Another great day of data collection and the sun decided to
grace us with her presence! Of course, this meant the sunblock was in copious
distribution! I was able to conduct two observation sessions today – one in the
early morning and one in the afternoon. I was pleasantly surprised by decent
underwater visibility for the afternoon session. Usually the silt is in large
supply but today it was not too bad … the changing tide might have helped on
that front.
The dolphins were mostly interacting with each other, and
not inquisitive of me. The morning session had Ronnie checking out my fins more
than I’d have liked, but I was able to focus on the dolphins not watching Ronnie
to get some good data of their exchanged behaviors. I also was able to glimpse
Carmella with Ellie, Alita with Lenca and Gracie with Tilly. These calves are
between 1 – 2 years old, but it was cool to see them with their moms, as
opposed to just playing with each other.
I make an effort to enter and exit the water from the same
platform for each session. I turn the cameras on before I enter the water and
turn them off just before I hand the camera up to someone on the platform, or
slide it up there myself. The picture I am sharing is from the entry of a
session today. The dolphins are sometimes not nearby and sometimes all over me
and so I have to slip in between them!
I’m hoping that tomorrow brings me more treats than tricks!
Cheers
Kathleen and the DCP RIMS 2013 team