Penguin Watch Talk

Penguin Watch relaunch is coming.

  • penguinTom79 by penguinTom79 scientist, admin

    Hi All,

    Keep an eye out for new data coming on Penguin Watch!

    https://penguinlifelines.wordpress.com/2015/04/23/zooniverse-is-coming/

    Cheers,
    Tom

    Posted

  • coldcounter by coldcounter

    Hey Tom

    Just checked the images that this links to and the header helps make much more sense of that site we are counting when we see the proximity to the building.
    No wonder it is one of the most popular "human" sighting sites! Thanks for posting the large image of the other site at the bottom too! So many different birds in the one pic. Love it.

    Thanks again

    Deb

    Posted

  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    Hi Deb,
    Do you remember that I mentioned Ridge B on Petermann Island yesterday when you mentioned going Down South? Well that view on the link, if you pointed the camera down slightly and just a bit to the right you'd recognize a very familiar sight! 😃
    Here's our view of that left section: http://talk.penguinwatch.org/#/subjects/APZ000182y
    And here's the right hand section: http://talk.penguinwatch.org/#/subjects/APZ0000w8p
    You can just see that the Gentoos get the edge nearest to us, and the Adelies (with the slightly shorter legs) get the edge closest to the beach 😃
    If you visit Petermann the landing site is close to the Refuge Hut (red hut) 😃

    So here's a tip - you may have noticed that our 'ridge' has no penguins after about early February, but we see lots more on other hillocks ...so if you get a choice of where to head for - you'll know where's best to go to see our feathered friends dependant on the date you get there! 😃

    So - perhaps this might be you in a few months? 😄
    http://talk.penguinwatch.org/#/subjects/APZ0000v4m

    Best wishes,
    Joan

    Posted

  • coldcounter by coldcounter in response to AvastMH's comment.

    Thanks so much Joan that is fabulous, I now have a greater understanding of what is where in relation to that red hut ...

    It would be so cool to be that photographer. I'll be the selfie in the grey and mauve jacket and crazy coloured headwear!! I set foot on the ship on 4 January so should be there when chicks are almost at their "ugliest" 😃 with mohawks and fur collars !! Following Shackleton in reverse from the ice back up to Orkneys, Georgia and Falklands (Maldivas) ... 18 days.

    I have really found penguinwatch great for learning. The dates, times and conditions in the photos have given me a much better understanding of why they say about layering, it's not just about keeping warm but sometimes, on those 20 degree days, no doubt being able to remove a layer as well 😃 The Antarctic has called for a long time. After the Sahara a couple of years ago I became even more determined to visit the extreme of each other. ... Camels in the sand with sweeping dunes vs penguins in the snow and icebergs !!! 😃 😃

    I know I go on about the light in some of the pics we are classifying but it is just so brilliant to photograph in those conditions with the most amazing results. Sometimes I wish I could just tilt those remote cameras up or down sometimes. Wouldn't be great if we could remote control them from the computers !!! 😃 😃 so where I was keeping sand out of the camera this time it will be all about keep it warm to function!!!

    Thanks again so much for the info.

    Regards Deb.

    PS Just checked the itinerary and Petermann, and Lockroy at least are both in there so here's hoping the sea ice lets us get there!!

    PPS Think I just found my ship .... where is it Joan ???
    http://zooniverse-static.s3.amazonaws.com/www.penguinwatch.org/subjects/standard/54119af312fc4d79f30139af.JPG

    and here
    http://zooniverse-static.s3.amazonaws.com/www.penguinwatch.org/subjects/standard/54119ce412fc4d79f3032467.JPG

    Posted

  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    Hi Deb,

    By January you'll be fine for general sea ice - just a few whopper bergs surviving.
    So - you're a 'desert'-er! 😉 Collecting the hottest and coldest deserts on the planet 😃 You'll have to go the Atacama as the driest! 😄

    Yes - getting a frozen camera or steamy lens will not be helpful..but I bet there's lots of advice available on that! :)Well done for finding your ship!

    I found this panorama of Port Lockroy (every time I watch it it blows my mind out!): http://www.antarctic.eu/photos-videos-panoramas/antarctic-panoramas/antarctic-peninsula/port-lockroy.html

    As well as the amazing wildlife I hope you also get to see some of the whacky plant life - the green and red algae in the ice, and I think there's some kind of weird ocean-going lichen on Goudier Island (?! I think). There's a few gardeners on PW who'd love to see those too 😄

    I'm not absolutely sure about the first picture. It's probably Petermann, but might be Yalour Island. They are very close to each other.

    The second is Petermann Island and looks over at 'twin pillar' mountain (btw - these are not 'Una Peaks') on the far shore and they are just south of Mt Scott on the Kiev Peninsula:

    Those twin pillars*:

    enter image description here

    And a wider panorama showing them and Mt Scott (top lost in a cloud) to the left of them on the far shore.

    enter image description here

    and adding all those bits together - this could be YOU 😄

    enter image description here

    Make sure you take your 'fish eye' lens!

    • Looking at the PW picture, and at this, the snow patterns on that duo are very very similar indeed - ?same day pictures?

    There's a useful site giving a map of the penguin sites on Petermann here: https://www.env.go.jp/nature/nankyoku/kankyohogo/database/jyouyaku/atcm/atcm_pdf_en/09_en.pdf
    It looks like our ridge might be the long one above the letter 'B' = but it might be further off - we just don't know, though I know we've certainly asked for more information on the location of the cameras. 😃

    Looks like an amazing trip...now you know when you will be going check out the dates on the photos and hope that this winter & summer are similar to 2014/5 in Antarcitca!
    Best wishes, Joan

    Posted

  • coldcounter by coldcounter in response to AvastMH's comment.

    Joan I can't thank you enough (or curse you because now I have looked at the panoramas ..... AND I HAVE TO WAIT !!!) The island map will be fantastic to try and work out where the cameras are. Even if they don't take me ... I can take them!!!

    Are you sure the twin pillars weren't the inspiration for Tolkein and the Hobbit? There is something very familiar about them 😃 My camera survived the Sahara sand (ten others packed up and mine was the only one to keep going) .... so I am optimistic about the robustness of it!

    The info is invaluable. The company I am going with I believe are very good at sending info out to us but this hasn't started yet so this is REAL entree stuff. I have forwarded the link to the three others who are travelling with me. One is a gardener so I have no doubt she will be on the look out for the peculiar flora and watching where we put our feet. 😃

    As for being a desert collector ..... not really just don't like going where everyone else goes!! .... I will when it is exceptional architecture (like Barcelona) but I tend to take the path less trodden and prefer the more local experience rather than the glitz, nightclubs etc. (Vegas is NOT on my bucket list !) .

    Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait .... I am like a kid at Christmas (except the kid usually only has a couple of weeks maximum and I've got SIX whole months !!! )

    Thanks again

    Deb

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  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator in response to coldcounter's comment.

    Yes you can curse me, Deb - I felt suitably guilty throwing such a temptation your way! 😄 Isn't that Panorama a blast?!

    I totally agree about the Tolkien - it's been through my mind a lot. One of the illustrators back in the 70's came from NZ - I wonder if he was familiar with images of this area? And there's certainly no reason why Tolkien would not have seen such images. It's an area that has been well travelled over the years for sure. And whoever designed the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur might also have come this way?!

    Glad to hear you are travelling with friends. I probably have similar tourist tastes to yourself. But I still reckon that the Atacama in flower (rare!) would be worth a long trip 😉

    Well -- only three days and half a year to Christmas. Start ticking off the days now!! 😄

    Best wishes, Joan

    Posted

  • coldcounter by coldcounter

    Glad you felt guilty about that, and yes the panoramas are just droolingly fabulous.

    I am sure that the "design" of the landscape has been pinched by others for their own influence, and I can't blame them, it is a magical landscape. I will be taking my watercolours as well as the camera so envisage that I won't get alot of sleep! (at least I don't plan to and I function well on 2-3 hrs) ... sleep when I get back home or on the plane coming home....

    It's a long bucket list Joan, but I will put the Atacama on it ....

    187 sleeps to go !!! 😃

    Deb

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  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    Don't put your paint set down on the ice then Deb! 😄

    Posted

  • coldcounter by coldcounter

    Hey if you see weird coloured ice in the future don't blame me ..... I don't intend to be responsible! 😃

    186 sleeps to go !!! 😃

    Posted