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

There were Giants and a few Dominicans too (one of them immature). An elephant
poked its head through the bay ice below the hut and the snowies gathered round it.
Three snowies were flying near nest 39, bickering and fighting; I thought one of
them might have been a bird of the year. When I went over to the nest there were
two birds sitting on a rock below its entrance and four above. All chirred and
croaked intermittently. I watched the snowies at dusk in the pools in the ice just
offshore. They paddled against the wind with wings outspread, occasionally
dropping into the water or walking on the thin ice. Sometimes they dipped bills in as
if drinking or feeding. Others came and they began to chatter and ‘fight’. I wandered
around the coast attempting photographs of snowy petrels in flight but without
success - almost all were in groups on the sea ice which wasn't yet safe to walk on.
They were about in force and came in at sunset to indulge in pursuit flights near the
nests. A few giants were still to be seen, and sheathbills, but no gulls.
Towards the end of the month snowies appeared again; numbers varied and
more came in the evenings. Some days they were present in force but none entered
nest 39, although several were flying about in its vicinity and a pair landed in front of
it. I thought that perhaps they couldn't enter, so I built a rock platform at the
entrance, but still no visitors. Giants were about in moderate numbers and a few
sheathbills. Another day when the snowies in force I went over in the evening to the
cave at Knife Point to collect one as a specimen. When I flashed the torch I saw
several and one scurried away into another's nest hole. There was a great row and I
saw that the owner of the nest had seized the intruder by the scruff of the neck and
was biting fiercely. The other tried to shake it off and there was much spraying of oil.
Then the attacked bird began to weaken and I separated them before it was badly
hurt, because I thought it might easily have been killed. Near the end of the month a
fine morning and a very colourful sunrise set the birds a chattering. In Starfish Bay
an adult Dominican flew over and there were four gentoo penguins on Outer Islet
which they had reached along a narrow lead in the young ice. The snowies were in
smaller numbers, but large flocks were on the ice below the end of Polynesia Point.
I enjoyed watching them, nesting in some numbers on the crags, and often flying
around indulging in mutual display. Nest 39 was visited again at last and the
terragraph showed several kicks on two days. Another morning it short-circuited
and I had to brush off the snow, when it resumed functioning. One giant petrel flew
over and there were still a few sheathbills about.
On 6 June there was a slight increase in the number of giants - to over a dozen,
but the snowies were limited to two or three, and there were a few sheathbills and
one Dominican gull. Birds continued scarce during the first half of June and then
numbers picked up again, but only a few sheathbills and up to a score of giants;
occasionally we sighted a Dominican. There were no snowies but one evening the
terragraph gave two kicks - thaw had again caused a short circuit - a false alarm. In
early July the terragraph occasionally kicked but these too were short circuits from
the general wetness and there were still no snowies - it was over a month now since
we had seen any.
Pre-breeding activities and nesting, l949. On 6 July giant petrels were flying together
occasionally, possibly the beginning of pair formation, and they were in much
greater force that day. Next day they took up positions by the nest sites and over the
next few days were settling down there, displaying and billing. - the pairs mostly
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