MBFE - Days 1-3 We are here! 5/2-5/5

It finally came - BYU-Idaho Marine Biology Field Experience (MBFE) 2019!

After three hours of lecture on our first full morning of MBFE, we headed for the field in the afternoon.  We spent three largely sun-soaked hours at the rocky intertidal zone at Cape Arago State Park, South Cove.  Here is this year's group.  

LR: Dr. Holyoak, Sam, Matt, Eric, Caleb (back), Maddy, Hunter, Michelle, Cheyennah, Collin, Anne, Emma, Victoria, Jen (back), Liv and Ben.  

And this is the way they look when you're usually not looking...and how they feel about being at the seashore.

And so, the adventure begins.  I felt a little like a duck with her little ducklings in a row behind her as we walked down the path to the beach...

Over the driftwood logs and debris that's common along this part of the coast...

And out onto the beach on our way to our destination - the rocky shore at low tide!!!

And after negotiating the algae-covered rocks was when the real fun began!  Data collection.  Today's exercise was a species richness survey using 100cm3 quadrats to compare the tops and sides of rocks in an assigned area.

They LOVED IT!

Collin, Maddy and Michelle...

Anne, Victoria and Emma...

Sam, Eric, Matt(?), Jen and Caleb

Caleb takes a close look in a tide pool.

Emma, Ben (back), Anne, Victoria (I think)

Caleb, Anne, Hunter, Eric, Sam...

Collin (in rock), Liv (below), Michelle, Maddy, Victoria

Chey makes here way over some rocks with samples in her bucket.

Hunter and Eric check out what's in their team's bucket.

And three hours later it's time to head back to the lab to be in time for dinner.  It was a great day in the field.

I'm happy to report that this one day at the rocky shore was enough to alter all of my students' minds sufficiently that they are now unavoidably drawn to rocky areas, even when beautiful sandy beaches beckon.  Ha ha - how do I know?  The next day, Friday 5/3, we were in the field for about 3.5 hours visiting several local beaches doing beach profile surveys and collecting sand for particle-size analysis.  Invariably, as soon as the sand was collected and we had looked at the beach profile, students would bee-line toward the nearest rocky outcropping to see what was there.

Your honor, for evidence I present the following photographs :-)

Students around a rocky outcropping at Cape Arago, South Cove...

Students examining rocks at Simpson Beach (Shore Acres State Park).

And, lastly, students on rocky shelves by the beach at Cape Arago, Middle Cove.

I rest my case.

This actually happens every trip, it just happened faster than normal this time around.

Saturday 5/4 - Yes, May the Fourth, STAR WARS DAY - was celebrated, but not until the evening after students had completed their sand particle size analyses and many of them visited some tall ships that were in the area for a few days.  

Here are the Lady Washington (foreground) and the Hawaiian Chieftain (background).  They just happened to be visiting Coos Bay this weekend, so most of us went and took a look.  They are pretty cool all right!

And we topped off the day with a STAR WARS movie party in the cottage where my wife and I are staying.  

May the Fourth be With You!