American or Snowy Sheathbill - Chionis albus
snowy sheathbill Basics
Weight: 460 - 780 g
Length:
34 - 41 cm, wingspan: 75 - 80 cm
Breeding Season: Arrives at the breeding
grounds in October to November, nests are made in the shelter
of rocks and eggs laid in December to January.
Estimated world population: - 200,000
Feeding & diet: Opportunistic feeders who
will eat just about anything even vaguely edible they come
across, they aer often found foraging along shorelines and
amongst washed up seaweed for invertebrates. They are frequently
found around sea-bird colonies during the breeding season,
especially penguin colonies where they will eat eggs, chicks,
carrion and even fresh faeces. They do not kill other birds
but will try to interrupt chick feeding and steal the spilled
food.
Conservation status: Least
concern.
Distribution: From the
Antarctic Peninsula and throughout the Scotia arc through
the South Shetland, South Orkney and South Sandwich groups
to South Georgia and associated islands along the way. It
migrates to the Falklands and coastal regions to the south
of South America but mainly breeds on Antarctica and its
islands.
What are Snowy Sheathbills like?
Sheathbills
are also sometimes referred to as "Mutts" supposedly
after the mutt-mutt-mutt sound they make, though it does also
just seem appropriate, or paddies in the Falkland Islands. They
are the "bin men" (garbage disposers) of the Antarctic.
Sheathbills are so called because of the horny sheath that covers
the upper part of the bill. They will eat just about anything
that they can lay their beaks on, the one in the picture to
the right had been feeding on (in) a dead seal. They frequently
scavenge penguin colonies for eggs, dead chicks, even penguin
faeces - there's occasionally some not fully digested food
there. They are the only Antarctic bird species that don't
have webbed feet and so are not able to fish for food like the
others.They usually stay out of the path of the sea-ice and move north in the winter when the worst weather comes. The picture at the top of this page however was taken in mid-winter at a temperature of minus 30 centigrade of one of a small colony of sheathbills that lived around the base on Signy island in the South Orkneys group. Whereas most of the other sheathbills would move north, this hardy group evidently thought that there were enough scraps available from the base to make staying worthwhile. Surprisingly hardy creatures, the bird in the picture has its feathers fluffed out as far as it can and is considerably skinnier than the picture shows.
In
an attempt to try to reduce heat loss sheathbills will hop around
on one leg rather than risk getting two cold. This
made landing rather exciting as they found out the hard way
that this is really a two legged activity. Frequent falls down
small holes were another hazard as their one leg went between
slats on the wooden decking of our small jetty. In fact so determined
were they to not use both legs and so clumsy in the process,
that for a while I was convinced that there was actually one
unfortunate individual that really only had a single leg, as
it would hop away rather frenziedly if it was in your path rather
than put the other leg down or fly.
Not exactly a good looking bird and very nervous and skittish as befits a small and vulnerable creature that makes its living by scavenging, it was difficult not to have some respect for Mutts as they braved the harshest of conditions and seemed to know their place in the hierarchy - right down at the bottom.
