Worse than Drop Bears

Another weather change came through this morning, bringing wind and rain for the next couple of days. It will be nice to have a few days off from Emu Mountain and its heat, hike, and insects. I’m currently writing this entry on the couch of what had been named the Boat House, where I now live. A couple of the vollies are working on some of the data from the small boats focal follows, where every surfacing and its corresponding behavior of a focal pod of whales are documented on an audio track. They then have to listen to the recording and transcribe the data into an Excel file (mom this could be a job for you). Some of the focal follows can last for more than 3 hours (the longest being 5 hours on a single pod). This information is important when testing whether whales change their behaviors when exposed to high sound source levels from air gun blasts.

“Blow from calf….Blow from mum….350 meters from the boat……..still milling at the surface……Blow again from mum…….Blow from calf”

I have finally found a bird that I don’t like, the Australian Magpie, and not because it produces a high sound source. They are much larger than the magpies seen in North America, and look similar to a raven…but with white patches, a grey beak, and blood red eyes. Similar to the drop bear, they wait on an overhanging branch for you to walk by, and swoop down unexpectedly in an attempt to protect their territory. It is very annoying, and you usually don’t see them coming until they snap their beak right next to your ear. We have already worked out which locations have an aggressive magpie, and have learned to transit these areas with caution. The only defense is it look at them straight in the eye, they only attack from behind. So basically you have to locate the bird, and stare at it constantly as you walk by, which requires you to walk backwards at some point. Apparently if you wear your hat backwards or sunglasses on the back of your head then the odds of you getting attacked are significantly reduced. The other day we were heading back in the bus from the hill, and watched in humor as a high school kid was assaulted by a devil bird while walking home from school, and it was quite hilarious.

The weather lately has made me start thinking a lot about Monterey again; I still can’t get over how much I miss that place. As much as I complained about it when I lived there, it’s actually not a bad place to end up. I’m especially missing winter, I won’t really be having one this year, and I rather like the cold dreary weather. Actually I’m in the process of applying for grad school at Moss Landing Marine Labs, but I haven’t heard back from Jim about whether he will be accepting any new students into his lab next August (2011). I’m toying with the idea of using thermal imaging or passive acoustic monitoring to look at the spatial distribution of gray whales as they migrate along shore at night. The idea is that if they use any sort of visual cues to navigate, then they would most likely move a bit offshore at night to avoid the random pinnacles and rocks the riddle the Big Sur coastline. Thermal imaging has been used before for counting gray whales at night, but I have yet to find a study that has plotted their distribution from shore at night. It could be a shot in the dark (did you pick up on that pun), but I think it would be an interesting question. I have others in mind, but thermal imaging sounds like the most fun.

As I’m posting this entry, it’s 10PM and the sky is unloading gallons of water on this very thin roof above my head. It’s amazing how relaxing the sound of water is. Regardless of whether it’s flowing, dripping, lapping, crashing, or pouring; there’s just something primordial about hearing water in motion. Maybe it’s because our bodies are mostly made up of tiny particles of it. Welcome to summer in subtropical Australia, what a great place to be.

The photos have nothing to do with the post, but I just haven't been taking that many.
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