Author Archives:
OCEAN NOISE: KEY FACTOR IN THE STATE OF THE SALISH SEA
Larry Pynn is publishing a special, six-part series on the State of the Salish Sea. We are happy for our work to be included. His piece on 18 April addresses an issue that resonates with us: using hydrophones [underwater microphones] to measure ocean noise levels, while simultaneously collecting information on whale presence. We are a [...]
Pink Moon
“A Pink Moon is the full moon of April, named for the herb, “moss pink”, or wild ground phlox, which is one of the earliest widespread flowers of the spring. Other names for this month’s celestial body include the Full Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, and among coastal tribes the Full Fish Moon, because [...]
Earth Hour
We spent a very quiet, peaceful Earth Hour in a small village by the sea in Scotland. Wherever you are this year, we hope you find an hour to unplug and reflect. Check out these earth-friendly tips from the people at Bullfrog Power and some of their customers.
INSPIRATION
“One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am — a reluctant enthusiast… a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. [...]
A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
Maybe it’s a sign that we’re spending too much time in front of our computers these days, but it’s been fun to post some of our favourite whale & dolphin pictures on Pinterest. Pinterest is a wildly popular and addictive website that allows you to pin, post & share photographs. It has allowed us [...]
Happy LEAP(S) Year
Happy Leap(s) Year! Here, we call it LEAPS Year, because that’s the snazzy acronym for our dolphin project: Lagenorhynchus Ecology, Abundance and Population Status. This time of year, our dolphin research involves a lot of time in front of the computer. We’re training computers to screen thousands of hours of underwater recordings to detect dolphin calls in [...]
FREE RINGTONE: A HUMPBACK WHALE SINGING IN DOUGLAS CHANNEL, BC
One of the things that makes humpback whales so interesting to study is their iconic song. Many of us first heard these haunting sounds when Dr Roger Payne published them in a vinyl, floppy 45rpm soundsheet in an old issue of National Geographic. Generally, humpbacks sing on their breeding grounds (in Hawaii and Mexico), and [...]
Five Ways to Show Your Love for the Ocean.
Whale you be my Valentine? I dolphinately will! Illustration by Leafeon via Quid Pro Quo on Tumblr Love prompts us to do brave, romantic and sometimes foolish things. To paraphrase Elizabeth Barrett-Browning, today we’re asking ourselves: How do I love thee, Ocean? Let me count the ways. We came up with 5. On Valentine’s Day this [...]
OCEANS ELEVEN
Our plan was to spend a quiet year in Scotland. Erin’s making great strides on her PhD on Pacific white-sided dolphins. Rob won a Marie Curie Fellowship to model the effects of noise on whale populations. But MAN! This ended up being one of our busiest years ever. Here are 11 of our highlights of [...]
photo by J. Towers
