San Diego County Cache Critters

[+Silver Horde]

Had a great hike in MTRP today. While logging a cache we saw three coyote playing in the grassland west of us. Simon managed to get a photo of one of them.

 

Happy New Year!!!

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

James..you can see ducks at Lindo Lake in Lakeside...now show us the exciting penguins.....we've been waiting patiently.

Sheesh...I had to wait years to see the penguins...patience...

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Oh, alright, here's a taster...

 

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Drake Passage (#1 in a series)

From latititude S 55 degrees to S 61 degrees, between Cape Horn and Antarctic penninsula, lies the Drake Passage. These are the only latitudes where the water goes all the way around the earth. Thus, the winds are high and the ocean swell is normally 20' or more. There are no caches here but neverthless there are still cache critters...

 

Black-browed Alabatross

 

 

Edited January 2, 2009 by Let's Look Over Thayer

[+jahoadi and john]

Oh, alright, here's a taster...

 

 

 

Thanks.....can't wait for more....what's the red stuff on the ground? Dead fish guts? penguin poop?

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Thanks.....can't wait for more....what's the red stuff on the ground? Dead fish guts? penguin poop?

How observant! Yes, that red stuff on the ground is penguin poop (the scientists refer to it as guano).

 

Penguin Fact:

You can tell what the penguins are eating by the color. Reddish-pink means that their diet is high in krill. If the poop is white, it means that they are eating fish and squid.

[+SD Rowdies]

Thanks.....can't wait for more....what's the red stuff on the ground? Dead fish guts? penguin poop?

How observant! Yes, that red stuff on the ground is penguin poop (the scientists refer to it as guano).

 

Penguin Fact:

You can tell what the penguins are eating by the color. Reddish-pink means that their diet is high in krill. If the poop is white, it means that they are eating fish and squid.

No wonder I don't like to eat fish.

Edited January 2, 2009 by SD Rowdies

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Tierra del Fuego (#4 in a series)

 

Caracara, Ushuaia, Argentina

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Tierra del Fuego (#5 in a series)

 

Unidentified Bird, Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Drake Passage (#2 in a series)

 

Wandering Alabatross

Edited January 2, 2009 by Let's Look Over Thayer

[+jahoadi and john]

Thanks.....can't wait for more....what's the red stuff on the ground? Dead fish guts? penguin poop?

How observant! Yes, that red stuff on the ground is penguin poop (the scientists refer to it as guano).

 

Penguin Fact:

You can tell what the penguins are eating by the color. Reddish-pink means that their diet is high in krill. If the poop is white, it means that they are eating fish and squid.

 

 

Ok...so now that you have me thinking...what is in krill that makes it so red? I guess I could Google it, but I bet you already know the answer

[+SD Rowdies]

Thanks.....can't wait for more....what's the red stuff on the ground? Dead fish guts? penguin poop?

How observant! Yes, that red stuff on the ground is penguin poop (the scientists refer to it as guano).

 

Penguin Fact:

You can tell what the penguins are eating by the color. Reddish-pink means that their diet is high in krill. If the poop is white, it means that they are eating fish and squid.

Ok...so now that you have me thinking...what is in krill that makes it so red? I guess I could Google it, but I bet you already know the answer

Must be them little beady, red eyes.

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Thanks.....can't wait for more....what's the red stuff on the ground? Dead fish guts? penguin poop?

How observant! Yes, that red stuff on the ground is penguin poop (the scientists refer to it as guano).

 

Penguin Fact:

You can tell what the penguins are eating by the color. Reddish-pink means that their diet is high in krill. If the poop is white, it means that they are eating fish and squid.

Ok...so now that you have me thinking...what is in krill that makes it so red? I guess I could Google it, but I bet you already know the answer

Must be them little beady, red eyes.

Harmon's answer is as good as anything I can think up. There's something in those krill that makes penguin poo pink but I don't know what it is...

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Drake Passage (#3 in a series)

 

Royal Alabatross

Edited January 3, 2009 by Let's Look Over Thayer

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

A short break from the far away cache critters. Here are some local cache critters, seal lions swimming and playing in the water and lounging on the rocks of Gold Fish Point. The cache du jour was High Above Divers Below

 

 

Edited January 3, 2009 by Let's Look Over Thayer

[+SD Rowdies]

Cache Critters of Drake Passage (#3 in a series)

 

Royal Alabatross

Sorry ...

 

 

Couldn't resist the detail in the water. Wouldn't you think that a

Royal Albatross would have a crown? Maybe the epulets make

up for it.

 

By the way, here's a link for more than you need to know about

penguin poop. Anything for you Jodie ... or John?

 

Penguin Poop Paper & Video

 

After viewiing the video I have a new theory about where the red

comes from in penguin poop. I mean, that's got t' hurt!

 

Now who's going to be the first local Geocacher to place a penguin

poop puzzle cache?

Edited January 3, 2009 by SD Rowdies

[+jahoadi and john]

Thanks.....can't wait for more....what's the red stuff on the ground? Dead fish guts? penguin poop?

How observant! Yes, that red stuff on the ground is penguin poop (the scientists refer to it as guano).

 

Penguin Fact:

You can tell what the penguins are eating by the color. Reddish-pink means that their diet is high in krill. If the poop is white, it means that they are eating fish and squid.

Ok...so now that you have me thinking...what is in krill that makes it so red? I guess I could Google it, but I bet you already know the answer

Must be them little beady, red eyes.

Harmon's answer is as good as anything I can think up. There's something in those krill that makes penguin poo pink but I don't know what it is...

 

This is why they poop pink, but John sure was impressed by the penguin poop video...it has to be a "man" thing!

 

 

Frozen Antarctica krill....

Edited January 3, 2009 by jahoadi and john

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Thanks.....can't wait for more....what's the red stuff on the ground? Dead fish guts? penguin poop?

How observant! Yes, that red stuff on the ground is penguin poop (the scientists refer to it as guano).

 

Penguin Fact:

You can tell what the penguins are eating by the color. Reddish-pink means that their diet is high in krill. If the poop is white, it means that they are eating fish and squid.

Ok...so now that you have me thinking...what is in krill that makes it so red? I guess I could Google it, but I bet you already know the answer

Must be them little beady, red eyes.

Harmon's answer is as good as anything I can think up. There's something in those krill that makes penguin poo pink but I don't know what it is...

John sure was impressed by the penguin poop video...it has to be a "man" thing!

Roger that! One thing you learn quickly is not to be behind a penguin when it leans forward...

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

We went out to the desert today to look for lost puppies and we saw some strange and unexpected creatures...

 

 

 

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Drake Passage (#4 in a series)

 

Southern Giant Petrel

 

 

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Drake Passage (#5 in a series)

 

Cape Petrel

Cape Petrels are also known as Cape Pigeons, Pintado Petrels or mere Pintados (from the Spanish for "painted"). Theses birds are ship followers and we saw huge flocks them skimming the waves. It is amazing to watch them fly...

 

 

 

 

 

I have a short video clip of these birds flying. The videography isn't great (it's shot using a handheld camera from a ship rolling in heavy seas and 40 knot winds) but it does, at least capture a bit of the essence of way these birds play off of the waves...

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Tierra del Fuego (#5 in a series)

 

Chingolo (Spanish) / Rufous Collared Sparrow (English), Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

"Unidentified Bird" has been identified...

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Drake Passage (#6 in a series)

 

Southern Fulmar

A member of the petrel family, these birds are also ship-followers...

 

 

This one has an escort of Cape Petrels...

[+SD Rowdies]

Cache Critters of Drake Passage (#4 in a series)

 

Southern Giant Petrel

Still can't resist the detail in the water.

 

 

All that water and none to drink. It's time to start sorting out

humans that have high salt-tolerance, for a selective-breeding

program to develop humans that can survive on ocean water.

That would be much easier than trying to terraform and colonize

Mars.

 

Maybe that's what Josepjh Smith was trying to do over at the

Great Salt Lake. Who knew?

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

At long last...

 

Cache Critters of Antarctica (#1 in a series)

Caches in the Antarctic are few and far between. We did manage to log two of them, Penguin Post Office and Deception Island. The former is Virtual and the latter is an Earth Cache. There are a couple of physical caches at Rothera Station but we didn't get there. I have subsequently learned that Gary Samad had tried to place a cache at Palmer Station and at one of the Russion stations last January when he was down there. These were not approved by the reviewer (vacation cache rule) -- which is a pity since we visited Palmer Station and could have logged Gary's cache if only it had been approved.

 

Anyway, the following Cache Critter series will severely test the adage that you can never have too many pictures of penguins. These are from Aitcho Island. This island was named for the British Hydrographic Office ("H" "O")

 

Gentoo Penguins, Aitcho Island

 

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Antarctica (#2 in a series)

 

Chinstrap Penguins, Aitcho Island

 

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Antarctica (#3 in a series)

 

Ms. LLOT with Travelbug, Aitcho Island

OK, so it's not really a cache critter picture -- except that it does have Chinstrap and Gentoo Penguins in the background. This travel bug belongs to a Girl Scout Troop and it wanted to go to Antarctica. So we decided to take it along with us.

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Antarctica (#4 in a series)

 

Weddell Seal, Aitcho Island

And a few chinstrap penguins strategically placed to provide scale...

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Antarctica (#5 in a series)

 

Sheathbills, Aitcho Island

[+SD Rowdies]

Cache Critters of Antarctica (#5 in a series)

 

Sheathbills, Aitcho Island

Texture of rocky shoreline is amazing.

 

 

Makes my feet hurt just thinking about walking on those rocks.

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Antarctica (#6 in a series)

 

Adelie Penguins, Petermann Island, Antarctica

Petermann Island was the southern-most extent of our travels: S65° 10' I call these guys "The Three Amigos" because they always seemed to hang out together...

 

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Antarctica (#7 in a series)

 

More Gentoo Penguins, Petermann Island, Antarctica

 

This guy is hovering (or maybe he's in the act of hopping up onto this rock...)

 

 

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Antarctica (#8 in a series)

 

Minke Whales, near Port Lockroy, Antarctica

 

[+SD Rowdies]

Cache Critters of Antarctica (#7 in a series)

 

Gentoo Penguins, Petermann Island, Antarctica

 

This guy is hovering or maybe he's in the act of hopping up onto this rock ...

Nah!

 

 

Just another riprap find.

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Time out from the penguins for a local cache critter. I found this guy sitting on top of "Basil - 101 Dalmatians ". THere was just enough time to grab one quick picture before he ran off..

 

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Just another riprap find.

Could be worse... At least, it's not a rip-rap micro...

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

San Diego Sea Mammals (#1 in a series)

Today, Ms. LLOT and I went on a whale-watching cruise aboard the America (a replica of the schooner that originally won the 100 Guineas Cup (later to be renamed "The America's Cup). Technically, none of these are cache critters since we weren't caching at the time, but I hope you'll forgive the transgression.

 

California Sea Lions

 

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

San Diego Sea Mammals (#2 in a series)

 

White-sided Dolphin

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

San Diego Sea Mammals (#3 in a series)

More information about whale-watching with San Diego Maritime Museum can be found here.

 

California Gray Whale

 

 

 

 

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Antarctica (#9 in a series)

 

Southern Fullmar, Petermann Island, Antarctica

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Antarctica (#10 in a series)

 

Sixpack of Penguins (5 Gentoo, 1 Adelie), Petermann Island, Antarctica

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Antarctica (#11 in a series)

 

Blue-Eyed Shags, Port Lockroy, Antarctica

Shags are cormorants. Apparently, "shag" refers to the crests. Some cormorants have crests and some don't. So when the British sailors went all over the world, the cormorants with crests were referred to as shags and the ones without were referred to as cormorants. Or at least that's the story. It doesn't explain why the double-crested cormorant (which is a local cache critter previously featured on this thread) is not called a "double shag"...

 

 

 

 

Edited January 12, 2009 by Let's Look Over Thayer

[+SD Rowdies]

Cache Critters of Antarctica (#11 in a series)

 

Blue-Eyed Shags, Port Lockroy, Antarctica

Shags are cormorants. Apparently, "shag" refers to the crests. Some cormorants have crests and some don't. So when the British sailors went all over the world, the cormorants with crests were referred to as shags and the ones without were referred to as cormorants. Or at least that's the story. It doesn't explain why the double-crested cormorant (which is a local cache critter previously featured on this thread) is not called a "double shag"...

 

 

 

 

So here's my shaggy-bird story.

 

Once upon a time Sandy and I bought a place in Alpine that was

decorated back in the seventies; you know, with that horrid wall-to-

wall gold-and green shag carpet and matching gold swag lamp for

starters.

 

Sandy had never experienced country life so we built an nice chicken

coop inside the barn and brought in a Cochin rooster and hen and

named them Bud and Blossom. Turned out that Bud was attracted to

the shag carpet and would dash through the sliding door at any oppor-

tunity to scratch and peck in it.

 

Once we advanced through early redecorating we were delighted to

replace that horrible shag carpet. In the process I used a large piece

of the shag to completely carpet Bud and Blossom's chicken coop, and

hung the matching 70's style swag lamp in the coop as well. Bud and

Blossom were happy ever after and so produced several little Cochin

chicks all named for flowers including Dahlia, Buttercup, Violet, Aster,

and more.

 

Bud also like peach ice cream. On our patio he would perch on my knee

and take one peck at a time from his own little cone.* After taking each

peck of ice cream he would violently shake his head back and forth

as if to relieve the pain of an ice-cream headache.

 

So there y' go ... a shaggy Cochin story.

 

* This episode of my life was after I had knees. Way back when

I was a boy nobody had knees. If we wanted to crawl through or under

something we just flopped down and skittered along on our fangers and

toes. That's where th' sayin' came from "Let your fangers do the walkin'."

Edited January 13, 2009 by SD Rowdies

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Antarctica (#12 in a series)

 

Weddell Seal, Petermann Island, Antarctica

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Antarctica (#13 in a series)

 

More Penguins (All Gentoos this time...), Petermann Island, Antarctica

 

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Antarctica (#14 in a series)

 

Still More Penguins, Port Lockroy, Antarctica

Port Lockroy is the location of Penguin Post Office (GCG66W). It is the world's most southern Post Office and, in that regard, is a vestige of the UK's territorial claims on Antarctica. We spent a fortune on post cards and postage there (fortunately, they take Visa...). Everything mailed here is picked up by any ship that is travelling to Stanley in the Falkland Islands. From there, it is flown to the UK where delivery is then handled by the Royal Mail. Delivery time is usually about four weeks...

 

The penguins have adapted to the human presence here and actually seem to prefer nesting close to the buildings because it deters the skuas from taking eggs and chicks...

The person greeting us at the door in this photo is Laura, who we introduced to the sport of geocaching while we were there.

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Antarctica (#15 in a series)

 

Even More Penguins, Lemaire Channel, Antarctica

There are those who say that penguins can't fly. Here's some evidence to the contrary...

 

 

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Antarctica (#16 in a series)

 

Leopard Seal, Neumayer Channel, Antarctica

 

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Antarctica (#17 in a series)

 

Minke Whales, Neumayer Channel, Antarctica

[+Let's Look Over Thayer]

Cache Critters of Antarctica (#18 in a series)

 

Skua, Neko Harbor, Antarctica

Skuas are predators and among their favorite foods are penguin chicks and penguin eggs. The roof that the skua is sitting on is an emergency hut placed by the Argentine Antarctic Program.