South Georgia Island News - December Edition

Bird Island Diary

By Cian Luck at the BAS Research Station at Bird Island.

November’s been a busy month on Bird Island as there’s no longer any denying that summer has arrived. Since the first fur seal pup was born I’ve been going out twice a day to check on them. As more and more seals return to the shores and the pups are born the beaches are getting more and more crowded, turning my casual stroll to work into a strategic dash through fighting males and brooding females. It’s a joy to have the cute fur seal pups around again and we’re all looking forward to them becoming a bit more adventurous and wandering around looking for mischief.

 

Newborn fur seal pup and mother. Photo Cian Luck.

The wandering albatrosses are undergoing a changing of the guard as the chicks are finally old enough to fledge and leave Bird Island, just as the next batch of adults are returning to breed and start the cycle all over again. Jess is weighing the chicks when they are 260 days old, although finding them isn’t always easy as they have become keen walkers and have explored far from their nest sites now. Jess has also counted over 4,000 grey-headed and black-browed albatross in over 19 colonies as part of the annual censuses, as well as traversing the cliffs in search of light-mantled albatross nests.

Light-mantled albatross on its nest. Photo Jess Walkup.

Jerry’s study birds have also been returning en masse. The burrowing petrels and prions are calling behind base at night; the giant petrels are all on eggs; and the gentoo penguin chicks have started to hatch. But no return has been quite as spectacular as the macaroni penguins returning to their colony ‘Big Mac’. There are now 80,000 penguins making noise in the world’s second largest macaroni colony. We had to catch and weigh 50 males and 50 females as they returned from a winter at sea. We all bore a few bruises after that as though the macs might be little they pack a hefty flipper-slap.

Eighty thousand penguins at Big Mac. Photo Jerry Gillham.

We have been preparing base for the incoming summer crew of 10, due any day now. We’re all keen to meet the summer team and get the season going with the full team on board.

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