Author: Donna Ardizzoni

Ardizzoni Photography, Business Manager, Grandmother, love living in Gloucester, love to swim, kayak, walk and of course take pictures. Our company does computer networking, Office Management, Medical Billing, transcription, networking software updates and virus protection

It is Spring Ahead Time

Posted on by Donna Ardizzoni

Daylight saving time 2019 in Massachusetts will begin at 2:00 AM on

Sunday, March 10, 2019
YEAH  We have turned the corner

Great info from Iain Kerr from Ocean Alliance

Posted on by Donna Ardizzoni

Take a look at these awesome photos of the humpback whales ..  amazing.

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SnotBot DR Blog 3 – Everything we had hoped for!

 It gives me great pleasure to advise you that our last 3 days on the water have been fantastic, each day better than the previous. The weather has fallen into a typical trade wind scenario, calm in the early morning and picking up as the day goes on. We were on the boat this morning by 6:15 and had the pleasure of watching a sunrise at sea (with a whale of course).

 Today we had our 1st sample by 7:15 am and had our 9th sample by 9:00 am, by 12:30 (when the winds picked up) we had collected a total of 14 samples bringing our expedition total to 54. Our goal was 50 samples, so we are now ahead of the game with 3 days to go. As the sun rose we were with a mother, calf and escort, we collected two Snot samples from each whale so we could have comparable samples, then we collected another sample from each whale flying at a higher altitude than the first set so that we can try to determine what effect height might have on the success/productivity of the biological data (snot) that gets onto the dish.

Angie Sremba is here from Dr. Scott Bakers lab at Oregon State, Angie has been focusing on the DNA analysis. She brought us some exciting information with regards to how our biological data capabilities have (successfully) evolved over time. It is important to remember here that part of this whole process is developing the collection tools and protocols and while Dr. Bakers lab is developing the preservation and analysis protocols. In summary 2016 we had a 39% success rate with regards to sexing the animals from the DNA and a 55% success rate on the mitochondrial DNA. In 2018 we had a 92% success rate with regards to sexing the animals from the DNA and a 96% success rate with the mitochondrial DNA. This is clearly exciting as it demonstrates that we are learning and getting better on all fronts.

 Another exciting data point today was the collection of some whale feces, the whales here are not feeding so it is unusual to find feces in this location. I think this is another amazing benefit of using drones for whale research, the drone saw the whale defecation (look very carefully for the brown stain in the last photo) and Britta and Andy were ready to collect it. This will prove invaluable in trying to put into context the hormone levels that we collect in the blow.   We had a number of fun whale moments today but one of the best ones was a mother and calf lob tailing together (lifting their tails up and crashing them down onto the water). The mother would throw her tail down with an enormous crash and then the baby would do the same hardly making a splash. Andy caught one of these moments on camera (see attached photo).

Today we also did some sea trials with EarBot, after this expedition I will have four days at home and then Chris and I go to Cabo San Lucas with EarBot to work on a BBC special, so we need to make sure that EarBot is in tip top shape.

 Last but not least I am happy to report that this blog is supported by some amazing photos from Christian Miller and Andy Rogan.

  Best Fishes from the DR.

 Iain

 Iain Kerr

Cell: 978 760 1784

http://www.whale.org

 

 

The I Am More Project

Posted on by Donna Ardizzoni

I Am More at Gloucester High School

 Amy Kerr’s I Am More portraits and essays are on display at Gloucester High School for the month of March, thanks to the time and planning of art teacher Lorrinda Cerrutti, and the support of Principal James Cook. The portraits, including Gloucester Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken, are on display downstairs in the main show case and on the third floor in the art wing thanks to the generosity of the Art Department. A special thank you to the ROTC for allowing their case to be used for this display.

 

 

All Purpose Flowers Spring Wreath Workshop

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Just a reminder that this Saturday is our Spring Wreath Workshop at the Magnolia Library. Tickets are available at www.allpurposeflowers.net/shop. In order to get a total headcount for supplies, tickets must be purchased by Wednesday, March 6th. Come for a fun and creative night out!

Beautiful calm Gloucester Harbor

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Such a calm day after the snow in Gloucester Harbor.  The Beauport Hotel in the background adds to the beauty.

Manchester by the Sea historical museum

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Looks great

Donna Ardizzoni / Circle Consulting Group 978-526-9222

From our friend Iain Kerr Ocean Alliance

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Dear Friends,

Here we go again! The Parley SnotBot team is off on expedition, we’re taking along some other ‘Bots and will be having some long distance chats!

This time we’re in the Dominican Republic (DR), visiting the breeding / calving grounds of the North West Atlantic humpback whales (photo 1). I was first here in the 1990’s aboard the RV Siben and then the RV Odyssey so it is great to be back. This location and this group of whales is very special to us, because while the humpbacks mate and give birth in the waters off the DR, some of them migrate up the East Coast of the U.S. to spend their summers feeding on Stellwagen Banks, right off the coast from our headquarters in Gloucester, Mass. (Photo 2)

During Expedition 9 we took the Parley SnotBot out to study and collect (Exhaled Breath Condensate) “Snot” samples from the Gloucester population of humpbacks and we’re very excited to bring all of our skills and tools to bear to add what knowledge we can, about these whales in their winter grounds.

As with every Parley SnotBot expedition, this one started out with us at the airport with a ridiculous number of bags (total of 20 bags with 2 carry on’s each ☹). We flew Boston to Miami, Miami to Santo Domingo where we picked up a rental mini van. We then drove for almost 3 hours to our Air B&B accommodation (Photo 3) in Samana. Six people and twenty bags was a bit of a squeeze in the mini van. So when we got to Samana Chris and I removed some of the chairs from the mini-van to make it a bit more SnotBot friendly (Photo 4).

In addition to SnotBot, we are putting energy into another member of the Drones For Whale Research family while we are in the DR EarBot. EarBot was first seen in Alaska in 2016 and 2017 (photo 5). While our other drone work has kept us busy, our Robotics manager Chris Zadra has given EarBot some much needed TLC over the last few months and we are excited to be putting EarBot back to work to record humpback whale songs in the DR.  As well as doing some behavioral studies and working with regional scientists monitoring the whale watch industry here we will also be doing photogrammetry work (measuring the size of whale with a drone) using our LIDAR array (photo 6) mounted on one of our Inspire 2 drones.

We have a bigger team here this year as we continue to try to improve Parley SnotBot and our Drones for Whale Research program. The team from past expeditions are Iain Kerr, Andy Rogan, Christian Miller & Chris Zadra. Now we have Ocean Alliance staff member Britta Akerley helping Andy with the science and data and Angie Sremba from Dr. Scott Bakers lab at Oregon State.  Angie has been doing most of the DNA analysis of our Snot samples so we thought it important for her to see the collection process. Next week Ainsley Smith from Gloucester will be joining us to be trained on our data protocols and management. As if this was not enough we will be joined by Germany’s largest TV network ZDF (https://www.zdf.de) to shoot a documentary short.

We did get out on the water today but it was blowing close to 20 knots (photo 7) which like Gabon makes the work more challenging. To try and beat these trade winds the plan is to be on the boat tomorrow at 6:00 am (before sunrise) and be with the whales as the sun rises – hopefully we will have some spectacular photos and will be able to collect plenty of Snot before the wind picks up (fingers crossed).

Last but not least I am excited to report that these blogs are going Live! Our good friends at Maritime Gloucester will host an evening with a live discussion from the DR with the Parley SnotBot team along with live and archival footage.  We hope that we can share some of the expedition excitement and let people know what it is like to be working in the field and answer a few questions….LIVE. If you live near Gloucester, please come on down and be part of the conversations at Maritime Gloucester on Sunday March 3rd, you can Register here. Next time we do Expedition Live we hope to webcast as well but for this first one we are trying to keep it simple as we can.

So once again we will be keeping busy, that said I am sure we will have some great stories to tell along with Christian Miller’s stunning photos.

As always thanks again to our partners and expedition supporters Parley.

Onwards Upwards and Fair Winds from the Dominican Republic!

Iain

Iain Kerr

http://www.whale.org

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From FOB Len Burgess

Posted on by Donna Ardizzoni

If you are interested in model ship building
I’m the guest on a 1/2 hr. program on local TV called “Smart Boating” with Paul Jermain.
The show is airing in Gloucester, Essex, Rockport and Manchester this week-
Here are the time slots on Channel 12:
Smart Boating:
Thursday at 8:30 pm
Friday at 10:00 am
Sunday at 7:00 pm

-Len Burgess

 

Cloud formation on a windy Monday

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The winter clouds are beautiful even on a windy Monday.  I barely could stand with the wind yesterday.  Always fun.