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platy

Summer isn't generally my favourite time of year, it's far too hot! But this summer went really quickly and I'm back at uni in a weeks time. So here's a bit of what I've been up to.

My work with the critically endangered Helmeted Honeyeaters is going well. The site I work at released 12 new birds last October, and while sadly one hasn't been seen since release day, the other 11 birds are doing great choosing their territories and possibly future mates. One bird did have nestlings though unfortunately we think they were predated, however it is a good sign that these captive bred birds are comfortable enough in the wild and still have their natural instincts.

This is one of them. I love these birds, they're beautiful and have such personality. We can't be certain, but it's believed there is less than 100 individuals left. Next week I am helping with leg banding the fledglings from last year which should be exciting!

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I also spent 3 weeks down at Phillip Island, if you're ever in Australia I think it's a must visit Smile I was helping a student with her project on Little Penguins. It was a huge eye opener!
Her project was on the moulting stage of penguins. The aim was to find birds that were beginning their moult and follow their progress by taking their initial weight and seeing how much weight they lost during moult. Sounds easy, right?
The Supervisor of the project initially wanted us to find and track at least 200 birds. This seemed achievable in the beginning given the size of the penguin population there and that every penguin had to come in some time for their annual moult.

However, we were hitting a lot of brick walls.
Surprisingly, there were a lot of penguins still sitting on eggs and also a lot who still had young chicks to feed, which meant they were no where near ready to moult as they hadn't yet had the time out at sea to fatten up.

Due to the Supervisor wanting us to check penguin burrows daily (341 of them no less) we were causing a lot of disturbance, and this caused a lot of the penguins to disappear. During moult penguins have no loyalty to a particular area, nor do they always use the man made burrows we were checking. They could have been literally anywhere! And we were working in areas that had thick grass up to my shoulders and endless places for penguins to hide. Since there isn't really a way to attach tracking devices to moulting penguins, we couldn't even track them to a relative location.

Not being able to find the penguins again meant we were missing out on gathering their weight data. Some penguins we found at the start of their moult we didn't see again until they had finished moulting and were ready to go back to sea, which rendered their data virtually useless.

It was getting very disheartening. The supervisors wanted this done 7 days a week for at least 3 months. We tried to find ways to minimise our disturbance, such as using a burrow camera, not checking penguins who had eggs or chicks, we also asked if we could have every 3rd day off, but none of it really seemed to make a difference. The days were hot no matter how early we started, and we ended up with a couple of heat stressed penguins which can very easily be fatal for moulting penguins. Thankfully with the help of my ice water we could cool them down enough, but it meant we could no longer work that day, so there went potential data.

In the end the student decided the project was not viable. She felt there was not enough prior organisation or forethought given to those brick walls that we hit, and that our disturbance was too much. To top it off, her supervisor left for Alaska and didn't tell her he was leaving. Myself and a couple of the other staff believe she made the right decision.

It wasn't all for nothing though Smile We gained important information of the dynamics at different penguin sites and microchipped a lot of birds whose data can now be added to the system. I learned so much about penguins in a short amount of time.
- They stink. But it's almost an addictive penguin smell.
- They bite really hard. Even the chicks.
- They hiss and scream and are fairly good jumpers.
- They do a greeting call every time they see each other. It's a beautiful sound.
- On average, less than half of the fledglings survive their first year at sea.
- Most penguins have two chicks. Sometimes, both may survive to fledge. Most of the time, only one does. Although that is well known, it still made me sad.
- We had one bird that nearly broke the scale as he was well over 2 kilos. We called him Arnie.
- They do not eat or drink for their entire 18-20 day moult. So they are grumpy as hell.

I found it a bit confronting the amount of death. At the Penguin Parade they really only give you the happy facts. Working in the colony you see first hand that it would suck to be a penguin. But I suppose that's nature.

These two were my favourite chicks. One of them always had his head sticking out the door watching. I called them the mullet brothers.

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One of the cute fluffy chicks.

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This is Einstein. He chose the dodgiest burrow in the site. The door was blocked by one of the roof panels, so he jumped in through the open roof.

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One ugly moulter who is hopefully enjoying life back out at sea.

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We couldn't microchip birds who had begun moulting because their veins are too close to the surface which makes them bleed very easily. So as a means of identification, we had to paint their toe nails.

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Penguins are incredibly strong and that is due to their great muscle mass. This penguin was nearly 2kg and was almost ready to begin moult. After moult penguins can weigh as little as 800 grams.

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And this is just one of the stunning beaches on Phillip Island.

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Lovely photos. Looks idyllic out there.

Penguins: Interesting work. A high mortality rate with the chicks, nature can be cruel. What impact is climate change having on the population numbers? Simple reasoning would suggest that with increasing temperatures and retreating ice mass they are one species that more than any other are going to take a serious hit.

platy

Staff at Phillip island said it has been an odd year for the Little penguins. Late breeding, late moulting, a lot of chick mortality, which is all to do with the lack of food in the penguins feeding grounds. Little penguins will stay out at sea for days to feed, generally travelling out about 50km. Changing water temperatures disperses the fish differently meaning penguins either have to go out further and for longer or starve.
Increasing summer temperatures while penguins are moulting is also critical. Moulting birds get hot and heat stressed very quickly and since they can't swim or drink, dehydration and heat can be fatal.

I can't comment on penguins reliant on ice in the Antarctic because I don't know enough about it, but I agree it does seem a bit dire.
You certainly have had an interesting time! The Honey Eaters are beautiful. I am glad the release is going fairly well. If you had eleven out of twelve make it that is very good. I hope they breed and bring the numbers back up.

Everyone loves penguins. The Little penguins are cute and cubby before they molt. That is quite a project. It is too bad that there were so many complications. It would have been great if you could have collected all the data you wanted, but any data at all is useful. Your summer experiences tell me that behind every animal study there is probably an interesting story. When you work with animals things seldom go exactly as planned. After all the animals didn't read the plan or agree to it.
I hope the changing climate patterns are not too hard on the penguin populations, but I fear they will have a hard time.
What wonderful photos of fascinating birds. What a great job you have!!
Don't you wish you could change jobs? It must have been hard work, but the idea of being outside sounds wonderful.

platy

Working outside definitely has its ups and downs! Nice tan in summer, but you're all sweaty and you stink lol. Nice and cool in winter, and usually soaking wet! I love it though Smile
Who got to paint the toe nails on the penguins? I bet that was an interesting job.Smiley4

platy

I did. Didn't I do a great job Tongue More nail polish ended up on us than on their toe nails
It must have been fun and probably the oddest summer job on record.
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