Study Species of Bird Island

Now that first call has been finished on the second attempt I have been able to settle more into my role as the Penguin and Giant Petrel Zoological Field Assistant on Bird Island; and it is time to introduce the team and main study species.

I am learning the role from Al Wilson, who has been on island for over a year, and Jerry Gillham, who took on the role for 2.5 years between late 2012 and early 2015 and who has now returned as our station leader for the summer.

Lucy Quinn is the Albatross Zoological Field Assistant who has extended her time on island to stay for a second winter. James Robbins is currently learning from Siân Tarrant as the Seal Zoological Field Assistants and Ian Storey is our technical expert for the coming 12 months, taking on the role from Robbie Scott, keeping the base running with power, heating and water.

(Team photos will come in the next blog, saving the first people shots for a special annual event!)

Our ecological work falls in to two categories; LTMS and non-LTMS. LTMS means long-term monitoring surveys; these have been conducted for multiple years running, some for over 50 years depending on the work, in order to understand the ecological trends of our study species. The non-LTMS work is not long term and often consists of certain survey methods being used for just a season or two in order to answer a specific question we have on the target species.

But the types of work we do will be described as I do them throughout my time on island. For now here is a quick introduction to each of the species we will be working with:

Macaroni Penguin (Eudyptes chrysolophus): Most commonly referred to as “Macs” these charismatic little penguins are the subject of study in two main areas, Little Mac and Big Mac.

Macs

Gentoo Penguin (Pygoscelis papua): Simply called “Gentoos” these penguins are much harder to determine study times for as they can begin their season at different times each year depending on conditions.

Gentoo

Northern Giant Petrel (Macronectes halli) and Southern Giant Petrel (Macronectes giganteus): Collectively known as “Geeps” these two closely related species are most distinguishable from each other by the coloured sheath on the tips of their bills. Think traffic lights, red is top, or north for the Northern Geeps whilst green is bottom, or south for the Southern Geeps.

Geeps - Northern on the left, Southern the right

Whilst these four are my main target species there are a number of others that have some LTMS work that falls within my job description as well.

White-chinned Petrel (Procellaria aequinoctialis): One of the larger petrel species on the island, although obviously still much smaller than the Geeps, these petrels are the only burrow nesting species we regularly monitor. Called “White-chins” because of the small white marking below their bill. (As White-chins are burrow nesting photos are harder to come by, but I will provide some when going in to more detail on this species later in the season).

Imperial Shag (Phalacrocorax atriceps): As this is the only member of the cormorant family on island they are referred to as just “Shags”. Preferring to nest on cliff ledges they are some of the more inaccessible colonies we monitor.

Shag

Brown Skua (Stercorarius antarcticus): The local scavengers and predators (although the Geeps also fit this description!) the “Skuas” are one of the more recent additions to our study programme.

Skua

South Georgia Pintail (Anas georgica) and Snowy Sheathbill (Chionis albus): The “Pintail” and “Poop-Chicken” (to put it nicely!) are the subject of some small monitoring practises during the winter. The latter gets its unusual nickname from its tendency to peck around in the faeces of other animals for food, occasionally it will even peck in open wounds of seals!

Left: Poop-chicken - Right: Pintail

Whilst these are the species I am monitoring with Al there are also the albatross species that I am assisting Lucy with, and the seals being studied by James and Siân.

Wandering Albatross (Diomedea exulans): The “Wanals” or “Wanderers” are the largest flying bird in the world and it takes them 18 months to raise a single chick. This means that even when the quieter moments in winter arrive there will still be some Wanal chicks to go and check on.

Wanal

Black-browed Albatross (Thalassarche melanophrys) and Grey-headed Albatross (Thalassarche chrysostoma): Collectively called “Mollymawks”, the “Black-brows” and “Grey-heads” are two closely related species spread across the island in multiple colonies of various sizes.

Mollymawks: Grey-Head on the left, Black-brow the right

Light-mantled Sooty Albatross (Phoebetria palpebrata): Termed “Sooties” these albatross are more nervous than the other species and as such have less work attributed to them; but some monitoring can be done.

Sooties

Antarctic Fur Seal (Arctocephalus gazella): Called “Furries” these are the most common species of seal on Bird Island, crowding out the bay in front of our accommodation during the summer.

Furry

Southern Elephant Seal (Mirounga leonina): “Ellies” are the largest of the seals on Bird Island and breed earlier in the year than the Furries. They certainly are impressive to see up close!

Ellie - big male between some Furries

Leopard Seal (Hydrurga leptonyx): The “Leps” are notorious as the predatory seal on island, coming ashore and monitored in the winter they can occasionally be seen in the waters hunting penguins. (Unfortunately the Leps are winter visitors to our island and so no photo for now).

Ultimately we all get to work with all the species as certain studies often require more than one or two pairs of hands, plus being such a small team on an island with one bird or seal for every 1.5m² means having to work very closely together to get everything done!

So these are the main species I will be telling you all about during my time on Bird Island. Of course there are other species living here as well, or passing by on migration, and I am sure they will make their presence known from time-to-time and I will let you know when they do. But for now, I’m off to meet a penguin, or ten-thousand!

Views from the hills either side of Home Sweet Home!

First Call and First Impressions

Bird Island is harder to land the cargo and personnel at than King Edward Point, which is on the South Georgia mainland and has a harbour that the JCR itself can dock on. Therefore, when a weather window allows Bird Island gets the priority for the call in of the BAS ships. As such, after leaving the UK on the 5^th November, visiting the Falklands and Signy but missing King Edward Point, I made it to my new home of Bird Island on the 23^rd November.

First view of Bird Island (it is the more distant and misty one!)

Well, when I say made it to my new home, what I actually mean is the ship did. We arrived overnight with the hope of a 6am drop-off but the high winds meant we had to sit and actually wait until 5am the following morning to get dropped off.

James, Ian, Jerry and I ready to go ashore

Those of us staying on the station for the next few seasons got over early in order to start to settle in and meet the team already on island. This was a great opportunity actually as it allowed those of us that haven’t been before to get acquainted with the layout of the base and chat with the team before being drowned in cargo to unpack.

The cargo was able to finally get through the wind in the late afternoon, but only half could be completed before it got dark. We were unpacking until around midnight but it was a very successful day. However, not all our cargo made it in and with the weather looking worse the JCR decided to leave for King Edward Point and will come back to finish Bird Island later in the week.

Cargo aside it was amazing to finally make it to the base. I have been waiting since April (when I was hired) to get to Bird Island and my first impressions of the place certainly didn’t disappoint! The team were incredibly friendly and welcoming (and there will be more on who we are and what we do throughout my time here) and the base itself is also excellent. The buildings are actually quite big and very comfortable to live in.

The office, boot room, kitchen, bedroom and living room

With the JCR away for a couple of days it actually meant I could get my first experiences of the wildlife. First impression: OH MY GOD! This island is spectacular and it is almost a bit surreal to be here.  The wildlife is instantly in front of us with the landing beach covered in fur seals.

Seals on the doorstep! This is mostly males, when the females arrive it will be packed!

The sights and sounds as the male fur seals establish a territory awaiting the arrival of the majority of the females is an unusual welcome to a new home, but one that I certainly enjoyed!

I also got my first opportunity to go and see the wandering albatross nest sites. These birds are ridiculously big! No photo really does do the size justice but I can say that working with one of, if not the largest flying birds in the world is an experience I’ll never forget!

Wandering Albatross - massive!

But of course I am primarily the Penguin and Giant Petrel Zoological Field Assistant so it was my first experiences with these species that were the highlights of my first couple of days on base. The Giant Petrels have a real prehistoric look to them and going around reading their ring numbers to confirm the partnerships currently breeding for the first time produced a continuous smile :)

Giant Petrels

Last but certainly not least was my first sight of the Macaroni Penguin colony over on Big Mac. This truly took my breath away. You can hear it before you see it, but when you see it the sight of thousands of penguins up the hillside is something that will never cease to amaze me whenever I go and work with that colony.

The really, really Big Mac colony

I certainly can’t wait to continue to learn my new role and experience the work we do with the wildlife here more. I wonder how long the Jurassic Park theme song will be stuck in my head when I walk over the edge of cliffs and see a range of albatross and petrels nesting in front of me!

Birds nesting in the mist across the island

Humpback Whales

On route from Signy to South Georgia we again passed through the ice. But it was once we reached the open water that we got the exceptional wildlife sighting of this part of the journey – Humpback Whales! I have never seen whales before coming south and I was very excited at just distant and brief glimpses of what we think were Antarctic Minke Whales on the way down to Signy. But when we came across a pod of Humpback Whales that came right alongside the ship the whale watching became absolutely outstanding. Here are the best pictures I managed to get amongst the excitement:

They came even closer to the ship than this!

Sights of the flukes were few, but brilliant.

Blowing out water was a sure sign that a whale had arrived!

3 in one frame, but there were a minimum of 6, including a calf!

Wildlife watching at its finest.

Humpback Whales - Spectacular!!

Signy

We arrived at Signy base at lunchtime on the 16^th November, however conditions in the bay outside the base were far from ideal with ice in the water still and heavy winds blowing. As such the Signy team just did a quick reconnaissance to establish the condition of the base before we began work on the 17^th. The weather was much nicer on the 17^th and the views of the mountainous Signy and the glaciers on neighbouring Coronation Island were incredible, just when I think the views of the ice on the way here were spectacular these South Orkney Islands upped the level!

Top: Signy - Bottom: Coronation Island

We were split into groups, some going ashore to unload equipment and dig the snow that had accumulated over winter (Signy is only manned during the summer months) out and away from the base. The cargo and people were transferred by a tender with ribs accompanying for safety.

Getting the cargo and people to Signy

I was in the group that initially stayed on the JCR in order to load the equipment on to the tender and reorganise and tidy our cargo hold afterwards. The perk of this job was being entertained by a Brown Skua which followed us around deck. I must say that wild animals getting too accustomed to people is not a good thing, and this Skua certainly wasn’t encouraged by us to be on the deck – don’t feed wild animals! But as this one was sticking around we had to get a few photos; I certainly won’t be expecting the Skuas on Bird Island to be this placid when I see them!

Skua on the JCR

The pictures so far may be a bit misleading, the sunshine around Signy isn’t exactly common and we were reminded of that the following day. The weather reverted to what it was when we first arrived and we had to spend the day aboard the JCR hoping for a window in which to send people and the remaining equipment and stores over to the base again. But with the high winds and ice back in the bay outside the base (the base is behind the low rocks in middle of the picture below) we were left waiting a while.

Grey skies, high winds and ice return to Signy

After a false alarm late in the afternoon on the 18^th – we got all kitted up and waited for the tender but the winds picked up and after half an hour we had to give up – we made our final trip to Signy first thing the following morning. This time I joined the shore team to complete the final cargo unloading and storing. Most of it was food, it had to be stored well and most importantly all the fresh food has to be checked through for any flora and fauna that may have been within; biosecurity is a major factor of protecting small islands with their own unique landscape and happily nothing was brought in on the food.

Cargo being moved by skidoo and sledge and then stored

The base is on Signy primarily to continue work with the Adelie Penguin colony; unfortunately we didn’t have time to go and see them but Stacey Adlard will be running the surveys this summer for the 5^th year in a row (after she also did 2.5 years on Bird Island). It was good to talk to someone so experienced and learn about the work from someone else who has been through it all before. Alongside Stacey’s work there are visiting scientists at Signy this year, exchanging a few times through the season. This rotation of scientists is sometimes done on the islands in order to allow experts to collect a range of different data, that otherwise wouldn’t be collected as part of the regular monitoring projects, in order to better understand and protect the environment. I’m very glad to have had an opportunity to see another BAS base, one that is quite different in surroundings to what I will have on Bird Island, and Signy certainly was a spectacle.

View of Signy from the tender and view from Signy of the frozen bay

But now, with all the stores equipped and all the power confirmed to be running and stable it was time for us to leave the Signy team to their work for the summer and head to our next stop; South Georgia.

Goodbye from the Signy team! Have a great season!