Gentoo penguin nesting chronology at Bird Island, South Georgia, from 1988 to 2019

• 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"; "EARTH SCIENCE","BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION","ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES","BIRDS","PENGUINS"; Bird Island; Gentoo penguin; Pygoscelis papua; chronology; Antarctic; Antarc*; British Antarctic Survey
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5285/f9993ee9-085f-42cf-b008-5373526b2bcf; https://data.bas.ac.uk/full-record.php?id=GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/00332

The chronology of Gentoo penguins on Bird Island, South Georgia has been monitored since 1988 (no data for 1989-90 or 1990-91). 30 nests are marked in the colony at Square Pond, and 40 in the Johnson Beach colony. Regular checks are made to record when eggs are laid and the peak laying date (when 75% of nests have eggs) is calculated. This work was funded by Natural Environment Research Council (UK) core funding to the British Antarctic Survey. : Colony checks at Square Pond and Johnson Beach are started on or around 7 October. The colonies are checked regularly (every 3-4 days) until nest building begins. Once nest building has started, nests are marked. At Johnson: 40 concrete flagged nest markers are placed at random through the colony and the nest nearest to sea is taken as the study nest. At Square Pond: 30 nests are staked at random through the colony with flagged stakes. Both colonies are visited every 2 days once nests have been marked and records made of when eggs are laid in each study nest. The date when 75% of nests have at least one egg is then calculated.