Hi Sea Fans!
From Alaska I went south to Oregon and here's my journal entry:
DAY 1:
Alaska was beautiful, but I have to admit that all that snow and ice
gets old, and the lack of daylight messed with my internal clock. I’m really glad to be here on the coast of Oregon Alaska Newport Oregon Newport Pacific Ocean about halfway between Washington California
Gene, who's my host in Oregon, says that we'll not just visit the aquarium, but also the Oregon State University’s
Hatfield Marine Science Center, the National Oceanographic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ships that are now using Newport as their
Pacific operations center, and we'll visit a 140 year old lighthouse
that's still in service. I’m excited,
but I have to get some sleep before tomorrow’s busy schedule.
DAY 2:
The
Monday morning volunteer meeting is famous for all the great food the
volunteers bring in to go with their morning coffee.
Harry
and Nan said it was a special occasion so I could have two
treats. I didn't want to make a pig of myself, so I just took one...don't these treats look yummy?!
Then Nan said I should start my aquarium visit by coming with her to the aviary
where five different kinds of coastal birds are guests of the aquarium all year
round.
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| I was being silly standing on the rocks - I slipped and almost fell into the water, but luckily Nan caught me just in time. |
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| The Oystercatchers. This pair hatched out a chick last Spring, and when it was fully grown, it moved to the Sea Life Centre in Seward, Alaska. |
Many people think that the murres look a lot like penguins,
but I read the sign and it said that penguins live
south of the Equator, and auks live to the north. I had never heard of auks before, but here they were... so close I could almost reach out and touch them. (The sign said I shouldn’t touch the birds, so
I didn’t try).
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| This Common Murre is just changing over from its winter non-breeding plumage (feathers) to its breeding plumage. |
...here come the mammal specialists who feed and care for
the otters.
It’s a bit hard to see Aialik hiding behind his handler, but he is allowing her to check him out from nose to tail to make sure he is healthy.
It’s a bit hard to see Aialik hiding behind his handler, but he is allowing her to check him out from nose to tail to make sure he is healthy.
The otters each eat between 6.8 and 9.1 kg of
high quality seafood every day! They do
not have blubber (fat layer) like the seals and whales do, so they have to burn food to
stay warm in the cold water. It costs
almost $20 000 a year to feed each otter!!! Imagine if your dog cost as much to feed?!
I also got to meet some really nice people at the Oregon Coast
Aquarium.
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Wilma helped me to learn about the colorful animals that
live in tide pools along the
|
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| I caught up with Michelle at lunchtime. She works in Operations and her job is to make sure that visitors have a safe and enjoyable experience when they visit the aquarium. |
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| Here's Gene - he's introducing me to the Monday afternoon volunteers. There are around 400 volunteers who work at the aquarium as interpreters, landscapers, painters, food preparation specialists, divers and office assistants. |
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| Look at all the flavours! |
Tomorrow is my last day in Oregon Hatfield Marine
Science Center
I'll leave it at that for now Sea Fans...keep an eye on my blog, I'll post the next bit soon!
Have a great week Sea Fans!
Cheers
Abby
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