We finally had a break in the rain! It poured all last night! There was some thunder and wind thrown in and we woke to a gloomy looking sky and drizzles. But, the morning dried a bit and some blue sky showed through … enough so that we could collect data at about 12:30 for about 30 – 35 minutes! The visibility was ok in some spots and “silty” in others. Still, we saw several dolphins interacting, as you can see in this image from today of several dolphins circling in front of me and the MVA2!
At late morning, I and several of our crew (John, Chris K, GiGi, Chris R, Dave, Erin, Aly) met with the training staff to share with them a bit of the history of DCP and our research on the RIMS dolphins. I was reminded of just how many projects we have completed! Object play comparisons, vocal behavior associated with pectoral fin contact, calf associations with and without kin, use of neural networks to examine vocals, and more! It was exhilarating to share our videos and results with the trainers who work with the animals every day! They had some really good and different questions and I look forward to continuing our conversation(s).
The late afternoon brought us more dolphin ID clips (hurray for photographing Alita, French, Ritchie and Bill). Even though there was a bit of rain this evening (after dark), it is supposed to be drier and more sunny tomorrow … we will try another data collection session at about 6:15 AM tomorrow.
Cheers
Kathleen & the DCP 2016 October Eco-tour team