Farewell, Oil Spill

I am all packed up and ready to head back home this morning.  I have mixed emotions about leaving; happy because I'll be back home with my family, and sad because I feel there is so much more I could do down here.  My full-time job asked me to cut my sabbatical short, and as of yesterday I didn't have another assignment down here, and this one was ending.  As my luck would have it, I did get offered another assignment as a Resource Adviser, but I made the difficult decision to cut my time short here and return home.

It's been an amazing six weeks, and I have no regrets whatsoever.  Part of me wishes that I was in the position to stay down here and float from job to job as they present, but a bigger part of me realizes that my job stability is more important.  I plan on taking about a week off before I return to work, as I have been here for 44 days with only four days off.  

BP is working on closing the well, and the Coast Guard announced today that the "majority of the oil is gone".  Please, don't forget us on the coast.  There is SO much left to be done, and I feel like only now can the real assessment and cleanup begin.  Oil is still washing up onto beaches even today, and oiled wildlife is still out there.  I can only hope that the powers that be continue their commitment to preserving and restoring the Gulf Coast.  I did what I could to help, and gained invaluable experience and made great friends in the process. 

So today I say farewell to the oil spill-affected Gulf Coast.  I hope to see you again soon, but never again under these circumstances. 

Lots of birds on our second to last day

Yesterday we were lucky enough to get a boat again to survey the islands and coastline of eastern Mississippi.  We expected it to be another day much like the last week - pretty scenery and healthy birds to look at, but not much to do.  It turned out to be a very busy morning.  

We headed out to Round Island, a small island not far off the coast that typically has about 500 to 600 birds along the beaches.  There were lots of pelicans, but all seemed healthy and flighted.

We spotted a dead bird, so the boat (a 26 foot flat bottom) pulled up close to the shore and we waded onto the beach.  We collected the carcass, and decided to walk the beach to check on the other birds.  We came across a royal tern that did not appear injured, but was unable to fly.  We brought the carcass and the tern back to the boat and headed back to the beach to continue our survey.  My partner then saw a large juvenile northern gannet which appeared oiled and could not fly.  So we captured the gannet, who was quite aggressive and seemed determine to eat our fingers.  We returned to the boat, where we realized we had a little problem - we only had one bird carrier, and now had two birds (the dead one obviously doesn't need a carrier).  So, I got the tern out of the crate and we replaced it with the very angry gannet.  Having absolutely no more room, we decided to head back to the dock and get the birds to the intake center.  I got to ride for 45 minutes with a tern in my hands.  He was so grateful, he pooped on me.  Twice. 

The northern gannet:

The tern safe in his crate on the way to Gulfport:

Today we tried to go back on the boat to continue surveying the island, but the weather prevented it.  I am back at the hotel and am going to start packing up.  I am headed home tomorrow!