Mollymawks

There are three Zoological Field Assistant roles on BI: the giant petrel and penguin, the seal and the albatross. The three positions last around 18 months. This allows us to learn the job from the current ZFA’s when we first arrive in November until they leave in April; then we complete the winter ourselves before handing over to the next group the following November to April.

Al going through the GPS settings with me before a study (Photo courtesy of Lucy)

This works really well as it means each position has 2 ZFA’s working in it during each summer when work loads are higher. However, as Lucy, the albatross ZFA, has extended to stay for an extra year there was no second albatross ZFA for the current summer. This means that whenever I can, around the giant petrel and penguin work, I become an albatross assistant as well and get to work with the mollymawks.

Lucy monitoring in a grey-head colony

Mollymawks, the common term for any albatross species in the genus Thalassarche – which on BI consists of the grey-heads and black-brows – nest in colonies all across the island. These colonies are designated by the alphabet and it is in colonies B, E, H, J and N where most of our molly work is completed.

Molly colonies (black-brow colony N on the left, grey-head colony B on the right) are on steep tussock slopes

The colonies are often one species or the other although they can have some mixing going on. However, these two species do not interbreed as it takes grey-heads longer to raise a chick (69-78 days incubation, 140 days chick rearing) than the black-brows (65-72 days incubation, 110-125 days chick rearing) and as such they nest biennially as opposed to annually.

Grey-head colony with a few black-brows on the edge mixing in

Much like with the giant petrels and skuas our work consists of monitoring these areas for population and productivity; going through each colony systematically counting the nests that are still active.

Lucy checking a black-brow colony

Now we have passed the hatching period and the chicks are being raised by the adults. It is amazing to see these little albatrosses growing bigger and hopefully they have a successful season!

The chicks are starting to get big enough to be left on their own (grey-head the two left, black-brow two right)

By doing the surveying of these colonies alongside Lucy as much as I can I am able to learn the layout of each of the five colonies. This will be very important as the chicks will be nearly fully grown and then beginning to fledge in April and May; the time when Lucy will be away to have a short break between her extended stay on BI, so it will be my responsibility to ensure the monitoring is continued in Lucy’s absence.

Black-brow wondering why I am looking happy when collecting its poo! (Photo courtesy of Lucy)

It is not just the mollies that are surveyed either. The sooties are also checked for population and productivity but on a less frequent basis as they are a more nervous species. Due to the location of their nests, the sooties are often on cliff ledges, monitoring is done from a distance by binoculars.

Unfortunately the sooty nests are just too far away for decent pictures, so here is an adult I got closer to

It is a privilege to be able to be so involved with these species; alongside my regular work with the petrels and penguins I couldn’t have wished for a more varied and thorough experience of seabird monitoring in the Antarctic!

White-chinned Petrels

I have previously briefly mentioned white-chins as being one of our study species and came across them for the first time during the geep census. White-chins are a petrel species in the order Procellariiformes - in other words 'tubenoses'. All petrels make up this order with fulmars and shearwaters, albatrosses, storm petrels and diving petrels. All are given this name due to the nostrils being located in a tube-like structure on top of the bill; smell plays a key role in foraging for these birds.

All Procellariiformes have very strong pair-bonds (not necessarily for life, although that can happen, but certainly long-term) and return to the same colonies to breed each year. They lay just one egg and whilst larger species like giant petrels and albatross nest above ground the smaller species nest in burrows for safety from predators. White-chins are one such species, digging their burrows with their beaks and claws - this is why seeing them above ground has been difficult.

But recently there have been a couple of locations on BI where the white-chins seem to really like sitting just outside their burrows, so we have unexpectedly been able to see them up close. Therefore, here are some much better photos of white-chins:

Calling to each other

Outside the burrow with the signs of digging on their beaks

Stunning looking birds with the small white patch on the chin in clear view

To think, this image isn't zoomed in at all! He must like the camera!

A clear view of the tubenose - petrels have excellent senses of smell

I certainly feel very lucky to be able to work with the more elusive species on BI as well as the larger albatrosses and geeps. Getting views of white-chins like this will always be a highlight for me!