Spreading My Own Wings

-

         I had a good mix and variety of things to do my last week here. More Dusky island maintenance was a good part of it, but I also got out to see some more of the salmon run, spent half a day at Sheridan Glacier photographing some recently dislodged ice chunks and seeing the transition to fall, and taking one last trip out to the Motus tower we set up this spring. With a lot of rain recently (close to 50 inches in August), I was in the office and had the chance to test, and pass, my Dusky knowledge on the Washington Department of Fish and Game Southwest Canada Goose Test. It is a test that all hunters must pass that hunt in Southwest Washington to help with the identification of Duskies and other subspecies while hunting. I was also able to indulge in some historical photographs of the Copper River Delta and experience years of accelerated ecological succession in seconds. 

        After another awesome week, I boarded my flight back to Wisconsin today. Thank you all for following my internship this summer, it was spectacular! I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. Cordova and it's Copper River Delta Duskies will always be a part of me. 


Lots of smiles this summer, thank you to all who made it happen

Mallard and Wigeon loafing on an island we maintained soon after this photo was taken 

Salmon running up a small creek to spawn

Sheridan Glacier & Lake

One of the few islands in the program where you can see Scott, Sheridan, and Sherman (left to right) Glaciers at the same time. 

A photo taken in 1959 on the Copper River Delta, prior to the 1964 earthquake that dried out the delta and allowed shrub and tree encroachment. Encroachment that provided habitat for mammalian predators and prompted the Artificial Nest Island Program in 1984. A view from near that current location is pictured below

Spruce and Alder are now present along the banks of most sloughs on the delta

American Dipper, the only songbird that swims and dives underwater for aquatic insects

Devil's Club showing some fall colors

Probably my favorite Dusky photo from this summer that will find a spot on a wall wherever I end up. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Beginning Maintenance

-
Image
            With a storm pushing in later in the week last week, we left camp a day early to beat the weather and sift through some more nest island camera data. We maintained 73 islands before the storm, and will finish the rest in the coming weeks. Beginning with the furthest islands from camp, we fixed anchors, re-drilled island collars, landscaped completely bare islands, and even re-anchored islands that washed to shore. Most of the islands only needed landscaping, so the majority of the work was transplanting Sweetgale, and a few other species, from shore to the islands. Sometimes the Sweetgale digging got tough, so willows and even spruce trees became cover on some islands. On most islands, we would dig three or four clumps of Sweetgale, pile it into out boats, and bring it to the island.  Transporting Sweetgale to an island.  Group of molting geese with their fledging youngsters along the banks of Alaganik Slough.  We bumped this Moose along a beaver slough before we saw him ag
Read more

Resighting Duskies

-
Image
            After spending most of the day working on various projects different from Duskies, I got to spend a few hours in the evening looking for resights. Resights are able to be recorded with their alphanumerical sequence on the red neck collar. We saw a total of seven neck collars, but could only identify five of the sequences. The cameras and binoculars were extremely useful to read the collars. A variety of color markings are important to migratory bird data like Duskies, but also Red Knots, which are a declining species. The information we found for the Dusky resights will help organizations better manage Duskies in the future.  
Read more