GPS loggers

After the trip to Cape Town and receiving all sorts of new toys, I was finally able to try the GPS loggers out! Tenikwa kindly agreed to allow me to use two of their rehab Kelp Gulls as guinea pigs! I was rather nervous about it all, I was using a technique to attach the GPS loggers that I had never used before, and had never seen anyone do it either! A conversation and a quick flip through some photos was the extent of my knowledge and although it seems a simple method, pride comes before the fall.. Shirley came with, as well as Demi, and by the time we reached Tenikwa I was a bundle of nervous energy. That morning had been spent charging, programming and packing the loggers, any time spent dormant was a waste of the mere 120 hour battery life. There were three gulls in the rehab centre but I had brought only 2 loggers with.  Of the three, one was a juvenile and became the first guinea pig. The procedure seems a simple one, using a cardboard template lift a row of feathers and slide a strip of tape underneath, repeat until there are enough strips of tape to cover the logger. Then you place the logger on the feathers and wrap the ends of the tape around it. Simple. What a mission! It takes some practice to be able to do it quickly and neatly. The first one took some time and wasn’t as neat and precise as I would have liked, but it was on and with some fluffing and preening the bird settled down and seemed to adjust to the extra appendage. The second guinea pig was an adult which was a permanent member of the aviary as it was minus half a wing. This time things went a whole lot better! The logger was attached far more neatly, and easily, than the first. The bird was released back into the aviary and also had a fluffing and preening session but also seemed to settle down. Now the big question is will they stay on?! That is one of my major concerns that the loggers will stay attached for the 10 – 14 days I am aiming for. The other being that I can recatch the birds I deploy the loggers on. In any case this is going to be an interesting and exciting field season!

The GPS loggers in heat shrink tubing.

Tape in place.. now for the logger.

Wrapping the tape firmly around the logger.

Attached and ready to go!

Shirley holding her first ever Kelp Gull! A firm hold on the head after I was bitten..

Investigating the new appendage..

The two birds with GPS loggers attached.