Remember The Razorbill

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Remember The Razorbill

The life of a seabird ecologist amongst the penguins!

Sunday, 18 August 2019 Project LOMVIADespite the amount of species and sights I have described inmy previous blogs on Iceland I spent the majority of my time there working onthe LOMVIA project; a study of Brunnichs and common guillemots by BAS and itspartners. More details can be found here but I will explain it briefly:Common guillemots.As climate change impacts the oceans via warmingtemperatures the distribution of species alters. This has been noted in themovement of prey fish species, such as sandeels and capelin, whose distributionchanges can disrupt seabird populations.Common guillemot with capelin.As prey species distribution changes the distribution ofseabirds may change as well, causing competition between species that wasnt soprevalent in the past. The LOMVIA projects aims to ascertain if there is anycompetition caused between two closely related species the common guillemotand the Brunnichs guillemot brought about by these changes in theenvironment.The two guillemot species, Brunnich's sat just above the common.Common guillemots are a temperature species; spread acrossthe North Atlantic and North Pacific they live in areas closer to warmer watersbut do range far north to places like Iceland and Norway. Brunnichs guillemotsare a colder water species, preferring the temperatures of the Arctic and sohave a more restricted range. But the two species do overlap in areas wherewarm and cold ocean currents pass each other and mix this is very noticeablein Iceland and our reason for being here.Spot the Brunnich's!Common guillemots are avery dark chocolate brown colour and have a long, pointed beak. Brunnichs aredarker, closer to black, have a pointy beak but one that is noticeable shorterand have a white stripe along the edge of the beak (to me, Brunnich's look like a common guillemot has dressed up as a razorbill for a fancy dress party but not done a very good job!).

The study we conducted collected a lot of data, focusing onwhere the two species were foraging for their food and what they were eating.We collected the data in a number of ways, predominantly through tagging workand diet observations; but first we had to find suitable locations to work in.A guillemot colony on the edge of a heavily populated puffin area. Some work could be carried out here but another location was better.The main common guillemot study ledge on Papey, birds were accessible for deploying tags and observations of diet - a perfect combination.The tagging work consisted of deploying devices on the birdsfor a short period of time. These devices are carefully attached to a fewfeathers, can be simply removed and are incredibly light all so as to notharm the bird in any way.Devices deployed on common guillemots.We utilised two types of device: GPS and TDR (time-depthrecorder). The GPS tells us where the bird is and the TDR tells us its depth inthe water. More specific information can be gleaned by combining the two on onebird, thereby establishing its behaviour along the entirety of its journey fromthe colony and out to sea to fish.TDR attached to the belly so as to be in contact with water more often, GPS attached to the back to map the constellations.Each bird was given a unique mark; a coloured shape on theGPS tag, which was repeated on a bit of tape covering a few feathers on thehead. This head flag allowed us to see which of our birds were present in abusy colony, even if the tags themselves were not visible, so we could watchtheir behaviour and recover the tags.For some birds the devices couldn't be seen from the vantage point, but the head flags could.Once the tags were removed from a bird the head flagsremained so that we could identify individuals we had already studied and sodid not bother them again later in the season when deploying more tags. If wewere unable to recover a tag the birds would gradually preen them off anyway,in this way no bird was left with devices on it after a week.
The tagging work was one main focus, the second was diet observations.
Studying diet is primarily done by directobservation; then, by combining such observations with the tagging data we get a fuller workup ofwhat the birds are doing away from the colony. The adults bring a whole fish back to their chicks in their beaks. Bywatching the colony the species of fish can be identified as we watch theadults bring back a meal. Each fish has its own characteristics that we lookout for.The wide silver body, blue edge and (out of sight) forked tail of a small herring.The thin silver body, forked tail and brassy sheen at the base of the tail of a capelin.The thick body and orange/brown colouration of a gadoid (a young cod).The brown speckling of a benthic fish, most likely a blenny.By being able to observe the birds we were working with wecould at times get a full dataset for one individual. The tags tell us wherethe bird went and when and how deep it dived, and the observation of it bringing a fish back to the chick tells us what itcaught on the last dive it did in the foraging trip. So much vital informationin understanding the ecology of these birds for conservation purposes!The perfect sight, a tagged bird bringing back an identifiable fish (a capelin) for its chick!By ascertaining the foraging range and diet of the twospecies we can determine if the distribution of the temperate species thecommon guillemot is altering as the seas warm and, if these changes areoccurring, are they causing clashes with the arctic species the Brunnichsguillemot.
Initial results are interesting but for that information youwill have to watch out for publications from the LOMVIA project over the nextyear or so. For now though, it was a privilege to be involved in a study at theforefront of this area of research, with a great team in a stunning country.And of course, working with such amazing birds is always the highlight!

Brunnich's guillemots with chick.Common guillemot chicks ready to fledge.The chicks fledged at the end of the season and hopefully they continue to grow well!Posted byRememberTheRazorbillat15:56No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to PinterestLabels:British Antarctic Survey,Guillemot,Iceland,Project LOMVIA,Seabird Monday, 12 August 2019 A Tale of Two Islands - SkrudurIf Papey was a pleasure then Skrudur was a challenge!
Skrudur Island.Much steeper than Papey, Skrudur rises quickly fromsea-level so that the island is a mixture of large cliffs and steep inclines.Traversing the island often meant using ropes and walkways so as to get to thestudy colonies safely.Challenging terrain but a spectacular island.The landing site in the bay at the bottom and the pathway to the field hut.Unlike Papey, Skrudur is uninhabited but does have a placeto stay for the owners when visiting the island. This is in the form of a basicfield hut sheltered from the elements by a large overhang in the rock.Accommodation on Skrudur.Although a challenge to work and stay on, Skrudur is thetype of island I always enjoy visiting. Seabirds are an incredible group ofspecies that live and breed in some of the most trying circumstances and Ialways enjoy it when working with them requires that feeling of wild living andaccomplishment.Accessing the colonies on Skrudur means setting up rope systems to safely work on steep slopes above cliff edges.Skrudur was another great site to work with guillemots, but,as with Papey, Skrudur is a seabird island and the other species certainly puton a show.Fulmar.The fulmar eggs were beginning to hatch.A young and fluffy fulmar chick.Fulmar in flight with the perfectly straight wings indicative of the tubenose (albtaross, petrel, shearwater, fulmar) family.Not as many as on Papey, but still an incredible amount of puffins.Skrudur had two particular elements that were quite special:a gannet colony and a puffin cave! Puffins burrow underground so as to laytheir eggs in a location that is safe from predators. Hiding away is theimportant part, so if there is a way to do this without expending energy ondigging a burrow then they utilise it and Skrudur has a cave in which they cando this!The entrance to the cave looking back out. On the ground are tracks made by puffins entering the cave.Looking into the cave gives a sense of just how dark it is in there, but not how big!Inside the cave expands from the entrance in to a largecavern. The ground is all rock so there is no place to burrow, but there is noneed to either. In the pitch black the puffins that have chosen to nest in thecave can do so safely on the ground!Puffin and puffling in the cave.Puffling in a way that I have never seen before.The puffins do put on quite the show and it was great to seethem in the cave, all around the island and in the air.Puffin.But the main spectacle of Skrudur lies in its gannet colony.There is a gannet colony at Langanes as well, but the one on Skrudur wasalongside our guillemot colonies and so seeing it so closely is always a privilege.Gannet colony.The gannet chicks were still fairly young but growing quickly.In such a colony the activity is always big!The gannets were constantly flying past.As one of the largest seabirds in the northern hemisphere gannets are always impressive to see.Gannets are powerfully built for diving in to the water at high speed.The piercing blue eye is quite charismatic!Skrudur and Papey made my time in Iceland as memorable as itis. They were both incredible seabird islands in very different ways and it isalways a privilege to be working in such locations. Of course, after all thedistractions both Papey and Skrudur, along with Iceland itself, offer it isabout time I wrote about the guillemots I was working with!Posted byRememberTheRazorbillat12:07No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to PinterestLabels:British Antarctic Survey,Fulmar,Gannet,Iceland,Puffin,Seabird,Skrudur Island Wednesday, 7 August 2019 A Tale of Two Islands - PapeyMy time in Iceland was spent working on the LOMVIA projectstudying guillemots more on this in a later blog and naturally this meantworking in seabird colonies. During the month I was part of the team workingacross three different sites: Langanes on the mainland and two offshoreislands. Langanes was an enjoyable site, but it is the two islands in which ourwork was primarily focused. First up was Papey Island.
Papey is a fairly flat island covered in low-lying vegetation, but in some areas it raised up enough to provide the perfect cliff habitat for our study species - guillemots.Although we were working with Brunnichs and commonguillemots it wouldve been impossible to not take in the wildlife across theisland. Sightings such as red-throated diver chicks, snow bunting, harlequinduck and multiple waders were on this island but where it really excelled wasthe seabirds.A perfect habitat for waterfowl, waders and seabirds all in one location.In my time working as a seabird ecologist the species peopleare most interested in is the puffin. This is understandable, given theirendearing yet slightly comical look, bright colouration, and clumsiness on theground and energetic activity in the air (they are built primarily for life onand in the water after-all) and there are places to see them in vast numbersaround the UK.Puffin.However, puffins generally increase in number the furthernorth you go, and so the populations in Iceland are massive by comparison. Byworking on Papey I was lucky enough to spend my time on an island that is hometo 130,000 puffins! When seen wheeling around in the air in just one part ofthe island the scale of the population was quite spectacular.No photo can truly capture just how many puffins there were, but the land, air......and sea were covered in them.It wasnt just the puffins either; kittiwakes and fulmarwere present in numbers I havent seen the like of before and it was great tospend some time with them as well.

Fulmar covered the grassy ledges all around the island.Fulmar taking incubation duty.Kittiwake.The chicks grew so fast in just the two weeks we were there.A seabird colony is a busy place!One species that was a bit more unusual was the blackguillemot. These can also be seen around the northern UK coastline, often quitewell in harbours. But they were present in large numbers on Papey and we werefortunate enough to even find a couple of breeding sites.Black guillemots with their distinctive white wing patch, black belly and red feet.Black guillemot chicks; unusual for this family of seabirds in that they lay two eggs and not the usual one.Of course it would be impossible to work on a seabird islandand not mention the best species of all the razorbill! My personal favouritewas present on Papey as well and are always a joy to see.Razorbills :)Of course, I wasnt there to study razorbills but theirclose relative the guillemots.Common guillemot and razorbill.Papey was a joy to work on. The terrain was a nice pace towalk around, getting to the cliff colonies, even on islets only accessible atlow-tide, was a simple practise and most importantly the birds themselves weregreat to work with.The terrain on Papey was one of the most pleasant of my experiences working on offshore islands!Islet accessed at low-tide was simple enough to get to and work on as well.We were fortunate as well in that there are a couple ofhouses on Papey and although they are not permanently lived in they areextremely well kept and made our stay there much more comfortable than many aseabird island I have worked on.
Not all islands can be so simple to work on and comfortableto stay on thoughPosted byRememberTheRazorbillat12:11No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to PinterestLabels:British Antarctic Survey,Fulmar,Iceland,Kittiwake,Papey Island,Puffin,Razorbill,Seabird Older PostsHomeSubscribe to:Posts (Atom)Featured PostFresh Faces and Old Friends

The RRS Ernest Shackleton dropped us off at Signy on the 9 th November and left on the 14 th November. During this time the base was refue...

Blog Archive 2019(10) August(4)Project LOMVIAA Tale of Two Islands - SkrudurA Tale of Two Islands - PapeyWonderful Waders July(3) February(2) January(1) 2018(7) December(5) November(2) 2017(9) April(4) March(1) February(2) January(2) 2016(20) November(1) October(1) September(3) August(1) July(1) June(3) May(1) April(1) February(6) January(2) 2015(13) December(5) November(6) October(1) September(1)Other blogs from AntarcticaAli Rose - Signy Field Guide (2018-19); previously on Rothera/HalleyCairngorm Classic Rock Link-up1 year agoJamie Coleman - BI Station Leader (2018-19); KEP Higher Predator Zoologist (2015-16)Summer On Bird Island2 years agoJames Robbins - BI Seal ZFA (2015-17)Second summer season4 years agoAlastair Wilson - BI Giant Petrel and Penguin ZFA (2014-16); previously on KEPMidwinter5 years agoAbout MeRememberTheRazorbillView my complete profile

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