More Fieldwork

Hi everyone! I've been super busy lately, sorry I haven't been able to share pictures recently! But I'm making up for it now... :)

A few days after the Tern Census, I got to go out and tag horseshoe crabs! It was really cool.

A tagged horseshoe crab

HSC waiting to be tagged (well, put back in the water at least)

The smaller birds are chicks of the herring gulls!
They look like tiny ostriches running around, they were too funny.

Interesting fact, horseshoe crabs aren't crabs at all! They are arachnids, making them more closely related to spiders or scorpions.

Since then, I've been doing more officework, nothing too exciting to talk about. Yesterday, however, I got to work with the terns again! We were doing a productivity count - basically all summer, they count the number of eggs, see how many survive to fledge, and so on. For me, though, it was basically a day of counting (and playing with) baby tern chicks!

A brand new tern chick, too little to disturb.

Some older chicks...they always like to cuddle together :)

Little chicks learning to use their legs! Running around everywhere.

The "chick corral," where we rounded them up while counting them

This adult tern was trying to stand on the nest box, but kept sliding down...

The biologist, showing off a Laughing Gull chick

One of the rarer Roseate Tern chicks

"Rosie" chicks have purple legs!

Finally got to see the seals

Tern Census

Today was great! I finally got a chance to do some field work, and I definitely hit the ground running. I participated in the Tern census, where we count every egg/nest we can find of the Common Terns that nest on the refuge, as well as any other birds in the area (but there aren't nearly as many, so it's not a big part). I had so much fun! There are about 14,000 birds that live on the island, and it's almost scary because they do not like intruders, so they try to dive-bomb you when you get close...but I thought it was pretty fun! It's also super loud in there, with literally thousands of birds screeching and squawking around you! Here are some pictures...

The nest...

...Pipping...

...and chicks!

These other guys are called Laughing Gulls, but they sure weren't happy to see us!

World's Oceans Day

Working at the New England Aquarium was really great! I ran a booth with the other intern that arrived that weekend (as mentioned in my previous post), as well as another visitor's services intern from a refuge nearby. We got to talk to a lot of different people, and we took turns going around to the other booths and learning what they had to say! Also, there were demonstrations going on throughout the day of cooking sustainable seafood, so we got to try lots of yummy snacks. Afterwards, we got to walk around the aquarium for free!

The view of Boston from our booth

Anemone

Cowfish!

Jellies

The flat guys...a flounder and some kind of skate(?)

Myrtle, the turtle they've had since the 1970s. She's huuuuge!

Here she is by another turtle for comparison. She was bigger than me!

Penguins! African (black band) and Little (no black band)

African penguin

I want this guy's job!

Sadly this picture didn't turn out, but I wanted to include the Rockhopper penguins!

"I'm a pir-ah-nah!" (If you don't know that reference...go watch Finding Nemo)

a pile of seahorses

Sea lions! they were so playful all day...until I went to take a picture

Boston has some really cool buildings!

We got stuck in "traffic" on the way out!

Sorry it's been so long since I have been able to post! I can't believe how quickly the past two weeks have flown by.

I'm quickly settling into a routine, and work-wise, things are still chugging along. We finished the posters that I had been designing since I started (with good timing...the event is next weekend!) Since then, I've been working on my trail guide speech for when I lead tours, as well as coming up with activities to lead all summer - some of my favorites include a trivia day with facts about the refuge, as well as bringing back the photography contest from last year.

A willet!

The willet, with its mate.

This hole is the nest for some belted kingfishers!
The birds are super cool, but unfortunately
too fast for me to get a good photo of them.

At the cafe, I've apparently been doing well enough that she had me training a new girl yesterday! Also of note, we got a new cash register that only looks about 10 years out of date, instead of the one that was probably about 30 years old...haha.

However, my off time has been much more interesting! The kids at the house have all been wonderful, and we've been having a lot of fun. This weekend we went dancing one night in Provincetown (the very tippy top/end of the Cape), and the atmosphere there is so much fun! Everyone's super friendly, walking their dogs, and it's so gorgeous. The next night we went to the house of one of the full-time biologists, where we had a campfire and just sat around and talked. We go to $1 bowling on Monday nights, and we've taken to going on group bike rides on nice evenings.

This upcoming weekend should be interesting! My other visitor's services intern should be arriving tomorrow night, and on Sunday I'm going up to the New England Aquarium to run a booth in honor of World's Ocean Day! I'm so excited, it should be really great! (I just hope I don't get in trouble for wandering too much...I want to check out the aquarium so bad!)

This week was relatively uneventful. Both jobs went well all week, nothing too interesting to report. The worst of it was that I had a couple come in this afternoon, and the husband was complaining about the refuge (and government/wildlife management in general) having too many rules. How dare a small portion of the beach get roped off for a few weeks so endangered birds can successfully nest, when people want to drive their cars on the beach? Why can't taxpayers camp inside the renovated lighthouse, even though it's so rickety inside it's a hazard to be in there? Why can't people go fishing on the specially protected land even though we are on the coast and there are miles and miles of beaches to fish off of? Fortunately, the refuge manager overheard, and finally stepped in to rescue me. It's not my fault, people! Other than that, I spent my week mostly still working on the anniversary posters. The first one is finished finally, hooray!

Here are some more photos! I accidentally forgot the cord to my camera at home, so my wonderful family just mailed it to me - thanks guys!

Wild strawberries! (Fragaria virginiana)

Another herring gull. They're everywhere!

A Gray Catbird, they really do sound like mewling kittens

A pretty butterfly, according to my Google sleuthing it is a Red Admiral!

Beach Plum! (Prunus maritima)

Horseshoe crabs...almost stepped on my toes they got so close...

Jealous?

Beach Rose (Rosa rugosa)

Starflower (Trientalis borealis)

The salt marsh area of the refuge

Forget-me-not! (maybe?)

:)