Febuary 2013 Expedition - Building a census of birdlife in the Chagos

It’s day two and my co-worker Yannick Mandarin and I, are now familiar with the research expedition mother vessel. We’ve gone through the boating drills, small craft and engines to make sure we’re happy that we can safely reach our target islands.

Yannick is also now acquainted with the Chagos avifauna and bird census techniques. He’s quick to learn bird species identification and is a natural on water. He has an “eagle-eye” capability of picking out nesting birds, either high up in trees or cryptically camouflaged on the shore.

It’s too early in the expedition to make any meaningful comments about population trends, though initial impressions are that Sterna terns are having a breeding episode. Most of the species that breed in the Chagos do not necessarily breed at any given period in a year. Both Black-naped and Great Crested Tern are nearing their highest annual recorded breeding pairs - and it’s only day two! Three pairs of Roseate Tern, a very rare breeding species in Chagos, were breeding in amongst Black-naped Terns on a recently formed and presumably transient sand bar.

Both Yannick and I are excited at the prospect of continuing the long-term monitoring of the internationally important breeding seabirds during this expedition. We hope to visit as many islands as possible to ensure we produce a comprehensive and thorough census.

Peter Carr