Stranded

Soooo the first night of trapping looked like it was going to be successful. Clear skies, a super full moon (hasn’t been seen since March 1993), and the winds weren’t bad. We spotted a mink 5 minutes in, but we just missed him with the net….and then the motor stopped turning. We were stuck only being able to turn left, and it wasn’t budging.

We anchored the boat, and I started making phone calls. DNR told me they wouldn’t be able to get to us for hours because they were busy up north arresting some drunk people on Santee River. I decided I would give the ranger of Cape Romain a call…that didn’t really work out. He is new to the area and was trying to Google map my location. The refuge manager then called and told me she couldn’t get me and wasn’t going to allow the ranger to either…lovely.

Once informed that the boat has been known to leak hydraulic fluid, Dr. Yarrow and my new technician, Mike, managed to remove oil from the boat and funnel it into the hydraulic fluid reservoir, and it worked!!! We were able to get back on our own by 10:30 instead of waiting to be rescued and getting back after midnight.

And thanks to Cady for hanging in there and eventually getting me to laugh….as well as for sharing a bottle of wine with me to celebrate our return haha J

18mph Winds

Yep....not a great day to be the first day out on the water. The boat was going every direction but the one I wanted it to. Good news is that the boat started, and I found one of the mink I tagged last year. I hope to find the other two tomorrow.

I am out of the camper and into the not so nice trailer with the worst beds imaginable BUT that can be fixed with an air mattress so yay! I am moving on up! My parents are very proud hahaha

Also, I have dook fans living in a van mobile home-thing next to me. They have an obnoxious "DUKE" license plate on the front. Blah. GO CAROLINA!!!

Second Field Season - Post 1

I can't decide whether to blog or use twitter (http://twitter.com/cegorga), so I will be trying both.

I drive down to Awendaw tomorrow, meet my new tech and search for the 3 females I tagged last summer on Wednesday, and start trapping again on Saturday night. I plan on fighting for the opportunity to be the one to dip net the little creatures....fingers crossed I don't fall out of the boat!

Also, if you don't mind, please send up a little prayer that the boat works :)

Phosphorescent Algae, Shooting Stars, and...

...lots of lightning....sigh. Still getting locations on the 3 family groups and praying we aren't struck by lighting while doing so.

I went with the trapper and refuge biologist to collect for the diet analysis portion of my project last week....We have 4 more stomachs to look through now....and I removed them myself. It was quite an experience.

The Bird Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNDxH9ik4MI

Thank you to Jess and Gillian for identifying the bird for us!!!

It is a Greater Shearwater - one of the sea birds that rarely come close to shore....so I have been informed it was probably not a healthy individual before we hit it....BUT apparently people pay a lot of money to take trips out into the deep water to see them hahaha oops

Net Gun

Testing out the net gun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOIsYxXEruE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kkx8TiPiZY

Update

Where to start....The mink are beginning to move around more, and this makes acquiring locations a little more challenging. I actually thought we lost one of the females last week, but we found her about 100m across a section of marsh.

A few nights ago, we were driving up the Intracoastal after finding my mink, and a juvenile laughing gull (maybe?) came flying out of nowhere and hit Michael (video to come). Luckily he was fine, so we turned around to make sure the gull wasn't hurt either. I didn't see him over the water, so I checked the boat and there he was! He didn't appear to be injured - just dazed. So we set him on the bench behind the console and he just hung out there while we put the boat up. We left him next to the boat ramp, and didn't see him the next morning. Now we keep an eye on the sky for storms and confused birds:

Speaking of storms, I tried to beat a storm to get points the other night....it didn't turn out so well. We had to speed back under the most amazing storm clouds I have ever seen (the pictures below totally don't do it justice). Definitely something I will never forget, but definitely something I do not really wish to experience again. While I was trying to quickly locate one of the animals, I noticed the boat stopped moving toward where I needed it to be. I turn around in a panic since the storm was really beginning to build around us, and I find Michael leaning over the side of the boat with a dolphin swimming up to his hand!!! Of course that was the day I removed the camera from the boat!