Bowen Island - Second/Last Trip

For the past 4 1/2 days I've been out on Bowen Island with Sandra, conducting our last visit of the breeding season. Once the last group of chicks has grown up (which should happen in the next few weeks or so) the entire colony will leave the island and head for sea, where they'll stay until the adults come back for the moult in February (the chicks stay out at sea for several years before coming back to claim burrows and mates). This time it was just Sandra and I on the island which was just as beautiful and remote as last time. We drove down to Jervis Bay in the early afternoon on Tuesday (after getting the okay from Martin that morning - the trip was very impromptu . We had a midday lunch stop at Subway (delicious to get to taste some food from home. Bonus, it's almost exactly the same price as back home which means it is very cheap for Australia standards.) We didn't linger in Jervis Bay for long, just enough to meet up with Marin, load the gear and head out to sea.

Since it was around 5:00pm by the time we rolled into Jervis Bay, it was already getting late by the time we got our gear carried up to the house. We immediately started to set up the fence for the nightly recaptures. By the time we were done with that it was almost sundown (aka "penguin time.") so we hastily made a cup of tea, and grabbed a quick bite (some of our subway leftovers served nicely) and headed down to the beach to wait. 

The first night was pretty good, we caught 128 total, 13 of which had microchips. (Either I was getting better at handling the penguins or they were just more acclimated to us or they were just in better moods cause I managed to avoid getting severely bitten on this trip. Unfortunately Sandra couldn't claim the same. One particularly grumpy adult clamped onto her finger and held on for several solid seconds, after we pulled him from his burrow to check him for a microchip. Can you blame them?) 

Fence/corral for the penguins

Some of the locals :)

Fuzzy Penguin chick! 

They are master escape artists (or at least they try to be)

Notice the blue feathers under the fuzz - As they get older the blue will get darker till it's basically black,

Some more nature shots of the Island:

After our nightly excursion, Sandra and I headed back to the house for some dinner (delicious pasta with creamy alfredo-like sauce), another round of hot tea and finally to bed (around 1:00AM).

We spent the morning sleeping in before heading out to do the routine burrow checks. This time we brought several of the white plastic pipes that were lying outside the house (probably remnants of Martin Fortescue's old work), so that we could permanently mark the burrows Sandra is studying. The Island is overrun with an invasive species of tall grass called Kikuyu (sp?) that the National Park has to cut back every year (using cutting and controlled burning). The grass grows very quickly so there was no guarantee that Sandra would be able to find her marked burrows again next year unless we added something more visually eye-catching. We pounded the pipes into the ground next to the burrows and added bright red tape around the top. Then Sandra wrote the burrow number on the pipe as well, so there wouldn't be any confusion about which ID number it was. Since we were adding markers, the burrow check took a little longer than normal, but since time was a luxury on Bowen Island, it wasn't a problem :) Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to see Oreo again (this time we had come prepared with a fancy hi-tech camera), nor did we get a chance to get blood samples from his parents. But maybe we'll get lucky and they'll hatch Oreo Jr. next year!

Below are some more pictures from the trip: 

Bedroom

Kitchen area

Fencing area (before the penguin invasion ;) )

One microchipped penguin 

"Penguin in the Headlights."  

Protecting the burrow from intruders 

Giant Huntsman spider that lived in the bathroom.
They're so big that you can see  their eyes shine when you flash them with your light.  

Leaving was slightly bittersweet. I was excited to head back to civilization and my soft, comfy bed (plus my parents have landed in Australia and the Surrey-Bergman family is about to be finally reunited! sin puppy dogs, sadly) However my time with the penguins has been amazing from start to finish (even despite the penguin poop, bites and enormous spiders), and I will remember it forever. Since all the penguins are about to head off to sea soon to avoid the heat of the summer weather, that was going to be Sandra's last trip to the island this season. I wish I could go back with her next year, but maybe I'll be on to different things and I guess I should step aside and let someone else have a turn playing with the penguins (maybe another SIT student?) 

Goodbye Bowen Island! 

Yup. Riding in the boat, in the parking lot :)

Well that sums up my adventures in Peng-landia. However the work is far from over (although the fun work is) and now it's time  finally start sorting through all the results we collected and putting that into a paper. (hard to remember that this is school after all...) 

Even though back home everyone is/was prepping for Turkey Day, here in Australia where Thanksgiving does not exist, everyone/everything is getting ready for Christmas. There are literally christmas songs being played on the radio, advertisements for christmas shopping opportunities, and i even heard that a "santa" would be visiting one of the local malls sometime in the next two weeks. As someone who refuses to listen to christmas carols until after Thanksgiving is well over, this has really been messing with my head. Sandra and I both agree that it's messed up to celebrate christmas in a place with no snow (sorry all my Californian friends, but that's just fact. How do you argue with the fact that 9/10 christmas song make some reference to snow falling or bundling up by a warm fire?) Bottom line: i can't accept that Christmas has arrived when there are palmtrees outside my window and I'm walking around outside in shorts and a tank top :P

Two more weeks in Sydney then it's back to home sweet Cairns for a brief reunion with the group, (I'm thinking a trip to the Woolshed and Gilligans, our two favorite clubs?), a surprise trip from Tony/the program to no-one-knows-where, and then it's time to board Quantas flight 5681 for home. 

Until that time however..... 

Peace, love and Happy Turkey Day! (a little belated) Hope 

Katie