Mamíferos Marinos

The past week felt like I ran a marathon. Up until Monday the pace had been pretty comfortable, but my work really got a jump start this week. In addition to Abram (the research fellow who I will be taking over for) arriving to help train me, Lorayne and Ed (the two directors of the station) came back to meet with everyone, as well as brought along Eduardo (a member of the Waterbird Monitoring advisory board who works in La Paz, Gulf of CA). I spent the week visiting field sites, absorbing all I possibly could from Abram, meeting with Lorayne, and having intense discussions with all involved parties about our current monitoring protocols, goals, and what needs to be revised, etc. The program is really intense for one person, but there are so many amazing opportunities to study various birds. I am currently coming up with a work plan for the year to organize what research will be happening when, my other responsibilities, etc. Eduardo was very generous with his time and would even like to collaborate on some research projects! One of them being banding Reddish Egrets, which would be really cool!

After such an intense week, the day out in the boat today was a much needed break. Most of the staff, in addition to some local students and NGO partners, took to the seas to look for marine animals. We filled the two station boats and headed west, past Isla Tiburón, and eventually circling the area around Isla San Esteban. The first creatures we came across were a pod of common dolphins. I had never seen so many of them at once, and there were many calves in the group. What was even more amazing was that when the boat was close enough, you could hear their calls coming from underwater! It was surreal. Next, I got to see a species I had never seen before, a ballena cachalote (sperm whale), which is the largest toothed animal in the world! After that, we headed to a small inlet beach area on San Esteban where we stopped for lunch and to snorkel. The water was amazingly clear. Not only could you see many species like manta rays, but the highlight was swimming with lobos marinos (sea lions)!

 

La Vista

I was recently given an amazing new camera lens as an early birthday gift. However, I have been terrified to take it outside for fear of breaking it (my track record of falling or hurting myself outside is pretty high). Hence, I haven’t posted any pictures of my local surroundings. Yesterday I finally got up the nerve to test out my new equipment. Here are some pictures of what I get to see every day, la vista (the view).

Expecto Patronum!

Two nights ago we lost power. While some others were annoyed about it, I was relieved to be free from the constant buzz of technology and glare of fluorescent lighting. Normally in Kino, the electricity is pretty good and outages last only a few minutes, but on this night, the power stayed out most of the evening. You could finally get a really nice look at all the stars (the Milky Way shines brilliantly here), but most importantly, it allowed us to see something amazing in the water. 

I remember going on a field trip in the 5^th grade to the National Seashore. We were on a night time nature walk and the leader gave us wintergreen lifesavers. If you chomp on those candies at night (for some chemical reason that goes over my head) they will produce a spark. This was used to get us excited for what were going to see on the beach, bioluminescence. Bioluminescence is a light producing chemical recreation that is created by some species of land and sea creatures. In the ocean it is most commonly caused by a type of plankton called Dinoflagellates, who actually use it as a defense mechanism.

As a group of us headed to the beach for a late night swim, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The people already in the water were glowing from these “twinkles” of bioluminescence. But unlike in my childhood in which I saw just a few “sparks” on the beach, every time you moved in the water here you were trailed by hundreds of tiny twinkles. All of us played in the ocean calling out to each other, “Hey, watch me!” just like we where children again, struggling to get our parent’s attention jumping into a swimming pool. One of the girls remarked that it felt like being a Disney Princess, I thought it felt like I was a fairy, and the boys were playing Harry Potter and casting spells at one another. Expecto Patronum! I hope I never “grow up”.

Best Field Staion Ever

I have lived in some pretty remote and basic (i.e. no electricity, no running water, no toilets) places in my day. During my interview, Kino Bay was described to me as a small, remote, fishing village and the station as rustic and communal. When I arrived I felt like I was living in a nice hostel! The Kino Bay Centro de Estudios Culturales y Ecologicos is by far the nicest and most equipped field station I've ever been to. It is pretty much a compound of little houses and palapas (thatched roofed buildings). It began with just one building, but over the years has expanded to its current form which consists of five living areas for professors, fellows, and visiting researchers, a library, a computer lab, bathrooms, a few kitchens, and a communal living area for students, etc. 

A recent project was to create posters showing what the center does

My bed (CWP notice my pillow?)

my room

my room

Casita de Becarios (Fellow's house): that's my window

The grounds

Library and Computer Lab, Students live above it

Welcome to the Family Ocotillo!

On Saturday most of the field station attended a cleanup of the estuary that was organized by the Environmental Education Group. Prescott, along with the student Ecological Club, and members of the community picked up trash along the estuary. We collected lots of trash and plan to use the results as a platform to get the community more trash bins from the government. At least 50 people attended, and it was really nice to see people actually interested in improving their environment!

However, I must admit that during this project I was a bit distracted. After being forced to ignore countless starving, ill, or abused animals on my travels simply because there was no way I could keep them, I couldn't take my eyes off this little black puppy. I had seen him on a previous visit to the estuary, but he was too scared to approach. This time, he came wiggling over, tail between his legs, seeing if I might have something to eat. he stayed with us while we were there and was very friendly was he overcame the shyness. Needless to say, he now lives in my room.

We have named him Ocotillo, which is a cool type of cactus found here in the desert. I'm guessing he is about 4 months old, but it is hard to tell because he is so skinny. He has a fat little panza (belly) full of tapeworms, has fleas, ear infections, isn't house trained, is up during the night, has no manners, and sneaks off to the trash any time he can to look for food or steals from the other animals' bowls who live here. That is the downside of taking in a street dog. BUT, he is absolutely adorable with beautiful golden brown eyes, sweet to everyone, loves to cuddle, follows me around, eats dry food, is learning really quickly to sit & be house trained, has funny ears, and today I found out he likes to swim! Estoy en amorada. It's all worth it!

Here are a few pictures of Ocotillo's first bath, how skinny he is, and his plain adorableness. Enjoy.

EARTHQUAKE!

I was doing some reading in bed today when it began to shake. Nothing scary, but it was enough for me to jump up and wonder what was going on. Turns out, we had a M6.7 earthquake in the Gulf of California today. COOL!

What are you looking at?

I used to be a really messy person, but somewhere around age 20 something shifted and it became impossible for me to get any work done or concentrate in a cluttered area. Which means I have spent a good deal of my time here so far cleaning my room, the kitchen, my office, and organizing papers so that I can start "working". When not doing that, I appear to be sweating excessively. So I was really excited then other day when I had my first sort of "outing".

I didn't go far, but there is this really beautiful church that has been built on one of the hills right by the station. It looks so surreal from the distance, somewhere where someone could feel very spiritual. A few of us decided to brave the heat and hike up there for the sunset view. While not far from the station, the hill is pretty steep. We were all out of breathe when we go to the top, but despite the elevation not being very high, the view was amazing.You could see the surrounding islands, the whole town, and the valleys and mountains surrounding the area. Apparently on a clear day you can see all the way to the Baja Peninsula.

Also, we were able to get a glimpse inside the church which is lucky because it is not open all the time. This very nice lady showed us around and she turned out to be part of the family that constructed the church. They have funded the project themselves and have been working on it for 20 years.

But, of course, the best part of the evening was on the way back down the hill. We were chatting and all of a sudden, this really loud noise startled me. The guys were really excited and I still had no idea what it was. When I finally figured out what they were looking at, I couldn't believe what I was seeing; my first rattlesnake! It was a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake to be exact, and quite venomous. It was pretty small but still quite impressive. It was on the side of the path and curled up into it's defensive posture, ready to strike. The volume of the buzzing rattle it makes is really cool. Despite being one of the most widespread snakes in North America, they are not frequently seen in this part of Sonora. WOOHOO snakes!

Welcome to the Jungle... wait, the DESERT

After many hours of travel, I made it across the border in Arizona, past the capital city of Hermosillo, into Bahia Kino, Sonora, Mexico. I traveled with a group of fellow peers and the directors of Prescott College's Center for Cultural and Ecological studies. Upon the way I was struck by the drastic change in scenery from the vibrant deciduous trees of New England to the desert of Sonora, which is dominated by cactus and other low growing shrubs. The land is flat and dry, yet mountains pop up all over the place. Despite it's harshness, it is a beautiful and inspiring place.

Our arrival to the field station was after dark, so when I woke up in the morning and looked around, I was surprised to see that I was actually living where the desert meets the sea. Our field station is just across the way from the waters of Bahia Kino. In the distance you can see Isla Alcatraz (where I will be conducting much of my field work) and Isla Tiburón.  Isla Tiburón is the largest island in Mexico, the traditional homeland of the Seri Indigenous People, as well as a designated Ecological Reserve. It is also uninhabited (and super cool!).

I have spent the first few days of my time here getting to know the area, what my role here will be, and adjusting to the heat! We are in the hottest part of the year (Aug-Sept) which means that the heat is ridiculous. As I write this, the heat index is 123°F!!!! I have never sweat so much in my life, and the ocean feels like a jacuzzi. Luckily, this is the nicest field station I have ever worked for, and the facilities make living here much more comfortable.