Cold temperatures, Beluga EDNA sampling, XC skiing, and birding!

You may think that cold weather and dark days would lead to a sedentary and slow lifestyle in Alaska. If you are a student in the Semester by the Bay program, the previous statement couldn’t be further from the truth. This week was exceptionally cold, reaching temperatures as low as -10 degrees Fahrenheit. This cold spell did not stop me from doing any of the activities I am coming to love.

I started this week with a 4.3-mile cross-country ski in my backyard, also known as the Homestead trail loop. It was a great place to see the sun setting behind the mountains.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, I continued working at my internship. On Tuesday, I was busy reading technical papers to gain an understanding of best practices surrounding GIS and ARC Hydro. On Wednesday, I went into the field for the first time. Using a high-precision GPS, I recorded the roads, culverts, and drain inlets and outlets, which I will burn into a map to determine the water flow.

Wednesday night, I went down to the Homer spit to do some photography. The moon was full, and there was a nice display of the alpine glow.

On Thursday, the SBB cohort went to the Wynn Nature Reserve to take some snow samples. The data collected is the amount of new snowfall, rain equivalent, and PH. That night, I also went on my first night time ski. The temperature was 5 degrees. The hairs inside my nose immediately froze, and as I skied, my eyes watered and froze. Despite the cold, the moon illuminated the trials, and as it reflected on the ice crystals on the trees, it gave a very nice sparkle.

On Friday, we drove 1.5 hours north to the town of Kenai. We first went to the Kenai River to look for beluga whales, with no luck. Our next mission was to deliver an articulated beluga skeleton to the Kahtnuht’ana Duhdelidht (a native tribe of Alaska) College campus. Fortunately, we had more luck here and successfully pieced together the skeleton. Afterward, two students and coaches of the Native Youth Olympics of Alaska showed us how to play some of their favorite games. We had a blast learning and quickly realized that we weren’t skilled at their games.

After delivering the skeleton, we drove back to the river to collect water samples to do beluga EDNA sampling. We collected data on the temperature, water conductivity, PH, and salinity. The purpose of collecting this data is to analyze the parameters that are affecting the beluga prey.

On Saturday morning, we re-tested the water samples in the lab. This time, we also filtered the water to analyze the DNA and checked the turbidity, along with redoing all the tests we did in the field.

This Sunday, I went birding with Grace and Lee; this is hopefully becoming a weekly Sunday occurrence. I was lucky enough to borrow the Canon R5 with a 100-400 lens! This week, I am adding to my list of species the redpoll finch, boreal chickadee, black-capped chickadee, pelagic cormorant, and the black-billed magpie; species I saw today already on the list are goldeneye ducks, red-breasted mergansers, long-tailed ducks, rosy finches, and many juvenile and adult bald eagles.

I wrapped up the day by baking a loaf of bread and cooking some locally caught scallops! I can only hope that next week can be half as full and exciting as this one.

Now you can also watch a video version of my blog on youtube!