The underwater visibility was a bit more silty than yesterday and the cloud cover a bit thicker. Still, the dolphins were vocal and interactive. They were playful and rambunctious and spent much time
circling Kathleen as if they were sharks. Or at least their fins were suggestive of sharks. Fiona brought sea weed to everyone in another attempt to distract our team from the research. She had more than a human audience … a tern was tight-rope walking just under the dock, eyeballing the bait fish … and Fiona. Impishly, Fiona side-breached and splashed at the bird! It flew up and then returned to the rope. This went on several times, almost as if this was a secret game between Fiona and her Avian friend. Of course, their game almost startled the researchers from the dock into the water! We’ll be watching both dolphins AND birds tomorrow!
Class after dolphins focused on Ethology, Comparative Method use, and some definitions. The afternoon was focused on video review and dolphin IDs in our makeshift classroom in our room (due to heavy rain). A cold front with wind and rain came in and kept us indoors this afternoon. We practiced recognizing the individual dolphins based on scars on their bodies. (It seems the swirling dolphins on the video caused two students to get dizzy while watching … or maybe it was the second full day of class!)
Tomorrow’s schedule depends on the weather that greets us with the sun (assuming the clouds let the sun appear!).
Cheers
Kathleen, Amber, Amanda, Kristin, Sarah
PS: The photo above was taken during yesterday’s sunshine!