Tag: older content

Many visitors, guests fill the boats. So far this season, from my first boat trip on 18 May til Friday, I have recorded 12 videotapes of 30 minutes each – 6 hours of video data. I have about the same amount of time recorded with the ECD, echolocation click detector. And, Mai-chan and I have reviewed four of those tapes to confirm ID's of dolphins were have observed. Confirming ID's is the first step when analyzing the data. We have to know who we are watching and observing before it can begin to mean much.

On and in the water again today. But, we saw dolphins and they played a bit with us.

Sometimes marginal weather can be welcome. A day in port allows my body to regain some energy and allows my mind to focus on the data already gathered this week. I like to review the video records and add any thoughts or comments to the data sheets when the swim observations are still fresh in my mind. This helps me remember the interactions and observations when I again review the video later in the fall and winter months. I mentioned light meter measures in yesterday's posting to this site.

Always a lucky number … and today proved no exception. Again, today we traveled only to Subarune, not even that far clock-wise around Mikura Island. We spent the two hour trip with about 40 plus dolphins … not all at once, mind you. The dolphins had other things on their minds today. Today, they were socializing and playing and otherwise engaged in smaller sub-groups of about 4-8 individuals per sub-group. Luckily, the water was warm today (~24°C) because we spent most of the trip in the water. I still managed to record about 20 minutes of video.

LOTS of video – ~50 minutes. The morning trip brought us traveling all the way around Mikura and observing more than 60 different individual dolphins. A few groups were resting and we chose not to spend too much time with them. We did see a group of sub-adult males that seemed to be heading somewhere important. One or two of their group (~12) made a few passes to check out the split-finned creatures (us) but mostly kept on their way. We observed a few mother/calf pairs in the last group observed on the morning trip.

Got back out to sea today and under it. The morning was spent preparing gear … last minute checks and being sure the batteries are charged or fresh. And, reviewing ID sketches from previous trips. I was thrilled at the prospect of getting back in and on the water after ~4 days of no data collection. And the dolphins seemed to welcome us all. There were 7 passengers and two other researchers besides me on this trip. We saw a few mother/calf pairs and some juveniles.

More 'deskwork' and video ID's The more ID's that I can confirm here on Mikura will make working on the videotapes and analyzing the behavior and sounds that much easier … well, so to speak. If the ID's are done prior to returning to my office/lab, then we can focus on the behavior and sound analyses from the start. That is the interesting portion of the data analyses. Not too much else to add for today. Hopefully the weather will improve tomorrow and we can go out on the water.

Many guests, however, keep me on shore. … with fewer guests there are less people in the water during data collection. Still, I meet some of the boats in the afternoon to see how the trips were. Some saw lots of dolphins and had so-so swims while others had longer observations but the dolphins were not really interested in people. Only a few folks felt seasick and everyone had fun watching the dolphins.

Another day spent at 'deskwork' Last weekend and this weekend, about 12 volunteers for the Kenkyuukai visited Mikura, and stayed in the research house (where I stay). A full house is one description. These folks are all friendly and all learning the ropes for volunteering for the summer research program. The weekends are their orientation to the data collection and to meeting the senchoo and other folks related to teh research group. The folks also learn how to work and live together.

The Kuroshio-maru comes today bringing fressh veggies and fruit. It seemed that everyone around today needed a day of rejuvenation. None of the researchers went out on the water today. And as the afternoon progressed, coppy seas appeared and the wind picked up. Grey skies added to the dour feel of the day. All this made for a good day to catch up on some reading and data review. And, yes, I must admit a brief nap. The dolphins seem much more habituated and tolerant to the swimmers this year.