On the Beach Again

After completing the fall SBB 2021 semester, I loved it so much I decided to return for the spring SBB 2022 semester focusing on conservation ecology. I still plan to work with Olga to continue updating the catalog as well as going out on her boat, but this semester I am interning with US Fish and Wildlife as a sea otter intern. This internship involves working closely with the Alaska SeaLife Center, for which I am a volunteer, where I respond to dead and live strandings of sea otters and other marine life. Diondre is the other sea otter intern, so I get to work closely with him again. Besides responding to strandings, other duties include conducting beach surveys, collecting level A data, removing carcasses from the beach, shipping carcasses, and participating in public outreach through presentations and posters/trifolds. This week we have already begun to perform some of these tasks, and I am excited to continue becoming involved in sea otter strandings and education.

Date: 1/10/2022

Hours: 1

Event: Dead sea otter response

Today we got a report of a live, young otter that was on the beach in front of Glacier D restaurant, which is Bishop's Beach. As we were turning into the parking lot, the snow was so deep my car got stuck. We tried everything to get it out such as pushing it, reversing, digging it out, etc., but nothing was working. We called Debbie and she was going to come help us, but a nice man pulled over to help us. He had a tow cable and, as he was trying to pull us out, the cable broke. So, we tied the remaining cable to the car and luckily was able to get out. By the time we got the car unstuck, the sea otter was back in the water. That being said, Julia happened to find a dead sea otter on the beach, which happened to be the first sea otter of the year. Once Debbie arrived, we took level A measurements and left the sea otter with a flipper tag. The next day, people kept reporting the sea otter to the SeaLife Center, so Diondre ended up taking it to the dump.

Date: 1/11/2022

Hours: 1

Event: Beach walk on Bishop's Beach

Today Diondre and I, as well as our classmates, took a beach walk along Bishop's Beach to see if we could find any wildlife that warranted a response. As we were walking, we spotted 2 eagles and a duck which appeared to be injured. It looked like it was be stuck in the ice or not able to fly away as it was barely moving. Julia contacted Debbie to see if there was anything we could do.

Later, we found out that the eagles were actively trying to hunt the duck, as they would fly and try to dive at it, but the duck always ducked in time. We didn't see the eagle actually succeed in getting the duck, but it was pretty cool to witness. We didn't see anything else that needed to be responded to.

Date: 1/12/2022

Hours: 2.5

Event: Beach walk on Spit

Today Diondre and I walked the beach again starting at Glacier D restaurant to Land's End and back. Surprisingly, we didn't see any dead otters, but we saw some eagles and rock sandpipers which I haven't seen before. They were super cool and were running near the water's edge.

Rock sandpipers.

Date: 1/15/2022

Hours: 1.5

Event: Beach walk at Bishop's Beach

Today Diondre and I went on another beach walk on Bishop's Beach. We didn't see anything again and so I think trying to find a different spot would be beneficial. Debbie did mention how there are places where we should be patrolling such as the beach by Olga's house where people are less prevalent. Next week we hope to meet with her so that we can perform beach walks where it is needed.

Next Week

Because this was the first week, we were figuring out everything that is involved with the internship. We really want to get involved with education and outreach and we talked to Debbie a little bit and she suggested we create trifolds and/or posters to hand out. Caroline Cummings, our internship mentor, also gave us some papers to read to really get an understanding of sea otters as well as their current population status in Cook Inlet so that we can include this information on our poster. For next week I want to:

• Meet with Debbie to go over possible beach walking sites and education materials

• Meet with Jeff who can help get us access to a truck to help with strandings

• Read the papers Caroline sent us as well as do my own research on sea otters

• Create a trifold/poster for education/outreach

• Continue to do beach walks and respond to strandings from the SeaLife Center

I am really excited for this semester and next week I hope to meet the requirement of 20 hours/week since I have a better understanding of the tasks that I can be working on for this internship. Caroline is currently out and doesn't return until January 24th, so I hope we are able to have a formal meeting with her to go over everything.