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10.48
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10.48
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Sharyn Broni (Ranger, DOC) ModSharyn Broni (Ranger, DOC) Mod
Kia ora koutou (hello everyone)
The Royalcam chick.
As the chicks grow, they become more mobile…and a challenge to keep her in cam view!
Signal Station Trig chick has been inclined to be very near the cam since the 4th of April. This provides challenges keeping her in cam view as when she is within 3m of the cam she only needs to move a little and she is out of view again.
The cam does not focus when she is right up beside the cam as it is designed for distance viewing. We are doing our best to keep the chick in view but there will be times when it is not possible to do so.
Technical notes
The live stream will be offline from 9.30am on the 10th of April as we change to a new internet provider. We will be back online as soon as possible. At the time of publishing although the live stream is still on, cam operations are not available.
Weigh Day
Since hatching at 286g on the 28th of January, the Royalcam chick at Signal Station Trig has grown to 4.5 kg on day 71 (Wednesday 9th of April, weighing was delayed due to stormy weather on Tuesday). This is a 0.1 kg increase on last week’s weight. Today’s weight is 600g below average for a female but still within a healthy weigh range. One feed from a parent will get her back on track. If she had been weighed on the 5th of April it is likely that she would have been above average weight at that time.
Weighing is now weekly on Tuesday’s weather allowing and is now a 2-person task using a small basket. A larger basket will be used in coming weeks.
Spārni aug…The wings are growing…
Even at this young age you can see the 3 segments of the wings that give the albatross a very long wingspan. A lot of energy goes into growing the wings and feathers.
Satelīta izsekošanaSatellite Tracking
GLG’s last GPS update was on the 25th of March. She has been in to feed her chick 4 times since then. Tag loss is expected to happen as the feathers moult.
RLK/A85 GPS is still functioning, and this is his update for the last 7 days (taken on the 8th of April).
Although it looked as if he was coming back to the headland he has since moved away without landing to feed his chick.
View — uploads.disquscdn.com
Four GPS tags on Juveniles that fledged last September are still active.
These are maps of each tag and their last 30 days of activity off the coast of South America.
Kārtējais zivju stāsts...Another fishy story….
While in another part of the colony on Sunday, I came across this….
View — uploads.disquscdn.com Toroa chick with a southern conga.
Read more about southern conga’s here: Southern Conger (Conger verreauxi) https://inaturalist.nz/taxa/98323-Conger-verreauxi
While finding dropped food beside a chick is not unusual at this time of year, finding an eel is. Typically, we would expect to find octopus or fish heads.
This piece was about 60cm long and may have weighed up to 2kg. It would have been a very large mouthful even for this chick’s parent. It was the dad of the chick who bought it in and apparently spent a very long time bringing it up. (This toroa chick weighed in at 4.6kg last Tuesday, so not a lot bigger than his would-be feed.)
Southern conga are bottom dwellers so not typically part of the albatross diet. It may have been bought up to the surface during fishing activity or as part of their migration north. There was a recent stranding in Canterbury: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/thousands ... HLLTCK4IY/
Sharyn Broni (Ranger, DOC) ModSharyn Broni (Ranger, DOC) Mod
Although the live stream is back on we are unable to pan and zoom until tomorrow. Thank you for your patience.