Research Field Notes: No. 9

7/30/2014. Dolphin Boat Survey

Today’s survey extended from the Jupiter Inlet (N 260 56.624' W 800 03.805') down to the Lake Worth Inlet [aka the Palm Beach Inlet] (N 260 46.300' W 800 03.500').

Research Organization: Taras Oceanographic Foundation

Wind/Water conditions: S,SW 5. Seas 0-2’

Duration: 8am-3: pm

Dolphin encounters: Today we had several encounters during survey one. We saw a total of 25 tursiops; maybe 2 spotted. The first few encounters were brief. We had a very long encounter that lasted 1.5-2 hours. There were three cow/calf pairs and one matriarch with them; plus one lone male following them on the outside. We observed many behaviors. Tail slaps, belly up; rolls; long dives, short dives, travelling; acrobats and even some squeeks. The babies were playful, but the gatekeeper kept trying to distract us by crossing in front of the bow so we had to stop-- allowing the group to move away from us. Interesting. The (assumed) male just kept up off to the side following the entire time.

During Survey two: zero encounters. The wind and seas picked up, and as usual the rain was chasing us home early.

OTHER: Turtle counts:  6    Trash count:    5

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Research Field Notes: No. 8

5/22/2014. Dolphin Boat Survey

Today’s survey extended from the Jupiter Inlet (N 260 56.624' W 800 03.805') down to the Lake Worth Inlet [aka the Palm Beach Inlet] (N 260 46.300' W 800 03.500').

Research Organization: Taras Oceanographic Foundation

Wind/Water conditions: S,SE 0-10. Seas 0-2’

Duration: 8am-12:30pm

Dolphin encounters: Today we had two encounters. During the first survey we had a very nice encounter with 5-6 individuals that were very active. They were displaying several behaviors such as chuffing, rolling, tail slaps, upside down tail slaps, jumps, lunge fishing and travel. The encounter lasted approximately 40 minutes.

During Survey two, we encountered 2-3 tursiops. There was a big thunderstorm chasing us, so it prevented us from observing these animals for very long. What we did observe were long dives with short surface behaviors. It may have been weather related or fishing activity. This encounter lasted 10 minutes.

OTHER: Turtle counts: 9   Trash count: 8

Here is a short video of the chuffing behavior. (Please note all images and video are property of Taras under the authority NMFS (GA LOC) No.13386).

Research Field Notes: No. 7

7/9/2014 Dolphin Boat Survey

Today’s survey extended from the Jupiter Inlet (N 260 56.624' W 800 03.805') down to the Lake Worth Inlet [aka the Palm Beach Inlet] (N 260 46.300' W 800 03.500').

Wind conditions: N 0-10 ; Water conditions: 0-1

Duration: 9:00am-12:30pm

Research Organization: Taras Oceanographic Foundation

Recorded dolphin photo ID:

Today’s trip we had two encounters. The first was a single tursiops. We got great ID shots. The second encounter was 1-2 animals but we could not locate them again to get any id shots. It is a big ocean out there! It is sometimes hard to keep up or even find the dolphins on any given day. We did have one more encounter that was very funny. The rain was starting, so we stopped the boat at the mouth of the inlet and were packing up all the equipment. All of our backs were turned away from the water.  As soon as everything was stowed away, one dolphin jumped up right in front of the boat and gave everyone a startle. It was as if he was noticing we had packed up and wanted to mess with us. Needless to say, all the cameras came back out and we never saw the animal again! Was this a coincidence or dolphin games? You decide.

 The above image is three of our team members for this survey.

Other: Trash count:  17 items
Turtle count:  14
Sailfish – 1 (this was an awesome site of it jumping out of the water)

Extras: Here is an article on dolphin play (scholarly) and another dolphin play (general)