Week 4: Marine Naturalist Training

Cindy giving instruction on the assemblage of Stinky Bill

At the Whale Museum again for the 4th week of Marine Naturalist Training Cindy went over the differences between toothed whales like Orcas and baleen whales like Stinky Bill the Museum's resident Gray Whale. Nope, we don't keep Stinky Bill in a big tub upstairs in the Museum. Unfortunately Stinky Bill met with an untimely death in his youth. What we have are his bones, which were spread out on the floor for us to put together.

After a lunch break we met again over at the High School where Kari Koski told us about Soundwatch, the Museum program that actively protects whales and other Marine life by educating boaters. Mary Knackstedt gave an overview of the San Juan Marine Resources Committee and Marine protected Areas in San Juan County.

Black Oystercatchers ~ Tony Angell

from Marine Birds and Mammels of Puget Sound

Then a bird who had mystically transformed himself into a man named David Drummond flew into the room. He flitted about feeding our astonished little beaks bits of philosophical wisdom. He showed us pictures of birds and he talked about how adaptable we are recommending that we go outside and just be. I took this to heart as I spend altogether too much time indoors at my computer and the adaptations that result may in fact not be how I truly wish to evolve. He recommended books including: Sacred Balance by David Suzuki, Practice of the Wild by Gary Snyder and The Future of Life by E.O. Wilson.