Department of Statistical Sciences
University of Cape Town
| Avian Demography Unit
Department of Statistical Sciences University of Cape Town |
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Earthwatch Project: South African PenguinsDiary of Team Three
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Photo Earthwatch Team ThreeTeam Three comprising Chris, Yoko, Cora and Greg |
Thursday, 5 March 2001
Team three met at the City Lodge Hotel near the Cape Town Waterfront. The team consists of Greg Braun from Manassas, Virginia; Chris Dillon from New York, New York; Yoko Sakai from Los Angeles, California; and Cora Stewart from Sebastopol, California. Team Three’s leader, Peter Barham is a Reader in Physics at Bristol University in the UK. Peter is the designer and developer of the new band being tested in this project. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner of local seafood and other regional specialties at the Musselcracker restaurant at the Waterfront. We were joined by departing team two member John Caddick, team two leader Phil Whittington, the Robben Island Museum environmental officer Mario Leshoro, the Director of the Avian Demography Unit Professor Les Underhill, and the Principal Specialist Scientist at Marine and Coastal Management Dr. Robert Crawford. We swapped travel adventures and penguin stories.
Friday, 6 April 2001
We headed to the Island via the early staff ferry, dropped off our bags and were given the island circle tour by Mario. We were delighted by the mix of ostrich, springbok, bontebok, Sacred Ibis and penguins. While we unpacked, Peter lived up to his advance reputation as a fine chef by preparing a great salad complete with homemade fresh, hot croutons. We were as pleased as the prior teams had been to see the pleasant and spacious accommodations prepared for us. We have the added luck that the hot water system has been sorted out.
After a thorough briefing, we set off to check the nests. The rain, which had been threatening, began as we started our rounds. It was generally a light rain, but it made recording our findings a bit of a mess and it seemed to interfere with both GPS devices. As the rain increased, we returned early to a warm supper and plans for tomorrow. While we grumbled about the rain, we realised how much this tinder dry region needs the rain in this unseasonably hot and dry year.
Saturday, 7 April 2001
It rained all through the night but was tapering off by morning. We busied ourselves creating lists to facilitate the search for the nests. In the morning we monitored the half we did not do yesterday. We found one previously abandoned nest with new tenants. After our lunch break we had a briefing on the use of the telescope for collecting the numbers of the banded penguins near the shore. We set up the scope in the viewing hide which has been created for the visitors touring the island. From there they can watch the penguins without disturbing them. While two team members checked for banded birds, the others monitored the rest of the nests.
The day’s highlights were: seeing four Eland. We’ve now seen all four antelope types on the island, the Steenbok, the Springbok, the Bontebok and the Eland. We saw two Angulate Tortoise. We also banded a chick which was nearly ready to leave the nest.
The African Penguin is very interesting because it is resident year around and it breeds the year around. So there are eggs, chicks of all sizes, many juveniles and birds in various stages of moulting.
Our first braai is in the works while half of the team enters the day’s findings.
Photo Earthwatch Team ThreePeter Barham, the PI for Team 3, trying to extricate a penguin from under the metal box |
Sunday 8 April 2001
This morning we split into two groups and monitored the all the nests in record time. Greg spotted a bird with a temporary yellow mark. This bird is thought to be one of those marked by an earlier team which had then abandoned its nest. The marked bird had established a new nest. We gave the bird one of the new bands and will add this nest to those being monitored.
After lunch, Peter set up a special experiment. He had created a device which looks like a penguin egg, but which contains sophisticated instruments for measuring the egg’s temperature and its orientation. The data is transmitted to a computer set up nearby. He found a nest near the monitoring station with an adult penguin on one egg and slipped the bionic egg under the adult for brooding. The data and egg will be collected in a few days.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent with the telescope collecting band numbers.
The day’s highlights include a baboon spider, 60mm in length very velvety with a bluish/grey colour. Also spotted was a male fallow deer trying to attract the female with his impressive antlers.
Monday 9 April 2001
A heavy rain at night tapered off to a thick mist announced by the fog horn in the early morning. We set off in two groups to monitor the nests. At one nest we observed an adult returning to its nest to find an interloper in the nest with its chick. The parent attempted to drive off the intruder.
On the way back to the house for lunch, a new area was checked for prospective nests to add to the study. A good prospect is a nest with an unbanded adult with a small chick. The pickings were thin and the birds were well hidden beneath thick bushes.
The team split up in the afternoon to observe four nests for an hour. The hope was to observe the second adult returning to the nest after a day’s feeding. If we can determine when the birds are returning, we can compare the return times of the birds with old and new bands and perhaps make some inferences as to success in finding food.
The team members come from a variety of backgrounds. Yoko is from Japan originally, but has lived in LA for 7 years. Her company, Mitsubishi, is a supporter of Earthwatch and every year sponsors three employees to participate in an Earthwatch expedition. Chris is taking a year off from the world of investment banking and was drawn to this project by an interest in penguins and a desire to visit the new democracy of South Africa. Greg is an environmental ecologist who works in environmental protection. Last fall he participated in Earthwatch’s Snow Leopard project in Nepal. Cora is a retired senior manager from MCI who fell in love with penguins whilst cruising in Antarctica last December. She participated in the first echidna project on Kangaroo Island, Australia in 1989. Our fearless leader Peter is the designer of the bands we are testing. He’s a physicist who was introduced to an interest in penguins by his partner of 30+ years.
Tuesday 10 April 2001
Another night of rain followed by a dry day with enough clouds to be picturesque and to keep the team cool. In the morning, the team split into two groups to monitor the nests. Every day each of the two groups travel along a pair of gravel roads; one by the shore and one through a wooded area. The shore team, Greg and Cora, observed several ostriches on the road ahead of them walking away from them. The next thing they knew, three ostriches were headed their way running a zig-zag pattern. Greg and Cora headed for the brush (this is what the penguins do when they see us). The ostriches had been startled by the arrival of the other team, Peter, Chris and Yoko, who were coming from the other direction. The ostriches disappeared down the road and the team completed its rounds without further adventure.
The search for potential study sites was continued. Two new nests were found which may be added to the study if the absent adult is also unbanded. There are many empty nest sites and fewer breeding pairs than would be expected at this time of year. The low numbers may be the result of last year’s oil spill or this years unseasonably hot weather. The new potential sites are near a Muslim shrine, called a kramat. This shrine is in memory of 18th century Muslim cleric, Tuan Guru, imprisoned on the island by the Dutch.
Peter’s wife, Barbara, joined us in the afternoon. Her luggage didn’t make it, possibly because her flight from Bristol went through Amsterdam which was disrupted by the fire. We’re hoping it arrives tomorrow.
Photo Earthwatch Team ThreeAttaching a new type penguin band |
Wednesday 11 April 2001
The team took it’s first day off. The adventure started at 5:30 am for Chris, Greg and Yoko, well before daylight. They caught the first staff ferry off the island at 6:45am. They wanted an early start to their climb up Table Mountain so that it would be cool. They began their climb in the world famous and beautiful Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden. Their climb took them up Skeleton Gorge (wonder how it got its name). After two and a half hours they reached what they thought was the top only to see additional series of valleys and ridges. By trial and error, bushwhacking and rock climbing they reached the visitors’ centre. Since the trip up was longer than anticipated, they took the cable car down. A brief shuttle ride brought them to the town centre where they could practice their bargaining skills at the Green Market open air market. A further hike brought them from the town centre, across the highway and back to the Waterfront for the last staff ferry back to the island.
Meanwhile, Peter, Barbara and Cora slept in until 7:30. Peter and Barbara stayed on the island and did the morning rounds. Cora took the 9:45 ferry to the Waterfront and was met by Jane Underhill who took her on a fascinating tour which included SANCCOB, the bird rescue centre; the beautiful beach at Bloubergstrand, the spot for the best photo of Cape Town and Table Mountain, and a most delightful lunch at Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden. After a walk through the gardens, they stopped at Cape Town University to see if Barbara’s luggage had been delivered as promised. The luggage hadn’t arrived so they headed to the ferry with a load fresh provisions.
When the mountaineers returned exhausted and happy, the group went to dinner at the small restaurant on the island. It was after the closing time, but they looked at our tired, hungry faces and invited us in for meal. Next stop – hot showers and early to bed.
Photo Earthwatch Team ThreeYoko and Chris using GPS to locate nests |
Thursday 12 April 2001
Another beautiful, sunny day, in spite of a forecast of a 30% chance of rain. The hikers were in good shape after their adventures on Table Mountain. The morning rounds went quickly. We’re familiar with the study nest sites now, so there is less hunting for them and less need for the GPS. It’s about 2-2.5 miles from the house to the end of the road where we turn around and head back. On our two round trips each day we are covering 8-10 miles at a casual to moderate pace.
Peter took the ferry in to the university to pick up Barbara’s luggage and incidentally to attend some meetings. The meetings were to discuss ongoing penguin projects on the island.
Since the midday was very hot, the team took a long luncheon break so that the afternoon’s nest observation could be done when it is cooler. The hour long observations were quite tame, typically one bird sitting on the nest. Our hope is to observe the sitting adult being relieved by the other parent who has just returned from feeding. Greg observed a change over on a nest adjacent to the observation nest. The sitings today were several herds of Fallow Deer and a Leopard tortoise.
Peter lived up to his advance reputation as a chef by preparing a fantastic dinner of hake (fish) with mango sauce and he even baked fresh bread rolls.
Friday 13 April 2001
The wind howled through the night. It was so strong that the ferry service to Cape Town was suspended after the 6:45 am boat. Yoko was not able to get to town and Mario was not able to get to the island. All the tours for the day were cancelled. We went about our morning rounds having difficulty hanging onto the sheets on which we record our findings.
On the way back to the house for lunch, we spotted a potential study nest with an unbanded adult and two sturdy chicks. Cora tried her hand at penguin catching. She was quick enough to catch a flipper but couldn’t get her arms around the bird. Nearby was a penguin with its head in a rusted can. We joked about it mimicking an ostrich to avoid us, but we soon realized that it was stuck. Barbara held the bird while Peter removed the can. Fortunately the can’s edges were not jagged and the bird was sufficiently bemused to not bite its rescuers. The penguin in a can’s band number is M3303.
In the afternoon, we braved the wind again (and sand in our eyes), to check study nests marked as abandoned. When it is unseasonably hot nests are abandoned. The adults frequently return to that nest or its vicinity to establish another nest. We hoped to find birds which prior teams had banded with the new bands. We found the "closed" nests even though many of the tags were either removed or blown away.
Peter retrieved his bionic egg from the nest where it had been placed. The female had laid a second egg and was now incubating three! Peter compared the data collected using the bionic egg here on Robben Island to that which he had collected from a penguin in a zoo in England. He describes the difference in the results as "stunning".
Yoko has spent hours preparing a Japanese feast for our dinner tonight.
Saturday 14 April 2001
The wind eased off so the ferries ran today. In the morning, Chris visited the nesting boxes which had been placed in the colony last summer. She found one of the twenty-five boxes occupied. This is a first. The new boxes are intended to make it easier to observe and band the penguins. It was feared that the design wasn’t working – so it’s good to find one being used. We’ll move more of the boxes to the open area where there are fewer good natural nesting sites. Yoko and Cora tried using the scope to check band numbers along the shore, but it was still windy enough to make siting difficult. Greg accompanied Peter, Barbara and Mario to mark birds in nests being added to the study and to put number bands on chicks that have most of their adult feathers and who will be leaving the nest soon. Greg easily caught and held his first penguin.
The daily monitoring rounds were done in the afternoon to observe what may be different at that time of day. We’ve been here long enough now to watch the rain generate grass and new leaves on dry shrubs, to watch chicks grow, to see newly hatched chicks with their tiny flippers and to discern some of the different penguin personalities. We’re surprised and sad how few days of our expedition we have left.
While the team monitored the study nests, Peter and Barbara settled in with the scope at "penguin highway". This spot has the highest concentration of penguins going between the colony and the sea. Peter caught the tantalizing partial band number A1405_. He couldn’t see that last digit! There was a one in ten chance that he was looking at one of Africa’s most famous penguins, "Peter". Peter the Penguin is one of three birds affected by the Treasure oil spill which were fitted with transmitters and released hundreds of miles from Cape Town. Their progress was tracked daily in the newspapers here, as well as the ADU Website. After watching the bird for nearly ten minutes, Peter was dismayed to see the birds scurry back to the beach, startled by the approach of the team monitoring the area.
There were several penguin rescues today. Two birds had number bands which had begun to open; they were caught and the bands adjusted. Barbara was alerted by two Canadian tourists, to a penguin with its band caught on a branch. She was able to free it. This rescue underscores the need for the new bands we are testing. If a penguin with the new band gets caught on a branch, the band is expected to be flexible enough to allow the penguin to free itself, even if the band is left behind.
Sunday 15 April 2001
The weather forecast threatened winds and a day hotter than the wonderful curry that Barbara made for us last night, but the clouds kept the heat from being too intense. We did the monitoring rounds in the morning to avoid the heat. Instead of an Easter egg hunt, we hunted penguin eggs and were delighted with 5 newly hatched chicks. It was a record day for banding birds. Three adults in new study nests and one large chick were banded.
This afternoon we attached ourselves to a group of visitors and toured the prison where the political prisoners had been held in solitary confinement. Our tour guide was a powerful woman, Bukiwe Sofute, who had been imprisoned for six and a half years for her involvement with the ANC’s military wing. She spoke movingly of her experience and how she grew away from bitterness.
After the tour we moved the nesting boxes from the wooded Cornelia Road area to the windswept North Perimeter Road open meadow. The open space is where the single nesting box resident was found yesterday.
Greg and Chris are preparing our third braai of sausage and marinaded vegetables. This will be our last dinner as a group, Yoko leaves tomorrow and Barbara and Chris the next day. At Chris’s request, Peter created a chocolate cake for our dessert tonight. It was wonderful.
Monday 16 April 2001
We bade a sad farewell to Yoko who left on the 8:15 ferry. The weather was similar to yesterday. The clouds gave us a cool morning for our daily monitoring of the study nests. We saw more of the newly hatched chicks and we could hear the high pitched cheeping of two chicks that are now several days old.
It is exciting to see the chicks and to think how this project and others will contribute to the wellbeing of the African penguin, since its numbers have been decreasing by about 2% each year. In 1900 there were 2,000,000 African penguins; by the end of the last century this number had been reduced to 179,000 adults.
Chris and Greg spent the afternoon completing the entry of the data collected while monitoring the study nests and of the flipper band numbers. Peter and Barbara continued collecting band numbers and the total is now over 1100.
Photo Earthwatch Team ThreeView of Mario's office, which is near the prison |
Tuesday 17 April 2001
Our group continues to dwindle. This morning Chris and Barbara left the island; Chris to spend a day visiting Cape Town, looking up acquaintances and then home on Thursday. Barbara spent the morning at SANCCOB and then flew home to Bristol. Cora accompanied Barbara to SANCCOB and then returned to the Waterfront area to visit the Two Oceans Aquarium. Greg, Peter and Mario monitored the study nests on Cornelia road accompanied by John Caddick from Team Two and his wife Caroline.
Greg and Peter caught up on the data entry and then met Cora returning on the 15:30 ferry. The trio monitored the study nests on North Perimeter road. We’re busy wrapping up our project: entering the data, cleaning the house, sorting out the leftovers in the fridge and packing our souvenirs. It was a subdued dinner with just three of us. We hope to meet Chris and Phil in Cape Town tomorrow night for dinner.
Wednesday 18 April 2001
This morning we did our last rounds of the study nests. Next week the annual penguin census will begin and lasts several weeks. Earthwatch Team 4 will begin 17 May. We will leave the island by the 16:00 ferry. Peter and Cora leave Thursday for Bristol and San Francisco respectively. Greg will remain in Cape Town for two more weeks to tour the Cape of Good Hope and check out the fantastic beaches.
We’re sorry to leave the island. The people here have been very considerate and welcoming. We are very grateful to the staff and administration of the Robben Island Museum for their support of this project. We’d particularly like to thank Mario Leshoro the Environmental Officer, Robben Island Museum for his never failing help, patience and good humour. We’d also like to thank Jane Underhill for all the work she did planning menus, doing all the food shopping and including the instructions to ‘check the vegetables daily and EAT them’. Leshia Upfold of MCM did a wonderful job of making the house comfortable and welcoming. And finally, a very special thank you to our PI Peter Barham who make the expedition a special treat for us with his stories, cooking and having sorted out the hot water system.
This is Team 3 signing off.
