Orca Behavior Institute
Donation protected
The Orca Behavior Institute (OBI) is an unincorporated non-profit partnership started by Michael Weiss and Monika Wieland in March 2015. Our mission is to conduct non-invasive research on the Southern Resident Killer Whales, with a focus on social associations, acoustics, and behavioral response to prey availability.
Monika has been researching orcas as citizen scientist for over ten years, helping collect data for The Whale Museum's Sea Sound Project , completing her undergraduate thesis at Reed College on killer whale acoustics, publishing a paper in Marine Mammal Science, and reporting changing whale behavioral trends on her blog, Orca Watcher . Michael started working with the Southern Residents in 2013, and presented his first research project at an American Cetacean Society conference in November 2014.
Over the winter we invested in a boat and a hydrophone, and for our first official field season in 2015 we plan to collect data for Michael's undergraduate thesis at Reed College and also begin data collection for several longer term projects. All data collection is non-invasive will occur in accordance with federal whale watch guidelines. We are looking for support for our direct research-related expenses over what will be an 8-10 week field season.
Our on-going costs include boat moorage fees, gas, office supplies (e.g. write-in-the-rain notebooks and printer ink). We also have one-time expenses for a VHF radio, GPS, and a necessary ignition coil replacement on our engine to get us out on the water.
Updates on our research encounters will occur on Monika's blog, and we also plan to develop the OBI website this summer. Thank you so much for your support, and stay tuned for photos of the research team in action!
(Special thanks to Sara Hysong-Shimazu for the awesome logo!)
Monika has been researching orcas as citizen scientist for over ten years, helping collect data for The Whale Museum's Sea Sound Project , completing her undergraduate thesis at Reed College on killer whale acoustics, publishing a paper in Marine Mammal Science, and reporting changing whale behavioral trends on her blog, Orca Watcher . Michael started working with the Southern Residents in 2013, and presented his first research project at an American Cetacean Society conference in November 2014.
Over the winter we invested in a boat and a hydrophone, and for our first official field season in 2015 we plan to collect data for Michael's undergraduate thesis at Reed College and also begin data collection for several longer term projects. All data collection is non-invasive will occur in accordance with federal whale watch guidelines. We are looking for support for our direct research-related expenses over what will be an 8-10 week field season.
Our on-going costs include boat moorage fees, gas, office supplies (e.g. write-in-the-rain notebooks and printer ink). We also have one-time expenses for a VHF radio, GPS, and a necessary ignition coil replacement on our engine to get us out on the water.
Updates on our research encounters will occur on Monika's blog, and we also plan to develop the OBI website this summer. Thank you so much for your support, and stay tuned for photos of the research team in action!
(Special thanks to Sara Hysong-Shimazu for the awesome logo!)
Organizer
Monika Wieland Shields
Organizer
Friday Harbor, WA
