Return to Corvo!

Hello! My name is Rosemary Sigger and I have returned to Corvo this week after completing my internship here over the summer. I am excited to be working with SPEA again, this time as an RSPB intern, on their translocation programme for Cory’s shearwater chicks.

The objective of the project is to investigate whether rearing the chicks in artificial nests will encourage them to return to breed there in the future. The chicks will be hand-fed every day until they fledge from the nests, which are found in Corvo’s Biological Reserve.

Perfect Island with an even more perfect Environment!

This is the slogan for the news of this week. Corvo now joins the remaining Biosphere Reserves, Flores and Graciosa, at the forefront of processing waste. On 25th September the Regional Secretary for the Environment and the Sea Prof. Álamo Meneses inaugurated the Waste Processing Centre on the Island of Corvo, and finally closed the waste disposal point, which stained the beauty of this island and attracted rats, cats and seagulls, which are a problem for seabirds. 

The following day, the LIFECorvo Project, the Natural Park and the City Council of Corvo united their distribution efforts of 150 recycle bins  by Corvo houses. Now it is up to these people to follow the slogan for a cleaner environment.

Vila Franca Islet in the European Conference of Biological Invasion

From the 11th to 15th of September was held in Pontevedra (Spain), the European Conference of Biological Invasion.
The LIFE project "Safe Islands for Seabirds" was there and contributed with an oral communication showing the results on Vila Franca do Campo Islet. The project was well received by the european experts community.

Soon we will be in Geocamp Meeting, in Campo Maior, to present the importance of Geographic Information Systems for the protection of Seabirds.
Photo: Marta Corrreia

Looking for a geolocator

Once again the team had the opportunity to help our fellow researchers of seabirds, Maria Magalhães and Cristina Perry Nava, from the Oceanographic and Fisheries Department (DOP) to collect geolocators who were placed in some cory`s shearwaters (Calonectris diomedea borealis) from 2 colonies of Corvo island. The data will allow us to obtain information about wintering and feeding areas and about their migration. This information is very useful to understanding the ecology and biology of this species and other seabirds and essential to their conservation.

  Thank you for the visit and to the 7 cory`s who brought the geolocators back.