Oblique photography surveys and counts of black-browed and grey-headed albatrosses in a subset of colonies across South Georgia during the 2023/2024 season
GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/02056
Abstract:
This dataset comprises oblique photographic surveys and derived counts of albatrosses in colonies across South Georgia during the 2023/2024 season (austral summer). This dataset includes stitched images of sites surveyed, as well as derived counts of black-browed and grey-headed albatrosses during their breeding season. Counts are assigned to their respective colonies within larger sites.
Surveys were conducted as part of an all-island albatross survey carried out every 10 years to monitor albatross trends across South Georgia. Flights were conducted by personnel at BAS and supported by the MV SG Pharos. This project was funded by the following: Friends of South Georgia Island, South Georgia Heritage Trust, Antarctic Research Trust, Peter Smith Charitable Trust for Nature, UK Blue Belt Programme.
Citation:
Mackley, E., Manthorpe, S.J., & Phillips, R.A. (2025). Oblique photography surveys and counts of black-browed and grey-headed albatrosses in a subset of colonies across South Georgia during the 2023/2024 season (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/3f71209a-33d5-4d48-8899-d8a6d8d295e6
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License
| Access: | No restrictions apply |
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| Use: | Data supplied under Open Government Licence v3.0 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/. |
Basic Information
| Creation Date: | 2025-05-03 |
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| Dataset Progress: | Planned |
| Dataset Language: | English |
| ISO Topic Categories: |
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| Parameters: |
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Additional Information
| Reference: | Mackley EK, Poncet S, Black A, Black J, Floyd K, Hall RM, Holmes EE, Manthorpe SJ, Passfield K, Bennison A, Phillips RA (2025) Endurance or extinction: long-term declines in albatrosses at South Georgia highlight threats from South Atlantic fisheries and climate change. Endang Species Res 57:437-451 https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01427 Poncet S, Robertson G, Phillips RA, Lawton K, Phalan B, Trathan PN, Croxall JP (2006) Status and distribution of wandering, black-browed and grey-headed albatrosses breeding at South Georgia. Polar Biol 29:772-781 Poncet S, Wolfaardt AC, Black A, Browning S, Lawton K, Lee J, Passfield K, Strange G, Phillips RA (2017) Recent trends in numbers of wandering (Diomedea exulans), black-browed (Thalassarche melanophris) and grey-headed (T. chrysostoma) albatrosses breeding at South Georgia. Polar Biol 40:1347- 1358 |
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| Quality: | Diurnal correction factor: Counts were corrected for diurnal variation in attendance of non-breeding birds and failed breeders as in Poncet et al (2006, 2017), where 2-hour interval counts from selected colonies at Bird Island were used to standardise counts to 12:00h UTC. |
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| Lineage/Methodology: | Surveys: Oblique photographic surveys were carried out using a Nikon D610 camera with a Nikon 28-400mm f3.5-5.6 lens or a Sony A7II camera with Sony 24-105mm f4 and Sigma 100-400mm f5-6.3 lenses, between the hours of 6:00 and 20:00 local time, from 2023-11-21 to 2023-11-30. Photos were taken in RAW and jpeg formats at a minimum shutter speed of 1/2000 of a second and underexposed to retain highlight detail needed to separate species. Surveys were carried out on either the MV SG Pharos or a rigid inflatable boat (RIB) at a mean distance of 350m from the shore. Photo patterns were conducted in patterns of horizontally across and vertically from top to bottom/bottom to top. Stitching: Jpeg images were stitched using Microsoft Image Composite Editor and counted manually using DotDotGoose. Unstitched photographs were occasionally used to check for errors. Annotation: Albatrosses were recorded to species level or labelled unidentified when there was insufficient detail to categorise. Birds were counted twice, and for total counts the unidentified birds were assigned to a species based on the ratio of those identified in the colony. Birds were abbreviated like so: black-browed albatross = BBA and grey-headed albatross = GHA. |
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Extent
| Temporal Coverage: | |
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| Start Date | 2023-11-21 |
| End Date | 2023-11-30 |
| Spatial Coverage: | |
| Latitude | |
| Southernmost | -54.8234 |
| Northernmost | -53.9372 |
| Longitude | |
| Westernmost | -38.0779 |
| Easternmost | -35.7783 |
| Altitude | |
| Min Altitude | N/A |
| Max Altitude | N/A |
| Depth | |
| Min Depth | N/A |
| Max Depth | N/A |
| Location: | |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Bird Island, South Georgia |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Sorn & Bernt, South Georgia |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Cape North, South Georgia |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Jomfruene, South Georgia |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Welcome Islet, South Georgia |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Sheathbill Bay, South Georgia |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Sitka Bay, South Georgia |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Cape Buller, South Georgia |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Cape Wilson, South Georgia |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Cape Crewe, South Georgia |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Paryadin peninsula (north), South Georgia |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Paryadin peninsula (south), South Georgia |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Cooper Island, South Georgia |
Instrumentation
| Data Collection: | The following software was used in this dataset: Microsoft Image Composite Editor software (v 2.0.3; softonic 2024) DotDotGoose (v. 1.7.9; Ersts 2023) |
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Storage
| Distribution: | |
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| Distribution Media | N/A |
| Distribution Size | 51 GB |
| Distribution Format | JPEG |
| Fees | N/A |
| Distribution Media | N/A |
| Distribution Size | 73 KB |
| Distribution Format | ASCII |
| Fees | N/A |
| Data Storage: | This dataset comprises: Raw imagery for stitching in .jpeg Stitched images in .jpeg Summary and metadata file .csv |