Farquhar Fanfare: First GCT Chick hatches on Bancs du Sable

The first Greater Crested Tern Thalasseus bergii nest observed on Bancs du Sable in 17 years has a chick!  After a month-long incubation, GCT chicks hatch with eyes open and a protective, temperature-regulating coating of down.  This chick will remain dependent on its parents for food and protection from predators for 38 - 40 days before fledging.  Our ICS Farquhar Conservation Team are thrilled to share this news, and report that a second nest has been spotted close by.  Greater Crested Terns are known to use individual and group breeding sites, so perhaps this could signal the start of a new larger colony.

A Greater Crested Tern attends its sole chick at nest. Bancs du Sable, Farquhar Atoll. Photo Tom Collier

Chicks are well camouflaged and attentively guarded in their vulnerable pre-flight stage. Photo Tom Collier

A new Seabird Monitoring Protocol recently introduced under the GOS-UNDP-GEF Outer Islands Project is  standardising data collection methods for important species across the islands of Farquhar, Desroches, Alphonse and Poivre.   Building systematically on the work of conservationists over the past 10+ years, these data sets will be used to inform marine spatial planning and species management for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use in the Outer Islands at Seychelles, regional and international levels.  

Monitoring for seabirds, turtles, whales, fishes and incidental wildlife is a daily routine for the ICS Conservation Team on Farquhar. Photo Licia Calabrese