Another update from Katharine! With the monitoring that Katharine is doing, she gets to be right in the heart of the action and so I really look forward to reading her blogs, as I'm sure you do too.
20th June 2016
I was thinking it might be a good idea to let you know some of the tell tale signs that there are chicks about! It sounds easy to go out and look for chicks amongst the razorbills and guillemots, but until you ‘get your eye in’ it really can be quite a challenge.
So, I’ve put together some photos which may help you get a bit of a better idea what to look for and the tips fall into four main groups:-
I have some photos to illustrate the first three. I do not have photos to illustrate the fourth as I have not been quick enough with the camera, so you will have to use your imagination and keep your eyes peeled!
1. Broken eggs
Sometimes when you look on the cliffs you may see the broken blue eggs of the guillemot, or the white/grey ones of the razorbill. You might jump to the conclusion that there is trouble at mill, and you may be right. However, it may be a sign of a chick.
If you look at the back end of incubating birds, and you can tell they might be incubating because of their hunched posture (see below), you may see some little bits of broken shell.
You can see both the hunched, incubating posture here and the little bits of blue egg at the rear end of the bird fourth from the left. This is a clue to a chick because if the egg had been predated it would have been taken away and if it had smashed in situ there would be the contents of the egg spread about. But, of course, in this case the contents of the egg is not spread about – it is under one of the birds being brooded. Kept lovely and warm and protected from would be attackers.
Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you get to see both. The little bits of egg, and a sign from a next-door neighbour as to what might be under the bird with the broken egg!
Just out of interest, the bird on the left (No. 53a) still has its chick and it is quite big now. Unfortunately, the bird on the right (No. 53), despite bringing their chick to about 12 days old, now no longer has the chick. So we presume the chick has either fallen from the ledge and died, or been taken by a predator.
The main predators of the chicks are crows, herring gulls and/or jackdaws. All these predators will take both chicks and eggs so it is very important the adults use their bodies as a shield to prevent attack and removal of their eggs and young.
2. Odd shaped blobs by the top of an adult’s wing
The other day on Grandstand, we ended up with quite a session on ‘odd shaped blobs by the top of an adult’s wing’ spotting session. What to look for is something not quite sitting right on the normally very well groomed birds, or a colour on their wing/back that is not in keeping with the rest of them. Let me show you some examples.
You might see this...
And you might wonder what the grey blob is on the back of such a lovely black bird. Keep looking! It may move! And then, if you have a telescope, you may see this...
A lovely little chick. All warm and snug up against its parent’s body and safe from predators too. This chick still has the egg tooth visible. This egg tooth is what it uses to bash its way out of the shell when it’s hatching out and it disappears after a little while.
Both razorbills and guillemots brood their young in this way, so keep a look out in both species.
3. Little feet facing the ‘wrong’ way
Instead of the sound of tiny feet telling you there’s a chick – bionic hearing would be required – you can sometimes see feet that are both too small for the adult, and facing the wrong way. This is a very good sign there is a chick somewhere under there! So again, keep looking and if they move the foot/feet become clearer and you know what’s going on. You may see something like this – spot the little foot facing the ‘wrong’ way!
In terms of the fourth tip, I’ll leave you to look out for that one. It is a very good indicator there’s a chick under there!
Nest time (boom boom!) I shall be showing you more chick pictures and even some of chicks ‘home alone’. Thankfully, not for long.