Penguin Watch Talk

Dr Tom tells us about camera poles and loooong sunsets

  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    Dear All,

    I very much hope you will be able to access these two very short but very interesting videos. If you cannot access them please let me know and I'll try to take some snippets for you in a different format.

    I just wish I could work out which site he's setting up for 😄

    Here's the camera set-up video: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35382591

    AND STAY tuned for the follow on of the loooong sunset 😃 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35382590

    One fact that really caught me is that the cameras (and that's us Pengzooites, including the Creche-Counter Pengzooites!) do the work of 70 to 100 biologists watching the penguins.

    Your work is much valued. Thank you!

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  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator in response to AvastMH's comment.

    I tried to play them a few times but always failed. Having problems with flash pl. in general 😕

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  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    Oh that's a shame Yshish - I'll try to see if I can get that available in a different way then...might take a short while though (being not very IT clever).

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  • yshish by yshish moderator, translator in response to AvastMH's comment.

    Don't worry. I'll try to run it at work tomorrow. We've got many computers there. I'll be trying as long as necessary to play it 😃

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  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    How wonderful and interesting! Thanks for the links. Now I can better show friends why I'm spending so much time working on this project! 😃

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  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    It was found by the OldWeather project folk. They like to keep an eye out for all sorts of Zoonivrese things - just like we do here on PW 😄

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  • nthrockmorton by nthrockmorton

    "Those videos were very, very, very, very, very very cool. I liked it because of the chicks. I liked the sunset video too." [Annika]

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  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    Glad you liked them Annika! 😄 The last snip with the chick snuggling down under mum/dad is incredibly cute.

    I managed to get the sound recording of the article for those who cannot access the BBC and popped it on my google drive. You can use this URL for access to it https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B22jttiAIMBrV2JFaUwzTGQ5ZUU/view?usp=sharing

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  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    And the BBC serves up yet another clip... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35382325

    It contains a little of the first two - but also some new material especially from Quark Expeditions who help the scientists a lot with moving around the Antarctic Peninsula.

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  • johnfairweather by johnfairweather

    Yes, I have just watched the BBC News (BBC1, 1pm), where they had this report, however the report, nor the BBC web site (which also contains the report) did not mention http://penguinwatch.org. Is there any reason, why it didn't?

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  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    No idea, @johnfairweather. Such omissions can easily happen in news broadcasts. Their goals are not always our goals. Still, we hope the people who found it interesting enough to look for us will find us. Just looking for mentions of our two scientists should be enough to lead folks here. 😃

    So a warm welcome to anyone who finds themselves here hoping to help the penguins!

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  • johnfairweather by johnfairweather in response to gardenmaeve's comment.

    Yes, I have been to talks by Tom Hart, at past ZooCon (Oxford) meetings.

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  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    How fortunate for you. 😃 We're glad to see you here.

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  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    I was looking for a place to mention PenguinWatch. On the first page there was a link marked 'here' which you can see here. Still a shame that the project name itself did not appear 😕

    But very exciting to have new citizen scientist peng-zooites to help! 😄

    BBC Link to PW

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  • nthrockmorton by nthrockmorton

    "It was fun to listen to Dr. Tom!" [Annika]
    "Listen to Dr.!" [Pierce]
    We just listened to the recording from BBC1 from @AvastMH. Thank you for sharing!

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  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    I'm glad you enjoyed it! They have also put this recording out on BBC Radio. It sounds like the BBC will be following Dr Tom around so we can look forward to more recordings. I think that the radio clip mentioned PenguinWatch by name. We quickly contacted Dr Tom and Dr Caitlin to let them know that he first snips didn't give our name for a start.
    Enjoy your counting Creche-Counters! 😄

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  • nthrockmorton by nthrockmorton

    "Thanks!" [Annika]

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

    you are very welcome

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  • KristyS by KristyS

    Stunning footage of the landscape and observations of the penguins. Entrancing light changes too! I don't think I'd get a wink of sleep in that environment as there is so much to see and capture with your lens....thank you for bringing us these images and sharing the opportunity with us.

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

    I am glad that you enjoy these pictures Kristy 😃 I don't think I'd sleep either. A few of our volunteers have been 'down there' and have great stories to tell. But for a quick treat there's a fabulous panoramic view of Port Lockroy (which was on our list of sites to count last year) here... http://www.antarctic.eu/photos-videos-panoramas/antarctic-panoramas/antarctic-peninsula/port-lockroy.html enjoy 😃

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  • Psaltriparus_minimus by Psaltriparus_minimus

    I like those videos.

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  • gardenmaeve by gardenmaeve moderator

    We're happy you liked Dr. Tom's videos. 😃

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  • SarahBlue by SarahBlue

    This feels very familiar to watch so apologies if it's been posted before, but has the full interview where the snippets were taken from -http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08770dx/our-world-the-penguin-watchers - they also mention sites by name!

    I'm going to try to screenshot and see if things can be matched up 😄

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  • AvastMH by AvastMH moderator

    Hi SarahBlue,
    Many thanks indeed for posting this link for us! 😄 We knew that the BBC had been out there from little snippets earlier in the year. And now here is the program 😄

    On a very brief watch I noticed:

    • DragonEyes at time 04:52 minutes
    • I think Sunset Strip at 05:30
    • Booth Island mentioned at 08:12
    • Alpengarten at 12:00
    • Possibly Rock_Slide at 13:40
    • Mention of our project at 14:07
    • Petermann Island Argentine Hut (probably) 17:27 and 19:40

    But what I noticed most of all were Dr Hart's words of how immense the work of PenguinWatch is. The thousands and thousands of pictures that can be of no use without all of your work. And he states how important PW is to understanding how Antarctica is being affected by changes to out planet.

    Wonderfully interesting article. And one to make everyone on PW feel quite rightly very proud indeed. This is real science and you are the citizens who release the details from tiny photo memory sticks into a better future for penguins. Thank you to all of PenguinWatch's volunteers!

    If you cannot access the program but would like to see it please drop a note here (or send me a personal message (little envelope top right corner)).

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