[NatureNS] ...none-the-less, the Yellow Warblers sang

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aljoudrey@eastlink.ca

naturens@chebucto.ns.ca

naturens-mml-owner@chebucto.ns.ca

<a href="../201407/37864.html">next m --Apple-Mail-4F40F09E-F5F3-4B4F-9553-E0034CAD7E33 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I lived vicariously through your obvious excitement and enthusiasm evident i= n your writing. ;) Thanks for sharing!=20 Sent from my iPhone > On Jul 14, 2014, at 3:57 PM, Randy Lauff <randy.lauff@gmail.com> wrote: >=20 > I got one of those calls late last week, one a zoologist craves. "Do you w= ant to help with the Fin Whale necropsy?" Of course the answer was "yes!" So= , on Saturday, I joined folks from the Marine Animal Response Society (https= ://www.facebook.com/marineanimalresponsesociety?fref=3Dts) and helped take a= part the 17 m male Fin Whale on the shore of Janvrins Island, Richmond Count= y. >=20 > Anatomically, it was just a great experience to work with something so lar= ge...my previous experience with animals of this size are one Minke (near Ca= nso) and two 11 m Sperm Whales (locally). The internal organs were ... beyon= d prime. The bones, a particular passion of mine, were great. Gulls and othe= r vertebrate scavengers were notably absent, perhaps the state of decay was b= eyond even their tastes. >=20 > There were thousands of blow flies (I'm guessing at the Green Bottle Fly [= http://bugguide.net/node/view/877020]), and thousands upon thousands of magg= ots already working the carcass. There were also hundreds of Red-lined Carri= on Beetle (Necrodes surinamensis), the only carrion beetle (or any beetle) I= noticed. One was collected...and as is often the case, on the label for thi= s insect will be the microhabitat (Fin Whale carcass)...I just think that's r= eally cool! >=20 > And through then entire five hours I was there, the nearby Yellow Warblers= were quite upbeat about the whole thing, singing the whole time. Perhaps th= e plethora of insects was very much to their liking! >=20 > Randy > (Who apologizes for the cryptic subject line, but every once in a while, I= have to do something like that!) >=20 > _________________________________ > RF Lauff > Way in the boonies of > Antigonish County, NS. --Apple-Mail-4F40F09E-F5F3-4B4F-9553-E0034CAD7E33 Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit <html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>I lived vicariously through your obvious excitement and enthusiasm evident in your writing.  ;)    Thanks for sharing! <br><br>Sent from my iPhone</div><div><br>On Jul 14, 2014, at 3:57 PM, Randy Lauff <randy.lauff@gmail.com> wrote:

I got one of those calls late last week, one a zoologist craves. "Do you want to help with the Fin Whale necropsy?" Of course the answer was "yes!" So, on Saturday, I joined folks from the Marine Animal Response Society (https://www.facebook.com/marineanimalresponsesociety?fref=ts) and helped take apart the 17 m male Fin Whale on the shore of Janvrins Island, Richmond County.<div> <br></div><div>Anatomically, it was just a great experience to work with something so large...my previous experience with animals of this size are one Minke (near Canso) and two 11 m Sperm Whales (locally). The internal organs were ... beyond prime. The bones, a particular passion of mine, were great. Gulls and other vertebrate scavengers were notably absent, perhaps the state of decay was beyond even their tastes.</div> <div><br></div><div>There were thousands of blow flies (I'm guessing at the Green Bottle Fly [http://bugguide.net/node/view/877020]), and thousands upon thousands of maggots already working the carcass. There were also hundreds of Red-lined Carrion Beetle (Necrodes surinamensis), the only carrion beetle (or any beetle) I noticed. One was collected...and as is often the case, on the label for this insect will be the microhabitat (Fin Whale carcass)...I just think that's really cool!</div> <div><br></div><div>And through then entire five hours I was there, the nearby Yellow Warblers were quite upbeat about the whole thing, singing the whole time. Perhaps the plethora of insects was very much to their liking!</div> <div><br></div><div>Randy</div><div>(Who apologizes for the cryptic subject line, but every once in a while, I have to do something like that!)</div><div><br></div><div><div>_________________________________<br>RF Lauff<br> Way in the boonies of<br>Antigonish County, NS.</div> </div></div> </div></blockquote></body></html> --Apple-Mail-4F40F09E-F5F3-4B4F-9553-E0034CAD7E33--