most). 
