Fledging weights of Macaroni penguin chicks from a colony at Fairy Point, Bird Island, from 1989 to 2020

• Main Authors: Trathan, Philip, Waluda, Claire, Ratcliffe, Norman
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre 2021
• Subjects: "EARTH SCIENCE","BIOSPHERE","ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS","COMMUNITY DYNAMICS","INDICATOR SPECIES"; "EARTH SCIENCE","BIOSPHERE","ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS","SPECIES/POPULATION INTERACTIONS","SPECIES LIFE HISTORY"; "EARTH SCIENCE","BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION","ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES","BIRDS","PENGUINS"; Bird Island; Eudyptes chrysolophus; Macaroni penguin; fledging mass; Antarctic; Point Little; Antarc*; British Antarctic Survey
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5285/85356871-55ee-4b92-a9e8-9b370c843936; https://data.bas.ac.uk/full-record.php?id=GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/00331

The weights of fledging Macaroni penguin chicks at Bird Island have been monitored since 1989. The colony at Fairy Point, also known as Little Mac, contains approximately 400 breeding pairs. Each year, just before their departure from the colony, a sample of 100 fledgling birds are weighed as part of the Bird Island long-term monitoring programme. This data is submitted to the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) as part of their Ecosystem Monitoring Programme (CEMP). This work was funded by Natural Environment Research Council (UK) core funding to the British Antarctic Survey : 100 Macaroni penguin chicks at Fairy Point (Little Mac) are caught and weighed on the 18th February each year. All chicks are weighed using a 10kg Pesola and bag. Care is taken to ensure no individual is weighed more than once. All sampling procedures used are regulated by the British Antarctic Survey Ethical Review Committee in collaboration with Cambridge University and the UK Home Office.