Living the High Life

Despite the small size of Bird Island the variation in height is actually great big. Going from base, at sea level, up to our monitoring areas is typically a climb through tussock covered hillsides of around 60 to 70 metres up or so, occasionally getting higher to over 100 metres depending on the colonies we are working with.

Lucy sampling poo high up in a black-brow colony

But this is still low compared to the rocky peaks on the island. Gazella reaches 186 metres high; Tonk is 209 metres whilst La Roche peaks at a full 356 metres. As mentioned before climbing up Tonk does occasionally happen to do some work and recently I went up there again, getting a nice view of a sooty on the way.

Sooty on top of Tonk

Whilst working on the peak we were also fortunate enough to see whales! Not as spectacular as my previous encounter with whales as these were much further away, but it is always great to see some; especially as these were a new species for me, Southern right whales.

Whales seen at the opposite side of the island from Tonk

But climbing up Tonk wasn’t enough for us. So on Sunday afternoon Jerry, Ian, Lucy, Al and I took advantage of the nice weather and decided to take a stroll up La Roche. Getting to the peak meant walking up steep scree covered slopes and making our way across the ridge lines. But it is worth it to see the views from the top!

View down to base from La Roche

View of South Georgia from La Roche

Even on the peak of BI we found wildlife though! Antarctic terns were flying around and we even found a nest just a few metres from the top!

Antarctic tern

Tern nest on top of La Roche

It wasn’t just terns either. On both peaks we were treated to views of Wilson’s storm-petrels flying around. These small burrow nesting petrels are usually found by land at night, spending the day either in the burrow or out to sea foraging. They do this to avoid predators, the skuas, on the island during the day. But on BI I have had a dozen or so daytime sightings already, petrels coming out in the mist or on the peaks where they are safer.

Stormie fly-by

Both the terns and storm-petrels are very fast flyers, so the photos are more blurred than usual, especially as the stormie was just a fortuitous capture on a video that I have screen-grabbed from!

Climbing the peaks is a bit tiring, but the views are absolutely incredible and they were amazing experiences that we all very much enjoyed.

Lucy, Al, Ian and Jerry on La Roche