Current Research Blogs
Anna's Blog
Anna Gilboard, undergraduate student
1 December 2025
Hi everyone!
These past few weeks, I have been working on reading through all the data I got from The Whale Museum. After getting everything cleaned up, I’ve started digging into the bigger patterns in over ten years of harbor seal pup strandings from San Juan County. One of the clearest trends is the huge seasonal swing; winter and early spring are almost silent, but things ramp up fast in May and June, and July and August explode with strandings. August alone had 330 cases, which honestly shocked me when I first saw it.
I also noticed a surprising shift over the years: strandings steadily increased and peaked in 2018–2019, then dropped sharply starting in 2022. I’m excited to dig deeper into what might explain that decline, whether it’s population changes, observer effort, or something environmental.
Outside the spreadsheets, I’ve still been helping train new photo croppers, which has been very fun! And the highlight of the month definitely wasn’t on my computer; it was down at Whatcom Creek, where I got to watch Hank the California sea lion absolutely feasting on salmon. I took some awesome photos of him tossing fish around and slapping them against the water, easily one of my favorite wildlife encounters this season.
Next, I’ll start mapping hotspot areas and connecting these trends to human activity across the islands. It finally feels like all the pieces of this project are starting to fit together.
Thanks for reading,
Anna
Dawson's Blog
Dawson Little, graduate student
1 December 2025
Hi y'all,
This past month has been very lab centered as I continue working through the river otter scat samples. I have spent a lot of time processing scats in ethanol, organizing tubes, and getting everything prepared for DNA extraction. Some of these extractions will be carried out in the MMEL lab on campus by Ellie Taylor, while others will be completed here on the Reservation in our developing molecular workspace. I am really grateful for Ellie’s help and excited to finally have both labs moving the project forward on the molecular side.
A highlight of the month was being invited to present my research at a green crab focused symposium at next year’s National Shellfisheries Association Conference. I will be sharing some of our early findings on river otter interactions with invasive European green crab in the estuaries of Makah Bay. It is a great opportunity to introduce a predator centered perspective into a largely management and removal focused conversation, and I am very excited to be part of that session.
Out in the field, king tide season has arrived which meant it was time to pull the wildlife cameras from the otter latrine sites before they were flooded or lost. Before removing them, I downloaded the last rounds of footage, and they ended up capturing some of the most interesting clips I have gotten so far. Along with continued otter use at several latrines, one camera recorded a very rare species interaction between a mountain lion and a group of river otters. While river otters are often considered the apex predators of these estuarine systems, they are still not at the top of the larger food web. Mountain lion predation on otters has been documented before, but I could not find any record of an encounter actually being caught on camera. The mountain lion returned to the site several nights after the initial interaction, and the otters have not come back since.
Seeing this unfold on video was a powerful reminder of how dynamic and unpredictable these estuarine ecosystems are. It also adds a fascinating ecological layer to the ongoing diet work. Overall, November was a busy but productive month, and I am excited to head into December with both labs active and the project continuing to gain momentum.
Best,
Dawson
Mountain lion at night. Photo by D. Little.
Siena's Blog
Siena Gorohoff, undergraduate student
1 December 2025
We’re nearing the end of the quarter, and everything seems to be speeding up! It's been exciting seeing all the activity at the creek recently, even in the pouring rain we’ve been having some great seal sightings, and we’ve been seeing the California sea lion, Hank, quite a lot as well. Break for thanksgiving has been great for rest and reset before finals season takes over the next two weeks, even with all the homework and lab work to do it seems much more manageable without classes at the same time.
For the project we’re hoping to map out and graph a few parts of the data analysis over winter break, which will be really nice since we’ll have a good long break from classes. I’m hoping for some nice cozy winter weather to make working on the project more fun.
This quarter has been great so far and as it comes to a close im hoping everyone has had a great time with fall observation and after a nice long break it will be exciting to be back in the winter for a new season at the creek.
Happy Holidays and see you next month!
Siena
Ellie's Blog
Ellie Taylor, undergraduate student
1 December 2025
Hi everyone,
I hope you all had a chance to spend time with friends and family and enjoy some good food over the break! I was able to visit home for a few days and had a very busy, but really wonderful Thanksgiving.
We’ve made a lot of exciting progress on the otter sex-based diet study this month. Early on, I visited the Makah Reservation in Neah Bay to pick up otter scat samples. While I was there, Dawson showed me around the reservation’s labs and the latrines where he’s been collecting samples. It was great to finally see the fieldwork side of this project, since most of my work happens at the lab bench. Now that we have some scat samples in the lab, I’ve been able to start extractions.
I also spent a good chunk of this month preparing crustacean tissue samples to be sent off for Sanger sequencing. This involved refining our extraction protocol to get a high DNA concentration in each sample, and gave me the opportunity to practice my PCR and Gel electrophoresis skills.
For the log pond project, seal counts have been slowing down as we approach winter. But there's been quite a lot of action at Whatcom Creek, so many log pond researchers have gotten the chance to help with those observations.
Wishing everyone luck on their finals and hope the end of the quarter treats you well!
Until next time,
Ellie
Mallory's Blog
Mallory Stonier, undergraduate student
1 December 2025
Hi everyone,
With finals approaching fast, the last few weeks have been hectic, but I am enjoying the challenges my classes have presented. The greatest challenge this month, however, has been getting the tent into my car for observations. Luckily, it is almost always better to have it with us as the action at the creek has been busy during the peak of the Chum run. One observation, we ended up with 33 pages of data! Two of my favorite moments must include seeing Luna (one of our identified seals who is blind in one eye, #0172) and watching Hank chase off and eventually briefly fight a smaller sea lion who has been frequenting the creek. Outside of the creek, I have been continuing to volunteer with Wild EcoHealth on Victoria’s project. I get to work alongside Ellie, who has been a great help to my learning. Earlier this month, I participated in a Marine Mammal Stranding Network training with the Whatcom Humane Society Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, and I have been learning a lot. I am excited to be a part of such an important team and stay connected with what our marine wildlife in the area might need.
I’m looking forward to wrapping up the quarter and hopefully getting to see lab members who are graduating this quarter to celebrate everything the lab has accomplished this year!
Seals and Salmon,
Mallory
Zoe's Blog
Zoe Hosford, graduate student
1 December 2025
Greetings from a chilly end of November! This month has been a steady mix of research momentum, teaching responsibilities, and settling into the darker part of the year in Bellingham. The days feel shorter, the caffeine intake feels higher, and my thesis has become the main character in my life again.
A big focus this month for me has been writing. I finally started pulling together the results section of my thesis, which has made the whole project feel much more real. I have been organizing figures, drafting text, and trying to translate the patterns I am seeing in my models into clear explanations. It has been a challenge to balance detail with readability, but it is exciting to watch the chapters take shape. Writing while the analyses are still evolving can be a bit of a tightrope walk, but it is helping me understand my own results more clearly.
On the analysis side, I spent a lot of time refining my workflow. I reorganized sections of my code, updated my seal count summaries, and worked through some tricky pieces in the transient killer whale dataset. My models are giving me more consistent outputs now, and the relationships among seal haul-out patterns, TKW presence, and regional variation are finally becoming easier to describe. I also made a new suite of spatial plots which helped me clarify some lingering questions about seasonal trends.
Teaching has been moving along at a good pace. BIO 101 labs are in their busiest stretch of the quarter, and my students have been gaining confidence as they prepare for the end of the term. I have been spending more time guiding them through concepts and helping them build study strategies, which has been extremely rewarding to see!
Outside of work, I have been trying to step away from my computer when I can. Gully and I have been venturing out on walks between storms to see the last of the fall colors, which has been a nice break from the screen. Most evenings still end with warm tea, R scripts, and writing sessions, but the balance has been good.
November has been full of quiet but meaningful progress for me. But I am heading into December with a clearer thesis structure, cleaner data, and a much stronger sense of direction for the next chapter of this project, which is extremely exciting!
Till next time,
Zoe
Chloe's Blog
Chloe Bentley, undergraduate student
1 December 2025
Hello again everyone! It has been a very eventful month. Hank (the sea lion) has been active in the creek! He has been seen around the seals hunting and even fought another sea lion. It is very interesting to see the seals swim around Hank and be in the same place as him. The seals have also been very active! One observation we had 33 observation sheets.
Siena and I are still going through our data for the whale sightings/strandings. We are figuring out ArcGIS together and it has been fun talking about the possible routes we can go with our research! I have also been in the lab volunteering with Victoria! We have been processing scat samples and going through the protocol to get them ready for analysis. I have really appreciated the molecular experience!
Classes have been busy, but still very exciting. In Ecology lab we have just submitted our first official drafts for our stream analysis, which is interesting because of the relation it has with Whatcom creek! I was able to talk to our class about what we do in MMEL and the relation it has to the seals!
Winter quarter is coming up, and we are excited to see what the creek has in store for us! Good luck with exams everyone and see you next month! Happy Holidays!
Seals and Salmon,
Chloe
Camryn's Blog
Camryn Sumrok, undergraduate student
1 December 2025
Greetings!
Fall quarter is coming to an end, and it has been both wonderful and hectic. I want to thank everyone in the lab for an incredible fall filled with hard work, dedication, and seals! I am looking forward to my last two quarters in the lab, especially with the smolt project starting back up in the spring.
Work on the smolt project from this past spring is still being done! Mallory and I have been continuing data input and outline edits, which have taken a lot of time but remain very rewarding. We are ecstatic to begin graphing and data analysis to highlight major trends that will contribute to our thesis.
The lab work I have been completing with Chloe for Wild EcoHealth has been going swimmingly! We make a great team and have been successfully completing the complicated and lengthy scat extraction protocol. I am grateful for this opportunity, as it has given me a glimpse into the molecular world, something I am now very interested in pursuing in the future.
I recently visited Oyster Creek and watched the chum salmon run! It is always a beautiful experience to see these resilient fish spawn and complete their life cycle. An interesting thing I noticed was the large number of deceased fish that did not make it long enough to spawn. It would be interesting to look into the reason for increased mortality rates in the chum and whether it is primarily natural or fishing mortality. I have included an image below of the chum run!
I wish everyone the best of luck with finals and the rest of fall quarter! I am looking forward to my final winter at WWU, though it is bittersweet!
Seals and Salmon,
Camryn
Chum salmon at Oyster Creek. Photo by C. Sumrok.