So video logs it is!
Although there was a dolphin trip scheduled for today, it was shifted until tomorrow to accommodate more passengers. So, we took the opportunity to do video logs until our eyeballs were about to fall right out of our heads! We are officially through Tape 4 and nearly through Tape 5. That leaves us Tape 6 and Tape 7, which is currently in the camera.
Video logs that are done here in the field are the most preliminary type. That is, no specific research project is being analyzed. Rather, we go through each tape and identify which dolphins are in each frame, making general notes of behaviors. When it is a small group of well-known dolphins, the video logs can go quite quickly (I think our record is just under 3 hours for 1 hour of video). But, when it is a large group of lesser-known individuals it can take upwards of 6 hours for 1 hour of video. And sometimes, we make notes and need to return to a certain section of video on another day.
Looking forward to tomorrow’s dolphin trip!! Hopefully it will mean more video to log!
Until then,
Kel and Darcie