Our last day in Hornsund Fjord was spent packing up and making our final measurements on chicks. We coiled up the extension cord and with some help from colleagues at the station, hauled the batteries and PIT tag equipment down from the colony. Thank you Adrian, Christine and Witek!
Adrian, Derek and Julia coiling the extension cord.
Many of the chicks during our last day looked completely ready to leave the nest. They only had small traces of downy feathers left. It’s amazing how they grow up in only 25 days!
Here is Laurel with a chick ready to head south for winter. Notice that this chick has an all dark chin.
This chick held by Nina has a more typical white chin.
When the chicks leave the nest they generally go to sea with their father who continues to feed the chick. We put metal bands with individual numbers on the legs of as many chicks as possible in the hopes that one day we will find them again when they return to the colony.