Penguin nest box building

This year 200 nest boxes have been completed. Last week a final penguin nest box blitz build took place.  Some of the nest boxes have already been put out into the colony and used by penguins to raise their chicks.  This project is a collaborative effort between Robben Island Museum, Animal Demography Unit, and the Leiden Conservation Foundation. 

Leanne Tol directing the nest box building.

Zingfa Wala putting the pieces together.

Esther Mostert at work.

Greg Campbell constructing a box.

Nest boxes piling up...

Nest boxes being transported to the old jail where they will be numbered and varnished.

Boxes are numbered...

Kate Robinson spray painting nest box numbers.

The team starts painting the nest boxes with varnish to waterproof the wood...

The boxes are then left to dry, placed in number order. The nest boxes have a metal number tag attached and a layer of silicone waterproofing at the top of the nest box.

Thanks to Leshia Upfold who provided the metal tags for the nest boxes, they will help with the identification of nest boxes in the field. Once dry and tagged nest boxes can be transported to areas where penguins are known to nest on Robben Island.

We built 21 nest boxes and varnished 65 last week. There are 50 already in the penguin colony. They are being monitored and a few of them were even used by penguins this breeding season.

Chicks in one of the new nest boxes on Robben Island taken by Leanne Tol.

The ultimate stamp of approval, successful penguin breeding in a new nest box.

Wooden nest boxes have the potential to raise breeding success at the Robben Island penguin colony if used (Sherley et al. 2012). Hopefully with more nest boxes available even more penguins will make use of these new nest boxes during the breeding season next year.

Thanks to all those that have volunteered and assisted with this work!




Reference

Sherley, Richard B., Barham, Barbara J., Barham, Peter J., Leshoro, T. Mario, and Underhill, Les G. 2012. Artificial nests enhance the breeding productivity of African Penguins (Spheniscus demersus) on Robben Island, South Africa. EMU 112, 97–106.

Penguin researchers, and experts from rehabilitation centers, zoos and aquariums gathered from around the world at Bristol University, Bristol, UK to attend the 8th International Penguin Conference (IPC8) from September 2nd to 6th. It was the first time the penguin conference was held in Europe. Several events were held at Bristol Zoo where they have a captive colony  of African penguins. Ideas were shared, questions raised, results discussed,  advice given, colleagues reunited, friendships made, networks created; it was an inspiring and exciting time for penguin research and conservation!

An African Penguin seen from below at Bristol Zoo.

Our research team presented findings about breeding African penguin foraging behaviour and local prey availability at Robben Island. When penguins are provisioning for their chicks they are central place foragers. This means they go to sea to get fish (mainly young of the year anchovies) and return to their nest to regurgitate the fish to their chicks to feed them. So at this stage penguins are limited in the distance they can go from the island colony. The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries have been conducting hyrdo-acoustic surveys around the island while University of Cape Town students and postdocs collected penguin foraging track data using GPS Temperature-Depth logger devices. In 2011 and 2012 we concentrated our research efforts to have penguins at sea with devices at the same time as fish surveys were taking place. We are working towards understanding how penguins foraging effort is linked to the amount of pelagic fish locally available to penguins around the island. Conference delegates gave insightful feedback and these interactions have already led to interesting ideas for further analysis. Thanks to IPC8 and Ma-Re Marine Research Institute for providing travel funding to attend the conference. This research is ongoing and Kate Robinson will now be analysing and adding in the 2013 data collected by Dr. Katrin Ludynia with the assitance of Dr. Richard Sherley and EarthWatch teams. This research will also be presented at the Biodiversity Southern Africa conference in Cape Town taking place at the Department of Biosciences at University of Cape Town  Dec 2nd to 6th 2013.

The Association of Early Polar Career Scientists (APECS) held a fantastic workshop prior to the start of the conference. It featured tips on public speaking, networking exercises and a review of hot topics in penguin research and conservation. Thanks APECS for helping us prepare for the conference.



There was a wide range of topics from population to behavioural ecology, climate change/research impacts, new technologies and approaches in bio-logging and bio-indicators, and even penguin fossil records. There were many fascinating talks one of the most lively was on 'The Power of Poo - Diet analysis of Adelie penguins from fecal samples' a non-invasive diet sampling method using DNA analysis to identify diet. African Penguin research was well represented with 13 talks and at least 15 posters. With over a 100 posters on a large array of topics, there was an impressive body of work to explore and discuss. An online pdf of all the abstracts is now publicly available and can be found here.

Thought provoking workshops were held in the afternoons. They were: 'Crested Penguins - the next steps', 'The Penguin connection - conversations about conservation', 'Penguin bycatch - which species are affected and how can we reduce incidental penguin mortality in fishing gear?', and 'Creating the tools to identify Ecologically or Biologically Significant Areas as Precursors for the creation of marine protection and reserves of relevance to penguins' a data sharing initiative specific to penguin data by BirdLife International coming soon. Their Seabird Tracking Database is already up and running with tracks from mainly albatrosses, petrels, and shearwaters. It currently has data from 42 species and over 8900 tracks.

There was a public evening event 'Penguins on Film' hosted by Professor Lloyd Davis from University of Otago. It featured talks by a panel of world leading experts. Frozen Planet director Elizabeth White shared her experiences of traveling down to the Antarctic Peninsula by yacht and the behind the scenes details of how the footage of juvenile Adelie penguins taking their first swim was planned and captured. Professor Peter Barham and Dr. Tilo Bughardt demonstrated some amazing penguin robot cams with some very clever biometrics that could identify people, estimate their age, sex and even facial expressions.

Egg Cam

Emperor penguin cam has a camera in it's eye.

You can see some of the shots being captured by robots cameras in Penguins- Spy in the Huddle.

An African penguin day was held at Bristol Zoo following the conference. Families gathered to hear Dr. Lauren Waller from Cape Nature, Christina Moseley from BirdLife South Africa and Dr. Richard Sherley from University of Cape Town gave talks during the penguin feedings.

Conference delegates exploring the penguin exhibit answered questions from the public.

Unfortunately, not all those working on African penguin research and conservation could make the trip to Bristol. For one thing, an oil spill took place on August 8th when the Kiani Satu, a bulk carrier containing 330 tons of fuel oil and 15,000 tons of rice ran aground off Buffels Bay near Knysna releasing oil into the Goukamma Marine Protected Area. An impressive collaborative effort got quickly underway and some oiled seabirds were even air lifted from Bird Island in efforts to transport birds to St. Francis the eastern section of SANCCOB the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds.  To date, 112 oiled penguins and 173 oiled gannets were admitted.  Penguins can be thought of as sentinels of our oceans and coasts.  Oil  and pollution can impact many sea creatures but especially seabirds as it disrupts their waterproofing. Normally their feathers interlock to keep them waterproof but oil disrupts this and can cause oiled birds to quickly succumb to hypothermia. When a bird is oiled one of it's reactions is to try and preen its feathers clean thus ingesting the oil which is toxic and can burn their throat, lungs, and digestive track. On August 17th, some of the first seabirds were released, 47 of the Cape Gannets were returned to the wild. Rehabilitation work involves a lot more work than just cleaning and releasing the birds. The birds need to be re-hydrated, fed, enclosures need to be made and kept clean and the birds are regularly examined by the vets. The rescue work continues at St. Francis with help and support from the local community. Check out SANCCOB's website to hear more details of their latest news.

You can help penguins by simply not using plastic bags at the grocery store, or re-using those you already have. Most plastic bags end up at landfils or littering the landscape and far too many end up in our oceans. Another thing that is easy to avoid and can make a big impact is plastic straws. They are one of the most numerous items of litter we find on the beach clean-ups on Robben Island. Caring for our coasts is caring for penguins. Make a penguin promise today.

Thanks to IPC8 for a fantastic and stimulating conference.  The next international penguin conference will be in South Africa in 2016! More details of IPC8 and news of international penguin conferences to come can be found on the IPC8 website.

Robben 2012 Penguin Foraging Data Collected, Analysis Ahead!

Thanks to the help of all assistants we achieved the collection of foraging track and dive data from 35 different breeding African penguins at Robben Island in 2012.  Kate is now busily conducting data exploration, analysis and write up.

·        From April to August, Global Positioning System Temperature and Depth (GPS-TD) data loggers were equipped to a total of forty-two breeding African penguins, for one foraging trip. From those deployments, a total of 35 birds successfully equipped yielded useful GPS foraging data and thirty seven complete data sets of dive data. On four occasions, unfortunately the devices failed to start and record data. These were sent to Germany for repairs. One of the equipped birds did not go to sea; the logger was removed on the third day the bird was at the nest. In two cases, no GPS data was recorded while the bird was at sea perhaps due to the way the bird was swimming. We were lucky to retrieve all the GPS-TD logger devices.  The longest time that a penguin spent away from its nest when on a recorded foraging trip this year was 26.5 hours and the shortest was 9.7 hours. One bird made an usual trip that circled the island. The majority of foraging trips were on the eastern side of the island, predominantly in Table Bay only a few trips were made west of Robben Island.  Nest visits continued after logger retrieval to assess breeding success and bird behaviour. The main foraging grounds are being mapped. Comparisons of inter- and intra-annual variation of foraging parameters such as trip duration, path-length, dive rate, dive efficiency, bottom phase time and maximum distance from colony are underway.

·         The dates at which penguins were at sea with a logger device coincided exactly with eight of the hydro-acoustic pelagic fish surveys.  There were also other deployments that corresponded with dates closely. This data will be overlaid to ascertain whether penguins are foraging in the areas where the pelagic fish are locally densest and whether the distance from those areas to the island affects the foraging range of penguins. Pelagic fish data has been received from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The mapping of penguin foraging grounds with local prey distribution and analysis has begun.

Best wishes for 2013 to you and the penguins!

Penguin chicks all grown up and gone to sea

The chicks of the last nest in which an adult penguin was equipped with a GPS logger device for one foraging trip, have fledged. All the nests selected for logger deployments are now empty. The breeding season is coming to a close on Robben Island.  There are only 5 nests remaining with chicks that are still being monitored. The environmental officer of Robben Island Museum who is checking the last active nests reports that there have not been any oiled penguins sighted in the field lately.

The parent of these two chicks made an unusual foraging trip around the island in June when they the chicks were much smaller and about two weeks old. This photo of the chicks was taken in late August. Below is the foraging track their mother made around the island, 29 June 2012 when they were around two weeks old.

Here is the picture of the penguin after she was equipped with the GPS-TD logger, brooding the chicks which can't be seen as they were underneath her. At that time they had alert open eyes and their chick down was all grey.

Here is a photo of the same chicks taken in July with the male partner guarding them. The nest is is now empty. The last time these chicks were seen at the nest both of the chicks had lost all their chick down and had complete blue juvenile plumage so it is likely that they fledged the nest successfully and headed off for their first trip to sea.

The African Penguin Chick Bolstering Project (APCBP) continued this year researching where juvenile penguins go. In June, three juvenile penguins from Robben Island and three hand-raised chicks from SANCCOB were equipped with satellite transmitters. PenguinWatch reports they had track data going to St. Helena Bay, south of Hondeklip Bay, the Orange River mouth and into Namibian waters. See the older PenguinWatch posts for maps showing where they went. Pinky, Green-foot and Blue are the Robben Island juveniles. There is no way to know if the chicks fledgling recently from Robben in September/October have headed in the same direction but we wish them well on their first journeys at sea!

A juvenile African penguin coming ashore at Robben courtesy of Greg Campbell.

More oiled penguins found

The totals, of penguins oiled from the Seli 1 shipwreck this month found on Robben Island are now:
212 adult penguins sent to SANCCOB
32 associated chicks
2 oiled adult penguins found dead on the island

This week while penguin field work was conducted searches for oiled penguins and abandoned chicks continued. Currently during nest checks, any chicks that are underweight and could have been abandoned are sent to SANCCOB. The team found and caught 6 more oiled penguins overt the last two days and another underweight chick, taking the totals to those stated above. The oil on the birds caught has looked dry and indicates that the birds have had the oil on them for a while. The team completed penguin nest checks, chick growth and condition measurements.  A few oiled birds sighted along Robben Island's coast have evaded capture.  The team will return next week to continue the penguin breeding monitoring field work and make further attempts to catch the remaining oiled birds.

Oiled Penguins Continue Coming Ashore

The Seli 1, a shipwreck from 2009 in Table Bay, started leaking oil again after a storm that took place over the last days of August. Endangered African penguins breeding on Robben Island forage for fish during the day in Table Bay. Petroleum is toxic to penguins.  It destroys penguin's natural waterproofing and so penguins try to preen it off, and in doing so ingest it. Exposure to oil can be fatal to penguins. There continue to be sightings of oiled penguins on Robben Island.  At the time of the oil spill, the EarthWatch team led by Dr. Richard Sherley and and assisted by BirdWorld Curator Duncan Bolton, Animal Demography Unit (ADU) University of Cape Town (UCT) postgrads researching penguins, and Robben Island Museum Environmental Officer were on hand to start searching for oiled penguins. Over the first week of rescue attempts, 194 oiled adult penguins were caught.  The oiled birds and any abandoned chicks found were put into boxes and sent over on the ferry to be cared for at the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds SANCCOB. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, it has not been possible to catch all the birds that have been seen with petroleum on their plumage. Efforts have been made to catch and send as many as we could to get them to SANCCOB for treatment. Sadly, two penguins have been found dead on the island, covered in oil.

An oiled penguin  in the distance on Sandy Beach that was later caught by the EarthWatch/ADU team and is now one of many at SANCCOB.

The team making up more boxes...

and more boxes to transport oiled penguins.

Boxes holding oiled penguins to be sent to SANCCOB for treatment.

An abandoned penguin chick.

Boxes full of oiled penguins on the ferry from Robben Island to Cape Town where they are at the Nelson Mandela Gateway by SANCCOB.

Some of SANCCOB's dedicated staff even came out to Robben Island on the weekend to help the team catch more oiled penguins. There has also been assistance from volunteers from Robben Island community and abroad.

Nola Parsons, SANCCOB vet, inspecting a heavily oiled African Penguin. 

Monday 10 September, the Oceans and Coasts, Department of Environmental Affairs South African Government sent a team to further search inland areas of the island and found a further 3 more oiled adult penguins and 6 abandoned chicks. This brings the totals of those caught to 197 oiled penguins, and 28 associated or abandoned chicks.
Catching oiled penguins has taken place mainly  before sunset when penguins are coming ashore after foraging. Efforts will continue to catch the oiled penguins so they can be washed and rehabilitated at SANCCOB. For further news of the washing and rehabilitation efforts see SANCCOB http://www.sanccob.co.za/
The Robben Island Museum Environmental Officer, Mario Leshoro, sighted another oiled penguin on the coast today. A team of penguin researchers from UCT Animal Demography Unit will return to the island tomorrow to continue efforts to catch oiled birds so they can be sent to SANCCOB.

Further details of oily penguin rescue efforts that have taken place so far can be found at PenguinWatch http://penguins.adu.org.za/

Breeding penguin foraging data collection continued into August

When news was gained that an acoustic fish survey was taking place early in August, there was a rush to return to the island and quickly equip breeding penguins with GPS-TD loggers. Luckily, the 6th EarthWatch team of the year was already there conducting breeding monitoring in the penguin colony so help was on hand. In early August, 3 foraging tracks were collected with both good GPS data and sensor data.

The 6th EarthWatch team of the year finished last week. The team had to leave the island early to avoid the large swells of 8 m and winds of 40 knots! During the stormy weather last weekend the ocean crashed, the wind howled and only a faint outline of Table Mountain could be distinguished from Robben Island through the mist and rain. Monday, the sun had come out and the seas had calmed down enough for the ferry to run again so the data was backed up and the remaining penguin researchers packed up and headed for the mainland.

Back at University of Cape Town, the tracks of the last deployments have been mapped. Here are the best tracks of where the breeding penguins went foraging in early August.

For a bit of perspective of where Robben Island and those tracks are, if we zoom out a bit here you can see those tracks and the Cape peninsula in the western Cape South Africa...

Some more perspective...

These tracks were collected thanks to the assistance of the EarthWatch team. Big thank you to Satomi, Arisa, Tammy, Haleigh, Pete, Barb, Mario, Sabelo, Sue, Leanne, and Emilee their help over the past week that made this data collection possible. Most of all, our deepest gratitude to the penguins for carrying a device on a trip out to sea and back!

Trips to Robben will continue to visit the nests in which one of the adult birds was equipped with logger devices for a foraging trip. The nests are checked to make sure the chicks are not abandoned.  Any chicks found in the colony underweight or in bad condition are sent to SANCCOB for rehabilitation. Overall, chicks appear to be be in better condition this year in comparison to last year. So far this August, a juvenile found at the harbour was sent to SANCCOB but no young chicks have needed to be sent.  Holding thumbs that the chicks at the Robben colony continue to be in good condition and fledge successfully.

Some healthy chicks and the partner of a loggerbird guarding them.