click image to enlarge
A view looking down from the top of Bird Island's Roché peak, our highest point.
Our base is the small building on the right hand side
(Click image to enlarge, and also look for the photo below, looking up toward Roché peak)
Bird Island is a part of the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, located in the middle of the South Atlantic (east of the south tip of South America).
As you can guess, there is no school on Bird Island! We are a British research station run by the British Antarctic Survey.
On our island is a small base dedicated to the research and monitoring of the bird and seal life of the area. Year round our base is manned by scientists from the British Antarctic Survey and also used by other visiting scientists from other countries, such as Canada, Japan, Spain and many more.
Click image to enlarge
The Base and Jetty
Over the southern summer (from October through to April) we can have up to 12 people on base, mostly working scientists but also technicians to keep the base running as we have generators to provide power for lighting, heating, cooking and communications to the outside world. All our water comes from either rainwater or from the streams on the island and has to be carefully filtered to make it safe to drink. During the winter the numbers on base drop to just four people, three scientists and one technician who keep the base running and continue with the science program. The long-term monitoring on the island is divided into three main areas and these are handled by the three scientists who stay year round and work on the island for two and a half years without going home!
The three main areas of science are the seals, albatrosses and penguins. These groups of animals have been studied on the island since 1958 in some cases, and there are still albatrosses on the island that were here then, and are now over 50 years old!
All of our supplies of food, fuel and the people that work here have to come in by ship as there are no airstrips to land here. Our fuel is brought in barrels and all our dried and tinned food comes in at the start of the summer and has to last us for 12 months.
Bird Island has no trees and very few plant species due to its isolated location and climate.
Most of the lower slopes are blanketed with thick tussock grass and higher areas with mosses and lichens.
Due to our maritime climate, we have a narrow temperature range, from -10 degrees C in the winter to +10 degrees C in the summer months. |
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(Click image to enlarge)
Looking up in winter toward Roché peak; our base is along the water at bottom of photo. |
I study the albatrosses on the island and my work involves studying the four species of albatrosses that nest here. These are wandering albatrosses (one of the biggest flying birds in the world), black-browed albatrosses, grey-headed albatrosses and light-mantled sooty albatrosses. This work includes counting all the breeding birds in several large colonies and monitoring their progress throughout the season. I also carry out diet analysis so that we can see what the birds are eating (usually a mix of krill, squid and fish) and this lets us ascertain the health of the rest of the marine ecosystem around our shores.
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Young wandering
albatrosses displaying |
Grey-headed albatross
and chick |
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Black-browed albatross in flight |
Light-mantled sooty albatross pair in display flight |
Be sure to get a closer look! Click images to enlarge |
The other zoological field assistants, (which is what I am) study the penguins and the seals on the island. The penguin studies consist of monitoring the two species that breed on the island, gentoo and macaroni penguins. These nest in several large colonies around the island, the largest of which, 'Big Mac', contains around 80,000 macaroni penguins, the site and smell of which has to be seen and smelt to be believed. Work on these charismatic little creatures includes similar population studies to see how the birds fare from one year to the next.
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Gentoo penguin and chick on nest |
Macaroni penguins on the coast |
Be sure to get a closer look! Click images to enlarge |
The seals are studied by the third and final year-round scientist based on the island. The only seal species which breeds on the island is the Antarctic fur seal, of which we have an estimated 60,000 on the island at the peak of the breeding season. During the winter months we are visited by huge elephant seals (which occasionally breed here in small numbers) and the spectacular and fearsome leopard seals, which can be seen hunting penguins and seals pups in the ice.
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Fur seals on the beach
in front of base |
A female fur seal, scratching in the shallows |
Be sure to get a closer look! Click images to enlarge |
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