FAQ - 6th Other objects, predators, bloody/dead penguins

• by yshish moderator, translator

  You can see various objects although some of them are not listed for marking.

  Posted September 10, 2016 2:43 PM

• by yshish moderator, translator

  6.1 What objects (not) to mark

  • We do mark:

  • Humans, ships and other vessels. When there are humans visible on the vessel, please mark it as the ‘vessel’ only (blue mark)! Human marks are meant for those walking on the land only.

  • When you see can’t see the vessel itself, but you do see a clear reflection of it, please do mark it as ‘Vessel’.

  • All animals on the land like seals, cormorants/shags, geese, birds of prey like turkey vultures, caracaras etc. (we’ve even seen some deer in the previous data sets, not expected any more.) You can mark each of them that you can see clearly using the ‘Other’ (blue) mark without ticking any option.

  • Other flying birds that can be identified.

  • We do not mark:

  • Human equipment such as cameras, bags, tents, buildings.

  • Animals swimming in the water (neither penguins nor seals) and birds flying in the distance which are too small to be identified.

  • Any nests, also we do not mark eggs/chicks that we don’t really see, or broken egg shells, or abandoned eggs (out of nest).

    

    An example of an abandoned egg - We do not mark these!

  • Carcases (dead chicks which are torn in pieces, being eaten or shrunken so we’re sure they’re not alive any more).

    

    Skuas feeding on a dead penguin chick. We do not mark dead penguins.

  • If there are many humans present, it is OK to mark only the one closest to the colony. Where there is a group of humans close to the colony, place just one Human mark in the center of the group.

  

  Posted September 10, 2016 2:56 PM

• by yshish moderator, translator

  6.2 Predators

  • Penguin nests are often attacked by various bird predators who feed on eggs or chicks. We have the Other (blue) mark for these:

  • Snowy sheathbill

  • Brown skua

  • Giant southern petrel

  • We have seen some others you will not find in the list though. Mark each of them that you can see clearly as ‘Other’ animals without ticking any option**:

  • Seals of various species also predate on penguins, but mostly in the sea. Mark them with the blue mark as ‘Others’ please.

  • Cormorants (aka Antarctic shags)

  • Turkey vultures, scavengers you can spot on sites form Falkland Islands

  • Striated caracara (aka Johnny Rook), birds of prey living on Falkland Islands.

    

    Turkey vultures (on the left); Striated caracara /aka Johnny Rook (on the right)

  • For information on how to classify swimming / flying animals look at FAQ n.3

  • Cormorants /aka Antarctic shags sometimes share the nesting site with our penguins. They can be easily confused with penguins. Here are some tips how to tell them apart:

  

  • Cormorants:

    • Neck is long and curved
    • Beak is thin and longer, curved on the tip
    • Feet and legs are longer than in penguins
    • Tail is thicker and hangs down to the ground
    • Shoulders are white

  • Chinstrap penguins:

    • Neck appears short and thick
    • Beak is shorter and thick
    • Feet and legs are short
    • Tail rests on the ground
    • Shoulders are black

  Click here to see another comparison of Cormorants and Chinstraps.

  Posted September 10, 2016 3:29 PM

• by yshish moderator, translator

  6.3 Bloody / dead penguins

  • You may see penguins with red stuff on their feathers which may look like blood. Don’t worry. Most often it is just guano (penguin poo) red from krill they eat. Real wounds look different and you’ll hardly ever see one.

  

  Two examples of how a real bloody wound may look.

  _

  

  Don’t worry, none of these penguins have blood on themselves. They’re just covered with guano from their neighbours, which is red from krill they eat.

  • Sometimes there are penguins lying on the ground which may seem to be dead. Most of the time they are really fine!

  • Some are adults incubating eggs, some are chicks which are cooling themselves down or taking a nap.

  • Rarely there is a real chick carcass visible, usually being eaten, shrunken, torn in pieces, or just its skeleton. It looks quite different from the ones alive. Please, do not mark real carcasses.

  

  Lying chicks are mostly fine. Occasionally you can see a dead chick. We do not mark them.

  Posted September 10, 2016 3:41 PM