17 JUNE 1998. JOHNSTON
ATOLL: SEABIRD "Beginnng in late April-early May Johnston Atoll birds (16
deg. N, 169 deg. W) started showing effects of the ENSO event. Sooty chicks
of all ages starved to death by the thousands, adults incubating eggs deserted
eggs. Chicks still present in June were all underweight and more were dying.
Brown Noddy adults were standing around on territories but not laying eggs.
They are about 6-8 weeks late and some should have had fledglings by June.
A few were beginning to lay in early June. White Terns were nesting but
had higher than normal chick mortality. Red-footed boobies, which lay throughout
the year, had essentially stopped laying eggs and only a few birds were
incubating eggs or building nests. Red-tailed tropicbird chicks were experiencing
higher than normal mortality. Chick mortality is usually about 1% and 99%
of those chicks die within the first week of life. There was probably 2-3%
chick mortality occurring and many older chicks were dying. No chicks weighed
over about 750 g when usually they reach an asymptotic mass of 900g. The
population of many of the species nesting on Johnston has increased over
the past 15 years that I have been monitoring it. It appears that nest
numbers will not increase this year owing to the ENSO."-B.A Schreiber SchreiberE@aol.com.
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1997 El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO 97-98)