In recent weeks Bay Bulletin has reported on dolphins’ annual return to the Bay— from a surprising sighting in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor to a couple of longtime marine visitors on the Potomac River.
The wildly popular citizen-scientist program Chesapeake DolphinWatch is officially up and running for the 2019 season. And its organizers say this year, the dolphin-sighting reporting app has new features to make DolphinWatch even more immersive and user-friendly.
Photo Courtesy of dolphin watcher Jeff G.Dr. Helen Bailey from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) and Chesapeake DolphinWatch Project Coordinator Jamie Testa say one new aspect of the app is “a feature where you can listen to dolphin calls recorded on underwater microphones. You’ll see audio recordings on the app map represented by a blue microphone symbol.”
Another new feature allows dolphin watchers to upload video of a dolphin sighting and view videos of confirmed sightings, as well as the photo upload option available in the past. Sightings with a photo or video are marked by a camera symbol.
And Bailey and Testa won’t stop there: they’re working to raise $500 to buy a real-time underwater microphone to monitor for dolphins that folks could listen to on the app in the future.
To get the app and start your own DolphinWatch effort on the water, click here.
Chesapeake DolphinWatch asks all citizen scientists, whenever possible, to include a photo and description of what you see, including location, what you saw the dolphins doing, or any other interesting details.
-Meg Walburn Viviano
