Maurice and Thomas are signed up as APICDA interns, and we started work today. The day was a little windy, but we had some great spells of good weather, which made working outside much easier.
We spent most of the day doing COASST (Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team) surveys on two beaches along the North Coast of St. George. These beaches are monitored each month during the summer season by the Fish and Wildlife Service crew, and any dead birds found are recorded. We talked about citizen science, and how important the COASST data are for providing a baseline of information about seabird mortality.
Great surf action, lots of great driftwood, one fox patrolling through the rocks…. and one dead bird! Maurice and Thomas identified the dead bird as a murre, and we followed the COASST protocol for recording it.
We then marked out a 100m transect for a Marine Debris survey, and looked for the presence of marine debris within marked segments on the beach. No marine debris within our random survey segments.
After all the wind and sounds of surf, everyone nearly fell asleep in the warm truck on the way home!
The evening was spent at the Rec Hall, working on a variety of seabird art projects. Tristen painted a beautiful nest on his rock, and the twins and Brady loved doing water-color.
