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- short time so returned to camp for supper.
About 11 pm, dusk, we cocked our ears
listening for the return of the adult murrelets to
the nest. We climed [climbed] the hill behind the warf [wharf]
(west side H. [Henslung] Bay) and about midnight we began
to hear the double sillibant [syllabant], finchlike cries of the
birds. In another hour calls were everywhere
and the birds were whizzing thru [through] the trees,
frequently hitting branches, and sometimes the trunks
themselves. They came tumbling out of the
air to land at our feet and begin their
awkward scramble to their holes. Egg shells
here, as earlier in the day, were fairly common,
but we found only one chick making his way
to the sea. The air became still noisier with
the whirr of wings and the shrill call of the
birds. Paul [Joslin] had seen nothing like it. We took
some electronic flash pictures then returned to
the beach to see if we could find more
young ones making the journey. We walked
around the bay and back. While the near shore
had plenty of adults swimming about calling we
Saw no young ones. We had about concluded
the young leave for the sea in the early
evening when I discovered two more. The
base of our warf [wharf] was alive with bugling
birds. Bed by 2:30 AM.
June 3 [1960]
Up by 8 Nothing in 5 rat traps tho' [though] 3
set off - likely by murrelets. Spent a.m. [morning]
organizing camp., skinning murrelet, setting
out more traps. In p.m. [evening] hiked along beach
east around point to a cliff face. Falcons
had been nesting here this year but we were
told were shot by some [illegible word]. Climbed around
cliff face, at top returning to camp rather
than fighting salal up and down the eastern
camp. Dusk at 10:30, odd jobs keeping us
going past midnight.
June 4 [1960].
Opened an eye at 5:15 am to check to see
where the murrelets were at this hour.
Saw them far out in middle of passage.
Checked traps: 2 shrew, 1 rat.
Deer tracks common, tho' [though] none seen
yet. Have seen no 'coon [raccoon] tracks, tho' [though] good
mud to show tracks is rare.
Took our small boat on a.m. [morning] high
ride and spluttered our way out into mid
passage amidst the thousands of murrelets
Strange - no young seen. - where have
they gone. Took movies of the birds
and headed east to Lucy Island. Docked
about noon on west end and proceeded
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