{"id":5266,"date":"2023-09-04T10:28:05","date_gmt":"2023-09-04T17:28:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/?p=5266"},"modified":"2023-09-04T10:29:41","modified_gmt":"2023-09-04T17:29:41","slug":"thats-so-real-adult-beginners-serial-podcasts-and-a-whole-lotta-of-baja-gray-whale-video-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/gemmlab\/2023\/09\/04\/thats-so-real-adult-beginners-serial-podcasts-and-a-whole-lotta-of-baja-gray-whale-video-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"That\u2019s so Real: Adult Beginners, Serial Podcast(s), and a whole lotta of Baja Gray Whale Video Analysis."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Celest Sorrentino, Research Technician, Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Lab<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hello again GEMM Lab family. I write to you exactly a year after (okay maybe 361 days after but who\u2019s counting\u2026) from my previous blog post describing my 2022 summer working in the GEMM Lab as an NSF REU intern. Since then, so much has changed, and I can\u2019t wait to fill you in on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June I walked across the commencement stage at UC Santa Barbara, earning my BS in Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology and my minor in Italian language. A week later, I packed my bags and headed straight back to the lukewarm beaches of Newport, Oregon as a Research Technician in the GEMM Lab. I am incredibly fortunate to have been invited back to the OSU Marine Mammal Institute to lend a hand analyzing drone footage of gray whales collected back in March 2023 when Leigh and Clara went down to Baja California, as mentioned previously in Clara\u2019s blog<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Fig. 1. View from the top! (of the bridge at Yaquina Bay Bridge in Newport, OR)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

During my first meeting with Clara at the beginning of the summer we discussed that a primary goal of my position was to process all the drone footage collected in Baja so that the generated video clips could be later used in other analytical software such as BORIS and SLEAP A.I. Given my previous internships and past summer project<\/a>, this video processing is familiar to me. My initial thoughts were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sweet! Watch drone footage, pop in some podcasts, note down when I see whales, let\u2019s do this!*<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like any overly eager 23-year-old, I might have mentally cracked open a Celsius and kicked my feet up too soon. We added another layer to the goal: develop an ethogram – which requires me to identify and define the behaviors that the gray whales appear to be demonstrating within the videos (more on ethogram development in Clara\u2019s previous blog<\/a>.) This made me nervous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t have any experience with behavior. How do I tell what is a real behavior or if the whale is just existing? What if I\u2019m wrong and ruin the project? What if I totally mess this up?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naturally, as any sane person, to resolve these thoughts I took to the Reddit search bar: \u201cHow to do a job you\u2019ve never done before.\u201d No dice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I pushed these thoughts aside and decided to just start<\/strong> the video analysis process. Clara provided me with the ethogram she is developing during her PhD as a point of reference (based on the published gray whale ethogram in Torres et al. 2018), I was surrounded by an insanely supportive lab, and I could Google anything at my fingertips. Fast-forward 6 weeks later: I had analyzed 128 drone videos of adult gray whales as well as mother-calf pairs, and developed an ethogram describing, 26 behaviors**. I named one of my favorite behaviors  a \u201cTwirl\u201d to describe when a gray whale lifts their head out of the water and performs a 360 turn. Reminds me of times when as a kid, sometimes all you really needed is a good spin!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now I was ready to start a productive, open conversation with Leigh and Clara about this ethogram and my work. However, even walking up to that last meeting, remnants of those daunting, doubtful early summer thoughts persisted. Even after I double checked all the definitions I wrote, rewatched all videos with said behaviors, and had something to show for my work. What gives Brain?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few days ago, as I sat on my family\u2019s living room couch with my two younger sisters, Baylie and Cassey, Baylie wanted to watch some TikToks with me. One video<\/a> that came up was of a group of adults taking a beginner dance class, having so much fun and radiating joy. The caption read, Being a beginner as an adult is such a fun and wild thing. <\/em>Baylie and I watched the video at least 10x, repeating to each other phrases like, \u201cWow!\u201d and \u201cThey\u2019re so cool.\u201d That caption and video has been on my mind since: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being a beginner as an adult is such a fun and wild thing.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being a beginner as an adult is also scary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having just graduated, I can no longer say I am undergraduate student<\/em>. Now, I am a young adult<\/em>. This was my first research technician job, as an adult<\/em>. Don\u2019t adults usually have everything figured out? Can adults be beginners too?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes. In fact, we\u2019re beginners more than we realize. <\/p>\n\n\n\n