As those who live in Santa Cruz can attest, the weather as of late has been pretty tricky. And by tricky weather, I mean sideways-raining, road-closing, tree-falling, flash-flooding weather. While these storms are excellent for cuddling up inside with a cup of hot cocoa and a good book, they are not very conducive to collecting good resight data at Año Nuevo.
Reading flipper tags is challenging even on the most beautiful days. The green flipper tags placed on the seals are about the size of your thumb or smaller (depending on how large your thumbs are!) with four digits written on each side. Seems like reading four little digits shouldn’t be too hard, right? Now factor in that you are standing pretty far away looking at this little green tag through binoculars. Then recall that this all takes place on the beach, so part or all of the tag could be covered in sand or submerged in water. Finally, remember that these tags are attached to elephant seals, who may decide that the INSTANT you focus in on the tag is the ideal time to slump over onto their other side, or flop their tail into a new position that makes it impossible for you to even see the flipper tag anymore. Moreover, you need to note not just the digits on the tag but also its location on the animal’s tail; is it the upper or lower side, and is it in the inner or outer lobes?? All of this occurs simultaneously, making flipper tag resights occasionally frustrating yet always extremely rewarding.
Now imagine that, on top of all those other challenges and considerations, the wind is howling and rain is pelting down with no intention of ceasing any time soon. Your binoculars fog up, your feet start to slosh in your boots, and you may start to feel slightly miserable. On stormy days like these, it goes without saying that we usually don’t record as many flipper tag resights as we would on a nice sunny day.
Despite this, we still go to Año Nuevo, we still collect resights, and we still have a good time. Why? Because even if we come back sopping, sandy, and stinky for only a handful of flipper tag resights, we can still take a step back from the frustrations of that morning and realize that our little dataset is contributing to an important decades-long research effort. Without dedicated field leaders, interns, and volunteers willing to venture out to Año Nuevo in not-so-ideal conditions to collect resight data, our knowledge of northern elephant seals would most likely not be as extensive as it is today. That (and maybe a dry pair of socks) is a good enough reason for me to keep helping with resights, rain or shine.