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Dyer Island Blog #7 - 06 August 2009
Greetings again from lovely Dyer Island. I'm here working with the
CapeNature
Conservation Manager of the island, Deon Geldenhuys as well as post
doctoral research fellow from UCT, Katta
Ludynia. Katta has much experience working with seabirds, and
with GPS loggers, so I am really looking forward to working with her
this year.
The priority fieldwork for this session is the African penguin breeding
census, chick growth and condition monitoring, as well as deploying
of some GPS loggers and a few other bits and pieces. This is the most
stressful part of the fieldwork for me. Many scientists around the
world use these same devices to track the foraging range of their
birds. The loggers also provide information of diving behaviour (through
the pressure and temperature censors) and we can use this to give
us an indication of food availability.
They are very light and streamlined and fit like tight little yellow back packs on the penguins. These
devices cost about R25 000 each, and at any one time during the next
few days, I will have about R150 000 swimming around in the sea, endlessly
hoping they find their way back into my very grateful hands. Grateful
that the bird made it safely back to feed its chicks, and grateful
that I don't need to tell my supervisor that I am 'missing' R25 000
…and can I please have another one?! The Dyer
Island Conservation Trust has also generously sponsored 2 of the
loggers I will be using, and hopefully I will not have to ask them
the same thing too!
The GPS loggers are attached with a tape onto the lower back of the bird,
so when the bird comes back from it's feeding trip, you gently remove the
tape and the logger, and there is no sign that the device was ever there.
Once we have the logger back, we download the information onto the laptop
and have a look at where our logger went swimming, and how deep and how often
it went diving. I'm excited to see what we get back. I also hope the logger
does not meet any Cape Fur Seals in its path….not much sleep happens while you
are waiting for your logger birds to come back!
One spot that I'm relieved my birds won't swim into during their foraging
trips the next few days, is a certain spot in the middle of the North
Pacific. You may have read some of my previous entries on this site
on the impacts of marine pollution on the birds we see. It's really
upsetting to see. This spot in the ocean however is in another league
given the size. Although not a completely continuous mass, this 'garbage
heap' of plastic covers an extensive area. It may be 'out of site
out of mind' for most of us, but it's a very scary reminder of the
impact we have.
According to reports below, scientists leave this
week to investigate further. If I find any updates on their expedition,
I'll be sure to post it.
http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-08-04-us-scientists-study-huge-plastic-patch-in-pacific
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8184397.stm
So that's it from me for now. Next time I should have some news on
where the Dyer Island Penguins go fishing.
Bye for now :-)
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Example of the logger |
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African Penguin with a logger on its back
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