Thursday, May 19, 2016

___________ SOUTHERN SOJOURN (7) #Royalcam live stream ____________


I am jumping ahead here a little on my Southern Sojourn story. I was prompted to do this post by a news item on last nights TV One News. This is  24 / 7 'Live Cam' coverage of a Royal Albatross chick (and from time to time its parents) on Tiaroa Head at the entrance to Dunedin Harbour. To date it is not known whether it is a boy or a girl Albatross.

What you are seeing in the live cam shots is the harbour stretching inland in a south westerly direction towards Dunedin city in the distance. If you turned the 'Live Cam' 180 degrees in the opposite direction you would be looking eastwards to the seaward side of the headland and the Pacific Ocean.

I was in Dunedin 5 weeks ago and shot this photograph (below) of Tiaroa Headland from the seaward side. The Albatross chick is sited to the left of Tiaroa Head Lighthouse.

If you would like to officially name this Royal Albatross you can enter a competition to do so here: http://www.doc.govt.nz/namethechick If you win you get to fly to Dunedin to see the growing chick.

If you enter the competition remember you can't name the big bird ' (Sir / Dame) Alby Fleetwing Pelagic' as I have entered this name myself:

Sir / Dame ? - Alby is of course a 'Royal' Albatross - having a Knighthood and a Royal Warrant from her majesty to fly in the Southern Ocean as a Royal Albatross.... but Alby is definitely not a member of the Royal family.

Alby? - Short for Albatross (You knew that of course).

Fleetwing? - Two reasons. 1 - An Albatross is very fleet of wing i.e fast and nimble when flying. 2 - The word 'Fleet' makes a passing reference to the wonderful music of the band Fleetwood Mac and their great guitar work 'Albatross'.

Pelagic? - An Albatross is a 'Pelagic' bird. Apart from times of breeding and raising chicks, it lives and has its being in the open sea.

FLEETWOOD MAC - ALBATROSS

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