Skinks

The following pictures are of Dany Vercatasamy performing morphometrics on Telfair's skink (Leiolopisma telfairii).

One way to tell males from females is to look for a pair of hemipenes which looks like two bulges behind the cloaca at the base of the tail.

They need to be looked over to see if there are any scars or features that could be used to identify the skink from others and as you may see a digit is missing from the back right hand foot.

Each is microchipped with a unique number

Then they are numbered so that they not catched frequently but can still be tracked for movement between areas. The ink is toxic so it is made sure that numbers are not written on wounds.

Here Dany is measuring the distance between tail brakes which can be seen from the discolouration

Famous Whale

Thought that i would mention that this picture has become quite popular with the alamy sales but also in Iceland where it is used for marketing Reykjavik whale watching and it was also used by Icelandic airlines so keep an eye out on the London underground for this picture.

Ile Aux Aigrettes Cont...

So, it’s been two weeks when I last put some pictures up on my blog and that's because I worked at the weekend which gave me the opportunity to spend more time taking pictures.

Current events for the Olive White-eyes.... well.... Ile Aux Aigrette has 21 individuals each with their own name and colour combination rings. This should be the time for building nests and laying eggs but it is still being quite unproductive we think due to the lack of rain and thus dryness of the Island. Our daily tasks at the moment include morning feeds of grapes, insect mix and nectar which are distributed to 9 feeding stations scattered across the island in different territories. Then we do searches on as many as the birds as possible, observing and reporting on the behaviour we see. The Olive White-eye is listed as a Critically Endangered bird by the IUCN with only an estimated 100-150 pairs left in the wild. It was only in 2005 that the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation started a project to help save them from extinction so there is still a lot we don’t know about them hence the reason for intensive field observations. We then feed them again in the afternoon (observation…they eat a lot) and afternoons are left for nest watching but because there are no nests at the moment they are many spent doing data entry, UGG!

Fouka the OWE above is a male and was hand reared so very tame and thus one of the favourites amongst the field staff. We are hoping that he has partnered with a female called Fizzgig but it is still early days i think.

Elvis is a female with a fella called SquarePants. The picture above is Elvis feeding on the nectar of an endemic and rare Lomatophyllum plant.

As i was photographing the Olives on the Lomatophyllum an Ornate Day Gecko also came along so i thought i would throw him in too.

Day or two old Ornate Gecko on a Scaevola taccada plant.

Giant Guenther's day gecko

Indian House Shrew

On of the main problems on the island for the reptile populations is the Indian house Shrew (Suncus murinus) which are both deaf and blind and so always running across your path. They eat the eggs thus the Islands reptile populations arn't doing as well as they could do and this also means that no other reptiles like the Keel-scaled boa can be introduced yet.

Well thats it for now. Have a great week.

Ile Aux Aigrettes

Fouka the crazy Olive White-eye (Zosterops chloronothos)

Elvis and Square Pants Olive White-eyes (Zosterops chloronothos)

The Madagascar Fody (Foudia madagascariensis)

Mauritius ornate day gecko (Phelsuma ornata)

Giant Aldabran Tortoises (Geochelone gigantea)

The Telfair's skink (Leiolopisma telfairii)

Ile Aux Aigrettes

Photographs of the week

Olive White Eye adult and 3 day old chick

Evening lights from the island

Giant Aldabran Tortoises Geochelone gigantea


Toad

Ornate Day Gecko


agamid

The Telfair's skink (Leiolopisma telfairii)

Critically Endangered Mauritius Fody (Foudia rubra)

The Pink Pigeon

The Pink Pigeon (Columba mayeri) is possibly the most endangered pigeon in the world with only 12 birds remaining in 1986. It is endemic to the island of Mauritius (land of the dodo) and evolved in the absence of predators but due to the introduction of Crab-eating Macaques, cats, mongooses and rats as well as alien flora and habitat destruction the population plummeted. Thanks to the conservation efforts of the Mauritius Wildlife Foundation populations have now recovered to over 300 individuals.

The pigeon below is called Dooly and he had to be caught to be treated for an eye infection and checked for trichomoniasis.

Dooly is being treated for trichomoniasis by giving the pigeon spartix tablet

Juvenile was found on the ground under a nest so it was retrieved and treated for wounds and morphometrics preformed.

Ringing the juvenile

Predator control is a big part of the work of the Mauritius Wildlife Foundation.

Clowns of the sea

One of the most amazing sights of the Iceland’s West Fjords is Látrabjarg, Europes’ largest seabird cliff, 14km long and upto 440m high. This cliff is colonised by millions of birds including, Razorbills, Puffins, Guillemots, Kittiwakes and Fulmars. It is the Puffins that most the tourists go at see though as they are so tame that you can get within cms of them. So much fun photography wise.

Vestmannaeyjar here we come.

My friend Sara and I decided to go on a little adventure and because I never got a chance to visit Vestmannaeyjar (Westmann Islands) the last time I was in Iceland we decided to venture there. We travelled via coach from the main Reykjavik BSI bus station to Ϸórlakshöfn where we caught the ferry to Heimaey, the largest of the Westmann Islands.

The Herjólfur ferry heading back to Ϸórlakshöfn with the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in the background

The Islands got their name (Westmann Islands) from the Irish slaves that were captured by the Norse Gaels. The Islands have quite a tormented and bloody history. Not long after Ingólfur Arnarson arrived in Iceland, his brother Hjörleifur was murdered by the Irish slaves (Westmann) he had brought with him. Thus, Ingolfur tracked them down to Vestmannaeyjar and killed them all. The English raided the Islands throughout the 15th Century, then the Islands suffed a horrific Algerian pirate attack in 1627 whereby 36 islanders were killed and 242 were kidnapped and taken to north Africa.

Plaque to inform tourists of the Islands history

It was the volcanoes that caused a lot of despair after that especially when the volcano Eldfell erupted unexpectedly at 1.45am on 23rd January 1973, causing the entire islands 5000 inhabitants to be evacuated to the mainland. It erupted for 5 months and covered some of the town under 30 million tonnes of lava.

The remains from the Eldfell volcanic eruption with the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption in the background.

Now it is home to the largest Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica) colony in the world with over 4 million breeding on the islands every summer and other bird life.

Atlantic Puffins (Fratercula arctica) taken along Ofanleitishamar.

Raven (Corvus corax) flying away after stealing a cliff nesting birds egg.


Golden Plover (Pluvialis apricaria) keeping an eye on the girl with the camera.

Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) guarding the nest which is nearby.

A tasty dish for the Islanders is dried cod heads which are traditionally dried outside by hanging them on stock stacks utilising the wind and sun elements. Nowadays they are usually dried indoors using geothermal energy but sometimes you come across the tradiational method.

Traditional method for drying cod heads

At the end of the day the sun was setting and i was able to take advantage of the beautiful light and shadows.

Summer house with rainbow

Vestmannaeyjar landscape at dusk

Silhouette of a Puffin at dusk