AUSTER ROOKERY: 15/08/2020

G’day all,
A couple weeks ago we made our first trip out to Macey Hut and to locate and track down the Auster rookery. Macey is only about 35kms from Mawson across the sea ice and since this was our first trip there this season we had to route prove on our way out making the usually 2 hr trip a little longer as we had to periodically stop and drill the ice to check the thickness was ok to travel onwards. Thankfully we had good solid ice about 80cm thick pretty much all the way there. When we got to Macey island we had to scout out a good access point to get off the ice and safely on to land. Last years route was blocked by a few ice bergs so we decided to try and find a better route. If we went in between the ice bergs there would have definitely been a few tide cracks surrounding them making it too likely we could break through the ice. We went north of the island and circled around the back and found a decent spot to get up onto land and access the hut. Macey has a four person hut and an “apple” which is like a fiberglass dome which has two beds. There were 7 of us on the trip so luckily Mark offered to sleep on the floor of the apple. The hut itself needed a bit of work before we could settle into it. A large amount of blizz had built up around the back side of the hut blocking off our access way to walk from the main door of the hut to the toilet. It took a while to shovel all that away. Also, unfortunately, the door handle to enter the hut had actually seized up and wouldn’t open allowing us inside so we had to remove the handle to get inside. After all that we had a rest and lunch inside the hut while we made a plan for the afternoon. The idea being we would spend the afternoon looking for the rookery and if we couldn’t find it we would spend half the next day looking again if needed. Emperor penguin rookeries on sea ice are never in the exact same spot every year – they move depending on how the ice conditions change each year as well as the availability of shelter and sources of fresh snow. Also they do not return to the same rookery every year as they may decide to go to another one as they move around the continent. The start of our plan was to head to the location of the rookery last year and then see what likely areas they could be from there. Groups in the past have spent hours, days, even consecutive trips to find them. We got super lucky and found them in about 30 mins from leaving Macey. We headed off following the GPS route from the previous year. As we were going along we came across a really cool looking ice berg looking like it was made of more marble than ice. It was actually dirt that had been blown over it then frozen in layer by layer over probably thousands of years giving off the sedimentary lines effect through it. We stopped to get some photos when we noticed a small group of penguins at the end who had obviously noticed us even though they were probably 5-600m away. After a few more minutes of pictures and taking it all in we realised the penguins were actually making their way over to us. They had all just dropped on to their bellies and were sliding over. They first stopped about 15 meters away and sussed us out from a distance but didn’t seem too keen to get any closer as we all quietly and patiently sat there with our cameras ready. Since it seemed like not too much was going to happen from here the guys in the lead Hagg got in and slowly drove away and past them. This worked out really well for us who stayed because now the penguins seemed far more comfortable with our group size and they slid right up to us. One exceptionally curious penguin just kept sliding towards me. I actually thought perhaps it was going to slide right into my lap however it diverted slightly and stood up maybe just over a meter away as it sussed us out. It’s a pretty amazing experience to have wild animals just happily come up this close as you watch them try and work out what you are. Of course I did have a little laugh to myself as it was only the one penguin that came up really close as the others stayed back a few meters probably waiting to see if the other got eaten. After about 10 minutes we backed away, got back into the Hagg and then caught up with the others who then soon reported they had spotted a large group of penguins off around the next bend. Sure enough, there they were, thousands of penguins off in the distance. There were two groups at the time with the second group probably half the size of the main group. We still stopped just over 1km from them, grabbed our cameras and left the Haggs to walk over to them. A few strays were dotted around as we approached who mostly came over to see what’s going on before heading off about their business. As long as we stayed quiet and moved steadily and casually they didn’t seem at all bothered by us. As we reached the main group we stopped about 100 meters away and we each found our own spot to settle in and take pictures as we hoped we would have a few visitors. Penguins from the main group were a little more apprehensive about coming over, especially as the group was mostly made up of males with eggs rested on top of their feet but after a few minutes some of the braver ones without eggs slowly came out in small groups. Every now and then amongst the noise of all the adults we could hear the little chirps of a couple babies which was pretty cute. I never saw any myself but one of the blokes with a more powerful camera and lens got some pretty good photos. We were there for a little over an hour before we made the walk back to Haggs and then drove back to Macey as we lost the light. We spent the night back in the hut all excitedly talking about the day we had shared. Since we had successfully located the rookery we had the luxury of slowly packing up and making our way back to Mawson the next day. A few more trips have headed out since then as we try and rotate people through and make sure we all get a chance to visit and experience the rookery, hopefully several times over the season. August is known for being the harshest month for weather at Mawson and from 1st August it held up to its name. For over the first week of August we had pretty consistent high winds and one day had thick blowing snow and winds gusting up to 96 knots (177kmh). Just my luck this was the week I was rostered to do power house observations meaning I have to go check on the generators a few times throughout the day making sure everything was all good. Once the winds are over about 60 knots and less than 100m visibility we go into ‘red conditions’ meaning to travel outside we must travel in at least pairs and radio when moving between buildings and on arrival. So for the morning obs I recruited Frank, our doctor, to come with me and then Matt our station leader came with me for the midday obs but the weather declined further from there so I didn’t bother trying to go again later in the day. Thankfully it has eased up over the last few days for a nice reprieve.