Penguin Watch Talk

Rockhopper cleanliness

  • fred_neill by fred_neill

    quite often their photo can be blurred (mud thrown up by them?) - tending towards brown their chick colour - this can make deciding either way extremely difficult. Even deciding 30 adults can be hard in some shots, any suggestions?

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  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    Hello fred neill,
    I think I know exactly which group of rockhoppers you are talking about. That lens often seems to have rain on it and if the wind is from the left their is grass in front of it too. It is not always easy to see that brownish colour on the chicks. However, only adults have those white crest feathers on their heads. Of course those penguins with crests might be fledging chicks entering adulthood, or adults having an annual moult. Nature is not helpful to us when counting them at this 'feather-shedding' time of year. The scientists simply ask us to mark the penguin as an adult if we are not sure. About 10/12 people mark each picture, so the numbers should work out. The scientists seem happy with how the system works. 😃

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  • fred_neill by fred_neill

    Cheers! What sometimes irritates is you can get "no penguin" shots of the same area looking beautifully clean & clear! Thankfully, it is only a % of shots where adults & chicks all look brown alas, usually you can't see the crest feathers either!

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