Tag: older content

Social dolphins that include Kathleen in their group, so to speak. It doesn't get much better than what today offered in terms of dolphins, dolphin behavior and data gathered. All factors came together to facilitate mucho observations. We used the research boat with Kogi, Hasegawa and me only. Kogi and Hasegawa were making only surface observations while I was recording dolphins underwater (when possible). Yes, I was the only underwater observer for the entire trip. This is a first for my time studying the dolphins around Mikura.

Joana & Robin return to Mississippi via Tokyo. This was Joana and Robin's first trip to Japan, and Mikura Island. It was their first trip to observe and swim with wild dolphins. They got a firsthand idea of what field work requires and how unpredictable dolphins can be in their behavior and actions. Dolphins and their interactions and behavior and communication are always, however, fascinating. Later this year, in the fall, we will post summaries of the research planned by Joana and Robin. The ferry left today in the early afternoon.

40 minutes of video of playful and socializing dolphins. We waited at the port for a few minutes after a rain squall and watched the clouds leave and the sun arrive. This signaled our departure. It foreshadowed an awesome day. We had MANY dolphins — there were more than 60 dolphins in a large & spread out group. We routinely saw between 5 to 30 dolphins underwater. A large range, but that is what we saw. We saw several mom/calf pairs. Most of the juveniles were in the mood to play.

More than 35 minutes of video, and 35 min of click detector data! We had awesome weather — swells less than 0.5 m, light breeze (WSW), sunny skies and warm (relatively) water (20 degrees C). We saw several dolphins from last year. It is always nice to see that the calves from last year are still around and full of 'vim and vigor'. They swim circles around us and I often have to stop and be sure I still know where the sea surface is for when I need air.

A day in port to work on data … We had a good day Friday and had expected to be out on the water today. But, more than 60 tourists (known as guests or 'okyakusan' here in Japan) came to Mikura. Thus, the boats were full. But, Robin, Joana and I were able to catch up on some research review — the videotapes, scientific papers that needed to be read. We also spent a bit of time at the port viewing dolphins as they slowly swam past the two piers.

And, we had a 20 minute encounter (swim) with 2 subadult males. We had risen early to go meet the ferry which carried 12 research team members. They are here for the weekend training for their work during July and August when the Kenkyukai continue their data collection on the identifications of the dolphins around Mikura. Yoshinori (a senchoo) offered us a ride with his two guests. For the first 20 minutes we saw nothing except the island and the water. The first group was traveling but our second group hung out for a while.

A rainy and foggy day – good for catching up on data processing. So, we stayed in port today and worked on past data and confirmed entries from this year so far. Robin and I also worked with Mai-chan and Masaki-san on confirming several attendant dolphin identifications for an observation made last year. Mai and a few other MIK members observed a dead sub-adult bottlenose dolphins off Nango. There were several sub-adult and adult males and one adult female dolphin all around the dead body.

Two female dolphins very inquisitive and playful. Today was a great day on the water. We left the pier at 8:40 AM and began a counter clockwise course around Mikura. We sighted dolphins 3 minutes out of the port. They were resting and we barely saw them on one entry. So we continued on. Our next group was similar – rest & travel and not interested in swimmers. We continued on after one entry. All that changed with our third sighting and the group of dolphins by Otaura, the south side of Mikura.

We were one of the only boats out today. Kogi stopped by this morning to tell us that Souji had space on his boat. We got to the port at 8:10 am – about 30 minutes early, but it was nice to watch the sea and activity at the pier. The wind was about 12-15 knots from the West and the sea was choppy but not too bad. There was only once guest so all three of us joined the trip. The first group of dolphins did not really want to 'play'.

Today was spent reviewing tapes and reading reports and other research papers. The weather and rough seas kept us in port today. But, it was a productive day for updating journals and reviewing 2001 identification information from the Mikura Iruka Kyoukai (& Kenkyukai) with the data from DCP. A few more hours of comparison should have our records synched. It was also nice to be able to review a few sections for two papers that we (MIK members and me) are writing. We hope to submit them to a science journal in July.