Day 12 – Misty again

November 19, 2022 at 5:40 pm

Misty. Again.

We accounted for rain and wind to be problematic for our drone missions. Fog wasn’t on our radar. After yesterday’s slog for the southern party, we decides to take it slow today. Robin, Bianca and Klemens get started with counting Bounty Island orthomosaics using DotDotGoose.

Klemens diligently adding coloured dots to our Bounty Island drone-imagery to count penguins, albatross, seals and more.

Thomas, Hannah and Dave walk over to Anchorage Bay to fly the drone mission for our main study site. But halfway through the relatively short mission, fog wafts over the cliff and into the bay putting an end to this endeavour.

Meanwhile, Robin finished counting birds on Molly Cap and found that nearly 6,000 Salvin’s albatross were present during our drone mission (15.11.). Surprisingly, she found more than 200 penguins up there too; how the birds get there is anyone’s guess.

The Molly Cap orthomosaic with albatross (grey) and penguin (yellow) dots

In the afternoon, Thomas scrambles through the tussock over to the penguin colony at reef point. That colony is so close, that drone missions can be flown from the hut. When he gets back to give it a first run, the fog is back.

The penguin colony at Reef Point, a mere 100 m from the hut, but still a 30 minute scramble through tussock away.