Field Work Friday
It's #FieldWorkFriday
It has been a busy week! It kicked off with the larval crab and juvenile salmon surveys. We are now into the season of juvenile three-spined sticklebacks. The Dungeness megalopae were absent for a week but were seen again this week.
On Sunday, we completed our monthly nearshore bird study. We did not see very many birds in the Harbour other than a few crows, a bald eagle, and one black oystercatcher. Outside the Harbour, we counted 19 harbour seals, a mama merganser and her young, as well as a few Surf scoters, which are always a favourite.
We then headed to Thormanby Island for our annual monitoring-palooza camping trip. We completed two European green crab (EGC) surveys, one Leaf Area Index seagrass survey, and one rocky intertidal survey over two days. We are happy to say that we only saw native crabs in our surveys and that the eelgrass looked very good this year. Interestingly, we had no sea stars in our intertidal survey this year, although they were seen on the beach. An amazing feat by an ah-mazing crew!
Did you know that the Blue Act Society also monitors for EGC? We ended the week by working with the Blue Act Society to trap for EGC in Wilson Creek estuary. We look forward to sharing the findings next week.
Want to get involved? Check out our calendar of events online at loonfoundation.org or email Jenn at Jenn@loonfoundation.org for more information.
