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Falklands Conservation |
Two months have already passed since this project started and the first results look encouraging. all the field work is based on Saunders Island where I am receiving a great deal of help from David and Suzan Pole-Evans.
The first part of the fieldwork is concerned with the breeding biology of these albatrosses in the Falklands. This involved following all the breeding events in a study colony of about 170 breeding pairs. In this colony all nests were marked, egg-laying dates recorded and all breeding birds were ringed, enabling us to study individual birds throughout this season (and possibly through the next 20 years).
The main aim of the Project is to determine where these birds forage at sea. This is achieved by attaching small satellite transmitters, weighing 30 gms, to the back feathers of the bird. The British Antarctic Survey headquarters in Cambridge receive the positions of the birds and then send them daily by e-mail to Saunders Island where I receive them during my radio contacts with David and Suzan. So far, since the beginning of November, four devices have been deployed on seven different birds and all have been foraging to the north of the Falklands with one bird reaching 41o S. These breeding birds so far spent between four and ten days at sea before coming back to the colony to take over the incubation of the egg from their partner.
Further work will involve recording the hatching dates, which should be around Christmas, and then deploying automatic weighing platforms (disguised as nests) under the chicks to follow their growth pattern until they fledge in April. Further satellite tracking will also be carried out throughout the breeding season and it is hoped that a diet study will also be done.
I would like to thank all the people on Saunders for their invaluable help whilst I am on their Island, Jeremy Smith who helped to get this project up and started and Becky Ingham for her help in the field where she learnt to keep an eye open for the three main dangers of working in an albatross colony:
In the first fortnight of November local Trustee Michael Morrison and UK Trustee Robin Woods landed on 19 uninhabited islands between Bird Island, south of Port Stephens, and the islands east of Sea Lion Island. They travelled on the well-known local vessel, a.k. Penelope , owned and crewed by Michael and Jeanette Clarke of Kings Ridge Farm, Douglas Station. Mike and Robin also surveyed the Sea Lion Islands from the Lodge after travelling to the Island by FIGAS.
Islands visited this year had lower numbers of breeding pairs than those visited in 1997. The only place with a good population was the FI Government Nature Reserve, Bird Island. Here the tussac grass was in excellent condition, except where it had been battered by hundreds of Fur Seals. The Thin-billed Prions came into their burrows in swirling clouds after dark and it was obvious from the number of partly eaten and plucked corpses found that the Johnny Rook were using them as a major source of food.
Each of the islands in the Sea Lion group has one or more breeding pairs and several islands also supported populations of Diving Petrels and Sooty Shearwaters which are also food sources for Johnny Rooks.
Sadly most of the other islands surveyed were heavily populated by rats, probably the Grey or Norway Rat, Rattus norvegicus. These animals are living in a highly favourable environment, burrowing below very dense tussac with ample supplies of vegetable material and invertebrate food available within the heaps of rotted kelp on boulder beaches. None of these rat-infested places, such as Ten Shilling Bay Islands or the Arch Island, supported burrow-nesting petrels as far as we could see, but what was more noticeable was the silence of the beaches. No Tussacbirds squabbled and no CobbŐs (Rock) Wrens scuttled beneath the boulders to avoid our feet as we worked our way around the coasts. Other small birds were only present in small numbers and few pairs of Johnny Rooks were found on rat-infested islands.
The report on fieldwork, to be produced by Robin Woods before the end of the year, should include additional counts from Beauchene Island and some islands in the south west.
The conservation status of the Johnny Rook will be examined in a second paper which will include serious consideration of the conflicting views held on this species.It is a most unusual bird that, not surprisingly, takes advantage of any food that is easily obtained and, therefore, it has nuisance value for some sheep farmers. As one of the rarest birds of prey in the world, it is of considerable interest to ornithologists and tourists. The Falkland Islands probably support the bulk of its world population.
* Johnny Rook is the local Falkland name for the Striated Caracara (Phalocoboenus australis).
Following the recent efforts to clean and release oiled penguins, we thought you may be interested to hear what has happened to a few of them in the aftermath of their ordeal . . .
For the Rockhopper Penguins, it looks as though the hard work was well worth it. The five birds brought into town from Pebble Island recovered quickly to a state of health such that they could be released back on to Pebble Island. Despite the added trauma of the FIGAS flight, the birds seem to be doing well and have been seen around the colony since their release. Two of the birds which were treated and cleaned have bred together and are sitting on eggs at the moment (romance obviously blossoms at the quarantine station!).
From the birds which were treated on Saunders Island, the levels of recovery to breeding status were even higher. Three of the last six birds to be de-oiled have successfully nested and mated with other birds; one at the Rookery colony on the north coast and two at The Neck. One bird unfortunately died following release and one was a young female who has been seen around the colony but is too young to breed. She remains, however, in apparent good health.
The King Penguins which were de-oiled in Stanley also recovered well from their ordeal to a stage where we could release them into the wild again. One of the birds unfortunately died following release, which could have been due to a range of factors not necessarily associated with oiling. A satellite tag was attached to one of the Kings which was released into Berkeley Sound. However, this device proved not to be transmitting and unfortunately we have not received any data back. No other birds have been seen and all we can hope is that no news is good news.
With the risks from poisoning and the after-effects of oil ingestion, these birds are still under threat despite the best efforts to clean them. However, there is reason to be hopeful for their survival to breeding status, given the survival rate of the Rockhoppers around the islands, which is greater than usual following de-oiling.
Penguins were marked prior to release with coloured tape around the top of the flippers, so please let us know if you see any of the birds. We are keen to know the whereabouts of any of the King Penguins, which do not appear to be from any of the breeding colonies around the Falkland islands. So, keep your eyes open and let us know if you see them! Once again, many thanks to everyone who helped support the clean up programme.
Since 30 October 1998 we have had at least six reports of Coscoroba Swans, Coscoroba Coscoroba, totalling about 36 birds, although some of these may have been the same group spotted by different people and one group of six may actually have been tame geese which can be mistaken for these all-white swans fairly easily. These reports have come from both East and West mainland, and smaller islands, so thank you to everyone for making the effort to phone in. I looked back at last yearŐ sightings for the same period and cannot find any Coscoroba reports. Perhaps they like the weather more than us!
Back in September, James McGhie reported a Tawny-throated Dotterel Audromias ruficollis on Pebble Island and Alan Henry spotted a Brown-chested Martin at Government House. There have also been a number of reports of Chilean Swallows which are regularly spotted at this time of year.
Lastly we were pleased to hear from Bleaker Island that there are now between 300-400 breeding pairs of Rockhopper Penguins on the Island. Numbers are increasing by about 100 each year. Gentoo Penguin colonies are also on the up.
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Patron: HRH The Duke of York CVO ADC Member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature | BirdLife International Representative |