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 ShrewOn 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.
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.
