An old friend
Manx shearwaters are fantastic and I would know because I had the joy of working with them for my undergraduate project.
In August 2012 I found myself on a small boat departing from mainland Pembrokeshire, destined for the island of Skomer. Skomer, along with neighbouring Skokholm, is home to thousands of seabirds including guillemots, razorbills and puffins. But it is especially important for its huge population of Manx shearwaters. These medium sized tube-noses breed in burrows on a few rocky islands in the British Isles and the North Atlantic. Pairs return from South America every spring to renew their bonds and rear a single chick. Like other procellariiforms, Manxies are superb fliers and as such are not the best on land, as I witnessed first hand. The adults only come to ground under the cover of darkness to avoid beady-eyed gulls who might have them for breakfast.
I went to Skomer at the end of the Summer to coincide with the emergence and fledging of Manxie chicks. Parent shearwaters are so eager to migrate that they depart before the chick is ready and after ten days of weight loss and feeling sorry for themselves, the chicks emerge from their burrows in the dark and begin to stretch their wings. They then fledge after around four days of physical and mental preparation. I was continuing work which involved weighing thousands of fledglings to see if there have been any long-term changes in fledging weight. I confirmed that fledglings of the 2010's were lighter than those of the 1960's and this could have important consequences for their survival.
Manxies were a joy to work with. My assistant and I would roam the islands paths at night, scooping up any chick we came across and weighing them in a plastic cone, The birds showed little fear of humans and could do little to avoid being picked up. It was amusing for us to watch the fledglings ascend rocky outcrops, squabbling as they went, to maximise their fledging chances but despite this they often crashed back to ground or even into us!
It was definitely a formative time in my life, confirming my desire to work in avian ecology. It was also valuable for the things I got to see and do such as caving to find seal pups. Finally I met some really great people that provided me with birding tips, good conversation and plenty of laughs. Manxies now have a place in my heart so that when I now see them shearing past our boat on the south coast I think fondly of my time and imagine that I may even have met one of those birds before.
Day 18: Slavonian grebe - Podiceps auritus
Loch Ness Devil
The Slavonian grebe is a member of the grebe family (Podicipedidae) and order (Podicipediformes). The grebes have much in common with the divers. They are a small order of 22 species across 6 genera ranging from the small-goose-sized great grebe (Podiceps major) to the thrush-sized least grebe (Tachybaptus dominicus). Like the divers, grebes are excellent swimmers using large, lobed feet to chase fish. They are cumbersome on land and fly little yet many species to migrate between southern coastal waters in winter and inland lakes and lochs in the summer. During the breeding season, both sexes sport impressive plumage and the Slavonian grebe is no exception with its golden horns set against thick, black tufts. With its piercing red eyes, the Slavonian grebe earned folk names such as devil-diver, hell-diver and water witch.
Taxonomically, grebes have been difficult to play, traditionally being grouped with the divers on account of their suite of shared characteristics. We now know that these traits were convergently evolved and the grebes are actually sisters of the flamingos within the clade Mirandornithes. Its hard to think of the similarities between these two groups other than their aquatic lifestyle!
The Mirandornithes themselves difficult to position on the bird tree. Taxonomic upheaval resulted this week from a paper in Science describing the relationships of the bird orders from whole-genome phylogenies. In theory this gives us the best estimation of these relationships and analysing whole genomes captures most of the evolutionary change of a species. Many historical relationships were challenged and with few remaining. Some recently proposed groupings were validated, others thrown out. The grebe-flamingo sistership was supported, the group being named Phoenicopterimorphae. The new phylogeny places the group within the Columbea, which includes pigeons and soundgrouse. In terms of our ordering to date, in light of this new taxonomy, after the Anseriformes we should have moved straight to the grebes and then after the flamingos moved to the pigeons. The divers , tube-noses and penguins would have come later.
Day 19: James' flamingo - Phoenicopterus jamesi
Anyone for croquet?
James' flamingo is typical typical flamingo, tall, elegant and shockingly pink! James' flamingo lives alongside (sympatrically) in the same colonies dotted across the lakes of the Andes. It is one of four New World species in the genus Phoenicopterus (family: Phoenicpteridae; order: Phoenicopteriformes) with another two in the Old World. The pink plumage of flamingos comes from beta carotene, a pigment found in many aquatic algal species which the birds filter from the water using their unusually shaped beaks. A healthy flamingo with a good diet has brighter plumage which is judged when finding a mate.
Flamingos live in huge colonies on lakes around the world. The numbers fascilitate predator swamping whereby the chance of a given individual being attacked by a predator is minimised. Additionally, the patchy distribution of lakes means that flamingos muct cluster together but once on a suitable lake, the superabundance of food can sustain large numbers. The water is often hyper-saline meaning few species are sufficiently adapted to exploit it.
In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice plays a game of croquet with the Queen of hearts. This event was illustrated in the Disney film where some unsurprisingly flustered flamingos are straightened into long mallets before being swung at hedgehog balls. As a croquet fanatic I am deeply distressed to see the Queen swing the mallets like golf clubs. Clearly the timid King of Hearts did not have the courage to instruct her properly!
Day 20: Little bittern - Ixobrychus minutus
Pint-sized heron
The little bittern is one of the smallest species of heron (Ardeidae) within a genus of miniatures including similarly diminutive dwarf bittern and least bittern. I really enjoyed measuring these birds because they had the same proportions as other herons only scaled down. I imagined one perching on the side of a fish bowl and decided they would make adorable pets.Like other herons, the little bittern has a very long neck relative to its body which it uses to strike at fish and other aquatic prey. For its size, this species occupies a wide range including Europe, Asia and Africa. The rest of the genus cover every continent apart from Antarctica.
The Ardeidae are a group of 63 water birds including herons, egrets and bitters. The Goliath heron is the largest standing at five foot. They share a very similar morphology and ecology with specialisms in size and habitat. They are always a charismatic bird to see and with such an extensive coverage, I can be sure that wherever I am in the world I will never be far from a heron. An old name for herons is shitepokes, apparently for their habit of defecating when flushed.
The Ardeidae are the first family discussed of the Pelecaniformes which also includes the ibises, frigate birds, cormorants, gannets and, of course, pelicans. The new taxonomy places the Pelecaniformes as sister to the Procelariimorphae (penguins and tube-noses).
