Cordova, Alaska: Ducks Unlimited Dusky Canada Goose Intern - Summer 2022

          Had a successful veg mapping trip last week. Was able to map a lot of cool plants, saw a ton of wildlife, and had tremendous weather the whole trip. We circled Knight Island in our four days of work, starting at the north end, then traveling down the east side to get south, and back up the west side towards the end of the trip. Knight Island is very steep in some spots, making it difficult to get out and walk at each of our plots, so we had several "boat obs" where plots could be called from boats using binoculars. Copper Bay, on the west side is surrounded by the four highest points on the island, reaching over 2500 ft in less than a mile traveling horizontally. Some plots were on cliffs, completely untraversable. The main reason for this mapping is to enhance the accuracy of a satellite that gives a comprehensive map of the vegetation of Prince William Sound. The satellite uses shapes and colors to determine what species are around, so by actually seeing the speci

This week I'll be off exploring plants in Prince William Sound on a vegetation mapping trip to Knight Island. In preparation, I went back through some photos and identified some of the vegetation I've already seen while out and about. Far from proficient in plant identification, I hope to find out more this week. More to come as I capture yet another exciting adventure.  Collared Dusky in  Alpine Forget-Me-Not ( Myosotis alpestris ), Alaska's state flower.  Chocolate Lily ( Fritillaria biflora ) Nootka Lupine ( Lupinus nootkatensis ) Bog Bean ( Menyanthes trifoliata ) Bunch Berry ( Cornus canadensis ) Jeffrey's Shootingstar ( Dodecatheon jeffreyi ) Fireweed ( Chamerion angustifolium )  Cow Parsnip (Heracleum maximum)  White Bog Orchid ( Platwanthera dilatata ) Cottongrass ( Eriophorum angustifolium ) Pond Lily ( Nuphar polysepalum ) Western Hemlock ( Tsuga heterophylla )  Wild-flag Iris ( Iris setosa )  Horsetail ( Equisetum )

         While going through island camera footage, one of the important things to analyze and record is what we determined as the nest fate while monitoring, and what the camera footage reveals is the actual nest fate. A lot of the times it matches, but in some cases they can be different. For example, one island was found to have no nest at all during monitoring, but camera footage revealed that it was actually a successful nest that hatched at least four goslings. However, the geese revisited the island several times after hatch, and the island was also occupied by a couple mallard broods throughout the day. Because of this high after-hatch activity, it wore down the nest bowl, and rid it of all membranes and most egg shells, making it look like there had been no nest at all this year.           Other times memory cards have been problematic, cameras have stopped working, or have been covered with spider webs and tilted down, making it impossible to see the nest outcome. So far, the