The seabird life on these islands is incredible. This photo of the sky above North Meyer Island was taken at dusk last night, when the birds wheel around in great numbers. Yesterday, as we were bobbing at the surface of the water after a dive, masked boobies kept coming and landing close by – I think they were curious about what on earth we were!
Birds at dusk above North Meyer Island
The lights on the boat at night have occasionally been a magnet for confused birds – this is a wedge-tailed shearwater chick, that must have just left the nest for the first time, even though it is still covered in some of its baby down. You can clearly see its wedge-tail facing the camera.
A rescued wedge-tailed shearwater chick
We kept the bird in a box overnight (it was probably much the same as being in its burrow), and the next morning we took it back to the island, as it clearly wasn’t quite ready to fly.
Not all chicks have had such timely rescues. Clinton reported seeing several birds which had tried to fly, landed in the water, and become water-logged (and he was too far away to help them). Then, he caught a large kingfish, and when he dissected it to see what it had been eating there were three shearwater chicks in its stomach! It seems there must be quite a high death rate of chicks trying to fly too early – and the kingfish aren’t going to let an opportunity like that go to waste.
Usually it’s the birds eating the fish – but just occasionally, the tables are turned.
