User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
October 15th, 2017 – 0900-1030
Weather: 13 degrees, Partly cloudy, sprinkling of rain with 33km/hr wind gusts
Pieces: My observation site is an ocean side dog park called Macaulay Point, noted as Site 1,2 & 3 in my field notes. It is a wonderful place made up of rolling hills, abandoned military barracks, an abundance of wildlife (field log illustrations below) and of course, a lovely path along the shore to walk the dogs without leaving a paw/footprint on the local ecosystem(s). Since I visit my attribution sites daily to walk the dogs, I have decided to take a multi-faceted approach of observation which will blanket the aquatic, sea bird & shore life that are in the direct site. More specifically, I will observe the Seagulls, Crows, a pair of Swans, a Bald Eagle, family of Sea Otters & Harbor seals in my observation zone.
Field Journal Notes (Illustrations of Site 1,2,3 & species observed): Field Log Page 1 Field Log Page 2
Patterns: I am curious to know what the impact of humans & dogs in the area has been on the wildlife in the area, and more specifically, what impact the local fishermen has made on the wildlife when they clean their daily catch in an open dockside gutting station for the multiple species to ingest. This area specifically will be the location for my patterns of observation. It does bring up a few questions for me -Does this impact the animals daily habits (AKA-will they become lazy if they no longer feel the need to hunt)? Do they become dependent on the humans for their daily meals (Will they become conditioned & no longer fearful of the hand that feeds)? Will they “nest up” in the area since it provides an abundance of food? How does this affect competition? Most importantly, what would happen if all of the sudden the fishermen stopped feeding them!?
Process: Based on my daily observations at Site 1, 2 & 3, I believe that the higher number of wildlife species & frequency of observation of these species at Site 1 fish gutting station is located (plus the limited fear of multiple dogs in the area) can only be assumed to be due to these species primal desire to feed, in conjunction with their new dependence on being fed daily (hand fed in some cases). It has been noted than many sea birds are now nesting in the area, and the otters appear to have created their land burrows close to the shore of site 1. Lots of scat observed here.
Hypothesis: The increased variety & sheer number of species drawn into Site 1 is due to the abundance of food provided daily from the humans using the dockside gutting station.
Prediction: 1st-In site 1 specifically, multiple species are now dependent on the easy food source & supply provided by humans. More species may start to gather in the area, causing problems with domestic animals (dogs) & humans. A perfect example of how this has become a problem is at Fisherman’s Wharf, here in Victoria -last year a small child was mistaken for food while sitting on the dock, & she pulled into the water by a Sea Lion! Yikes. Never the less, she was ok & humans are no longer allowed to feed fish to the seals & sea lions at Fisherman’s wharf.
2nd-The ingrained fear that multiple wild species naturally inhabit will decrease in the presence of humans & dogs, leading to future occurrence of interaction & “conditioning” of wild animals, leading to more run ins with wildlife & potential issues for these wild species.
Response Variable: This appears to be a human made manipulative experiment
Explanatory Variable: This appears to be a Regression variable. It is continuous, as long as the humans continue to supply the food to the wildlife.
Great idea on viewing the effects on surrounding wildlife. It would be interesting to note the effects when it is not prime fishing season. I have a few suggestions – the response and explanatory variables are not very clear. Is the response variable the dependence of the wildlife on human placed fish? It might even help if you list the different wildlife that have become dependent on this. Is it just eagles, seagulls etc? Does it include more animals than just birds? (i.e., racoons?).
Hello M Flahr,
Thanks for your feedback & suggestions. Since this post was made, I felt it was necessary to change my final project since the topic was difficult to draw conclusive samples on. I had included a document on that post which outlined the specific wildlife that were dependent on the human imposed food source.
There is an attachment on my post you can view, if you like. The animals affected were mostly aquatic & marine birds, with sea otters making a regular appearance. In the field log attachment, you will see I made attempts to sketch the creatures viewed. I did not observe any raccoons, however, it is likely they come to the site at night when I am not there to observe 🙂
Thanks again for the feedback~ good luck with the course!
Michelle