Zino's talk
A posting regarding Zino's Petrel that mentions my name incorrectly quotes me about data loggers and seeing Zino's in the hand. In future, please feel free to contact me directly to clarify any such matter via the Scilly web site. In case you are asked again about the issue here are the real facts.
I had dinner with Frank Zino in Madeira in June. He told me about data loggers on four Zino's, their recovery, and the results to date. Frank does not want to publish these results yet since he currently has data loggers on four more Zino's and wants to recover these and analyse their data first. Frank feels that results from eight data loggers is a better sample size and intends to publish next year. No doubt his findings will be of great interest to British birders.
I also visited Pico de Arierio with Frank where I saw Zino's Petrel in the hand. The exact account is given below extracted from my trip report:
"After a quick turn around in Funchal we arrived at Pico de Areirio at about 1.40 pm, in time for a quick sandwich and coffee. At about 2.15 pm Frank Zino and his mountaineering accomplice ‘Savo’ arrived. Soon after we were all trekking again to the Zino’s colony, but in the daylight and completely aware at certain points of the sheer 1,000 metre drop either side of the narrow path. By now, who cared? We reached the point where Frank Zino and colleague went ‘over the top’ and we carried on round a loop, down the track, and through a tunnel to a watch point only 200 metres from the colony. As we arrived we saw the duo abseiling down the facing cliff face. They took up position and then … the fog came in. Complete and utter disaster! We waited hoping it would clear. There was a slight break for a minute where we could vaguely see the duo at work, then dense fog again. What made things worse is that we could hear Frank and ‘Savo’ in discussion!
We waited and waited. We ‘prayed’ and ‘prayed’. We even tried to blow away the fog (sic). Time passed and our deadline for the taxi approached. Eventually a few participants accepted our fate and started to make their way back leaving behind Bob, Wayne and Peter. This trio too soon had to admit defeat and packed up tripods, ‘scope, and cameras. Bob set off and rounded the first corner, at which point incredibly the fog lifted. There were Frank and ‘Savo’ at near eye-level working with Zino’s Petrels just 150 metres away. Bob Screamed to Wayne and Peter. Over about half-an-hour three Zino’s Petrels were extracted and worked on. Excellent views were attained through the ‘scope."
Cheers,
Bob Flood
