Penguin Pete's Diary
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5/12/00 - Mawson Station 67° 36'S 62° 52'E
After a few preliminary checks by various people that I have the right gear, and that I still know how to ride the quads, I was allowed the join the Bechervaise team on a field trip. We rode out from Mawson on the sea ice to Bechervaise Is. where our field camp is. The biologists (Judy and Meg) had to do their daily nest count. I inspected some of the work that I had asked rhe wintering and early summer works teams to do. They have made some very significant improvements, not the least of which is a bed big enough for me to sleep in. From Beche we rode out to Welsh Is. I have not been here before. It is quite a prominent island with a high peak (I climbed it while the others were working).
The others spent the afternoon wandering through the colonies with tag readers looking for birds with embedded tags. No bird tagging is done on this island, so any birds found here with tags have migrated from either Bechervaise or Verner Islands. They have found 7 tagged birds so far out of about 6000 checked.
In addition to the expected Adelie penguin, Snow Petrel, Storm Petrel and South Polar Skua, we also saw a Brown Skua that looked like he (or she) was sitting on a nest.
7/12/00
Station hand over today. Last years winterers flew out to the boat, and the new winter crew is now in control (maybe).