Potential reasons for this low productivity include human disturbance, predation and the weather.

The return of grasshopper sparrows at Katama this summer has been heralded by Island conservationists as a hopeful sign of ecological health.

Everything else eats insects at this time of the year, so why not a harrier?

Two weeks ago it was shearwaters, last week it was the brown booby and now it is a phalarope.

Unexpected is not an understatement. A brown booby is a pelagic species that some birders make special trips to the Dry Tortugas to see.

Long narrow wings and a fairly robust body, running along the water’s surface to become airborne, oceanic and a tube on top of their beaks to excrete excess salt. All are characteristics of shearwaters.