Humboldt penguin nesting in a cave.

(From Ric:) Today (Saturday) I had the opportunity to work closely with the field biologists and get closer with the penguins.  Marco and I started out inside a mobile blind to recover a data logger in the penguin colony.  This 4 x 4 wooden box with windows and handles was based on some National Geographic blinds used to get closer to the animals.  The camouflaged box walking or inching along the desert and entering into the nesting colony was no disturbance to the penguins.

Simply amazing, I have seen this done before but never had a chance to experience it in a penguin colony.  We got within 20 feet of the group and listened to the vocalizations of the chicks and juveniles begging for food from approaching adults returning from the ocean.  There were also adults vocalizing at nests in order to establish their territories.  The Humboldt Penguins bray just like our African Penguins.

After we recovered the data loggers, we moved on to checking nests down near the beach.  The funny thing is that unlike the sites where we have been collecting data, these nests were in crevices and in a cave.  Yes, a cave. We got down and began to crawl up into a small opening and climb 45 degrees or better up into a cave.  It was dark and we needed our headlamps to get into an opening where there were a series of nests with adults brooding eggs and chicks.  There has always been the idea that nests are out in the open or near the beach.  Things are different around here and this area is one of the most productive nest sites for the penguins.

Alle and Ric get ready to say goodbye to the Peruvian Pacific coast.

(From Alle:) Today (Sunday) was a very bittersweet day in la guanera. It was our last day on the reserve, and people were exchanging email addresses, taking pictures and saying “see you later” (because goodbye is too harsh). We still performed our usual guano shifts in the morning and then all met together for another great meal of fried potatoes and a kind of beef stew with rice. It was extremely good, and clearly a meal saved for a final get-together. We are going to miss all of our friends, both new and old, and we will definitely be in contact with everyone!

This picture by our fellow volunteer Heather Neldner is a final group shot of staff members for the Punta San Juan Project. From left to right: Susana, Marco, Franco and Majo (with Conham the dog).

Regardless of the sad finality, something that was good to see today is that the Humboldt penguins seem to be getting more and more comfortable with the guano workers being so close. They finally seemed to realize that the workers are not going after them, and they are starting to transit more often between beaches and they are starting to act a bit more curious about the activities (rather than afraid). We were expecting them to adjust, but it is always a relief to see it.

Penguins crossing the landscape without fear of the nearby workers.

Ric and I were discussing with some of the other Biologists that we are going to really miss Punta San Juan. I cannot explain the personal connection that I personally have developed with this project and these animals that live here. This is such an amazing place with such an amazing goal for helping these animals, I highly recommend that any zoo or aquarium people out there who may be reading this blog contact us and ask us — or ask the Punta San Juan Project directly — how you can be involved.

This is a project that should not go unnoticed, and Ric and I are not going to let it slide under the radar. Once the Punta San Juan Project gets their new website up and running, we will post the link and keep everyone updated. We will have a couple more posts before we head back home to The States, so stay tuned. Hopefully I can get Ric to write a concluding paragraph within the next couple days (he says he will), and we can go from there.

Hector from Moody Gardens took this picture of Alle testing her strength by hoisting one of the filled guano bags.

Before we sign off for today, I’d like to have a shout out to my family (including Rachel), Caleb, his family (including Ashley), New Haven and everyone else back home! And hello to Ric’s daughter Teresa and his wife Ann, too. We are grateful for all the support and love you have sent our way for this project. We look forward to seeing you all in a few days!

Ric caught this image of Alle walking away from her field shift for the last time.

Day 2 of the guano harvest has been a success. The moveable blind continued to work, and seeing the penguins transit with the workers on the other side has been so rewarding. The disturbance from the guano workers has been a minimum this year, and it feels great to be a part of the process that has been so successful. This experience has truly been rewarding, and we can’t wait to bring all of our new knowledge home with us to share with the community.

Peru-7 116

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Something that still amazes me is how much guano there really is here. The guano harvesters keep digging and digging and digging and it never seems to end. They fill up bag after bag after bag and they have only worked on one small area. It is truly baffling. After the end of each shift for the guano harvesters, we measure the area that they have extracted and take GPS points of the area to monitor the amount that is being collected. You can see the darker area in the picture below and how much guano was dug up. It is not that deep in this picture, but it produced many bags of guano.

Guano field, separated from the penguins’ area by the temporary fence.

This sign denotes the “forbidden” zone for workers, for the protection of the penguins.

The perimeter is set, most of the workers and here, and THE HARVEST HAS BEGUN! This is an unbelievable experience to witness a conservation effort at its best. The guano harvesters are some of the hardest working men on the planet. Ric called them an “army of iron men”. They have productivity down to a science, and their strength and determination is truly amazing.

One man would go around picking up rocks and feathers, then a handful of men would start digging into the guano, and then another handful of men would start bagging the guano. Each bag contains about 40-50 kilos, which equals about 80-100 pounds. And each man is required to move 40 bags each day. Watching them carry the bags is almost like watching a little girl carry a feather. It is so effortless for them and they do it with such skill. They have a mission, and they want to get it done.

After the workers went back to their camp for lunch, a group of us went to try to lift the guano bags to see how heavy they really were. Ric and Alle were the only two people who wanted to (or were crazy enough) to attempt to lift a heavy bag filled with guano, and it was tough!

We also set up the moveable blind today, which is a white porous fabric cloth that we hung between poles to work as a visual barrier between the workers and the penguin colonies. It took us a couple tries to get it in the right place, but it works!

The moveable blind works! This is unbelievable. We all celebrated. See the penguins behind it?

The guano harvesters are currently working in an area where the penguins like to transit from one beach to another, and all morning we watched the penguins trying to debate on whether or not they wanted to get that close to the workers. Well, after we hung the moveable blind in the right location, and once the penguins realized that it was safe, they transited from one side to another without seeing us and being afraid. It was an amazing successful feeling to see our prototype work. See the picture for proof of our success!

This shows you why we needed the moveable blind. If you look passed the men and the bags of guano, you can see a small colony of penguins being hesitant to move down the cliff. The moveable blind went up shortly after this, and now the penguins feel comfortable now to transit.

This is Ric now:

What a day!  I’m done. It’s time for the Gatorade.   Hector (Moody Gardens / Newport South) and myself have been working together scanning a couple of sites particularly sensitive due to the density of the species of penguins and Cape Fur Seals.  Scans are important before the harvest begins and then once again in the middle of the day.  The objective is to determine if there are any disturbances or conflicts between the harvest and the colonies. 

The working conditions are pretty challenging.  The winds have been reaching gusts of up to 15 knots.  The good thing today was the sun was out and it reached temperatures of around 66 degrees.  Sunglasses and a hat is a must due to the reflections of the sun off of the desert.  As Alle, mentioned the harvest has begun.  It is good to see but now the monitoring begins; early mornings and late afternoons for the future monitoring teams. 

As we were walking across the desert today, we talked about the blog and the next few weeks will have to be labeled as the “Curator’s Cut”.  This is due to the fact that some videos and pictures are very large and almost impossible to download with limited service.

As the sun is coming up, we are watching the fishermen go out for the day,  10 or 12 boats go out within an hour. Some are divers fishing for urchins and mussels; while others are bringing in anchovy. We usually see the same boats each day.  

These are the tics we encounter daily. Some are bigger, some are smaller, but they’re everywhere.

A view of the sunset outside our house.

Tuesday August 7^th, 2012.

This is Alle writing with Ric next to me:

Each day we appreciate the Punta San Juan project a little more. The researchers here are amazing, and the work they do is nothing short of inspirational. Unfortunately, the guano harvest hasn’t begun yet, but in the meantime we are learning a lot about what they do here to help all the marine life in the area, and we are helping to prepare for the harvest.

The Peruvian Government is having issues getting everything that the guano harvesters need and they can’t begin until everything is set up. For example, there will be around 250-300 workers here, and they need their tents, latrines and showers set up for the next few weeks. About 50 men have showed up already to help to set up, and we’ve been working with them to ensure that they have everything that they need, and the animals are well protected. Tents have slowly been going up around the reserve, and things are starting to take shape. We are optimistic that we will see the start of the harvest before we have to leave! If nothing else, we will be helping the penguins in many other ways.

For example, Tuesday was another constructive day here on the reserve. We spent all morning cutting boards for signs that will be hung around the reserve to tell the guano workers to avoid certain areas due to the wildlife. I want to give a special shout out to my dad who taught me how to be a good carpenter, because it definitely came in handy today (and I still have all of my fingers!). So, thank you, Dad! (Ric says “Awww…”)

All these little tasks that we have to do will ensure that the penguins and other marine life stay protected and safe during the harvest. Ric and Hector continued with their census project today, which Ric says has had him seeing sea lions and penguins in his sleep.

Ric, with his partner Hector, working on the animal census using pictures on a computer.

Also, I had another interesting task on Tuesday: I practiced my taxidermy skills. The other day while setting up some of the guano harvest area, we found a deceased juvenile penguin. The people at the Punta San Juan Project decided that we could preserve the skeleton and skin and keep it in the mini-museum they have here for educational purposes.

Alle with Jose and their taxidermy juvenile penguin. This penguin was found deceased near the reserve, and they wanted to preserve the structure for educational purposes. When volunteers take census of the penguin colonies they have to distinguish between juveniles and adults, and this penguin will be a great visual aide.

Well, they needed someone who could sew, and so another volunteer named Jose and I took up the mission and helped clean, prep and sew the penguin back to an appropriate state. It was definitely an interesting thing to do, and it really will help to educate other visitors about the differences between juveniles and adult Humboldt penguins. This knowledge is important because when volunteers do the census of the colonies, they must distinguish between the juveniles and adults for an accurate count.

PS. A fun little side note to Tuesday — The phrase “no worries” is used a lot here on the reserve, so when we were working on the signs on Tuesday, I (Alle) started singing “Hakunah Matata” from “The Lion King” (since it means “no worries”), and it started a montage of singing in Spanish, English and Dutch! What an interesting cultural experience. We were all singing in our native language and then we learned from each other how to sing it in the other languages.

Wednesday August 8^th, 2012

This is Ric writing:

Wednesday is looking like the beginning of the setting the perimeter for the harvest. This is what all of us have been waiting for the past week.  The guano workers have been preparing the base camp for the 250 – 300 workers that will be arriving in the next week.  Field observations on Tuesday were interrupted by the guano truck as it was establishing the extraction road.  Our data collection over the past week has been for base-line data; when the work begins we will be looking at the changes on the beaches and the colonies.

Ric and Hector from Moody Gardens figure out a way to set up the moveable blind. This blind will be a visual barrier between the penguins and the guano harvesters. The theory is that the penguins will be less disturbed if they cannot see the workers. We hope this works; Thursday will be the trial.

Fifteen meters is going to be a magic number from the colonies to the harvest.  The perimeter will meander along the cliffs. We are preparing an experiment with a moveable blind.  A light fabric mesh was brought in to see if a visual barrier can reduce the disturbance of the colonies. This new idea is a mutual benefit between the harvesters and the biologists so the birds are not disturbed, and the collectors can get more product. Hopefully it works! We will let you know the outcome on Thursday or Friday after we do the initial test.

Now this is Alle writing:

So we would like to respond to someone who had posted a comment to one of our blogs a couple days ago. Someone named Nate-O asked “What are you going to do with all that guano?!” This is a great question, and we briefly mentioned it already, but we thought other people might be asking the same question since we have touched on the subject but never really elaborated. Well, this harvest is a controlled harvest that is conducted by the Peruvian Government every 4-7 years or so (the last harvest took place in 2007). It has to occur in these long of intervals so guano has time to build up and make it worth the while for collection. There are a lot of factors that interfere with the collection. The government has to measure the amount of guano, ensure that the harvest occurs outside of the penguin’s breeding season, and coordinate the right number of workers to get the job done. After the collection, 10% of the collected guano goes to overseas sales, and the rest gets distributed to the local farmers to be used as fertilizer with their crops. This is especially prized to the farmers who live in the mountain regions because the nutrients in the soil are altered with the higher altitude, and the guano helps the productivity of their crops. So that is what we are going to do with all the guano! And while we are here, we are going to make sure that none of the wildlife is affected during the collection (like Ric mentioned above, hopefully the experimental “moveable blind” will be a success, too).

We would like to say HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Franco, who is Ric’s roommate and a worker here for the Punta San Juan project. He turned 27 today! We sang happy birthday to him in English, Spanish and Dutch! Happy birthday, Franco!

How to catch a penguin biologist. Susana, the coordinator for this conservation effort set the fox trap in the dining room with JIF peanut butter. She was hoping to catch a biologist, and Daniel fell right into her trap. It’s true: penguin biologists LOVE peanut butter!

Sunday started off with an absolutely wonderful surprise! We got to sleep in until 7:30am instead of 5:30am. Everyone seemed so much happier and well-rested with just 2 extra hours of sleep. Also, we got to eat breakfast before going into the field, and it was a hot breakfast that didn’t just consist of bread and butter. We were served the traditional Peruvian Sunday breakfast of chicken or beef tamales. Tamales are a meat and spice combination wrapped in a banana leaf and baked until they are steaming. Most of the Peruvians add onion, aji sauce or avocado to their tamale to give it a little extra flare. Ric, of course, tried everything on his.

Some of the common animals around here with their English and Spanish translations.

The rest of the day was spent talking about how to prepare for the guano harvest. The guano workers are starting to arrive by the car load, and a plan needed to be put in place. We decided to break up into teams for the rest of our time here. Ric is paired with Hector, a pinneped and penguin keeper at Moody Gardens in Texas, and I am paired with a Peruvian student named Daniel. Daniel is an amazing person who speaks English very well and who loves learning everything he can about anything. We work very well together, and we have a similar way of thinking, so we should make a great team in the field!

Ric and Hector have a special task for the rest of their time here at the reserve: Since they have the best cameras, they were chosen to take pictures of the beaches that have more than 3,000 animals on them, and then see if they can find an easy way to conduct an accurate census on a computer. The hypothesis behind this method is that they could just take a picture of these beaches and then not have to worry about losing their place, or counting the same animal twice if it is moving around, etc. So Ric and Hector have an interesting few days ahead of them. If this plan works, it will really help the Punta San Juan Project out in the long run.

Alle and Daniel, on the other hand, are Guano Team 1. Which means they are the first pair to observe the guano workers once they get started. It will be our job to watch the workers and make sure the penguins, sea lions, fur seals and other birds in the area are not being disturbed by the harvesting. We will be monitoring the animals’ behaviors and making sure that they remain happy and safe.

These are the bags that will hold the harvested guano.

This is Ric now: The harvest is coming close to beginning.  After breakfast on Monday, the Team discussed the process for the next couple of days and how we are going to accomplish the tasks at hand.  The main goal is to monitor the impact of the workers on the reserve.  This is important data to collect as this reserve is a model for other protected areas and their future.

Tuesday, August 7th, 2012 will be a day of establishing the perimeter and gathering more base-line data.  Two-member teams were selected to perform different tasks; monitoring the north beaches, monitoring the south beaches and then monitoring the guaneros and the animals at the harvest sites. As Alle mentioned, Hector and I have the most interesting task.

This is Alle now:. Monday was a lot of fun here on the reserve. The guano teams had a special mission to complete today since the harvest had not started yet and there were no workers to observe, so we did our own version of Extreme Makeover, Punta San Juan Edition! There is a net that goes around the back of the house here on the reserve that is used for privacy and for catching stray feathers that go flying around in the wind. Well, this net was getting old and needed to be replaced. So, we tore down the old net and put up a new one. This sounds easy enough, however, it ended up being a good five-hour task!

Alle, Heather, Luz with Edilce behind her, Patricia and Peter after building our fence in the background! We were so proud!

We had to move tons of cinder blocks, wood and rocks out of the way so we could access the net, then we had to cut down the old net, and then we had to re-hang the new net and place hundreds of zip ties and rope around multiple points to ensure that it didn’t blow away. This task was made extra challenging because a Peruvian desert sand storm came through and sand was blowing in our eyes, ears, mouths, etc. So we had to stop for a little while and hope that our work didn’t literally blow away. We got to finish our task later, and we ended up cleaning the entire outside of the house and making it as neat as possible. The researchers here at Punta San Juan were extremely grateful and said we went above and beyond what they needed from us. We all felt good giving back to the research site here by helping them with the general maintenance of the property.

Well, we are having issues with the internet connection here, so hopefully we can update more in a day or so when we have a better connection. Also, our next update should include some of the guano harvest progress! Hope everyone is doing well at the WAVE Foundation and the Newport Aquarium! We miss you all!

Hola! We have been at the Punta San Juan Reserve for 6 days now, and we are learning a lot about the penguin populations here and what can influence those populations.

Humboldt Penguins walking across the beach

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t is amazing to look out on the landscape and see nothing but rocks and shining-white guano, but then if you look a little closer you can see hundreds of penguins speckled in the background and even hiding in the guano! These penguins are known to make their nests by digging a hole in the guano, and then laying their eggs, so sometimes you’ll see a tiny face peeking out at you on the sides of the cliffs. This is a special treat to see a penguin hiding in the guano because usually that means there is a chick (usually two) around, and if you look closely, you may even see the babies. Seeing these baby chicks definitely warrants a huge “awwwww….” They are just as adorable as you can imagine. They are tiny, fluffy, awkwardly cute birds who look at you with big curious eyes. It is definitely a sight that will never get old.

Saturday started out with an interesting twist. I walked out to the back of the house where I had hung some laundry to dry, and a juvenile penguin greeted me on the rock ledge by the door. I looked at him, and he looked at me, and to my surprise, he jumped down from the rock ledge and ran toward me.

All of the adult penguins that we have seen here at the reserve have been very skeptical of humans, and tend to avoid us the best they can. However, this little guy came directly up to me and stood by my feet and looked up at me. It reminded me of how the African Penguins act at the Newport Aquarium when you have food. Well apparently, juvenile penguins often get lost from the colony and come to the house here at Punta San Juan, and we are supposed to catch them and take them down to the water to make sure that they don’t get too far from their colony (and also to ensure that the dog they have on the reserve doesn’t grab them instead). So I closed his beak to make sure that he couldn’t bite me, and I picked him up and took him down to the water. He was a very relaxed little penguin. He didn’t really fight me too bad, or try to harm me. He was a bit scared, but once I got him down to the water he was happy. So, just like at Newport Aquarium, the day literally started with penguins!

Humboldt Penguins in the nest, Punta San Juan reserve, Peru

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Afterwards, Ric and I went to the North side of the beaches here to gather census data. The North side of the reserve is where the house is located, and where I relocated the penguin in the morning. So we were at this small beach that was filled with fur seals, sea lions and all adult penguins. Then, out of nowhere, comes this juvenile penguin and he runs to catch up with the other adults. Everyone in our group thought it was probably the little penguin that greeted me in the laundry area, and it felt really good to see that he had finally caught up with part of his colony.

Things have been starting to change around la guanera lately. All the guano harvesters have been arriving, and they are starting to set up the tents and living areas for the workers while they are here. On Sunday we are going to be setting up the parameters for the harvest to show the workers where and where not to collect the guano. They will only be allowed to collect in certain areas to ensure that they do not disturb any nesting birds. Hopefully they will start collecting by Monday morning and we will have some other interesting stories to report!

Peruvians love to cook, and Ric loves to eat.

The Peruvians love their food.  The Americans are going to be thrown off by coming to the coastal deserts.  Lunch is the big meal for the day.  Breakfast consists of toasted rolls and butter or jam.  We are lucky enough to have fresh rolls brought in from town each day, which is a special treat.  The Peruvians also love to slice avocado with a little salt onto the bread.  Sometimes they add a little mayonnaise to the dish for a creamier taste.  The coffee is pressed or instant coffee is served.

Our accommodations are simple.  The electric is only available from 6 or 7 to 9 p.m., so there is no opportunity for any refrigeration.  The juices come in box form and sit out on the counter all day.  The milk or yogurt is in a plastic bottle and sits out as well.  I tasted the yogurt as it comes in a variety of flavors, vanilla and berry.  The Peruvians will pour it over the cereal and add sugar and bananas to the topping.  The lack of refrigeration definitely makes food preparation extremely challenging — or simple, whatever your perspective may be.

When the car broke down and got a flat tire at the same time Friday, everybody helped push it out of the way, so the guano harvesters could get their trucks through to start setting up.

The ambience of the dining room is excellent, with a view of the ocean and candlelight after sundown.  There are quite a few of us who attempt to squeeze in around the table that seats about 14.  The Spanish and American conversations blend it is quite entertaining.  Those of us who don’t make it around the table enjoy eating our meals out on the terrace, where we are watching the guano workers preparing their living quarters for the next eight weeks.

Starches are the main staple.  Potatoes and rice are commonly served along with meat.  There is a variety of fresh fruits; apples, oranges, tangerines, pears, cactus fruit and granadilla (a member of the passion fruit family).  All of these are very fresh and very good.  Many of the pantry items are dry goods.  They are prepared with the boxed water that is brought in each week.

Wednesday’s lunch was amazing.  It was a favorite of many of the Peruvians, thick spaghetti with a puree of spinach, garlic, onion, basil and oil.  This was served with a skirt steak with a sauce   Aji and Rocotta are spices commonly used.  The paste comes in envelope packets and it is really good.  Not as spicy as jalapenos, but very flavorful.  I am definitely packing this to come home.

Thursday’s lunch was another culinary treat for us.  There is a Chinese influence on some of the foods.  We had a rice dish that reminded me of jambalaya crossed with fried rice.  There was egg and rice and slices of ginger that added spice and flavor to the dish.  It was amazing; several helpings were enjoyed to satisfy the day.

The beverage for the meal is usually a tea concoction.  Barley was used yesterday to blend a very flavorful glass of tea.  Earlier in the week we had some tea that was prepared with more citrus fruits.   The pineapple skins were cooked in water on the stove to blend with orange juice…. This was very good as well.

The evening meal is usually something light and easy to prepare.  Usually it is leftovers from the lunch warmed up or JIF peanut butter and crackers.

Today (Friday) as I am sitting in the dining area, Monica the cook is in the kitchen preparing today’s lunch.  The smells of garlic and onion in the skillet are going to be the basis for a wonderful meal. She is preparing a stuffed pepper type meal with ground meat and egg. It will probably be delicious like everything else. (Update: It was. See me in the picture at top? That’s the stuffed pepper dish. You can see how much I like it.)

Other Thoughts from the Curator

The field experiences here are amazing.  The opportunities to talk with the Peruvians and learn from them is an opportunity of a lifetime.  Even talking to our American counterparts to get their perspectives and experiences is great.  Each one of us started in this profession for the opportunity to work with and protect species and their ecosystems.  As we go out and do our daily census, we get to see groups of amazing animals in their natural state.  The South American Sea Lion (lobo fino) are generally found on the rocks; while the Cape Fur Seals or Sea Lions (lobo chusco) are found lying on the beaches.  When you are looking at a thousand individuals on a shoreline, it is very difficult for someone without experience to count them.  The Humboldt penguins are easier to count, and more enjoyable.

Penguins silhouetted against the sunset.

Hello from Peru! As I mentioned in our last post, we were having internet issues. This wasn’t exactly true. We were having issues getting into the house that has the internet… So, using internet was difficult sitting outside in the cold Peruvian winter.

Waiting in the truck for Alle to break into the house. It’s chilly out here when the sun goes down.

Every day, half of the people here get to go to this small house outside of la guanera and use the internet and have a warm shower (yep, there is no such thing as a HOT shower here…), and when we went to the house yesterday, we were locked out. Unfortunately, someone had locked the lower part of the door, which is a problem since no key exists for that part of the door. So after receiving permission to break and enter, I used a hammer and a small prying knife to pop the lock and get us into the house (and then I temporarily fixed it when I was done, too!). It took us about an hour or so, but we got some fun pictures along the way! So it took us a while to get in, and then after a small black out, we decided to give up on the blog for the night and head back to la guanera.

B+E skills come in handy out in the field.

So here we are back on la guanera, and we have already finished our morning counts for the day. We went to the different beaches around the reserve and collected census data on los pinguinos (the penguins), and also on los lobos marinos finos (fur seals), and los chuscos (sea lions). We will be heading out here soon to do the rest of the counts for the afternoon, and hopefully we will get some big numbers from the penguins!

Ric and I were talking today with Alonso, the penguin expert here at Punta San Juan who is responsible for all the penguin census data and active nest data. He is truly an amazing person who is extremely passionate about conserving these birds. He told us that at the beginning of July there were more 1,400 active breeding nests in just one small section of the reserve! In the entire reserve there are over 1,600 breeding nests.  This information gives him an estimate of more 2,000 fledgling penguins in the reserve alone, and an estimate of 4,000-5,000 penguins in the entire Punta San Juan area. That is a lot of penguins!

Alonso was also mentioning that he feels that the count of active breeding nests would be higher if the wall that protects the reserve could be longer. The wall helps to keep predators out and keep the disturbance from the town low. Alonso discovered that some of the penguins like to fish outside the reserve, but they will not nest outside of the reserve because they feel unsafe. This is unfortunate, because penguins like to nest near a good food source because the amount of food available tends to alter the nesting ability/breeding of the adults. More food = more energy for breeding = more penguins.

We will update some more later this afternoon and let everyone know how the penguin counts are. The area we are heading to is the area known for nesting, so we will be seeing a lot of penguins, and hopefully lots of chicks and fledglings.

PS. Ric and I have quickly discovered that peanut butter is like GOLD here on the reserve. I had a small jar of peanut butter and some crackers packed in my bag for a snack, and I got it out this morning for breakfast… I suddenly became EVERYONE’S best friend (including the dog, Conhom – which translates to “with hunger” since the dog is always hungry…). We all sat around laughing, joking and eating peanut butter like we haven’t had access to food in weeks! So we dubbed our breakfast “a peanut butter party” and decided that JIF Peanut Butter needs to sponsor us for penguin conservation since all the biologists love it so much and it is so hard to come by here in Peru. So what do you say, JIF? Penguin Biologists LOVE your product both in the USA and Peru!

Biologists love peanut butter.

(Editor’s note: We’ll make sure the JIF people see this.)

Alle crouches on a cliff high over the beach looking down on a group of Humboldt penguins at Punta San Juan, Peru.

Hello again, everyone! Ric and I are continuing our adventure with penguin conservation in Peru. On Tuesday, we learned how the Punta San Juan Reserve collects data on the local wildlife. We did a census on four sections of la guanera today, and we counted thousands of animals!

It was interesting to learn how the locals collect their data, and what they are looking for. For example, when counting penguins, we had to differentiate between the chicks, fledglings, juveniles, and adults. Chicks are the babies who still require parent help and are often kept in the nest. Fledglings are learning from their parents, and will leave the nest, but they still have the dark gray coloration of a chick. Juveniles look almost like an adult, except they haven’t had their first molt into adult feathers yet, so the feathers around their head are darker.

We also needed to count active nests vs. inactive nests (the way to tell the difference is by the amount of guano around the area). It was really a lot of fun to watch the penguins, and this data will help keep track of penguin population numbers in certain parts of the reserve. Ric says it is a good thing that we have experience with this at the Newport Aquarium, otherwise this could be a lot harder.

So today was a great first adventure before the harvesting of the guano begins. The Peruvian workers are arriving on Friday and will be arriving the next few days to set up their camp before starting the harvest. The guano is so deep here. It must go down about 3-4 feet in some areas, and the harvesters are going to be digging it all up! When we walk on the guano, it sounds almost hollow.

We actually have to cut this post a bit short. We are having issues with the internet, so we will let you know more of our adventures tomorrow.