Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Two long nights




The last two nights have been spent capturing Xantus Murrelets, which gather to socialize on the water around Geronimo Island at night. The capture permit was for 50 blood samples and we managed to get that done last night after a marathon 35 samples collected the night before.

The Alguita left Geronimo this morning at around 3am and we are now back and San martin prepping (playing cards and sitting around), for another long night of the same thing at a different place.

The first picture was taken from shore showing the Alguita taking off to circle around the island for a Pelican and Cormorant survey while four of us on shore looked for nesting Murrelets hiding in burrows along the
coastline and rocky outcroppings of the island.

The second picture is courtesy of Percy N. Hébert and his 300mm lens of which I’m jealous, showing a grey whale fluke as it dives back down after taking a breath. One of thousands that we have probably seen as they pass by San Martin Island on their way back north.

Thats it for now, stay tuned for more whenever I get a chance

Jeff

2 comments:

Sherry F said...

What are the scientists looking for with regard to the blood samples?
Auntie Sherry

Anna said...

Beautiful photos, and so great to see that you've picked up the blog slack! I've been updating our new blog for Junk, so haven't looked at ORV in a while - great that you're continuing the momentum. Catch up one of these days, and hola al Capitan!