Tag: wildlife volunteer

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Update from our volunteer vacation / conservation holiday protecting whales, dolphins and turtles around the Azores archipelago (www.biosphere-expeditions.org/azores)

Our third day at sea was the perfect illustration of why fieldwork brings both freedom and frustration.

The whales were using the freedom of the ocean to disappear without a trace and we were being drawn into a nautical game of hide and seek. How hard is it to find 50 tonnes of whale? – very, when they can dive for 90 minutes on one breath and descend to 1000 m below the surface.

But the team are a determined bunch. With ‘eyes all around’ looking in every direction the sperm whale had to ‘blow’ its cover at some point.

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Eyes around

 

We also had one other trick up our sleeve, as Annabel deployed the hydrophone – an underwater microphone to listen in on the whale’s world. We then had a better sense where it may be moving. The audio-visual vigilance paid off and a single male sperm whale was finally spotted and photographed for the identification records.

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Deploying the hydrophone

 

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Sperm whale fluke success

 

The weather also conspired against us, with increasing winds restricting our movements around Faial. With a limited search area, the dolphins also proved elusive, with just a handful of common and bottlenose sighted. The turtles were the only ones keeping up a regular appearance and giving any consistency to the data.

This is why we are here – to better understand the patterns of appearance and disappearance. After all, any record or none at all – they are all still valuable data.

Update from our volunteer vacation / conservation holiday protecting whales, dolphins and turtles around the Azores archipelago

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Update from our volunteer vacation / conservation holiday protecting whales, dolphins and turtles around the Azores archipelago (www.biosphere-expeditions.org/azores)

If our first day at sea was about diversity (with blue, sperm and humpback whales; not to mention the common and bottlenose dolphins), our second day was all about intensity.

After the obligatory turtle sighting from Carlos (winning the prize for the first spot of the day), common dolphins were again added to the sightings list, but this time with calves. Our lookouts (Anthony and Simon) then proved their worth with a dolphin shout that turned out to be Risso’s, again with calves. With hieroglyphic scratches covering their bodies, this not only makes them distinctive, but also gives a window on their history.

Risso’s dolphin sighted off Pico Island – the scratch marks on the dorsal fin aids identification. Picture courtesy of Craig Turner.
Risso’s dolphin sighted off Pico Island – the scratch marks on the dorsal fin aids identification. Picture courtesy of Craig Turner.

Body art was also a theme for the part of the day, as we observed the ‘chevron patterns’ of several fin whales – these markings behind the head are partly used to identify individuals.

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Trying to identify a fin whale from its chevron markings. Picture courtesy of Craig Turner.

The afternoon was reserved for sperm whales by the dozen. Keeping the team busy recording blow rates and fluke photographs for identification of individuals. Several of the females observed were also with calves. There must be something in the water!

Until tomorrow.

Craig

Update from our volunteer vacation / conservation holiday protecting whales, dolphins and turtles around the Azores archipelago

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Update from our volunteer vacation / conservation holiday protecting whales, dolphins and turtles around the Azores archipelago (www.biosphere-expeditions.org/azores)

This is Anthony, Craig’s assistant expedition leader, reporting on our first day out at sea.

Datasheets at the ready, we set sail this morning. Within moments of leaving the dock, we spied our first pod of common dolphins. In the rush to get the corresponding paperwork to document this event, a turtle was spotted by Annabel. Now hurriedly looking for the turtle sheet we were now in the bay and into the blue.

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Common dolphins
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Turtle

With the early records documented, we saw our first blow in the distance. It belonged to a humpback whale. Before we could get there, it had dived. Luckily, however, the radio, operated by our spotters on land, reported sightings of a baleen whale, so we powered in that direction.

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Humpback whale

 

When we arrived we discovered it was the mother of all baleens, the mighty blue whale. We patiently watched it as it swam gently on its way before diving and giving us five minutes or so of Meerkat-style peering around in all directions to see where the next blow came from.

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Blue whale

 

Eventually we headed off and happened upon our humpback again, waving at us with his enormous pectoral flipper.

The day was rounded off with a group sperm whales until we had to make our way back to the harbour and call it a day.

Sperm whale
Sperm whale

All in all we could not have hoped for a better first day. What will tomorrow bring…?

Update from our volunteer vacation / conservation holiday protecting whales, dolphins and turtles around the Azores archipelago

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Update from our volunteer vacation / conservation holiday protecting whales, dolphins and turtles around the Azores archipelago (www.biosphere-expeditions.org/azores)

After an early start for the final pieces of preparation, we can at last say a big Azorean welcome to our expeditioners.

The team all arrived safely, from the north, east and west; via a mix of routes and modes of transport. The good news is they are all present and correct and very excited. So the first slot of 2015 officially begins.

With initial introductions, risks assessments and briefings completed, we stretched our legs with a whistle–stop orientation around Horta. Whilst important for us to impart the initial project knowledge, it has been great to learn about our new team. The day was rounded off with our first dinner, created in-house by the team – a tasty vegetarian pasta it was too!

Rested and recuperated from the travel and briefing exertions of yesterday, the science training began today. Familiarisation with equipment was followed by data records training, and rounded off with a boat orientation – though the latter was slightly delayed, as our vessel went (without us) to the aid of another boat stranded engineless in the harbour – always be prepared for the unexpected!

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The research vessel

 

Slightly less than unexpected was the small ‘weather spanner’ thrown into the workings of the expedition, as our training session at sea was postponed by high winds. Tomorrow looks more favourable, so it will be all systems go as our team put their new-found knowledge into practice. The whales won’t have to wait for us much longer 😉

The weather delay meant Lisa (our scientist) could give a background talk on cetaceans, and the team could acquaint themselves with the data entry and the fluke matching process – how we identify and track individual whales.

The day was rounded off learning key identification features of species we will hopefully encounter, the team are now poised and ready for action. All we need now is a good night’s rest and the right weather for whales…

Update from our volunteer vacation / conservation holiday protecting whales, dolphins and turtles around the Azores archipelago

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Update from our volunteer vacation / conservation holiday protecting whales, dolphins and turtles around the Azores archipelago (www.biosphere-expeditions.org/azores)

Hello everyone

It’s time for the initial introductions. I am Craig Turner and I’ll be your expedition leader in the Azores this year. It is great to be going back after my first stint last year.

I am already on route, having packed my gear and left the snowy hills of north Scotland yesterday. Today is the Lake District to Lisbon leg, and tomorrow Horta. It will be great to meet up with friends and colleagues from last year, not least our scientist Lisa Steiner. If you want to find cetaceans in the Azores, then she is the person to find them. Last year, my baptism was blue – a great way to kick off our data collection. Who knows what it will be this year, with an early and rare rumour of orcas in the wider area.

I arrive a couple of days before you in order to set up the expedition headquarters. We’ll have Anthony and Chris as expedition-leaders-in-training along with us on each slot, which will be a great addition to the team. I’ll send around another message once I get on the ground in Horta and confirm my local telephone number.

This reminds to mention communications on the island. There’s mobile phone reception on Faial in addition to internet here and there, but there’s also a golden rule of no cell phones while we’re at sea. Hopefully you can resist the need for frequent international comms, and why not go off the grid for the expedition, and soak up the expedition experience.

I know you’ve all been eagerly reading your expedition materials and know to bring many layers of clothing. The weather can be a bit like four seasons in one day, so prepare for warm, cold, wet and dry. Like the weather in Scotland! Don’t forget your waterproof trousers – you’ll thank me when you are stationed on the bow as a lookout and the weather is choppy.

So with the local team in place, whale sightings already logged by Lisa, all we are missing is you. This Monday morning is hopefully one we are all looking forward to….. It will be great to meet you all and I’ll send along another update very soon.

Safe travels…

Craig

 

Update from our volunteer vacation / conservation holiday protecting whales, dolphins and turtles around the Azores archipelago

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From our desert expedition volunteering with oryx and wildcats in Arabia (http://www.biosphere-expeditions.org/arabia)

Well that’s another Arabia expedition over and a lot of valuable data collected, which will be thoroughly analysed over the next few weeks and months to go into this year’s expedition report. The team finished surveying their quadrants yesterday and gathered up all the live traps (aimed at sand foxes and Gordon’s wildcats), rodent traps and camera traps from throughout the reserve on one final drive-around.

Unfortunately there were no more captures in the live traps, but there was a lot of evidence of fox activity around the traps and one team did see cat tracks on Thursday.

There were more captures of Cheesman’s gerbils in the rodent traps, which suggests that their population is at a good level, which is important as they are a major food source of the Gordon’s wildcat and eagle owls. We were certainly made aware of the eagle owls’ presence during the last two nights with incessant hooting in the nearby ghaf trees!

The camera traps photographed a lot of oryx and two Arabian red foxes, but no Gordon’s wildcat. This does not mean that there are no wildcats, but it reinforces the estimate of just how rare they are.

The initial summary of the sightings in the quadrant surveys indicates that the populations of Arabian gazelles and sand gazelles are good and the health of the oryx herd is really good, based on the fact that they are now breeding, which they have not really done over recent years. Each herd recorded had several calves and one herd had eight.

On Thursday afternoon (the hottest day of the week at 36°C), we were joined by the reserve’s botanist, Tamir, and Head of Conservation, Greg, to be shown the new drone. A flight was planned covering the area around our camp, which is being surveyed by air to assess the vegetation cover and type. We were all able to watch the drone being launched and fly transects backwards and forwards looking like a big bird and sounding like a very distant mosquito.The DDCR scientists are very excited about this new development in the technology that can be used to help them do their jobs with minimal impact on the habitat and wildlife.

So we said our thanks and farewells to the team this morning and hope to see them again on future expeditions. Many thanks also to the DDCR and the scientists for another great expedition and we look forward to 2016 by which time a few Arabian wolves will hopefully have been introduced into the reserve and we’ll have even more work to do…

Thanks to all our participants. Your work has become an integral part of conservation efforts in Dubai. You could have shopped, shopped, shopped, but instead you spent a week in the desert surverying, surveying and surveying. Well done and thank you so much.

Kate

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From our desert expedition volunteering with oryx and wildcats in Arabia (http://www.biosphere-expeditions.org/arabia)

The team have now settled into the daily routine, which is firstly checking the cat/fox traps and rodent traps that they set up on Sunday followed by surveying three 2 x 2 km quadrants of the reserve on foot with the help of binoculars, spotting scopes and range finders. In the evening the teams enter their data onto the acientist’s computer to be analysed at the end of the expedition.

After two full days of surveying we have sighted most of the study animals – oryx, Arabian gazelles, sand gazelles, Arabian red fox, Mcqueen’s bustard and lappet-faced vulture. The biggest difference we have noted, compared to last year’s expedition, is the presence of lots of oryx calves, some only a couple of weeks old, which is an indicator that the oryx population is thriving. The photo is of one herd’s young on top of a sand dune near one of the tracks we drive on to get around the reserve.

The northern team (Kate, Melanie, Neil and Andre) had a live capture yesterday morning of a black and white ferral cat (see picture). These are the biggest threat to the endangered Gordon’s wildcat due to interbreeding and competition, so this cat has now been taken outside the reserve.

Almost all of the team members have now had a rodent capture in the smaller traps. We are assessing the rodent population, because it is the food source of the Gordon’s wildcat and Pharoah’s eagle owl, but is also being hunted by the Arabian red foxes. In the pictures Jörg is about to handle a Cheesman’s gerbil (yes, that is it’s name) to discover its sex and body measurement and mark it before re-releasing. Well, this was the plan but the gerbil had a different idea and ran up Jörg’s arm and out of the trap before he could get a proper grip!

There are two and a half more days left to complete the survey of the reserve before we retrieve the live and camera traps and get an overview of the data we have collected. In the meantime we are enjoying our long sandy survey walks in the warm sunny weather and it seems too soon to be thinking about the end!

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From our desert expedition volunteering with oryx and wildcats in Arabia (http://www.biosphere-expeditions.org/arabia)

Just a quick note to update a few things relating to the expedition. We now have confirmation from the local vet that he will come out on Sunday to assist our three groups to dart and radio collar three individual oryx.

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There will be a local photographer here while we are working (a friend of the scientist) who is going to make a short film of the expedition to put to music. He will use a GoPro camera and a drone to take action shots of us driving around the reserve and walking in the dunes in addition to filming the study animals in their natural habitat. He has offered to do this purely to support the conservation activities, so the film will be made available for Biosphere Expeditions to use.

Looking forward to meeting the team at 09:00 tomorrow morning for the start of the expedition!

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From our desert expedition volunteering with oryx and wildcats in Arabia (http://www.biosphere-expeditions.org/arabia)

Last night Malika and I spent our first night sleeping under the stars at our base camp in the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve (DDCR). We planned an early night and a lie-in after our long journeys and were woken by the loud dawn chorus at 6.30 – during the expedition this won’t happen because the expedition team will be the early birds!

Sunset

Early morning is the best time to start our research work as we are more likely to see the study animals and we will need to free any animals that may be caught in our live traps as soon as possible to minimise any (heat) stress to them.

This morning the workers of the DDCR came to prepare an area for our Bedu and then they erected it in record time while we were away from camp collecting all the food for the expedition.

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The car was so full of food I think we, like the oryx, will be well fed while we are in the reserve.

food car

This year there will be no body condition scoring of the oryx because the last survey carried out a few months ago by the local scientists showed that they are now all in good condition. Still, we will have plenty to do with the new tasks I mentioned in the last diary entry and if we get time during the expedition, we may even get a chance to fly a drone – the latest piece of equipment to arrive at the DDCR for use in their research work.

The rest of this week we will be busy preparing our equipment and datasheets and setting up camp ready for the arrival of the team on Saturday – no more lie-ins for us!

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From our desert expedition volunteering with oryx and wildcats in Arabia (http://www.biosphere-expeditions.org/arabia)

Hello everyone, happy new year and welcome to the first diary entry for Biosphere Expeditions’ fourth Arabia expedition taking place in January 2015. My name is Kate Fox and I will be your expedition leader for this project along with Malika Fettak. We were both in Arabia almost a year ago and are very much looking forward to returning to continue with this valuable research work.

At the moment I am in West Wales (cold and windy), preparing paperwork and equipment, but next Monday I will be flying to Dubai to meet up with Malika for more preparation work in the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve (currently 27°C and sunny).

On this expedition we will continue to survey and monitor the endangered Arabian oryx and other species in the reserve including sand fox and extremely elusive Gordon’s wildcat. Our survey techniques include setting live traps and camera traps and using GPS to navigate around the reserve by car and on foot – a good chance to burn off all those excess calories after Christmas, tramping up and down sand dunes for several hours a day! Live traps will be set up not only targeting sand foxes, but also a variety of smaller rodents since not much is known about their presence/absence in the DDCR and the behaviour of some of them. We will record everything we see, whether it is the study animals themselves or their tracks in the sand. For the first time during this expedition, we will also be darting Arabian oryx and attaching radio collars to monitor their movements. Three collars are waiting to do their job. The data delivered from the collars will help to build up a picture of their movements and behaviour, how far each herd ranges and what their preferred feeding places are.

Keep an eye out for our next diary entry from Arabia next week and in the meantime Happy New Year!

Kate

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