Tursiops Tales

On my last assignment in Mississippi, I was assigned a rather interesting boat captain.  The most adorable little, old man- a veteran shrimp trawler and retired dolphin trainer!  Turns out he trained the dolphin who starred in the original movie 'Flipper.'  No joke.  He brought in his scrap book of old photos to prove it.  SO awesome!

I want to turn this into a postcard! Mr. Robert Corbin was the first dolphin trainer in the world to achieve a tripple-dolphin jump!

Marsh Marvels

I've spent the spring and summer months of 2011 tromping the marshes and beaches of the Gulf Coast, from Venice, Louisiana all the way to Destin, Florida.  This year's projects included the Coastal Wetland Vegetation/Marsh Assessment, Submerged Oil Characterization, and Marsh Edge Sandy Shoreline/Biota Monitoring.  Its been a long, hot, fun summer and things are finally winding down for this field season.  Below are pics and tid bits from the summer's adventures....

Sunrise at the state dock in Bayou La Batre, AL

A shrimp trawler coming in after a night of shrimping hungry birds waiting for freebies

This guy landed on my backpack one afternoon; I suspect he was attacked by a bird because he had a chunk of one of his wings missing and 2 broken legs, not to mention he was lethargic and did not move for quite a while.  Needless to say, he became a specimen in my personal naural history collection.

A sandbar bird hot spot on Dauphin Island, AL

Great Blue Heron

Mud flats in Venice, LA

We snuck up on this guy!

Sunset in Bayview, LA

There is a huge amount of diversity in Odontonates in the marsh lands!

My first time seeing a water spout (a tornado on the water)

Black-necked stilts, one of my favorite marsh birds

Chrinum lillies