Beautiful systems vulnerable to oil

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to assist some biologists in collecting blood samples from Brown Pelican nestlings, and to help survey for Ornate Diamondback Terrapins. The Brown Pelican was recently removed from the endangered species list, and terrapins have experienced steep enough declines to elicit proposals for endangered status. Both of these species rely on a healthy coastal ecosystem for their survival. If oil covers their habitat, they have no where to go.



Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) on nest



Brown Pelican nesting colony with Gulf of Mexico in background



Brown Pelican nestlings



Male Ornate Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin macrospilota)



Female Diamondback Terrapin swimming in shallow water



Female Diamondback Terrapin with barnacles growing on shell



Marsh Periwinkle snails (Littorina irrorata) that make up large part of terrapin's diet

Oil on our beaches

Like countless others who live along the gulf coast, along with many who don't, I'm feeling pretty lousy about what's been going on with BP's runaway oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. I don't really know who to direct my frustration towards, since I am a part of this society that demands so much oil to continue our way of life.

As long as the oil was washing up on shores other than those that I can see, it still felt somewhat surreal to me. A couple days ago, nearly two months after the oil rig sank on April 22, Sarah and I finally saw mats of oil sheen and tar balls that have begun washing up on our beaches in Okaloosa County, FL. I feel thankful for the delay we enjoyed with clean water and beaches, but now have begun feeling a sense of dread at how fouled things will become as this mess plays itself out.


Beach within walking distance of our apartment pre-oil







Tar balls amidst oil sheen washed up on beach



Random boom ready to be deployed at a city park



A short video of the clean surf on the sand