Fieldwork Friday
The week kicked off with the removal of the Pacific herring curtains from the docks in Egmont. We did not observe any spawn this year, but we will try again next year. An enormous thank you to everyone who completed weekly checks and recorded observations.
On Sunday, we were out to count birds at the mouth of the harbour to collect data for Bird Studies Canada. This survey was all about the gulls. We had a total of 184 short-billed gulls, 25 Bonaparte’s gulls and three Glaucous-winged gulls in our survey area.
Our juvenile salmon surveys continued this week. The number of salmon decreased a bit since last week, which is expected as it was a higher tide. The more water they have to swim in, the harder they are to catch! We still observed salmon at both sites, as well as greenlings and lingcod.
Tuesday we had the pleasure of introducing the Madeira Park Elementary’s Grade 2/3 class to our Water Rangers Water Quality Monitoring program. We took measurements at Paq Creek and recorded parameters such as dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, conductivity, and metals.
On Wednesday, we started our larval crab light trap monitoring program, which is in collaboration with the Hakai Institute’s Sentinels of Change. We had many species present, including the cutest spiny lithode crab and our first-ever larval wolf eel! You can see all of the creatures caught in the light traps along the coast of B.C. by following the Sentinels of Change Light Trap Monitoring project on iNaturalist.
On Thursday, we had a team of volunteers roll up their sleeves and don their boots to help clean up the Tranquility Garden after the winter season. We will be hosting our annual volunteer appreciation in the garden on April 25 at 4 PM. We hope to see you there!
We also have two events this weekend. One is the Community Connections Fair at the Sechelt Seniors Activity Center in Sechelt and one at the Climate Faire at the Gibsons Public Market. Come by and say, “hi!”
Want to join in on all the fun? Contact Jenn at Jenn@loonfoundation.org or check out our calendar of events at loonfoundation.org/volunteer.
