26 October, 1998
October 26, 1998
CHRISTCHURCH
It's a gray day here in Christchurch--chilly and cloudy. I was
expecting to check in for my flight to the ice this morning at 5:45
but was awoken last night at 11:30 by a phone call telling me that the
plane was broken and that I would not be leaving in the morning. So I
slept in until 7:15. However this gives me time to catch up on my
journal and to read some background information to help me better
understand about the ecology and physiology of the fishes I'll be
studying.
Right now I am in the computer room of NSF headquarters next to
the airport. On two computer terminals near me are two other TEA
teachers. One is Betty Trummel, a 4th grade teacher who will be
studying geology in the Cape Roberts area. The other is Elissa
Elliott who is studying microscopic life (like rotifers, tardigrades,
and cyanobacteria) in the ice of the frozen lakes in the dry valleys
region where there has been no precipitation for hundreds of thousands
or perhaps millions of years. (Question to think about #1: How can
there be a lake here if there is so little precipitation?)You can
follow what they will be doing by clicking on their website journal
entries too. They are excellent people whose enthusiasm about their
work is contagious.
The last few days have again been chock-full of interesting
experiences.
ARTHUR'S PASS
On Friday, after writing my journal entry I went to Arthur's Pass
with my PI (Principal Investigator), Dr David Smith. His main
interest in the fish research is to analyze what parcticular protein
extracts from the brain, kidney, and heart have a hormonal effect on
the Na-K/ATPase (sodium-potassium pump)in the membranes of the
chloride cells in the gills. Because of the delays and the limited
time we will have on the ice, we are hoping that some of this
extraction work has already been started by the crew who is in
Antarctica now: Dr. David Petzel (the other PI), two Creighton U grad
students (Sierra Guwynn and Ed Wren), and two other TEA teachers (Lori
Bachle and Skip Zwanzig--check out their webpages on the TEA site).
(This is a great crew of people. We spent about 10 days together in
Omaha at Creighton University
in July practicing the procedures we will be using on Antarctic fish
on carp.)
Arthur's Pass is an absolutely spectacular area 2 hours west of
Christchurch in the Southern Alps. I wish I had a digital camera with
me to send back some pix for you to see. I thought the road to Mt
Cook was fabulous, but this was even more spectacular. On the east
side of the mountains there were wide open spaces, high mountain
plains, with majestic snow-capped peaks jutting up all around. Blue
and turquoise lakes, meadows full of sheep, large stands of native
beech forest, and braided river valleys all served as foregrounds to
the magnificent backdrop of snow-capped peak after peak after peak.
There were so many spectacular views, even in one spot, that I could
not take it all in. It was overwhelmingly awesome. When I see things
like this I am thrilled and inspired. My faith in God is deepened. And
my views on who I am are put into a more humble perspective. Homo
sapiens NEEDS experiences like this. As Thoreau wrote in Walden, "We
need the tonic of wildness...we need to see our own limits
transgressed" Well, enough of this philosophical wandering, and back
to Arthur's Pass.
On the east side of the mountains it was beautiful weather but as
soon as we hit the Pass we ran into a snow storm. We drove to the
viewpoint that looks down a gorge towards the west coast and all we
could see was about 100 feet of woods and roads obscured by the heavy
snowfall. It was such a contrast to see a kea, a parrot, perched on
an exposed tree, oblivious to the wind and snow. I always think of
parrots as tropical birds, but this bird's chunky body and dense,
layered feathering kept him warm. We also got a nice view of the kea
at the garbage dumpster behind the cafe in town. Keas, like other
parrots, are smart birds; they have been known to raid people's picnic
baskets. They have even been known to eat dying sheep!
Question for you to think about: #2 Why was the west side of the
mountains so wet but the east side so dry?
Before we left the mountains we took a nice long walk in the
forest. It was wonderful thinking about what it must have been like
to be one of the first Maoris to walk through these woods with
glimpses of snow-capped mountain peaks and dazzlingly-blue sky visible
through the thick beech woods illuminated by shafts of light filtering
down through swaying branches festooned with beard lichens. Maybe they
saw the huge Moa, an ostrich-like bird that used to haunt these
forests, one of the biggest birds ever, which the Maoris eventually
hunted out of existence. (Every now and then as I have been driving
through the highways and biways I have thought I have seen a moa, but
it was just a statue of one that had been erected in the woods along
the road.)
OAMARU TO OTAGA
The next day, Saturday, I got up early to drive to Oamaru to look
for the colony of Blue Penguins that this seaside town is famous for.
They have bleacher seats right next to the penguin colony to watch the
penguins as they return en masse to their nest burrows at night.
Unfortunately for me the penguins do everything together and during
the day they are all out to sea fishing. I saw nothing. But it was
only another hour or so to the Dunedin area, famous for its wildlife,
and it was only about 9:00 AM so I drove down the coast. I knew it
would be an awful lot of driving on the way back to the hotel and that
I had to leave time so when I got back to the hotel I could eat, pack
for Antarctica, and get to bed at a reasonable hour, but I figured it
would be worth it.
ROYAL ALBATROSSES AND SHAGS
It was worth it... After reaching Dunedin it was another 3/4 hour
drive to the end of the Otaga Peninsula where there is a nesting
colony of Royal Albatrosses. Unfortunately the albatrosses were not
actively courting or feeding young at this time of year and the
caretakers don't allow people into the colony observation blind until
breeding season is well underway so the birds are not disturbed. Too
much disturbance could prevent their breeding there. However, I did
get to see one albatross fly over riding the strong NE wind that
zoomed in off the ocean. What a graceful looking bird. It didn't
flap its wings once in the several minutes that I watched it wheeling,
soaring, and gliding up over the cliffs, against the sky, down towards
the white-capped ocean, and out to sea. While here I also saw several
shags, the New Zealand name for cormorants. Several pairs of striking
Spotted Shags were nesting on the cliffs. Some were sitting on eggs.
Others were presenting nest-mates with twigs they had ripped off the
cliff-bank vegetation. Others were mating, perched precariously on
narrow ledges looking like the wind would blow them off any second.
YELLOW-EYED PENGUINS AND EFFECTIVE WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT
From there I drove quickly to the Yellow-eyed Penguin colony a
few minutes down the road. Again, this was not the best time of day
or season to see activity in the nesting colony because the birds
don't do much when they are sitting on eggs, but it was still exciting
to see one of the rarest penguins in the world just a few meters away.
Almost all the birds in this colony have been tagged with numbered
flipper tags so the individuals can be recognized and kept track of
year after year. The colony started with just a few individuals less
than 10 years ago and is now up to 49 pairs because of the excellent
wildlife management practices of the landowners of this private farm.
There have been many problems they have had to deal with to improve
the nesting success of the penguins, all of which relate to dealing
with the exotic flora and fauna brought in by the English settlers.
Stoats (like weasels) and Ferrets were introduced decades ago to
control the rabbit population which had been introduced (in part) as a
possible source of food but which had ended up causing lots of damage
to farm crops and native vegetation. However the stoats and ferrets
also like to eat penguin chicks and eggs and will do so at any
ooportunity. (They have also been a bane to many other native bird
species, especially the flightless or ground-nesting ones.) So the
managers of this refuge had to set traps that penguins would stay out
of but which would trap the predator mammals. They also had to clear
away the dense growths of gorse that covered the area making it
difficult for the penguins to move around and making it easier for the
predators to sneak up on the penguins unawares. The gorse is a thick
impenetrable shrub with beautiful yellow flowers that had been
introduced to be used as a decorative hedge and as a border to keep
sheep from wandering away. Unfortunately, as I mentioned in my last
journal entry this plant has taken over the countryside. The managers
of the penguin refuge have planted native shrubs in clumps surrounded
by clear areas so the penguins feel protected by the bushes but able
to see all around them. In places where the managers have also placed
A-frame wooden shelters just tall enough for penguins to stand up in,
the penguins have seemed to select these shelters instead of more
natural bushes since they apparently feel more protected since the
predators can't get at them from behind. Penguins are feisty and can
easily fend off a predator when it can see it coming. Last year they
only lost 2 chicks due to predators. The return rate of fledged
chicks returning back to the nesting colony is presently 14%.
Questions to think about:
#3.If this return rate is sustained what will happen to the
colony--will it grow or shrink? (Remember that parents come back to
nest year after year for at least ten years.)
#4. What is causing the loss of the other 86% of the fledged young?
Other questions to think about:
#5. What do you think New Zealand can/should do about the problem of
alien (exotic) species like gorse, pine trees, ferrets, rabbits,
stoats, and bushy-tailed possums.
#6. Do we have any other similar problems in USA? Are we doing
anything to deal with them?
#7. What can we learn from these problems about introducing alien
species to new areas?
OTHER STUFF
Also in Otaga I saw the rare Hooker's Sea Lion and several more
fur seals. On the way back I stopped along a deserted sandy beach and
relaxed to the sound of the surf in the brisk breeze. I also stopped
at a very interesting geological place near the town of Moeraki. Here
there are some very strange boulders that look almost like huge
round-backed fossilized turtle shells in the sand of the beach. At
one time, some people thought they may have been an art form of the
early Maoris. However, these strange geological formations are called
concretions; they are formed as layers of sedimentary deposits
accumulate around an object such as a pebble, sand grain, or fossil.
Some of these boulders were one and half meters in diameter; the
biggest concretions I have seen before were only a few centimeters in
diameter.
Yesterday was Sunday and I had a great time attending the choral
mass at the Anglican Cathedral. I have always loved the good old
hymns but they have never sounded as awe-inspiring as they did here in
this setting. Wow!
All the best to you; I hope you have a good day and do something
good for someone.
Will my next entry be from Antarctica? I hope so.
Fred Atwood
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