Spring Happenings

Hello choir! 

 I started off this summer as an adopted momma peep.  The local trashmen found these baby birds in the bottom of a trashcan.  Yes, they are invasive, but babies just the same.  Welcome baby starling!

As time went on, 5 weeks to be exact, they were ready for the great outdoors.  I opened the cage and away they flew.  Not for long where as they always returned to the deck in search of food.

     To move them off the deck we started feeding them outside and around the corner of the house out of reach of my roomates big black hungry lab, Reed.  The peeps ate a diet of marinated dogfood in water, applesauce, and a hard boiled egg.  Thank you internet....and Reed.  In the beginning they needed to be fed every twenty minutes.  As time went on it was every hour, then every two.  When I had a kayaking tour I had to bring over to my dads to peepsit.  Thanks pop-pop!

 Whenever myself or my roomate, Auntie Jamie, would walk outside the peeps would fly to us and land on our arms, and sometimes in our hair.  We hung a clothsline and they used to sit on that too.  Not the smartest decision considering clean clothes. 
     Its been two days now and no signs of the peeps.  They have found there flock.  I miss them, but am glad they are still wild.  So long baby starlings!

I had a very special guest this week paddling.  Bosco rode along with his mom Megan on a two hour kayak paddle.  He even took a nap.  Birding isn`t for everyone.

Happening at the Nature Center

     For the past couple weeks we have been working hard in our youth garden at the Bethany Beach Nature Center.  This year we planted goliath sunflowers, zinnias, marigolds, morning glory, and pumpkins and gourds to help bring us into the fall.

Birds of Baja~ Bahia Magdelana into the Gulf of California.

This picture was taken in Bahia Magdelana on one the sandbars.  The white pelican also frequents this sandy spot.

Brown Pelican

Huge and dark in coloring.  Water birds with long flat bills and great throat pouches.  They have a long neck, to better scoop the fish with!  They feed mainly on fish and crustaceans.

This Turkey Vulture sits high above on a Cardon Cactus on Isla Carmen in Baja

Turkey Vultures

Vultures are blackish eagle-like scavengers, often seen soaring high on thermals.  They are often called “buzzards” The turkey vulture has 2-toned wings, a small red head, and long tail.

A wonderful Bird is the Pelican

Whose beak can hold more than his belly can

In his beak, he can hold enough food for a week

And I just don`t know how the heck he can!

Long tailed tropic bird

Tropicbirds are related to pelicans but most closely resemble terns.  They have a greatly elongated central tail feathers, and a slightly decurved bill.  They feed on squids and small crustaceans and they only live in tropical seas.  The white-tailed tropicbird has a yellow or orange bill.

Blue-Footed Booby

The Blue footed Booby is white with black flight feathers and BLUE feet.  The boobies are gull-like with large pointed bills and pointed tails.  The boobies dive from the air, headfirst and feed on fish and squids.  Boobies inhabit mostly tropic climates.  Gannets, their cousins, inhabit cooler waters, for example in DE!

Humpback Whales

Humpback whale

Humpback whales are cetaceans, meaning they are a part of a class with many common features.  One being they are all streamlined and elongated in the shaping of their body.  They lack external hind limbs. But have forelimbs that are modified into flippers.  Cetaceans have a dorsal fin that is situated near the center of the back.  Their skin is smooth and hairless.  Humpbacks also fall into the Baleen whale category.  Baleen is a filtration system in the mouth that serves to filter pry from large amounts of seawater.    These whales have evolved to take advantage the largest and most abundant source of food in the oceans: small schooling fish.  Baleen consists of several hundred plates that hang from the upper jaw in two racks.  One on each side of the mouth.  The humpbacks gulp a tremendous amount of seawater and prey, pushing the water through the baleen filter; they extract the krill and fish.  The baleen is the consistency of our fingernails.

Flippers(pectoral fins) are the paddle-like shaped limbs of a cetacean.  A  common behavior of the Humpback is sticking his flippers up in the air to help in cooling the whales temperature down.  The pec fins are full of blood vessels.

Breaching is when the whales jumps or clears the water’s surface.  There still is much debate as to why they do this.  With only two pumps of the tail these humpbacks can project their selves completely out of the water.  On average, the humpbacks weigh 90,000 pounds.  Adult humpbacks reach lengths upwards of 52-56 feet with the males being slightly smaller than the females.

Flukes are the two horizontally flattened, fin like structures that make up a whales tale.  The underside of a whale’s tale is their fingerprint.  Much like our finger prints tell us apart, the shapes and colorings of the underside of the humpbacks tale tells them apart.

Gray Whales in Magdelena Bay, Baja Mexico

We believe that the whales like to be splashed.  In this picture you can see my friend Leah and I splashing.  Also, if you look closely, you can see the barnacles that have formed on this whale.

Spy hopping is a common behavior among the Gray Whales.  Spy hopping is when the gray whale raises its head vertically out of the water to have a look around.  Some researchers believe that the Gray whales can see equally as good above the surface as well as below.  These whales can be pretty curious.  Gray whales frequently are attracted to boats, approaching alongside some of the zodiacs you see here in the picture. The calves will approach with mom not far behind.  While watching these whales, you get to enjoy seeing the relationship with mother and calve.  The baby will roll over and over the top of mom.  The baby feeds on milk the mother produces.  The consistency of the milk is over 80% fats.  The baby needs these nutrients to gain weight for the long journey north.

Gray Whale

The Gray whales makes one if the longest annual migrations of any marine mammal.  They travel 5,000 miles from their northern food source, south to their breeding grounds in the shallow waters of the Northern Pacific.  Here they give birth to one calve a season.  They remain in these waters for a few months raising their calves, nursing them to help them grow strong for their long journey north. The moms stay with the young for 7 to 9 months before leaving the calve to fend for itself.  The gray Whales do not form lasting associations.

The Gray whale has a molted gray body and is covered in barnacles and lice.  When the babies, the calves, are born they are mostly dark in color.   The young start their life at about 16` long and grow to about 49`.  The average lifespan of the Gray Whale is more than 40 years.   

The whales’ skin feels like a sopping wet sponge!

Sea-Lions at Los Islotes

California Sealion

Adult males are brown, and females are generally tan, with a slightly darker chest and belly.  The Males, Bulls are larger than the females.  Adult Males can weight 440-860lbs.  Females 100-250lbs.  Here this sealion is swimming among thousands of sardines.  No lack of food here!

In the wild the California Sea lion is both playful and intelligent.  The behavior of the females and juveniles are usually playful.  The male Sea lion or the Bull tend to be a little aggressive and territorial.  The bulls produce a honking bark.

The pups like to nibble just like puppies!

The Sea-Lions are normally seen in coastal waters and on islands with rocky shorelines or sandy beaches.

The spot where we dive is called Los Islotes(the small islands).  This is an active hall out spot for the sea lions.  When our ship anchors off of this island we see and hear many sea lions all barking and negotiating for space on the rocks.

Tarantula

The bite of a Tarantula hurts very much and can send you to the hospital.  They say that the hairs are even more bothersome, whereas they are very small and fibrous and just by having the Tarantula walk across you, he sheds his hairs and they begin to itch and burn continually.  It is very similar to rubbing up against fiberglass but worse.  The tarantula has two fangs.

The Scorpion has two pinchers and one stinger.  They like to live in the dry desert, under anything.  People say they find them in their shoes and in the cupboard, anywhere they can hide. Most of the scorpions you will find here in Baja will not kill you, but hurt very bad.  There are some on the West coast of mainland Mexico that will kill you.  There are about 44 different species here.  Our local naturalist William will catch them for us so that we may have a peak

William can catch the scorpions with his hands!

Here is a picture of me and my favorite naturalist, William.  William Lopez-Formet is born and raised in Mexico and has been an educator all his life.  Williams’s special interest is the relationship of fruit bats, pollination and plants.  Sometimes we find bats drying in the engine room!

Meet some of the Crew!

This is what happens when you leave your camera laying around the ship!  El Capitan might scoop it up for a candid shot! 

 Captain Mark Graves is the Master of the Seabird and is in charge of everthing.  He is great to work with and you feel safe with him at the helm.  Capt. has just retired with his wife, Michele, after 21years with the company for a little sailing of his own.  He will be missed.

First Mate, or Chief we call her is Kendra Lei Nelson.  She is second in command of the ship and is a very good friend of mine.  Kendra is in charge of all the deckhands and outside workings of the vessel as well as the safety officer.  If you get hurt, she fixes it! 

Alexis is 3rd Mate of the Seabird.  She is in charge of all the kayak opperations onboard and making sure everyone knows where all the safety equipment is, like fire extinguishers!  She is also my workout buddy.  We try to do daily exercises onboard.  We have to get creative on a moving boat!

Deckies!!!!  Here are two of the four most valuable players onboard, Deckhands.  Sheryl and Amelia.  If you loose it, they find it.  If you break it, they fix it.  The deckhands work the hardest of hours. 12 on/12 off around the clock.  There is always 2 up in the middle of the night making sure everything is shipshape while we sleep.  They also hull the trash, check the engine room, paint the deck, load and unload passengers, etc,etc,etc.  MVP`s for sure!

Adam, the Bosun.  Adam has a very busy job buzzing back and forth from the ship in one of our 4 zodiacs full of passengers.  He is in charge of all the maintenance of these little guys and well as their appearance!

Probably the most popular of all crew, Carla.  Carla is the ships pantry chef. THE COOKIE BAKER.  Her cookies are so good, she has to hide them from the crew.  It`s a good thing too, because she might not have many left if she didn`t!  We love Carla!

Aaaahhh the Naturalist.  Sheran and Alberto.  Here are 2 of the 6 or so Naturalist onboard.  If you have a question about the outside environment they will know the answer.  These guys assist the guests on their expeditions ashore as well as point out all the birds and whales that we see.  They are a wealth of knowledge.

Here`s some of my crew.  The stewards!!!!!  This picture is taken just before dinner service.  Our job is to wait on the passengers and to tidy their rooms when they are out.  Sometimes we have to work in the Galley washing dishes too.  That my job next week, yikes!

Our Executive chef, Singyn Hunter.  In this picture he is spinning sugar to don the dessert for the evening.  He is an excelent chef.  He not only makes the meals for guests, he is in charge of crew meals too.  He makes us sushi, chocolate-coconut breadpudding, nachos,Thai food.  All kinds of good stuff.  Gotta watch it with him onboard so you don`t gain too much weight!  Check out the Galley.  This small kitchen cooks for over 90 people....that`s a lot of dishes....

Michele Graves is our Expedition Leader.  Michele is a super organizer.  She, with the help of her husband, the captain, plan the day for the guests.  She has to take into account the direction of the wind, the tides, and the needs of the guests.  Michele is a very busy lady, but not too busy to give the weary crew a ride to la playa,(the beach) for the afternoon.  Thanks Michele!

Christmas Dinner aboard the ship.  We decided to set the table and have a fancy dinner before we dressed and got ready for our shift.