Seabird migration – Wild Bird Conservation

SeyCCAT project: our tagged juvenile Sooty Terns head for the open ocean

September 27, 2019

Between 27 and 30 August we deployed satellite tags on 15 juvenile Sooty Terns in order to follow their movements after fledging and discover where their parents took them as the fledglings learned to feed themselves. When attached the tags to birds that weighed a minimum of 180 grams, judging that chicks of this weight … More SeyCCAT project: our tagged juvenile Sooty Terns head for the open ocean

SeyCCAT project: oversight visit

August 31, 2019

Angelique Pouponneau, CEO of SeyCCAT, and Vania Robert, its Executive Assistant, visited Bird Island for two days, 26 to 28 August, to see for themselves the progress Rachel, Christine and I are making on the SeyCCAT-funded project involving the satellite tracking of juvenile Sooty Terns. We were able to show them the procedures we followed … More SeyCCAT project: oversight visit

SeyCCAT project: update on satellite tracking of juvenile Sooty Terns from Bird Island

August 26, 2019

Since our arrival on Bird Island on 20 August, and Rachel Bristol’s arrival the following day, our main activity has been to prepare the 15 satellite tags (five made by Microwave Telemetry Inc. (MTI) http://www.microwavetelemetry.com and ten manufactured by Lotek in UK http://www.lotek.com) that have been bought for the SeyCCAT-funded project. This is aimed at … More SeyCCAT project: update on satellite tracking of juvenile Sooty Terns from Bird Island

Ringing in new discoveries

August 8, 2019

After beginnings in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, bird ringing (“bird banding” in the Americas and Australia) has become a major tool in the study of the lives of birds worldwide, enabling investigators to discover if birds remain in one place or, if not, where they travel, what routes they take and when … More Ringing in new discoveries

SeyCCAT sponsored Sooty Tern tracking project makes early progress

July 5, 2019

Our trial of the attachment method for fitting satellite tracking devices to juvenile Sooty Terns later this year (see post of 20 June) reached its first milestone when we left Bird Island on 30 June. Both of the birds fitted with dummy tags had alternated between incubating the single egg and going out on foraging … More SeyCCAT sponsored Sooty Tern tracking project makes early progress

SeyCCAT funds a programme for satellite tracking of juvenile Sooty Terns from Bird Island

June 20, 2019

Since 2011, part of our work on Sooty Terns in Seychelles has been directed at finding where our Sooty Terns go when they are at sea. This has been made possible by the miniaturisation of electronic tracking devices, which are now sufficiently small to attach to Sooty Terns. The first study involved the use of … More SeyCCAT funds a programme for satellite tracking of juvenile Sooty Terns from Bird Island

Return of an old friend

June 16, 2018

Part of our work on Bird Island involves walking slowly through the Sooty Tern colony looking for birds that we have ringed in the past, some as long ago as 1972. It is not an easy task. It involves long periods of intense concentration and patience while being subjected to attacks to our heads and … More Return of an old friend

The migration of Bird Island’s Sooty Terns revealed

December 7, 2017

On Bird Island, and in other colonies throughout Seychelles, Sooty Terns breed seasonally during the south-east trade wind, roughly April to October. Outside this time, the millions of birds involved disappear from Seychelles waters and, apart from five recoveries of ringed birds (3 in Sri Lanka/southern India and one each in northern Australia and at … More The migration of Bird Island’s Sooty Terns revealed

Orange omelettes and dusky wanderers

July 7, 2017

After a very long gestation period, my book “Orange omelettes and dusky wanderers” has now been published by Calusa Bay Publications, Seychelles. It describes my experiences in Seychelles from late 1971 to the present. Based around the biology of my beloved Sooty Terns, it also embraces other areas of conservation in Seychelles, illustrating the leading … More Orange omelettes and dusky wanderers

Continuing success for Bird Island’s Sooty Terns

September 18, 2016

As mentioned in my blog of 28 July, Dylan Savy, the 11-year old son of the Bird Island’s general manager and grandson of island owner Guy Savy, was due to count the number of Sooty Tern chicks in the squares we had marked in the colony before our departure. Dylan duly undertook these counts on … More Continuing success for Bird Island’s Sooty Terns

Wild Bird Conservation

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Category: Seabird migration