So let's talk about the rocky inter-tidal area we went to on Thursday. It was way different than the mud flats that we had gone to the day before. I mean, obviously there were more rocks (hence the "rocky" part of the name) but the wildlife there was much different as well. In the mud flats there were a bunch of snails and not a lot of hermit crabs, but in the rocks that make up this area, there was a complete reversal. There were not only a very limited number of snails, but the hermit crab population was infinitely bigger. They were everywhere.
But that wasn't the only thing that was different. Because the mud flats were made of soft sediments, they would change every once in a while when the tide goes in, which would mean that where there was a tide pool today could be different than where there was a tide pool yesterday or the day before. But the rocky area on Thursday was much different. The animals here could hide in the same spot they were in the day before if they were lucky enough to find it again. This area doesn't change very quickly, so the tide pools here were more colorful and had a bunch of different organisms living in them. And I thought that it was very interesting to see this drastic change between the two areas.
As for interesting things in this area: we learned that the crabs here are very temperamental, and don't like to be handled, fish can always find a place to hide in the water, amazing looking shells that you go to pick up are actually the bodies of crabs which can easily outsmart you (one minute it was there, the next it was gone and I have no clue where it went), and the algae that grows on the rocks can be very slippery.
But that was not the only thing that we did on Thursday. We also helped with a census of the local Osprey populations. We checked the nests for offspring, and although we didn't see any some of the adults watched us very carefully, and the adults in the area. For every giant pole that had a nest on the top of it, we painted a number on the pole big enough that you could see it from the road. I thought this was an amazing experience, and I could have done this for several more hours.
When I first signed up for this trip, I thought that it would be a neat adventure but seeing as this is a 'marine biology' class experience, it wouldn't have a lot of relevance or impact on my future. I'm not a huge fan of fish and I thought that that was all we would be doing. I was hoping that I would be able to use at least one trick I learned at CEDO in the future but I wasn't sure I could tweak something made for marine life for wildlife on land. But doing this census on the osprey made me realize that I am exactly on track for what I want to do in the future. And if given a chance, I would happily help with something like this again!
Now yesterday, Friday in this case, we went out on our scuba trip. On Thursday we went to this scuba shop and met the owner of the boat we were going to Bird Island with, and figured out what scuba equipment we needed and in what sizes. So on Friday we wake up an hour earlier than usual because we have to meet the boat at 6:30 am. After getting lost and turned around we make it to the boat, on time actually, and we grab our stuff and get on the boat.
I thought it was going okay for a while, but I started to get seasick and I didn't feel like participating the rest of the trip. But from what I saw and heard, between naps, was amazing. The island that we went to is called bird island.
Now the history of Bird Island is that it was used by the US Armed Forces as a post during WWII as a protective measure to make sure that the Japanese couldn't use the Sea of Cortez as a way to invade mainland America. I thought that that was pretty cool and if you look close enough at the island, you can still see where some of the well worn areas of the island are.
However, it is illegal to set foot on the island. This is because rats were brought to this island by boat, and killed off the bird population. So people had to come in and kill off the rats, but the bird population soon boomed again. As is expected with an island named after the animals that call this home. And they do call it home. The island, which is only about a mile long, is almost completely white. Only the rocks near the very edge of the shore are their natural color of dark grey and black. This is because hundreds, possibly thousands, of birds nest and fish from here. This is their home. And it is covered in guano. But birds are not the only animal that live on this island.
Sea lions are here as well and they decided to come and join us when everybody went diving or snorkeling. Sea lions are very curious and playful by nature, and they showed off that side of themselves very well. The moment the boat pulled up, the noise doubled. Birds started circling and crying out, and the Sea lions got very excited and started barking and communicating with each other. It was almost deafening at first, but everything started to calm down a couple minutes later.
I have seen Sea lions in the past, but these guys were much bigger. It was cool to see them in their natural environment, and almost all of them went into the water. There was a definite difference in the sizes between the females and males. the females were a lot smaller and more agile in the water, while the males were larger and mostly stayed on land watching the boat and barking.
After two different dives, we had lunch and then headed back to CEDO. Everyone went out for pizza and I don't think that anybody had a problem sleeping.
I can't wait to see what we are doing next!
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