Day 3: Highlight of the day

Identifying sea birds and other megafauna.

By: Chad King

One of the projects being undertaken on board the RV investigator is collecting data on the distribution and abundance of seabirds. Now I am first to admit I had very little knowledge about seabirds in general before this voyage, but after upwards of 6 hours of collecting data siting alongside lead researcher Dr Eric Woehler, I can confidently say I know much more now.

As we sit up on the observation deck which is 30m above the waterline, the aim is to be able to firstly spot, and then correctly identify any seabirds or other mega fauna that breeches the surface of the water along a transect which is roughly 300m wide whilst traveling at a constant 8kts. So far we have accumulated 380 sightings, 25 different species and have seen common dolphins, bottlenose dolphin, various albatross, gannets, shearwaters and terns.