I am still catching up, as pertains to the blog, with various things relating to 2008. One topic which cannot be missed out is the conclusion to the tales of Fred and Tina the Fairy tern and Tropicbird chicks that I have been following on this site since early October (See photographs at the foot of this page).
On arrival on the island on December 9th the first thing I did was go and check on Fred, but his branch was empty. As I mentioned in my post of January 6th below, strong winds at the end of November appear to be responsible for the displacement and subsequent demise of a large number of Fairy tern juveniles around the island. Fred however was quite big and well developed and it occurred to me that he may well be off on a “training flight” with his parents. So I checked his branch a couple of times each day over the next three days but with no luck. Also on the 3rd day I noted two adult terns courting on his branch which seemed to make it all rather final as this species is known to be quick to re-lay following the loss of an egg or young.
Tina however appeared very well, being large and apparently close to fledging (see photo at foot of page). Fledging amongst white-tailed tropicbirds is quite a strange business. The adults feed the chick until it reaches a weight considerably greater than its parents and then abandon it! The juvenile is then driven by growing hunger to make its way to the sea. In Tina’s case this would entail quite a struggle thorough some 40-50 metres of dense undergrowth before she reached the beach and a good opportunity to take flight.
Tina fledged sometime during the 3rd week of December – we wish her well!
I also checked on the second tropicbird chick in its ground nest (named T2) and this was in good condition and growing fast (see sidebar).
Note: I will leave the photos of Fred and Tina through their developmental stages (at the foot of this page) until such time as this post drops off the front page.
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