johnsr26's Journal

Last Tuesday (11/6), we took the boat out to work on our research project here at UW's Friday Harbor Labs. My partner and I are assisting one of the grad students here with his community ecology work with Copper Rockfish (Sebastes caurinus). For our project we are looking at the predator-prey relationship between rockfish and shrimp, and figuring out a good way to assess shrimp predation. To do this, we drop frames at two different sites in the area. We took the boat out in the morning, and despite the overcast weather, it was quite peaceful. The water was calm and the rain had not yet begun and there were many animals out enjoying themselves. In addition to the MANY seabirds we saw, we also saw a lot of Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina) and a few Harbor Porpoises (Phocena phocena). We set out both frames successfully, and deployed a GoPro camera with one so we could get some video footage. All in all it was a beautiful morning to be out on the water!

I was definitely excited to wake up and see the sun bright and shining today. After getting some work done, I took a nice adventure walk along the shore on campus. The island is so beautiful - we even saw a bald eagle! After spending a little time down on the dock we went for a row around Brown Island. We saw over 10 different Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina) and a bunch of Glaucous Gulls (Larus hyperboreus) while we were out. Spent some more time on the dock when we got back to enjoy the last little bit of sunlight and then a great sunset. Hoping it stays clear tonight please no rain!) to go to some nightlighting down off the dock and see some cool fish!

To take advantage of the beautiful and sunny weekend we had here, a group of us headed to Orcas Island on Saturday to hike Mount Constitution. Starting off at Mountain Lake, we hiked 7.5 miles round-trip up to the top of Mount Constitution (to the tower!) and back down past Twin Lakes. Our first viewpoint introduced a clear view of Mount Baker from a cold and windy open cliff. We saw our first bald eagle of the day there as it flew in front of us right at eye level! The rest of the hike consisted of similar view points, revealing more and more of the Salish Sea and surrounding San Juan islands each time. As we approached the top of the mountain, we noticed the change in scenery and the transition of the trees. In addition to the change of community, the elevation gain also introduced paths covered in thick ice crystals and numerous frozen pond/swamp-like areas. Every here and there, we came across bright green moss covered fields throughout the trees. On our trip back down, the trail brought us around past Twin lakes and back down to Mountain Lake. We saw some buffleheads hanging out in both lakes and by the time we reached Mountain lake again, we saw cedar trees growing along the water for the first time. The sunny weather made for an amazing hike on a beautiful island, despite the cold temperatures.