Post doc Katta Ludynia is currently in Namibia continuing her research into foraging strategies of African Penguins. The research involves deploying, for a single feeding trip only, a small streamlined device that contains a miniaturized GPS unit, a battery and a memory card to store the data. The device is attached with tape, so it can be removed without damaging the feathers. Once the logger has been removed, it can be connected to a computer, and the precious information containing the positions of the penguin at one-minute intervals can be downloaded.

Katta reports: "We have so far successfully deployed eight African Penguins at Halifax Island with GPS data loggers and have received some interesting trips. Combined with data from previous seasons, we are getting a nice overview of where birds from Halifax Island feed. Unfortunatly, we had to interrupt our logger work due to a heat wave which caused quite a lot of nest desertions, chicks being left alone during the day and also some chick mortalities.

On Tuesday, I will be heading off to Mercury Island and do some more logger work there with Rian Jones from the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources. We have deployed GPS loggers on penguins at Mercury Island for several years in a row and birds have consistently foraged in an area north-west of the island. So I am curious to see if the birds stick to their known pattern or if they have a surprise for us this year.

The University of Cape Town computer services has a scheduled maintainance slot every month. This month's slot is tomorrow. Often, these events do not impact the ADU websites at all. We have been warned that tomorrow's slot might be longer than normal (from 09h00–20h00). The ADU websites might not be available and the processing incoming SABAP2 data might not be immediate. Any data submitted tomorrow will be queued and processed once maintainance has been completed, and the system is running normally.

Over the coming weekend, there will be a daily report on the 2010 SAFRING Ringers Conference on the SAFRING website. The first report is already there.

This conference represents the biggest gathering of people at Barberspan Bird Sanctuary for many years. This site was once one of the world's most renowned centres of excellence in waterbird research. Sadly, about 20 years ago it fell into disuse. Currently, the North West Parks and Tourism Board, aided by the ADU, is working hard to restore Barberspan to its former glory. The 2010 SAFRING Ringers' Conference is part of the rebuilding process.

The ADU will have a stand at the SANBI 2010 Biodiversity Expo, Thursday 25–Sunday 28 March, 09h00–16h00, at Kirstenbosch; take a look at the full details. Besides the ADU, there will at least another 30 conservation organisations exhibiting on various biodiversity issues ranging from threatened species to calculating your carbon footprint.

The ADU stand will have staff/students on duty all the time. Come and meet us there and have a natter with us. The Expo is in the Old Mutual Conference Centre at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens, and entry is free. On the Sunday, Dr Guy Midgley, one of South Africa's leading experts on climate change will be doing a presentation. Guy was one of the driving forces behind the Environmental Change Booklet we produced at the end of last year for the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, and he was part of the South African delegation.

Antje Steinfurth’s passion for penguins led to her employment as a lecturer with One Ocean Expeditions this summer in Antarctica. Starting in the town of Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, recognized as “the end of the world”, she sailed on the Akademik Ioffe, a Russian research vessel, on three voyages across the Southern Ocean towards the White Continent, passing the Falkland Islands and South Georgia on her way down south.

Of the seven penguin species seen on the voyage, five were new species to her: "The Chinstrap catapulted himself into my Top Three. They don’t walk, they don’t waddle, they skip!

"But the ocean voyage was as exciting as the arrival at these places themselves. Albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters were accompanying the ship, skimming the waves and riding the air currents on their long wings all along the journey. Crossing the Polar Front different bird species appeared in sheer abundance: Cape Petrels and clouds of small, ghostly grey-white prions that flitted like little acrobats above the surface of the water, providing identification challenges for even the keenest birder. And then finally south of 60 degrees, the Antarctic and Snow Petrels (or Angel of Antarctica) gave us a warm welcome to Antarctica!

"Antarctica for me was beyond words – it overwhelmed me – the camera caught some of it but the power of the landscape, the animals, the penguins – but not to the point of what I felt!"

After surviving the (wish for the best, prepare for the worst) Drake Passage five times, Antje arrived back home in Cape Town last week – physically rather than mentally, though. Now she continues her research on the foraging strategies and energetic requirements of the African Penguin in the Western Cape.