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

lew about all over the place. They sat in very dejected attitudes when moulting and
now and then one bird would begin to ‘crow’ - not a real crow, but more like a
hoarse, throaty screech. Whenever a bird does this the others join in and snake their
necks from side to side, beginning low down and finishing with their bills pointing to
the sky. They still kept to their territories and trespassers were thoroughly pecked
and otherwise knocked about.
The Winter of l949. On the evening of 17 March giant petrel chick no. 62055 was on
the shore, and 24 skuas on the slopes near the hut. There were prion tracks at one of
the marked nests. Larger numbers of immature Dominicans were hanging around
and although the young terns had gone, there were still some adult pairs. On 2 April
the snowies were back at the crags in great numbers, Cape pigeons also. I noticed a
few sheathbills, gulls and a skua, but the other birds weren't about, although we saw
them from time to time.
During a seal count there was a scattering of seals and two pods at one beach. The
sheathbills were much in evidence jumping from the back of one seal onto another,
and so on around the pod as if playing hopscotch. They would alight on a seal's back,
peck at a sore, the seal swiped with its flipper or reared-up and the bird jumped onto
another. The young sheathbills had dark beaks and were stocky and plump. A skua
followed me down Mirounga Flats and in Stygian Cove there were ten gulls;
otherwise no other birds except three adult gentoos in Stygian Cove and numbers of
snowies everywhere. The snowies were indulging in pursuit flights and landing on
the flat bay ice, now formed. I returned across the ice in Elephant Flats, crossing at its
head under the ice cliffs and skied down the Stone Chute!
Two weeks later 75 sheathbills were at two carcasses of elephant seals I had killed
for specimens (where had they come from?); also several Dominicans and a giant;
and a skua flew overhead. Next day Charlie reported two giant chicks had died in
the recent blizzards on their exposed nests of pebbles. A few days later we watched
large flocks of snowies and Cape pigeons; some bands of snowies were roosting on
the bay ice; prions were still about and Wilson's petrels, and the usual birds were at
the carcasses. In the days that followed the snowies chattered on the crags at night
and large flocks sat on the bay ice during the day. We watched their pursuit flights.
Giants were increasing again after the fall in numbers seen during the month. There
were sheathbills, gulls and Cape pigeons, skuas, terns and prions, including some
freshly killed prions. Once I saw a pair of snowies chasing a sheathbill. A crowd of
giants, gulls and sheathbills was at a carcass on the point.
The snowies gave us a lot of pleasure during the winter, as they provided one of
the few signs of life. At the beginning of May with John's help I made a terragraph to
place in a snowy's nest; I saw no reason to suppose it would not be efficient, but still
had to test it with the birds. I installed it in snowy nest no.39 and it worked, but on 9
May although the snowies came in during the evening there was no kick on the
terragraph. Then on 12 May one or two snowies were about and there were several
kicks in the trace around 10.0 o’clock in the morning. Although each time I went out I
found no bird, I suspected they had been alighting and flying off again, but later
there were three minor kicks which may have been wind. In the middle of May
however, the snowies were about in greater numbers - some in groups on the bay ice.
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