COASST

On Sunday Meghan and I participated in the University of Washington's Coastal Observation And Seabird Survey Team training. COASST is a unique citizen science program intended to monitor changes in marine environments through identification and data collection of dead sea birds that have washed ashore. Basically, we walk the same beach once or twice a month and record data on any birds that we find. During the training we learned how to identify birds by measuring their tarsus (leg) and beak length. (In case you were wondering my "beak" is a full cm longer than Meghan's.) Soon after Sunday's training we conducted our first survey. Although we did not record any birds, we did see a seal and young humpback whale offshore. We'll certainly let you know if we find a bird - we have to take pictures and send them in.

Meghan "COASSTing"