My first official field season doing shore-based beluga whale photo identification surveys has ended. Some key moments:

• Photographed several individual neonate belugas, with the youngest being estimated at only hours to a couple of days old.

• Observed a beluga carcass floating upriver with the tide and called my regional stranding hotline for the first time.

• Heard some new (to me) vocalizations that can only be described as sounding like a Minimoog.

It was exhausting, but SO much fun getting to hang out with these strange little guys. I’ll be counting down the days till March when spring field season starts back up.

For those of you who work in the field, what kind of work do you do and are you also bummed when the season ends?

*Back of camera photos are non-survey and taken on personal time at publicly accessible sites, no research permit required. (God forbid the local NOAA overlords happen to stumble upon this without context, ya know?)