"A visit to St Croix Island, Algoa Bay, South Africa was made from 10-12 February to count nesting Jackass Penguins Spheniscus demersus. A count of a little over 5200 active nests was made, just over a quarter of the 19000 or so expected. In addition, c780 nests had been abandoned at the egg stage. As yet, we do not know the cause of abandonment or the comparatively low number of breeding penguins."--Philip Whittington <PWHIT@maths.uct.ac.za