The month of January is going very smoothly here in Amsterdam . I'm busy with my work, and I'm starting to find my own ryhtm. In my free time, there is no time to be bored as there's always something to do!
I was able to participate in several off-base manips. First, the tagging of the pups - the baby fur seals - managed by our ornitho Anthony. We went to the MAE (Marre Aux Elephants), an area on the coast near the hold where a large part of one of the Amsterdam fur seal colonies is located.
Anthony identifies the pups, then we help him mark, measure and weigh them. That's really cool, they're so cute (even if some bite and poo on us haha).
We can even see a small rock-hopper penguin! The penguin colony is on the other side of the island, and rarely seen here around the base. They have quite a look ! hihi
He seems to be good friends with the fur seals.
The fur seals are beautiful
There are also the manips of the TAAF nature reserve, such as tracking phylicas, a shrub endemic to Amsterdam Island. Originally, phylicas were found all over the island, and they were ravaged by large fires with the arrival of the first missions. The natural history museum launched a phylica restoration program on the island, and now the TAAF nature reserve takes care of it. Each year, a VSC from the reserve is responsible for monitoring and planting phylicas around the island. Ugolin, Jérôme and I left towards the Dumas crater to follow up on the plantations and to collect seeds.
Little by little, I am discovering new corners outside the base!
I also went to the slope of the wild bulls (le versant des taureaux sauvages) in the north-west of the island with Clément and Ugolin, to remove labels from plantations that are no longer followed.
The day was beautiful, bright sun and blue sky. There is no path in this area, we were walking straight through bulrushes following the GPS to locate the plantations,
It was great!
We alternate work and naps in the sun ...
At noon, we had a picnic in the Antonelli crater, a hut an hour from the base where there is a small forest of cypresses.
We then went to look for the isolated phylica, and we found it after a hard walk in the bulrushes!
A beautiful day!
I was also able to accompany Luc, the nature reserve officer, on his daily round of removing and checking the cat traps. Cats, rats and mice are species introduced to the island by humans during the first missions. The reserve is trying to eliminate them due to their negative impact on bird populations.
We went to the research point, to the north of the island after Pointe B. It was very beautiful! After having passed Pointe B, we descended the slope in the bulrushes and we arrived at the causeway of the fur seals.
We then continued along the coast towards the research slab, then went up along the lava flows.
A lovely tour!
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