Penguin wrangling and a spot of camping

The Gentoo penguin chicks are very quickly growing up and most of them are looking like adults now. They are no longer big balls of fluff, but have actual feathers ready to put to use in the sea. Some of them still have some fluff and look like they are wearing fur coats, scarves or hats, but the majority are ready to take the plunge and start swimming. 

Penguin weighing team looking pretty dirty- photo by Tamsin Bell

This can mean only one thing- time for the annual Gentoo chick census and weighing session. All of the chicks on the island had to be counted. To make this as accurate as possible at least 4 people would go out and count the same chicks, and repeat it until we were within 5% accuracy of each other. Penguin chicks are fairly fast so it required some co-ordination to stop chicks running around and being counted twice or not at all. After a few days of travelling to the various colonies on the island Jerry added up the figures, and we all placed our bets. The prize was a giant chocolate chip cookie with a white chocolate chip penguin on it. The winner was Ruth (only around 200 out). There were over 4000 chicks, a lot of penguins to count! This year the Gentoos’ seem to be doing really well  and we have seen the highest numbers in the last few years. 

Jen getting ready to do some penguin catching

Every year we also have to weigh 100 Gentoo chicks on Johnson beach, so it was a full day out for everyone (except Jaume who had to man the base). For the first time we were able to walk from base along the beaches to Johnson, it really shows how few seals are left! We were armed with nets, and bags to weigh the chicks in. We split into teams- penguin catchers, penguin weighers and data recorder. Catching penguins is a messy job. The stereotypical image of cute penguins looking pristine on some ice or the beach is just wrong. Yes they may but cute, but they are very dirty and they tend to projectile poo everywhere, usually when you have picked them up. By the time we had caught and weighed 100, we were all absolutely filthy! It was great fun though and lovely to get to cuddle some penguins. 

We also saw a Chin strap penguin on Johnson beach which is a species I had never seen before. I think he may have been a bit lost as he was completely on his own with thousands of Gentoo penguins, but he didn’t seem to mind. He would get the occasional chick coming to beg him for food but he quickly put them in their place. They used to breed on Bird Island, but haven’t for the last few years. He was the fourth species of penguin that I’ve seen on the island. 

In the last couple of weeks I have spent two nights away from base. It feels really weird to “go away” for the night, but it’s a good break from base life. The first night was the wintering team’s trip to the “Love Shack”- a hut on the other side of the island by the huge Macaroni penguin colony. Don’t ask why it’s called that but it’s the official name (there is even a plaque by the door). Craig had installed a new stove, so we wanted to try it out, and thought it would be a good bonding session for us. In the winter we won’t all be able to stay away from base over night as two people have to be on base in case anything goes wrong, so it was one of our only chances to get away before the rest of the team leave us. 

W e had an excellent dinner of spicy pasta, and spent the evening playing card games, having quite a few drinks and dancing the night away. It turns out the new stove is really good and kept us toasty all night. The only downside was the weather, we were hoping to be able to sit outside and watch the penguin colonies, but once again we had driving mank (i.e. foggy and damp) which has been the theme of the last few weeks. Never mind though, plenty of time to see penguins here! 

Chin Strap Penguin (first one I've seen on Bird Island)

The second night away was a camping trip in Molly meadows to try and catch some Blue Petrels to deploy GLS tags on them. Ruth and Jerry had found some burrows that contained Blue Petrel chicks. Blue Petrels mainly come back to feed their chicks at night because in the day time they are easy prey for other birds such as Skuas and Giant Petrels (Geeps). We put twigs across the burrows and every 15 minutes checked to see if the sticks had been knocked over. If they had then it was time to “fist some burrows”- stick your arm down and see if the adult bird is in there. We managed to get two birds during the night, which was good as that was all we needed to get. I ringed one and put a GLS on its leg which hopefully Jerry and I will get back next year. It was nice to do some work with some smaller birds, I was starting to forget what it was like! At 5am we gave up checking the burrows as it was starting to get light and there was less bird activity- and we were all absolutely shattered! We managed a few hours sleep before trudging back to base for sausage sandwiches. 

In my last blog entry I mentioned about the sound recording devices that we deployed on the Black browed albatrosses. Unfortunately this project hasn’t really worked out as one of the nests failed so the adult has left the island, and the second one is no longer guarding the chick on the nest. Once the adults stop guarding the chicks they only come back to feed them, it is therefore very unlikely that we will be at the nest when that bird is there. Jen and I have been trying our best to get the tag back, and spent 5 hours one afternoon waiting near the nest to no avail. You never know though we might be lucky..... 

The 31^st January is an important day on Bird Island as it is the annual census day for the Wandering Albatross. During the course of the day the whole island has to be checked and the number of active Wandering albatross nests needs to be counted. Luckily the whole team helps out, so Jen and I are not left to do it all by ourselves. In total at the end of the day we had counted just over 700 nests, which sounds a lot but we were a bit disappointed. Two years previous (when these birds would last have bred) there were over 800 nests. So what has happened to those 200 birds???  

Friendly Wanderer

In other Wandering albatross news the last chick from our study area fledged! Chick 173 has finally lost the last of his fluff and has taken to the air to head out to sea. It was sad for them all to be gone, but hopefully they will survive to come back to the island in about 5 years time. 

It’s been getting busy for the seal team in the last few days, as all of the pups that were born on the study beach needed to be recaptured and issued with their very own set of flipper tags, with unique numbers on, so that they can be identified if they return next year.  Everyone helped out and we spent afternoon’s puppy wrangling. It started out fairly easy as there were plenty of pups to choose from, but after a while most pups already seemed to have tags, so it was more of a challenge to find them. Seal pups can climb, as I discovered, and there were a few hairy moments trying to climb down slippery rocks carrying a humongous seal pup that is trying to gnaw holes you in, and also avoid other adult seals that want to have a go at you.  It was all good fun though! We all ended up pretty wet and dirty, but had smiles on our faces when we got home. 

Cute seal pup

Burns Night- photo by Ruth Brown

In social news we had a fun Burns night with poetry from Tamsin and Craig, haggis and very tasty veggie haggis (courtesy of Jen), and a ceilidh of sorts which ended in a few bruises for some people. We all dressed in our best Scottish outfits- some were pretty questionable (i.e. Craig’s “kilt” made of tea towels and Jerry’s beautiful red hair); however it was a great night.