Clive tells us about volunteering with the TASPAWS northern giant petrel survey on the west coast. We celebrate Australia Day and so many Birthdays. The Macca Gallery this week features some beautiful images of clouds, wildlife and scenery.

Volunteering with the TASPAWS Northern Giant Petrel, nesting survey

Volunteering with the TASPAWS northern giant petrel (NGP), or Macronectes halli, nesting survey on the West Coast is one of the best ways to see the parts of Macquarie Island that are otherwise inaccessible to most expeditioners. I was fortunate enough to assist with the NGP nest survey on the mid-section of the rugged west coast.

In September, several teams travelled all over the island making an inventory of all the NGP, nesting sites. Now it was time to visit all the nests again to determine breeding success. Our team was led by Kate, one of the Albatross Researchers this summer. The large NGP chicks were starting to lose their down feathers, and showing early adult plumage. This part of the survey took three days to complete.

Sellick Bay
We set off from Green Gorge hut on the east coast, crossed the plateau and descended into Sellick Bay on the wild west coast. Here we carefully clambered around hundreds of nesting rockhopper penguins, not disturbing them, whilst looking for the NGP nest.

Hell Bay
Moving along from Sellick Bay, we came into into the aptly named Hell Bay, apparently named by the hunters during the cat eradication program. Here we saw a massive jumble of house and truck sized rocks, deep gulleys, roiling surge channels and countless crevasses that formed the preferred nesting ground for thousands of rockhopper penguins.

Soucek Bay 
This bay was named after one of the first Chief Medical Officers in polar medicine, and held a lot more nests to be counted. It is a vast bay with a combination of rocky coast, tussocked rock stacks and featherbed. There was lots of walking around to find the scattered NGP nests.

Aurora Point
 This is a huge area, magical, wild and very different from the bays we had previously worked in. Colobanthus, a group of bright green cushion plants, were everywhere covering rocks, old planks of wood and plastic marine debris, right up to the high tide mark. Additionally the cushion plants are now colonising the dead grass tussocks (the legacy of the rabbit infestation and destruction on Macca), adding to the eeriness of the place. There were many NGP nests here.

Aurora Cave
 About halfway between Aurora Point and Bauer Bay hut, this was the last stretch of featherbed to survey. Trudging through the soft and wet featherbed is quite exhausting, always a guarantee of wet feet as one’s boots sink into the mire. Finally we arrived at Bauer Bay hut, a warm and dry refuge with a promise of a hot meal and dry socks. Close to 300 nests were surveyed during the trip.

Clive Strauss

Northern giant petrel chick sheltered under a rock that is covered in tussock mounds at Sellick Bay
View of Sellick Bay from the top of the escarpment
Thousands of rockhopper penguins scattered about the rocks of the rugged Hell Bay. The view is from above the bay
Kate climbing out of Hell Bay. She is climbing up through an area that still shows signs of the devastation to the tussock mounds caused by the rabbits
Soucek Bay, looking north across a rock strewn coast and Aurora Point in the distant background
Clive searching for northern giant petrel nests amongst the colobanthus (cushion plants) at Soucek Bay. He is walking through a small gully between rock stacks towards the rocky beach
Panoramic view across Soucek Bay, with low cloud and mist seen on the escarpment in the background
Aurora Point: Kate checking the GPS amidst a field of colobanthus (cushion plant). The scene shows signs of the devastation caused by the rabbits
Aurora Point, Clive makes his way through a steep sided rocky gully which is covered in colobanthus and tussock grass
Aurora Point — a carpet of thick colobanthus covers a gully floor bounded by steep rock cliffs
Aurora Point — Clive and Kate standing next a very long, worn timber beam which is the wreckage of a ship. The beam rests on the rocks in front of a very large rock stack
Kate searching the featherbed, near Aurora Cave, for northern giant petrel nests. In the background is the escarpment which disappears into tho low misty cloud

Australia Day

It started out with a rather subdued plan: the main Australia Day event was to be delayed until the MIPEP crew were back on station at the end of the month and Austratangi Day could happen (Australia Day + Waitangi Day, NZ’s national day).

The boat shed was suggested, maybe a BBQ? From there the plans grew: a pork spit roast, steak, and vegetarian delights, salads and dips all topped off with Jimmy’s birthday cake.

The sun shone and shorts were seen with everyone enjoying the fine weather. Many listened to Triple J’s hottest 100 songs of 2013 streamed live from Australia, watched some of Mike’s surf movies and were entertained by Nancye getting Rico and Katie out of the kennels. Billy also had Ash and Colin out enjoying the sun. 

Katie was the only one to go for a swim and she was dunked by the large waves! Colin and Ash sat in the sun watching the goings on.

Other games played that allowed for some friendly competition amongst expeditioners where the ring toss, croquet, and bocce.

Vicki Heinrich 

Australia Day — Wood fired BBQ just outside the boat shed. The BBQ is made up of two halves of a 200 litre drum. On the grill is kebabs and veggie patties in a large frying pan. Wireless Hill and the station buildings are in the background
Australia Day — a dozen expeditioners enjoying the BBQ and the sunshine outside the boat shed. Station buildings can be seen in the background and tussock is thick along a strip just above the beach
Australia Day — the view from the boat shed out towards the east. It shows ten of the expeditioners enjoying snacks and beverages.
View of the BBQ and eight Australia Day revellers outside the boat shed. The view is to the south with the ocean to the left and the Nuggets in the distant background
Australia Day — nine players and spectators on the croquet field outside the boat shed
Australia Day — Katie, the brown and white springer spaniel and Rico the golden labrador enjoying the sunshine. There is a bucket of water in front of them
Australia Day — Ash (brown and white) and Colin (black and white), both springer spaniels, also enjoying the sunshine and the smells coming from the BBQ
In the boat shed — ‘Nurses’ Jaimie and Laura presenting Jimmy with his birthday cake. On the wall in the background is a large sign saying "Happy Birthday Jimmy". The Australian and the Aboriginal flags are hanging from the ceiling.
'Nurse’ Jaimie checks birthday boy Jimmy’s pulse. On the tressel table beside them is the BBQ food and two birthday cakes, one of which is in the shape of an ambulance
Jimmy cuts one of his birthday cakes. There are several people in the background watching the event
Australia Day — Four expeditioners standing on the sandy floor, watching an enthralling surf movie on a big screen TV set up in the boat shed
Australia Day — The polaris buggy outside the boat shed, ready to transport stuff back to the station. There is a small Australian flag attached to the front grill of the vehicle

Birthday cakes

Well, we’re into the new year and by some human resources conspiracy at head office, many of our expeditioners seem to be having a birthday this summer at Macca. The delays in the shipping schedule just allow a few more to be squeezed in before the final voyage for the season departs too.

So far Greg and Jaimie have been the recipients of some fabulous bird cakes made by chef Jimmy featuring Big Bird and a sooty albatross. Last Sunday, on Australia Day, Jimmy received a delicious set of chocolate raspberry cakes made and decorated in true paramedic style by Laura and Jamie for his birthday.

Out in the field there has been an overload of cake travelling the tracks. From Station to Bauer Bay, out to Green Gorge and back we have seen the cake deliveries amass for Mike and Leona’s parties.

Jimmy puts the finishing touch on Greg’s (Bird) cake. The cake is in the shape of ‘Big Bird’ holding a large eTrex GPS
Greg’s Bird’s birthday cake. The cake is in the shape of ‘Big Bird’ holding a large eTrex GPS.
Greg with his birthday cake — in the shape of ‘Big Bird’ from Sesame Street holding a GPS
Celebrating Greg Bird’s birthday. Greg is sitting at one of the dining tables with his cake. Three other people are around him. Each is wearing either a paper beak or feathers in their hair
In the boat shed on Australia Day celebrating Jimmy’s birthday. Jimmy, wearing green heart shaped sunglasses, is sitting with Jess and Robbie. They are sitting to the left of and below a large sign that has "Happy Birthday Jimmy" written on it. There are a bunch of blue balloons on either side of the sign
One of Jimmy’s birthday cakes in the shape of a ambulance, complete with a large red flashing light (alongside the cake)
Jimmy’s other cake — a chocolate, raspberry cake covered in a thick layer of lemon icing with slivers of chocolate sticking out of the top
Jaimie’s birthday cake — a sooty albatross (gluten free) sitting on a nest. There is a bundle of tussock grass alongside
Jaimie admiring her birthday cake, in the shape of a sootie albatross on a nest — complete with sooty albatross calls coming from a speaker embedded in the tussock grass
Jaimie cutting her birthday cake. She has stuck the knife in the ‘back’ of the sootie albatross shaped cake

Macca Gallery

The Macca Gallery this week has some beautiful images from three of the stations photographers. It features the wildlife, amazing cloud formations and scenery.

The elusive red pole on the tussock, which has stalks covered in seed, near the Razorback lookout
Young elephant seal snoozing amongst the rocks and kelp on the east beach of the isthmus. The Nuggets and the astern escarpment can be seen in the distant background
View to the north from the Razorback lookout on a sunny Australia Day. the view is down the Razorback ridge, across the isthmus and then to North Head and Wireless Hill
Pair of light-mantled sooty albatross perched on a grassy ledge on a slope. They are facing each other with the one on the left has its beak open
From the west coast of the isthmus — The Clean Air Lab amongst the coastal tussock, with different levels of cloud
A moulting elephant seal enjoying a scratch. The seal is lying on its back and stretches one flipper across to scratch the flipper on the other side of its body
Lenticular layers of cloud in the lee of the island. The view form the east coast, and is to the south with tussock in the foreground and a hint of the escarpment and the Nuggets in the far right background
Skua in flight. The view is from back right side of the bird and It is banking to its left. The blurry green of the isthmus tussock and grey sky provides a contrasting backdrop
Orographic lenticular cap over the island on the 28th of January. The view is from a point halfway up the Wireless Hill track, across the station and isthmus then onto the escarpment which is covered in distinct layers of cloud
Orographic lenticular cap over the island on the 28th of January. The view is from the Golf Tee up on the Wireless Hill track, across the station and isthmus then onto the escarpment which is covered in distinct layers of cloud. This photo was taken a half hour later then the previous photo.
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