First Nest Camera

After a week-long trepidatious build-up to the first instalment of a nest camera, this afternoon I breathe a sigh of relief that I had a wonderful eagle to break the ice with. Since the 2nd of August, when I saw that the two eggs had hatched, I had a red mark on the calendar for this climb.  The eaglet is two weeks old (has killed the second hatched young – as is normal for these eagles), and can tolerate a fair bit of exposure while I fumble around the nest site.

We had two days of terrible wet weather earlier this week, but as the weather cleared yesterday I checked in and found that all was well.  I noticed a piece of meat on the nest, and today discovered it to be the back half of a hyrax.  It was mostly concealed by fresh gum leaves - the only fresh leaves on the nest.  Obviously the eagles are making use of the insecticidal properties and keeping the food stores untainted.

a relief to see that the chick was alive and well after severe weather yesterday (9 Aug 2012)

the sole of a hyrax foot protrudes from concealing gum leaves

the best support team one could ask for

Most gratefully, there was an eager support team to help me out.  No eagles were to be seen on arrival and during the setup, but the female was perched concealed nearby and watching closely – she showed herself within seconds of me starting up the rope and called loudly.  Fortunately she remained in a nearby perch, and even apparently relaxed enough to preen and rouse while I was right at the nest.

There are many, many more climbs to do – this nest will need to be revisited in a three-weekly rotation to collect data and change batteries.  I am intrigued to see how these eagles respond with continued intrusion; do they habituate and calm down as months go by, or get more bold and aggressive as the young eaglet grows?  There should be nine other nests to include over the next two seasons, no doubt the individuals with respond differently.

a concerned eagle watches me closely

circa. 15 day old eaglet

camera installed - now anticipating the first data review in three weeks time

self portrait of concern

I consider there to be three spectacular monkey-eating eagles.  The Crowned Eagle of course; the largest of eagles, the Harpy, in tropical America; and probably the most striking, the Phillipine Eagle of that archipelago in Southeast Asia.  The Crowned is the smaller of these three, but has a reputation for being very powerful, and for defending its eaglet against all-comers. The worst thing would be to expect this every time, to relax and become complacent.

My nerves were already in a ruinous state before sitting back to watch a program on Harpy Eagles yesterday. The BBC filmmakers used stab-proof vests, riot helmets, and rawhide strapping to protect themselves against the Harpy attacks when installing and mending their nest camera.  The best I mustered was a foam stuffed backpack and motorbike helmet.  Investing in riot gear is a wise plan.

Enjoy watching this 6 part program on the Harpy in the Orinoco.

The Teacher Within

This semester I have taken on a lab demonstrating role for the second year Vertebrate Biology course.  There will be a three hour practical lab every week until November, most of which, as expected for a vertebrate biology course, are dissections.  I recall that during my undergraduate year this was the one paper that I aced, and received a letter from the lecturer for that course suggesting I pursue postgraduate research in this field.  Well well well…

Our second prac held last week was the one fieldtrip for the semester.  The group of 70-something students went down to the uShaka Oceanarium for the afternoon.  I was well impressed with the facility there and they had spectacular tropical reef tanks, as well as covering a variety of marine communities.

Though I’d never seen a dolphin show before and didn’t know what to expect – sadly I could only find its analogy as the aquatic version of a chimpanzee tea-party.  Admittedly I wish I knew more about the needs required, and those fulfilled, in this environment before making such a bold statement.

It is as one of the fortunate few who has had the opportunity to interact with dolphins at various times (swimming with spinner and bottlenose dolphins in Mauritius, having Common dolphins just a fingertip away riding in the bow wave of our family boat in the Bay of Plenty, and seeing large pods of Dusky dolphins frolicking off the Kaikoura coast), that this form of entertainment is compared against.
Sadly, one naturally has a weaker emotive response looking into the eyes of an enormous ragged-toothed shark in a similar sized aquarium.

My group investigating the open ocean fishes

Pineapplefish Cleidopus gloriamaris

In the same week, I threw myself into the deep end in an attempt to assist with a school camp.  The Padbury family run the Wilderness Training Programme; adventure activities for schools and other groups such as Africa Quest.  This was the first camp run for this particular Kloof school, and for many of the school kids it was their first night.  So it’s not too surprising that keeping 83! Grade 4’s (9-10 year olds) on task and out of trouble was going to be a challenge. 

Arriving at Southport on the South Coast at midday, they started out as a most unruly bunch.  Though we kept the activities running until 9pm on the first night - finishing with 'stalk the lantern', which on a full-moon night was quite impossible for the wee grommets.

The next day we had them worked out, and it was great to end the camp with a good couple of hours on the beach.  Not common in New Zealand, but widespread here as far as I can tell, are these concrete splash pools in the upper tidal zone.  The morning was made most memorable by the two pods of (maybe) bottlenose dolphin’s cruising the surf zone, and out on the horizon one or two humpback whales performing spectacular full breaches.