Adelie Life

The Adelie season is progressing well here at Signy and is now reaching an important stage as all the chicks are hatching. We monitor one colony regularly, every 2-3 days, to ascertain how well the season is progressing and use data collected from this site to determine when is the optimum time to visit other colonies where more periodical checks are carried out.

The colonies are very active at this time of year

Although the chicks are hatching the colony is still a mixture of nests at different stages. Those nests that laid late are still on eggs whilst those that are very late, or maybe failed and are trying again, are still pair bonding and mating.

Mating pair of Adelies

Although there is a mixture of breeding stages within the colony, as there always is in most seabird colonies, the vast majority have reached that exciting time - hatching!

Known as pipping, the chicks first break through the egg creating a small hole with the 'egg tooth' on the end of their beaks

Once hatched the chicks are well guarded by the adults, who take it in turn to incubate eggs and brood chicks. As the chicks are so small we often see nothing more than a small patch of grey fluff under the brooding adult.

First glimpses of chicks can be very brief

When switching brooding duty the two parents will call to each other to reaffirm pair bonds before the adult that was brooding takes a turn at foraging to bring food back to the new chicks, and vice versa.

Adults call to each other when reunited at the colony

Once hatching begins the rate of hatching continues to increase, in just a couple of weeks we go from the first chick to hundreds of them and we can begin to see grey fluff sticking out of most of the nests.

Chicks are appearing in more and more nests each day

Of course, once hatched the chicks are very interested in food! These feeding times give us the best opportunity to see the chicks more clearly as they beg for food and get fed by adults regurgitating small amounts of crustaceans (normally krill) or fish at a time.

A young chick gets a feed

It doesn't take long for the chicks to begin growing and become more boisterous and demanding on the nest. Adelies lay two eggs, and in good conditions can raise both chicks through the season.

One chick gets fed as the second pokes its beak out

The chicks continue to grow and start to become too big to be entirely covered by the brooding adult. At this stage the chicks can regularly be seen but are not yet big enough to be left unguarded by the adults.

Happy families

As with any ecosystem, when there is a source of food there will be something to eat it. Penguin colonies, with all the nutritious eggs and helpless young chicks available, attract attention from Skuas. Brown Skuas can often be seen harassing nests from one side causing the adult penguin to shift that way to guard the nest, this allows a partner bird to sneak in and take an exposed egg or chick from the other side. It is brilliant to see nature at work and in balance like this.

Skuas often hang around the edge of penguin colonies, looking for opportunities to feed

Of course Skuas aren't the only predators on the colony. Penguins themselves are predators, eating krill, other crustaceans and fish to survive and raise their chicks. But when all is calm in the colony there aren't many better sights than penguins!

A serene moment for this incubating adult

We very much enjoy our work here at Signy and occasionally the sun will come out and allow us to enjoy the views over a tea break!

The huts at Gourlay allow a great place to store equipment and have a break during the working day

Not to be forgotten though, the penguins will make sure we are always aware they are here!

An Adelie comes to check out the huts

Gourlay is our main site for studying the Adelies and Chinstraps, but they and the Skuas are not the only species present. Seals are often seen in the bays and Snowy Sheathbills are always flying around looking for scraps of food. But the highlight at the moment from the other species is the noise of Wilson's Storm-Petrels calling from their nest sites under rocks and in crevices between the stones.

Very hard to see as the nest sites are quite deep, occasionally we can glimpse a Storm-Petrel or two in the rocks

With the Adelies progressing so quickly it won't be long until the chicks are big enough to be left unguarded by the adults. At this stage the chicks will creche together in large huddles for warmth and safety, but until then there are plenty more to hatch!