30 September
2005
Georges and I have been
on leave since the end of May and only returned to the island on 1st
October. The news below is a summary of what's been happening since I
last updated the page at the end of May.
Welcome to the news page of our website.
This page is all about what's happening
on the island and how the various conservation projects are progressing.
If you would like us
to advise you when we have an update of the news page or a new web page
please email us at:
thelodge@birdislandseychelles.com
Special Discounts available
for return guests and also for first time visitors for reservations made via the
website.
Visit our
prices page or
contact us directly.
Please note that we have NOT Increased our rates for this year. This
means that for the 5th consecutive year we have not increased our rates
(Unlike the majority of properties in Seychelles)
Red Billed Tropic Bird
Shortly before the end of May we had a Red-billed
Tropicbird in the vicinity of the island. It is very vocal and has a
very loud call and so was noticed very quickly. These birds are vagrants
to Seychelles the nearest nesting sites to us are the northern Indian
Ocean. One day it flew into Robbie's house by mistake and so we were
able to ring it. Last year we had one at around the same time.
It is a much bigger heavier bird than our usual
white-tailed ones. It has white tail streamers. There is another variety
of Tropic Bird in Seychelles which breeds on Aride island. This is the
Red-tailed Tropic bird which has red tail streamers and red bill.
Red-billed Tropic Bird
Sooty Terns
Sooty Tern ring searches 2005.
Unfortunately Chris Feare was unable to make his annual
visit to Bird Island in 2005 to search for ringed Sooty Terns. However,
before they went on their annual leave Georges and Margaret arranged for
a team to be assembled and subsequently Marie-France garnered other
people and provided Chris with regular updates of the birds found. As a
result, valuable data were gathered in 2005, for which Chris is
immensely grateful.
In total, 313 ringed birds were found. In terms of
longevity, two birds that had been ringed as chicks in 1972 (Chris’s
first year of ringing) were found and 15 ringed in 1973. These birds are
thus 33 and 32 years old respectively. The oldest Sooty Tern known was
34 years old – surely Bird Island can beat that!
We also continued to have birds first ringed in other
colonies, with one from Recif (a small rocky island between Mahé and
Fregate) and three from African Banks (the northernmost island of the
Amirantes).
We continue to find chicks from the batches ringed in
1993 and 1997 being recorded for the first time, supporting the earlier
conclusion that Sooty Terns first breed between 4 and 10 years old, but
in 2005 we had our first birds from 2002 returning to the colony, at
only three years old.
Turtles
Turtle Statistics
for the season
16 July 2004 to 15 July 2005
The
first Green Turtle of the
season laid on 17th August 2004 and the last on 7th July 2005.
The first Hawksbill laid on 26th September 2004 and the last on 14th
February 2005
New turtles tagged during
season: 18
Green
Turtles: Total number of emergences:
68
Total
number of nests: 47
Hawksbill Turtles:
Total number of emergences:
273
Total number of nests:
186
15 July 2005:
233 nests in total
Total Number of emergences (including
those which did not result in a nest): 341
Hatching
Success:
Total Nests hatched:
201
Hawksbill Turtle
Nests seen Hatching:
163
Hatchlings Live:
17076 (Average
live per nest = 106)
Nests which hatched
earlier than expected
(hatchlings not seen):
38
Nests completely eaten by crabs: 6
Nests Relocated:
52 (in
danger of being eroded away by the sea.)
Nests lost as a result of
erosion: 24
 Back
to Turtle Project
Birds
Tropic Birds:
The current number of established nesting sites is
72. These nesting sites are scattered all over the island, with the main
concentration around the chalets. To date we have ringed 107 adults and
62 chicks. Currently 7 birds are incubating eggs and there are
5
chicks.
This project was begun in July 2002 and we are able
to see which pairs use which nesting sites and when, they do not tend to
move sites as a rule. As yet none of the chicks ringed since 2002 have
nested yet.
Back
to Tropic Bird project
Migrants/Vagrants:
Whenever we see an
unusual Bird for the island we submit a record form to the Seychelles
Bird Record Committee. Recently the following birds have been accepted
as genuine records:
Jacobin Cuckoo -
seen March 2004
White Wagtail - seen November 2004
Tree Pipit - seen November 2004
Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush - seen October 2004
Whinchat (immature) November 2004
Common Whitethroat - seen March 2004
Robbie's weekly migrant
count is now really beginning to look interesting. We now have 18 months
worth of figures and it is very easy to see from these when Migrants are
resident i.e. European winter and also when they are passing going
either north (May) or south (September)
Migrant Count - Since last News Update:
In addition to
this Robbie's weekly count with the maximum number of birds seen on any
day since the last update on 31st May is below: Two months are given as
a comparison.
July:
56 Frigatebirds, 5 Grey Plovers, 2 Lesser Sandplovers, 4 Greater
Sandplovers,
3 Crab Plovers, 21 Whimbrels, 60 Turnstones, 0 Sanderlings, 3 Curlew Sandpipers,
0 Ringed Plover,
2
Greenshanks, 3 Crested Terns, 56 Bridled Terns, 3 Saunders Little
Terns, 1 Common Sandpiper,
2
Oriental Pratincole, 1 Red-billed Tropicbird, 1 Red-footed Booby, 1 Grey Heron
September:
61Frigatebirds,
21 Grey Plovers, 11Lesser Sandplovers,15 Greater
Sandplovers,
1 Crab Plovers, 85 Whimbrels,195 Turnstones, 4 Sanderlings, 20 Curlew Sandpipers,
1 Ringed Plover,
3
Greenshanks, 3 Crested Terns, 30 Bridled Terns, 310 Saunders Little
Terns, 1 Common Sandpiper,
2
Oriental Pratincole, 1 Red-billed Tropicbird, 2 Red-footed Booby, 1 Grey Heron,
1 Golden Plover, 1 Godwit, 1 Madagascar Pond Heron
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