Living on Bird Island, as its name suggests, is always full
of wildlife. But it isn’t just the
giant petrels,
penguins and
albatross that
make up our birdy heaven. There are plenty of other species around to keep us
busy and entertained and here is a bit of information on just a few of them.
First up there are the shags. I have
mentioned this elegant
species before but unfortunately this update is not particularly nice as it
appears that the breeding season has failed for many of them. We can’t say why
this might be as yet, the studies are ongoing, but hopefully, much like the
gentoos, they will bounce back from a poor year with a more successful one next
summer.
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| The shag colony hasn't bred so well but they will try again next year |
In winter I will actually be surveying the snowy sheathbills
and South Georgia pintails a couple of times a month for population levels. But
for now they are just getting on with their breeding season in the background
of the larger birds. So to bring them into the spotlight a bit more here are
some details on sheathbills and pintails – collectively called ‘duckbills’.
The sheathbills are regularly seen around base as they peck
at carrion and faeces to find food but seeing their nests isn’t so easy. By
making nests out of tussock under rock overhangs finding a nest is a challenge,
and even though the chicks could be deemed more ‘ugly’ than other chick species’
I think they are worth it when a nest is found.
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| Finding nests can be difficult, but seeing a small sheathbill chick being protected by its parent (top) and a large sheathbill chick near to fledging (bottom) are great sights |
The pintails are even more elusive when nesting. I did find
a nest of 3 eggs in the tussock during a geep survey (the only nest of eggs
found for a number of years on island!) but unfortunately was not able to get a
picture. The adults themselves are a bit more timid and it can take a while of
patient sitting to be able to let them come close to you for some better
photos.
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| Pintails are cool little ducks when you see them close-up |
What is really challenging with pintails though is getting a
glimpse of the ducklings. They speed through the channels between clumps of
tussock so quickly that all you get is a fleeting blur. They are so quick when
first encountered our initial thoughts are ‘was that a rat?!’ (thankfully not
though, Bird Island is in fact rat free and we monitor the situation to keep it
that way). The very elusive nature of ducklings makes being able to photograph
them in the open a very rare event indeed, so when Al and I came across one on
a pond with its parent that didn’t dash away we didn’t waste time in getting a
photo!
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| Brilliant to see a duckling going for a swim |
Shags, sheathbills and pintails all get a small amount of
monitoring in my role on island, but a couple of other species have no work
done with them at all. South Georgia pipits are a common sight on island as
they can be seen in tussock and in streams looking for small morsels to eat. It
is brilliant to have a resident passerine, the most southerly breeding
passerine in the world, and their song is a pleasant background tune to our
time on island.
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| A pipit perched on some tussock |
Another species we have is the kelp gull. Gulls (remember
they are gulls –
there is no such thing as a seagull) were one of my favourite
groups of seabirds to work with back in the UK and although there is no
surveying of them done here it is a nice reminder of gulls in general when a
kelp gull comes onto the beach outside base. It is even better when we manage
to find another rarer sighting on island, a kelp gull chick.
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| A kelp gull family, two adults with a fledgling chick |
There are yet more species living on the island, many of
them are burrow nesting petrels that are generally nocturnal so seeing them is
difficult and photographing them is even harder. But hopefully I will get the
occasional lucky sighting, much like with the
storm petrel, to show in future
blogs!
It is not just birds we have on island though, the seal work
revolves mostly around
fur seals in the summer and leopard seals in the winter
but there is another species regularly on island. The elephant seals are giant
creatures that are always funny to watch belly-flopping up the beaches.
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| An ellie staring down the camera |
With all these species to see life in the field never has a
dull moment and I can’t wait to see what surprises the wildlife has to offer during the rest of my stay here!
