marine mammal survey – NOAA Teacher at Sea Blog

January 27, 2025January 27, 2025

Kiersten Newtoff: Bird is the Word. January 27, 2025

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Kiersten Newtoff
NOAA Ship Pisces
January 6 – January 27, 2025

Mission: Atlantic Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species (AMAPPS)
Geographic Area of Cruise: North Atlantic Coast
Date: January 27, 2025. Due to weather, we had to dock a couple days early, but I already had some posts planned out!

The last science crew spotlight is of the best¹ crew: team birds! And to wrap it up, a spotlight on the Chief Scientist that put the science crew together: Debi.

Bird is the Word (Have You Heard?)

A photograph of the horizon with 50+ Northern Gannets diving into the water. — A huge flock of Northern Gannets dive bomb into the water for a snickety-snack. Credit: Allison

Okay, so why birds? I think this class of organisms is one of the best for future wildlife biologists to get started in because they are everywhere, both visually and auditorily findable, and their biodiversity is well documented. Birds also serve as an excellent bioindicator of ecosystem health because of their ubiquitous distribution. Many species are at the top of the food chain, so we can see how pollutants biomagnify to the highest trophic levels. Some species are habitat specialists, and their relative numbers can provide insight into our changing world. In the ocean, seabirds and whales share a common meal – so where there are birds, there’s a chance for marine mammals. Likewise, smaller breeding colonies can provide insight to fisheries health that affects both marine life and human sustenance. If there’s a consistent decline, redistribution, or mass mortality in birds, then scientists will investigate the environment to find clues for these changes. It’s likely affecting other organisms too, but we just don’t notice them as quickly. Another reason to study seabirds is:

Because they’re cool.
Nick

Meet the Bird Nerds

Allison and Nick pose for the camera and are wearing heavy duty cold weather gear on the flying bridge. — Allison and Nick bundled up on the flying bridge. Credit: Ryan

One of the seabird observers on this cruise is Allison. In undergrad she majored in Zoo and Wildlife Biology and worked as a zookeeper after graduation. A shoulder injury and subsequent surgery took her out of the field for a few months and it was during this time she decided to pursue birds as a full time career, as she had really enjoyed an ornithology course in college. After her recovery, Allison worked as a Coastal Steward for Tuckernuck Island, MA for a few years, working with gulls and shorebirds. She teamed up with a local professor and also did MAPS banding of songbirds on the island. She presented some of their gull research at the Waterbird Society meeting in New Bern, NC in 2016 and participated in a pelagic cruise field trip. That’s when she got hooked onto seabirds. Allison has been a contractor for NOAA since 2019 and usually spends over 120 days a year at sea doing seabird surveys out of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center with EcoMon and AMAPPS. Outside of these tours, she does lots of guest speaking for universities, libraries, birding clubs, and other conservation organizations about birding life on the high seas. Allison maintains many Excel sheets with all sorts of fun data, but the most impressive is her list of the 162 bird species seen on/from the ship!

Birds of the Sea, a haiku
Choppy seas today,
But the birds still fly and zoom.
Was that a puffin?

The other seabird observer onboard is Nick whose journey to birds started after his freshman year in college; he spent the summer in the Bering Sea collecting phytoplankton. There just happened to be a seabird observer on board who taught him a lot between his phytoplankton duties. After graduating, he found a researcher who was working with Adelie penguins near Palmer Station, Antarctica (there’s a live webcam of the penguins!). He “cold-emailed” (comes from the idea of ‘cold calling’ where you reach out to someone who you don’t know) this researcher soon after graduating asking about opportunities to work with him. It took 2 years of Nick getting more experience and sending a few more emails to finally convince the researcher to let him join a research trip in 2008. Nick spends 6-8 months a year doing various field work: marine mammal aerial surveys, studying puffins in Maine, turtle work in North Padre Island, field projects for National Park Service and Fish and Wildlife Service, and many more. In 2013, he was hired by a contracting agency to work on NOAA cruises which he has been doing since. He likes the seasonal work because he gets a lot of time to spend with family, traveling, and just doing what he wants to do.

Meet the Chief Scientist

Debi poses for the camera on the fly bridge. — Debi is bundled up on the fly bridge, likely fixing the tech!

The big science boss lady is Debi, a research fisheries biology at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, MA. She is the branch chief of the newly minted Conservation Ecology Branch within the Protected Species Division. Specifically, she focuses on the spatial and temporal abundance of marine mammals, sea turtles, and seabirds. These data are critical in understanding how many of these organisms there are and how many are accidentally taken by humans. She’s also involved with the International Whaling Commission and the head of the US delegation to the Scientific Committee. As branch chief, her duties are split between science and admin tasks. She may start her day working on a publication about harbor porpoise bycatch, and in the afternoon she’s organizing group travel to meet with International Whaling Commission scientists to discuss the status of whales and other related science. Debi started with NOAA as a Ph.D. student out of the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in 1987 and began her professional role in 1991. She’s been working with protected species the entire time, but the species and goals change over the years as we learn more. On this cruise, she leads the teams with scheduling, monitoring weather conditions, double-checking and processing the data, and liaising with the ship. She also designed the tracklines we collect data on; then after the cruise she will analyze the data and hopefully publish the results.

How to Join the Flock

Be open to all sorts of jobs. There are so many jobs out there that you don’t even know are jobs.
Every job, internship, volunteer opportunity you can learn something. You’ll get as much out of it as you put into it.
Be flexible – this field is dependent on grant funding. One year a position may exist, but maybe not next year.
Check out the job boards for ornithology opportunities and wildlife biology opportunities
Work on building quantitative skills such as statistics, coding, and GIS. Those skills are more likely to get you hired than just having a biological background.
Speaking of skills, don’t pigeonhole (heh) yourself to just birds, the more you can do, the more likely you will land a position. Being able to ID mammals or turtles, maneuvering/repairing small boats, manning drones, collecting biopsies, and vessel and aerial surveys are all helpful.
Network, network, network. Any internship, job, seminar, or experience you do, get to know the people. They will be critical in finding positions.
Reflect on your career and life goals. This kind of work is almost exclusively short-term temporary positions without benefits. Consider how long you want to work in the field before moving to something else, such as graduate school (which having the field experience is really beneficial!).

¹There is absolutely no bias in this statement.

December 18, 2024December 18, 2024

Kiersten Newtoff: Let’s Try This Again! December 18, 2024

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Kiersten Newtoff

Aboard NOAA Ship Pisces

January 6 – January 29, 2025

Mission: Atlantic Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species (AMAPPS)
Geographic Area of Cruise: North Atlantic Coast
Departure Port: Newport, RI
Arrival Port: Newport, RI

Date: December 18, 2024

I’m back! You may remember all the mishaps that happened that prevented me from sailing on the Oregon II in summer 2023. I’ve been incredibly fortunate that the Teacher at Sea program has been flexible and was able to place me on a new cruise with the NOAA Pisces, so named by a group of 7^th grade students in a naming contest.

This cruise is focused on the AMAPPS protocol, or the Atlantic Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species. By collecting data on the species of marine mammals, turtles, and seabirds observed, scientists can create abundance maps that show where these species can be found year-round. We will also be using a hydrophone to record the calls and songs of cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises). In addition to the surveys, scientists will collect data to see how factors in the environment affect abundance and distribution. While there are many products from the research, one easily available tool to the public is the Marine Mammal Model Viewer. On this viewer, you can choose a marine mammal species and a time of year to see density maps of the species over time. This is a powerful tool as we learn about oceanic species and how a changing climate impacts their distribution.

screenshot of a lightly topographical map of the eastern U.S. seaboard. Along the coast, the waters have been color-coded to show animal density (animals / square kilometer), ranging from cold colors (low density) to hot colors (high density.) In this example, density of sperm whiles is higher a bit farther from the coast, except along North Carolina's outer banks and a bit off the coast of New Jersey/ New York. — A screenshot from the Marine Mammal Model Viewer. This map shows the abundance of Sperm Whales in the fall.

While I gave a lot of background in my first introductory post, there have been some fun updates. I am on sabbatical from Montgomery College to gain more experience in biological research to bring back to the classroom. Specifically, I have been focused on bird banding, which involves capturing birds and adding a metal identifying ‘bracelet’ to their leg. Each band has a unique identifier, so if someone else catches it they will be able to learn a lot about the bird’s ecology. In the banding process, we collect data such as age, sex, reproductive stage, wing length, tail length, amount of fat, and more. All this data can help us assess the health of the bird and draw conclusions about the species, bird migration, and changes over time. Banding birds requires a federal permit that I have applied for, so now I’m sitting and waiting to hear back — fingers crossed!

Kiersten (right) holds a Ruffed Grouse during banding operations in Montana. Another bander is taking a picture of the tail to analyze further after the bird is released. a third person looks on, hands behind his back. Everyone wears beanie caps and sweaters. — Kiersten (right) holds a Ruffed Grouse during banding operations in Montana. Another bander is taking a picture of the tail to analyze further after the bird is released. Bird banding can tell scientists about bird ecology and conservation.

Thank you again to the Teacher at Sea team and the crew of the Pisces for welcoming me aboard!

August 14, 2023September 13, 2023

Gail Tang: And We’re Off! Aug 8, 2023

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Gail Tang

Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Elton Sette

August 4, 2023 – September 1, 2023

Mission: Hawaiian Islands Cetacean and Ecosystem Assessment Survey (HICEAS)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Hawaiian archipelago

Date: Tuesday August 8, 2023

Weather Data from the Bridge

Temperature: 26.97°C

Latitude: 27.428517 N

Longitude: -167.325400 W

Science and Technology Log

Scientific results reach the general public as a nice package of carefully curated nuggets designed to attract the average reader. It’s not unlike watching a production (movie, play, etc) in its final form. The audience is glamoured by the show or results; we aren’t usually privy to the behind-the-scenes efforts in putting together these massive operations. With this view, there is an illusion of perfection that can hide the true nature of knowledge production. This is often the case in a traditional mathematics classroom that utilizes lecture-based teaching; the instructor works out a problem beforehand and presents the solution to the students. The students do not witness the creative process of trial and error, idea generation, incubation, evaluation of each step, decision-making, or any possible collaboration involved. In brief, the beauty of doing science or math is largely hidden for the general public. I believe that the opportunity for growth lies in the process of discovery just as much as the discovery itself. My access to the data collection process of this project is one of the main reasons I am so thoroughly enjoying myself on this HICEAS (Hawaiian Islands Cetacean Ecosystem Assessment Survey) mission.

Today is our fifth day at sea. Every moment is invigorating. During our first two days underway, we searched for the elusive Cross Seamount beaked whales (BWC). These whales have been identified acoustically, but not visually or genetically. The acoustics team heard them throughout the night on our first night, and the visual team had a sighting of a suspicious unidentified beaked whale during the third day but we didn’t get close enough for any species or individual identification. There was a lot of excitement on the ship. To learn more about beaked whales check out my roommate and lead acoustician, Jennifer McCullough’s, newest paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mms.13061

Though I missed it, there was an important bird sighting of the Hawaiian bird, the nēnē. This is a notable sighting because it was formerly endangered (now listed as threatened). After conservation efforts, the population increased from 30 in 1950 to 3,862 in 2022. To read more about the nēnē, visit: https://www.fws.gov/story/2022-12/plight-nene

The most exciting sightings for me were the rough-toothed dolphins and the bottlenose dolphins. They came by to ride the ship’s bow waves. It was utterly magical. In a conversation with Marine Mammal Observers Andrea Bendlin and Suzanne Yin, I learned a little bit about these two species that I’ll share here.

You might recognize the bottlenose dolphin from Flipper, a popular TV show from the 60s or the movie version in the 90s. You may have also seen these dolphins at the aquarium as they can survive in captivity better than other dolphin species. They are described as the golden retrievers of the ocean. In the wild, they are regularly observed hanging out with other species.

An interesting observation of an interaction between a mother humpback whale and a bottlenose dolphin was captured by scientists and written up in a paper. They hypothesize three reasons for this interaction 1) aggressive whale response towards the dolphin 2) epimeletic (altruistic behavior towards a sick or injured individual) whale response towards the dolphin 3) they were playing!

To read the paper check out: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228684912_Two_Unusual_Interactions_Between_a_Bottlenose_Dolphin_Tursiops_truncatus_and_a_Humpback_Whale_Megaptera_novaeangliae_in_Hawaiian_Waters

Three bottlenose dolphins swim through bright blue water. Two have breached the water's surface, giving us a clear view of their dorsal sides. A third is visible swimming underwater, underneath the two breaching. — Bottlenose dolphins came to say hi! (Permit #25754) Photo Credit: NOAA Fisheries Gail Tang

Rough-toothed dolphins are named for their rough teeth. They have a more reptilian sloped head. These animals communicate via whistles and clicks. Echolocation clicks are primarily used for sensing surroundings and searching for prey vs. communication. According to roomie and Lead Acoustician Jennifer McCullough, usually whistles look like a smooth increasing and then decreasing function, however, their whistles look like “steps” and are named stair step whistles (see the pictures below).

A graph of frequencies (measured in kilohertz) over time (measured in seconds). It is titled: Figure 1. Spectrogram of whistles produced by Steno bredanensis (44.1 kHz sample rate, 1,024 FFT, Hann window.) The background of the graph is gray with white speckles - looks like 'fuzz' - but distinct black lines trace the stair-shaped patterns of rough toothed dolphins' whistle frequencies. — Figure from Rankin et al. (2015, p.5)

Rough-toothed dolphins can take a while to identify because their echolocation signals (clicks) are outside the general frequencies for dolphins (e.g. bottlenose, striped, spinner, spotted) and “blackfish” (e.g. killer whale, false killer whales, pygmy whales, melon-headed whales). Blackfish signals go from 15-25kHz, dolphins go from 30-50kHz, while rough-toothed dolphins bridge these two ranges at 20-35kHz. For reference, the frequency range of adult humans is 0.500 kHz and 2 kHz.

Rough-toothed dolphins playfully riding the ship’s bow waves. Permit #25754.

Reference:

Rankin, S., Oswald, J., Simonis, A., & Barlow, J. (2015) Vocalizations of the rough-toothed dolphin, Steno bredanensis, in the Pacific Ocean. Marine Mammal Science. 31 (4), p. 1538-1648. https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12226

Career Highlights

As I mentioned earlier, the information I’m receiving about the animals are from the scientists on board. In this particular post, Marine Mammal Observers Andrea Bendlin and Suzanne Yin (who goes by Yin), and Lead Acoustician Jennifer McCullough gave me insight to the dolphins. I’d like to share some of their background to give students an idea of their career trajectories.

Andrea Bendlin double majored in zoology and psychology at University of Wisconsin, Madison, with a focus on animal behavior. For the first 4 years after college, she worked on several different field projects including, 4 winters of humpback whale research, one summer study on bottlenose dolphins, and several summers in Quebec studying large whales. Then she started working on boats doing snorkel trips and whale watches. I can attest to Andrea’s snorkeling expertise as I had my favorite snorkeling experience in Hawaii when I was following her around. She pointed out my favorite snorkeling sighting which was an egg sack of a Spanish dancer nudibranch! As you can see in the picture below, it looks like a ribbon wound around itself. For math folks, it is a hyperbolic surface! Since then, Andrea has collected data for many cruises with cetacean research programs.

this egg sack, perched on a rock underwater, consists of elegant reddish-pink folds - from a distance it looks like a flower, like a carnation — Spanish Dancer Egg Sack. Photo Credit: Alamy Stock Photo

Yin studied biology at Brown University. After school, she worked at Earth Watch, and also did field work on humpback whales, spinner dolphins, and bowhead whales. These projects were conducted on what they call “small boats” (less than 50 ft long) as opposed to a ship like the one we’re currently on, which is is 224 ft long. On these small boats, Yin drove, took photos for species and individual identification, collected acoustic data, and used theodolites to measure angles. Later, she attended graduate school at Texas A & M University for her Masters degree. She studied wildlife and fisheries science with a focus on acoustics of dusky dolphins and tourist impact on them.

Gail, in front, takes a selfie with Andrea (to her right) and Yin (to her left) inside a stateroom. We can see bunk beds, luggage, a fan, metal lockers. — Andrea Bendlin, Gail Tang, Suzanne Yin in my Leg 1 stateroom

Jennifer McCullough is the Lead Acoustician on HICEAS 2023. She first started at Hubbs Sea World Research on killer whales where she learned acoustics. She participated in a joint polar bear project with the San Diego Zoo. She then completed a Master’s thesis on the giant panda breeding vocalizations through the San Diego Zoo and China Wolong Panda Reserve. She spent 6 months over 2 years in the Sichuan region. We talked about the Sichuan peppercorn for a bit since I love them so much. She prefers them whole, while I prefer them ground up. After that she worked at Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, California and later moved to the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center in Honolulu, Hawaii and was the Acoustics Lead during HICEAS 2017. With the exception of a HICEAS project year, she is at sea for 30-60 days a year and the rest of the time she is ashore analyzing data from previous missions and constructing equipment for future ones! She loves the balance between the equipment work (technical side), field work (data collection), and lab work (data analysis). As a side note: she makes amazing quilts!

Jennifer holds up a quilt with both hands to show off the design: an abstract, feathery shape made from a fabric of many blue shades, sown onto a white background. — Jennifer McCullough with the quilt she just finished!

Personal Log

Life at sea reminds me a bit of my college dorming-days; you’re sharing a room and you leave your door open to invite others in! I share my room with really great roommates. Dawn Breese is a seabird observer and creates a nice vibe in the room with flowers she picked ashore and some sweet feathers taped to the wall. Alexa Gonzalez is an acoustician with whom I do crosswords and play “road-trip”-type games. Jennifer McCullough, highlighted above, is going to teach me how to watercolor!

All in all, I am fairly comfortable on the ship. I spend time bouncing between the acoustics lab, the flying bridge (where the visual team observes), the local coffeeshop—The Forward Mess—(where I do most of my work), and the grated deck, stern, and wet lab (where the plankton team works). The acousticians and visual observers work from dawn to dusk, while the plankton team works from dusk until a few hours before dawn. This means I have very long days and have succumbed to the napping culture aboard the ship!

When not checking in on the scientists, I have been spending my free time getting know the people on board, learning knots, riding the stationary bike on the boat deck, and attempting pull ups. It’s a wonderful life!

Oh and please enjoy this photo of me in my “gumby” suit (a protective suit in case of abandon ship).

Gail in a red survival suit, thumbs up. She's in an interior room of the ship. — Gail Tang in gumby suit. Photo Credit: Suzanne Yin.

Food Log

plated meal of eggs, hash borwns, sausage, fruit. Teacher at Sea Alumni Association mug visible, with tea bag. — Breakfast

plated meal of fried something (chicken?), salad, something else. — Breakfast

To be honest, due to limited physical activity on board, I stopped eating breakfast or even going down to the mess at that time because I have no self-control when it comes to food! The oxtail udon is the highlight so far. It was incredible! Third assistant engineer, Jason Dlugos, requested it and even brought his own rice cooker with his own rice down to dinner.

Jamie and Jason sit at a table. Jamie rests her chin on crossed arms above empty plates. Jason sips from a travel cup in his left hand, and with his right, holds a spoon over his bowl of udon and rice. The rice cooker is on the table in front of him. — Jamie Delgado (Medical Officer), Jason Dlugos (3rd Assistant Engineer) and his personal rice cooker.

Catch of the Day!

Ichthyoplankton researchers Jessie Perelman and Andrea Schmidt caught two squaretail fish (Tetragonuridae), one live fish and one in its larval stage. Not much is known about this fish. One thing we do know is that these fish live inside (!) the body of an invertebrate called salp. Below is a picture of some fish living in a salp.

three small, likely juvenile, fish swim inside a gelatinous blog called a salp. the fish in front is rounder, while the two fish flanking it are narrower. — Fish inside salp. Photo credit: Rich Carey/Shutterstock.com

August 4, 2007April 1, 2021

Methea Sapp-Cassanego, August 4, 2007

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Methea Sapp-Cassanego
Onboard NOAA Ship Delaware II
July 19 – August 8, 2007

Mission: Marine Mammal Survey
Geographical Area: New England
Date: August 4, 2007

Weather Data from Bridge
Visibility: 5 in haze lowering 3 to 5 in showers
Wind Direction: Southwest
Wind Speed: 10-15 knt increasing to 20 knt.
Swell height: 3-5 feet building 4-6 feet

A solitary ocean sunfish basks in the sun while a shearwater skims by.

Science and Technology Log

Rotations have been going like clock-work, although today’s sightings have again been numerous we still have not found any more right whales. Again I’ll fill today’s blog with some species profiles of animals we’ve seen today. By the way, the sightings list for today includes, pilot whales, minke whales, offshore bottlenose dolphins, common dolphins, white-sided dolphins, beaked dolphins and harbor porpoise. We’ve also seen a few Mola mola which are not tallied since they are not marine mammals.

Atlantic White-sided Dolphin (Lagenorhynchus acutus) Researchers and scientists also refer to this animal as a “Lag.” Identification: At first glance the Atlantic white-sided dolphin looks very much like the common Atlantic dolphin. Its body is slightly more robust then that of the common Atlantic dolphin; its tail stock is also thicker. The upper portions of the body are black while the lower belly and chin are white; a long horizontal grey strip bisects the upper and lower body portions. The flippers are also grey. Max length and weight: 510 pounds and 9 feet. Diet and Feeding: Fish and squid Migration: No organized or seasonal migration Distribution: Found in cold waters of the northern North Atlantic from the Northeast United States to Northern Europe and Southern Greenland. Special Note: Atlantic White-sided Dolphins are especially gregarious and are often seen swimming along the side of boats and bow riding. They will also mingle and feed with fin and humpback whales. Several hundred are caught and killed each year as a source of food by the Faroese Island people.

References

Collins Wild Guide: Whales and Dolphins. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, New York. 2006.

Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola)

Identification: This oddly shaped fish is most easily identified when it is basking at the surface. Its large disk-like body is pale grey to white in color; lacks a true tail; both the dorsal fin and anal fin are extremely elongated so that the fish is as tall as it is long. Sunfish are solitary but may occasionally be found in pairs.

Max length and weight: Averages 5 feet 9 inches in length and 2,200 pounds. Records exist of sunfish spanning 10.8 feet in length and weighting just over 5,000 pounds.

Diet and Feeding: Primarily seajellys but also feeds on salps, squid, crustaceans, comb jellies and zooplankton. Sunfish are pelagic and may feed at depths just shy of 2,000 feet.

Migration: No organized or seasonal migration

Distribution: Ocean sunfish are found globally in both temperate and tropical waters. Research suggests that populations of sunfish inhabiting the Atlantic and Pacific have greater genetic differences than populations in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

Special Note: The ocean sunfish poses no threat to humans and is commonly approached by divers. Its meat is of minimal economic importance although there seems to be an increasing popularity in sunfish cuisine and it is considered a delicacy in some parts of the world. The sunfish has few natural predators due to the thickness of its skin which can measure up to 3 inches in some places. More often than not the sunfish encounters its greatest threat when caught in fishing gear. Sunfish by-catch totals ~30% of the total swordfish catch off the coast of California and ~90% of the total swordfish catch in the Mediterranean.

Impressive size and startling appearance make the ocean sunfish a favorite attraction at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. This photo is freely licensed via Wikimedia Commons and is courtesy of Fred Hsu.

August 3, 2007April 1, 2021

Methea Sapp-Cassanego, August 3, 2007

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Methea Sapp-Cassanego
Onboard NOAA Ship Delaware II
July 19 – August 8, 2007

Mission: Marine Mammal Survey
Geographical Area: New England
Date: August 3, 2007

Weather Data from Bridge
Visibility: 5 in haze lowering 3 to 5 in showers
Wind Direction: Southwest
Wind Speed: 10-15 knt increasing to 20 knt.
Swell height: 3-5 feet building 4-6 feet

Pilot whales as seen from the zodiac—note the calf in the foreground. Photo courtesy of Brenda Rone. — Pilot whales as seen from the zodiac—note the calf in the foreground.

Science and Technology Log

Today was another great day for sightings. Critter counts include sperm whales, white sided dolphins, a whopping 17 minke whales, a Sei whale, offshore bottle nose dolphins, a finback whale, another pod of pilot whales and 100’s of common dolphins. At one point during my starboard observation shift, both I and my portside counterpart were calling off sightings so rapidly that the recorder was having problems keeping up with us. We both paused for a moment and pulled away from the big eyes to look around and discover that we were surrounded by literally 100’s upon 100’s of common dolphins. The sea was frothing with their activities; some doing aerobatics, others charging, some came to bow-ride of the ship, while other could be seen chasing large fish which were identified as yellow-fin tuna.

Researchers position themselves to rejoin the main ship. — Researchers position themselves to rejoin the ship.

In a repeat from several days ago the pilot whale sighting prompted another launch of the zodiac…only this time I got to climb down the Jacob’s ladder and go for a zodiac ride which brought me as close to pilot whale as I could ever hope to be. We were able to procure 5 tissue samples for further genetic study along with an untold number of dorsal fin photographs. (Please see log from August 1^st for further explanation of these genetic studies and photos.) My job on the zodiac was to fill out the photography data sheets which record the GPS headings, frame numbers, animal position within pod, approximate size of animal, special markings on the animal, if an attempt to biopsy the whale was made, if the shot resulted in a hit or miss….etc. I was madly recording all this information as cameras were shooting and crossbows were firing and the whole experience whizzed past me. I hope I didn’t forget to record anything!

An ill-fated Northern yellow warbler rests on the deck of the DELAWARE II — An ill-fated Northern yellow warbler rests on the deck of thevDELAWARE II

Aside from all the sightings (some of which have become rather common place), and my zodiac ride I really have nothing left to report for the day….except of course that the day flew by. In fact every day passes in a blink…even the foggy ones. I suppose that’s what happens when each day is filled with something new to see and do. Before I sign off for the day I’ll leave you with two more species profiles. One of which may surprise you!

Yellow warbler (Dendroica petechia)

There are approximately 40 subspecies of this widely distributed little bird. This bird, in particular, was most likely from the subspecies aestiva thus making it a ‘Northern’ yellow warbler.

As a true bird-lover I’ve been taking notice and taking note of every new bird I’ve seen while out at sea, and naturally all of the birds I’ve seen lately from black-backed gulls to shearwaters are suppose to be out here in the open ocean searching for fish and bobbing around in the waves while resting. The yellow warbler however is not suppose to be here….and in fact being at sea means certain death for the delicate songbird as its food source is almost non-existent out here and it is ill-equipped to handle a lack of freshwater. The warbler pictured above probably hitched a ride with us following our 24 hour port call in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Sad to say that this warbler did in fact perish at sea despite my offerings of fresh water and bread crumbs (I was all out of their primary food which are insects!) A second warbler and a grosbeak did however find the boat as we were coming back into harbor so we hope they were more fortunate then the first stowaway.

Identification: The yellow warbler is fairly large compared to other warblers and has an exceedingly short set of tail feathers. Both sexes have a yellowish green head and back with yellow underbellies. Females tend to be a bit duller in color while males typically have brown streaks on the cheek and breast. Distribution: The Northern Warbler breeds from Alaska to Newfoundland and Southern Labrador, south to South Carolina and into Northern Georgia, and as far west as the Pacific Coast. It is also found periodically in the American Southwest. Migration: Winters in the Bahamas, Northern Mexico, Peru and the Brazilian Amazon. Diet and Habitat: In its northern and eastern distribution the warblers live in damp habitats surrounding swamps, bogs, marshes, ponds and stream or river banks. They will also feed and nest in woodland areas, meadows, and overgrown pasture lands. In the west and southwest the bird is restricted mainly to riparian habitats. Unfortunately riparian habitat is rapidly decreasing in the Southwest as are the population of yellow warblers within this region. The warbler feeds primarily on insects, but will occasionally eat berries. Listen to its song here.

Common Dolphin

Until recently both the short-beaked and long-beaked common dolphins were considered to be one species. Although much of the recent research and literature still does not differentiate between short-beaked and long-beaked, they are technically two different species. For the purposes of our survey we also did not distinguish between the two as they are nearly identical in physical appearance.

Short Beaked Common Dolphin and Long-beaked Common Dolphin

Identification: Very distinctive crisscross patterning on the sides; yellow/tan patches on the side, dark gray over the topside and pale underside. Light grey patch along the peduncle of the tail.

Max length and weight: 330 pounds and 9 feet. Males are just slightly larger then females

Diet and Feeding: Fish and squid

Migration: No organized or seasonal migration

Distribution: Widely distributed throughout the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans as well as the Black and Mediterranean Seas. Special Note: Common Dolphins are especially active and are commonly seen doing aerobatics and bow riding. They are also extremely vocal; to such a degree that their high pitched whistles and clicks may be heard above water.

References

Collins Wild Guide: Whales and Dolphins. Harper Collins Publishers, New York, New York, 2006.