Do you remember when you were little and your parents would tell you to never run with a sharp object in your hand? Well, that rule definitely does not apply during pup shearing on St. Paul! Out here you have a pair of sharp sheep shears strapped to your hip and when a group of pups are gathered together and the signal (it usually looks like that hand gesture from Neo in the Matrix... got the visual?) is given you move as fast as you can over wet, slippery rocks to get to them. The picture below gives you an idea of the topography that we deal with out on the rookeries.

The goal each day is to shear the selected number of pups as quickly and accurately as possible so that we can remove ourselves from the rookery and allow the bull males and their harems to come back up to their territory. So in this situation, running with scissors is recommended (safely, of course). Let me tell you, never before have I felt so uncoordinated! As I try to keep up with everyone else heading to the group of pups there is a constant thought on repeat in my head... stand up, don't fall, stand up, don't fall. I was so grateful to have knee pads on! :)



~Patty

Once suited up for pup shearing (see Andrew in his awesome attire below) we go out on the rookery and Rolf (our other fearless leader) shows us how to properly hold the pup during the shearing process.
~Patty

At the start of the day, we are all given a briefing about our jobs and individual responsibilities as we begin the 2010 Northern fur seal pup survey. The most important thing that we all need to remember is to be "switched on" (a term used often throughout our trip by Rod, one of our leaders) at all times while on the rookeries.

Unlike the New England Aquarium fur seals, the fur seals on St. Paul are NOT trained and that needs to be kept foremost in our minds (especially by a certain marine mammal trainer) as we move onto their breeding ground. This is not a situation where you can walk up to Baranov and give him a morning scratch or open up the hallway door and have Ursula keep you company in the food room. These are males holding onto breeding territory for months and females who are very possessive of the pups that they have just given birth to within the past month. With that being said... I am so excited!


We load into the trucks and make our way to the first of the rookeries where we will begin the shearing. Today's destination is Morjovi. It is one of the two rookeries on the northeast point of the island. The map below denotes all of the rookeries on St. Paul and I will be referring to it often as we begin our survey around the island. We have to go to every rookery to count the pups.... no small task.


Rookery sites on St. Paul Island. Photo courtesy of NOAA.


As the trucks make there way up the road I can feel my excitement rising. To see a Northern fur seal in the wild is something I never imagined having the chance to witness. Our caravan of trucks (fifteen people in total) makes its way through all sorts of different topography until we head through a bunch of sand dunes...



Sand dunes on St. Paul



and then as the road levels out... there they are. Northern fur seals everywhere! I couldn't get my camera out fast enough!


Sub-adult males

Knowing very little about wild fur seal behavior, I was told that the area in the picture is where the sub-adult males (or SAMs) as well as the older males who were not able to hold territory spend the breeding season. This is not considered part of the rookery since no pups are born in this section so it is usually referred to as haul out. There were so many animals there... I could not believe that I was seeing this many fur seals all in once place. Having a small group of fur seals at NEAq seemed like a lot but nothing compares to this!



Male Northern fur seal with harem and pups

My paparazzi moment over, it is time to gear up for the first day of shearing. Check out the picture below to see my fancy garb. Pretty nice huh? :) The weather here can be very unpredictable so we wear multiple layers as well as thick rain gear for an outer layer. Along with that we have a very stylish waist belt that holds a holster and shears that we will use to mark 10% of the pups born this year. We wear gauntlets on our arms to protect us when picking up the pups for shearing. They may only have baby teeth but they are still sharp! And then we wear thick gloves with liners underneath.



Fashionable shearing attire


Here we go!


~Patty

The plane was still pretty heavy though so we made two stops along the way to refuel: one at King Salmon and the other at Cold Bay. Check out this Google map to see where we traveled along the way.



View Trip to St. Paul in a larger map




On the right in the Staff Quarters pic there is a white building which contains the lab, offices and all of our gear. I will become very familiar with this building in the coming days. The main building (the one to the left in the picture above) is the living quarters. We pull up to the door and head inside. There are small apartments and individual bedrooms with enough room to hold over twenty people. Here is a picture of my room complete with a map of St. Paul (hopefully this will prevent me from getting lost :)

Once unpacked, we received a brief intro and then had a potluck dinner complete with chocolate cake with chocolate icing for dessert. Yum! Now it's time to hit the sack. Tomorrow we have to be up and ready to go at 9 a.m. for our first day of work with the seals! (Which is the stuff you really want to see anyway, right?) Stay tuned!

~Patty

Ah summer, when a young man's thoughts turn to, well, napping. Once breeding season is over, male Northern fur seals begin to molt. As they lose their old fur and acquire a new coat, their appetite decreases and they start to drop much of the extra 100 pounds or so that they gained in the spring. As many of us can attest, losing weight is hard work. Just check these guys out.






~ Jenny


Isaac

50 lbs of apparel: Check
30 lbs of dry goods: Check
20 lbs of produce: Check
20 lbs of electronics: Check
Getting it all to St. Paul: ?

Packing for a three week trip is no easy task (especially when you over pack even your daily lunch). But it is really important to be sure that I have all of the essentials. St. Paul is a 40 sq. mile island with a population of less than 400 people. That, combined with difficult weather conditions, makes it difficult to rely on the store for fresh food stuffs. So it is often times better to send dry goods ahead of time and bring your produce, or "freshies" as they call it, with you on the plane. Also, if I forget something in Boston, it could take more than a week for it to arrive in St. Paul so I need to think carefully about the items I want to bring. I definitely have to pack cameras to record all of the amazing things I hope to see, enough gear to keep me warm and dry while we are out doing the field research, and... and... this is going to be a problem.


Lots of luggage

Well, I am finally packed and ready to go. I have sent my dry goods off ahead of time and now have to drag 90 lbs of luggage with me to the airport. First stop Anchorage, AK. I am on a US Air flight that is packed but have a pleasant person to talk with next to me, which really helps when the flight is 7 ½ hours long!


Heading to Anchorage, AK

The view is beautiful along the way. Blue sky above and, towards the end of the flight, snow-capped mountain tops below.


Blue skies and...


Snow-capped mountains

Two movies, two meals and one nap later I have finally made it across the country to Anchorage. There is a four hour time difference and we land at 8 p.m. when in Boston it is actually midnight.

It is an amazing drive to the hotel with mountains replacing the Boston skyline.


Anchorage skyline

By the time I check in it and get to my hotel room it is almost 9:30 but there is no sign of the sun going down. During this time of year, Alaska has almost 24 hours of sunlight. Better try to get some shut eye though because tomorrow is the big day... I'm off to St. Paul!

~Patty

The New England Aquarium has given me an amazing opportunity. Over the course of the next three weeks, I will be able to observe Northern fur seals first hand in the wild! I will be joining a group of researchers from NOAA to take part in their biennial Northern fur seal pup survey on St. Paul Island, AK. The picture below will give you a better idea of exactly where I will be.

- Patty

At the Fur Seal Exhibit, the morning routine is fast paced for the training staff. Between 8:00 and 9:30 am we: Prepare 150 pounds of fish and squid for the seals, collect exhibit water samples for analysis, start the laundry, get dive gear ready, start hosing the seal poop from the exhibit deck, SCUBA dive to scrub the exhibit floor, and start the vacuum for yet more seal poop. Phew.


Taz


Roxie

This video below shows Ursula resting while making a rarely heard clicking sound.



Roxie is up and has a lot to say in this video. To me, her first vocalization sounds like a honk while the third and fifth sound like she is saying "Hey". I guess we'll never know.



Finally, Erin helps JD wake up with an invigorating neck scratch.



- Jenny