Fairy Tern and Tropicbird Progress 2.

The first thing I did on arrival on Denis this week was to go and check on the fairy terns we have been following and it was good news all round.

• The first juvenile shows good development since my last report with tail feathers now fully developed “she” must be approaching full fledging.
• The second juvenile has grown dramatically! Gone is the fluffy ball of a chick from the last report and the development of proper plumage is now apparent.
• Meanwhile the fairy tern egg remains safe and sound on its branch under the attentive incubation of its parent.

Later that day I went in search of the three ground nesting tropicbirds that I first reported as a new occurrence on Denis on Sunday the 14th of September (Post entitled “Another landmark in the restoration of Denis Island”) and here also we have progress:

• The first nest area was vacant and no egg, or evidence of an egg, was apparent so the status of this “nest” is not clear. The depression left by the adult was still visible as was the presence of droppings; so the adult may have yet to lay its egg or it may be that it has abandoned the site.
• The adult was still present in the second location and I assume that it is incubating though I have yet to see an egg.
• However on going to the third site at the southern point of the island I was delighted to find a beautiful tropicbird chick. The chicks are absolutely stunning (see photo in sidebar) when young and hopefully as a ground-nesting population establishes will provide a great addition to the island’s ecotourism product. More importantly however this is the first confirmed tropicbird chick to hatch on the ground following the eradication of rats in 2002, this marks another landmark in the rehabilitation of the Denis Island ecosystem.

Managing for the future. The hot dry spell we have been experiencing on Denis recently reminded me that on other islands where I have worked in the past measures are taken to enhance locations for tropicbirds to nest. These measures focus on limiting the amount of exposure to direct sunlight by appropriate placement of palm leaves and providing greater security to the site by ringing it with stones. The latter measure in addition to providing the adult with a greater sense of safety and concealment may also serve to protect freshly hatched chicks from crab predation when adults leave to gather the chick’s first meal. It may be that the first site, if it turns out to have been abandoned, has been exposed to too much direct sunlight for the adult to cope with. So I will broach the topic with the island management in the coming days to see whether we can manage some potential nest sites in the vicinity of those already established in attempt to attract more adults into nest.