Bird Island Diary – Gentoo Breaks The Egg Record

By Jenny James, Zoological Field Assistant (albatrosses) at the BAS Research Station at Bird Island.

Well spring seems to have officially sprung here on Bird Island. We celebrated the spring equinox on September 22nd by making cider with the remnants of our apples (I use the term ‘apple’ in the loosest sense of the word as they have now been in the store room for nearly 6 months).

With spring comes the new breeding season and already Ruth has been monitoring the progress of the northern giant petrel nests in her study area, marking all those with eggs and recording the parents ring numbers. The gentoo penguins have also begun to gather and prepare for the breeding season, building nests out of rocks and any other debris they can find (bits of seal carcass seem to be a firm favourite). Ruth is also monitoring the progress of two of the island’s gentoo colonies, recording the date of the first egg laid and counting the total number of nests when laying is complete. To our great astonishment the first egg this year was seen on 22nd September – a record early start to the gentoo breeding season, six days earlier than the previous record set in 2010!

Isabelline penguin (paler bird) with its partner on a nest of stones and bones.

 The gentoo penguins have also started nesting at Maiviken. This year they have chosen hillocks to the east of the valley and are constructing their nests from tussac grass instead of the moss they have used on some of their previous sites in the area. One group is on a very steep hillside and another smaller group even appears to be trying to nest on the remains of a snow avalanche.

The gentoos on the path from the landing beach to their colonies.

 Crafty success: Amidst stiffer competition and more entries than in past years, the South Georgia crafts entered into the Falkland Island Craft Fair scored well once again. Craft Fair entries were up by 140 this year, having declined in previous years. The Craft Fair took place in Stanley on September 8th and 9th. In all there were six South Georgia entries, all entered in the woodwork and metalwork classes, and between them they gathered a First, a Second, two Thirds and a Highly Commended. The First was taken by the stunning metalwork king penguin clock by Alastair Wilson.

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