Part I: Seals teeth and whales ears - Scott Polar Research Institute ...

chattering and stooping at the intruder. Most appeared to have a ‘roosting’ place
outside the nesting hole and when approached they retired into the crack behind. I
ringed three snowies and one Cape pigeon with Derek's help; not a very good bag
but it became dark quite early. We walked over the top to see the giant petrel nests
but it was too dark to obtain any count of numbers.
Although it was now long past the pairing season, I did see one pair going
through mating actions: the passive bird crouched low and the other mounted and
began treading and occasionally spreading its flippers. Its tail was wagging
continuously and beak bent down to ‘nibble’ the beak of the passive bird, which was
turned up; this was reciprocated. Both birds were ‘trembling’ ecstatically, but
copulation was not attempted and the active bird suddenly stopped, straightened up
and looked around. It was some minutes before he stepped off his partner’s back.
The passive bird then picked up several stones and laid them down in the nest beside
them. Then both sat oblivious of the other! I also watched chinstraps eating snow,
others presenting pebbles etc.
A few days later our local snow petrels and Cape pigeons were very numerous
all day long and making a terrific racket at dusk. I felt sure that there was
considerable variation in the size of snow petrels and decided to do some
morphometric (measurements) work. Ralph was getting interested in birds so I
suggested he should keep a bird log. Snowies and Cape pigeons continued to be very
numerous on all ledges and cracks in the crags. After lunch on 7 April I looked out to
see if any birds were settled among the brash and saw numbers of gulls snowies and
Cape pigeons.
In addition there was a flock of about 150 terns in two groups so I hurried down
to the shore and had a look at them through the binoculars. They were mostly dovegrey
in colour with very conspicuous white rump and tail which was deeply forked.
The bill was dark grey black and the black cap was incomplete with crown and
forehead brown. The upper parts were brown, mottled with black. A few birds had
dove-grey upper parts and their caps were incomplete with white forehead and
crown. The bill was deep red-black. I think they were probably Sterna hirundinacea -
mainly immature birds. Derek and I spent most of the afternoon trying to get a
specimen with the 12 bore. Heavy seas were throwing the brash onto the point and
we shot one, which fell into it. I made my way towards it but the rocks sloped off
steeply to deep water and the waves came up over my knees. In fact the weight of
brash threatened to carry me off into deep water and I had to give up, my boots full
of water. They are most tricky targets to hit - very small and erratic in flight. Also we
had only no.8 shot. I watched them fishing just like the Arctic terns at home,
sometimes submerging completely and flying back and forth along the edge of the
brash. After tea I went down again but though I expended half a dozen cartridges
had no success.
Next day the terns had left and brash ice was streaming out of Borge Bay and
Paal Harbour driven by a strong Northwest wind. Snowies were absent from the
crags and only a few were flying over the ice. But the Cape pigeons were in large
flocks and the other usual birds, including penguins. The terns returned on 10 April
when I saw a flock of a dozen come into the bay, grabbed the 12 bore and went down
to the shore. They seemed to have disappeared, and in the sleet and high wind it was
getting most uncomfortable waiting. Ralph came down with a sou'wester and
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