Intern Account: Jiny:
“So today is another day for our islet surveys. The helicopter company needed us to come in at seven this morning because of their schedule. It is a very early day for us. Heather, Jaap, and I are hoping it will be good weather, however, the news forecast said otherwise. Our helicopter pilot is more experienced this time and can make the drop to Mokumana. Last time it was too windy and the pilot was skeptical, so we decided to be safe. Today is a better day for flying. It is not as heavy of winds as we had last week. We have good weather for the most part. It is sunny for most of the day except for a few showers on and off. Jaap was dropped off on the smaller section of the islet, while Heather and I are together on the larger part of the islet. There is a steep drop between the two parts of the island which make is inaccessible for crossing over. There is a lot of vegetation with more varieties than we have seen so far on any of the others. There are non-native and native plant species which I can recognize from the previous week or surveying in Maui. It looks like seabirds use this part of the islet for roosting. We can tell from the presence of fresh guano on some of the rocks. We start collecting our samples of insects and notice there are a plethora of spiders. They are pretty big and I begin to notice every single one on the islet. I get especially nervous of spiders so I am careful where I walk. I also notice that there are many wedge-tailed shearwater chicks sitting under the naupaka bushes. There are about nine chicks nesting. This is my favorite part; seeing these seabirds so close is amazing. I realize that our efforts in this project are important for the future of these animals as well as others. I am very enthusiastic of all the different insects that Heather and I are collecting. I think next time we need to bring many more vials and containers for collection. We have spent a few hours on this one and the helicopter has come to pick us up. The helicopter pilot is very quick in making his landing and taking off; he is just so precise and handles it beautifully. That is a relief especially if the weather changes to worse. It’s pretty funny to watch Jaap get picked up because it reminds me of a typical scene from Mission Impossible.”