The 8/21/06 trip on the William Pierce was Captained by Fred Kucik. He handled the boat with great skill and made it an easy and pleasant trip to and from Little Galloo Island. The surface water of Lake Ontario between Henderson Harbor and Little Galloo was 71 degrees F and the day was sunny and warm. On approaching downwind of the island in a Zodiak, the stench of decaying carcasses was wafting over the water.

The 8/21/06 trip made it clear that botulism is still an active cause of mortality on Little Galloo Island and especially important for the Caspian terns (Cates). They still have some nestlings and young that can walk and hide in weeds, but that have little-to-no flight capability. The nesting season for the ring-billed gulls seems to have ended and numerous dead ring-bills are present (both hatch-year and adult), but the carcasses were mostly skeletonized. There is a big drop in the ring-billed gull population of the island because most of them have disbursed. The small great black-backed gull colony seems to have been wiped-out, presumably by Type E botulism.

Sick and freshly-dead Cates were present, especially on and adjacent to their main nesting area. On a stretch of Little Galloo's beach, 186 dead Cates were found. Some were freshly dead while others, though fly-blown, had much of their tissues still to be consumed by larvae.

As of 8/21/06, we have counted 672 carcasses of Cates with 80% of them being adults. This is a conservative figure for losses, since some dead Cates are in thick, herbaceous cover and others die in Lake Ontario and are carried elsewhere by waves, and some sink to oblivion. This outbreak, not yet over, has taken a significant amount of next year's Cate breeders. Another year or two of botulinum E in Lake Ontario could result in a serious decline in the State of New York's Cate population. It is good to hear that a small colony of Cates, not impacted by botulism, exists on Lake Champlain.

Cormorants with botulism have been observed on all three trips to Little Galloo, but they are much, much fewer in number compared to the Cates. They may have more resistance to the botulinum toxin than the other species at the island.

I expect the Cate botulism mortality on the island will be heavy for the next ten days or so. Mortality will also continue in Cates that leave the island, but take prey from ports of the lake where fish prey with botulism are present.

We brought back three herring gulls and five live botulinum-intoxicated birds. One immature gull died Tuesday night. They were tubed with Gatorade and fed minnows. One gull recovered and was flying after 36 hours and was released. The Cates are recovering quickly and I believe all could be released by 72 hours. Perhaps one may need 96 hours. This is similar to our last treated group of Cates two weeks ago.

Shorebird activity on Little Galloo beaches was moderate and two ill shorebirds were noted. We couldn't quite catch them yet. The ingestion of maggots from birds dying of botulism is the probable source. We are likely to see some significant loon, merganser and duck mortalities from botulism on Lake Ontario. I would like to go back to Little Galloo a number of more times this late summer and fall. Type E botulinum toxin lasts well into cold weather so it can be expected to be present in prey fish, mussels, and other invertebrates when the loons and other migratory birds arrive. When you consider the wide area in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, where birds can die of botulism, the threat to shorebirds, songbirds, bald eagles, and scavenging wild mammals (e.g. raccoons, opossums), may be considerable.

Weather and time will tell, but it looks like a tough fall with botulism in Lake Ontario, and at least some will be in Lake Erie and the Niagara and St. Lawrence River. We obviously need to know where the hot-spots for botulism are located in the lakes and it would be useful to know the fish species killed by botulism and the toll on their populations.

Migrating Monarch butterflies seem to use Little Galloo in both coming and going to Canada. I did not see any milkweed on the island. However, it may be present on nearby Galloo Island. On all this summers boat trips, from and to Little Galloo, I spotted Monarchs flying over the water.

Little Galloo is a rare piece of beautiful habitat not yet thoroughly studied or appreciated. Hopefully, the botulism problem can be alleviated. This may happen when some biological controls lower the exotic mussel populations. It would also help to have less round gobies. However, this seasons data, in addition, seems to implicate other species in this outbreak, especially the brown bullhead and to a lesser extent rock bass.

We need to take further steps to prevent additional introductions from sea-going vessels, as well as domestic introductions (e.g. people releasing aquarium fish, invertebrates and plants) into the Great Lakes Ecosystem.

More pictures

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