You Big Softy!

Apologies for the wait for these latest instalments from Gough. It appears January isn’t a good month for internet out here!

We also apologise for this terrible title. The blog today is about our Soft-plumaged Petrels so if you can think of a better pun for the title please leave a comment. Clearly today isn’t a day for eloquence.

But first thing's first - we mentioned in the blog at the start of the month that our prions would soon be hatching. So here are a few photos of our adorable chicks from Prion Cave yesterday……

Little.... (David Kinchin-Smith)

....And large (David Kinchin-Smith)

One proud parent (David Kinchin-Smith)

The prions never fare particularly well on Gough but more chicks have hatched than we were expecting so it bodes well for the rest of the season.

So over to a new species for the blog and another stunner, the Soft-plumaged Petrel. We were followed by ‘Softies’ for most of the voyage out to Gough, and they have one of the most exuberant flight styles of any of the petrels, looping all over the place rather erratically! Like many of the burrow nesters on the island, softies return to the island after dark to avoid predation. And it is the whistles and wails from them and our Great Shearwaters which serenade us each night.

One smart petrel! (David Kinchin-Smith)

They are a relatively small petrel and as such have smaller burrow entrances which can be quite difficult to find. Eggs are laid between November and December and should be hatching any time now. However, from our monitored burrows, all birds are still on eggs so I’m afraid there aren’t any pictures of chicks just yet. Once the chick hatches it is brooded for around the first week. It is then fed by both adults until it fledges at around 3 months old.

One of our incubating adults (David Kinchin-Smith)

A sneak peak of the egg (David Kinchin-Smith)

We will keep you posted of the progress of our softies. With an estimated 400,000 pairs on Gough you can imagine the racket each night! And by racket, I mean the best lullaby ever!

David