Tinhosas islands expedition: Mission accomplished!

Fri, Feb 22, 2013

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, BirdLife International concluded its two-day expedition to the Tinhosas islands, the largest seabird colony of the Gulf of Guinea, in São Tomé and Príncipe.

A three man operation was deployed on the 20 hectare large Tinhosa Grande to produce population estimates of the breeding seabirds as well as shed some light on the phenology of these tropical breeders; that is to say study the life cycle of the species and discover how these are influenced by seasonal variations in climate. The group also assessed potential threats.

All went according to plan, and at the end of this journey, through the world of Sooty Terns, Noddies, and Brown Boobies, the team was happy with the results.

“The last expedition to this remote colony was more than 15 years ago, which is a long time to assume that everything remains the same. This trip was crucial to assess the trends since 1997.” said Nuno Barros from SPEA, the Portuguese BirdLife partner.

“Although none of the species breeding there is globally threatened, this is the only colony of significance in the entire region, so assessing the populations’ health is of great regional importance” added Ross Wanless, of BirdLife South Africa.

A concise report with the expedition’s results will be published soon. BirdLife International would like to express their gratitude to Simon Valle, PhD student from Manchester Metropolitan University, who surveyed Tinhosas along with Nuno and Ross and to Bom Bom Island Resort for sponsoring this mission, and making the logistics of an otherwise complicated task, look easy.

If you want to support BirdLife’s work in São Tomé and Principe please get in touch with BirdLife’s European Marine Coordinator Ivan Ramirez, email: ivan.ramirez@birdlife.org