Day 9, October 26, 2007

This morning Cindy made a presentation about her work with North Atlantic Right Whales. They were named Right Whales because they were considered the "right" whale to hunt. This was due to the amount of blubber and oil they had which caused them to float after they were killed, making it more convenient for the whalers. Right Whales are identified through 3 processes: photo identifications of their callous growths on their noses and faces, dart biopsies, and fecal samples. They use a dog trained like those who sniff for drugs, but these are trained to locate Right Whale feces. In the afternoon we headed to the harbor. We were surveying sea otter prey on the mudflats...it was very muddy.

This is my last day with this Earthwatch expedition. It's been wonderful and I want to close by extending my appreciation and thanks to the cast of this awesome and inspiring expedition.
The stars, or course, are the marine mammals - the bottlenose dolphins, sea otters, sea lions, harbor seals and humpback whales.










... the excellent supporting cast are the members of Team 7:
The Principle Investigators - Daniela & Thomas
The Field Coordinator - Cindy
The Research Assistant - Mark
The Earthwatch Staff Member - Stacey
The Local Volunteers - Ron, Robert & Tom
The Team Volunteers - Jeanette, Cathy, Shirley, & Alex









Last, but not least, I especially want to thank those who helped to make this experience possible...The National Geographic Education Foundation, The Parent Staff Organization (PSO) of Edmonds Woodway H.S. and The Child Hearing League.