Upon our annual migration to Lubec, Maine we find ourselves reunited with our "Fundy Family." For the eight weeks of the season we all live together at the field house. The field house was built at the turn of the century. The house was owned by the Mulholland family for generations and was at one time divided to accommodate two families.



It's great fun to listen to the local townspeople reminisce about the people who lived in this house long ago. Since the Aquarium has owned the field house, we have turned a living room into our main office, a back kitchen into an equipment room and closets into bedrooms.


The house has kept it's charm with its original heating registers from the 1900s, antique wallpaper, and hardwood floors. We have made minor improvements such as bringing in internet service, remodeling the kitchen and replacing the 57 windows to protect the house during the harsh Lubec winters. As with any old house, there are a multitude of home improvement projects that we work on as time allows.


The real fun is the dynamic of 9 full-time researchers and many visiting researchers living in the house together. During stretches of long weather, we buckle down in the house and set to work, doing photo analysis and matching the whales we've seen in the field. On these days in we tend to mill around the kitchen alot. Our volunteer cook, Betty, has to chase us out of the kitchen so she can get dinner ready! While living and working together can be challenging at times, it also comes with the benefit of having a built-in family dynamic. We lean on each other in tough times, celebrate each others achievements and take off in troupes for hikes, bike rides and soccer.



At the end of the day, we all congregate in the kitchen for dinner. Dinners can vary from an "intimate" dinner between the 9 full-time researchers to a large, boisterous gathering of over 20 people. No matter how many are in attendance, dinner is always a lively event with great food, stories from the field (present events and past) and lots of laughter!

-Cyndi

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Labels: #1: 2009 Season Starting Soon, #6 Life at the field house, 2009 Season, Cyndi, Fundy family, Lubec, Right Whale

Since the weather is keeping us on land, we thought we could take this opportunity to tell you a bit about the area we call home for 2 months a year.

Lubec, Maine, is the easternmost town in the United States and literally a stone's throw from Canada (Campobello Island, New Brunswick). It sits atop a hill overlooking Passamaquoddy Bay, and has stunning views in every direction. The natural beauty of the area--rocky coastlines, misty islands, and rolling hills covered with blueberries--never fail to wow first-time visitors. The woodlands are lush and mysterious, thick with moss and lichens. Bald eagles frequently soar overhead and seals frolic in the Lubec Narrows (the channel between Campobello Island and Lubec that turns into a rushing river of salt water at the peak of the incoming or outgoing tide).

Labels: 2008 Season, Lubec, Marilyn, photos

Well, today it's a combination of wind and fog that is keeping us on land, but for days it was just fog. If you've ever seen a horror movie called "The Fog" you'll understand when I tell you that the fog in Lubec could have played a starring role in that film. We have serious fog here. Sometimes it's a persistent mass that hangs over the area for weeks, only to be cleared when a dry northerly wind blows it away (warm southwest air holds the most moisture and that moisture condenses into fog as it is blown over the water). Other times, when the wind is light, the fog comes and goes with the tide. It may be perfectly clear in Lubec while the tide goes out but when it turns, wraith-like fingers of fog creep up our street from the Lubec Channel. Soon the water completely disappears from view (it's only two blocks away) and we hear the distant, mournful tones of the West Quoddy Lighthouse. Often the fog carries with it so much moisture that the sound of water dripping from the trees fills the air.

The Lubec fog comes in many forms, from delicate wisps to impenetrable walls, but it almost always prevents us from going out to sea. As of today, the fog has kept us landbound for 10 of the past 13 days! Because we use visual cues to find right whales (a tail lifted in the air or their distinctive V-shaped spout), we need to have good sighting conditions in the Bay of Fundy. So unless we expect the fog to clear by mid-morning, we just stay in, working on data and hoping for better weather tomorrow.

And when tomorrow rolls around one or two of our team members will check the weather, as we do every morning at 5 a.m. It involves a) looking out the window and b) checking a few weather websites for the day's forecast. We're looking for clear weather--no fog (for visibility) or rain (for camera and computer equipment)--and light winds. Ideally that means 10 knots (11.5mph) or less, but we often have to work in winds stronger than that. However, if winds are above 15 knots (17mph) it becomes too difficult to take photos (and hang on at the same time). This is especially true when the wind is against the strong Fundy tides, causing even higher seas.

Labels: 2008 Season, fog, Lubec, quoddy light house, weather

Click here to see more pictures from the field station.

Jonathan
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Labels: 2008 Season, food, Jonathan, Lubec, photos

We have been here for 4 or 5 days now and the weather has been uncooperative. First thick fog, then rain, then rain and fog. We need good visibility to find the whales and dry conditions and relatively calm seas to use the equipment we need to work (cameras, video, computers).

So we have been spending our time setting up the office, reviewing research protocols, and remembering how to live co-operatively in a large house with 10 to 15 people. Although there is plenty to do to set up and plenty more to do to process back-logged data, we are all growing antsy--a feeling which is magnified by the knowledge that right whales have been seen in the Bay of Fundy.

Laurie Murison, our colleague from the Grand Manan Whale and Research Station, made several trips into the Bay before the weather turned bad and reported 20 to 30 right whales. Knowing of our particular interest in mothers with calves of the year, she forwarded some excellent photographs she took. Low and behold, she had documented a new mother for the year! Most of the mothers and calves are first seen off the coast of the southeast U.S., but a few are first seen further north. This whale, #3115, is a 7-year-old female that gave birth to her first calf this year.










Photo of #3115 from Laurie Murison's July 28th sighting in the Bay of Fundy.
See more pictures and sighting history on the North Atlantic Right Whale Catalog web site.

This brings the calf total for the year up to at least 21. The weather does not look good for the next few days (in fact, we just had torrential rains and lightening that knocked out the power twice), but we will keep our fingers crossed for a change so we can see some of these youngsters for ourselves.

And for those of you in the sweltering summer heat, you may be surprised to hear that it is cold in Lubec. All of us already bundled in our sweaters and wondering if it is too early to turn on the heat!

-Philip

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Labels: 2008 Season, Bay of Fundy, Lubec, Philip, Right Whales

Weather conditions have not improved. We are all fogged up!! You can see how bad the visibility is by comparing the above image of the Nereid to the image taken yesterday from the same spot. The bridge is disappearing!

- Jonathan

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Labels: 2008 Season, Bay of Fundy, Jonathan, Lubec, Right Whales