Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary
Day: 3
Date: 5/31/09
Well this is day three here at the sanctuary for me. I just graduated and moved here within a day of leaving good ole’ Machias. I do miss it so. Since I’ve moved in on Friday afternoon I’ve been hanging around the house and walking the trails so that I am familiar with the place.
My room right now is in the new dorm and will change to the older dorm across the screened in porch sometime next week. I have my computer all setup in our dining room and I usually get anywhere from one to three bars on the wireless, which sadly means I don’t have a reliable enough internet to play WoW this summer (sorry Cory).
So far I’ve met a handful of other interns, some who work here and some who don’t. The two girls living here in the new dorm are Emily and Jolie and are working on turtle nesting and kids programs respectively as well as horseshoe crab and salt marsh dieback. The guy living in the new dorm is Dan and he is one of the naturalists for the sanctuary as well as the adult program guide.
I’ve spent my free time mostly hanging around the house reading, surfing the net, and finding comfort in watching shows like Firefly and The Office. I really haven’t settled in yet and I’m still missing my homes, both Uxbridge and Machias. Part of me longs to go back to the apartment on the river in Machias and spend a lazy summer that way but I know that I must trudge on into the unknown until it becomes known.
Apparently I’ll start my actual work with the osprey sometime Monday or Tuesday although no one seems to be in a big hurry yet. I’d just like to have purpose so I feel like I belong a bit more. I’ve been told that most of my work will probably be independent which will be nice. Hopefully I will be scheduling my own time so I can drive home and visit and maybe even take a hike up to Maine. Who knows.
Today I hiked the second half of the trails as I hiked the first half yesterday. I identified some birds along the way so that I may start to familiarize myself with some of the local flora and fauna. In terms of vegetation I’ve seen mostly oaks and some sort of pine although I need to identify it further because it isn’t something that I’ve seen before. I become very familiar with the Red-winged Blackbird in the past few days due to hearing it’s “conk-a-reeeeee” call both on the trails and at the housing.
I walked out to the shoreline today along a boardwalk meandering through the salt marsh and saw some of the interns measuring and tagging horseshoe crabs and others wading so far out into the water with nets that I had to use my binocs to see them. There are a ton of mini crabs wandering around this place. They hide in holes as you walk by, but there are so many that it sounds like foam crackling when they all start moving.
I’ve been lucky enough to have internet and to be able to keep up with all of you so far. This really has been one of my first journeys out on my own and I can tell you the adventures are a lot more exciting with a group of ruffians along with you. It’s a bit lonely but having long chats with my dearest Meg and all my friends keeps me from getting too down. You gotta roll with the punches and I’m sure things will look up as they become routine and familiar. However, I find myself doing things a certain way because they remind me of people. For instance, at Stop & Shop the other day, when given the vast variety of soaps to choose from I chose Irish Spring because it reminds me of a certain hairy english roommate who used it. ;) I can’t believe the college years are behind us already. I’ve realized in these past few days that even though it’s over I still need everyone, so keep in touch.
I’m going to try and get into the habit of logging a journal on the mac every few days or so and publishing it to my blog online. As always, keep in touch.
Mike
