So, last summer I went through both of our Bimini photo-ID catalogs and pulled aside all pictures of injured or clearly scarred dolphins. This pile isn’t tremendously large, but there are 6 or 7 good photographs. Today I finally got the chance to share these with the researchers on South Bimini, at the South Bimini Biological Station, aka Shark Lab. We put our bicycles on the ferry that runs between North & South Bimini and when we pedaled up to Shark Lab, we were greeted by “Bullet” a very endearing young pit-bull.
Category: Bimini 2007
Writing.
In between sorting photos, I’ve also been trying to get lots of reading done. I brought a pile of scientific papers down with me; I’ve made some headway, but it seems for every paper I get through, I find a newly published one that needs to go into the pile! I’ve also been continuing to work on the stranding response plan document. Our hope is that I spend lots of time on it & we never need to use it.
Data entry
I’ve spent the last couple of days entering data sheets from the boat trips I’ve had & going over picture after picture after picture after picture…. And the only pictures I have are surface shots of bottlenose dolphins, but there are still so may! To think that in the summer we usually have underwater still photos too… I got photos of at least 4 “new” bottlenose dolphins, so we now have 19 individuals in our bottlenose photo-ID catalog.
Doesn
Well folks, today makes this experimental winter season worth it! It was a great day. Just like the other three trips, the day started with bottlenose dolphins & I was able to get some good dorsal fin photographs for identification purposes. Then we saw more bottlenose, but this small group was more evasive. Then came the spotteds! It was a group of mothers & calves. And we were able to get in the water. They were very curious & the water clarity was okay considering how much wind there has been lately.
A fantastic day
Ah. Now I remember what those Atlantic spotted dolphins look like! We had a great day on the boat; bottlenose followed by more bottlenose and then surprise, while we were watching the bottlenose, spotteds appeared! The two did not appear to be interacting, but the group of three spotteds did allow us to observe them in the water for a few minutes. All three were adults, including female Niecey (#48), an unidentified male and another unidentified animal. I’ll have to see what else I can determine from the video.
Calm weather
Well folks, looks like the winds are going to die down over the next couple of days. YAY! Boat time, here I come! Until then,
Fire Ants
This report is so ridiculous that I’ll keep it short. The fire ants have attacked again. And I made the mistake of not checking my shorts! Needless to say, my hip and surrounding area are completely devoured. Ouch! We did find one potential source of the ferocious creatures. The pelican case for the Top Dawg camera system sits just far enough off the floor for one of the island’s friendly lizards to hide beneath. He thought he was safe. But, he was not safe from those fire ants!
A more promising forecast
The winds are still strong, but my ant bite infection is better & the forecast is much more promising for the weekend. So, I’ve been spending my free time walking on the beach and my work time going through digital photographs that still need to be ID’d. My other big project is to lay out a “stranding response plan,” which will be available should a dolphin stranding event occur in the future.
The ants appear to be gone, but
Well, the last time I posted, I was pleased to walk away from my ant encounter with only one bite. But, man, what a bite it was! I’ve now got a sore, red, swollen ankle. It doesn’t appear to be getting worse, so now there’s just a pen mark around it & I’m watching it carefully. On the dolphin front, it looks like these field reports will be quiet for the next week or so. The winds have picked up to between 15 – 20 knots.
Fire ants are not my friends
Well, I have to admit, I did not get much work done today. Last night I took my pajamas out of my suitcase and there were three fire ants on them. It was late, dark outside & I was tired, so I squished those ants & went to bed. Flash forward to this morning. We decide it was best to take my bag outside & sort out the ant situation. Good thing we did! It was absolutely covered with fire ants!! They were in ALL of my clothes & all over my bag.
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