Category: Field work

September 29, 2014September 29, 2014
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Hope dies last

We’re stuck in idle mode with not much to do other than trying to get back the only device we still have. The weather on the West Coast is spectacular which makes being stuck in town even more of a drag. It’s one of these days where you can spent hours on end thinking about...

September 28, 2014September 28, 2014
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M.I.A.

We went in this morning to check the i-gotU logger’s nest but just like last night only found her mate and chick in the burrow. A quick look at the time lapse camera revealed that she had not returned during the night either. Where is she? After spending most of the day cleaning the house...

September 27, 2014September 27, 2014
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Not the birds you’re looking for

A lovely evening to sit between the rocks just underneath our logger bird’s colony waiting for it to return. Today was the second day the penguin had been out with its i-gotU backpack. And it is time to relieve it for its load. We got to the site in the late afternoon and decided to...

September 26, 2014September 26, 2014
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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...

September 25, 2014September 25, 2014
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Fourth logger deployment

Given that we have only one device left, there was no time to waste. We wrapped the i-gotU up in cellophane, stuck in a couple of condoms and sealed it up with Tesa-tape. By now the procedure is more of a routine than it is the weirdest thing I’ve done for science so far. Sure,...

September 18, 2014September 18, 2014
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First GPS logger recovered

In truly appalling weather Popi and I managed to recover our first GPS logger carrying tawaki this afternoon. And despite all my concerns about difficulties of recovering penguins in the rugged terrain of Jackson Head it went extremely smoothly (well, smoothly as it can go while it is bucketing down cattle and sheep). It went...

September 12, 2014September 12, 2014
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Plaza del Popi

After another comfy night and a solid breakfast at the Heartland Hotel in Haast, we climbed into our field gear. The weather looked rather dull and grey. Today was definitely an oil skin day. The drive from Haast to Jackson Head seems to get longer every time. 48 Kilometres of one of the straightest but...

September 11, 2014September 11, 2014
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Across the Alps and back again

This was a long day today. I got up just after 6am, jumped into my truck and headed across into the Alps. I had to get to Queenstown airport by 11am to pick up Popi Garcia-Borboroglu who flew in today from Argentina. When I reached the airport I found and email from Popi, telling me...