Adverse weather conditions prevented us from flying today, however there is still plenty of work to be done at the field house (pictured on right). On these "no-fly" days, one of our duties as an Observer is to manage and analyze data and images collected during our aerial surveys for the digital North Atlantic right whale catalog.





The catalog has developed from a collaborative effort of various organizations, and is curated by the New England Aquarium. The digital images we take in the plane are coded with supporting data (e.g., behaviors, group associations, location, etc.) and the whales are identified. It is a common misconception that wildlife biologists are always in the field and rarely work indoors. There are always data sets to be managed and our days sometimes consist of more hours looking at a computer screen than looking out of a window, searching for whales.


-Karen



Photo Credit: New England Aquarium/Karen Vale

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