Saturday, March 25, 2017

Nautnes 24 March 2017 - Another day at the office / dipping

Wet and windy much of the day.

The weather was of little or no relevance as I spent most of the day glued to either my laptop or my phone.

However, my office paid off and the following pictures may go some way to why I occasionally sound distracted or ask colleagues to repeat themselves. So, I am sat writing some software that will do some QC on pipetracker data and present the results in the way the client wants...and the phone rings.

Otter disposing of a large flatfish with Hooded Crows kråke in attendance

Some videos:




This last video may be the best one in many ways

When the phone rings I walk away from the computer (so I won'y be distracted by the code on my screen) to talk about the detection of magnetic field anomalies around single core HVDC cables. I look out of the window and see an Otter coming ashore with Hooded Crows kråke in attendance. Get point and pray, keep on discussing the merits and potential flaws of a well known cable tracking device, start filming. End phone call, end filming and go back to work on the code.

I glance out later to see Great Black-backed Gulls svartbak have taken over from the Hoodies and the Otter has had enough and left for some peace and quiet. But the phone isn't ringing so I keep on at the software, stopping only to answer a few other emails that drop in.

Target acquired

Lock on target

Ignoring ray bending issues and their potential causes

The gulls may have chased the Otter off but are now hopelessly outgunned.
All the still images here were taken with my "proper" camera


Go back inside and continue work. Another call comes in, this time about how ray-bending of sound velocity may go wrong (or was it a transceiver card that got too warm). Enter White-tailed Eagle havørn, exit gulls. And the remains of the flatty. Back inside and finish the software. In other words atypical day at the office.

No wonder I don't want to go to the proper office in town....

Of interest are the cuts on the Otter's tail (easily seen on the videos) - I repeatedly saw the crows pecking the Otter's tail - no doubt in an attempt to get it to move and leave bits of fish behind. I wonder if the Crows have in fact caused these sores....

There was also some very real birding excitement in the evening. I was just about to make dinner when I was sent an MMS depicting a large white heron at Husvatnet. I was on site less than five minutes later but the bird had flown to the north just before I arrived. An almost identical repeat of last year's record of Great Egret egretthegre (the most likely candidate - only other thing could have been an albino Grey Heron gråhegre)

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