Abstract:
An occupancy survey of Adelie penguin breeding distribution to the west of Mawson was carried out in 2007/08. General details of the occupancy surveys are given in the overall metadata record. Details specific to this occupancy survey campaign are given below.
The survey covered 448 sites of potential breeding habitat in the following subgroups from the site GIS for Adelie penguin potential
... breeding habitat:
COL_SG_01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06 and 07
LOW_SG_01, 02, 03 and 04
STA_SG_01, 02 and 03
STI_SG_01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07 and 08
A search was made from a helicopter on 23 November 2007 along the stretch of coast from Low Tongue to the Taylor Glacier at altitude 1500 m. Rhonda Pike observed. On 7 March 2008 a second helicopter flight was made to cover islands not searched in the first flight, and in addition to search the coast along and off the Stillwell Hills. Rhonda Pike and David Wilson observed. Because breeding penguins would have left their breeding sites at this time of year, they recorded whether guano was present or absent at each island. The islands in Stillwell subgroup 4 (STI_SG_04) were not searched because presence-absence data was available from previous ground searches by Jacqui Halpin (geologist) in 2002/03. Site COL_SG_02/71469 wasn't searched due to logistic difficulties.
The data file has the following fields:
SubgroupID: identifying code for the map on which the site occurs, obtained from the site GIS
SiteID: identifying code for the site from the site GIS
SiteName: site name, if one exists
Day: day of search
Month: month of search
Year: year of search
Occupancy: P for present, A for absent
Feature observed: P for penguins, G for guano
The latitude and longitude of each site can be obtained from the 'Sites' file in the parent metadata record for occupancy surveys.
The results of the occupancy survey are published in Wilson et al (2009). 
