Marine Mammal Medic Course

Hey Team!

So last weekend a bunch of my friends and I took the Marine Mammal Medic Course with British Divers Marine Life Rescue. They are an organization for the UK and Ireland that are basically strandings response. If a seal, dolphin, porpoise or whale wash up on the beaches of Britain, you call their hotline and they send people (now) like me out to (hopefully) save them. They have an extensive volunteer web complete with locals, scientists and marine vets who all just want to lend a hand when they can.

Now, once I leave the UK I won't really be able to be part of their volunteer base. But I took the course to get stranding training, because every little bit helps. I have a basic understanding of what to do for a stranding and what is needed, which will look much better compared to someone who has no idea where to even start off.

Every country, province, state, county, what have you, will have a different way of responding to strandings based on resource availability. But knowing something, anything, is better than knowing nothing.

It was a one day course. the first half was lectures - how to identify marine mammals, and the theory for a seal, dolphin, small whale and porpoise rescues.

Lectures on Strandings

What to do with a mass stranding (more than one individual)

After lunch was the fun part - we got to practice a seal, dolphin and pilot whale stranding! Now obviously we couldn't use real animals, but the inflatable versions were just as fun!

With seals, like most injured animals, they can get mean and defensive. The main thing is to keep control of the head so you don't get bitten and diseased. True story. Control the head while you check vitals and injuries, then either put it back in the water or crate it and take it to the closest rehab centre.

Throw a towel over it's head to keep it calm and to keep control

Dolphins need their skins kept wet and cool - so make sure to keep wet sheets on them constantly. Check for injuries and make sure a vet takes a look while you monitor vital signs. If the vet gives it the okay, haul it back into the water, and release it when it has the energy to go!

Taking the dolphin back into the water (Photo courtesy of James Bailey)

Small whales (but larger than dolphins) need to be refloated using pontoons - because you try carrying a two tonne animal. Keep them wet and cool, check vitals, get a vet to give the okay, then inflate pontoons around them and release them back when they're ready!

Stabilizing the whale for the vet's inspection and refloatation (Photo courtesy of James Bailey)

setting up the pontoons for refloatation (Photo courtesy of James Bailey)

Obviously this is a watered down version of instructions, but I think it gives you an idea.

"Baywatching" out of the water (Photo courtesy of James Bailey)

If you have the opportunity to take a strandings course, I recommend it. You never know what kind of situation you'll find yourself in working with marine mammals, so it's best to be prepared. Plus it looks great on a CV, and there seem to be quite a few strandings jobs open at any given moment.

It was a fun day with good weather and good friends. I'm so lucky I had this opportunity here in Wales.

Research volunteers turned marine mammal medics!

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300 Photo Encounters!

Hey Team!

Today we here at the Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre and the ShoreFin team (A.K.A. my boss and I) have photographed dolphins 300 times!

It's a pretty big deal - last year they didn't even break 100. Not every encounter had good photos (I blame myself) and not all of them were from land - but 300 is a lot for the first official year of the project!

And of those I have my fingerprints on 117 - I'm delighted!

Here's to many more before I have to leave.

In celebration, here are photos of dolphins.

 

 

 

Check out more on facebook!

 

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Dolphins from the Water

Hey Team!

So after MONTHS of being grounded, I was finally back on the water last Tuesday! I know how it sounds, but it felt so nice being back on unstable ground.

Myself and most of the other volunteers took the day to go on an 8-hour boat trip down the Welsh coast.

It was a beautiful day. A little windy, but it gave the trip character. It also made dolphin spotting difficult.

So when the volunteers take data on a boat survey, they have to keep track of the boat track, weather conditions and of course any marine mammal sightings they might see.

It's a lot of work! I did it for about an hour and a half and man, just trying to tell if the boat sped up, slowed down, moved left or right enough to change it's track, it's stressful! The others who have a lot more experience with it than I do told me I was over thinking it, but you don't want data to be wrong!

When I wasn't worrying over data, I was either just enjoying the boat trip or sitting up high in the "crow's nest" trying to spot dolphins.

Not an easy task. I hate trying to spot dolphins in a fast moving boat. I mean, they're moving, you're moving - how can you look everywhere? What if they pop up just after you've scanned a section? Now that section is behind you, and you're looking forward.

So much to think about! I'm the worst dolphin spotter off of boats, although no one was really seeing much. I think the dolphins I did see were a fluke (pardon the pun) or someone else saw them first, I was just louder. I have no confidence in my dolphin spotting abilities.

Probably not the best thing to admit to the world, but this blog is supposed to be honest, and it's a weak spot in my skills that I'm trying to work on.

Anyways, when we did finally see dolphins, see dolphins we did! We had no fewer than 6 dolphins around our boat each time we did see them, and did they put on a show! Splashing, leaping, bow riding. They came so close to the boat you could see them swimming underwater! So many dolphin faces!

Everyone else on the boat was oohing and ahhing, - and I'll admit I had a"wow" moment when three of them leaped out simultaneously - but I was focused on taking decent photo-ID shots. Between myself, one of the more experienced passengers, and my two bosses we walked away with a hefty amount of photos for me to sift through and see who we know was around. A couple individuals were pretty obvious - 367, 032 - but some are complete mysteries! Makes the day even more exciting!

Dolphin leaping off the Welsh Coast

There were some interesting birds out and about, or so I'm told. I wish I could muster up more emotion about birds, but I seem only to be interested in penguins at the most. Oh, and we saw a little seal pup on our way back to port!

Right before a tail slap

So it was a good day. The wind went wild in my hair, I was in 4 layers of clothes, my bare feet were freezing, my pant legs soaked, but it's exactly what I needed. Utter perfection.

Speak Loud!

Museum in Review: Oxford University Natural History Museum

Hey Team!

Two weekends ago I had the pleasure of visiting Oxford, England for a short afternoon. I was dashing around the city trying to take in the sights, but one thing I couldn't rush was my visit to their Natural History Museum.

The Oxford University Natural History Museum

Now, I think I have an obligation to visit every NHM I can in every city that I visit. I've been to a few already, and rarely am I disappointed. Oxford was no exception. Even with some infamous museums within it's radius (see the National NHM in London), the Oxford museum definitely held it's own.

And goodness, did it feel British! As modern as it is, between the building itself and their setup, it might have been the 1800s still - lots of glass cases and labels, and some of the specimens have been on display since it opened!

Oxford as a university has been around since before 1100 A.D. So it's been there for a while. And during its reign it has educated or played home to some of the greatest minds in history. Especially for natural sciences.

So it comes to no surprise that The NHM has quite a few nods of appreciation to quite a few of these gentlemen. One of the most noted being Charles Darwin, who's Origin of Species was greatly debated in 1860. They had an excellent and informative display about evolution and Darwin's theories, as well as some fun facts about the man himself - everything a budding biologist would want to read and hear on a trip to a museum!

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Some other fun things I saw and read at the museum:

Dodo

They have a stuffed dodo and it's skeleton on display the museum. This was my first dodo! They really are ridiculous looking birds - how depressing that they are extinct! I feel like the dodo display has been around since forever, but it would have been nice to see more about modern examples of extinction.

Dodo! Skeleton, cast of legs, and taxidermy specimen

Dinosaurs

I know you don't have to travel all the way to England to see a T-Rex skeleton, but while you're here, you should come check it out! And who knew that so many dinosaur fossils and bones have been found in England? I didn't, until I came to the museum!

T-Rex! Roar!

Marine Mammal Skeletons

Okay, so obviously I just love these, but they have a bunch of skeletons in ascending size hanging above your head - they don't have room for the biggest of the big, but their collection is still impressive!

Marine mammal skeletons - from bottlenose dolphin up to minke whale

Alice in Wonderland

Did you know the Lewis Carroll was a deacon at a church in Oxford, and a student and Professor at the university? I didn't, until I came to Oxford. They are very proud of it, so much so there is a display at the NHM with all the animals mentioned in his various Alice and associated books.

The white rabbit in the corner is always late

Tactile Displays

Okay, sometimes I am so much a child at heart that the instant I see a "Do Not Touch" sign I have an intense need to touch it. I manage to control myself but man, does it hurt!

Not Anymore!

The Oxford NHM knows that kids and grown-up kids alike have this strange need to touch things. So along with all the objects behind glass and railings, they have some out on the floor that they actually ask you to touch! Dream come true! Probably some of them are casts or replicas, but the stones, some of the fossils and definitely the animals were 100% real and I touched them all! As someone who has worked in a museum I know how much touching things is very, very bad, so it's a major bonus when a museum has things out (that clearly aren't too valuable or can't get easily damaged) for the public to play with. I was as giddy as the 6 year old I was following behind, just touching it all.

That's me touching an ammonite fossil!

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Obviously this is just the tip of the iceberg. It's not an overwhelmingly large museum, but it has quite the collection. I know my reviews usually just focus on animals, and even then primarily mammals, but their plant, bird, insect and rock and mineral displays were equally impressive.

Insect display

If you are in Oxford and looking for a way to enjoy a few hours indoors (just after leaving I was caught in a flash storm - that would have been a good time to be inside!), I highly recommend the NHM. You'll see amazing specimens that have been on display for centuries right alongside recent discoveries. You'll learn a bit about England and a lot about the world. You'll see a museum at it's best and best of all, you'll see it for free!

So thank you Oxford University Natural History Museum, for a perfect finish to a perfect afternoon in Oxford.

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You can visit their website and get all details about the museum here

A New Twist on an Old Favourite

Hey Team!

So I have now spent almost three months in New Quay, Wales working on a new and exciting project with the Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre. How about a little backstory...

Let me take you back to March 2014. I received an email inviting me to interview for a project officer position for a new bottlenose dolphin photo-ID project. The tasks: get the project up and running, run it for the season, write reports and set it up solid for next year.

The interview went well. I have good experience with dolphin ID, done report writing for university, and I've used fancy cameras a couple times in the past.

Only problem? They needed me to start  in like two weeks. I didn't think I could pack up my entire life in Canada and move to Wales in two weeks. Also, the summer season was longer than the six months I'm allotted to be in the UK. They told me they'd get back to me.

Get back to me they did. They couldn't offer me the original position, due to all the time constraints crossing an ocean brings, but they were willing to make up an assistant position for the project, just for me! I couldn't say no.

Two months after that, two planes, 3 trains and a bus later, I was in Wales. It's been a helluva ride so far, and I am starting to actually get depressed that my time is almost up.

 

So what exactly are we up to here?

Well the project that I'm working on, ShoreFin, is a land-based dolphin photo-ID project. In New Quay, bottlenose dolphins very often come in close enough to shore that with a long enough lens, you can get ID quality photos without having the interact with them on the water. In the past the centre has only taken opportunistic photos from boat trips, but this year is the first year there are people completely dedicated to taking photos of dolphins from land.

The volunteers from the centre do shifts on an all-day survey for dolphins from the harbour wall in the village. When they see dolphins close enough to the wall, they call for either me or my boss over the walkie-talkie and we grab our big, expensive camera (seriously, the lens costs more than all my possessions combined) and we head down to meet them. Once there, we hope and pray and with a little luck we take a decent photo of a dolphin fin.

 

Then we take these photos into the office, write up some notes on the encounter, label everything and then the fun begins. Matching.

Now, I've talked about matching dolphins in an earlier post. Most dolphins, through social interactions, foraging mishaps and run-ins with humans, can get nicks, notches and cuts all up and down their dorsal fins. We use these imperfections as a fingerprint to identify one individual from another. Although their fins can change year to year, we manage to figure them out time to time.  Though the catalogue is much smaller and doesn't go back quite as far as the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, the monotony of matching still stands. And it will always make my eyes go cross-eyed. But this time there has been a much better chance of me actually matching dolphins.



This is the coolest part though - when I was in Florida, I was amazed that my supervisors could tell the individuals just from seeing them in the field, through the lens of their cameras. They were ID-ing individuals in the field, rarely ever needing to check. I was awed by their memories and abilities, and I completely believed I'd never be able to do such a thing.

Well, not that we have nearly as many regulars here as Sarasota does, but more often than not I can ID our 20 or so regulars in the field. A couple mom and calf pairs, some individuals that come in and out. Some we don't have numbers for (or maybe we do and we just haven't matched them yet), but their fins this year are recognizable. All I can say is that I am so surprised at myself for actually not needing photos on a computer to compare fins to. I know who these bad boys (and girls) are just by a close up in the camera lens.

Dreams do come true folks. And you can learn the skills you once thought only gods possessed.



This has been an amazing opportunity. For the first time I'm not just a standard intern. I have an official title (Assistant Project Officer doesn't sound too bad, does it?) and when my boss is on vacation, I am actually in charge of the project. It's been a chance to have so much more responsibility than I've had in a long time, and it can only get better from here. This has been so much more than your average internship, and it's an experience I'll never forget.

But it's not over yet! I have two more months to put my stamp all over this place!

One more dolphin pic, for good measure.















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Follow along with the centre at their facebook page here
Follow along with the ShoreFin project at their twitter here

I Live, I Promise!

Hey Team!

Wow, I am so, so sorry. I didn't realize it had been actually forever since I have lasted written. I knew from the get-go that I was not great at the whole blogging thing, but almost a year is completely ridiculous. Especially because this blog is supposed to be where we chat about all things marine-y (not a word).

From October to the end of May I was home on the prairies, dying to get back to a coast. I travelled a little, worked a lot, met new people and maintained a solid social life, but I was so far removed from biology that I wanted to claw my eyes out at times.

I got a little down, so I wasn't as keen to write. But that makes almost no sense. I got lazy. Them's the truth.

But I'm back now and I will try my best to keep this up better. I'll throw in some back posts to fill it in and go forward from here as best as possible. I'm back in the game full force and doing what I do best - researching animals that live in the ocean.

Everyone aboard!

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Third Time's the Charm!

Hey Team!

Another year down! I know this one was a little quieter - believe me, I'm as unimpressed as you were - but the point is to always push forward. I'm in the middle of an amazing opportunity and I'm loving and living life everyday.

May your year be filled with chances, as wide and deep as the ocean.

And whales. May it be filled with whales.

Are you ready for Year Four?

Speak Loud!