So I have been home exactly 48 hours and being in the Amazon already feels like a dream. This was my third season and we accomplished a lot in 10 weeks. First, we ran three censuses to resight banded skimmers and terns in Manu. Check. Found quite a few from last year and 2015.
The above photo is of -:G(B4) that was banded by Martin Austad in 2015. He's been sighted (the bird that is) in 2017 and 2018 trying to nest upriver of Cocha Cashu Biological Research Station for the past two years
This is Tomasz K/W:G(D3) that we banded in 2017. He's been hanging around with Ronit for the last couple of seasons. They got chicks out last year but this season was a bust due to predation of chicks.
We were even getting resights on the Large-billed Terns we banded last year. This is O/O:K/B or Juanita as we call her. She was successful getting chicks out for both 2017 and 2018.
Next we collected data on nesting beach structure and ambient sand temperatures. My crew was not enthused to be out in +40 degree C sands. I don't know how these birds handle it so well!
Nevertheless, we succeeded and managed to get some very interesting data on temperature extremes and how structure of the playa may be very influential on how. Good work team!