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Biologist

AVG. SALARY

$66,710

EDUCATION

Doctoral degree

JOB OUTLOOK

Decreasing

Real-Life Activities

Real-Life Communication -- Solution

Here's what you could say:

As you are just heading out -- you'll want to give some background here
OK folks, we're just getting under way here. We'll be encountering quite a bit of wildlife today and I'll try to tell you as much as time will allow.
First, to get you oriented, we are heading toward Gull Island. Gull Island, as you'll soon see, gets its name from the massive colony of seabirds that make their summer home there.
The population of the island is about 20,000 birds of eight different species. Half of those birds will typically be black-legged kittiwakes. Murres, glaucous-winged gulls, cormorants, puffins and pigeon guillemots will also make nests and raise their young here.
When you pass a group of nesting puffins
Up ahead, you can see a group of nesting puffins. Only about 100 of the birds out here are puffins, but they are colorful birds and everyone seems to enjoy them.
They are also remarkable for their ability to swim. That's right, swim. Puffins dive up to 400 feet deep to search for fish. They have actually developed the ability to fly underwater. Remarkable birds. The horned puffin.
When a glaucous-winged gull flies nearby
Here comes a glaucous-winged gull just over the boat. Take a good look at the beak of the gull. Notice anything? The bright orange dot on the yellow beak indicates it is a female.
The dot is the place where young gulls peck to signify to their mothers that they are hungry. The pecking tells the mother to regurgitate food for the younger birds.
When you see a mother seagull giving food to a hatchling
And right over here you can see a seagull feeding her hatchling. As you all probably know, seagulls will eat most anything.
You've probably seen them at the dump or eating french fries and fried clams on the boardwalk. But there's a reason for the gull's voracious appetite. It takes nearly four years for gulls to reach maturity.
When you are heading back in
As you saw, the island is a busy place in summer. But it's quite a different story in winter. The birds begin to leave in August and around mid-September, the island becomes virtually deserted.
Where do they go? Well, no one is quite sure. Birds are often spotted well out at sea, some as far north as the ice caps and some as far south as Baja, California. The only thing we know for sure is that they'll be back next summer -- it's something we can count on.

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Biologist

Real-Life Activities

Real-Life Communication -- Solution