Long over due, but here it is at last the blog posting I promised. The trials and tribulations of self publishing were many but I overcame. My computer crashed several weeks ago and I may have lost most of my pictures, the search continues. The photos i have posted are some of that remained on my camera from my first week in Alaska. But thats enough about trivial technology malfunction.

My outside office has all of the qualities that I suspected the cubical life lacked - spaciousness, serenity, mountains, ocean, whales, countless birds, bears, and a fully functioning ecosystem among other things. This is not to say I don't miss friends, all the good people at the Trust, a rusty but trusty bike, a hoppy beer, good live music, and all the festivities of a Portland summer.


My three month summer vacation in Alaska does involve a good deal of work though. I am volunteering as part of a Marbled Murellet study through Alaska Fish and Game led by Oregon State University research team. The rest of the summer is being spent tracking radio marked birds and attempting to find the old growth tree stands where they nest. This boils down to lots of boat work and a little hiking. We will also be doing surveys of populations and foraging patterns.

Here is a little info on the marbled murrelets.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Marbled_Murrelet.html
To conduct our study we have set up a camp south of Juneau in the Snettisham Arm of Stephens Passage. Setting up camp was a laborous couple of days, but it was hard to complain when this is backdrop.

Once camp was set up we welcomed a crew of biologists and ornothologist who volunteered their time to help us capture the birds and radio mark them. The zodiac rafts, pictured below, are the means by which we stalked the birds on the water. There were three people to a boat, one to drive, one to spotlight and one to net. Once a bird was been spotlighted chase began. The netter would lean out over bow of the boat and attempted to scoop up the bird with the net. Easier said than done. A four stroke outboard motor was not designed for stalking birds and zodiacs are slipperty when wet. Luckily no one fell in and we caputured the 40 birds in three full night of work.



I earned my initiation into the ornithological community by netting two birds. The only intern of the group to make a succesful capture ;) Here is photo of me in my survival suit and the capture net. I think the beard scared the birds.



Capture nights always ended with a good scotch as the sun began rising around 4:00 am. Now thats the way to end, or begin the day. Another perk of the Outside Office


That ought to do for now. I will try and get some more up later.
Stories to come include one about a bear and a 60lb halibut.