A Week at the B[P]each, Featuring an Oiled Pelican, Tarballs, Contaminated Sand

The story no longer makes the home page of the New York Times [accessed 11:00 am, 8/12/10] but the devastation of the BP Deepwater Horizon spill continues. These images are from the US Coast Guard’s Deepwater Horizon Response online gallery, as are the captions. Graphics, audio and visual files, and recordings of the investigation hearings are all there for the download.

I’ve highlighted the dates of these pictures to show you what a week at the beach (July 31 to August 10) during the height of the summer season looks like this year. Even my tag list is depressing: oiled pelican, tarballs, oiled beaches, sand washer machine, contaminated sand.

RACCOON ISLAND, La. – Petty Officer 3rd Class Allison Amivisca, a marine science technician and field observer in Cocodrie, La., recovers an oiled pelican from the water near Racoon Island, Aug. 10, 2010. The pelican was then shipped to a bird rehabilitation center in Fort Jackson, La., where it will be treated and rehabilitated for its release back into the wild. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Nathan W. Bradshaw. 100810-G-2719B-001

Just Another Day at the B[P]each: Oiled Birds, Dead Birds, & More!

I’ll let the Coast Guard’s own captions explain these pictures. You can find many more, as well as videos, at the Coast Guard site.

GRAND ISLE, La. – An oiled reddish egret walks along a beach in Grand Isle, La., May 20, 2010. Oil from the Deepwater Horizon/BP incident began washing up on beaches here exactly one month after the drilling unit exploded. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Patrick Kelley. [100520-G-8744K-006]

Polar Bears!

While browsing at the US Geological Survey’s photo collections, I thought I’d have a look around, and what I found in its Animals album are some more polar bear images for you. Based on blog stats, public domain images of polar bears are popular, so add these to the three posts of mine that featured the bears last year (one, two, three).

Interestingly, a number of these shots were credited to a Coast Guard photographer, so I thought I’d have a look there, too, and while I was at it, check to see if the US Fish and Wildlife Service had any new pictures.

 

Title: On Thin Ice
Description: A polar bear slides across thin Arctic Ocean ice Aug. 21, 2009.
Date Taken: 8/21/2009
Photographer: Patrick Kelley, U.S. Coast Guard

Title: Polar Bear
Description: A polar bear rests on the ice Aug. 23, 2009, after following the Coast Guard Cutter Healy for nearly an hour.
Date Taken: 8/23/2009
Photographer: Patrick Kelley, U.S. Coast Guard

BP’s Filthy Mess: Public Domain Images of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico

If you are looking for public domain images of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the US Coast Guard’s photo gallery is worth a look. This post’s images, along with their captions, are courtesy of the Coast Guard.

NEW ORLEANS – Fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon April 21, 2010. A Coast Guard MH-65C dolphin rescue helicopter and crew document the fire aboard the mobile offshore drilling unit Deepwater Horizon, while searching for survivors April 21, 2010. Multiple Coast Guard helicopters, planes and cutters responded to rescue the Deepwater Horizon’s 126 person crew. (100421-G-XXXXL- 003  U.S. Coast Guard photo)