As I've mentioned before, there are lots of seabirds around here. In fact, I think I'll do a specific journal on the birds. Today, however, is dedicated to one in particular. The Southern Giant Petrel. I had the very good fortune of joining the team on a trip out to Humble Island to weigh the little darlings. Donna Patterson-Fraser and Bill Fraser are studying these Southern Giant Petrels and how their population is changing and what factors are influencing these changes. The study is the seabird component of a broader program, Palmer Long Term Ecological Research (PAL LTER) which is examining the ecosystem along the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula which includes land and sea.
You can see the down that is still left on this baby Giant Petrel. As they mature, they loose their down. The chicks we weighed had varying amounts of down still left on them. Look closely at their bills. How cool is that!!
Jeff Otten and Christina Hammock, who work at Palmer Station, go out every few days for the Frasers to weigh the chicks, monitor their progress, and track their growth until they fly the off and are no longer fed by their parents, i.e. become fledglings. Giant Petrels are scavengers and predators. (do you know what the difference is?) They are high on the food chain out here. The entire day was fantastic for this Chicago girl. On the boat ride over we saw wildlife galore (a huge benefit to being at Palmer Station!). Penguins, Elephant Seals, Fur Seals, Cormorants, Gulls. The day was clear and the view from Humble Island was gorgeous.
Now as adorable as the seals were, they also posed a problem. Fur seals can be rather aggressive. And to get to the petrel chicks, we had to navigate through a field of seals. It was really cool. At first you don't really notice them, then the more you look and the more your eyes acclimate to the scene, you start to realize that those 'rocks' are seals and that you are grossly outnumbered.
There were seals lounging all over the place. We had to carefully navigate through them so we wouldn't disturb them AND so they wouldn't charge us. A few sat up, snorted, and watched us closely.
There were a few seals who watched us closely deciding whether or not to run us off. Luckily, the three of us seemed a big enough deterrent to prevent a charge. We managed to successfully tip toe through the seals and reach the Petrels. And there were plenty. Fortunately, though they do bite when handled, they were more docile and less menacing than the seals.
There were plenty of chicks to weigh. Fortunately, they didn't pose the same threat as the disturbed seals pose. Not that the seals were disturbed individuals, rather our presence posed a possible disturbance to their napping.
Okay, so the process is pretty straightforward. You find the Petrel chick, you pick it up, put it in a bag, weigh it, and safely, gently place it back. Easy right? Well, kinda. They aren't so keen on being picked up and put in a bag - would you like that? - so they squawk and brandish their very large bills.
Jeff is picking up this unhappy chick so it can be weighed. Pay close attention to Jeff's thick gloves and the position of the chick's bill as it tries to cut off Jeff's arm. Though the Petrel bill is lethal to many an animal, they can't cut your arm off.
The chicks are placed in this big red bag and weighed. Notice the green gadget that Christina is holding. That is the scale. Ingenious. The chicks averaged around 4500 - 5500 grams. How many pounds is that?
What I thought was so curious was how quickly the adults high tailed it out of there as we approached to weigh the chicks. I was concerned we would be attacked by those large bills. But nope, they skedaddled as fast as they could. Hmmmm. Tip for the day: Don't get a Petrel for a watch dog.
I put this picture in because it shows you what the adults do when we approach the nest to weigh the chicks - they flee. You can see them on the far left running away. Though they will protect their eggs from predators, they don't seem at all compelled to defend their chicks from us.
Yours truly with my notebook. I recorded the Petrels' numbers as Christina and Jeff weighed the chicks. I couldn't trust the Petrel chicks to tell me their accurate weight no matter how nicely I asked.
Okay, so we weighed all the chicks. We successfully navigated through the field of disturbed fur seals once again. This time took a bit longer as one did get up and scurry into the path we planned on taking so we had to wait til the coast was clear. Then just as we thought we were in the clear an elephant seal came to life and made a run to the water. I think we scared it more than the other way around. They are less threatening as the fur seals. So Christina and I waited while Jeff cleared out of the way in front. Mission Accomplished. BTW, two of the chicks had flown away into adulthood...
This pushy Elephant seal butted in line in front of Christina and me. Guess it was in a hurry to get to the water so we let it go. I mean, do YOU want to argue with something that weighs a few thousand pounds about who gets to the water first?