Hello readers and friends, It has been some time since our last newsletter but we are now back in full force and I am sure you are all wondering how the birds are doing. Our Feathered Friends The Sooty Tern nesting season started quite late this year. The birds began laying at the end of June rather than at the end of May into mid June but in spite of this the numbers were good and monitoring of the Terns continues.
Hawksbill Turtles: Robby had a lot to do during the month of January with so many turtle nests to monitor. Crabs had to be removed from the nests and others had to be relocated to safer places to prevent them from being washed away from the eroding sand at the North Point. Is spite of all the hard work invested into the monitoring of nests, some 149 nests were totally destroyed by crabs.
The last quarter of the year was quite eventful with the gradual migration of the sooty terns, the arrival of the migrants and the start of the hawksbill turtles’ breeding season. We believe that the sooty terns breeding season was a successful one. The weather was favourable during the fledging of the chicks and there were no shortages of food either.
Maybe it's worth mentioning the South East Monsoon, now that it's coming to an end. We did not experience the real South East Monsoon this year as we've had in the past far as Bird Island is concerned. This last monsoon, the wind blew mostly from the south west instead of south east.
Much time and energy were spent clearing and preparing the sooty tern colony this year. We bought a new "slasher" to mow the entire colony before the birds landed. Special attention was attributed to the reserve area of the colony to ensure maximum nesting dentity.
The 2012/2013 hawksbill breeding season has been the best so far, since the project started way back in 1995. We have on record to date 313 recorded nests. During the last years, we’ve noticed a slow shift in breeding habitats.
The Hawksbill breeding season is going well since our first turtle visit way back in September last year. To date 289 nests recorded by the end of December. Most of the nests this season are concentrated from the southern end of the island along the west coast and the north east.
The first sooty tern chicks saw the light towards the end of the third week of July. Their fledgling was regularly monitored to assess their development. Abundant food supply plus the sunny weather during the months of July and August definitely contributed.
The dry months of March and April were a blessing to the guests. They had beautiful sunny days and wonderful sunsets to add to their holidays. We cannot say much for the island.
Hello readers and friends. The hawksbill turtle breeding season dominated the first quarter of the year. By the end of the season, 210 nests were recorded from a total of 275 emergences.