Last Full Day at AKR and RIMS

Only half of our team remains for data collection and surface observations.

The data collection today was much better than yesterday … we could actually see the dolphins under water. They mostly ignored my and the camera, although Gracie has decided that the extra length of ribbing from my weight belt is fun to tug on now and then with a quick swim by underneath me. The first time she did this, I was a tad bit startled, but the 2nd and 3rd times, I figured it was her having fun.
We have had a very successful field season, albeit a bit shorter than most for our usual time in the field. We are only at RIMS for 9 days but collected about 10 hours of video and stereo audio data, 3 hours of surface audio data with an omni-directional hydrophone, 4 Mosart tag trials and another set of photo-identification photographs from the dolphins when being fed or working with their trainers. We will be busy this fall and winter while analyzing the data.
We had a good week, plus, indeed.
Cheers
Kathleen