Since the arrival of the 70 Pycroft’s petrel chicks three weeks ago efforts have been concentrated on feeding, measuring, and weighing the chicks in preperation for their fledging. Contractor Helen Gummer has been running this side of the translocation from the island, along with the help of volunteers.
The feeding process starts with the blending of a sardine smoothie
The chicks are then collected from their artificial burrows
Ngaire Skelton transports a chick to the feeding shed where the chick is weighed before being fed
The birds are held still by one person while another does the feeding
Kit Brown holds a bird ready to be fed
The chicks are crop fed small amounts of the sardine smoothie every few days. The amounts they are fed depends on their weight and how close they are to fledging.
So far 44 of the 70 chicks have fledged and all the remaining chicks have been out of their burrows at night.
