Blasted cameras

Well, that was a bit pointless. We went in today to do the camera round. The idea was to replace batteries where needed and change SD cards so that we could retrieve recorded footage and time lapse images from all 17 cameras out operating at the moment.

Good idea in theory. But not so good anymore if you realise that you have forgotten the bloody replacement SD cards! Well, I had one SD card. But I needed this one to replace it with the one from the camera monitoring our logger nest at the Plaza. So we did the camera round only to replace batteries.

At least the rain had stopped, but the bush was dripping wet. And the ground was soaked which made for a slippery ascent to Hilltop and our cameras up there. It was a grey day that got a bit greyer when we reached JH07, the nest where time lapse footage had revealed some aggressive assaults on the resident female penguin time and again. This in mind the look our camera being completely knocked of its perch dangling from the rock on its strap did not bode well. But I was worse than I thought.

A penguin sat inside the nest but retreated through the back entrance when I approached to recover the camera. I am not sure if it was the male or female. But inside the nest I found the chick and it was dead since a very short time only. I recovered the little body and found not external signs of injury. It wasn’t wet either and it appeared to have a full stomach. Looking down at our camera I could only think of one explanation – trampled during yet another assault on the nest.

I placed the dead chick back into the nest bowl and re-set the camera. Maybe we will be able to see whether it’s mom or dad that is watching over its dead chick.

To make the day even more rotten for me, three of our cameras had not recorded anything although all settings were correct and the cameras were switched on properly. Damn those Bushnells!