Birds in Bizarre Places

After being here for a few weeks, it seems to me that the birds and other wildlife on Aride make up their own rules, I mean we have turnstones in the woods and moorhens on the beach – what’s all that about?

It feels like every available space on the island is taken up by wildlife, whether it is traditionally known for it or not. The roseate tern colony made up of 500-1200 pairs is in the woodland glades on the hill, with the job just before the breeding season to clear some of the trees and create open areas! We not only have the largest colony in Seychelles, but one of the largest in the Indian Ocean, and the world’s only woodland-nesting colony – there must be something in the air.

Then there are the fairy terns, of which there are over 4,000 pairs and that too, is the largest single population in the Seychelles. They lay their single egg on the nub of a branch, it is very bizarre to see a tern incubating an egg on a branch, then to see the chick perched up there too – that’s life without predators for you.

It’s great living in a place where you can make up your own rules!

I’ve handled more birds here in the last 6 weeks, than in the rest of my working life!!

We’ve been on the island now for 6 weeks, and in that time I’ve handled more birds than in the rest of my working life. Because Sal’s on the adjacent computer, and the risk of getting a smack around the ear I’d better clarify that statement, of course, the feathered kind. The most common close encounter is at night in the house, we have a huge shearwater colony here 60,000 Audubons and 20,000 Wedge-tails, a massive amount for such a small island. They feed out to sea by day and come to the island at night to feed their young; it gets dark here at 6.30 so the lights in the houses are on early, the artificial light completely confuses and disorientates the birds that nest close to the houses, almost every night we get 2-3 birds come gate crashing at dinner time. I carefully pick them up and take them to the beach where it’s completely dark, let them adjust to the light levels and then let them go, this seems to work and as we go to bed at 8.30, the lights aren’t on too long.
If your wondering what handling birds has to do with wait loss, it’s the stress, not from shearwaters their fine, its magpie robins or one in particular, blue-blue. Magpie robins are one of the rarest birds in the world, numbers went down to just 12 individuals in the 70s, with a massive conservation effort, numbers are up to 180, of course with such low numbers it’s still on the critically endangered list, but it didn’t become extinct and numbers are slowly rising of this enigmatic little bird, can I just add each bird is absolutely priceless, it will help put you in the picture.

We are directly responsible for the 22 robins that live on Aride, they are monitored twice a day and all behaviour is recorded. Over the new years hols, myself and Sal were left on our own to hold the fort for 6 days, on the first bloody day we’re on our own I noticed that the bird blue-blue was holding it’s right leg up, not good! With a closer look we could see the leg was very swollen and the ID rings, blue-blue were definitely constricting the leg, whether they were the cause or a consequence of something else was unknown, but it’s clear the rings where giving it jip.

We talked it through and decided to wait until the afternoon to see how he was before we rang the alarm. Well we rang the alarm, and to be honest no cavalry came charging over the hill to help us, but an extremely helpful Kiwi girl on end of the phone saying “take the rings off!” we looked at each other for a bit, take the rings off, easy. We talked about it and came up with a plan, first how to catch it, then how to take the rings off, and then we went quite and skipped lunch because we both felt a little sick. The catching although not graceful was effective, anyone who knows these birds can imagine the noise which didn’t help calm the nerves, all the time I’m thinking am I breaking its leg, neck, back, thankfully I didn’t, we positioned the bird with its leg in the air and Sal tried to remove the rings by prising them open with her finger nails. This proved to be impossible as the rings had become too hard, and Sal’s nails aren’t that good, all we could do was let him go to reduce the stress on both the bird and us.

Back to the Kiwi girl (who is in fact the highest you can get in MR terms) who said “you must be from the UK because you’re too bloody soft! Be rough with him and get the rings off, do what it takes and call me when its done!” We were then told by another leading expert that other species of birds that had had similar conditions had lost their legs and died!
Well after that we are completely at ease, with our national pride dented we all came up with another fool proof plan using two loops of fine fishing line, slid between both sides of the ring to prise it open, it worked we got them both off, and let blue-blue go, went back to our house and drank everything with any alcohol in it, which unfortunately wasn’t a lot.

Back in the UK I have flown by the seat of my pants several times, but I can honestly say that this 24hr period dealing with blue-blue was the most stressful working experience I’ve had.

Snorkelling with a turtle

Well I don’t know who was more surprised, me - when I encountered a turtle on my last snorkelling trip, or the turtle - to see me in a bikini!!

The snorkelling here is superb; as quite a novice snorkeller, with my only experience as a kid, when I used to spend all time emptying and de-misting my mask, then getting a snorkel full of water as I failed to stay at the right height - going into the water here has to date been one of my favourite bits. It is just like another world that opens up as soon as you peep through the water’s surface.

I am now starting to get the hang of the various bits of gear and also managing to avoid getting crashed onto the rocks. The current here can be quite strong and the waves are particularly forceful – so extra large fins are a bonus – but extremely entertaining for any onlookers when I try to stand up.

The underwater camera is a must and is proving to be a real asset and really beneficial when trying to identify species. The colours are fantastic and when the water is calm, with no sand being stirred up, the sun shines brightly through to the reef below lighting it up, providing a fantastic chance to get some excellent images.
Seeing the turtle was a real bonus, but the usual residents are species such as powderblue surgeon fish, moorish idol, scissor-tail sergeant and threadfin butterflyfish, to name a few. We have also had daily views of spotted eagle rays, lemon sharks and parrotfish coming in close to the shore – with no need for a mask!

Unfortunately most of the reef around the Seychelles has really suffered from the bleaching in 1998 during the El Nino event. However around Aride, much of the coral reef to the south of the beach is dominated by Stag’s Horn Coral, which is starting to regenerate and over 450 species of fish have been recorded. Other beasties which can be found are; octopus and grazing sea urchins together with sea cucumber, so plenty of delights for future snorkelling trips!!

Happy New Year!!

Just to wish everyone all the very best

It is 3.15pm and we have just popped into the office to get out of the cool 32’C in the shade, it is another scorcher here.

We started New Years Eve celebrations by toasting a total of 50 Hawksbill turtles having laid their eggs on the Aride beach, a record number for this time in the season. So with at least 2 months of egg laying time left, we should easily break the best ever total of 67 - What a way to start 2008, eh!

New Years Eve was a quiet one here on Aride, sitting on the beach watching the sun go down with a bottle of Seybrew (local beer). We are really lucky and have got the island to ourselves for 5 days, with all the rangers and volunteers using New Year as an opportunity to take some of their holiday away from the island. It is an amazing place to be with just the 2 of us.

It was great to wake up without a headache and to be out on the beach at 6.30am - with us being 4 hours ahead I bet some folk back at home were still out partying! It is the first time ever I have been snorkeling on New Years’ Day, and I was rewarded with some excellent views of some great fish – like the Powderblue Surgeonfish – beautiful.

With everyone else away there are plenty of tasks to be done – Seychelles magpie robins need a feed in 10 minutes and need to see if our turtle total has gone up, so I had better go – all that’s left to say is, here’s to a fantastic 2008.