Science Support

Last week, the Birders needed an extra helping hand in the field. As part of the Science Support department, I needed to see what their field work exactly entails- plus, I was available. We left station at 5pm and headed to Shortcut Island. There, I saw the Birders attach transmitters to three Giant Petrels. These birds are very large, soar like eagles, and take turns sitting on the nest when their mate is away feeding.

With the transmitters, this group has been able to track where the birds go to feed when they're away from the nest and how long they stay away. Some birds have flown over 100 miles away at times, traveling below the Antarctic circle. In the picture below, you can see the transmitter mounted on the back of one of the petrels.

Skuas also make nests on the same island, so we continued with nest and egg surveys after the petrels were tagged. We paired off into two groups and walked the entire island to visit every Skua nest we could find. The birders surveyed nest locations earlier this season, and we found a couple new nests.

At each nest, we'd record the tags on the skuas and measure the eggs (length, width, and weight). Sometimes the skuas weren't too happy about it and would fly into the air and dive bomb us. One bounced off my back and another got away with my glove, dropping it about 50 feet away.

Another part of the project was to collect skua poop. Anytime we saw a skua do a bit of business, we'd rush to the spot, soak up the gooey slime with moss and seal it in a bag. We'd record the tag number of the bird, date and island name. Later, this poo will be cleaned and filtered in a sieve, hoping to find the tiny ear bones from fish the skuas have eaten. This helps the research team learn more about the skua's diet.

We were finished a little before 10 that night and headed back to station. I hope to go out again and help them another time.