Banding and Marking Penguins
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BIRD-BANDING A JOURNALOF ORNITHOLOGICAL]NVES•flGATION VOL. XXII APRIL, 1951 No. 2 BANDING AND MARKING PENGUINS BY L. E. Rica•)ar•; This paper has beenprompted by enquiriesfrom overseas,particu- larly from workerswho have experiencedpengui.n marking diftlculties in the field, relativeto my methodsof ,bandingpenguins. Admittedly, the bandingof penguinsin a way that wi'll allow'results to be followed up is not easy. The ensuingtext, therefore,will be more than just a statementof .thefinally evolved end resuksof my bandingand marking technique. It will give alsosome account ,of the difiqcuhiesencountered in the periodof researchand of the severalunsuccessful banding meth- ods tried, a procedurewhich shouldbe of greatervalue to a ,worker grapplingwith penguinmarking difiqculties. Finally, in orderthat the readermay gleanfurther ideasof the resultsof the bandingand mark- ing, a list of my publishedpenguin papers is appended. EARLY BANDING EFFORTS Shortly after I commencedmy detailed study of the Yellow-eyed Penguin, Megadyptesaatipodes (Hombron and Jacquinot), on Au- gust25, 1936, it becameapparen, t ,that the birds had to be marked in someway. At that time, 1 was unaware•hat wild birds were being bandedin America and in Europe. Further, enquiriesfrom authorities in New Zealandon how to band or mark wild birds led to nothing,so that I beganto realizethat no onewithin my orbit knewanything about the problem. By October,1936, w•hilstthe penguinswere incubating,I managed to purchaselocally several coloured celluloid bands. Eight matedpairs of incubatingbirds, all that were under observationthat .season,were banded. So in that way was launchedthe first systematicban.ding ,of wild birds in New Zealand. I,t may be of interestto statethat one of the foregoing16 birdsbanded is still with me at time of writing (Janu- ary, 1949) which meansthat, assuming•,e was at leastthree years old in November,1936, this male penguinis at least 15 yearsold. It was not long, however,before I began.to realizethat the celluloid bandswould probably not stayon for a year, so in the moukingperiod in March, 1937, I re-banded all 16 mated 'birds 'wi,thbands made from very thin aluminum (standardwire gauge 25). In addition, •hat season'sfledgling.s and severaljuveniles hatched in ,the1935-36 season, werebanded. One of thesejuveni,les is still with ,me,now a little .more than 13 years old, making the oldest•bird whoseexact age is kn•own. By the beginning of the 1937-38 season,it •was obviou'sthat my bandingmethods had little .scientificvalue an.dthat, if •;heidentity of the penguingalready banded was not to be lost,some alternative system of markingwould have to .bedevised. Necessity seems ever the mother 47 48] RICHDALE,Banding and Marking Penguins Bird-BandingApril of invention. Eventually,a footanarkingscheme was evolved,and on October2, 1937, the first six penguinswere footmarked. Figure L The toolsof banding. At back, two typesof pliers; in front, three coil .bands; at each end, two aluminum bandslike those in presentuse; behind coil ban,ds, a narrow aluminum band and a celluloid band. Figure 2. Feedingtime. The parent is wearingan almninumband on right leg and a celluloid band on left leg. 'Vol. XXlI 1951 RICHDALE,Banding and Marking Penguins [49 CELLULOID BANDS The useof celluloidbands for any long term policy wasno,t a success for the best band evolvedwould not stay on longer ,thanfrom 10 to 12 months. For the sake of visibility all bands, whether celluloid or aluminum,were placed on the tarsus. If put on the leg, the bands would stay on for a much longer period, but the reading of the band was possibleonly by catchingthe penguin and searchingamong the feathers,a procedurethat is better avoided. My aim in persistingwith the colouredcelluloid bands was to devise a systemwhereby individual penguinscould be recognizedin the winter from a blind as they landedfrom the sea,and alsoso that their identity could be establishedmore quickly at the nest, especiallyat the pre-eggstage. Many kinds of bandswere tried, includingbands that were flat when unwound (flat bands) and others that were like a small knitting needlewhen unwound (coil bands). Bandsof varying diam- eters were tried; some had to be stretched to make them fit ;the tarsus, whilst othersjust hung loosely. It was next found that the bands stretched and either broke in two or else slid off the tarsus and toes. This meant that some method of fastening.the ends of a band had to be devised. Coil bandscould not be treatedin this way, so their use was abandonedearly. Eventually, after severalmethods were tried, a hole was bored through the ends of the fiat bandsand a galvanisedbolt was pushedthrough and made fast wi.th a nut. This methodof fasteningwas most successfulfor not once,to my knowledge,did this bol.t and nut ever come apart. The bands,however, lasted only three or four monthsafter whichthey broke acrossthe flat strip where there was only one thicknessof celluloid. Next, bands were made so that there were at least two thicknessesof material all ,the way around. These bands lasted from 10 to 12 monthsand were used extensivelyin 1938-39, after which, exceptfor a specialproject in 1939-40, the use of celluloid bands was aban- doned. An extremely important point in penguin bands (celluloid or aluminum) is the width of the flat material whic.h makes ,the band. The wider this material the stronger is the band and the longer i.t will stay on. Strips 14 and 12 millimetres wide were tried but the bands cut the tarsus so that these wid, ths had to be abandoned. Even- tually, a width of 10 millimetreswas foundto be the mostpractical dimension; anything narrower only weakenedthe band and hence shortened its life. ALUMINUM BANDS While I was strugglingwi.th the problem of the celluloidbands, it occurred to me that if a suitable aluminum band could be obtained the penguinswould be' marked permanently (disillusionmentcame later). Nothing was available in New Zealand, so early in 1938 I placedan order in England. In June,the bandsarrived. All were made from aluminum,number 18 standardwire gauge in thickness, and all were 25 millimetresin diameter. Somewere of strip material 12 millimetreswide and o,thersfrom material only 5 millimetreswide. 50] RICHDALE,Banding and Marking Penguins Bird-BandingApril The bandsmade from the narrow material proveduseless as the metal wasnot strongenough •to resist the weightof ,thebird whenlying down. The 12 millimetre strip was too wide and tendedto injure .the tarsus so that the bands had to be removed. Further, the fixed diameter of 25 millimetresbrought trouble for on somebirds the bandswere far too tight and causedthe tarsusto swell. Finally, the makers refused to inscribe the legend and numberson the bands, accordingto nay specifications,stating that I was asking,too much. In the face of all these difliculties, I decided, at the end of 1938, to make my own .bandsand I have continuedto do so ever sinceeven though the cost in time is considerable(it takes me 15 minutes to make one penguinband). The new ,bandswere made of aluminum, number 18 standardgauge in thickness,and from strip material 10 mil, limetres wide. All bands had the fixed diameter of 28 millimetres. With the comparativefailure of the celluloidbands for quick iden- tification,,the idea was conceivedof reading the ,bandnumbers either with binocularsor telescope. The number had to be large and be placedon the bandseveral ,times. Accordingly, stamps with numbers9 millimetreshigh were made and single and dualnumbers were stamped on the metal in four places. It was immaterial,therefore, which way the bird was standing,for one of the numberswould alwaysface the o.bserver.Then, with the aid of a 20X telescope,the numbercould be read as far away as 40 metres. The useo/numbers in/our placeswas a/ar-reachingand most important decision. Without it muchresearch could not have been accomplishedand other work would have ,been made more diflicul,t. The legendTell Otago Museumwith one word in each of ,threerows was stampedin betweenthe numbersand, con- s•equen,tly,appeared three times on the band. The identificatiot•qualities of thi.sband proved highly efficient-- qualitieswhich have been retained ever since. Except for mostunusual cases,as for example,recognizing individual penguinsmore than 40 metresaway, this type of band has renderedsuperfluous the use of the celluloidtype. Theselatest bands, however, ,began to displayother faults. (1) The diameter was too wide for the small birds and the bands fell off. To overcomethis trouble,all bandswere made from a strip 125 mil,limetres long whichis samewhatlonger than wouldbe necessaryto make the widestring required. After a little practice,it was possibleto estimate the size of band requiredand to shortenthe band accordinglywith plierswhile .the penguin concerned was in my hands. (2) Whenthe 1939-40season arrived, although the aluminumbands were all still in place,some of themshowed signs of considerablewear and had to be replacedafter an averageperiod of 12 monthson the penguin. From .theforegoing experience emerged the final type of aluminum band. Aluminum with a thicknessof standardwire gauges16 and 14 wastried and eventuallynumber 16 gauge,which is the thicknessthat has been used ever since, was chosen. Bands carried over the most rocky landinggrounds will stay.on for at leasttwo seasonsand have to .berenewed every third season.Where the breedingareas consist only of sand,the bandsmay remainservicable for five seasons.No Vol. XXII 1951 RICHDALE,Banding an MarkingPenguins [5]. further attempthas been made to itnprovethe lasting qualitiesof the bands. For all practicalpurposes, as far as I am concerned,the point reachedis reasonablysatisfactory. To fasten the band on the tarsus, one end of the band, 10 millimetres from the end, is bent in a vice to make an inverted V. The other end, 5 millimetresfrom the end, is bent up at 45ø. The strip is then bent into a band and the two endsmay then be claspedtogether with pliers after the secondbend has been placed inside ,theV bend.