Marine Mammals Class Trip to Nokomis to see Beggar
28 April 02001
Beggar is a wild male bottlenose dolphin who solicits food from humans in Nokomis, a small Florida city just north of Venice. Beggar frequents the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) between Albee Road Bridge and Blackburn Point Bridge, approaching the many, many boats that pass through.
Debi Colbert and Petra Cunningham of Mote Marine Labs have done some research on him and the boats that pass through his territory. There is an ongoing project to keep
track of the boats that interact with them and to attempt to educate the boaters about the problems that such interaction entails. I've had the wondeful fortune to be a volunteer on some of these trips.
I only got a couple of photos from this class field trip, because as you'll know if you were there, it was hard to see anything. I hope to take pictures of Beggar & the Makela close up next time I go out on it though.
We approach the shore. That's Professor Harley in pink and Professor Bauer with the baseball cap.
Ali and her friends (and Julia B. in back) lean over the railing to get a better look at the water. No sign of the dolphin yet.
The class comes down to where Debi & Petra did their two years of shore observations. They must be dedicated--it's only been a few minutes and I for one already want a cushion. Second person from the right is Debi. Albee Road Bridge can be seen in the background.
Here they come--the class heads north to get a better look.
That's Randy Wells himself in the Makela, along with Petra and two volunteers.
A hopefully uninformed tourist pounds on her boat, trying to attract Beggar (yellow circle), an event that takes place dozens, even hundreds of times daily.
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